Ben Wetzler will try to complete a series sweep at 1pm today. It would be the first time the Sun Devils have been swept by a conference opponent since 1999. History favors the Sun Devils, though math (i.e. the law of averages) favors the Beavers.
My pre-game question for you: How much faith do you have in Wetzler this afternoon?
Moving on…
In Pac-10 news, Oregon lost again. People are making a big deal of this. While the Ducks are clearly sliding, I still think they'll be a feisty out the second half of the season. Stanford, meanwhile, lost in a late game. In the comment area of Friday's baseball post, I questioned why Stanford is considered a top 10 team. I didn't receive a good answer, and a few hours later the trees were felled by Trojans. Looks like I got my answer after all.
Around the country…
Several teams in the 10-20 range have had middling weekends, so the Beavs could make a push in the polls with a sweep today; figure somewhere around 12 if they complete the job. Even without a sweep I expect a 5 slot jump.
Then again…
From what I can gather, there's not much buzz about this series outside of Corvallis. Baseball America's resident tweeter (Aaron Fitt) didn't peep after the Beavs made their miraculous comeback. Checking their blog this morning, I saw this.
The SEC and ACC are both mentioned ahead of the PAC-10, despite the PAC having 6 teams in the Top-25. The conference needs to get games on TV early and East. "Early and East"–that should be the motto; it's catchy. Anyway, when Fitt finally got around to writing about Oregon State, it was not with the gushing love he showed for the SEC ("In perhaps the most compelling game of the weekend, Arkansas beat No. 17 Louisiana State, 4-3, to clinch a series against the Tigers for the first time since 2004"). Really? A 4-3 win over by unranked Arkansas over the #17 team was a bigger deal than #19 coming back from 5 runs down to beat #5??
I'll probably stop reading Baseball America, or at least I'll stop taking them seriously now. Aaron Fitt, I hope you see the incoming link from angrybeavs and check it, because I'd like you to read firsthand you're a moron.
Alright, time for a rage reducing bowl of oatmeal. See you guys in a few hours.
Baseball America has always been pretty worthless. Aaron Fitt has never liked the Pac-10, especially Oregon State. He never gives them an ounce of credit. He’s just an SEC homer who always looks to kiss their ass. PerfectGame.org with Kendall Rogers is far superior. He used to work for Yahoo sports and is pretty fair to all teams. He’s by far the best college baseball writer.
http://perfectgame.org/Articles/View.aspx?article=5461
That’s where I go to for all the college baseball info and articles.
As far as today goes, I’m not sure how I feel about Wetzler today. He could put too much pressure on him self to have a big game and get the sweep for the team and could have a really bad game. First inning is usually how we’ll know it will go for him. If he shuts down a team in the first inning he’ll have a big game. He has to use his changeup more and try setting up hitters more often, along with working ahead in the count. When he gets ahead of hitters he is dominant, but when he falls behind in counts he gets crushed, because they’re looking for the fastball and he grooves it in there. So, I think he needs to use his changeup to get ahead of hitters and then he can finish them off. Arizona State is the type of team that swings at the first pitch fastball but won’t swing at a first pitch changeup, curve, slider, etc.
Ben is young and I don’t even think Pat Casey knows how he will do. Really hoping he pitches well and the Beavers get a sweep.
I’m unsure where Fitt went to school, but he lives in California–you’d think he’d watch (and enjoy) Pac-10 ball.
Kendall Rogers is okay.
Honestly, NCAA baseball is understaffed across the nation. I don’t think there’s a great, knowledgeable writer covering it anywhere. As fans we’re left piecemealing Rogers and Fitt’s material into a workable picture. My favorite site is actually Boyd’s World, but it’s purely numbers. Boyd is the Sagarin of NCAA baseball…I find his math and methodology paints the most accurate image. That being said, he has Stanford at 9 and OSU at 12…I’m really curious to see how that plays out on the field, as I just don’t like Stanford at all.
I think Stanford is good. They lost series to Texas and Vanderbilt and they should have won the series against Vandy if it wasn’t for some bad mental mistakes. Stanford did beat San Jose State who has won two of the first 3 from Fresno State and looks pretty good. That would be a nice win by the Cardinal. They haven’t lost any bad games out of conference but if they lose again to USC it should be time to re-evaluate them. You just can’t lose series to a bad USC team and expect to be taken seriously. I think Oregon State is better and next weekend’s series should be fantastic, considering it’s in Palo Alto.
Pulling for the Cougars today. A win by them and if the Beavers win the Beavers are alone in first place.
By % points only, they’d be a half game behind UCLA in the standings still.
I have always gone to the D1 baseball website to get all my scores in one place, but what the hell is the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Poll? The have the Beavers at #27 (I would guess that changes on Monday). Ironically, this poll held on to the Ducks forever, they only fell out of their top 30 last week.
chat opening up soon angry?
Wetzler still having problems working ahead. He looks to be overthrowing right now.
Well…I guess Ben will struggle today and should be taken out if he falls behind against the next batter.
oh and the chat is open..it’s easier than this fyi
Wetzler might not last longer than 1/3 of an inning today.
Yup he was pulled. Wetzler was awful. He has to learn to throw strikes. That’s been his problem this year. It was an issue I thought he would have coming into the game. Putting too much pressure on himself and not able to relax.
well…seeing how Casey just pulled him….you’d be right
James Nygren looks great right now. Didn’t expect that.
Between Osich and Wetzler they have 3 quality starts all year.
I wouldn’t be shocked if Pat Casey decides to make Nygren the #3 starter. I doubt Boyd moves into rotation because he’s so important at the end of games out of ‘pen
What is up with Taylor Starr, I thought he was cleared to play and expected to see him by now. If he comes back OK he’d be a factor in the ability to move someone (Boyd?) out of the pen.
Casey is probably taking things slow with him. You still need Boyd because he’s more reliable than Starr, especially with Starr coming off major surgery.
Ryan Barnes continues to hammer the ball.
Like how the Beavs are working this guy…
Sacks full…
Great plate discipline by Danny Hayes and Jared Norris to get the bases loaded.
The home plate umpire is doing a good job today. He isn’t expanding the zone like the two umpires the last two days. He’s consistent which is good.
Carter Bell continues to be on fire. He’s been doing a good job at the plate for a weeks now. 2-1 Beavers
Slide by Hays to score from 2nd; nice slide.
Wow, Berberet is 0-17 in Pac-10 play???
Parker Berberet. is struggling. Big part of that is his lack of aggressiveness. He’s letting good pitches to hit go by him and he gets behind in the count and then has to swing at a “pitchers pitch” and that usually results in an out.
I agree with this umpire…a lot of close pitches by both sides, but he’s nailing the calls. Mike Parker is grumpy about it, but he’s wrong…
So many mental errors by the Beavers in this series
Ryan Dunn crushes a ball over the fence to cut it to 4-3 now. Ryan Dunn can really hit.
This is a slugfest. Neither team can pitch much today.
That ball still hasn’t landed.
I am sitting 5 rows behind the left hand batter box. Great seats!
Do you have your “Angry for Pres” button?
I wish. We need buttons.
what the hell was that?
After some confusion, the call was a balk. Runner scores. Tie game.
That confused everybody. The home plate umpire called an out and confused everybody in the stadium.
Plate ump caught the mental error bug!
Runner on third heard the ump call the balk and trotted in. The catcher did not hear the call and tagged him out because the homeplate up didn’t hear balk call either. Then second base ran in and cleared it up.
Nygren is garbage haha.
Dude is so bad.
Boyd Boyd Boyd…
Need Boyd in the bullpen, especially a left hander. Bryant and Boyd are their best pitchers out of the ‘pen and without him they would have issues.
Nah, I’d take 6 or 7 quality innings to keep us in a game over 1 inning to seal victory. Might not get many chances at saving a game with our current Sat/Sun pitchers. Start Boyd, take your chances with whoever in the 9th…Bryant, Dunn, Starr, Schultz, etc…
Boyd wasn’t even the closer until a few weeks ago, now we’re going to pretend like he’s invaluable there? Come on.
Boyd still isn’t the closer but he is the bridge to Tony Bryant as he pitches the 7th and 8th to get him the ball and often bails out starters in trouble. That’s probably even more important than an actual closer. I suppose you could move Bryant to that role with Starr as the closer but I like Bryant as the closer. I just don’t trust Starr right now, especially with not pitching for two years. I guess I just like Boyd being the bridge more than anyone else because he’s the only one I trust to do that.
James Nygren is very up and down in this game. He looks great at times and at other times looks bad. After the home run he looks really good again. Needs to be consistent and keep the Beavers in the game.
Even when he’s getting outs they’re hit hard.
He’s junk.
This ASU pitcher will do his best to make sure Oregon State stays close
Good job Parker Berberet running into that HBP. Get on base anyway you can!
Ryan Dunn is a beast! Kid can absolutely mash.
Ryan Dunn is a monster.
Supposedly he has a power pitcher arm, too…this guy is Bo Jackson.
Bell really looks like the leg is bothering him, the stream shot of him scoring was painful. What a competitor to play as well as he has in the field.
Quad injuries can be brutal. I quit playing recreational hardball because I could never completely heal from one.
Dunn seems to have a great mental attitude. That first called strike was at least six inches low and he just shakes it off and pounds it. The homeplate ump seems like a killjoy. He got on the team for celebrating Dunn’s hit. Something may happen before the game is over.
That pitch was low when the catcher caught it, but it actually crossed the plate at the knees. The ump is calling a good game, but he’s got something up his ass, too.
From the side angle I saw it was below the knee as it crossed the plate. What do I know, but I attended little league umpire school last week, so I deserve some respect!
On the stream it looked for sure like a strike to me. Haven’t umped for over 30 yrs though!
30 years?? Damn, you must be one old beav.
Yup.
Some umps use the top on the kneecap, sometimes more of an art than a science, but it looked like the next pitch was in a similiar zone and Dunn belted it.
There’s nothing in Ryan Dunn’s profile to suggest he’d be this good:
http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-basebl/mtt/dunn_ryan00.html
.237 as a sophomore??
Roids? hahah
He hit .321 as a freshman though. Probably had some sort of injury that limited him. He is a big time hitter. He started the year slow as he was transitioning from JC ball to division I but is developing into a monster.
Finally, Parker gets tested and comes up aces!
great strike three by nygren
The error was too bad, but it seems like Nygren is getting the ball up a lot. I thought the guy who flew out to Dunn was a very hittable pitch and now a couple of solid singles.
Probably went to Bryant due to the fact that he’s the kind of pitcher that gets tons of DP’s with his changeup. Hoping for one of those now.
With Bryant being in, Matt Boyd must be slated to be the closer or dare I say Taylor Starr. I’d much prefer the former there. Don’t want Taylor Starr making his first appearance in a situation like that in a big game.
Tony Bryant’s changeup is virtually untouchable. Devastating pitch.
It looks so tantalizing on the stream. Looks like Casey made a great decision.
huge strikeout by Bryant to end the inning
Just the way Tony Bryant pitches he could make a really good starter. He could make another good candidate to start with the struggles of Wetzler and Osich. Only issue would be is they need other guys in the bullpen to step up for that to happen.
Ryan Barnes come through with a 2 out RBI single. Ryan Barnes and Ryan Dunn are just money right now.
Pat Casey has the magic rolling. Right now virtually any button he pushes ends up working.
Carter Bell makes a throwing error and ASU has a chance to score here. Some really bad mistakes this series.
Couple updates:
Washington State beat UCLA 3-2.
USC is hammering Stanford 8-0…lol.
Ducks leading Washington 3-0 in the 7th…
Yikes about that Stanford score.
Yeah. They should drop out of the top 25…rightfully so, not sure why they were there.
Doubtful they drop out of top 25. Teams in top 15 or top 10 don’t drop out of top 25 for a bad series. They will drop to around 20 though.
Their highest ranking is #16 right now…most polls have them at 18 I believe. So, considering they’ve been manhandled by a bad team…7 spots isn’t unreasonable. They might cling to the bottom half of the top 25, but they shouldn’t!
Edit: Correction, they’re #11 in one poll, and as far down as #20 in another…most have them 16-18…seems to be a polarizing and confusing team.
Baseball America has them #11 and PerfectGame has them #14. I don’t think they’ll drop below 20 in those. But, you were right to be skeptical of Stanford. They were overrated and they proved that.
Strange, I just finished editing the post above…
Nice job by Bryant to work around the error and shut out the Sun Devils.
Beavs seem to be good low ball hitters. I wonder if that is philosophy or just circumstance?
It wouldn’t be philosophy. Just where particular hitters like it. Usually guys like that won’t swing as much at the balls high out of the zone,
Usually lefties, with their naturally looping swing, like the low ball, but the Beavs have a bunch of righties who hit it well. They seem to have one thing in common: short, compact swings. Not sure how or why that translates to liking low pitches. Maybe they can wait back a bit longer and place it where they ain’t.
Nice to see Berberet get a hit…he needed that. Dude was backed up.
Big hit by Berberet to extend the lead and bust out of his slump in conference.
Taylor Starr coming in with 2 outs, runners on first and second and a 2-0 count? really? This is a bad decision.
What the hell, Taylor Starr reinjuries himself warming up??
Boyd in…I’ll take it.
Taylor Starr hurt himself without throwing a pitch?
Boyd is automatic…I feel like I/we take him for granted and just assume the inning is over when he comes in. One of these times he’s going to fail and shock us.
If he does fail, I hope it’s not in the postseason.
I feel bad for Taylor Starr. He’s worked hard to try and get back on the mound. I hope the injury isn’t too bad. Hopefully he can pitch at some point this year.
Everyone looked sharp on that DP 4-6-3
Way to SWEEP em BEAVERS!!!!! Keep going all the way to Omaha this year!!
Beavers sweep the Sun Devils!
#10 ranking? What is your guess Angry and others?
A lot of ranked teams had bad weekends, so a big jump is likely. I was thinking #12, but #10 is not out of the question.
I’d say they will be between 9-13, probably #11
A SWEEP of #5 like ASU who is one of the premier programs most years with their history should bode well. Took 3 to their goose egg. I think it will get us the 10 spot. We earned it for this week!
SWEEEEP!!! Great year to be a Beaver!!! This is our year! wrestling, Gymnastics, baseball, and soon football!!! GO BEAVS!!!!
Soon to be football? Only if we see a change to the type of team chemistry you see on the baseball diamond. Oh yea, a new OC wouldn’t hurt a bit either!
Maybe that thought that ASU is a bit overrated because of home games holds up. Sure wouldn’t want to be WSU facing Devils in AZ next weekend.
That was an awesome weekend. I’m not going to nitpick about the problems–I’ll save that for next weekend’s write up.
This is the most excited I’ve been about baseball since 2006 (best season imo).
Great weekend and, suffice it to say, enough “teachable moments” to give Coach Casey plenty to talk about.
Just heard on postgame that Casey made a list of what the Devils were saying during first game and read it to his team. Way to fire ’em up coach! Other Beav coaches should take note!
It is an excited time. It’s nice rooting for a Oregon State men’s team who refuses to be denied. This team is damn good and is a special group. Now they need to stay focused and go get a Pac-10 title and I think they have an excellent shot to do so. I think a Pac-10 title would mean a lot, especially coming off football and basketball season for fans. It’s the most exciting time for Beaver sports since 2007 when the baseball team was going for their back-to-back titles.
Great win Beavs.
We’re now 6-1 vs top 25 teams with the sweep against ASU.
As others have said, some teams not so far ahead of us scuffed their way through marginal weekends. I can’t see us any lower than 12th. Maybe top 10?
Just wondering if anyone knows what the Sundevils were saying? Kept hearing Parker during the game talking about the trash talking done, but no mention of what was said. Must have been pretty bad to get the Beavers this fired up.
Who would have thunk the Beavers would come back in game 2, after falling behind 6-2? I thought it was all but over. Crazy weekend!
And UCLA loses, so we’re #1 in the Pac-10. Sweet!
I always have looked forward to this series, ASU is the Beavers’ biggest rival and it’s gotten much more heated since the Beavers won the back-to-back titles. These two teams despise each other. It feels good when the Beavers sweep them due to all the sh** ASU talks to the Beavers every year and they’ve had douchebags for coaching staffs for a while. Three of four years the Beavers have taken the series against those fools, which is pretty awesome.
From Baseball America’s twitter:
What a weekend for Oregon State, which completed sweep of Arizona State with 9-6 win. That vaults Beavers into nat’l seed discussion.
I saw that. That would be enormous for the Beavers, if they were to get a national seed. That would let them host a regional and host a potential super regional. Much easier road to College World Series if they got to play all home games in the postseason to get there.
UCLA is still #1 in the Pac-10…
http://www.d1baseball.com/conferences/standings_pac10.htm
Beavs #1 by % points only.
Those standings are incorrect. This isn’t MLB where everyone’s full schedule within a closed group dictates their final records and standings. Applying full and half game standings within the conference schedule is a false stat. Since everyone plays an identical schedule, the only number that matters is the loss column, followed by head to head records.
It might be valid next year or in the future if CU adds baseball and the conference as a whole rigs some schedule which includes partial series against some schools. This would be more comparable to MLB scheduling.
The only ranking I see out right now is Baseball America, and they have the Beavs at #9. Keep in mind they’re pretty liberal and had Stanford at 11…
PerfectGame has Oregon State #10. So it looks like most have them top 10. Definitely nice to see them back in the top 10. I think they could be there for quite a while.
#9 Baseball America story:
http://www.oregonlive.com/beavers/index.ssf/2011/04/oregon_state_rises_to_no_9_in.html
Warren Nolan stats:
http://warrennolan.com/baseball/2011/schedule/Oregon-State
Damn shame about Andrew Susac. Looks like he is out for the season. Hopefully this might make him come back for next season. He could always enter next season’s draft as a Junior and still be a first round pick.
Now with this news, guys like Parker Berberet, Danny Hayes, Ryan Barnes, Ryan Dunn, Carter Bell, Tyler Smith and Jared Norris all need to step up. They will have to pick up the slack since Susac is out, no one guy can replace Andrew Susac. They stepped up over the weekend and will need to continue to do so.
I think the reason they can has a lot to do with Pat Casey. He instills confidence in them and they believe they’re going to get the job done every single time. Think about a guy like Tyler Smith? He has struggled a lot this year and last and he started his first games since what late February? He goes out there and starts stinging the baseball and gets clutch two out RBI after clutch two out RBI.
Jared Norris had struggled for a while, then the last couple weeks Pat Casey starts him and all of a sudden he can’t be stopped.
I’m not sure what Casey says to them, but guys who have struggled for some time catch fire when he gives them a rare start and then they never have to come out of the lineup. It’s why he’s one of the best. Sometimes he says he starts guys based on a “hunch”. Then they go out and get two or three hits and drive in 4 runs. Never fails.
The proper rehab for a hamate surgery is 4-6 weeks. And it’s not the throwing hand for either. So Susac and Rodriguez will most likely both be back for the UW series. But getting them up to speed is another matter. That’s probably why Susac was quoted as thinking he would come back as a DH first. Postseason play would give them both extra time to gather their fielding speeds again. So I don’t think they’re lost for the remainder of the season.
It’s an injury that’s take power and bat speed away. He will be able to catch but he will struggle a ton at the plate and that will continue into the postseason. It takes months to regain the power and bat speed. Pat Casey will have to make a decision. Wouldn’t surprise me if Andrew Susac doesn’t play much in the postseason and Parker is the full time catcher. I just can’t see Andrew having much success at the plate when he comes back. It will be too difficult for him.
Here’s the stream for the Beavers games this weekend against Stanford http://ohlulz.com/ncaaf/flash.php?lulz=rtmp://cp98724.live.edgefcs.net:1935/live&id=stan_m-basebl@31492
Thanks much BB20!