Birds Of Fire Enter Last Five Games Of The Season Hot!

The 20-18-1 Firebirds are 6-0-1 in their last seven games. Everything is starting to come together for the Firebirds entering the last five games before playoffs. The Firebirds have passed Harwich for third place in the East with back-to-back wins over the Mariners. They won the first game 8-2 and scored all eight runs in the ninth inning. In the second game, Jayce Boyd (Florida State) drove in 6 runs to power Orleans to a 14-3 win. Kolten Wong (Hawai'i) is back to hitting and leads the league with his .341 average. The Firebirds as a team sit in fifth in batting average (.229) and are .001 out of third behind Bourne (.230) and Falmouth (.230). Orleans' 2.39 ERA leads the Cape League by 0.21 over Brewster.

Around the league, Orleans and Yarmouth-Dennis are streaking, Brewster is slumping, Chatham was slupming and has not been able to move out of last place, and Harwich has lost two in a row and slid into fourth place. In the West, the race for first place is within three points [Cotuit-40pts, Bourne-38pts, and Wareham 37pts] and the race for fourth is within five points [Falmouth-31pts and Hyannis-26pts]. Also, first place Cotuit just signed Barret Loux (Texas A&M). Loux was the 6th overall pick in the 2010 MLB Draft.

As I said a little over a week ago, we are entering the August stretch of the summer where the Firebirds' attendance peaks and 'Mr. Firebird' pumps up the crowd along the right field line. Also, I am heading up to the Cape tomorrow morning. This means that my blog posts will be shorter but there will be more Twitter updates. You can follow my Tweets on the right side of the page or at www.Twitter.com/OrlFirebirds. Also, the official Firebirds' Twitter page, www.Twitter.com/FirebirdsCCBL has very in-depth updates.

Firebirds Win 6 to 5 in 12 Innings!!!

Firebirds' ace, Rob Rasmussen took the hill for Orleans. He went 4 innings allowing 2 earned runs. Rasmussen left with the game tied 3-3. Steve Selsky's and Devin Lohman's home runs provided the first 3 runs of the game for Orleans.

The Firebirds got another run in the 5th on a very odd play. Mike Olt blooped one to center that Falmouth's center fielder, Todd Cunningham dropped. Running on 2 outs, Ross Heffley scored easily. Then, Danny Muno tried to score and was thrown out at home to end the inning with a mini-collision at the plate.

In the 9th, Orleans allowed 2 runs and Falmouth took a 5-4 lead over Orleans.

In the bottom of the 9th, Jaren Matthews reached on a walk. Gary Brown sacrifice bunted him over to 2nd. Devin Lohman moved him over on a ground out. Then, Matt Koch stepped to the plate and singled to left to drive Matthews in and tie the game.

On to the 12th now with Orleans batting. At this point, they could only tie or win because 12 is the maximum number of innings in the regular season that a game can go into. Kevin Muno, who went 4 for 5, walked. His younger brother, Danny tried to sacrifice bunt him over but drew a walk. Mike Olt was then intentionally walked. Jaren Matthews came up with 1 out and grounded to 2nd base. The 2nd basemen threw home and got Danny Muno out at home. The catcher tried to complete the double play by getting Matthews at 1st but threw it away; allowing Mike Olt to score the winning run for Orleans.

Magic Number down to 3 wins to make the playoffs! Remember, this number decreases every time that Orleans wins and (or) Brewster loses. Yarmouth-Dennis has clinched itself a playoff spot also. Orleans takes on Harwich at home on Friday. I may have coverage of that one on Twitter and may not. Also, they have a double-header at Wareham on Saturday. I will not have coverage of that on Twitter. The post for that game will probably just include the scores.

Also, Alex Hassan will sign a contract with the Red Sox Thursday at Fenway Park.