RIGHT FIELD FOG

Baseball America posted its rankings today of the top 25 recruiting classes in college baseball. I make note of this because it’s good stuff for college baseball followers, but also because the players in these classes are likely to have a big impact on the Cape in 2010.

Among the players in the BA’s top 25 recruiting classes last year, 41 of them were on Cape League rosters. Almost all were freshmen — as opposed to JUCO transfers — so they represented about half the number of freshmen in the league.

You can get a feel for some things from the article I linked to. Commitment lists, scouting reports and further details are subscriber content, but I’ll throw out some notable stuff. Aaron Fitt’s chat is also a good read.

Florida’s top-ranked recruiting class already has two guys on a Cape roster. Catcher Michael Zunino and pitcher Steven Rodriguez are on Hyannis’ early roster. Hyannis also has Tennessee’s Cody Stubbs, Oklahoma’s Drew Verhagen and North Carolina’s Cody Stiles. All those schools have classes among the top 16.

Also of note in Gainesville is catcher Austin Maddox. He was a 37th-round pick but is one of the highest-ranked players who didn’t sign.

Virginia sent a ton of guys to the Cape last year and they’ve got a big new wave of talent that will probably hit Cape shores soon enough. Their ninth-ranked class includes Boston’s sixth-round pick, Branden Kline.

TCU’s Matt Purke (First Round) is the highest-drafted pitcher and Stanford’s Kenny Diekroger (Second Round) is the highest-drafted position player to enroll in a four-year school. Purke is part of a TCU class that’s ranked fourth. Stanford is rated second.

As usual, North Carolina had an impressive haul, led by outfielder Brian Goodwin.

Six of Vanderbilt’s eight recruits last year were on Cape League rosters. This year, the Commodores are bringing in the 13th rated class, filled with nine players. It includes New Englanders Regan Flaherty and Mike Yastrzemski. Flaherty is the brother of former Commodore and Cape Leaguer Ryan Flaherty. Yastrzemski is Carl’s grandson.

One of the reasons Tennessee’s class is rated 14th is the presence of the most unique recruit on the list, Matt Duffy. The ’09 Chatham Angler left the University of Vermont when the program was cut.

Oregon’s newly-revived program hasn’t yet had a big Cape impact, but I have a feeling it’s going to happen sooner rather than later. Last year’s class was ranked 10th. This year’s is 24th.

There are two Jordan Coopers on this list (one at Kentucky, one at Ole Miss). Neither of these Jordan Coopers is the Wichita State Jordan Cooper who played for Falmouth last year. I’m really pulling for three Jordan Coopers in the Cape League next year. Someone make this happen.

So there’s some pretty good baseball being played these days, huh?

Wait for it.

Wait.

Yeah, it’s Cape League connection time.

Why not? Here’s who we’ve got on the four teams still alive and kicking.

Angels
Joe Saunders – Harwich ’01
Robb Quinlan – Cotuit ’97

Yankees
David Robertson – Y-D ’06
Jerry Hairston – Bourne ’96/Wareham ’97
Mark Teixeira – Orleans ’99
Nick Swisher – Wareham ’00

Dodgers
Casey Blake – Haynnis ’93
Mark Loretta – Falmouth ’92

Phillies
Joe Blanton – Bourne ’01
J.A. Happ – Harwich ’03
Paul Bako – Wareham ’92
Eric Bruntlett – Cotuit ’97
Chase Utley – Brewster ’98/Cotuit ’99

Robertson is the most recent alum and he’s having a big impact in the Yankee bullpen. So far these playoffs, he has two wins and he hasn’t allowed a run. Playoff success is nothing new. For Y-D back in ’06, Robertson had four saves in five playoff appearances and was named the Cape League’s playoff MVP. For the year, he had a 2.79 ERA with 46 strikeouts in 29 innings.

Major League teams that aren’t still alive are turning their attention to the future, and plenty of eyes are trained on the Arizona Fall League. Stephen Strasburg made his long-awaited debut on Friday. The next day, Cape League alum James Simmons followed Strasburg with a strong performance. Simmons, an Oakland prospect who’s in his second AFL tour, tossed three shutout innings on Saturday. Simmons, from UC Riverside, was an all-league pick for Cotuit in 2006. He had a 1.18 ERA for the Kettleers with a ridiculous 44-to-5 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He was drafted in the first round in 2007.

Also of note in Arizona, Drew Storen (Cotuit ’08) has already made three relief appearances. He hasn’t allowed an earned run and has struck out four.

The Orioles’ web site has a look back at Matt Wieters’ rookie season. Wieters (Orleans ’06) hit .288 in his much-anticipated debut season.

In terms of prospect status, Ryan Wheeler was a little under the radar when he played for Brewster in 2008. The Loyola Marymount slugger hit .285 with five home runs that summer, but didn’t seem to be an upper-echelon type prospect. Baseball America had him rated 29th on a list of the top 30 Cape League prospects. Wheeler got drafted in the fifth round this June by the Diamondbacks and wasted no time making a huge impression. Playing for the short-season Yakima Bears and the Low-A South Bend Silverhawks, Wheeler logged the best batting average and on-base percentage in Arizona’s entire system. Not surprisingly, Wheeler was named the organization’s top position player on Monday. Said Yakima general manager K.L. Wombacher: “Ryan Wheeler is the best player I have seen come through Yakima.”

Still only two 2010 rosters out. I’m thinking Cotuit will be next.

Most of the Cape’s 2009 stars will begin the next stage of their careers in 2010. But a few who were drafted this year before making a stop on the Cape are already pros.

By my count, there were 39 players drafted in 2009 who were on the Cape. Fifteen of them ended up signing, and one player also signed as a free agent. Chad Bell and Kendal Volz signed but did not make their official debuts.

As for the guys who did make their way to the professional ranks, here’s a rundown of how they did once they left the Cape. The standouts based on numbers: Jorge Reyes and Alex Hassan, both of Orleans.

Chris Dwyer – LHP – Cotuit – Royals (Fourth Round)
The lefty from Clemson was in a unique situation. Because of an extra year early in his education and a year at prep school, he was eligible for the draft after his freshman season with the Tigers. There was a lot of speculation that he wasn’t quite ready for the next level and could do with more time in school, but his upside was so big that he went in the fourth round. He made one start for Cotuit this summer, striking out nine in five shutout innings. He left the Cape soon after and signed with the Royals. He then made four short starts for the Idaho Falls Chukars of the Rookie Pioneer League. He finished with a 4.15 ERA and 15 strikeouts in 8.2 innings.

Caleb Cotham – RHP – Brewster – Yankees (Fifth Round)
Cotham had a great 2008 summer with Brewster before a shorter stay this summer. But I think the former Vandy star got what he needed. In four appearances, he didn’t allow a run in 13 innings and struck out 15. He ended up signing with the Yankees for a $675,000 bonus. He was assigned to the Staten Island Yankees of the New York-Penn League, where he made three appearances. He struck out eight in eight innings of work and had a 3.38 ERA.

Nate Baker – RHP – Brewster – Pirates (Fifth Round)
Baker took the same route as Cotham, making a brief appearance in Brewster, where he allowed three earned runs in nine innings. After signing with the Pirates, he also headed to the New York-Penn League and had a solid showing. In six appearances — one start — he had a 1.69 ERA, with nine strikeouts.

Chris Wade – SS – Harwich – Marlins (11th Round)
Wade, a shortstop from Kentucky, wasn’t around all that long this summer, playing in 13 games for Harwich early in the season. After signing with the Marlins, he headed to the New York-Penn League’s Jamestown Jammers. He hit .277 in 47 games, with a nice OBP of .356.

Jake Goebbert – OF – Harwich – Astros (13th Round)
Goebbert spent even less time in Harwich than Wade, playing in only three games. His next stop was also the New York-Penn League, where he suited up with the Tri-City ValleyCats. Goebbert hit .238 with 15 extra-base hits in 59 games.

Jorge Reyes – RHP – Orleans – Padres (17th Round)
Reyes had an up-and-down career at Oregon State, but his final performances as an amateur were great and so were his first performances as a pro. Reyes had a 1.06 ERA for Orleans. He would have been second in the league in ERA if he had qualified. After signing with the Padres, Reyes moved to the Class A Advanced California League and didn’t miss a beat. He made three starts for the Lake Elsinore Storm and posted a 1.38 ERA, striking out 13 in 12 innings.

Alex Hassan – OF – Orleans – Red Sox (20th Round)
Hassan had two pretty solid Cape League season, and his second one helped pave the way for a contract with the Red Sox. A two-way player, Hassan was drafted as a pitcher, but this article on Baseball Beginnings says the Red Sox changed their tune as they watched him on the Cape. After signing, Hassan focused on hitting in his pro debut and did it well. Playing for the Lowell Spinners of the New York-Penn League, he hit .333 in 26 games.

Austin Hudson – RHP – Hyannis – Mariners (27th Round)
In three seasons on the Cape, Hudson put up significantly better numbers than he did in his time at Central Florida. After posting a 3.26 ERA this year in his final Cape League summer, he signed with the Mariners. He then reported to the Rookie Arizona League, where he made eight appearances. He finished with a 5.25 ERA.

Matt Packer – LHP – Orleans – Indians (32nd Round)
Packer had a busy summer. It started with Virginia’s trip to the College World Series. He then headed to the Cape, where he put up a 1.90 ERA for Orleans. Finally, he joined the Mahoning Valley Scrappers of the New York-Penn League. He worked out of the bullpen for five appearances and turned in a 2.38 ERA. He struck out 13 in 11.1 innings and only walked one.

Brandon May – INF – Cotuit – Cubs (36th Round)
May played about half the season for the Kettleers and didn’t have a great go of it with the bat, finishing with a .155 average. After signing with the Cubs, he reported to the Rookie Arizona League. He played only seven games there but hit .296. Interestingly, the Cubs are trying him at catcher. He didn’t play there once for the Kettleers.

Pete Kennelly – RHP – Chatham – Twins (38th Round)
The righty from Fordham made a nice early impression for Chatham, striking out 11 in 11 scoreless innings. He was a temporary player and once the regulars arrived, Kennelly left Chatham and couldn’t hook on with another team. But he did get himself a contract with the Twins and put up solid numbers in his debut. He made 12 relief appearances in the Rookie Appalachian League, and finished with a 2.01 ERA.

Ricky Bowen – RHP – Bourne/Cotuit – Reds (43rd Round)
Bowen made one appearance for Bourne before hooking on with Cotuit. After signing with the Reds, he headed West to the Rookie Pioneer League. Playing for the Billings Mustangs he had a 6.28 ERA in 12 appearances.

Dan Butler – C – Y-D/Brewster – Red Sox (Free Agent)
Butler’s strong performance on the Cape helped him net a free agent contract with the Red Sox. He went to the New York-Penn League and hit .179 for the Lowell Spinners.

Baseball America posted an early set of draft rankings last month. I just saw it today, so I figured I’d pass it along. If you’ve already seen it, stop reading.

Anyway, the college top 25 features 15 Cape Leaguers, including ’09 stars Chris Sale, Zack Cox and Todd Cunningham. I added stars next to those 15. I’ll also note that, to my recollection, five more players were on Cape League rosters but went to Team USA or took a summer off.

1. Bryce Harper – C – CC of Southern Nevada
2. *Anthony Ranaudo – RHP – LSU
3. Deck McGuire – RHP – Georgia Tech
4. LeVon Washington – OF – Chipola JC
5. *Chris Sale – LHP – Florida Gulf Coast
6. Christian Colon – SS – Cal State Fullerton
7. James Paxton – LHP – Kentucky
8. *Zack Cox – 3B – Arkansas
9. *Alex Wimmers – RHP – Ohio State
10. Rick Hague – SS – Rice
11. Drew Pomeranz – LHP – Ole Miss
12. *Jedd Gyorko – 3B/2B – West Virginia
13. *Bryan Morgado – LHP – Tennessee
14. *Chad Bettis – RHP – Texas Tech
15. Bryce Brentz – OF – Middle Tennessee State
16. *Brandon Workman – RHP – Texas
17. Sam Dyson – RHP – South Carolina
18. *Jesse Hahn – RHP – Virginia Tech
19. *Brett Eibner – OF/RHP – Arkansas
20. *Todd Cunningham – OF – Jacksonville State
21. *Kyle Blair – RHP – San Diego
22. *Jarrett Parker – OF – Virginia
23. *Justin Grimm – RHP – Georgia
24. *Gary Brown – OF – Cal State Fullerton
25. Rob Brantly – C – UC Riverside

With fall practices in full swing around the country, college coaches are getting their first official looks at their players and the progress they made over the summer. It’s usually a safe bet that every Cape Leaguer has made a lot of progress. Coverage is a little spotty, but here’s a quick sampling of some stuff I’ve found . . .

In Nashville, the Vanderbilt Commodores are trying to get back to being one of the nation’s top teams, and two pitchers who made nice impressions on the Cape figure to play a big role. Armstrong was rated as the league’s sixth best prospect by Baseball America. So far, so good for Armstrong and Chatham’s Taylor Hill:

Sophomore Jack Armstrong continued to build off of a very strong summer pitching for Wareham in the Cape Cod League (4-1, 2.57 ERA, 31K in 35 IP). Jack combined with Taylor Hill (2-1, 1.44 ERA, 35K in 31.1IP for Chatham in the Cape) for an impressive performance. In a three-inning start, Armstrong brought the heat striking out 4 including the side to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the second inning. Armstrong was followed by Hill who retired all nine batters he faced with four punchouts to preserve the win.

Cape League MVP Kyle Roller finished East Carolina’s three-game Purple-Gold World Series with four hits, a home run, four RBI and two runs scored. Sounds about right. Mark it down: he’s going to have a huge senior season.

Harwich’s Dan Grovatt led the Virginia contingent on the Cape this season and is picking up where he left off. In game two of the Orange and Blue World Series, Grovatt went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and three RBI. Harwich teammate Phil Gosselin had two hits in that game. Future Hyannis Met Danny Hultzen has also had a strong series.

Defending national champ LSU starts practice tomorrow. The school’s preview mentions a long list of key players, most of whom are former Cape Leaguers: Blake Dean, Leon Landry, Micah Gibbs, Tyler Hanover, Anthony Ranaudo and Austin Ross.

Rivals.com college baseball guru Kendall Rogers has a Five Keys to the Fall feature going. If you’re a college baseball fan it’s great reading. Some Cape-related stuff: Tyler Lyons (Chatham ’09) needs to step up for Oklahoma State; Raynor Campbell (Wareham ’08/Bourne ’09) will carry a big load in his senior season for Baylor.; a quartet of ’09 Cape Leaguers will be the offensive nucleus for Georgia Tech; one of my favorites from ’08, Chris Manno, will be Duke’s ace; and Mickey Wiswall (Y-D ’09) will play a major role for Boston College.

And some other stuff

CollegeBaseball360.com has posted an interview with UConn’s Pierre LePage, a star and fan favorite for the Bourne Braves. By the way, that’s a solid web site, if you haven’t seen it.

The Arizona Fall League starts play tomorrow. Among the Cape League alums in the prospect-heavy league:
Dustin Ackley (Harwich ’08, Mariners)
Drew Storen (Cotuit ’08/Nationals)
Danny Meszaros (Cotuit ’08/Astros)
Zach Putnam (Chatham ’07/Indians)
Mitch Canham (Falmouth ’06/Padres)
Jason Castro (Y-D ’07/Astros)
Yonder Alonso (Brewster ’07/Reds)
Danny Espinosa (Chatham ’06/Nationals)
Corey Brown (Chatham ’06/A’s)
Buster Posey (Y-D ’06 & ’07/Giants)
Brandon Crawford (Orleans ’07/Giants)
Chase D’Arnaud (Orleans ’07/Pirates)
Colin Cowgill (Y-D ’07/Arizona)
Ike Davis (Wareham ’07/Mets)

Finally, I’ve got a poll going on the right sidebar. It’s something I’d like to do on a regular basis. Without a ton of visitors in the off-season, I don’t how it’ll go. But if you’re reading this, take a look and cast your vote for the best Cape League alum in Major League Baseball.

We’ve got a second roster. It’s Hyannis and it looks a little fuller than Wareham’s. It’s headlined by five returning players and by Virginia’s Danny Hultzen, one of the top freshmen in the nation a year ago. Hultzen was on the Hyannis roster this past summer but didn’t play.

The returning players:

Jackie Bradley, Jr. – OF – Sophomore – South Carolina
Johnny Ruettiger – OF – Sophomore – Arizona State
Kevin Brandt – LHP – Sophomore – East Carolina
Jimmy Messer – RHP – Sophomore – North Carolina
Tyler Wilson – RHP – Junior – Virginia

Bradley got off to a terrible start this summer but rebounded in a big way down the stretch and finished with a solid .275 average.

Ruettiger should team with Bradley to give the Mets a dynamic outfield. In limited time on the Cape this summer, he hit .255 and got picked for the all-star team.

Brandt quietly had decent numbers in a swing role for the Mets, striking out 32 in 39 innings with a 3.92 ERA.

Wilson was one of the Mets’ best pitchers after he arrived from Omaha, finishing with a 1.60 ERA in five starts. As a reliever for Virginia last year, Wilson had a 2.97 ERA.

And some first impressions on the newcomers:

Thirteen of the 20 non-returnees are sophomores, so the Mets will have some experience.

Hultzen is the big name here. He was the ACC Freshman of the Year after going 9-1 with a 2.17 ERA and 107 strikeouts in 95.1 innings. He also played first base when he wasn’t pitching and hit .327.

Three players from Oklahoma will make their way to Hyannis and two have Major League bloodlines. Garrett Buechele is the son of former big leaguer Steve Buechele and was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year last season. He hit .353. Cam Seitzer is the son of Kevin Seitzer, who also played in the Cape League. Cam was on the early Hyannis roster last year but not the final version. He hit .307 as a freshman. The other Sooner is freshman pitcher Drew Verhagen.

Central Michigan lefty Trent Howard had a solid freshman season then led the Coastal Plain League in ERA this summer. He went 6-1 with a 1.01 ERA, striking out 64 in 53.1 innings.

Infielder Casey McElroy hit .286 with 22 extra-base hits for Auburn last year.

Tennesse’s Zach Osborne was the SEC all-freshman shortstop. He’s also a former Little League World Series hero for Valley Sports of Louisville, Ky., my hometown.

Minnesota’s A.J. Pettersen was a second-team all-Big 10 pick last year after hitting .353.

Six of the freshman on the roster were drafted in June: Iowa freshman lefty Matt Dermody (26th round); Tennesse’s Cody Stubbs (29); Florida catcher Michael Zunino (29); Iowa catcher Dan Sheppard (30); North Carolina righty Cody Stiles (39); and Florida pitcher Steven Rodriguez (48).

Wareham posted a skeleton roster, with just returning players, pretty soon after the season. This week, the Gatemen added some new names to the list. You can tell it’s still a very preliminary roster, but it’s October, and if we can talk about next summer on a dreary October day, I’m all for it.

First, the returning players:

Keith Bilodeau – RHP – Maine
Eric Pfisterer – LHP – Duke
Jack Armstrong – RHP – Vanderbilt
Matt Barnes – RHP – Connecticut
David Fischer – RHP – Connecticut
Jordan Swagerty – C – Arizona State
Rob Kral – C – College of Charleston
Zach Wilson – 3B – Arizona State
George Springer – OF – Connecticut
Alex Dickerson – OF – Indiana

That’s a pretty solid nucleus, especially offensively. With a summer under their belts, I would expect big things from Wilson, Springer and Dickerson. As for the pitching, you can go ahead and pencil in Jack Armstrong as the league’s top returning prospect.

And the newcomers. The last two have names you’ll recognize:

Jed Bradley – LHP – Sophomore – Georgia Tech
A 6’4 lefty, Bradley pitched in a swing role as a freshman. Over the summer, he made three appearances in the Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League before an injury ended his season. Baseball America picked him as the league’s sixth-best prospect.

Jake Davies – LHP/1B – Junior – Georgia Tech
Davies had a strong sophomore season as a reliever for Tech, posting a 3.54 ERA in 27 appearances. He played in the Coastal Plain League this summer and played both ways. He hit .254 and had an ERA of 3.20 in 19 starts.

Josh Urban – RHP – Freshman – Texas
Urban looks like a pretty highly-touted recruit for the Longhorns. He was a 19th-round pick in June.

Andrew McKirahan – LHP – Sophomore – Texas
McKirahan made 11 appearances as a freshman, all out of the bullpen. He had a 2.81 ERA this summer in the Northwoods League.

Joseph Flynn – LHP/1B – Freshman – Franklin Pierce
He’s from Plymouth. I got nothing else.

Tyler Bream – SS/3B – Sophomore – Liberty
Bream is the son of former Major Leaguer Sid Bream, a Liberty alum. Tyler hit .337 last year with eight home runs. He was a Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American.

Lee Mazzilli, Jr – SS/3B – Freshman – UConn
Mazzilli is the son former Major League player and manager Lee Mazzilli. It appears the younger Lee goes by L.J. Sounds like UConn got a good one.

That’s him up in the top right corner, standing in right field this summer, in the Chatham fog. If one can be immortalized by a marginally popular, narrowly-focused blog, then today is Whit Merrifield’s lucky day. He will now and forever be the face — or the back? — of the new Right Field Fog.

So welcome.

I’ve wanted to move into some new digs for awhile. When I didn’t get around to it in the spring, I decided to stick it out for the summer. But all along, I felt like the blog was out-growing its old spot. There’s a lot more I want to do, and I needed a fresh start to do it.

So here we are. New address, new look and hopefully a much better Right Field Fog.

Have a look around. Stay awhile. Let me know what you think. If you notice, the archives from the old blog are all on here. I have to change font colors on some of the older posts, but other than that, we’ve got it all.

I’m excited to get started. My big plans for now involve a lot more off-season coverage, with some weekly notes and a few other features. I’m not in the mood to let the blog drift into hibernation this year. It’s going to be a long, cold winter.

We’ll need some baseball.

“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.” — A. Bartlett Giamatti

The memory of sunshine. I like that.

And someone tell Whit Merrifield he’s (kind of, but not really) famous.

On January 30 at 4:17 p.m., I printed out an early version of Bourne’s 2009 roster, stapled the two pages together and set out looking for stars, for names I recognized. There were quite a few, and several months later, when I started matching those names with college stats, it became clear pretty quickly: a lot of the talent that would cross the bridges in 2009 would be stopping in Bourne — and, quite possibly, starting down the road to a championship.

But there was a detour.

Actually, a lot of them.

Blake Forsythe and Tyler Holt, two of the best hitters Bourne would have coming in, were invited to Team USA. So were Drew Pomeranz, Cody Wheeler and Alex Wimmers, perhaps the three best pitchers. Anthony Rendon, maybe the best freshman in the nation, would skip the summer with an injury.

The shuffling continued. Wimmers eventually made it but he was Bourne’s only Team USA invitee who did. The rest stayed with the national team, and in addition to those guys, six other players changed their summer plans. Five more made only brief appearances with the Braves.

If you’ve lost count, that’s 15 players on a roster of 30.

And that road to a championship? You had to wonder if the Braves would even find the on-ramp.

Two months later, it’s safe to say they found it. The Braves clinched their first-ever Cape League championship yesterday in Cotuit, beating the Kettleers 5-1 to sweep the title series.

In doing so, they’ve turned all those gaps into a back-story, a footnote. They’re a defining characteristic, yes, but only because they’re gaps that were filled.

And filled perfectly.

Need an ace? There’s an unsigned third-round pick named Bryan Morgado.

Need a slugger? Go get a draft-snubbed veteran. Name’s Kyle Roller.

A sweet-swinger? Rob Segedin. Team USA alternate, looking for a home.

An infield mainstay? Try Raynor Campbell, 2008 Cape League All-Star.

We could continue to play this game. The list goes on. It’s what the Braves had to do.

The amazing thing is how well they did it.

It’s like they pulled rabbits out of hats. Bourne magic. Morgado was one of the league’s best strikeout artists and an anchor at the top of the rotation. Roller turned into the league MVP, with numbers the likes of which haven’t been seen on the Cape in 10 years. Segedin and Campbell were key pieces to the puzzle.

There were speed bumps along the way. It wasn’t always a smooth ride. There were the fog-outs and the rainouts, the summer that had no rhythm. At one point in July, the Braves lost five straight games.

But through it all, the replacements like Roller and the mainstays like Pierre LePage jelled into a cohesive and consistent unit. By the end of the season, they were clicking. They won their last five regular-season games.

When their playoff journey began, the Braves hit an early road block. They trailed Orleans 2-0 in the first game of their semifinal series. Through eight innings, they had two hits. One inning — and one never-to-be-forgotten rally — later, the Braves had a 3-2 victory and 1-0 lead in the series.

They never looked back.

The Braves smashed Orleans 8-0 to sweep the semis then buried Cotuit 15-5 in a fog-shortened game one. Yesterday, they capped it off with a little of that Bourne magic, winning 5-1 despite getting out-hit 8-5. Pierre LePage drove in two runs, finishing the playoffs with six. He had 14 in the regular season. Kyle Roller had a hit for the fourth straight game. He finished the playoffs with a .500 average and a well-deserved second MVP award.

There were other stars, too. Ben Klafczynski had an up-and-down summer but hit .286 in four playoff games. Chris Wallace, who wasn’t on that initial roster but became the starting catcher, also hit .286. Stefen Romero, whose mid-season slump had a lot to do with Bourne’s mid-season slump, hit .400 in the playoffs.

And then there was the pitching. In four playoff games, the Braves allowed five earned runs. Four of them came in one game against Cotuit, the game where they scored 15 and didn’t need much pitching help. In the other three games, Bourne pitchers allowed one earned run on 16 hits. They struck out 30. Morgado, Wimmers, Seth Maness and Eric Cantrell delivered outstanding starts. And the bullpen that shined all year continued on the same path. Aside from the three runs allowed by the pen in the blowout, Bourne’s relievers — with Logan Billbrough, Justin Poovey and Kevin Munson leading the way — didn’t allow an earned run in 10 innings of work.

All those pieces created a dominant playoff performance. Their motto was “Believe” and they certainly did. The Braves are the third team in a row to sweep through the playoffs and win the title. Y-D won in 2007 as a powerhouse delivering a finishing touch. Harwich in 2008 as an underdog catching fire.

And now Bourne in 2009. As a talented team getting hot? As a hard-working group living up to the promise? As a team, an organization and a town that really wanted this?

All of that, yes, and maybe this: A team that existed not as a blueprint or an expectation, not as a winter picture coming into focus, but only as it was, a team on a baseball field in a perfect rainy summer.

When Cotuit grabbed its finals berth by scoring 18 runs against the best team in the league, you had to think the Kettleers would have some momentum for the championship.

But momentum doesn’t always mean much in playoff baseball.

And even if it did Tuesday night, the Bourne Braves had plenty of it, too.

Bourne gave Cotuit a taste of its own medicine, winning game one of the championship series 15-5 for its eighth consecutive victory. The Braves won five in a row to end the regular season then swept their first-round series.

Last night, they took advantage of a depleted Cotuit pitching staff. The Kettleers didn’t have the most stable rotation during the season — only two players started every game they appeared in, and 14 different players made starts. With some early departures further clouding things and with the Kettleers playing two more playoff games than Bourne, there wasn’t much left.

Cotuit turned to Andres Caceres (Connors State), whose six appearances didn’t include a start. Bourne didn’t let Caceres feel at home, sending 13 men to the plate in the first inning and putting up seven runs. Kyle Roller and Pierre LePage each had two-run singles to power the early surge.

It was more of the same in the second inning, as Stefen Romero led off with a double. The Braves went on to score six more runs, with Roller driving in two more.

Starting pitcher Alex Wimmers took the lead and ran with it, allowing one run and striking out nine in four innings of work. Cotuit put a rally together after Wimmers left the game, but fog started wreaking havoc. The game was called in the sixth.

I doubt the fog put too much of a damper on the good feelings in the Bourne dugout. They’re rolling, and if they can stretch their win streak to nine in today’s game two, they’ll capture the franchise’s first-ever Cape League championship.