Let that sink in as it is the first time this year we could say this prior to game 2 of a series.
And what a difference 2 days make. A pitching staff that couldn't throw strikes, couldn't get people out, and walked googobs and hit googobs and wild pitched googobs on Wednesday nailed down the win last night despite a couple of rough innings for Wright to begin the game.
It's almost as if Kendall's grand slam turned on a light switch for us. Kyle Wright came out in the 3rd and proceeded to retire 8 of the next 11 including a DP and 3 K's but best of all, no walks and no wild pitches. This was followed by Zach King throwing 2 1/3 innings of 1 hit ball and 5 K's. He did hit one batter and walked two but A&M's base-running mistake which wiped the runner out at 2nd despite a base hit was the kind of break we'd been missing all year. Even so, King, with the bases loaded and only 1 out, got two guys to strike out swinging and it was two of their better hitters as well.
And then Drew Hayes came on and got a strikeout, a fly out, and 3 ground ball outs. Now it is true that the fly out was scary but I watched Scott instead of the ball and it was quite clear he had the ball all the way and was just being careful about the wall.
For the night, A&M was held to 1-9 with RISP and that's a darn good job by our pitchers in and of itself.
So, to sum all that up, Wright gets his first win, King gets his first hold, and Hayes gets his 4th save. You couldn't have scripted it any better.
Vandy was only 1-8 with RISP but I credit that to A&M's pitchers who were pretty good. Brigham Hill, their starter, was not as sharp as he normally is and his 3 walks came in very handy for us as 2 of them scored. Chafin, the reliever, totally shut us down for 2 innings -- no hits, 2 K's, no walks, no base runners. In fact, they retired our last 12 batters.
While it is true we only got 4 hits it is also true that the reason the bases were loaded for Jeren was that Scott got a hit and Jones and Ray coaxed walks, something that was not easy to do given the home plate umpires rather odd sense of what a strike was, particularly when Vandy was at bat. I assure you I rode his worthless patoot the entire game and, if possible, will continue to harass him tomorrow when he moves to 3rd. Since I'm behind home that might be hard so someone in a seat near 3rd base please tell the guy how lousy he is and ask him how he could take his paycheck with a straight face.
Patrick Raby takes the mound for Vandy today along with his 3-2 record and 1.71 ERA and .161 OBA. These stats put him slightly ahead of Drake Fellows and earn him the title of "our best pitcher" at this point in the season. This is a good situation for us to be in and also shows why it is so very important to win as many Friday night games as possible. It eases the pressure on everybody, particularly in game 2, and, should you win, puts you in a great position to sweep with Fellows throwing on Sunday.
We expect A&M to counter with Stephen Kolek who is 1-0 with a 2.54 ERA and OBA of .255, which is kind of high. He also doesn't strike out that many guys so I'm thinking he's not a fast ball kind of guy so we'll see how that works out.
Shortstop continues to be a problem. Jones started tonight but to be honest, his hitting is no better than Kaiser's, and although he's played some good defense, his arm is not as strong as Connor's. In addition, he's much shorter and, early in the game, the line drive single that went over his head would likely have been caught by Kaiser. Jones is now hitting .191 compared to Kaiser's .194. Jones gets more walks, however, and he's a switch hitter, so perhaps it's a good idea to try him out a little while longer. I did note that Corbs brought Kaiser in the game late as a defensive move. Same for Ro in left.
No more Bleday today and, with a right-hander on the mound, I'm beginning to think something is wrong. Perhaps someone can let us know what's up with him. Hopefully ,it's just a short break to give him time to "regroup." One would hate for all those people who bought "Bleacher Bums for Bleday" t-shirts to not get their money's worth.
Finally, don't forget, tomorrow's game has been moved up to 12:30 so let's keep our fingers crossed that that allows us to do two. (3 consecutive rhyming words, not easy to do, boo!)
And what a difference 2 days make. A pitching staff that couldn't throw strikes, couldn't get people out, and walked googobs and hit googobs and wild pitched googobs on Wednesday nailed down the win last night despite a couple of rough innings for Wright to begin the game.
It's almost as if Kendall's grand slam turned on a light switch for us. Kyle Wright came out in the 3rd and proceeded to retire 8 of the next 11 including a DP and 3 K's but best of all, no walks and no wild pitches. This was followed by Zach King throwing 2 1/3 innings of 1 hit ball and 5 K's. He did hit one batter and walked two but A&M's base-running mistake which wiped the runner out at 2nd despite a base hit was the kind of break we'd been missing all year. Even so, King, with the bases loaded and only 1 out, got two guys to strike out swinging and it was two of their better hitters as well.
And then Drew Hayes came on and got a strikeout, a fly out, and 3 ground ball outs. Now it is true that the fly out was scary but I watched Scott instead of the ball and it was quite clear he had the ball all the way and was just being careful about the wall.
For the night, A&M was held to 1-9 with RISP and that's a darn good job by our pitchers in and of itself.
So, to sum all that up, Wright gets his first win, King gets his first hold, and Hayes gets his 4th save. You couldn't have scripted it any better.
Vandy was only 1-8 with RISP but I credit that to A&M's pitchers who were pretty good. Brigham Hill, their starter, was not as sharp as he normally is and his 3 walks came in very handy for us as 2 of them scored. Chafin, the reliever, totally shut us down for 2 innings -- no hits, 2 K's, no walks, no base runners. In fact, they retired our last 12 batters.
While it is true we only got 4 hits it is also true that the reason the bases were loaded for Jeren was that Scott got a hit and Jones and Ray coaxed walks, something that was not easy to do given the home plate umpires rather odd sense of what a strike was, particularly when Vandy was at bat. I assure you I rode his worthless patoot the entire game and, if possible, will continue to harass him tomorrow when he moves to 3rd. Since I'm behind home that might be hard so someone in a seat near 3rd base please tell the guy how lousy he is and ask him how he could take his paycheck with a straight face.
Patrick Raby takes the mound for Vandy today along with his 3-2 record and 1.71 ERA and .161 OBA. These stats put him slightly ahead of Drake Fellows and earn him the title of "our best pitcher" at this point in the season. This is a good situation for us to be in and also shows why it is so very important to win as many Friday night games as possible. It eases the pressure on everybody, particularly in game 2, and, should you win, puts you in a great position to sweep with Fellows throwing on Sunday.
We expect A&M to counter with Stephen Kolek who is 1-0 with a 2.54 ERA and OBA of .255, which is kind of high. He also doesn't strike out that many guys so I'm thinking he's not a fast ball kind of guy so we'll see how that works out.
Shortstop continues to be a problem. Jones started tonight but to be honest, his hitting is no better than Kaiser's, and although he's played some good defense, his arm is not as strong as Connor's. In addition, he's much shorter and, early in the game, the line drive single that went over his head would likely have been caught by Kaiser. Jones is now hitting .191 compared to Kaiser's .194. Jones gets more walks, however, and he's a switch hitter, so perhaps it's a good idea to try him out a little while longer. I did note that Corbs brought Kaiser in the game late as a defensive move. Same for Ro in left.
No more Bleday today and, with a right-hander on the mound, I'm beginning to think something is wrong. Perhaps someone can let us know what's up with him. Hopefully ,it's just a short break to give him time to "regroup." One would hate for all those people who bought "Bleacher Bums for Bleday" t-shirts to not get their money's worth.
Finally, don't forget, tomorrow's game has been moved up to 12:30 so let's keep our fingers crossed that that allows us to do two. (3 consecutive rhyming words, not easy to do, boo!)
Last edited:
