2014 Cape Cod Baseball League

[Fred not Lynn]

I wound up going Bourne, to see Cotuit advance. Later, at a West Yarmouth sports bar, I ran into a few of the YD players. I knew they were YD players because they were still in full uniform, like a bunch of beer league slo-pitch players stopping off for a few on the way home from the game...

 

[Kremlin Watcher]

I wound up going Bourne, to see Cotuit advance. Later, at a West Yarmouth sports bar, I ran into a few of the YD players. I knew they were YD players because they were still in full uniform, like a bunch of beer league slo-pitch players stopping off for a few on the way home from the game...

They earned it. Totally schooled us - Orleans scored zero runs in its last two games.

 

[Fred not Lynn]

So do you just stop going now?

 

[Kremlin Watcher]

I stop, yes. The remainder of the games are just too far away given summer traffic and there's so much else to do around here. Also, I have no rooting interest in any of the remaining teams.

 

[TrapperAB]

Currently at Falmouth @ Cotuit -- top of the 3rd, 2-1 Cotuit.

The new bleachers are beautiful...

Saw Cotuit win it all last year and 2010 -- would love to see them do it again. Long road, tho. Not a great season for the Kettleers, and they're down 0-1 in the series...

But there isn't much better than setting up the chairs behind the LF wall, 70 degrees, sunny with breeze, with my 8 year old son by my side.

 

[Fred not Lynn]

I went up to YD, and after Harwich scored 4 in the 1st and another 1 or 2 in the 2nd I left...

...to go to the OTHER game of course. On paper it looked close, 3-2 Falmouth on arrival. On the baseball field it also turned out to be a blow-out...Cotuit had 3 hits, one of them an early 2 run bomb, versus 17 or 18 hits for Falmouth.

Parking at some of these parks gets a little crazy...but that's just part of the Cape Cod charm.

I liked the big wooden stands in Cotuit - sadly though, the first thing that came to mind was how easily some malfeant young vandal/arsonist with a gas can and some matches could ruin things for everyone.

 

[Titoschew]

YD outlasted Harwich to move on to the finals against Falmouth.  Scheduled to start tonight, but the weather looks uncooperative, so more likely tomorrow, running through Saturday, if necessary.

 

[Fred not Lynn]

Great game for YD, nursing the 1-0 lead...Utah kid Brennan Lund clutching up with the pinch hit RBI in T9 for the insurance run...

 

[mabrowndog]

Vanderbilt's Walker Buehler was dominant last night with 8 shutout innings on 3 H & 8 K for Y-D, as Falmouth sustained its first postseason loss, 5-0, on Arnie Allen Diamond at Guv Fuller Field.
 
Game 2 is at 4 pm today at Y-D's Red Wilson Field. If the Commodores force a decisive Game 3, they'll return to Falmouth to host it Saturday night (Road Race Eve).
 
Really hoping Jeff Trundy's kids can get it done, as Falmouth's gone without a title for 34 years. It would also be a nice "eff you" to the departed team execs who tried to oust him as manager.
 
Falmouth's last championship series was in 2007 -- also vs Scott Pickler and Y-D. The Red Sox won their 2nd straight CCBL title that year (3rd in 4 seasons), and were an offensive juggernaut with future big-leaguers Buster Posey (playing primarily at SS), Jason Castro (getting most of the starts at C ahead of Posey), Gordon Beckham, Grant Green & Collin Cowgill. Y-D's staff was anchored by BC's Terry Doyle (who pitched for the PawSox & Sea Dogs last year and is now in the Braves' system) and Georgia Tech's Eddie Burns (whose promising career ended with labrum surgery a year after he turned pro).

 

[mabrowndog]

Congrats to Coach Pickler and his Y-D Red Sox as they come from 4-2 down with a 6-run 6th inning on the way to a 10-4 win and a two-game sweep of the title series vs Falmouth.
 
C Marcus Mastrobuoni (Cal State-Stanislaus) and RHP Walker Buehler (Vanderbilt) are co-MVPs of the Cape League playoffs.
 
Yarmouth-Dennis are CCBL Champions for the 4th time in 11 seasons.
 

 

 

[Fred not Lynn]

In the Cape League, do you have many returnees, or are you mostly starting from scratch every year. If so, whoever is stocking the YD cupboards, is doing a good job.

 

[mabrowndog]

I'd guesstimate at most 5% of players return for another season. For the majority, the summer after their sophomore year is their first playing on the Cape. After their junior seasons, a lot of these kids are drafted and end up signing with MLB clubs. Very rarely will anyone play three summers, and it's usually guys coming back from injury. And not every kid who does return to the Cape ends up playing for the same team. So by and large, teams are indeed whipping up a fresh cake batter each spring.
 
Most of the longtime Cape League coaches & front office staff have longstanding relationships with coaches and ADs at certain major college programs. Scott Pickler's heavily connected with Vanderbilt and LSU, while Falmouth coach Jeff Trundy has a steady stream of players from Rice & Oregon State. But that's not a guarantee that these guys get ALL the players from those schools. Pickler might not have room for an LSU catcher, or perhaps Trundy's already got a loaded rotation with no place to fit one of Rice's SPs. So kids from the same school often end up being divided among several CCBL teams.
 
No players from the 2004 Y-D championship team were around for the 2006 title, and Buster Posey & Terry Doyle were the only players on both the 2006 & 2007 trophy winners. Posey played following his freshman & sophomore years, then turned pro after his junior campaign for Florida State.

 

[robssecondjob]

Stadium Journal rankings of the Cape League parks.

http://www.stadiumjourney.com/news/08-26-2014/774/cape-cod-league-ballpark-rankings