CWS Finals Gameday 2 - Pregame Snowflake Thread
I'll openly admit to jumping on the band wagon after having watched the series against UCLA. This team has been fun to watch, and I'm really looking forward to tonight. Things should be interesting on both offense and defense tonight. I'm particularly interested in seeing whether our bats will be as alive tonight as they were last night.
Anyway, for others whose level of excitement is abnormally raised for any given Tusday, this thread is for you.
I'm guessing Kauffmann gets the start with Criswell again pitching in relief, long relief if necessary. For those in town for the game, make me jealous for not pulling the trigger and making the last-minute decision to go.
LFG.
That is all.
Lizard finger gravy?
That's an odd thing to put on a sport blog. Delicious, but odd.
Close... it means looking for gangbang.
Let's effin' go! Source; Urban Dictionary
I hope we win
It seemed like that commentators were saying that Criswell will probably get the start tonight.
I don’t think the 1 inning is enough to keep him out. They might try to save Kauffmann for game 3.
I thought that stuff was done just to get any jitters out of the way.
My money's on Criswell. This is how the UCLA series played out - with Henry and Kauffmann flipped. Criswell closed game 1, then started game 2. Plus Kauffmann just pitched Friday. Three days rest is a lot to ask.
Don't want to ruin arms - but three days rest used to be the norm for a whole season. Not asking for that - just one game to finish it off.
If Mickey Lolich could do it in the 1968 World Series - twice, back to back, winning all 3 games - Criswell can as well, IMO.
Regardless - this is our year. Let's smoke them tonight! GO BLUE!
Timely example from 50 years ago, lol.
No, I understand. But we don't do that anymore. If you went off of shit we did 50 years ago, why not just trot Tommy Henry back out there for another 150 pitches like Grandpa Kerr did in '62?
Regardless is right -- LFG. However you wanna get it done. One more win and this team will never be forgotten.
Actually, in that famous 1962 CWS it was Bob Garibaldi/Santa Clara who won the CWS MVP on the losing team.
Michigan won on a passed ball in the 15th inning!
Bob set records in innings pitched (27 2/3) and K's (38).
Garibaldi pitched in FIVE of the six games for SC.
He turned down Casey Stengel (Mets) to sign a $150,000 bonus/first million $ contract to play for the SF Giants in suddenly baseball crazy Bay Area fans (the NY Giants had just moved there)....
Garibaldi never won a game in and out of the Major Leagues (nine seasons, 15 appearances).
Five Santa Clara players made it to the Major Leagues off that team and one of them--Tim Cullen-- has the distinction of being on a World Champion (Oakland, 1972) and introducing me to my wife in 1993.
To this day my wife likes him more than me.....
Let's Knock over the Rocker tonight!!!!!!!! (in less than 15 innings)
GO BLUE!!!!!!
Ha! Now that's a post. Great story.
Go Blue!
The arm strain of modern pitchers is completely different. Its not comparable at all
Is it long term damage so short turn around can be done in certain circumstances? or is it physically straining such that a pitcher just can't recover in that time?
I know very little about baseball and don't understand the pitching. I know in the playoffs they shorten the rotation, but don't know what the limitations actually are. Only two possible games left so I'd want to get the most out of the pitchers I have. Don't know what that means though
Its actually a very good question. It's really some of both. At the MLB level, in a WS, it would be more the worry about effectiveness. For a College WS, its incumbent on the coach to watch out even more for his player's career (especially after they just got drafted). So in the case of Kauffmann, I think its definitely a worry about both but leaning toward actual effectiveness for this game.
There's a good fangraphs article I found on college pitcher workload.
https://tht.fangraphs.com/how-hard-are-college-pitchers-worked/
Basically college pitchers get worked a lot harder than pros because there's little to no monetary investment in them. It talks about MLBs/USA Baseballs Pitch Smart recommended rest by pitch count. College coaches routinely violate it, while in the MLB playoffs it's violated less than 4% of the time. Also interesting to see 115+ pitch games occur 20% of the time in CWS but only 6% of the time in MLB playoffs. College teams just don't have the pitching depth that MLB teams have.
Super interesting. Thanks for the information.
May be interesting to see gamesmanship to see if you bring in a starting pitcher for an inning tonight to try to avoid a game tomorrow. Or just to go up against a certain batter in between two pitchers.
I think it has to do with how hard, at such a young age kids throw now days. My son is 19, never overused and just had TJ surgery last year. He was touching 90 as a freshman and was pretty much the norm at elite travel ball tourneys. When I was a catcher in high school...in the late 80’s we had a lefty who threw mid to upper 80’s and was feared by every team we played. I don’t remember ever facing or even seeing 90 mph back then. Now you see it everywhere you go and the bodies aren’t ready for that kind of force.
Rolly Polly Mickey Lolich!
Nice. I had his (Lolich's, not Damone's) poster hanging in my room as a kid.
Not only did he win 3 games in that series, they were complete games with the 2nd & 3rd both being must-wins... AND the third was on the road with only 2 days' rest, head-to-head against Bob Gibson (1.12 season ERA) who had also won two games in that series heading into Game 7. McLain gets all the pub for his 31-win season but Lolich delivered the championship when Denny pitched horribly in his two matchups against Gibson.
In his documentary, Ken Burns' focus on east coast ball (especially NYY) denied fans an opportunity to be awestruck by a team that came back from being down 1-3 against the defending champs... and a pitcher (on a stage with McLain & Gibson) who not only won 3 complete games but also knocked a game-winning HR out of the park for good measure.
And yes... let's not ruin any arms. I was stumped by the decision to bring in Criswell in spite of how shaky our pen might be. If TBD beats Rocker tonight, it'll appear to be genius in retrospect.
GO BLUE
Bob Gibson
one of the great fastballs of all time
lost opened of 64 series to yankees, won games 4 and 7
won games 1, 4 and 7 over the red sox in 67
and might have won 8 consecutive WS games if Curt Flood had not misplayed Northrup's fly ball in game 7 of 68 WS<
The announcers stated last night that the reason Criswell started game 2 after closing game 1 was because Henry was in the hospital with Pnemonia. Don't know if that's accurate, just sharing what I heard them say.
I think that's about half right. Criswell relieved in game 1 because Henry wasn't available. Criswell was always expected to start game 2, as he had in Corvalis.
Henry was on full rest regardless if it were Game 2 or 3 against UCLA. His illness held him out, not his pitch count. This isn't the same situation at all. Kauffmann just threw 100 somewhat inefficient pitches on Friday.
Bakich was on with Sam this morning and he said tonight would be a all hands on deck situation, and we would see some guys we haven't seen. He could have been blowing smoke, but he said he didn't want to use Criswell like he did in the UCLA game. He would like him to get more rest. He could be trying to throw Vandy off, but we will see.
https://omny.fm/shows/michigan-insider/005-sam-and-ira-talk-with-erik-bakich-062519
we're going to run the 'picket fence' on them. don't get caught watching the paint dry.
If we have a three or four run lead by the 6th inning, it may turn into an all hands on deck to close it out.
Had that conversation with a co-worker. Say Criswell starts and goes 5 or 6 and we've got that narrow lead, do you roll the dice with Kauffmann for a late inning or two? Send the best you've got out there to win a championship? If it backfires, you're probably toast. I'm having a panic attack even thinking about it.
Tonight isn't a gimmie by any stretch of the imagination. Rocker has been on fire for Vandy this postseason. Hopefully the boys can jump on him early like they did last night and get him off his game and shake his confidence a bit. Should be a fun game to watch.
As always, GO BLUE!!!
Oh, and FIRE BAKICH!!
Rocker is a beast but he did throw 131 pitches two weeks ago in that 19k no-hitter against Duke. Not sure if that has any effect on his young arm, but I'm hoping it does and he fatigues earlier than normal.
That's one problem with being a power, strike out pitcher; you tend to throw a lot of pitches to get an out. I appreciate the way our guys can work deep into the game by trusting their fielders. Besides, strikeouts are fascist. Groundballs are democratic.
Agreed. They've done a great job against the opposing starter working counts early in the game and getting those pitch counts high, early. Hoping they do the same tonight and get him out of the game by the 6th inning. I want to see long AB's the first 2 times through the order...
I wouldn't consider him a just power strike out pitcher. His best pitch is his slider, and that's where he gets his swings and misses, but he has the ability to throw 99 mph. He also pitched since then and was pretty dominant against Miss St, but he is a true freshman. This will be a challenge, but they are up to it.
I go on vacation tomorrow, so I need to finish work early and get my pregame on.
Go Blue!
I doubt Kaufman starts. He would be going on 3 days rest. Since they won last night, tonight isn’t “must win”, I say they hold him for tomorrow if need be. I think Criswell starts on a pitch count. Tonight we will see other pitchers than our big 3. Will be interesting to see how they do.
If Criswell struggles, do you go with the bullpen then, potentially sacrificing this game, depending on the score, to keep Kaufmann ready for tomorrow?
What is "short rest" for college pitchers? Could we go Kauffman/Criswell tonight with Henry tomorrow?
College typically has 3 main starters who pitch during conference play. Normally have a Friday, Saturday and Sunday guy so full rest is typically 6 full days. I think 3 days would be a major stretch. Probably could go for 4
So are we just hosed in game 3 if we used Criswell and Kaufman tonight and lose?
Correct. I would be very surprised to see both of them tonight. Only in a situation where we have a slim lead and Bakich thinks the shutdown guy is one of the two. That is fairly risky in any event.
Criswell probable tonite.
Get it done.
Go Blue.
Criswell starts tonight, Kaufman tomorrow (if necessary). If Michigan has the lead and needs help to close might see Kaufman come out of the pen with a short leash.
Exactly this.
Criswell starts. If he goes out early and/or we are far behind, a regular reliever will come in.
If he goes out later with a lead, expect to see Kauffmann to try and finish it off.
UM has the momentum. They better treat this as a must win situation and not think about 2 games to get 1 win. If they take their foot off the pedal there is no guarantee they can get it back. Vandy will steal the momentum if it goes to a game 3.
Exactly. This is huge that they don't see it as 2 chances to win 1, and I'm sure they are not.
I agree. Vandy will come out on fire tonight and I don't like the idea of going to game 3.
I saw something on ESPN that the winner of game 1 wins the series 69% of the time, but a momentum shift to Vandy could put us in that other 31%. Let's just take care of business tonight and bring that trophy home.
How good is Vandy's #3 pitcher?
Mason Hickman would probably be their starting pitcher if this series goes three games. His 2.08 season ERA is actually much better than their other two main starters.
People said the same thing after the Creighton collapse and again after Game 2 of the UCLA series. The comments in the live game threads in particular were embarrassing.
Yet here we are. In my opinion fans tend to seriously overrate momentum on a game-to-game basis.