-Man, what a game and weekend. Other than that 9th inning Friday night, it was just incredibly tight, back and forth baseball. But today will obviously stand out for a lot of reasons and I think I’ll remember it for a long time. Every season has a game or two that are like that, that years later you look back and remember well. It wasn’t perfect… it’s funny how these really dramatic wins hardly ever are. But it was a perfect ending.
-I thought this was Leighton Finley’s best game of the year, by a long shot. He hasn’t had the injury and illness like Kolten Smith, but like Kolten, Leighton just seems to be getting better each week. I wanted him to go longer, and was surprised we made the change when we did. And credit him too for making some big pitches in that 1st inning and not letting the miscues get him unraveled.
-Alton Davis did a nice job coming in, 1 pitch, 1 out. The next inning got away a little bit, though I thought he got squeezed a good bit. Judging by his reaction coming off the field, he thought so too. Happened with Goldstein also on Saturday. I wonder if there is something to that with them both being lefties. Yesterday was inconsistent all day, but I do wonder if no more lefties than we have on our staff, perhaps we don’t frame them as well. I think it was still Hudson catching with Davis, and it was Hunter with Goldstein yesterday. Maybe I’m wrong on all that.
-I was surprised too that we took Ryan Black down for Trey King. I’m sure they would have preferred Black’s bat there in extras. King is really good defensively though. We don’t lose a thing with him in the field.
-Crazy how it all happened late with 2 outs. Their HR to tie it in the 9th was with 2 outs, their go-ahead run in the 11th came with 2 outs (technically as we’d just gotten the second out), Tre Phelps’ hit to score Jackson came with 2 outs, and then Henry’s HR came with 2 outs. Other than their run in extras, each of those ABs felt like the game was about to end.
-On their game-tying HR, I really wish we’d just pitched around Aloy. I understand that you don’t want to put the tying run on base. But those Aloy guys are such power threats and we’d handled Logan Maxwell pretty well. In fact, they actually pinch hit for Maxwell later on in extras, which was telling. Hindsight is 20/20… but I wish we’d been more careful there in the 9th
-I wrote in the game thread that Tre Phelps had had an awful weekend up until his last AB. He really had. Bad ABs, bad body language, and really, wasn’t very good defensively either. The throw in the 7th, he really should have been able to pick, I thought. Then he leads off the bottom of the 9th and hits a weak grounder on the first pitch. But, when the game was really on the line in the 11th, he got it done. I might have been thinking that he’d had a bad weekend. He wasn’t thinking that. These guys aren’t robots, and I have so much respect for him stepping up there and getting it done.
-I totally missed where Daniel Jackson
pinch ran. I don’t know why, I just didn’t notice it… so it was weird seeing 25 screaming down the 3b line… I still can’t believe he beat that throw…
-I think Zeldin had another inning in him if need be. He was nails today. He just doesn’t get rattled. He gets balled on what looks like a good pitch, it doesn’t seem to phase him. Miscue behind him, same thing. Always at a 7, it seems. I like that, I like what it projects.
-Lastly, Henry Hunter. I’m pretty sure that’s the first hit he’s gotten off a lefty in league play. Coming into the weekend, I thought he’d catch all 30 league games…
I mean, he’d been scuffling at the plate for a little while and they’d stuck with him. He was really good defensively yesterday. I was shocked to see Hudson getting the start there today, I wouldn’t have been shocked to see Jackson, but Hudson was a surprise.
I wondered if we’d pinch hit for Henry for the first time his spot came up. The second time, in the 12th… I really liked our chances with Obee and Branch… when that didn’t happen, against the lefty, my thoughts were to get ready for the 13th. Or maybe he could get hit or draw a walk. When it was 3-0, I was just thinking walk, get Slate up there and maybe Henry could score on a gapper.
It wasn’t until I came down a little bit before I considered that maybe Arkansas didn’t want that to happen either, and that at 3-0 and 3-1, they still felt like they could get him out.
I didn’t think it was out when he hit it. I thought Justin Thomas was going to catch it at the wall. And as a quick aside, he didn’t have much of a weekend either and I’m sure making a catch over the wall there would have meant extra to him. I’ve watched the replay several times and I can’t tell how close he was to catching it.
I don’t agree fully with Van Horn’s comment that Henry was the only person in the stadium who thought he hit it out. But I bet 75% of the stadium thought it was to, but not over, the wall.
I’m happy for the win of course, but extra happy for Henry Hunter. He needed that in the worst way.
You write guys off in moments sometimes, whether you want to or not. The way it’s been going, I didn’t want to see Tre Phelps in the 11th with the game on the line. I didn’t want to see Henry Hunter against a lefty and two outs. I didn’t know if Zeldin could keep it in the yard. But they all did their jobs.
Just doesn’t get any better.
-I thought this was Leighton Finley’s best game of the year, by a long shot. He hasn’t had the injury and illness like Kolten Smith, but like Kolten, Leighton just seems to be getting better each week. I wanted him to go longer, and was surprised we made the change when we did. And credit him too for making some big pitches in that 1st inning and not letting the miscues get him unraveled.
-Alton Davis did a nice job coming in, 1 pitch, 1 out. The next inning got away a little bit, though I thought he got squeezed a good bit. Judging by his reaction coming off the field, he thought so too. Happened with Goldstein also on Saturday. I wonder if there is something to that with them both being lefties. Yesterday was inconsistent all day, but I do wonder if no more lefties than we have on our staff, perhaps we don’t frame them as well. I think it was still Hudson catching with Davis, and it was Hunter with Goldstein yesterday. Maybe I’m wrong on all that.
-I was surprised too that we took Ryan Black down for Trey King. I’m sure they would have preferred Black’s bat there in extras. King is really good defensively though. We don’t lose a thing with him in the field.
-Crazy how it all happened late with 2 outs. Their HR to tie it in the 9th was with 2 outs, their go-ahead run in the 11th came with 2 outs (technically as we’d just gotten the second out), Tre Phelps’ hit to score Jackson came with 2 outs, and then Henry’s HR came with 2 outs. Other than their run in extras, each of those ABs felt like the game was about to end.
-On their game-tying HR, I really wish we’d just pitched around Aloy. I understand that you don’t want to put the tying run on base. But those Aloy guys are such power threats and we’d handled Logan Maxwell pretty well. In fact, they actually pinch hit for Maxwell later on in extras, which was telling. Hindsight is 20/20… but I wish we’d been more careful there in the 9th
-I wrote in the game thread that Tre Phelps had had an awful weekend up until his last AB. He really had. Bad ABs, bad body language, and really, wasn’t very good defensively either. The throw in the 7th, he really should have been able to pick, I thought. Then he leads off the bottom of the 9th and hits a weak grounder on the first pitch. But, when the game was really on the line in the 11th, he got it done. I might have been thinking that he’d had a bad weekend. He wasn’t thinking that. These guys aren’t robots, and I have so much respect for him stepping up there and getting it done.
-I totally missed where Daniel Jackson
pinch ran. I don’t know why, I just didn’t notice it… so it was weird seeing 25 screaming down the 3b line… I still can’t believe he beat that throw…
-I think Zeldin had another inning in him if need be. He was nails today. He just doesn’t get rattled. He gets balled on what looks like a good pitch, it doesn’t seem to phase him. Miscue behind him, same thing. Always at a 7, it seems. I like that, I like what it projects.
-Lastly, Henry Hunter. I’m pretty sure that’s the first hit he’s gotten off a lefty in league play. Coming into the weekend, I thought he’d catch all 30 league games…
I mean, he’d been scuffling at the plate for a little while and they’d stuck with him. He was really good defensively yesterday. I was shocked to see Hudson getting the start there today, I wouldn’t have been shocked to see Jackson, but Hudson was a surprise.
I wondered if we’d pinch hit for Henry for the first time his spot came up. The second time, in the 12th… I really liked our chances with Obee and Branch… when that didn’t happen, against the lefty, my thoughts were to get ready for the 13th. Or maybe he could get hit or draw a walk. When it was 3-0, I was just thinking walk, get Slate up there and maybe Henry could score on a gapper.
It wasn’t until I came down a little bit before I considered that maybe Arkansas didn’t want that to happen either, and that at 3-0 and 3-1, they still felt like they could get him out.
I didn’t think it was out when he hit it. I thought Justin Thomas was going to catch it at the wall. And as a quick aside, he didn’t have much of a weekend either and I’m sure making a catch over the wall there would have meant extra to him. I’ve watched the replay several times and I can’t tell how close he was to catching it.
I don’t agree fully with Van Horn’s comment that Henry was the only person in the stadium who thought he hit it out. But I bet 75% of the stadium thought it was to, but not over, the wall.
I’m happy for the win of course, but extra happy for Henry Hunter. He needed that in the worst way.
You write guys off in moments sometimes, whether you want to or not. The way it’s been going, I didn’t want to see Tre Phelps in the 11th with the game on the line. I didn’t want to see Henry Hunter against a lefty and two outs. I didn’t know if Zeldin could keep it in the yard. But they all did their jobs.
Just doesn’t get any better.
