summer wrap: by the numbers

Originally, I was going to find a few random stats and numbers and throw them out there for this post. That's pretty much what I did, except there are a ridiculous amount of numbers, and oddly enough, they can tell you a lot about the Cape League season. Some reveal statistical truths behind an impression, like the idea that the hittters dominated the league this summer. Others offer new confirmation on truths estbalished all summer, like the fact that there was an insane amount of parity in the league this year. And finally, some stats reveal absolutely nothing, other than my own desire to make this post longer.

Here goes, from 0 to 334,251 (Don't worry, I skipped some numbers along the way):

0 - The number of nine-inning no-hitters in the league this year. Usually, there's at least one. All we got this year was a five-inning fog-shortened perfect game from Nick McCully and a near-no-hitter from Brandon Workman.

0 - Players with a better baseball name than Dusty Coleman.

0 - Number of fog-outs in Chatham. Has to be some kind of record.

.032 - The difference in team average between league leader Y-D and last-place Hyannis. Typically, that number is in the .050 range. Kind of a clue that there was some parity, huh?

.230 - The team batting average for Hyannis, the lowest average in the league. It's also the highest league-low batting average this decade. As in, this year's worst was better than a lot of other worsts.

.473 - League-best on-base percentage posted by Marc Krauss. It's the highest mark since 2000, when none other than Kevin Youkilis had a .488 OBP.

.667 - The on-base percentage of Cotuit pitcher Sam Brown. He had three plate appearances and walked twice. Good eye, kid.

1 - The number of Harwich pitchers who made all their appearances in a starting role. Chris Manno was the only one. Everybody else pitched at least once out of the bullpen.

1 - The number of players on the Cape who had a BCS National Championship on their resume. Y-D's Jared Mitchell is a wide receiver for LSU's football team, as well as an outfielder for the baseball team. He left the Cape after five games to head to fall camp.

1.50 - The league-leading ERA belonging to Hyannis' Austin Hudson. That's the highest number this decade, and the first time since 1999 that the league-best ERA was over 1.00.

2 - Errors made by Falmouth shortstop Joey Wong, the lowest number for any everyday shortstop in the league.

3 - The number of streakers at the all-star game. They were quite the trio.

4 - The number of players on Harwich's roster who went by initials -- D.J. Belfonte, D.J. LeMahieu, J.T. Wise and J.J. Hoover.

4 - The number of players with eight home runs or more -- Chris Dominguez, Ben Paulsen, Ryan Jones and Angelo Songco. That's the most this decade.

5 - The number of qualifying players who had more walks than strikeouts. The list: Marc Krauss, Trevor Coleman, Chase Leavitt, Tommy Medica and Curt Casali. It's interesting that three of the five are catchers. The best ratio belonged to Coleman, who walked 39 times and struck out 25 times.

5 - The difference in the number of hits between Orleans catchers Travis Tartamella and Hampton Tignor. That's the biggest difference in their remarkably similar stat lines.

5 - The number of times Grant Green and Chris Dominguez were each intentionally walked. They tied for the league lead.

5:37 - Approximate length of the version of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA" that played at the all-star game. Seriously. It had to be some kind of extended cut.

6 - Positions played by Bourne's Tyler Cannon. He saw time at all the infield spots, including catcher, and played one game in the outfield.

7 - The number of players who played in all 44 regular-season games for their teams. The list: Mike Freeman, Derek Poppert, Conner Powers, Trevor Coleman, Ben Paulsen, Tim Wheeler and Keenan Wiley. Interestingly, three of those guys are from Brewster. With a play-in game and three playoff games, Coleman ended up with 48 games played, the highest overall total.

8 - Consecutive games Harwich won to close out the season.

8 - Number of teams that hit 20 home runs or more, and you guessed it, that's by far the most this decade. It's not really close, either. The previous high was five, which happened four times.

9 - The number of at-bats Grant Green went without a hit on the final day of the season, when Chatham played a double-header. He hadn't had a stretch like that all summer.

10 - The number of saves Russell Brewer had on July 9, with a month of the season left.

10.53 - Combined K/9 for Team USA pitchers Kendal Volz, Blake Smith, Mike Leake, Mike Minor, Andy Oliver, Kyle Gibson, Stephen Strasburg and A.J. Griffin, all of whom would have been on the Cape. When people say the power arms were missing from the Cape this year, this is what they mean.

11 - The number of times Cole Figueroa struck out, the lowest total among players with at least 100 at-bats.

12 - The number of saves Russell Brewer finished with. It was through no fault of his own. He pitched well when he had a chance, but the Mets weren't winning consistently.

12 - The number of times Tony Sanchez was hit by a pitch, tops in the league.

13 - The single-game high for strikeouts this summer. Y-D's Jeff Inman did it in the third-to-last game of the season and Wareham's Brandon Workman pulled it off in his near no-hitter. The high last summer was 15, a mark set by Brett Jacobson and D.J. Mitchell.

13 - The number of runs scored by Hyannis slugger Chris Dominguez, an exceedingly low number when you consider his 10 home runs and 22 extra-base hits.

14 - The number of pitchers who started a game for Chatham this summer, the highest number in the league.

14 - The number of times I mis-spelled Caleb Cotham's name. I was going with Coltham for quite awhile . . . and I just had to double-check again because I couldn't remember which one was right.
15 - Decision-less appearances made by Brewster pitcher Rory McKean. That was his season total in appearances, and he finished with a 0-0 record.

18 - Games finished by Brad Boxberger and Ben Tootle. I never knew what GF stood for on the stat sheet until I looked that up.

23 - Appearances made by Bourne's David Erickson, tops in the league.

25 - The number of hits allowed by Falmouth's Nate Karns and Hyannis' Austin Hudson. Among pitchers who qualified for the ERA title, that's the best number.

45 - The number of innings Harwich played in the post-season. Typically, that number would be reserved for a team that went three games in one series, and two in another. Harwich swept both series, but had that little 18-inning game mixed in.

46 - Errors made by Harwich, fewest in the league. Y-D made 70.

49 - The combined total of games played and pitching appearances recorded by Orleans' Alex Hassan, who was the only true two-way player in the league. He was slated to just be an outfielder, but when the Cardinals lost their closer, he stepped into that role.

50 - Percentage of hits that went for extra bases off the bats of Chris Dominguez and Angelo Songco. Dominguez had 44 hits and 22 for extra bases. Songco had 36 hits, 18 for extra bases.

56 - The number of singles by Bourne's Jordan Henry. He had 60 hits total, with only four going for extra-bases.

61 - The number of hits by A.J. Pollock, the best mark since 2003, when Warner Jones had 64.

67 - The number of strikeouts recorded by Brandon Workman. That's the highest total since 2005, when Daniel Bard had 82.

135.00 - The ERA belonging to Y-D first baseman Andy Wilkins. He's not a two-way guy but he was on the mound once and allowed five runs in one-third of an inning. Proof that he should stick with hitting.

216.1 - Total innings logged by Wareham starters Robby Broach, Dallas Keuchel, Max Perlman and Brandon Workman. Each of them had over 50. By comparison, there were only four other pitchers in the whole league who got to 50 innings.

321 - The total number of players who were on the Cape this summer. That ranges from the one game played by Harwich's Patrick McKenna to the 44 played by guys like Paulsen, Coleman, etc.

334,251 - Total attendance for the year, including the all-star game and playoffs. Whether some team's estimates are inflated or not, that's still a staggering number.