3 August 2006

All-Star event prelude to pennant race

More than 3,700 fans on hand at Red Wilson Field Saturday were treated to a daylong dose of baseball, as the Cape Cod Baseball League All-Stars took the field in the 44th annual East-West clash.

While the players didn't pass up the opportunity to impress spectators, the 50 players selected hoped to put on their best performances of the year for the Major League Baseball scouts in attendance.

The festivities - starting with an autograph session and home-run hitting contest - got off to a rousing start. Because of a tight pennant race and the desire to keep players healthy, however, not all of the all-stars played, a point that Wareham's GM John Wylde said will be addressed.

"The positives of the day can't be undone," said Wylde. "It was a lovely, albeit hot day, there was a big and enthusiastic crowd and from the perspective of the fans, the day went off just great.

"For the scouts, there was some disappointment that some of the top pitchers they came to see didn't pitch. I don't think it was a major issue, but it's something that we must and that we will address," he added.

The league estimated that nearly 100 scouts from the 30 MLB teams attended, making the CCBL All-Star game a prime spot for players to show their wares to a captive scouting audience. While some scouts stay for a few days and catch several games, others, said Wylde, come in specifically for game day.

"If you arrange your schedule to fly in to see someone pitch and they don't, that doesn't make you very happy," he said.

Rainouts earlier in the season forced the league to schedule doubleheaders in the final weeks of play, meaning some all-stars were pitching the night before and maybe again the night after the all-star game.

"The pennant race played a role, definitely," said Wylde. "But no one could look himself in the mirror if a player gets injured and his career is affected. That's something the coaches had to take into account."

The game began as planned with Charlie Furbush starting on the mound for the West and Shaun Seibert throwing the first pitch for the East. The pitchers each retired the first three batters and the first score wasn't recorded until the top of the third, when Jeffrey Rea knocked in Eric Farris for a one-run lead. The East tied it in its next at-bat and left three men on thanks to a snare by Matt Mangini to end the inning.

The West scored only once more in going down to a 7-2 defeat. The game took an interesting turn when position players were called to the mound since pitchers were in short supply.

While the East looked to outfielders Justin Snyder and Luke Sommers to throw, West field manager Harvey Shapiro gave the nod to Braves' outfielder David Cash as well as Mitch Moreland, a first-baseman and the home-run hitting champ.

Moreland thrilled spectators with his long ball prowess during The Baseball Factory event, punching out 25 balls into home-run territory, besting the nearest competitor, Wareham's Steffan Wilson. But Moreland ended up with the loss in the record books after giving up a two-run shot to Josh Satin.

A reserve team selection, Satin finished as the game's East MVP, as selected by the MLB scouts. For the West, Brad Chalk, who went 2-for-4 and had a stolen base, was chosen as the MVP.

With the 10 field manager's making the selections, the Cotuit Kettleers, the top team in the West, saw eight of its players selected to the elite squad, as did the East-leading Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox. Falmouth and Brewster followed with six selections a piece.

The tight pennant race will be decided this week, with the playoffs scheduled to begin Tuesday. Tonight, the all-stars will travel to Fenway Park, where they will be introduced prior to the start of the Red Sox-Indians game.

By Silene Gordon/ sgordon@cnc.com