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Huskies Should Offer Little Bite

By
angry
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12

There are few teams as inept, offensively, as the Beavers, but luckily for them the Huskies are one of them, actually averaging fewer runs per game (5.53 vs 5.64) than the Beavs.  With the Beavers pitching staff yielding 1.25 fewer runs per game than the Huskies you have to like this match up.

Additionally, Washington comes in having lost 3 straight. The one caveat is that they are a better road (15-9) team than home team (10-13).

With an RPI of 31, the Beavers will have a legitimate bubble argument if they can sweep the Huskies, near .500, and then split the rest of the way. After all, the Pac-10 is virtually deadlocked with the SEC as the toughest conference in the nation.

The Beavs new-found confidence should propel them through the weekend. Expect a minimum of two wins with the sweep on the table come Sunday. Some are talking about signs of life on offense after a few good games by Jared Norris. Forget that talk. These hitters are what we think they are. If the series is to be won it will be done from the mound.

Prediction: Beavs take all three.

Lalich DUI: Blessing in Disguise?

By
angry
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33

I don’t have much to say about the Lalich situation. The short of it is that this is a blessing in disguise. Last time I wrote a piece like this Keith Pankey’s mom showed up, and she did not share the same sentiment!

My opinion of Lalich is that he’s been both a ticking time bomb and wallflower since his arrival and was getting 2nd string reps based on pedigree (i.e. 4-star and “all the tools”) alone. Vaz has been better since day one and is a rich man’s Jonathan Smith. Additionally, it was likely that Vaz would transfer if the log jam at QB didn’t free up, so that is an added benefit. Finally, Lalich’s departure will give the much deserving bump up the depth chart to Jack Lomax. So there you have it, divine intervention did the job the coaches couldn’t do an aligned the depth chart properly.

This is, of course, assuming Riley kicks Lalich off the team. He definitely, 100% should. It’s a no-brainer. Anything less and this blog is about to blow up. Not only is Riley’s mailbox going to get flooded but the AD as well. In fact, the fact that he hasn’t been kicked off the team yet is igniting sparks of rage.

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Extra Extra!

Does anyone care to discuss how this DUI further tarnishes our image and tightens the muzzle around annoying Beaver fans’ granola eating mouth? I covered both in the Olander article, but annoying Beaver fan needs to be reminded of how flawed the program is once a minute or his pupils begin to dilate orange. It’s nice to be an objective, non-annoying Beaver fan, isn’t it?

Oh, and speaking of the annoying Beaver fan, I found this quote from Oregon head coach George Horton to be everything annoying Beaver fan claims to be but precisely lacks. That is, class and respect. From Oregonlive:

Horton was not impressed with the OSU fans sitting behind the Oregon dugout on the first base side and some unsavory comments that they made when Ducks third baseman J.J. Altobelli turned his right ankle while pursuing a ground ball in the eighth inning and had to leave the game. “A couple things came out when J.J. got hurt that I didn’t like very much,” Horton said. “(Losing the series) is a tough pill to swallow, because of the energy here and some of the stuff that’s coming out of the stands, but I don’t have any animosity towards Coach Casey or their athletes. Like I’ve said before, there’s room for both of us in Omaha.”

Way to show your true colors and cheer on an injury. Godspeed, ever-classy, annoying Beaver fan.

Brennan Olander and the Five Finger Discount

By
angry
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48

Something tells me Brennan Olander is a Jane’s Addiction fan, or at the least a fan of this song:

I’ve been caught stealing;
once when I was 5…
I enjoy stealing.
It’s just as simple as that.
Well, it’s just a simple fact.
When I want something,
I don’t want to pay for it.

I walk right through the door.
Walk right through the door.
Hey all right! If I get by, it’s mine.
Mine all mine!

Strike two, Brennan. Notice it says “when I was 5”, Brennan. Let me repeat, 5. Dude steals a golf cart from an athletic department 5 mil in the red, crashes it, and tacks on $300 more in damages. Good job, guy. Class act. The only thing worse than stealing a golf cart is stealing a gay sheep. Way to publicly embarrass your university. Way to learn your lesson from the debacle in Eugene. Oh, and way to shut up all the high-horse Beaver fans. Coy Francies, Ashton Jefferson, the other kid in Nevada, Kristick, Moevao, Oldander…a few felonies in there. I won’t even go back to the gay sheep incident. Oregon State is accumulating quite the rap sheet over the past five years.

No more can Beaver fans act high and mighty. Those days are gone. Nobody should have been taking that stance when James and Masoli were in shackles. You won’t see a single word in this blog with that sentiment. Why? Because it always comes around. Riley runs a tight, clean ship? Riley is in control of the program? Family atmosphere? Er…

All of it is Beaver-fan delusion, clinging to every puny positive until it’s ripped away from them by one of their own. Olander and his merry pranksters saw to that. In a way this is a blessing in disguise. I’ll sacrifice a DT so we don’t have to hear Beaver fan delusion anymore. That is a trade I’m willing to make. Oh, and if Olander isn’t kicked off the team Mike Riley is just as bad as ol’ herpe lip down south.

Ducks Fly North for Civil War Showdown

By
angry
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36

I know I know, “Angry, who cares about the baseball team?”

The only reason I’m writing anything about this series is because it’s the Civil War, and that always has meaning. Also, during this absurdly long losing streak there came a time when I thought nothing would snap it except a series versus Oregon. Why?

Because this is human nature. When people feel down, in a rut, with little to live for, they tend to do things in day to day life to keep that cycle continuing. They’ll stay up late, sleep late, pull the blinds down and block out the sun. You know, depressing things. Until they’ve had enough and step outside. Usually, in the real world, at that point something good happens (like the depressed person finds a great job, a beautiful lady, etc) and his spirit is renewed. In the world of athletics, the options of what can bring a team out of a cyclical rut are much more limited. But a rivalry game is definitely one of them. The competitive spirit in these games is naturally high, and couple that with the Beavers dominance in the sport and you can understand their fear in passing the torch to the Ducks–they may never get it back.

Does all this apprehension and energy translate into wins?

I actually think it does. I think the Beavs take two of three in this series (*if* they win game 1), which won’t be enough to ignite post-season discussions, but it might be the spark that triggers an inferno down the stretch.

More Baseball Frustrations

By
angry
-
38

After 11-3 and 14-4 beatdowns by Cal, the Beavers are all but eliminated from tournament play. What has been lost in the ten game debacle is just how bad the pitching has been. Most of us have focused on the (lack of) offense. While it is true they could have scored more runs (an average of 3.3 runs per game over the last eleven games) it is also true that if the Beavers had “elite” pitching they’d win more than one game during that span, even with paltry run support. The bottom line is that one run is enough to win a game, so three is plenty. Look at the Stanford series. In game one the Beavers scored six runs, in game three they scored seven. Should an elite pitching staff win those games? I think so.

So let’s stop focusing on the offense. It is bad, but we knew it would be bad going into the year. Let’s place blame where it’s due during this losing streak.

At the beginning of the season, I thought the pitching staff would be “good”, not “great”, as Brooks Hatch and others in the media touted it. But let’s be brutally honest here. This staff is not even good. It’s at best average, and some might convincingly argue it is a flat out horrible (e.g. an 8.5 run per game average over the past 11 games) staff. Rob Folsom’s boneheaded brain cramp took the spotlight off the pitching staff and placed it squarely on the hitters, but the offense is performing (as ineptly) as we all expected.

As far as making the tournament, yesterday marked the end of that pipe dream. They had to win every series remaining starting with Cal. Their RPI is pretty high and keeping them lingering as the #30 team, but that’s not going to be enough to overcome such a horrendous conference record, and if momentum doesn’t stop soon, a losing record overall.

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