Sorry to be so late in posting...it's 12:20am ET...but better late then never, right? As always, minus the stats, all U read below (analysis) is just my ,02. Your feedback on the State of Canes Baseball is encouraged!
Post-Game
What a difference a day or night makes and in the crazy game of baseball, often described as such by No. 3., that is all it takes.
And that is what happened at The Light between Saturday night and Sunday afternoon when the Canes went from getting drubbed 15-5 by their arch-rival Florida State to playing a little "back at ya" and delivering some much-needed payback in a 12-0 pounding of the Noles on Sunday.
Before getting into the game stats, the question I would any of U is this: where does this team go from here after this weekend. It was a series the Canes had to win and U all know most, if not all, the reason why.
The fact we lost two out of three raises concern because we don't play any more series against ranked teams and since we are going to drop even farther than our current ranking of 13 or so, how can the Canes have any shot of crawling back into one of those precious top 8 seeds that rewards teams with home field advantage all the way up to Omaha?
The ESPN3 announcers that included former UM baseball player Ouicho (sp?) Hernandez, talked at length about how Miami has lost every series against ranked teams this year. After today, that makes three of them after losing to Florida and Louisville, both top 10 teams.
But the unpredictable bounce of the ball in those series tells me the results could have been quite different as in: "what might have been."
At Florida
Game 1: Lose 4-3 as the Gates score winning run in the bottom of the 9th
Game 2: Canes win 7-2
Game 3: Gates take series with a 2-1 win 1 run loss on the road
At Louisville
Game 1: Cards win 9-6 We're up 6-3 in the 7th, then UL scores a 6-spot to win
Game 2: Canes win 9-5
Game 3: Lose 5-4 1-run road loss as Cards score winning run in the 9th
At home to FSU
Game 1: Lose 8-7 in 17 innings 1-run loss with 27 AB's that were fly outs
Game 2: Lose 15-5 1st inning: Bases loaded, no outs & 4-5-6 hitters up. What could have been?
Game 3: Pound them back 12-0. I think shutting them down and out is impressive. Will voters?
If football may be a game of inches, what is baseball? Yes, we lost these series but....
Now we have to hope that we can win 95% or more of our remaining games, win deep into the ACC tournament and hope that a good half dozen or more teams in front of us lose more than we do. Oyr current RPI remains No. 2 and while that and our record surely gets us a regional for the 43rd year in a row, I don't know if we have enough juice to host a super regional unless we get a lot of help.
We had our chance this weekend to make a statement and a move and we didn't and now it may be FSU that breaks back into the top 10. If they keep winning and take the series at Louisville, they should host a super regional. Just my .02.
Okay, back to Sunday's win:
The final line score tells the story, as dramatic as Saturday night's, only the stats changed sides:
FSU 0 7 0
UM 12 18 1
Where was this offense Saturday night? The same place FSU's was on Sunday, getting dominated by pitching but at least we didn't get shut out. BTW, I think this was only the 2nd time the Noles have been blanked this year. The other time was by feisty FL Gulf Coast in a 5-0 midweek game in Tally. No shame there, the Eagles have also beaten the Canes this year.
Following Sunday's victory Miami is 31-13, 16-8/ACC, while FSU dropped to 33-13 and also 16-8/ACC. But they have Atlantic division-leading Louisville to contend with and they travel to Louisville in 2 weeks in a series to decide their division. That should be must-see TV. Meanwhile, UM sits on a 3-game lead (I think) in the Coastal.
Let's take a look at some of the stats from the game:
PITCHING
I know the long-ball bats finally came out of hibernation, but for me the MVP goes to starting P Enrique Sosa. If U think we "had to have" Saturday night's game to win the series, we really "had to have" Sunday's game or risk being swept at home and by Florida State no less. No. 3 knew the importance, that's why he made it the focal point of his pre-game talk to the team. None of the usual scouting reports, signs and pre-game chatter this day etc. Here's what he told the media during after the game: (my emphasis below because I heard it in his voice):
"I talked to the team just about the rivalry before the game, how important it was to come out today," he said. "We haven't lost a series at home since last March and here we are and we better not be swept and we better not be swept particularly by Florida State. We have to live with that for a year and our fans have to live with it. It's very important for us to come out and play this game and play our heart out today."
And boy did Sosa & Co. ever deliver to make sure the Canes were not swept at home and not by FSU:
Sosa (WP, 6-3): IP 6 H 6 R 0 ER 0 BB 1 SO 5 87 pitches (lowered home ERA 0.96, record 5-0)
Hammond: IP 1.0 H 1 R 0 ER 0 BB 0 SO 0 11 pitches
D. Garcia: IP 2.0 H 0 ER 0 BB 0 SO 4 24 pitches (struck out 4 of 6 batters he faced)
So it was a very good day for Miami on the mound. BTW, as many of U know. Sosa came out of the game earlier than planned because of a cut on his foot. He says he had a pad to protect it and the pad moved so up by a dozen it was a smart move to take him out. Sosa, says he will be fine.
HITTING
The story here of course is the fact Miami hit 4 HRs in the game...they didn't "hit" them, they "crushed" all four shots for emphasis as if they were letting fly all of their frustration from the two previous nights.
And note this: All three of our big boppers -- Thompson, Collins & Abreu -- did what they are supposed to do: hit HRs and generate offense. When they do that, combined with our pitching, this team can beat anybody! (just my humble, somewhat biased, opinion)
Eusebio: 1-5, 1 R
Barr: 2-4, 1 R
Iskenderian: 4-4, 3 R 2 RBI Another solid game from the transfer. What an impact he's had
Collins: 2-2, 2 R 2 RBI He hit la bomba into the garage in deeeep RF
Thompson: 1-4, 2 R 3 RBI No. 3 says his 1st inning 3-run blast was the game-changer
Abreu: 1-3 1 R 3 RBI Nice to Willie smack the cover off the ball
Kennedy: 2-4 1 R 1 RBI He breaks out of a 0-10 series slump or something like that
Lopez: 2-5
Chester: 1-3
Substitutes:
Ruiz: 1-1 1 R 1 RBI Silent but deadly, he keeps contributing at the plate and in the field
Michelangeli: 0-1
Crocitto: 1-1 1 RBI Smacked a double down LF line...did U know: he's hitting .400+
Heyward: 0-1
Smith: 0-1
LOB: Miami 10, FSU 7 Final score could have been a lot worse
ATTENDANCE: 3,289 Pretty good considering the heat, temps hit 97 around 3pm
AROUND THE ACC
No. 4 Louisville swept Bethune-Cookman this weekend. They host FSU May 7-9
UNC sweeps BC in Chapel Hill
GT takes 2 of 3 from Clemson in ATL
Wake Forest wins 2 of 3 at home vs. Notre Dame
NCST spots UVA an opening series win and then take 2 to win the series at home
Duke wins series at home with VT 2 games to 1
Pitt takes series at home against Fairfield 2-1. The Canes travel to Pitt next weekend
ELSEWHERE
No. 1 LSU took 2-3 from No. 2 Texas A&M in Baton Rouge
No. 3 UCLA took 2-3 from Stanford on the The Farm
No. 6 Florida took 2-3 from Kentucky at home
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Speaking of next weekend, the Canes have no mid-week game because they have finals to contend with so I'm guessing that is why they fly to Pittsburgh on Friday and begin that series with a Saturday DH. Not sure I am up to doing that back-to-back. If there are other who want to chip in, please do so.
Bottom line: Miami has only 11-12 games left before the ACC tournament is held in Durham, I think, from May 20-24.
IN CLOSING
That's it for me, Caniacs. Thanks for checking out my threads and for your great feedback. After an emotional roller-coaster-type weekend, I think we can all use a break. Have a great week and I am sure we'll re-connect during the week if not next weekend for the Pitt series.
After Sunday's big whippin' of the Noles...we came away at least one time saying "it's great to be...."
Go Canes!
Post-Game
What a difference a day or night makes and in the crazy game of baseball, often described as such by No. 3., that is all it takes.
And that is what happened at The Light between Saturday night and Sunday afternoon when the Canes went from getting drubbed 15-5 by their arch-rival Florida State to playing a little "back at ya" and delivering some much-needed payback in a 12-0 pounding of the Noles on Sunday.
Before getting into the game stats, the question I would any of U is this: where does this team go from here after this weekend. It was a series the Canes had to win and U all know most, if not all, the reason why.
The fact we lost two out of three raises concern because we don't play any more series against ranked teams and since we are going to drop even farther than our current ranking of 13 or so, how can the Canes have any shot of crawling back into one of those precious top 8 seeds that rewards teams with home field advantage all the way up to Omaha?
The ESPN3 announcers that included former UM baseball player Ouicho (sp?) Hernandez, talked at length about how Miami has lost every series against ranked teams this year. After today, that makes three of them after losing to Florida and Louisville, both top 10 teams.
But the unpredictable bounce of the ball in those series tells me the results could have been quite different as in: "what might have been."
At Florida
Game 1: Lose 4-3 as the Gates score winning run in the bottom of the 9th
Game 2: Canes win 7-2
Game 3: Gates take series with a 2-1 win 1 run loss on the road
At Louisville
Game 1: Cards win 9-6 We're up 6-3 in the 7th, then UL scores a 6-spot to win
Game 2: Canes win 9-5
Game 3: Lose 5-4 1-run road loss as Cards score winning run in the 9th
At home to FSU
Game 1: Lose 8-7 in 17 innings 1-run loss with 27 AB's that were fly outs
Game 2: Lose 15-5 1st inning: Bases loaded, no outs & 4-5-6 hitters up. What could have been?
Game 3: Pound them back 12-0. I think shutting them down and out is impressive. Will voters?
If football may be a game of inches, what is baseball? Yes, we lost these series but....
Now we have to hope that we can win 95% or more of our remaining games, win deep into the ACC tournament and hope that a good half dozen or more teams in front of us lose more than we do. Oyr current RPI remains No. 2 and while that and our record surely gets us a regional for the 43rd year in a row, I don't know if we have enough juice to host a super regional unless we get a lot of help.
We had our chance this weekend to make a statement and a move and we didn't and now it may be FSU that breaks back into the top 10. If they keep winning and take the series at Louisville, they should host a super regional. Just my .02.
Okay, back to Sunday's win:
The final line score tells the story, as dramatic as Saturday night's, only the stats changed sides:
FSU 0 7 0
UM 12 18 1
Where was this offense Saturday night? The same place FSU's was on Sunday, getting dominated by pitching but at least we didn't get shut out. BTW, I think this was only the 2nd time the Noles have been blanked this year. The other time was by feisty FL Gulf Coast in a 5-0 midweek game in Tally. No shame there, the Eagles have also beaten the Canes this year.
Following Sunday's victory Miami is 31-13, 16-8/ACC, while FSU dropped to 33-13 and also 16-8/ACC. But they have Atlantic division-leading Louisville to contend with and they travel to Louisville in 2 weeks in a series to decide their division. That should be must-see TV. Meanwhile, UM sits on a 3-game lead (I think) in the Coastal.
Let's take a look at some of the stats from the game:
PITCHING
I know the long-ball bats finally came out of hibernation, but for me the MVP goes to starting P Enrique Sosa. If U think we "had to have" Saturday night's game to win the series, we really "had to have" Sunday's game or risk being swept at home and by Florida State no less. No. 3 knew the importance, that's why he made it the focal point of his pre-game talk to the team. None of the usual scouting reports, signs and pre-game chatter this day etc. Here's what he told the media during after the game: (my emphasis below because I heard it in his voice):
"I talked to the team just about the rivalry before the game, how important it was to come out today," he said. "We haven't lost a series at home since last March and here we are and we better not be swept and we better not be swept particularly by Florida State. We have to live with that for a year and our fans have to live with it. It's very important for us to come out and play this game and play our heart out today."
And boy did Sosa & Co. ever deliver to make sure the Canes were not swept at home and not by FSU:
Sosa (WP, 6-3): IP 6 H 6 R 0 ER 0 BB 1 SO 5 87 pitches (lowered home ERA 0.96, record 5-0)
Hammond: IP 1.0 H 1 R 0 ER 0 BB 0 SO 0 11 pitches
D. Garcia: IP 2.0 H 0 ER 0 BB 0 SO 4 24 pitches (struck out 4 of 6 batters he faced)
So it was a very good day for Miami on the mound. BTW, as many of U know. Sosa came out of the game earlier than planned because of a cut on his foot. He says he had a pad to protect it and the pad moved so up by a dozen it was a smart move to take him out. Sosa, says he will be fine.
HITTING
The story here of course is the fact Miami hit 4 HRs in the game...they didn't "hit" them, they "crushed" all four shots for emphasis as if they were letting fly all of their frustration from the two previous nights.
And note this: All three of our big boppers -- Thompson, Collins & Abreu -- did what they are supposed to do: hit HRs and generate offense. When they do that, combined with our pitching, this team can beat anybody! (just my humble, somewhat biased, opinion)
Eusebio: 1-5, 1 R
Barr: 2-4, 1 R
Iskenderian: 4-4, 3 R 2 RBI Another solid game from the transfer. What an impact he's had
Collins: 2-2, 2 R 2 RBI He hit la bomba into the garage in deeeep RF
Thompson: 1-4, 2 R 3 RBI No. 3 says his 1st inning 3-run blast was the game-changer
Abreu: 1-3 1 R 3 RBI Nice to Willie smack the cover off the ball
Kennedy: 2-4 1 R 1 RBI He breaks out of a 0-10 series slump or something like that
Lopez: 2-5
Chester: 1-3
Substitutes:
Ruiz: 1-1 1 R 1 RBI Silent but deadly, he keeps contributing at the plate and in the field
Michelangeli: 0-1
Crocitto: 1-1 1 RBI Smacked a double down LF line...did U know: he's hitting .400+
Heyward: 0-1
Smith: 0-1
LOB: Miami 10, FSU 7 Final score could have been a lot worse
ATTENDANCE: 3,289 Pretty good considering the heat, temps hit 97 around 3pm
AROUND THE ACC
No. 4 Louisville swept Bethune-Cookman this weekend. They host FSU May 7-9
UNC sweeps BC in Chapel Hill
GT takes 2 of 3 from Clemson in ATL
Wake Forest wins 2 of 3 at home vs. Notre Dame
NCST spots UVA an opening series win and then take 2 to win the series at home
Duke wins series at home with VT 2 games to 1
Pitt takes series at home against Fairfield 2-1. The Canes travel to Pitt next weekend
ELSEWHERE
No. 1 LSU took 2-3 from No. 2 Texas A&M in Baton Rouge
No. 3 UCLA took 2-3 from Stanford on the The Farm
No. 6 Florida took 2-3 from Kentucky at home
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Speaking of next weekend, the Canes have no mid-week game because they have finals to contend with so I'm guessing that is why they fly to Pittsburgh on Friday and begin that series with a Saturday DH. Not sure I am up to doing that back-to-back. If there are other who want to chip in, please do so.
Bottom line: Miami has only 11-12 games left before the ACC tournament is held in Durham, I think, from May 20-24.
IN CLOSING
That's it for me, Caniacs. Thanks for checking out my threads and for your great feedback. After an emotional roller-coaster-type weekend, I think we can all use a break. Have a great week and I am sure we'll re-connect during the week if not next weekend for the Pitt series.
After Sunday's big whippin' of the Noles...we came away at least one time saying "it's great to be...."
Go Canes!
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