daily fog: just enough

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

daily fog: just enough

Say this about the Orleans Cardinals: they know how to win a close game.

Orleans beat Cotuit 5-4 last night, with the winning run trotting home on a suicide squeeze in the bottom of the 10th inning. That makes four one-run victories out of six total wins for the Cardinals this year.

In large part, it's out of necessity. The Cardinals don't score many runs, but the fact that they've won so many games while scoring so few runs is pretty incredible.

Last night's five-run total matched their season-high, and they needed it against the high-powered Cotuit offense. Orleans pitchers Matt Thomson (San Diego) and Elliot Glynn (UConn) held the Kettleers to just one run through the first seven innings. But in the top of the eighth, Cotuit scored three runs with the help of three Orleans errors.

The Cardinals managed to bounce back with two in the bottom of the inning then won it in the 10th. Mike Murphy (Maryland) got the squeeze bunt down, and Alex Hassan (Duke) scored the run to give Orleans the victory.

The win moved Orleans to within a game of .500. For the Kettleers, it was the third loss in a row, but they still sit in first place with an 8-5 record.

The only other game on the schedule last night -- Harwich at Hyannis -- was rained out.

What to Watch For Tonight

Nate Garcia (Santa Clara), who has quietly turned in two very good starts, will need another one as Cotuit tries to snap its longest losing streak of the year tonight at Chatham. Garcia has a 1.93 ERA.

No comments:

Post a Comment

as the fog settles in

The left-field sunset has faded. It is chilly now. You slip a sweatshirt on. The stat sheet you hold in your hands almost feels wet, the air is so damp. But the ink doesn't run. You can read it. That kid from LSU is still leading the league in home runs. That pitcher who they say throws 95 -- he's way up on the list in strikeouts.
The game is close, 3-2 through seven innings. You're staying till the end.
You look out at the field. Some fog has slipped in. It settles like smoke, just off the grass in front of the right fielder, like a cloud. When he runs through it to catch a fly ball, it looks almost magical, maybe even spiritual, like he's playing baseball in heaven.
Maybe he is.
The baseball is pure here. The players eager. The fans, maybe some of them don't know what they're seeing, maybe they just heard it was a fun night out, good for the family and everything -- but they know. They know somehow that this thing, this Cape League, is special.
Really, there's nothing like it.
I'm going to try and keep up.

Stop waxing poetic

The Cape Cod Baseball League is the top college summer league in the nation. Plenty of other leagues have cropped up of late, and some are having success, but the Cape League is still the model -- and the pinnacle. In 2006, 198 Major Leaguers had spent time in the Cape League.
The rosters are like a who's who of the best college baseball players. All the top prospects want to spend their summers on the Cape. The only better opportunity is Team USA. There are 10 teams in the league, divided into two divisions. Over the course of two months, they play 44 games. Scouts will watch many of them. They come because of the combination of talent and wood. Unlike college baseball, the Cape uses only wooden bats, providing an accurate picture of what players might do at the next level.
What else? Players live with host families. Some have part-time jobs (Jeff Bagwell worked at Friendly's). There's no admission charge at games. The level of baseball has been compared to Single A.
That should sum it up. If you have never experienced Cape League Baseball, you have missed out.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008