Daily Fog: An Early Statement

Chatham may have the best record in the league, but the Anglers are 0-2 against Cotuit, the team with the next-best record. The Kettleers beat the Anglers 3-1 last night. That's their second two-run victory over Chatham, which has dropped its last two after six straight wins. Amazingly, Chatham and Cotuit are the only two teams in the league with winning records.

Last night, Chatham out-hit Cotuit 10-8 but stranded 10 runners. A second-inning solo home run by Steven Brooks (Wake Forest) accounted for Chatham's only run. Cotuit responded quickly with two runs in the bottom of the second on a sac fly by Tony Plagman (Georgia Tech) and an RBI single by Jeff Rowland (Georgia Tech). Cotuit added an insurance run in the sixth on an RBI double by Cory Vaughn (San Diego State).

For the second straight night, strong pitching performances helped keep Chatham from putting together a comeback. Justin Grimm (Georgia) got the start for Cotuit and allowed just the one run in 4.1 innings. Seth Blair (Arizona State), a star on the Cape last year, made his first appearance this year since arriving from the College World series and worked four shutout innings to pick up the win. Daniel Tillman (Florida Southern) struck out two in the ninth to pick up his first save.

All in all, an impressive win for the Kettleers. Strangely enough, they didn't necessarily play their game to do it. They didn't have a stolen base, which I believe is the first time that's happened all year. They also didn't have a sacrifice bunt.

That's the thing about this team, though. For all the speed and small-ball leanings, when you look at their lineup, you realize they have some hitters who can be very productive. The combination of the two gives Cotuit a real dangerous offense.

Of course, Chatham's offense has been more dangerous. The Anglers still lead the league in runs scored, but last night, they didn't have enough.

The Kettleers and Anglers won't see each other again until July 12. It'll be interesting to see what they do then, and where they stand.

Elsewhere

In a sadly unsurprising twist, two games were postponed last night, which means that just once in the last week has a full slate of games gone off without a hitch. Crazy.

One game got impacted by weather but went far enough to be official. Y-D beat Brewster 5-3 in a game called because of lightning and rain. Remarkably, the lightning didn't flash until just after the bottom of the seventh inning. In the top half of the inning, Y-D had taken its 5-3 lead. If Brewster's at-bat in the bottom of the inning hadn't been completed, the seventh inning wouldn't have counted and the game would have gone back to a 3-3 tie. Y-D got its lead on an error and a Jonathan Jones (Long Beach State) RBI single. Seth Simmons (East Carolina) picked up the win with four strikeouts in two innings of relief. For Brewster, Jedd Gyorko (West Virginia) made his first appearance of the summer, going 1-for-3. Gyorko was at Team USA trials.

In the longest game of the summer so far, Hyannis outlasted Falmouth 6-5 in 12 innings. A passed ball on a strikeout allowed the go-ahead run to score in the top of the 12th. Cody Hawn (Tennessee) went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI to lead the Mets. He was one of five players who had two hits for Hyannis.

What to Watch For Right Today/Tonight

With doubleheaders at Y-D and Bourne, games are happening as I write this. In tonight's action, Chatham will try to stop its two-game skid with a home game against Orleans. It's the second match-up of the year between the East rivals. It appears that former Falmouth Commodore and CWS hero Jorge Reyes (Oregon State) will go for Orleans. He was not on anybody's roster this year, but has just popped up for the Firebirds. He was a 17th-round pick this year.