all-star game: streaking to a win

For a moment, I really thought the crowd’s reaction to the streakers would be the biggest roar of the night. The crowd may have been the biggest in All-Star game history (8,629), but the game’s ebb and flow seemed to have a lot of people sitting on their hands. It was, but when the dominant pitching lost its grip and the West opened things up, the next few innings seemed anti-climactic.

The trio of streakers, who hopped the fence in right and jaunted across the outfield in the bottom of the eighth, got the crowd going again.

Grant Green really got the crowd going.

On the first pitch after the interruption, Green launched a two-run game-tying home run — and launched pandemonium. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard a Cape League crowd get so into a moment.

And with good reason. The East trailed 6-1 when the inning started. Even when three runs came across, the momentum shift wasn’t gigantic. They still had a long way to go. But when Green stepped to the plate with a runner on, you kind of got that feeling, the one you get when the stars align to create the possibility for something special. Maybe the best player in the league, at the plate on his home field, with a chance to tie the game.

Green delivered.

It was incredible, and once Green touched the plate, it seemed inevitable that the East would break the tie. They did it quickly, with Mark Fleury crushing another two-run home run to put the East on top 8-6.

On Fluery’s blast, I really thought Hyannis right-fielder Trent Ashcraft had made the catch. He was back at the wall, reaching up, leaning back. But he couldn’t reach it, and the East had its lead.

In that inning, on this night, that was probably the way it had to end.

All in all, it was quite a game. I’ll post some more on the game once I watch the tape of the NESN broadcast. For now, a few quick thoughts.

• I went to the game with a couple of friends and we ended up standing beyond the fence in left field to watch the game. It wasn’t a bad spot. We had a good view of the streakers, unfortunately, but had a pretty good view of Green’s home run, too.

• The offense kind of stole the show in the end, but aside from the bad innings by the East’s Martin Viramontes and the West’s Seth Blair, the pitching was completely dominant. Ten of the 18 pitchers recorded perfect outings, and of the game’s 51 recorded outs, 21 came via the strikeout. Things were moving so fast, that if you blinked, you probably missed a good pitcher.

• In the pitching department, I was most impressed with Harwich’s Chris Manno. The Duke lefty came into the toughest spot of the night, entering with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth. He proceeded to strike out the next two batters before working a perfect seventh, with two more strikeouts.

• In the top of the ninth, it was announced that the teams would play the bottom of the ninth regardless of score. Thankfully, they didn’t do that. It would have been ridiculous.

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