-First of all, the stadium looks fantastic. Can't say enough nice things about that. I hate using terms like "wow factor", but if that if's applicable anywhere, it's to the Dugout Club. The pregame ceremony was nice, the new jerseys looked great, and it made for an A+ day all around. All Opening Days are memorable, but I've got the feeling that this one is going to stand out to me for awhile.
-To the game itself, I thought that Tyler was good, but not great. He was throwing into an awfully tight zone (which thankfully seemed to get a bit bigger as the game rolled along). But Tyler did what he needed to do.... And I tell you, his stuff is just unreal. There was such a big difference between him and Johansmeier.
-I almost fell over when I saw that Michael Bell was hitting 3rd tonight. I had NO IDEA that was coming.... I have to say, he sure looked like he belonged in that spot tonight. 2 HRs for a guy who hit one all of last season..... He looked a lot more confident at the plate too. I can remember driving around campus one day back in the fall over by Stegman and he crossed the street in front of me, presumably headed down to Foley. I thought to myself "boy, Bell has gotten bigger since last year." I hadn't seen that kind of pop from him in the fall (though I didn't attend that many scrimmages this fall, either) and really wasn't expecting that type of performance. Great stuff.
-What I was expecting was Jake Johansmeier to allow plenty of base runners, and that definitely happened. I'm sure he was disappointed with his outing.... He never really seemed to get comfortable out there, but obviously our hitters were a big reason why. If you look at our pitching staff, and you really got an idea for the depth of it tonight, think about seeing those only those guys day in and day out in intra-squads.... It's not that Johansmeier is a bad pitcher or has bad stuff, but I bet it looked good to our hitters after what they've been saying since the fall.
-I figured that our 5 HRs were the most that we'd hit since 2009 and Dasher confirmed that in the game story. Keegan McGovern becomes the first player since, I believe, Chase Davidson and Colby May to homer in his first game at Foley. Colby ALMOST homered in this last game at Foley too, which would have been really neat to see.... Keegan McGovern is a ball player.... it looked really easy for him tonight.
-Daniel Nichols had the highlight HR, I thought.... I really thought his was going over the scoreboard. His first career HR at Ga Southern in 2013 was a "no doubter" and probably the most impressive one that he's hit up until tonight.
-There were several balls that went flying out of LF during batting practice. It reminded me of 2009.... I got to check out the "new" baseball back in the fall, but picking one up again today really reminded me of how flat the seams actually are.... What's interesting is that I've talked to a couple of pitchers and they like the new ball better, as well.... The old ball would give guys blisters with the seam being so high. The pitchers I've talked to say that the new ball is much easier on their hands. I suppose it's rare feat to please pitchers and hitters, but this "new" baseball might do just that.
-I remember David Perno saying back in 2009 that "if you're going to follow Justin Grimm, you'd better have some dirty stuff." I thought about watching Bo Tucker tonight.... He certainly has some "dirty stuff", especially his curve. That guy following Tyler had to be awfully hard on the Eastern hitters.
-Thought Zack Bowers did a great job behind the plate tonight. His defense has come a very long way since his freshman year.
-Someone sent me a text during the game and asked how things were going. I responded by saying "We are really working these guys." It was 4-2 when I said that. But honestly, it didn't feel anywhere nearly that close at the time and it was never really in doubt. We hammered some over matched teams a year ago too, so I'm not sure we can read a lot into that, but it was really nice to sit back and enjoy it.
-By the 8th inning we'd replaced the entire IF and our CF. While we technically could have done that last season, we would have taken a real step down at a couple of spots defensively. That wasn't the case tonight. Trey Logan and Max Ford looked very comfortable at SS and 2B. I wish Mitchell Webb had gotten a chance at 3B, but from what I saw in the fall he's fine defensively there. It's nice to have those kinds of options. The reality last year is that if Nelson Ward had gotten hurt, we would have been in a lot of trouble. I think we can legitimately go at least two deep at every spot right.
-Was Michael Bell's 1st inning the first time we've had a guy homer in his first AB of the season since Gordan Beckham in 2007? I figure Beckham was the last guy to homer twice in the season opener.... I think his first that day against Oregon State was during his first AB.
-DJ Smith probably had the best AB of his career in his first at bat after taking over for Wrenn.... Never really seen that kind of bat speed from DJ before.
-On Wrenn, hopefully his injury is no big deal. It wouldn't break my heart to see him sit tomorrow with the quick turnaround....
-Three years ago we didn't sweat too much in our opening win against Presbyterian and they looked quite overmatched against us. The next day, we got their best shot and ended up having to walk off against them.... Tomorrow is a new day and as great as tonight was, tomorrow will start 0-0. Things got away from Eastern in a hurry this evening and while I'm not expecting them to challenge us much over the next two days, they are an older team and I figure they'll play better than they did tonight.
-Just a great, great day.
-To the game itself, I thought that Tyler was good, but not great. He was throwing into an awfully tight zone (which thankfully seemed to get a bit bigger as the game rolled along). But Tyler did what he needed to do.... And I tell you, his stuff is just unreal. There was such a big difference between him and Johansmeier.
-I almost fell over when I saw that Michael Bell was hitting 3rd tonight. I had NO IDEA that was coming.... I have to say, he sure looked like he belonged in that spot tonight. 2 HRs for a guy who hit one all of last season..... He looked a lot more confident at the plate too. I can remember driving around campus one day back in the fall over by Stegman and he crossed the street in front of me, presumably headed down to Foley. I thought to myself "boy, Bell has gotten bigger since last year." I hadn't seen that kind of pop from him in the fall (though I didn't attend that many scrimmages this fall, either) and really wasn't expecting that type of performance. Great stuff.
-What I was expecting was Jake Johansmeier to allow plenty of base runners, and that definitely happened. I'm sure he was disappointed with his outing.... He never really seemed to get comfortable out there, but obviously our hitters were a big reason why. If you look at our pitching staff, and you really got an idea for the depth of it tonight, think about seeing those only those guys day in and day out in intra-squads.... It's not that Johansmeier is a bad pitcher or has bad stuff, but I bet it looked good to our hitters after what they've been saying since the fall.
-I figured that our 5 HRs were the most that we'd hit since 2009 and Dasher confirmed that in the game story. Keegan McGovern becomes the first player since, I believe, Chase Davidson and Colby May to homer in his first game at Foley. Colby ALMOST homered in this last game at Foley too, which would have been really neat to see.... Keegan McGovern is a ball player.... it looked really easy for him tonight.
-Daniel Nichols had the highlight HR, I thought.... I really thought his was going over the scoreboard. His first career HR at Ga Southern in 2013 was a "no doubter" and probably the most impressive one that he's hit up until tonight.
-There were several balls that went flying out of LF during batting practice. It reminded me of 2009.... I got to check out the "new" baseball back in the fall, but picking one up again today really reminded me of how flat the seams actually are.... What's interesting is that I've talked to a couple of pitchers and they like the new ball better, as well.... The old ball would give guys blisters with the seam being so high. The pitchers I've talked to say that the new ball is much easier on their hands. I suppose it's rare feat to please pitchers and hitters, but this "new" baseball might do just that.
-I remember David Perno saying back in 2009 that "if you're going to follow Justin Grimm, you'd better have some dirty stuff." I thought about watching Bo Tucker tonight.... He certainly has some "dirty stuff", especially his curve. That guy following Tyler had to be awfully hard on the Eastern hitters.
-Thought Zack Bowers did a great job behind the plate tonight. His defense has come a very long way since his freshman year.
-Someone sent me a text during the game and asked how things were going. I responded by saying "We are really working these guys." It was 4-2 when I said that. But honestly, it didn't feel anywhere nearly that close at the time and it was never really in doubt. We hammered some over matched teams a year ago too, so I'm not sure we can read a lot into that, but it was really nice to sit back and enjoy it.
-By the 8th inning we'd replaced the entire IF and our CF. While we technically could have done that last season, we would have taken a real step down at a couple of spots defensively. That wasn't the case tonight. Trey Logan and Max Ford looked very comfortable at SS and 2B. I wish Mitchell Webb had gotten a chance at 3B, but from what I saw in the fall he's fine defensively there. It's nice to have those kinds of options. The reality last year is that if Nelson Ward had gotten hurt, we would have been in a lot of trouble. I think we can legitimately go at least two deep at every spot right.
-Was Michael Bell's 1st inning the first time we've had a guy homer in his first AB of the season since Gordan Beckham in 2007? I figure Beckham was the last guy to homer twice in the season opener.... I think his first that day against Oregon State was during his first AB.
-DJ Smith probably had the best AB of his career in his first at bat after taking over for Wrenn.... Never really seen that kind of bat speed from DJ before.
-On Wrenn, hopefully his injury is no big deal. It wouldn't break my heart to see him sit tomorrow with the quick turnaround....
-Three years ago we didn't sweat too much in our opening win against Presbyterian and they looked quite overmatched against us. The next day, we got their best shot and ended up having to walk off against them.... Tomorrow is a new day and as great as tonight was, tomorrow will start 0-0. Things got away from Eastern in a hurry this evening and while I'm not expecting them to challenge us much over the next two days, they are an older team and I figure they'll play better than they did tonight.
-Just a great, great day.
