Yesterday feels like forever ago. Well, at least 17 innings of baseball seem forever ago. If you’re waking up this morning after going to bed last night in the 8th inning and this is the first thing you’re seeing – yeah, it happened. It was miraculous and clutch and everything you could ever want in a baseball game.
If you’re well aware of the happenings of last night; yeah, everyone else is still trying to deal with how to process these emotions as well. It’s difficult to experience unfettered joy and then realize that you need to emotionally prepare yourself for your day job or your children or whatever it is that consumes your time during the day.
Let’s do it again tonight, eh? First pitch is at 6:06pm central, and the game will be televised on ESPN2.
Bobby Kametas, who got the win last night for the Bluejays, threw 54 pitches to shut down the game over three innings of work. He likely won’t be available tonight, but in a one-game-for-the-title scenario like tonight, who knows?
Michigan is just as taxed as Creighton: they threw their best arms last night to try to get out of that penultimate ninth inning, and to try (in vain) to avoid tonight’s do-or-die finale. They’re likely unable to use Karl Kauffmann (who threw 123 pitches on Friday night), Jeff Criswell (who threw 114 pitches Saturday night), or Tommy Henry (104 pitches last night), leaving them a nuclear bullpen option.
Rumor has it the Wolverines will start Angelo Smith, who’s posted a 1.14 ERA over 23 innings pitched. He’s kept teams to a .184 batting average while striking out 20 and walking 12. His last start came against Nebraska in the B1G Tournament in Omaha, where he posted his longest outing of the season, going 4.2 innings while giving up 4 hits and 3 runs – two of them earned. He’ll occasionally lose control and walk batters, but he’s yet to pitch more than 5 innings this season, meaning the Wolverines will likely dip back into their bullpen early on.
Rumor also has it the Jays will toss Friday night ace Mitch Ragan out there to start the game and then work through the bullpen for the remainder. Ragan threw 101 pitches Friday night, giving up three dongshots en route to the Bluejays 6-0 loss. Some other thoughts as first pitch nears:
- The status of Michigan shortstop Jack Blomgren is still unknown. The .311 3-hole hitter tweaked his back and succumbed to back spasms during Friday night’s game and didn’t appear in yesterday’s game.
- I don’t know the psychological impact that last night’s game had on either team. I try to think about it and empathize with Michigan; they were loose and cocky for 8 innings of ball, and then had the rug pulled out from under them. That’s got to be devastating, right? If you’re a psychologist and know more about this, please send me an email.
- Jason Allbery has put together one helluva tournament so far. Following a batter after batter that worked counts, Allbery slashed at the first pitch last night and dropped a blooper into right field to score the go-ahead run. He’s been excellent so far, getting two hits and two RBIs after going two weeks without participating in live hitting.
- How about Will Hanafan? It looked like he was using a different bat during the game yesterday – can that be attributed to his home run and 2-RBI base hit yesterday? Perhaps, that might be one of those things that you look back on twenty years from now and think about.
- Jimmy Kerr’s dongshot over the batter’s eye still hasn’t landed. Oregon State fans who were in attendance swear that it was the longest homerun ever hit by a player at Goss Stadium; including batting practice.
- If Loyola-Marymount beats UCLA tonight and the Bluejays pull off the victory, that means Omaha is likely to get some postseason college ball before the CWS. Where it’ll be is still a mystery. Will TD be ready? They’re just putting the park back together after the B1G Tournament. Would Werner be interested? Will we finally get to see another ballgame at Kitty Gaughan?
- Final thought: holy shit.
