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We're back in action, and with some good stuff today too. 

Last year at this time, we were counting down the days until the end of another disappointing season with no playoff finish.  It's exciting to know that the end of the printed schedule is not actually the end of the season this year.  It appears pretty certain that the matchups in the first round will be:

New Jersey vs. Worcester

Brockton vs. Quebec

How awesome is this fact:  Both sets of teams played 20 games against each other this season.  Both split the season series 10-10. 

Chris Carminucci announced his playoff starters yesterday for the first two games.  RHP Wayne Lundgren will start Game One, and LHP Craig Anderson will start Game Two.  The Australian duo at the top of the rotation has been tremendous this summer for the Rox.  In the 35 games started by either pitcher this year, the Rox are 22-13.  That is almost half of the team's total wins for the season.

The pair has continued a tradition of excellent Australian-born players making a name for themselves in Brockton.  Anderson, of course, was here before.  He enjoyed success with the 2005 Rox team before he went on to the Baltimore Orioles double-A and triple-A affiliates.  Another name on that list is former Rox first-baseman Craig Lewis.  Lewis still ranks fifth all-time in the Rox record books with 119 RBI and sixth in total hits with 239 in his career.  His .323 batting average in 2003 is still fourth-best in Rox history and his 111 hits that year will be third all-time until CF Chris Valencia and SS Dominic Ramos pass him this year.

Baseball in Australia is trying to come back with a National League.  The Australians won the silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and Federal Sports Minister Kate Ellis just approved a $400,000 grant to help set up a National League.

Falu's Quest for Another Batting Title

2B Melvin Falu set a Can-Am League record with 140 hits and a .383 batting average in 2008.  Don't ever forget that he played in 93 of the 94 games on the schedule.  Those numbers are astronomical. 

Here he is in 2009, batting .322 on September 1st with six games remaining in the season.  He is third in the league with that .322 mark.  It's amazing that he is back up with the leaders, but especially considering the kind of start he got this year.  Last season, he was batting .401 on July 5th and cruised to the finish, batting .379 over the month of August to finish at .383.  This season, he was batting just .264 on July 5th, and proceeded to bat .392 in July and .321 in August to get where he is. 

He is legitimately in the running for a second consecutive batting title...and he absolutely deserves.  He is an unbelievable hitter.  Right now, Worcester's 1B Nick Salotti leads the league with a .334 average.  He has played in six fewer games than Falu, and only twice in the last four for Worcester, who as a team, has clinched a playoff spot.

I talked to Melvin about this yesterday, and his response was expected:  "For me, yes it is exciting, but I'm just trying to help this team win a championship," he said.  "What I did last year," he continued, "surprised me a lot.  This year is different.  I've hit everywhere in the lineup, from leadoff to seventh, and the managers know me too well and try to pitch around me.  But I'm really not trying to think about winning a batting championship.  I want to win a championship with this team." 

He couldn't help himself in the end though.  "But if it happens I will take it," he quipped with the usual ear-to-ear grin that has become commonplace over the last two seasons. 

All-Star Ballot
I've wrestled back and forth with the thought of publishing my All-Star ballot over the last 48 hours or so since I submitted it to the league.  I've decided against it for a number of reasons which I will keep to myself.  BUt I do want to say that I think on a larger scale, Hall of Fame ballots should be made public.  It's not a secret society those writers are working with (in Major League Baseball), and I don't understand why we should not get to see who everyone voted for in the end.  My case is different.  Rather than being an objective journalist and impartial, I work for the Brockton Rox and therefor am inherently impartial, no matter how I argue it.

I will say this though: I think Quebec's Pierre-Luc LaForest will be the runaway Player of the Year, and Rox CF Chris Valencia will be the Rookie of the Year.  I didn't exactly jump out on a limb with either of those, but Valencia's recognition will continue a trend that Brockton has seen numerous times in it's short existence.  I think Barry Moss and Van Schley deserve to be applauded for that.

Looking for 51 tonight, a new franchise record.  It's been a season full of them.