daily fog: suddenly, orleans

Monday, July 7, 2008

daily fog: suddenly, orleans

Last Sunday, the Orleans Cardinals were on the wrong end of a 5-0 shutout. It was a loss that dropped their record to 5-7 and pushed them into last place in the Eastern Division.

But something has clicked since then.

The Cardinals beat Harwich 2-1 last night for their fifth win in six games. They're now 10-8 and sitting in second place, just behind Brewster.

The difference throughout much of the streaj has been offense. The Cardinals struggled mightily in the first two weeks of the season, scoring only 25 runs in 12 games. They've scored 26 runs in the five games since. With a solid pitching staff, that's a recipe for a turnaround.

Last night, they kind of won the old-fashioned way, getting just enough offense to scrape by. The Cardinals rallied from a 1-0 deficit with a two-run eighth inning to grab the lead. Tim Wheeler (Sacramento State) and Matt Bowman (Nevada) singled to start the eighth and each moved up a base on a throwing error. A wild pitch brought Wheeler home with the tying run, and Bowman trotted home on an RBI single by Rich Poythress (Georgia).

The bullpen held the slim lead, with Kyle Kamppi (Georgia Southern) picking up his seventh save. Isaac Morales (Cal State LA) got the win in relief of Matt Thomson (San Diego) who allowed one run in five innings.

Elsewhere

Harwich's Chris Manno (Duke) was impressive in the losing effort last night, allowing just one hit through 6.1 shutout innings.

Wareham also continued a little hot streak, beating Y-D 4-3 for the team's third straight win. The Gatemen are still in last place but only four games behind first-place Hyannis in the loss column. Last night, starter Robby Broach (Tulane) turned in a strong performance and the bats came alive in the eighth inning to turn a 3-2 deficit into a 4-3 lead. A double by Aaron Baker (Oklahoma) brought in Brett Eibner (Arkansas) and Baker scored the go-ahead run on a single by Connor Rowe (Texas).

Hyannis picked up its league-best 11th win with a 5-2 victory over Cotuit, who was in a tie with the Mets for first place. Alex McRee (Georgia) allowed one run in seven innings for the Mets, and Russell Brewer (Vanderbilt) picked up his league-leading ninth save. Ben Paulsen (Clemson) and Chris Dominguez (Louisville) each had two RBI to lead Hyannis. Reliever Sam Brown (NC State) was a bright spot for Cotuit, striking out five in four shutout innings.

Charles Brewer (UCLA) turned in his best performance of the summer as Chatham squeaked past Brewster 3-2. Brewer struck out eight and allowed one earned run in 5.2 innings. Nick Christiani (Vanderbilt) pitched well in his first start for Brewster, but the A's capitalized on errors to score two unearned runs.

Bourne used a pitching committee and a four-run seventh inning to beat Falmouth 5-3. Five different Braves took the hill, with Bob Revesz (Louisville), the third reliever, picking up the win. A two-run single by Jordan Henry (Ole Miss) was the big blow in the second.

What to Watch For Tonight

Hyannis will try to stay on top of the Western Division with Austin Hudson (Central Florida) on the mound against Falmouth. Hudson has a 1.56 ERA in four starts. The probable starter for Falmouth is Chris Gloor, who actually had an X by his name on the team stats page not to long ago. I guess he's coming back?

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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.

Monday, July 7, 2008