and I mean real quick because it's late and I'm tired.
-Logan Shore is really, really good, as I said yesterday. Someone who doesn't follow it all that closely sent me a text message before the game today that said "No Robert Tyler tonight so we will likely lose by several runs, right?" to which I replied "I dunno. We won the two game games Tyler didn't start last [weekend]. Logan Shore is their best pitcher. It'll be tough tonight. I expect Florida to come out with a lot of energy." Last July, Ms. Red Rain and I were at a Braves game. We were playing the Phillies. It was around (or on) July 4. The Phils brought in a reliever and our righties were taking some really strong swings against him. I told her "if he comes out next inning, either Uribe or Gomes is going to take him deep." Sure enough, Juan Uribe parked one in the left field stands the next inning. I told her "it helps when you know what you're watching" (which is funny thinking back on it, because she knows as much baseball as any girl I've met or dated).... Same thing tonight though. It helps when you know how good a guy is and how good a team is. Florida coming out balls to the ball tonight was very foreseeable They're a good team and their coach called them out to some extent over their lack of scoring last night. You had to know they were going to play super aggressive in the first inning. The game was really over with in the 1st. You had to figure that us scoring 5 runs was going to be very, very difficult considering who we were facing. As good as Kevin Hill was against us, tonight was the best oppositional pitching performance we've seen this year. I don't think you can really argue otherwise.
-I've seen a lot of college baseball.... I doubt there are many 33 year old guys who didn't play or coach who have seen more than I have.... and tonight was the first time I've ever seen a straight steal of home plate. A Florida fan said afterward "I really like the balls with making that call there." I said "I would argue that, given how slow we were going to the plate and how little attention we were paying to the runner, it took more balls to NOT call that." That's a bit of an exaggeration on my part, as most coaches still wouldn't have called it, but it was teed up for Florida. During our first mound visit, I noticed that O'Sullivan came out of the dugout and said something to their 3b coach. The next pitch, Florida double stole, and then they stole home right after that. I'm not trying to call anyone out, but it's a third year pitcher who just shouldn't allow that to happen. Was that why we lost? Of course not, but it's indicative of some of the differences between us and them. Their coaches saw something and immediately took advantage of it. Our coaches either didn't know that they saw it or couldn't communicate it effectively to our pitcher (or our pitcher didn't internalize it).... When it happened, and it was still early, you had to think "maybe this isn't going to be our night." I know I thought that... maybe our dugout did, and maybe they didn't, but it's hard for me to believe that wasn't a momentum killer.
-Their OF made two really good plays and they turned a very athletic DP.... I don't know how many K's Shore had tonight, I haven't looked at the stat sheet yet, but we sure didn't put a lot of pressure on them defensively overall.
-After the rough start, Conner Jones hung in there and did a nice job. Going as long as he did was huge for the bullpen. We only had to use Mancuso and Tinder after him.... And that's the thing, a lot of younger pitchers, after giving us up 5 runs and only retiring 5 hitters would probably go in the tank and make you use a lot more bullpen. Conner sucked it up and pitched well after that and left us in better position for tomorrow. There's something to be said for that.
-I really dislike Gainesville and UF. I just thought I'd say that again. I have to get up early tomorrow and go to Tire Kingdom (or somewhere similar) as I have something that looks like a coat hanger puncturing the sidewall of rear driver's side tire. Screw this place, and their 400 second red lights. To that end, Florida baseball fans don't impress me at all. I can't tell you how many times these idiots behind me jumped up tonight on every foul ball to the OF screaming "THAT'S OUT".... I virtually never go to games down here, only when UGA is playing and only over the past 4 years or so, and I can judge balls off the bat in this park way better than that.
-Reality is that we've scored 2 runs in our last 3 games. I won't even total up the hits over those 30 innings, but it's very safe to say that we're fortunate to be 1-2 in those contests. Gotta find some O tomorrow. Faedo will be a tough customer, but we should do better than 3 hits, no runs, and the minimum number of baserunners. I think Bo Tucker is going to do a good job for us... bats have to pick it up and give us a chance. It's very, very hard to score 2 runs and beat these guys... we did that last night. We need 4+ tomorrow, I believe, but having Tucker and a relatively full bullpen should help us. We haven't won a series here since 2006... Got a great chance tomorrow and as a frustrating as tonight was, a series win is still in play and every one of us would have signed up for that on Thursday at lunch.
-Finally, I do like this team. These guys are salty. Bet against them tomorrow at your peril. You may wind up being right, maybe we lose, but I do like the make up of those group. And I like their confidence too. I didn't see anyone tonight who looked beaten or even shaken. That means a lot, to me anyway.
-Logan Shore is really, really good, as I said yesterday. Someone who doesn't follow it all that closely sent me a text message before the game today that said "No Robert Tyler tonight so we will likely lose by several runs, right?" to which I replied "I dunno. We won the two game games Tyler didn't start last [weekend]. Logan Shore is their best pitcher. It'll be tough tonight. I expect Florida to come out with a lot of energy." Last July, Ms. Red Rain and I were at a Braves game. We were playing the Phillies. It was around (or on) July 4. The Phils brought in a reliever and our righties were taking some really strong swings against him. I told her "if he comes out next inning, either Uribe or Gomes is going to take him deep." Sure enough, Juan Uribe parked one in the left field stands the next inning. I told her "it helps when you know what you're watching" (which is funny thinking back on it, because she knows as much baseball as any girl I've met or dated).... Same thing tonight though. It helps when you know how good a guy is and how good a team is. Florida coming out balls to the ball tonight was very foreseeable They're a good team and their coach called them out to some extent over their lack of scoring last night. You had to know they were going to play super aggressive in the first inning. The game was really over with in the 1st. You had to figure that us scoring 5 runs was going to be very, very difficult considering who we were facing. As good as Kevin Hill was against us, tonight was the best oppositional pitching performance we've seen this year. I don't think you can really argue otherwise.
-I've seen a lot of college baseball.... I doubt there are many 33 year old guys who didn't play or coach who have seen more than I have.... and tonight was the first time I've ever seen a straight steal of home plate. A Florida fan said afterward "I really like the balls with making that call there." I said "I would argue that, given how slow we were going to the plate and how little attention we were paying to the runner, it took more balls to NOT call that." That's a bit of an exaggeration on my part, as most coaches still wouldn't have called it, but it was teed up for Florida. During our first mound visit, I noticed that O'Sullivan came out of the dugout and said something to their 3b coach. The next pitch, Florida double stole, and then they stole home right after that. I'm not trying to call anyone out, but it's a third year pitcher who just shouldn't allow that to happen. Was that why we lost? Of course not, but it's indicative of some of the differences between us and them. Their coaches saw something and immediately took advantage of it. Our coaches either didn't know that they saw it or couldn't communicate it effectively to our pitcher (or our pitcher didn't internalize it).... When it happened, and it was still early, you had to think "maybe this isn't going to be our night." I know I thought that... maybe our dugout did, and maybe they didn't, but it's hard for me to believe that wasn't a momentum killer.
-Their OF made two really good plays and they turned a very athletic DP.... I don't know how many K's Shore had tonight, I haven't looked at the stat sheet yet, but we sure didn't put a lot of pressure on them defensively overall.
-After the rough start, Conner Jones hung in there and did a nice job. Going as long as he did was huge for the bullpen. We only had to use Mancuso and Tinder after him.... And that's the thing, a lot of younger pitchers, after giving us up 5 runs and only retiring 5 hitters would probably go in the tank and make you use a lot more bullpen. Conner sucked it up and pitched well after that and left us in better position for tomorrow. There's something to be said for that.
-I really dislike Gainesville and UF. I just thought I'd say that again. I have to get up early tomorrow and go to Tire Kingdom (or somewhere similar) as I have something that looks like a coat hanger puncturing the sidewall of rear driver's side tire. Screw this place, and their 400 second red lights. To that end, Florida baseball fans don't impress me at all. I can't tell you how many times these idiots behind me jumped up tonight on every foul ball to the OF screaming "THAT'S OUT".... I virtually never go to games down here, only when UGA is playing and only over the past 4 years or so, and I can judge balls off the bat in this park way better than that.
-Reality is that we've scored 2 runs in our last 3 games. I won't even total up the hits over those 30 innings, but it's very safe to say that we're fortunate to be 1-2 in those contests. Gotta find some O tomorrow. Faedo will be a tough customer, but we should do better than 3 hits, no runs, and the minimum number of baserunners. I think Bo Tucker is going to do a good job for us... bats have to pick it up and give us a chance. It's very, very hard to score 2 runs and beat these guys... we did that last night. We need 4+ tomorrow, I believe, but having Tucker and a relatively full bullpen should help us. We haven't won a series here since 2006... Got a great chance tomorrow and as a frustrating as tonight was, a series win is still in play and every one of us would have signed up for that on Thursday at lunch.
-Finally, I do like this team. These guys are salty. Bet against them tomorrow at your peril. You may wind up being right, maybe we lose, but I do like the make up of those group. And I like their confidence too. I didn't see anyone tonight who looked beaten or even shaken. That means a lot, to me anyway.
