Washington poses Oregon State with a tricky series.
Looking at team records and pitching match ups, one would conclude the Beavers should dominate.
| Date | Opponent/Location | Pitchers | Time |
| 05/13 | Washington (Safeco) | Josh Osich (6-2, 3.08) vs Tyler Kane (1-2, 4.18) | 6:00 p.m. |
| 05/14 | Washington (Husky Ballpark) | Sam Gaviglio (9-1, 1.85) vs Jeff Brigham (3-0, 4.12) | 1:00 p.m. |
| 05/14 | Washington (Husky Ballpark) | Ben Wetzler (6-2, 3.76) vs Austin Voth (2-4, 4.92) | TBD |
However, while the Beavers are an impressive 16-6 on the road this year, all-time they have a paltry 81-102 road record against Washington, and Pat Casey's career mark is 38-40 versus the Huskies. Further, the Beavers last series victory in Seattle came six seasons ago in 2005.
Despite glaring mismatches on paper, the Beavers historical performance versus the Huskies points to them slipping up in at least once this weekend. Anything less than a sweep will be a huge disappointment and jeopardize their National seed, so I'm expecting that motivation to translate into sharp play and three wins, despite underwhelming past results versus this particular opponent.
If they win 2/3 it won’t jeopardize their national seed. If they win all three series left they will be a national seed. I think they will sweep Washington. I also think the offense will definitely look better as it did against Pilots due to Susac and Jake Rodriguez being back. I’d like to see Jake get a couple starts at 3B and give Carter Bell a couple days of rest and get Jake some at-bats. Next week Andrew should be behind the plate catching and Jake will be the everyday starter at 2B and they will have Parker Berberet and Danny Hayes sharing 1B duties. Pat Casey has a lot of people to juggle and get into the lineup but it’s good problem to have.
By that I mean losing to the Huskies leaves less room for error in the two remaining series.
Yeah, it probably does. A sweep I think is important. If they sweep Washington and USC can upset ASU in a series 2-1, the Beavers would have a three game lead on ASU and UCLA. That would be huge considering ASU and UCLA play each other in the last series and neither sweeps, IMO. So if the Beavers take care of business this weekend they could and I believe should see their conference lead widen.
Hey Angry, have you read this article?
http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2011/05/with_some_help_from_peak_perfo.html
We need to hire this guy for our football team!
Funny, dude. I literally just finished posting a comment over there before I checked your comment.
I wonder how much a guy like that costs… If the baseball team can afford it, I imagine the football team can find the money. We just need to convince Mike Riley…
What’s/Who’s the Dugout Club? A booster club obviously, but it appears baseball has its own.
Based upon the package I’ve read that Brian Cain has provided the Beavers thus far this season, as well as the going rates on his website (http://briancain.com/), I would assume that he’s making somewhere around $20,000 for the season. It’s a little steeper then what I would charge, but his credentials justify it.
Though he’s not a sport psychologist (you need a Ph.D/PsyD to be called a psychologist), he has received his education and worked directly with some big names in the field of sport psychology. Specifically, Ken Ravizza, sport psychologist for the LA Angels this season. Though now a days, people seeking professional mental training should look for individuals who possess AASP certification (http://appliedsportpsych.org/), the largest sport psychology governing body internationally, it is not mandatory and quality practitioners can still be obtained.
Baseball seems to be the first sport across the board that is really embracing mental training skills. Unfortunately in these economic times, most athletic departments are unwilling to expand budgets and some are even trying to curtail outside spending like that from the Dugout Club so they can maintain control over who’s on a team’s “staff”.
As I’ve said before, as much as I love the freedom to consult teams and players on an individual contracting basis, I would love even more to oversee an entire collegiate department. This could easily be accomplished for under 100K and probably more realistically between 70-80K annually. The question is, why do we keep bringing in outside consultants at a steep premium when we could invest in the athletic department as a whole with equally qualified individuals?
How much time can one individual devote to one team per season? Wouldn’t there be an issue of logistics if only one individual served the whole athletic department?
In reality, it sounds as if this performance trainer Cain is doing what’s most common with teams. Usually there is a weekly team meeting for an hour or so where you discuss the planned/needed mental strategies for the week and how the implementation for the prior weeks has been going. This is mostly where the goal setting/focus/cohesion/etc. come in to play.
From there, the trainer meets with specific individuals on a weekly/bi-monthly schedule for an hour or so each session to work the specific skills most important to that particular athlete. These are usually reserved for the starting players, but not every athlete chooses to utilize these services for one reason or another. Unlike actual coaches, mental trainers can’t “force” athletes to adhere to mental skills training. So on average, only 1/3-1/2 of the team receives these tailored training sessions.
Finally, a performance trainer will spend time with the team observing their dynamics and game play. This can be anywhere from a few hours each week to sitting on the bench during games for mental “touch-ups” as players have questions and request reminders about their performance. Interestingly enough, it sounds like Cain is on the bench with the Beavers during games which is actually prohibited in Pac-10 athletics unless the fill a coaching spot. Most teams are unwilling to sacrifice a position coach for a mental trainer on the bench, so it’s rarely seen that performance trainers are with their teams during competitions in the conference.
So overall, it is a hefty workload, but manageable for a single performance trainer to meet the athletic needs of an entire program given there are only 5-7 sports going on during any given season. Cal Bears had one person for their 800+ student athlete body. They’re personally trying to build some depth though with their new High Performance Center that’s completing construction.
If I were to construct the perfect setting for OSU athletics, I would put in a singular mental performance director to work with the “big boy” programs and oversee 3-4 graduate interns who are highly trained and capable of quality services for the remainder of the athletic teams.
The Beavers can lose the next series and 1 game from each of the other two series, give up the overall Pac-10 lead to ASU and still get a national seed. Losing a game to the Huskies does not in any way jeopardize the national seed.
How do you figure? RPI is the largest part of the equation, and losing 2 of 3 to Washington would hurt it severely. Washington has an RPI of 217…losing to any team with an RPI over 100 goes against a team, so imagine what a loss against a 217 RPI does…
Other teams could still jump into the picture. Historically, “bad losses” kill resumes, and how a team finishes matters. Two losses to Washington would allow other teams to make their case (Beavs RPI is 11, down from 9 last week. This after beating Cal!). There are other teams in the mix, and the NCAA hasn’t exactly shown Oregon State preferential treatment in the past (see 2008) when they’re on any bubble.
I think they will earn a National Seed, but I don’t think they can slip up and lose a series, especially to Washington, and still be considered a “lock”.
RPI is obviously important, but the Beavers body of work is a ridiculous 13-3 vs Top 25, swept the other Top 10 team in the Pac-10 and hasn’t lost a weekend series in the Pac-10. Do not undervalue the 13-3 vs the Top 25, it’s a stat that jumps off the page, an almost unfathomable record. I asked Kendall from Perfect Game this same question in his last chat and he believes they can lose a series without worry, and Fitt and Sorenson have both said the same within the past few weeks. Other Beaver fans are thinking along the same lines and the professionals all seem to be in agreement, a series loss isn’t a deal breaker at this point in the season.
The series loss isn’t a deal breaker if they win the remaining six games, but a series loss coupled with a loss in the USC/Oregon series (and Oregon will be out for blood) and they’re probably on the National Seed bubble. It’s why they can’t afford any losses in this series, and why a series loss is a big deal. If Rogers and Fitt said that, they are probably assuming the Beavers would pick themselves up and win 5 of the next 6 games. Sure, that is possible, but why take that risk? Just show up to play, take care of business, and don’t jeopardize the season. If they take this opponent seriously they should be okay, but then again, baseball is the most random, quirky game out there…
Again, the Beavers dropped two spots in RPI (11 to 9) after winning the Cal series. They were probably penalized those two spots because of the Oregon game. Oregon has an RPI of 100. Washington’s at 217, so figure they’d drop to the 15 range if not worse if they lose this series. That’s a problem.
Let’s just see what happens, and hope we don’t have to worry about any of this.
I agree. if the Beavers were to lose the series to UW, they would have to be almost flawless vs USC and Oregon to not be on the national seed bubble. As long as they take care of business they have nothing to worry about. I think the Beavers win 8 of their last 9 games. I have them sweeping this weekend and next weekend but Oregon stealing one. They will be really pumped up and steal one. All three games will be close but the Beavers have the better bullpen and offense and should take two. I will be at the Saturday game, that better not be the game they lose lol
I drove to the 2009 series up there and watched us lose 2 of of three. After the esp. ugly 16-5 thrashing on Saturday Pat and staff and wives and myself sat in the motel lobby and went through about nine bottles of the case of wine I brought up with me, trying to ease the pain of an embarassing loss to a lesser team. Then we promptly went out and played like sh-t in Sundays game. Angry is correct, our performance in Seattle vs a team we should beat is less than impressive. Hoping the guys keep this in mind as nothing less than a sweep vs this team is acceptable. No WSU-like performances please.
Btw, there is no stream for the game at Safeco but there will be for the games at Husky Ballpark.
Rivals had this to say this morning (jeez, it looks like they lifted my opinion almost verbatim):
In terms of what OSU likely needs to do to assure a national seed, I think it is as simple as winning enough games to win the Pac-10. If we lose enough games to fall out of first (which I think would take 3 or more), we’ll have absorbed some bad losses down the stretch, and our RPI is not going to help us.
Projections are that even with a 9-0 finish, our RPI is going to climb to around 15, and obviously, the number will be bigger than that with some losses thrown in. Even 15 is a really high RPI historically for a national seed, but I think winning the conference and the other positives on our resume’ would be enough to over-come the RPI.
I don’t think Rogers or Fitt get it…I bolded the most important part that everyone seems to be overlooking. Maybe now that it’s in a “legit” source people will understand the importance of these games, and that OSU is far from being a lock.
There are so many variables to consider in this final run. But losing one of the first two series also loses us a national seeding. ASU will play the same schedule this weekend and next, only they will be @USC today. The national polls and indices will take these next two series and compare us directly to ASU at an important part of the season. They will give us some slack for @Nikegon if we still win the league, but that’s pushing it. Our two series sweeps in league were impressive (ASU & @SU). But they came in the midst of a mid-season streak, and we haven’t dominated like that since. Our best bet is to just take care of business and win out. If that happens, we’re a lock for a national seed. The selection committee can’t possibly ignore five series sweeps in league and three 11+ win streaks in season with one ending it when we should be taking care of business.
But national seedings are also doled out with some geographical considerations. Consider UCLA’s 2010 season. They started out 21-0 before conference play began. Then they went 10-11 to get to this point in the season with a series loss to Nikegon and seriously getting pumped by ASU. And they were an extra innings win away from losing three other series (SU, UA and %$#*& last year’s OSU team). They responded by sweeping the next two series and winning the one non-con game they had to win (their non-con loss was to Fullerton). That left them with one last series with Wazzu. And all they had to do was win the series to get a national seed.
You may say that 21-0 got them that seed, but their SOS was almost wholly based on their league schedule. I think only Vandy and OU were any real challenge to them in the beginning of the year, and those were single wins (not series) at neutral sites.
You may say that their remaining RPI was better than what we’ll face. It definitely was. But it also shows how subjective these indices can be as well. USC was barely better last year than they are this year, yet this year’s team is rated 123 (vs. last year’s RPI of 68). Cal backed into their final RPI of 41 by losing 8 of 10 to end the season, then they never showed up at their regional. One of those losses was a home field thumping at the hands of a USF team with an RPI of 146. During that period, Cal went from an RPI of 36 to that final 41. And UCLA’s final series was against a decent Wazzu team… one better than Nikegon is this year by far. But the comparables are there when considering rivalry and the series being away instead of at home.
Looking at the RPI, the only other top 20 teams west of the Mississippi are all grouped in the mid teens (UT, atm, Rice and OU). Of those, I don’t know who gets the nod. UT has the inside track, because they have only one head-scratching loss, and that was early in the season. And they stayed as far away from Rice, TCU and Dallas Baptist as they could afford (just one home game against DB). aTm lost both their games against Rice, and OU lost both series against UT and aTm. UT plays aTm in the final series of the year, and Rice plays Southern Miss. If UT and Rice both win out, UT should get the nod for a seeding, and Rice might slip in as well. But sweeping the final series is more necessary for Rice, and that doesn’t seem likely.
UT also has a series win against Stanford, who could get to the bubble if they win out or come close against their remaining schedule. The Cardinal were only a couple runs from sweeping @UT and @Vandy early in the season (losing both series 1-2), and they’ve been playing well of late. Fullerton and Fresno are on the outside looking in due to SOS.
This year’s national seedings may only include one team in the whole of the Western two thirds of the US, and OSU is in the best position to take it. But losing to the next three teams we face puts a damper on our position.
@BB20 – can you post the link for the stream if you have it?? Thanks!
BB20 stated above there is no stream for the Safeco game tonight. Sat & Sun, yes.
JackBeav, great comment.
What can I say? I’m bored. I’ve spent the last two days picking on the short-sighted over on Cliff’s blog, and that’s boring as well.
Double header Saturday. Sunday’s game has been moved due to impending rain.
This was to be expected. Rain was expected this weekend but much more on Sunday than Saturday. I’ve always loved doubleheaders and this will be I think their 7th DH of the year. Can’t say I’m disappointed. Only issue will be how it limits the pitching staff. If they are tight games at the end Boyd will close one out and Bryant the other. Can’t throw them both in each game. I would prefer they just stomp UW both times and don’t need a closer and finish off the sweep if they win tonight.
I would have liked to see them play all three games at Safeco.
Ok… now I know something’s screwy in my head. I’m sitting here looking outside at a sunny day, procrastinating on mowing the lawn, and I see someone riding their bike down the road with no hands and a macaw on his shoulder.
That crazy GreatWhiteHunter…
Wasn’t me. My bike is broken.
Here’s the link for the doubleheader on Saturday.
http://ohlulz.com/ncaaf/flash.php?lulz=rtmp://cp98724.live.edgefcs.net:1935/live&id=wash_m-basebl@31497
Great – thank you!
No Susac or Rodriguez tonight. I found that a little surprising.
Josh Osich is getting the start tonight. Interesting decision there.
Radio stream? KPAM is airing crap…
http://player.streamtheworld.com/liveplayer.php?CALLSIGN=KKADAM
Thanks BB
I find myself getting tired of Mike Parker comparing every single nice play to that of great players in MLB or college baseball. He needs to just let it be.
Ugh, Udub up 1-0 due to a Norris bad pass
Huskies take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first thanks to Norris hitting Gardner-Young when he was in a rundown and allowing him to reach base and then he gets driven in with a RBI double. Beavers just can’t make those kinds of mistakes.
1-0 Huskies after three. The Beavers need to wake up and start scoring some runs.
Beavers jump in front thanks to a RBI double by Keyes and an RBI single by Carter Bell. Single by Dunn and runners are on first and third with two outs for Parker Berberet. 2-1 Beavers.
Washington ties it on a solo home run.
Osich is really struggling tonight. Doesn’t have his best stuff but his talent is helping him out. 5 hits in 3 1/3 innings allowed and two runs.
Huskies take a 3-2 lead after a home run and an RBI double
Nygren is coming in to relieve Osich. This could end really badly.
Why Nygren ever gets the ball is beyond me. He has sucked for four years!!
4-2 Huskies now. The Beaver pitchers are getting smacked around
Schultz coming in now for Nygren with the bases loaded and two outs.
1 out double by Michael Miller
Stamps gets on first on a wild pitch after striking out.
Two run triple by Ryan Barnes and it’s 4-4. Washington outfielder dropped a ball when trying to chase it down.
Two out RBI double by Kavin Keyes. 5-4 Beavers.
Parker Berberet with a 1 out walk.
Schultz has retired the first 7 guys he’s faced. The Beavers needed him to come in and pitch and he has.
1 out double by Ryan Barnes. Beavers have a chance to extend their lead in the 7th.
USC knocks off the Sun Devils 5-1. Beavers can extend lead over Bruins and Sun Devils to two games with a win tonight.
Boyd in now.
Mr. Reliable, Matt Boyd, gets the job done yet again. 5-4 Beavers through 7 innings.
Beavers have runners on first and second with no outs after a single by Bell and Dunn was hit by a pitch. The Beavers should get a run here. Always need insurance runs.
Sacrifice bunt by Berberet. Runners on second and third for Tyler Smith
Nash pinch hitting for Miller with two outs and runners on second and third with two outs.
He doesn’t come through. Not sure why Casey would bring Nash up there. Susac and Jake Rodriguez are superior right handed bats.
Keyes with a sacrifice fly to score Barnes from third. Keyes come through yet again. Clutch hitter.
Keyes is money. What a huge get for the Beavs to have a freshman hit the ball like he does.
Boyd gets a raw deal on this team. He’s better than purely a setup man, and should get this save opp.
Casey wants to use him tomorrow as well. Could work really hard in the ninth and probably wouldn’t pitch tomorrow if he got the save.
Good point.
I stand corrected…better to disperse the pitch counts with a double header tomorrow.
I bet Bryant closes game 1 and Boyd closes game two. I would prefer they just spank the Huskies and not have to worry about them closing out games.
Beavers lead 6-4 going to the bottom of the ninth and Bryant is on the hill.
Beavers win 6-4
South Carolina lost. If South Carolina loses a series at home and the Beavers sweep the Huskies, the Beavers are likely to be solid as the #3 national seed as long as they take care of business, which I believe they will.
More importantly, ASU loses 1-5 @USC.
+1 for the good guys.
Yeah I mentioned that earlier in the thread. If the Beavers sweep this weekend and USC wins 2 of three from ASU, the Beavers would have a death grip on first place and I can’t see ASU overcoming a deficit like that. ASU plays UCLA in Tempe for the final series of the year and neither team sweeps IMO. I think OSU sweeps vs Washington and USC and clinches a share of the Pac-10 title next Sunday, then against Oregon clinches their first outright Pac-10 title since 2006. It would be very appropriate for the Beavers to clinch the Pac-10 title against the Ducks.
UCLA also laid an egg on Bakersfield…ouch.
I wouldn’t say the UCLA loss is all that bad. Bakersfield is a solid team. They beat ASU and South Carolina on the road. They’ve had a rough stretch the last few weeks but are still solid. I thought Bakersfield would win the series from UCLA and they’ve proved they could so far.
No Berberet, Smith or Stamps in the lineup in the first game. Miller starts in center, Susac behind the plate, Rodriguez starts at 2B.
The video is 5 seconds ahead of the audio. That’s pretty bad.
The video in general is horrible…makes you appreciate OSU’s effort.
You got that right. Looks like they have a camera on a tripod and the audio is nowhere near close to being linked. I wonder if U-dub charges for this?
RBI double for Keyes to score Hayes. 1-0 Beavers
Two run home run by Andrew Susac. 3-0 Beavers
Ryan Dunn with a solo bomb. 4-0 Beavers.
Bell nearly makes it three straight home runs, double instead.
This camera work makes the game impossible to watch. Oh well, I’ll do something more productive and check in here and there.
I’ve been using the CBS Gametracker and this here bloggy blog….
http://www.osubeavers.com/gametracker/launch/gt_mbasebl.html?event=933183&school=orst&sport=mbasebl&camefrom=&startschool=&
Beavers lead 4-0 after the first inning.
Still 4-0 through two
Gaviglio gets out of first and third two out jam in the third. 4-0 Beavers.
Washington has the bases loaded with no outs
Ryan Dunn with a great diving stop and starts a double play. 4-1 Beavers
4-1 Beavers after 4 innings.
Hayes botches a hit and run in the fifth and the Beavers fail to score. Still 4-1 Beavers
Jake Rodriguez blows a double play ball and the Huskies have runners on first and second with no outs
Bases loaded and no outs for the Huskies again, this time in the fifth.
Rodriguez then catches a line drive and doubles the runner off second. Runners on first and third with two outs now
Two run double now. Jake Rodriguez’s error was huge in that inning. 4-3 Beavers
Beavs starting to make me nervous… gotta get some runs!
How bout now?
much better, lol! Now, more more more.
Jake Rodriguez goes deep with a three run home run and it’s 7-3 Beavers
Make, Jake Rodriguez is a masher. This announcer is an idiot…”1st home run/9th hole hitter”…ugh, he was killing the ball before injured.
He was hitting .319 when he went down with an injury. He’s not a “light hitting 9 hole hitter” He got his first hit in Pac-10 because HE WAS HURT! Don’t they do their research first? The kid is a tremendous hitter. Him and Andrew are coming along really nicely since coming back.
Plus 5 doubles, a 1 triple, and a .480 slugging %…pretty good for a 2B in limited action. He’s only in the 9 hole because they’re working him back into the lineup. I guess the answer is “no”, they don’t do their research.
He could stay in the 9 hole. Nobody really to move down in the order. Maybe Ryan Dunn? He’s hitting well though in the 6/7 spot. They will depth in the lineup no matter what.
Beavs have this game.
Hopefully we get the good Wetzler in game 2 and can complete this thing.
It sounds like there’s more Beav fans than Husky fans…
Hopefully Wetzler does pitch well and they don’t have to play a close game in game 2 and get a comfortable win.
Keyes launches one for a two run home run and it’s 9-3 Beavers
Anyone now Keyes birth date?
Hoping he’s not draft eligible until after his Junior year…
Think he turned 18 in January. Won’t be eligible to be drafted until his Junior season
Scratch that, he turned 18 last April, actually. Still won’t be eligible for draft until his junior because he won’t turn 21 until his Junior season.
So two more years of Keyes. That is huge.
He’ll be the #3 or 4 hitter the next couple seasons.
Definitely is huge. He’s capable of hitting .390 and driving in 50-60 runs. I can only hope Susac decides to return for his Junior season. Him and Keyes in the middle of the order next year would be frightening.
I just hope he works on his defense. Maybe some strength training in the off-season gets him the speed and quickness he needs to shore up the left side.
Beavers win game 1 of the DH 9-3!
Schultz is really comfortable as a middle reliever. I feel good about our frosh pitchers bring here for a couple years. Wetzler, Duke and Schultz should be killers next year. We haven’t even seen Zarosinski or Child yet. And Baylis and Booser just need to settle in to be successful.
And I think we have more really good arms in the next class as well.
The announcers said they wouldn’t mind not seeing Schultz in the next game.
Ha!
Wait until they see the killer B’s.
Check that… we have seen Child. He’s just hurt?
Child I don’t think is hurt, just really ineffective. Pretty much was buried as far I can tell. Casey never mentioned him being hurt. I think Schultz is an excellent reliever and starter. He can work fine in either situation. I would have him be the extra guy outside the three man rotation that starts in the postseason. Adam Duke won’t be ready to be starting by then. The future is definitely bright with the awesome young hitters and pitchers.
USC and ASU are tied in the 5th at 4.
Lead-off infield single by Ryan Dunn to start game 2
Two run home run by Danny Hayes. 2-0 Beavers.
Single by Kavin Keyes with 1 out
Susac botches a hit and run and stares at strike three and Keyes gets thrown out at second to end the top of the first. 2-0 Beavers
This day is looking like a home run derby for the Beavs!
Carter Bell singles and Parker Berberet doubles to put runners on second and third and 1 out
Wow, Washington is bad.
Our RPI dropped to 14 after yesterday’s victory…
Stupid question, I know, but what exactly is RPI? Just a ranking of the quality of opponents you’ve faced?
Yeah, pretty much. It’s like SOS.
Those Hartford games killed OSU. Hartford has won 4 games the entire season.
Got it.
The RPI in college baseball is beyond stupid. It’s geared towards ACC, SEC and Big 12 schools. OSU is only west coast team in top 17
The Beavers lead 3-0 after two innings
Oregon choked away a 8-1 lead after 5 innings and trails 9-8 in the bottom of the 8th
Danny Hayes singles, steals a base and Keyes walks. Runners on first and second and 1 out for Andrew Susac
Two run triple by Andrew Susac and it’s 5-0 Beavers
Two out RBI single by Carter Bell and it’s 6-0 Beavers
Beavers lead 6-0 after 2 1/2 innings
Ducks lose 9-8
Lol blowing a 7 run lead going into the 6th is bad.
Gotta say, these Washington announcers have done a good job.
They didn’t a lot of research on Jake but they’ve been decent overall, made me laugh a few times.
Agreed.
They’re all business/no emotion. I prefer them to Mike Parker.
ASU wins 7-4.
1 out double by Carter Bell
Berberet walks.
Triple followed by a double makes it 6-1 now and no outs in the inning.
Huskies get a RBI single and it’s 6-2 Beavers after 6 innings
Get. In.Boyd.
Wow. Boyd is struggling right now. This something that hasn’t been seen much. 6-4 Beavers now and runners on second and third and no outs.
Matt Boyd had the meltdown that I’ve been fearing would happen at some point. This would be an AWFUL loss.
6-6, looking like a rain delay is inevitable.
A rainout would benefit the Beavs (assuming it remains tied)…that’s how bad Washington’s RPI is…
I would prefer the Beavers get a quick run and then it goes to a rain delay.
Tony Bryant comes in to save the day and keep the game tied at 6. Need some runs now.
1 out double by Jared Norris. Need to get him in here.
Pitcher from UW having issues throwing strikes so Berberet does him a favor and hits into a double play.
Bryant gets out of a jam to end the 8th. Tied at 6 going to the ninth
I’m not surprised that everyone on here likes these announcers. They are very fatalistic on the Huskies chances against the Beavs.
1 out single by Ryan Dunn
This game shows why Pat Casey cannot substitute for defensive reasons till the 8th inning inning or later. They need Hayes and Keyes’ bats in the lineup. Tyler Smith is the cleanup hitter at the moment and Nash is hitting third. That just won’t work out.
Wow, Beavs are going to lose this game.
This is an RPI killer…it’s going to be in the 20s.
Casey trying to stretch Tony Bryant is a mistake. He pitched yesterday, won’t have enough to finish.
Game. This is just an awful performance late in the game.
Complete meltdown from Boyd. Loss is on him.
OSU lost focus in this game. They took their foot off the gas and it has cost them.
TERRIBLE LOSS
can’t believe my eyes. Harumph!!
Talk about choking.
Washington bites us again…killed our football season, probably just killed our shot at a National Seed.
Look at it this way: we dropped 3 spots after beating them on Friday, so figure we dropped another 3 by winning the first game. That puts us at 17. A loss probably puts us in the 23 range. That is brutal…they now cannot lose a single game down the stretch, and that still might not be enough.
Better start hoping that Hartford wins out!
That loss is inexcusable.
It just feels like this team has a hard time staying sharp at the plate for nine innings. They either start slow and get runs when they fall behind (cf. yesterday’s game, with the first ten batters getting retired) or they start fast but can’t get any runs in after three or four. Six runs would have been fine tonight if our relievers had come through, but in my mind the inability to sustain offense is the most significant missing element for us.
I agree. I think it’s a lack of focus. The team seems to check out mentally at the plate at times. They need to focus for a full 9 innings.
I agree, too, but I think that’s the byproduct of station to station ball (especially with slow runners). It takes three singles to score a guy, so when they’re not getting the aberration (i.e. 4hrs in a game) the offense looks average. During the winning streak earlier in the year everything was clicking, but now only half the cogs are in sync, and it’s lead to winning series, but some bad losses as well. The Beavers haven’t exactly played great for a month now. They’ve been good, but not great, and to be in the top 8 I think you need to be playing great down the stretch. I think they wrote their epitaph tonight. The only hope would be to win the next 6 games, but I don’t see that happening since USC has some good arms/are an underrated team and Oregon will be trying to ruin our season.
Regional seems more realistic after today.
Edit: though, I guess we should wait until Monday to see what the rankings and RPI looks like. My guess? 20ish in the RPI, which will kill.
Yeah, I’ve been mystified by the #3 (now #2) ranking. I think OSU is definitely a regional host-quality team, but top ten is a stretch, let alone #2. Even so, there was no excuse for the loss tonight. You know Pat Casey is intense after any loss and he’ll get them ready for the next game, but you wish that eventually the lesson would stick through an entire series.
Fans tend to overreact after a bad loss so let’s see what the voters and computers think…we did win the series and keep that streak alive…that might stave off the drop a little. Unfortunately the score or scenario in any given win/loss doesn’t matter, so the 1 run loss/bottom of the 9th won’t help with RPI, but it might influence voters.
Has anyone paid attention to what other top 10 teams did this weekend? That obviously matters too.
Everyone take a deep breath and wait it out.
Good points all. Thinking about it harder, I don’t think there’s any question OSU has a good shot at the CWS. They do seem to focus well enough when the games “matter” (they haven’t lost a Friday game since UA). But they’ll have their work cut out for them trying to get a seed, which I just don’t see happening. And with Susac and Rodriguez back in, they don’t really have any holes in the order, and they can get a lot of extra-base hits. There’s a lot of mashers in the lineup now.
But the best way to practice for the postseason is to focus on every game like it were the postseason. They’re good enough to make the CWS, but if they lose a non-elimination game because it “doesn’t matter” and then lose the next game because baseball’s a game of inches, that’s going to sting like hell.
This team has already way exceeded my expectations. I figured we’d finish fourth in the Pac-10 and get a #3 seed. In that sense, it’s a delight to be concerned about possibly not getting a seed. Omaha is only a seven-hour drive from St. Louis (I moved here two years ago for grad school), so hopefully I’ll be seeing them in person next month.
Looking at the weekend positively, I think that this loss benefits us greatly. Maybe not in the RPI rankings, but in the overall mental approach to games. Usually we’ve had to come from behind for wins this season. This game/series taught us that even when we have a gargantuan lead, we must maintain our focus/game plan. Any lesson that we can learn from in the regular season will only benefit us that much greater when we’re presented with such scenarios in the future.
From what I’ve gathered, it doesn’t appear Oregon State loses a national seed over this as long as they win their next two series which I think they will. They’ll probably get a # 6 national seed as I think they will win the conference just ahead of ASU. But they do need to focus more. They have a tendency to not take the final game of series as serious as the first two. Yesterday they thought they had the game won up 6-0 and then mentally checked out, that can’t happen. They need to wake up and take every game seriously. A regional and super regional format I think forces them to focus, for fear they could easily be sent home.
I must say, Casey has handled the pitching strangely the last few weeks. Twice in his last three starts he’s left Wetzler in way too long and it led to a big inning. He has a tendency to leave guys in the game too long. The 6th inning should have been Wetzler’s last inning. He was being crushed and clearly was becoming ineffective and Casey should have seen that.
I would have liked Booser in the 7th inning and a combination of Baylis in the 8th and bringing in Boyd for a situational appearance against a lefty, then Bryant in the 9th. I think Casey has seen Boyd as we have all seen a Boyd, and that’s as a reliable guy who always gets the job done. Problem with that is, he can at times be too reliant on Boyd 1 2/3+ outings and tire him out. Boyd looked tired because he threw a good amount of pitches the night before and didn’t get the rest he needed to be ready to pitch effectively. I’m okay with 1-2 inning outings from Boyd, Casey just makes sure Boyd has a day off between those outings. If they were playing today and he was asked to pitch 1+ innings as opposed to yesterday coming off Friday’s outing, I think he would be more effective and more likely to get the job done since he would have had some rest.
He worked Gaviglio to death earlier in the year, and he’s been less effective in Pac-10 play. Probably because the opponents are better, but I’m sure being overworked didn’t help. He has a tendency to overwork guys. He’s old school like that. It’s sort of cool until it isn’t. Don’t need guys burnt out versus teams like Washington or Hartford (didn’t Casey have Gavioglio throw 120+ pitches versus them, or is memory failing?).
I don’t buy that Boyd was tired. Maybe he was, but Bryant pitched well and was used both nights…relievers pitch back to back nights frequently. I think he just didn’t pitch well, which was bound to happen given that he’s been great all season.
Same thing happened with Boyd last week. Seems like when he works close to two innings and has to throw 20+ pitches and is called upon to pitch the next day he just isn’t effective. Last week against Cal he threw 35 pitches in a two inning outing, the next day he came in and was hit really hard by two of the three batters faced. Friday he threw 23 pitches and 1 2/3 innings and then last night he came in and in two of three batters he faced hit the ball really hard. Matt Boyd could just have had bad outings, but it’s something to watch now late in the season.
Our unofficial (Boydsworld) RPI is 20 today. That’s a drop of 9 spots after taking 2 of 3 vs Washington.
The RPI needs to be done with immediately. The fact that the committee uses it to seed for the Regionals is just plain stupid. It is incredibly flawed. The ISR(Iterative Strength Ratings) is what should be used. It is more logical and doesn’t punish west coast teams. Beavers are rated 8th in that and that should be where the RPI should have them.
Off Topic: OSU team wins national championship in Formula SAE racing
http://poweredbyorange.com/2010/05/17/osu-team-wins-national-championship-in-formula-sae-racing/
They also went on to be world champs. You must not have been here when we talked about this last year. It’s pretty cool stuff.
Maybe not as sexy as a formula car, but also a win for OSU engineering students:
http://slc.eeri.org/seismic.htm
Oops, old link, but apparently we just won again this year as well.
Cool!
Way off topic but this is not good at all.
http://www.co.benton.or.us/sheriff/corrections/jms_reports_view.php?d=i&f=2
He’s done. On or off the field, since the start of last season this program just seems to fall deeper and deeper into the toilet. What was angry saying the other day about embarrassing situations that made us look like inbreds?
Actually, this doesn’t look like your typical doofus incident. Those charges are pretty serious.
We’re a laptop away from being all of Nikegon’s problems from last year on this one. Maybe we’ll get some Duck fans to come to his defense and blame the victim.
ASU just lost another to USC