So we get to the "dog days" of summer....It seems like just a few days ago that I was heading north to begin another baseball season. The team has certainly been through a lot in terms of wins and losses, crazy road trips, personnel changes and so on. As we head into the final home stand of the first half of the season, our record sits at 20-24 which puts us in fourth place. The New Jersey Jackals have been the team to beat thus far and they should clinch the first half title in the next day or two if they have not already done so. The have by far the strongest pitching staff and a great combination of speed and power. Another thing that they have, which we lack, is experience. It seems like all of their guys have at least 3 years of experience and it has shown up on the field. As we push towards the end of the first half it seems an appropriate time for the unveiling of the first annual "Mid-Season awards presented by Greg Lemon".

I have decided to name award winners for both my Defenders squad and the league at large. Let's start with the Defenders awards....our first award is the most outstanding pitcher and this half's award goes to right hander Nick Asselin. Nick leads the team in wins (5) and has given us a chance to win every time he has taken the ball. His latest start was a 7.2 inning effort against New Jersey in which he allowed only 3 runs and earned the win. Juan Padilla has earned himself most valuable first half reliever. This one is pretty simple, we have 2o wins and he has saved 14 of them, enough said. This half's offensive MVP goes to OF/1B Jerod Edmonson. Eddie is currently leading the team in average (.315) and is second on the team in both homers (8) and RBIs(25). Our first half defensive MVP goes to second baseman Boomer Berry. He has made countless web gems and to my knowledge has not missed an inning so far this season.

In the league-wide award division, New Jersey starter Aaron Wideman gets most outstanding pitcher while teammate Rusty Tucker and his 12 saves takes the most valuable reliever award. Both these guys are a pain to face and have helped propel the Jackals to the top spot in the league standings. My most outstanding offensive award goes to Quebec C/1B Pete LaForest. If you recognize the name, it is because he played for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2007. Although he is not among the league leaders in average, he leads the league in homers with 11 and quite frankly does not appear to be challenged by Can-Am League pitching. I don't think it hurts having experienced big league pitching for a few years but regardless he is here now and is tearing it up. The fans in Quebec love the guy and his French name, Pierre Luc LaForest just rolls of the French tongue of the PA announcer. I am not going to name a league defensive MVP for the first half because I do not feel that I have seen enough of the contenders but you can expect to see that award in the end of the season awards, so stay tuned.

My overall opinion of the Can-Am League thus far is a positive one. The travel is not all that bad (as long as you drive the correct direction!) and we get to play in nice ball parks. While the fan support at Holman Stadium has been streaky, most of the other league venues draw pretty well, especially on promotional nights. The league gem in terms of visiting team experience has got to be Quebec, who averages about 3,400 a night. They feature a left field beer garden which was packed all 3 days we were there and came complete with French speaking hecklers. One man was kind enough to yell at us in English saying, "Get the F#$% out of Iraq". We were lucky enough to face Gagne in Quebec and on that night we played to about 5,500. And the fans in Quebec are not just merely there. They are into the game, applauding defensive plays and good baseball, such as moving runners, etc. It is hard to say where this league ranks in terms of level of competition with other Indy leagues. All I can do is compare it to the Golden League and I have found the level of play to be pretty similar. The one edge I would give to the Can-Am league is in pitching, particularly the starters. Other than that, baseball is baseball, you get some hits, make some plays, go home and go to sleep, then get up and do it all over again.