Early discussion thread on tonight's College WS final
With just over 4 hours to go until Michigan plays its biggest baseball game since 1962, I thought there should be a thread to get some buzz going.
Some possible discussion points to start:
1) Who is in Omaha now and how's it going?
2) Vegas line currently (per Bovada): Vandy is a -190 favorite over Michigan +165
3) Anyone seen Vandy's SP going Drake Fellows pitch enough to give a break-down of him?
Is that a game 1 line or a series winner line?
Sorry, shoud've clarified . That is the game 1 line in the OP.
I show , at least per FanDuel yesterday, Vandy is a -280 favorite to win the series, and Michigan a +210 underdog.
I'm guessing Henry pitches tonight on 4 days rest?
Then Kauffman tomorrow on 3 days rest? or maybe Criswell on 3 days rest but only having pitched 3 innings unless Criswell comes in to relieve Henry
I was wondering who gets the start tonight. If we lose with Henry on the mound, the outlook is not very good for the series. On the other hand, if you save him, we might lose the momentum and be in a hole in the series. I'm sure Bakich knows what he is doing
Henry has had a week of rest. He should be good to go with Criswell tomorrow. Kauffman on wednesday.
Why this logic? Henry has been 3rd all year long.
I'm guessing Henry goes tonight and Kauffmann tomorrow, Criswell in the pen, for limited innings, so he's ready for Wed.
I thought Karl was left in the game too long in the 1st game vs TT, but he fought through. I didn't think his stuff looked that sharp to start last game, but again, he bulled though. He wasn't getting a lot of k's but he did a great job of getting ground balls.
Lets go boys..... You knocked off the #1 seed. #2 is all that's left in your way.
GO BLUE!
this is kinda what i would do. henry tonite. if he pitches well and we have the lead, have criswell close it out. game 1 is huge. then kaufmann in game 2.
if, god forbid, henry gets torched, i would save criswell for tomorrow. it would be a kaufmann/criswell game on tues with our backs to the wall. then a hodge podge on Wed for the title should we win that game 2. henry could pitch some in game 3 if he is held to less than 50 pitches tonite.
Kauffman and Criswell pitched on Friday. That would be 2 days rest
sat, sun, mon is 3 days rest. plus, fri was a day game. tues is a nite game, so it's almost 3.5 days rest. they are kids. they should be plenty ready to go.
Sorry, I was replying to ldevon1
The logic of all being lost if Henry loses. I was just saying that he is really our 3rd best pitcher. Not that he shouldn't pitch.
Kauffmann threw 100 pitches Friday, Criswell 36.
A good rule of thumb is 1 day of rest for every 25-30 pitches--that's how college coaches seem to operate. Criswell could have pitched yesterday, and is easily available tomorrow. Kauffmann would be borderline, and he was a little off on Friday so an extra day would be good for him. Criswell Tuesday and Kauffmann Wednesday if necessary in my opinion. If Michigan loses Monday, that might mean moving Kauffmann up, but I still say you save him for Wednesday if you can.
Henry has been 3rd all year long? That's not right. Henry started the season as the #1, then he was swapped with #2 Kauffmann at the start of the Big Ten season.
Henry was #3 in the conference tournament, the regional and the super-regional, but he was #2 again in the College World Series.
3rd best pitcher. Criswell All B1G 1st team, Kauffman 3rd team All B1G and 3rd team D1 All America. Henry struggled during the season and came on late.
Henry starts tonight; it has already been announced. Also, he's on 6 days rest, not 4 (he pitched last Monday).
In my opinion, you pretty much have to start Criswell tomorrow because Kauffmann threw about 100 pitches Friday. Kauffmann will be ready Wednesday.
Criswell could probably pitch an inning today if he had to, but no more than that. You will see Keizer or Paige in relief today unless Henry gives Michigan 8 innings--a tough task against Vanderbilt.
if mich is up a few or tied late in the game, i am pitching criswell for sure. game 1 is huge for us.
Yes--I will agree with that. If it's 2-2 in the 7th, and Henry has thrown his 120th pitch, don't hesitate to bring in Criswell even if he ends up throwing 50+ pitches. Game 1 is huge.
I'm not sure blogging is the best way to get a buzz going before a sporting event.
*Nevermind
My memory is fuzzy. How'd this turn out again? Is Kerr's younger, less-handsome, but more plucky brother on Vandy?
I've seen Michigan lose a lot of national championship games now. I'd obviously love to break that streak. I feel pessimistic just because of our recent run of 2nd place finishes
Honest question, in what sport other than men's basketball have we finished second recently?
Hockey 2011 is recent-ish. Not sure about any others.
softball 4 years ago against UF in the exact same tourney situation as baseball this week
Yep. I’ve seen basketball 2x, hockey, and softball
fab 5 twice, but that isn't really recent.
If we are stemming off all this with Detroit sports, I've also seen 2006 Tigers, 2009 Red Wings, and 2012 Tigers.
Constant piston meltdowns after the title in 04. A bunch of ECF appearances but weren’t able to get through. They should have won in 05, just put a body near horry. If they beat the heat in 06, they for sure beat the mavs for the title. Didn’t deserve it in 07. Would have been beat by spurs even if we didn’t meltdown vs the Cleveland lebrons (since no one else did anything for that team). If they had Ben in 08, they would have beaten the Celtics, eventually the lakers.
Oops, you're right, completely forgot to say the 2005 Pistons. It's been a bit miserable to be a Michigan/Detroit sports fan since the 2004 NBA title. Some definite bright spots but there's been a lot of "oh so close moments" , and now most of the Detroit teams are just in a real down-spot for the time-being.
There is the 2008 Red Wings, though, but that's been over a decade
Don’t forget the Lions. They’re just a heartbeat away from contending! Lousy officiating keeps costing them the title . . .
I’ve seen every game Fellows has pitched this season. He works down the zone predominantly, and his stuff has downward action. If he keeps his stuff down, he’s incredibly difficult to hit. If Michigan wants to beat him they need to get on him early. Whenever he got into trouble this year it always seemed to happen early and then he’d settle in and cruise. As for the bullpen, most likely will see Eder, Raby, or King for relief and Brown is the closer. Brown is a shutdown closer, and can go 2-3 innings if needed. The other relief arms have some consistency issues and can walk a lot.
Hopefully we have some walks left after getting 12 against tech. Get the pitcher thinking about guys stealing early in the game and leave pitches up. Knock him out by the fourth.
Got to him for 4 early, then he settled in. Good call!
I have watched Fellows a couple times. He is 92-94 with a good amount of sink. I don't think he is any better than anything they faced during supers. Vandy's O scares me more. They have a deep lineup with the top two guys putting up video game numbers.
I would start Hunter and use Criswell out of the pen. I think Criswell's stuff plays better out of the pen with his strikeout potential in a high leverage spot. Hunter and Kaufmann rely more on soft contact. (from what I have seen).
Would that be a deer hunter or a snipe hunter?
I'm jacked for this series. I have been glued to this team since they fell apart against Indiana, and at the same time I have nothing useful to contribute to a discussion. I hate to use the "throw out the record books" cliché, but on paper we shouldn't be anywhere close to this. None of the season stats matter. Nobody's average, nobody's ERA, nor anything else matters in these three games. If it did, UCLA would be here instead.
Pitchers have to stay sharp. Throw strikes, let the defense work. Hitters have to keep being a pain in everybody's ass. I've been amazed at our plate discipline. There have been very few easy outs in Omaha. Everybody's been working deep in the count and battling - making each inning a grind for opposing pitchers and running up pitch counts.
Who knows? Maybe we turn back into a pumpkin. Maybe we can keep it up for three more games and be champions. Can't wait to find out.
"I have nothing useful to contribute to a discussion." Proceeds to write a multiparagraph post.
God Bless the internet.
If you found anything useful in there, Internet bless you. It's all feelingsball which is not what the OP was fishing for. I'm not in Omaha. I don't know anything about Vandy's starter. But I hope this topic takes off so I threw in my two cents.
Thanks for stopping by and making my post seem profound by comparison.
Pitching depth for us is a major concern. Really hoping for a strong performance out of Henry tonight to keep our arms available for Tuesday/Wednesday
Can a gif be posted from an iPhone?
It'd take a genius to answer that question.
It'd take a genius to answer that question.
no Henry and Kumar? Damn!
Pitching will have to remain excellent...
Looks like we win 4 - 3!
Go Blue!!
Vanderbilt is probably the most complete team in the tournament, so this is going to be interesting, to say the least. We're going to need to play our best game to do this, but Michigan's best game, as we have seen, is a pretty damn good game.
Score first.
Score last.
Catch the Ball.