Po Monkey Lounger wrote:I don't expect perfection, but I do expect some form of consistency. This is expecially important in college baseball with the aluminum bats ---advantage already to the hitters. Call a big strike zone, or call it tight, but just be consistent.
That said, the umps did not cost us the game last night. Like Cam said, we pretty much made enough errors and mental mistakes to do ourselves in without the umps help. The missed calls by the ump just made an already frustrating night, even more frustrating.
Our young pitchers will no doubt learn from this experience and perhaps be able to better maintain focus and composure in the future when such happens to them in big games. Its part of the game.
I don't even think I could say that even the majors have the form of consistentcy that your looking for. Like someone mentioned, if your pitches are all over and you hit close on the next, the ump will not call it because of your tract record from earlier. Yes, it's a shame umps call like this, but a pitcher does have to prove himself that he is consistant.
The point about being stolen on and not doing anything about it. The case at the end when a Miami runner stole second and on the very next pitch stole third, where was the pitchers state of mind or the coaches for that matter? If the pitcher was young, Bianco should of known that the best time to steal third after stealing second is the very next pitch. Signal your pitcher to check 2nd. Bases runners are in the biz to make the defense make errors and capitalize on the errors. It could of been too that he wasn't paying attention to the runner and still thinking about other errors. This is costly too. Forget about the past and play the game at hand. Every pitch is a new ball game. At the end of the game when everyone is in the locker room is the time to bring up past errors and talk about what happened and what could of been done differently.
MS held their own till the grand slam. Yes it was close and umps make errors. MS adjusted and kept it close. A home run to start the inning is a major adjustment and a major momentum shifter. Take away the grand slam and leave in the errors, I think MS could of pulled it off. No matter the bad calls. MS was countering the lead of Miami and the defense was pulling their share of the load. Case in point is the 3rd baseman letting that ball go foul. You can clearly see he pulled his glove up at the last minute to let it go - homefield advantage.
All I can say is live and learn. Come back next year and do it all over again. Complain about the umps and be there for the team every step of the way. It's a game, it's the lives of most and it's American most favorite past time.
