Rapidz: Falling in love with a team in defeat?

Did everyone here in Ottawa get a load of the Can-Am League attendance totals from Sunday afternoon?

Ottawa: 4,390
New Jersey: 1,822
Worcester: 1,577
Sussex: 1,178

Bear in mind, these are announced figures that don't take promotions, package deals, freebies and such into account, but Ottawa's total was only 200 shy from the other three games in the league that day. Again, it can't be stressed too much that there's a risk in writing about attendance at a game you didn't attend (Sunday was one of those inside-my-head days where you get lost in thought and before you know it, it's 9 o'clock and you've missed the Euro 2008 final entirely), but still, it bears noting.

No doubt people saw that left-handed reliever Jason Pilkington was released. Pilkington's returned to the Inter-County League to play with the Guelph Royals. Greg Layson from the Guelph Mercury, was kind enough to pass along word that he'll have a story in his newspaper tomorrow about Pilkington going back to the Inter-County, which is a good brand of ball.

It was also a real shame that it didn't work out with Sambu Ngungidi, who has also moved on from the club.

The other big Can-Am story is that Éric Cyr, Québec's ace left-hander, became the first player signed out of the Can-Am League by a big-league organization this season. He's been lighting it up, with an 1.80 ERA and a 48-to-4 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 45 innings. From a Rapidz point of view, it's nice that he's leaving before this weekend series, but he was in Québec long enough to help them get close to a playoff berth.