Sunday, May 13, 2007

Goodbye to baseball, Part V

Brett Butts was a hard-luck loser Saturday…he was solid in the top of the 10th after a leadoff double, but took the loss after Donaldson’s passed ball brought in a run with two outs.

He’s dealing today. Struck out Pedro Alvarez—he of the moonshot homer a few innings ago—on five pitches, then K’s Flaherty on a nasty 3-2 pitch. But then he gives up a double down the line to Meingasner (there’s that name again!), bringing up Ryan Davis. Three-pitch K. That was nasty.

Butts isn’t very consistent—he struggled last season as a starter because teams seemed to figure him out on the second or third trip through the lineup—but he has some real talent. I’m guessing the game’s up to him from here on out. Good call by Slater; some coaches would hesitate to bring in their closer so early in a one-run game, but I really like this move.

Of course, it would certainly help Butts if AU could get him a little extra cushion. Christiani’s no slouch, though…his first pitch of the inning had some serious movement on it, though it was called a ball.

GREAT play by Alvarez, Vandy’s third baseman. He knocked down a pretty hard grounder to his right, picked himself off the ground and fired to first in time to beat Stringer, who is pretty fast. That was really something. Slater jogs over to first base for another quick argument. Looked like a good call from here, though Slater’s entitled to his opinion.

Base knock for Bruce Edwards on 1-2. Alvarez was playing pretty deep at third, so Bruce tried to bunt for a base hit, but bunted two pitches foul. If he could bunt, I think Bruce could hit .400. (As I was typing those words, one of my press-box colleagues just said the same thing, word for word.) And Bruce is thrown out by Shea Robin trying to steal second. Close call…the fans aren’t happy, but in my experience, Auburn baseball fans are hardly ever happy.

Greinke flies out to left to end the inning.

Goodbye to baseball, Part IV

Dennis starts the sixth by giving up a single to Shea Robin. Interesting play here: David Macias pops up a bunt near the pitcher’s mound, and Robin holds up near first to see if Dennis can catch it. The ball hits the ground and Dennis throws to second for the force. But Stringer thinks he has a chance at a double play and fires a wild throw over Andy Bennett’s head. Macias advances to second on the error. It’s actually a big break for the Commodores: They get exactly what they wanted, a runner on second with one out. But instead of Robin, a fairly slow catcher, it’s center fielder Macias, who can really fly.

Nice strikeout there by Dennis…Got Alex Feinberg swinging. Donaldson dropped the ball but easily threw down to first for the out. Macias has to stay at second. Two outs now for de la Osa. He hits a very high fly ball to straightaway center, and Bruce Edwards makes a leaping catch at the wall. Safe to say Dennis didn’t fool him: de la Osa absolutely pounded that ball.

Still 2-1, Auburn.

Joseph Sanders flies to left on a 1-0 pitch to start the inning. Lots of early-count swings by Auburn today. Bennett grounds out to second after working a 2-1 count…Taking pitches isn’t exactly a magical formula, obviously.

Brooks gets a two-out walk. Good at-bat there…got to 2-2 and held off two pitches just outside. Nice job. Ross Smith up…flyout to right ends the inning. Butts takes the mound for AU to start the seventh.

Goodbye to baseball, Part III

Woodall seems to have hit his stride…he got through the fifth inning unscathed after hitting the leadoff batter, Matt Meingasner. Meingasner—I hope I never again have to type that—tried to steal second and was thrown out by Donaldson, who’s having quite a game. Woodall set down the next two batters without much of a problem. Still 2-1, Auburn.

In the bottom of the inning, Bruce Edwards led off with a hard-hit double to left…It hit near the top of the Green Monster. Not bad for a guy who’s slugging a crisp .357 this year.

And now the Luke Greinke bunt-a-thon commences…Luke took a ball, then bunted two strikes foul. So much for that. Two pitches later, Greinke swings at a pitch in the dirt. And that’s it for Crowell…Vandy goes to the bullpen for right-hander Nick Christiani.

Christiani—Vandy sure has a lot of guys with long last names— is not about to throw Donaldson anything to hit. Nibble, nibble, nibble. Donny swings at the second pitch, pops up to the second baseman. Auburn might lead the nation in leadoff base hits wasted. Bianucci up…he came into the series hitting .211 in SEC play but is 8 for his last 30. Flyout to right field ends the inning.

Chris Dennis in for Auburn. Solid outing for Woodall: 5 innings, 4 hits, one run, one walk. He’s in line for the win, assuming Auburn’s bullpen holds up. Which is a tall assumption, obviously.

Goodbye to baseball, Part II

OK, top of the fourth and Bryan Woodall looks as though he’s starting to get tired. He gave up a hard one-out single to Dominic de la Osa, then caught a break when the not-exactly-quick de la Osa decided to try to steal second. Donaldson threw him out without much of a problem.

But the next batter, Pedro Alvarez, had Woodall figured out. Alvarez absolutely hammered a 3-2 pitch from Woodall over the visiting bullpen in right field. That was a big-time shot right there. 1-1, Vandy. Woodall got Ryan Flaherty to fly out to center to end the inning, but he looks tired.

Moving on to the bottom of the inning…if you didn’t come to Plainsman Park this year, you missed out on one of life’s true pleasures: Andy Bennett’s at-bat song. I’d link to the lyrics, but I can’t because of violence-, drug use- and profanity-related reasons. Though the version they play for his at-bats is considerably edited, it’s still a great song. That’s two years in a row Bennett’s had great AB music…last year it was Roy Jones Jr.‘s “Can’t be Touched.“ Yes, the boxer. Now there’s a great song.

Anyway, the music didn’t appear to help Andy: Strikeout looking. I don’t think he liked that call very much. Robert Brooks up next. Brooks has three hits in his last 25 at-bats. Make that 3-for-26 as he strikes out on 3-2. Ross Smith is another guy who’s scuffling a bit lately…he’s 4 for his last 20. Smith works Crowell into another 3-2 count, then draws a walk on a low pitch. Nice at-bat there. That brings up Phillip Stringer, who’s 0-for-1 today and hitting .175 for the year.

I call it The Curse of Chuck Jeroloman: In the last three years, Auburn’s regular shortstops—Adam Stacey, Justin Bristow, Eric Skinner and Stringer—have all struggled to crack .200. And Stringer overcomes the curse, driving in Smith with a hard base hit to left.

Tough call there…first base umpire called Stringer out at second. Tom Slater doesn’t like the call…he was out of the dugout as soon as the ump signaled. Slater’s still arguing, though he’s staying calm and not showing the umpire up.

And the call stands. I’ve never really understood why it’s an accepted part of the culture of baseball for coaches to make fools of themselves arguing with umpires. It’s disrespectful, it slows down the game, and it’s not as if you’re going to change anything. Anyway, inning over.

Goodbye to baseball, Part I

Here I am at Plainsman Park for the final time in 2007. It’s Auburn’s last home game of the season and the Tigers’ last chance to snap all this frustration against No. 1 Vanderbilt. Pretty small crowd, presumably because it’s Mother’s Day and because the home team is 7-19 in the SEC.

First off, I should mention how impressed I’ve been with Auburn this weekend. The bottom line is still wins and losses, and that hasn’t been very impressive: AU has lost both games of the series, part of a losing streak that has seen the Tigers drop six straight and nine of their last 10.

But though some games in that losing streak have been ugly, the two L’s this weekend at Plainsman Park have been respectable.

In Friday’s 10-5 loss, Auburn scored five runs off Vandy ace David Price and loaded the bases with two out in the ninth. Saturday, AU forced extra innings with a two-run ninth and was a Josh Donaldson passed ball away from at least going to an 11th inning.

Still, I’m already on the record as doubting Tom Slater’s plan for the future, dependent as it appears to be on signing more Alabamians and hoping this year’s freshmen get much better. And Slater does deserve some credit for the fact his team is playing hard.

But then again, he also deserves some blame for the fact his team is building another season-ending losing streak to go with last year’s 0-10 skid.

Anyway, on to today’s game, currently in the third inning:

Bryan Woodall has pitched reasonably well so far, getting out of a few jams, but he’s taking a lot of pitches to do so. He threw almost 30 pitches in the first inning and is now up to 56, but he still hasn’t allowed a run.

And Josh Donaldson just hit his 10th home run of the year, a shot over the left-field wall, to give AU a 1-0 lead with two outs in the bottom of the third. Vandy left-hander Cody Crowell just left one hanging there, and you can’t do that when you’re pitching to Donaldson. Mike Bianucci extends the inning with the highest bloop single I’ve ever seen…Vandy’s right fielder was playing deep, and a pop fly landed just between him and the second baseman. There goes the rally…Joseph Sanders grounds out to short.

I’ll be updating the blog every few innings or so, so feel free to keep checking back.