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Saturday June 9th, 2007
1:57amRice Wins 3-2 in the 10th
From a neutral baseball fan's point of view that was probably a really good game, but we all know that I am not a neutral fan. Errors killed us and against a very good team like Rice the little stuff will cost you the game.
I took off straight from work and got to the ballpark about 30 minutes before the game started, however, I was stuck on University Blvd. for 32 minutes waiting to park so we missed the top of the 1st inning. I met my old man and my best friend's girlfriend, Sarah, at the gate and we went in. My buddy Pat was flying in from Florida and his plane was delayed so he didn't arrive until the 3rd or 4th inning.
When I ordered my tickets I was excited because we had Row 1 Seats 1-4 of the right field bleachers. I figured, hey, at least we got the 4 best seats. I was way wrong. When we got to our seats we were all like, "You have got to be kidding me." They were literally the worst seats I've ever had in my life. The sight-line of the first row is blocked by the padded cross bar on the top of the fence, which is probably easier to deal with when 2 of your seats aren't 18" behind a light pole. Then in the far left seat (seat 1) you have to deal with the two fence posts that block your view of home plate. I'm going to take pictures tomorrow because I don't think anyone can possibly top them for worst seats ever.
EDIT: Here is a picture from a random game at Rice to help show where the seats are (the 4 red dots). The guy with the camera is standing in front of the pole that is in front of the seats:
We had to lean over the entire game so we could see below the top crossbar on the fence....but we couldn't lean too far over because ESPN has a sign hanging on the fence leaving us with a 14" window to see through (not shown in that picture). My dad couldn’t even sit with us because he couldn't sit like that for 3 hours so he stood off to the side next to the EMS guys. I'm contemplating taking a pad for game 2 and just sitting on the ground in front of our seats so my neck won't be as sore on Sunday.
David Newmann started for us on the hill but didn't have his best stuff. Regardless he did an incredible job battling with what he had. He went 6 innings allowing only a single unearned run....that scored on back-to-back errors.
In the 5th inning we threw the ball away putting the leadoff runner at second base and then on the next batter allowed him to score on a fielding error. When that run crossed the plate I turned to my friends and said, "That is going to come back to haunt us." It's like I'm flippin' Nostradamus and I wish I wasn't. How we got out of it with only 1 runs coming across the plate was a miracle.
Listening to the post-game interviews, Coach Childress was pretty upset with Luke Anders.
That was on the fly ball that dropped when the LFer and SS collided, and Coach is right, however it wasn't as crucial as the unearned run and I didn't think that was quite as crucial as the single into centerfield that scored the tying run in the 9th. It was a little flair that landed about 8 feet in front of Kyle Colligan. All I could hear echoing through my mind was my high school coach's voice yelling, "DAMMIT, THAT BALL HAS GOT TO BE CAUGHT!"In the 7th inning, you know, Luke Anders gets jammed and hits a flair and dogs it to first base and doesn't hustle into second base and we have to give up an out to move him over to second and we don't score. If he hustles into second base, we bunt him to third and he scores on a groundball or fly ball.EDIT: Here is a link to the video clip.
The guy a couple rows behind us said something along the lines that it was right to play it safe and not be overly aggressive and let the ball get past him. I understand that line of reasoning but the ball wasn't hit hard enough to roll too far past Colligan and the little looper would have had to hit a rock hidden in the grass for it not to be at least knocked down if it wasn't caught. If he catches it we've got 2 outs with a runner at second base. If he misses it the run scores (which it did when the ball fell in) and there is one out with a runner at 2nd base (at worst). That extra out, in my opinion, is worth the risk there with the top of the lineup coming up. EDIT: After watching the video clip, I don't think a dive would have even been necessary. A sliding catch would have been enough, which would make it even easier to keep the ball from getting past you.
At the plate, Colligan was a stud....again. He was 2-for-4 with a run and two SBs. He is white-hot right now coming off of an incredible Regional going 11-for-21 with a double, a triple, 2 HRs, and 7 runs scored since the start of Regional play. It is just too bad that not once in his 4 plate appearances did he have anyone on base in front of him to drive home.
The National Freshman of the Year, Ryan Berry, had an excellent start going 7+ innings for Rice with 10 Ks allowing only 2 runs. Bobby Bramhall (from A&M Consolidated HS) came out of the pen and was filthy. He was a first batter walk shy of perfect in the final 2.2 innings with 4 strikeouts. He has given up 1 hit in his last 11.2 innings (6 appearances). I hope he's done for the weekend but I have a sneaking suspicion that we'll see #3 on the mound again.
EDIT: The biggest bust inning for us was the 6th. We led off with back-to-back walks (Colligan & Hicks) and we came away with nothing. When your first batter of an inning reaches on a walk he scores something like 70% of the time but when your first two batters reach on walks you would have to think that number leaps up. Deggs called for Stouffer bunt the runners to 2nd & 3rd with 1 out but Berry came off the mound and made an incredible play to get Colligan at 3rd base. Lots of people disagreed with the decision to bunt with Stouffer there but I've got no problem with it. A pressure offense is what got us here and we shouldn't go away from it now. With 1 out and runners at 2nd & 3rd and Stinson and Anders coming up we're in great shape to score at least one run. Then Stinson got rung up on a pitch that didn't look like a strike and we had Hicks running on the pitch and they got a strike'em out throw'em out double play.
Nicholson relieved Newmann in the 7th for us and also didn't look like he had his best stuff although he pitched well out of the gate. He gave up that run in the 9th and then in the 10th gave up a bunt single and followed it up with a walk and Childress came out and brought in Gary Campfield who has been so clutch for us the last couple of weeks. Tonight wasn't to be as Jordan Dodson, the guy who bugs me so much, hit a single into LF that scored the runner from second. Game over, drive home safely.
This game marked the 10th time we've lost in our opponent's last at-bat. In five of those ten losses we blew multiple run leads. Keep in mind we've only lost 18 games on the season. That hurts.
After the game we met up with another buddy, Michael, and his wife, Lisa. They won their tickets at an office party and got to sit RIGHT behind home plate. I couldn't see them from my seat, thanks to the pole, but I'm sure they had a good time. We went to Goode Company BBQ....mmmmmm.
In the MLB draft today we had another chunk of players selected. Kyle Nicholson went in the 7th round to San Francisco, Craig Stinson went in the 12th round to Washington, Gary Campfield went in the 12th round to Cleveland, Parker Dalton went in the 24th round to LAD, Ben Feltner went in the 26th round to Milwaukee, and Jordan Chambless went in the 50th round to Cincinnati as the 8th from last pick (simply as a complete stab in the dark by the Reds). Congrats to those boys and regardless of your decision to come back or sign a contract, good luck. I've enjoyed watching each of you guys over the last few seasons.
Speaking of the draft.....why on earth does MLB have to do the draft DURING the freaking Super Regionals? Like these kids need any sort of distraction. It's not like this is a little distraction, it is literally a life-altering event for those selected or anticipating being selected. I have no idea if this had any sort of actual influence on the players and the game, but one could certainly see how it might. Could they not have planned it out to where it wasn't happening on the day that games are scheduled?
Tonight's game is at 5pm on ESPNU. Neither Childress nor Graham announced their starters so it'll be a surprise when we show up at the park.
BTHO Rice!
Friday June 8th, 2007
12:19amSuper Regional Preview: #1 Rice
We're off to Reckling Park this evening to watch our #7 Ags take on the #1 team in the nation, Rice. This year the Super Regionals are bizarre in that of the Top 8 seeds in the tournament, only 3 survived the first round to host their Super Regional.
It really pushes the idea of re-seeding after Regionals because the top teams happen to face off against each other (Using RPI; #1 Rice/#6 A&M, #8 South Carolina/#3 North Carolina) while the lesser teams (#24 Oregon State/#37 Michigan, #35 Louisville/#45 OkieState) face each other. That means that we won't be seeing the best teams in the CWS. I guess this reinforces the phrase, "Just win, baby."
Here is the following preview in a PDF format so you can print it out and bring it with you to the ballpark.
Here is our schedule
Friday 6:00pm ESPN Saturday 5:00pm ESPNU Sunday 6:35pm ESPN2 (if necessary)We will throw David Newmann tonight against Freshman Player of the Year, Ryan Berry (LHP). I imagine we'll see Joe Savery on Saturday but who we will be throwing is a big question mark. It doesn't really matter to me, after what he's done thus far in this post-season, I think we can all see that Childress knows what he is doing with the pitching staff.
You probably remember me telling you all that we're 2-0 against Rice this season, playing them on February 11th at Minute Maid Park and again on March 20th at Reckling. Two big differences from those games is the return of their closer, Cole St.Clair, who has been stout since coming back from injury, and keeping in mind that Joe Savery was on a very limited pitch count coming off of off-season shoulder surgery that early in the season. It isn't the same Rice team that we played back then....but then again this isn't the same A&M team that they faced either. Our pitching has been phenomenal the last two weeks.
19+ Innings Pitched G-GS W-L-S IP H R ER SO/BB HR ERA BAA =============================================================== 28 R.Berry..... 20/17 11-2-0 109.0 96 42 33 109/30 9 2.72 .241 20 J.Savery.... 17/17 10-1-0 87.1 75 31 27 57/38 2 2.78 .239 26 M.Langwell.. 20/9 7-1-1 73.0 52 21 14 50/26 2 1.73 .199 31 R.Tacker.... 22/5 9-1-3 71.2 61 26 24 67/21 3 3.01 .231 21 C.Kelley.... 15/14 3-3-0 71.1 74 35 26 56/27 5 3.28 .271 3 B.Bramhall.. 25/0 5-2-6 55.2 32 17 12 72/27 2 1.94 .165 34 S.Lonergan.. 18/1 4-0-0 28.0 26 14 10 25/7 1 3.21 .239 42 C.StClair... 13/0 0-0-7 19.0 14 5 5 21/6 0 2.37 .206Ryne Tacker's name might seem familiar to you and for good reason. Ryne was on the A&M roster in 2004 before transferring to Rice before the 2005 season. He has thrown quite well this year under Coach Graham.
Here is a look at how the Owl's pitchers have faired since the regular season started (ie. the C-USA Tournament & Regionals). It gives you an idea of how Graham is handling his staff and who he seems to go to.
IP H R ER SO/BB AB BF 5/23 R.Berry... 5.0 10 6 5 4/1 24 28 W* 5/27 R.Berry... 2.0 1 0 0 5/2 7 9 6/02 R.Berry... 6.1 6 3 2 7/1 24 26 *W IP H R ER SO/BB AB BF 5/23 B.Bramhall 2.0 0 0 0 3/1 5 6 5/26a B.Brahmall 2.0 0 0 0 0/0 6 6 5/27 B.Bramhall 1.0 0 0 0 2/1 3 4 6/01 B.Bramhall 2.0 1 0 0 4/0 7 7 6/03 B.Bramhall 2.0 0 0 0 3/1 6 7 S IP H R ER SO/BB AB BF 5/24 M.Langwell 7.1 3 0 0 9/1 24 25 W 6/01 M.Langwell 7.0 4 0 0 8/1 24 25 *W IP H R ER SO/BB AB BF 5/26b J.Savery.. 5.2 9 6 6 3/4 26 30 *W 6/03 J.Savery... 7.0 6 1 1 3/1 25 29 *W IP H R ER SO/BB AB BF 5/24 C.StClair.. 1.0 0 0 0 0/1 2 3 S 5/26b C.StClair. 1.1 4 2 2 2/1 7 8 6/02 C.StClair.. 2.2 2 0 0 1/1 11 12 S IP H R ER SO/BB AB BF 5/26b W.McDaniel 1.0 0 0 0 1/0 3 3 5/27 W.McDaniel 1.0 3 2 2 3/1 6 6 IP H R ER SO/BB AB BF 5/23 B.Price... 1.0 0 0 0 2/0 3 3 5/27 B.Price... 2.0 7 6 6 2/3 13 16 * IP H R ER SO/BB AB BF 5/26b M.Ojala... 1.0 4 1 1 0/0 7 8 5/27 M.Ojala... 2.2 2 0 0 2/3 8 12 W IP H R ER SO/BB AB BF 5/24 R.Tacker... 0.2 4 5 5 1/1 5 7 * 5/26a C.Kelley.. 7.0 4 2 2 8/1 24 27 *L 5/27 S.Lonergan. 0.1 0 0 0 0/0 1 1 *starterLast weekend they started Langwell against Prairie View on Friday, Berry against TCU on Saturday, and Savery against TCU on Sunday. Looks like Bramhall is their go-to-guy out of the pen early getting the ball to St.Clair.
Offensively the Owls are led by 1B Joe Savery and SS Brian Friday, who were drafted yesterday in the 1st and 3rd round, respectively, and former Southlake Carroll High RB, Aaron Luna.
100+ ABs AB R H RBI SO/BB HR XBH SB/A BA OBP SLG =============================================================== 20 J.Savery.... 250 54 90 54 46/34 4 24 4/5 .360 .439 .496 4 B.Friday.... 252 60 86 28 37/29 3 31 14/20 .341 .429 .496 9 A.Luna...... 212 53 70 61 31/44 11 29 6/7 .330 .460 .585 14 J.Buenger... 197 41 62 43 30/20 7 20 2/2 .315 .408 .492 13 T.Henley.... 241 53 74 30 33/29 6 20 7/9 .307 .421 .452 12 D.Seastruck. 190 27 57 36 21/12 1 13 0/2 .300 .338 .389 7 J.Dodson.... 195 41 58 50 35/36 8 19 6/11 .297 .408 .477 11 D.Lehmann... 170 30 50 35 14/24 4 18 1/1 .294 .410 .453 10 J.Gayhart... 151 40 51 40 30/24 4 17 2/2 .338 .414 .536 22 C.Lembeck... 133 24 34 20 26/12 1 7 3/4 .256 .315 .331I am very happy to see that Jess Buenger has had such a good season. Jess played for us last season, and I really liked him, but the coaching staff let him go and he transferred to Rice. One guy I can't stand, for whatever reason, is Jordan Dodson. I have no clue why he bothers me but there is something about him that just makes me angry.
I want to also point out that Graham's kids once again have no problem not attempting to get out of the way of pitches as Henley has been hit 20 times and Buenger & Friday have been hit 11 times.
Before I go I want to talk a little bit about our boys. Congrats are in order for Brandon Hicks, Blake Stouffer & David Newmann who were all drafted yesterday. Hicks went in the 3rd round to Atlanta, Blake went in the 4th round to Cinci, and Newmann went in the 4th round to Tampa Bay. We also need to congratulate Scott Migl who was named as a Freshman All-American, marking the 7th F-A-A pitcher for Coach Childress in the last 9 seasons.
In other draft news, we're probably going to lose some of our recruits again. Kevin Ahrens (3B; Memorial HS in Houston) was snagged by the Blue Jays with the 16th overall pick in the 1st round. Take the money Kevin. Eric Eiland (OF; Lamar HS in Houston) was snagged up in the 2nd round, again by the Jays. Take the money Eric. Finally, Will Middlebrooks (3B/P; Liberty-Elyau HS in Texarkana) was taken in the 5th round by Boston. Will, come to A&M for a couple of years and triple your money.
Finally, I want to give you a breakdown of our pitching staff since the end of the regular season. We've seen several different guys step up huge for us.
IP H R ER SO/BB BF GB/FB 5/23 G.Campfield. 2.0 1 1 1 0/3 10 3/3 5/27 G.Campfield. 4.1 6 1 1 5/1 19 2/5 W 6/03a G.Campfield. 5.0 4 1 1 5/2 20 3/6 W IP H R ER SO/BB BF GB/FB 5/23 T.Starling.. 2.0 1 1 1 1/1 8 3/2 5/26 T.Starling.. 3.2 2 0 0 1/2 15 4/5 S 6/01 T.Starling.. 2.0 2 1 0 1/1 9 3/1 6/03b T.Starling.. 2.0 1 0 0 1/0 7 2/2 S IP H R ER SO/BB BF GB/FB 5/24 K.Rivers.... 6.2 7 3 3 3/5 31 11/5 W* 6/03a K.Rivers.... 4.0 4 3 3 1/3 20 5/6 * IP H R ER SO/BB BF GB/FB 5/24 K.Nicholson. 2.1 0 0 0 2/0 7 5/0 6/02 K.Nicholson. 8.0 7 5 5 5/2 32 18/0 L* IP H R ER SO/BB BF GB/FB 5/26 D.Newmann... 5.0 5 1 1 2/5 24 4/7 W* 6/01 D.Newmann... 7.0 6 1 0 9/3 30 5/5 W* IP H R ER SO/BB BF GB/FB 5/27 S.Migl...... 4.2 7 5 5 3/2 22 8/2 * 6/03b S.Migl...... 7.0 9 1 1 3/0 31 4/13 W* IP H R ER SO/BB BF GB/FB 5/26 K.Thebeau... 0.1 1 1 1 0/2 4 0/1 6/04 K.Thebeau... 9.0 7 2 0 13/0 34 5/8 W* IP H R ER SO/BB BF GB/FB 5/23 C.Elhert.... 2.1 4 2 2 3/1 14 1/3 L* 5/23 M.Ueckert... 1.2 2 1 1 1/0 8 1/3 *starter
important performanceLook at how many different guys have stepped up for us! Who would have thought that we'd be 7-2 in the postseason with Kyle Nicholson being 0-1?
Have a great time at the game and BTHO Rice! WHOOP!
Monday June 5th, 2007
10:28pmWE'RE GOING TO SUPER REGIONALS!
What a season!
I won't delve into everything tonight, I'll save that for later in the week, but Kyle Thebeau pitched one of the most incredible games I can remember. He threw his first career complete game while setting his career mark in strikeouts with 13....he didn't give up an earned run or a walk. Completely dominant.
He struck out the final 5 batters starting in a tight spot in the 8th. We were up 4-1 and he gave up back-to-back singles to lead off the inning. He got a ground out that advanced the runners to 2nd & 3rd then struck out ULaLa's biggest bat, Jonathan Lucroy, for the second out and then struck out their 2nd best hitter Hawkins for the third out to snuff out the rally. He was unhittable in the 9th. After starting 2-0 on the first batter he K’ed the side on the next 9 pitches.
Get your tickets for the Rice Super Regional ASAP because they're going fast. I ordered mine right after the game and I'm in the bleachers down the RF line.
I'll get a more in-depth recap up later in the week and I'll try to put together a Super Regional Preview.
Gig'em & BTHO Rice!
BTW, Rob Childress got us to the "Sweet 16" quicker than TKC did.
Sunday May 3rd, 2007
5:35pmBrief Regional Update
It has been a crazy weekend thus far. I am currently sitting in the Blocker computer lab waiting for the 7pm game to start. I had to do payroll for work and I needed a computer to do it....I'm probably the first person ever from my company to do payroll from the Blocker computer lab.
I have no clue what is going on in the world outside of Aggie baseball. My brother's lease ended Thursday so we stayed Friday night and last night at one of my brother's buddy's house. He hasn't moved into it yet so it was literally a mattress and a beanbag chair in the middle of the living room floor. There is no fridge either so we've been hitting up all of my favorite spots for grub (Wings-N-More, Chick-fil-a breakfast, Freebirds, Texas Roadhouse, & Rudy's).
We won quite handily on Friday night over LeMoyne and then lost last night in a drop-down, drag-out game to ULaLa. We were up 3-1 in the 7th before Kyle Nicholson got roughed up a little and we went down 4-3. Then they tacked on another run with a solo HR by their stud Lucroy in the bottom of the 8th. In the top of the 9th we almost answered back. Blake Stouffer hit a 1-out double bringing Craig Stinson to the plate. Craig hit a shot to LF. We're sitting in Aggie Alley so all I see is a glove pop up over the fence and go back down....and no ball came over. The flippin' LFer stole the game-tying HR away from us. I still can't believe it. Luke Anders followed with a double to score Stouffer but we couldn't get him home before they recorded our final out. Argh.
In my first two experiences in Regional play ('03 & '04) we went 2-0 in our first two games so this is the first time that it hit me how difficult it is to win a Regional if you lose one of your first two games. ULaLa is sitting at 2-0 resting in the A/C all afternoon while we're scrapping in the scorching sun to get to face them again. And then we have to beat'em twice. It's a tough road in front of us but if any team can do it, it'll be this group.
I have no idea who we'll throw. We threw Newman on Friday (Starling threw the final inning) and Nicholson went the distance in the loss to ULaLa. This afternoon Kirkland Rivers went 4 (plus 2 batters in the 5th) and Gary Campfield went the remaining 5 innings.
We were witness to two incredible defensive plays, including that HR robbery. The other was on Friday night where LeMoyne's CFer, Sean Paino, was running straight back on a Brandon Hicks fly ball and caught it just as he crashed head-first into the CF wall. It was incredible.
Speaking of incredible I have two words for you: Blake Stouffer. Blake hit for the cycle this afternoon and coupled with his last 3 at-bats from Saturday he is 7 for his last 7. 1B, HR, 2B, 1B, HR, 3B, 2B with 6 RBIs and 4 runs scored. Yowzers.
Alright, I'm taking off for Olsen again. Let's hope the dark clouds that were drifting our direction as I walked in have drifted off....
Gig'em & BTHO ULaLa! WHOOP!