Daily Fog: More Clearing

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Daily Fog: More Clearing

A day after all the playoff berths were secured, we're a little closer to knowing what spot everyone's getting.

Bourne's magic number for clinching the top seed in the West was one. The Cotuit loss would have been enough, but the Braves took care of their own business, too. They beat Hyannis 7-4.

Not too long ago, Bourne was floundering but the Braves have now won four in a row, and they couldn't have picked a better time to get hot. Rob Segedin (Tulane) had two hits and two RBI last night and Scott Woodward (Coastal Carolina) hit a homer as the Braves held off the Mets. Alex Wimmers (Ohio State), presumably prepping for the playoffs, went just three innings. The bullpen had some trouble early but Scott Oberg (UConn), a recent addition who was making his third appearance, tossed 2.2 strong innings. Logan Billbrough (William & Mary) then worked a scoreless ninth for the save.

The way it looks to me, the only things still up for grabs now are the second seed in the West and the fifth overall seed. Cotuit sits one point ahead of Wareham in the West. With a win tonight, Cotuit will get to host its first-round game. With a Cotuit loss and a Wareham win, Wareham will host in the first round.

As for that fifth overall seed, the Chatham people seem to think the Anglers are No. 6 regardless, but I don't think so. If they beat Orleans tonight and Wareham loses, both Chatham and Wareham will have 44 points. The Anglers hold a 3-1 edge in the season series so they would win the tiebreaker and would be the fifth seed. That would set them up with No. 4 Cotuit. Wareham would then play No. 3 Orleans.

I think that sums it up. Today is officially the last day of the regular season, since Thursday's make-up between Hyannis and Falmouth was canceled, likely because there are no playoff implications.

Elsewhere

It's that time of year again, when awards get handed out, but you miss them if you blink. To my knowledge, last night marked the first presentation as Falmouth's Todd Cunningham was given the batting title and the top pro prospect award. Cunningham went 0-for-3 in Falmouth's 5-4 win over Wareham, which dropped his average to .388. With one game left, Cunningham would have to go 4-for-4, 4-for-5 or something along those lines to get back to .400. A couple of hits, though, and he'll finish with the highest batting average the league has seen this decade.

Orleans beat Chatham 5-1, and with another win tonight over the Anglers, the Firebirds would set up a first-round playoff match-up with Chatham. Kevin Muno (San Diego) hit a grand slam last night as Orleans scored all its runs in the seventh inning.

Y-D got four RBI from Steve Chatwood (San Diego) and beat Cotuit 9-8. The Red Sox now have three more wins than anyone else in the league. They'll finish up tonight at Harwich.

In a game that lost its playoff implications the night before, Brewster beat Harwich 7-2. Steven Maxwell (TCU) picked up the win with seven strong innings. John Barr (Virginia) had two hits and two RBI for the Whitecaps.

What to Watch For Tonight

Wareham hosts Bourne at 7 p.m. Cotuit hosts Brewster at 4:30. Chatham hosts Orleans at 7. The outcome of those three games will determine the final standings.

2 comments:

Dave said...: Will: I thought Chatham could get the fifth seed too. As you said, by beating Orleans tonight, combined with a Wareham loss to Bourne, the Anglers and Gatemen would each end up with 44 pts. Chatham won three of the four games in their season series. When I mentioned that, I was told that any inter-divisional tiebreakers are determined by which division won the All Star game - not by head-to-head matchups. That has been confirmed on the league website: "If tied teams are from different divisions, the team from the division that won the All-Star Game advances." That is a pretty dumb way to go about breaking a tie if you ask me... not that anyone asked me. Dave (CodBall); August 5, 2009 at 3:25 PM
Will Geoghegan said...: Thanks, Dave. Good to know. I missed that piece of info along the way.

I agree. Pretty stupid idea. It's bad enough in principle. In practice, especially when you play a four-and-a-half inning all-star game, it's even worse.; August 5, 2009 at 7:03 PM

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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, August 5, 2009