It was a game of baseball fortune...Miami had it, LSU did not...
Miami dinked with ridiculous duck farts and seeing eye singles to get one run, and then our still wet behind the ears pitching coach totally set up the 2nd home run - as beautifully explained by Jeff Brantley in the booth post tater - and that was that.
LSU hit the ball hard on Carillo all the way through. It's just that after the 2nd, the Miami team made good plays, and it seemed all our hard hits were right to someone. We honestly tatooed the ball. The shortstop and the 2nd baseman both had stellar plays in the field to rob LSU of base hits, and momentum to perhaps mount a rally.
As Skip Bertman would say, "That's baseball." In the 1st & 2nd, the fortune we had was what we should have capitalized on. We did not, and that in and of itself-amongst what else I saw-was that.
Nate Bumstead has now failed three times on the largest of stages. Last year in the opener in Omaha, he screwed the pooch. He did it again versus Texas A&M. Now, Bumstead has honestly failed against Miami. I like the guy, and I am never one to down a player, but it is obvious that Bumstead does not have the mental makeup to pitch in anything other than non-pressure situations.
Nick Stavinoha should not have seen another pitch after his 2nd at bat. He is playing tentatively, his swings in both the first and 2nd at bat were unsure. His facial expressions, his approach at the plate, and his results were all indicative of a scared, pressing, defeated player. His first at bat was galling. After the FIRST PITCH, I called the strikeout to my father. The kid just did not bat with confidence of any sort. The third at bat in which he grounded out to the left side of the infield should be taken by Stavinhoa as a moral victory, as at least he put the bat on the ball and put the ball in play.
The only problem is, we're in the College World Series. You're on what is considered the best program in college baseball's modern history. You're the designated hitter, and you're up there scared and totally off your game.
Where Jon Zeringue has used his time in the outfield, bettered himself from a fielding standpoint, while at the same time continuing to get better at bashing the baseball, Ryan Patterson has done....Well, I don't know what Ryan Patterson has done. I thought it interesting when the broadcast staff said early before his 2nd at bat that, "Patterson was puzzled as to why he was not drafted..." or something to that effect. I almost agreed.
Then, after that whiff, and the next at bat when he swung at a "Little League Special" about as high up on his forehead as a Botox injection normally would be to retire himself, coupled with that fiasco out in left field on national television, I said out loud, "Well, Ryan, watch the tape of this game. I'm sure you won't be puzzled anymore as to why you weren't drafted."
Lastly, the umpiring...What can you say? If LSU wins 5-3, this is something to grumble about, but not to outright bash...But, we did not win. We had pitchers who given consistently inconsistent strikes. In one inning, hell, in one at bat, the 6 inches off the corner low heat retires Clay Harris. The next inning, that walks the leadoff man for the Canes.
I'll admit that the umpire was an equal opportunity bullsh!t call issuer, as Carillo was also on the brown and smelly end of a few calls. But, I think that had we had an umpire who did not view the strike zone in the same way that Picasso would view a bowl of fruit on a table (IE-as abstract, and up for interpretation), this game would have been much different.
Bottom line, this team suffered only from bad baseball fortune. The Texas Leaguers and seeing eye singles made it through our gaps, and we couldn't quite get to them. We hit laser beams that were caught, or line drives right to left or right center. We did not him them where they ain't. Miami did. Simple as that.
We had our chances, and Carillo is more smoke and mirrors than flamethrower, but fortune did not smile on us.
It's now time to focus-for the 2nd year in a row-on the South Carolina elmination game. Geaux Tigers!
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