daily fog: lots of zeroes

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

daily fog: lots of zeroes

Did someone forget to bring the bats?

Four games ended in shutouts last night. Cotuit shut out Bourne 1-0, Hyannis did the same to Harwich, Y-D beat Chatham 3-0 and, in the most zero-ey game of all, Orleans and Brewster shut each other out in a 0-0 game that was called after 10 innings due to darkness.

A strange night, indeed. Before last night's game, there hadn't been more than two shutouts in one night all season. But the pitching was tremendous last night, particularly the starting pitching. Of the eight starting pitchers involved in the shutouts, six of them didn't allow a run.

Cotuit's Seth Blair (Arizona State) turned in the best performance. He was one out away from a complete game, but with a runner on second with two outs in the top of the ninth, the Kettleers went to Daniel Wolford (Cal), who got a strikeout to end the inning. Cotuit then won the game in the bottom of the ninth when Joey Lewis (Georgia) broke from third on a ground ball and slid in safely at home. For Bourne, Nick McCully (Coastal Carolina) allowed two hits in his seven shutout innings.

The Hyannis-Harwich game was another 1-0 affair, with a Matt Nuzzo (Brown) RBI double in the fifth standing as the only tally. Colin Bates (North Carolina), Andrew Carraway (Virginia) and Russell Brewer (Vanderbilt) combined on the shutout. Bates allowed three hits in six innings, Carraway -- making his first relief appearance -- went two scoreless innings and Brewer worked out of a jam in the ninth to get his 12th save and his first since July 12.

Chatham got shut out for the second straight night, this time at the hands of Y-D. Tyler Waldron (Pacific) allowed three hits and struck out seven in seven shutout innings. Shawn Tolleson (Baylor) and Dean Weaver (Georgia) each pitched a scoreless inning. The Red Sox got all three of their runs off Chatham's Kyle Blair (San Diego), who was making his first start. He struck out seven in four innings.

Finally, in Brewster, the Whitecaps and Cardinals couldn't get much of anything going. They combined for 11 hits, but nary a run crossed the plate. Brad Stillings (Kent State) tossed five shutout innings for Orleans while Brewster starter Rob Gilliam (UNC Greensboro) went six shutout innings. Orleans left the bases loaded in the top of the 10th. Brewster left a runner on in both the ninth and 10th innings.

Elsewhere

Apparently, you had to go to Martha's Vineyard to see two teams score in the same game. Wareham and Falmouth played the first-ever Cape League game on the Vineyard yesterday afternoon and the Gatemen came away with a 6-1 victory. Raynor Campbell (Baylor) had three hits and Cole Leonida (Georgia Tech) had a home run and three RBI to lead the Gatemen, who got seven shutout innings from Robby Broach (Tulane). The win is the fifth in a row for Wareham in the ever-tightening Western Division race. The Gatemen are still in last at 14-19-1, but they're only seven points back of first place Hyannis.

What to Watch For Tonight

Only one game on the schedule. Harwich will travel to Falmouth, with J.J. Hoover (Calhoun CC) squaring off against Falmouth's Chris Gloor (Quinnipiac).

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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.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008