…or was he one of their top guys? I listened for four innings before I dozed off. It sounded like we hit the ball hard, had several long outs, but only one went over the fence. I just wondered what caliber of pitching we were up against. Before I fell asleep, Shaddy made a great play throwing the runner out from the wrong side of second base. It just sounded like a tough game and we were the tougher in the end. Now, I’m curious about what caliber of a pitcher we were dueling with?
Here’s the link to his bio on Arizona’s team page:
http://arizonawildcats.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=9218
Says he made five starts last season, sounds like they were weekend conference games. I watched the game on TV last night, and his stuff was definitely better than what you would expect from a typical “mid week starter”, especially with the strike zone as big as it was for the early innings. But then again, you could say the same about Murphy being better than the mid week starter label would suggest.
Their reliever Gil Luna had some pretty filthy movement on his stuff too, but after an inning couldn’t find the zone.
I thought we had some really solid at bats, and the lack of hitting was more a result of solid pitching, a deep outfield (and nothing was carrying), and a big strike zone. Gates was about 3 feet shy of a grand slam in the top of the ninth, it would have been out at Baum.
He pitched three times on the weekend. He’s their best lefty. They targeted our lineup with him because of all of the Arkansas lefties. He’s really good. They are still sorting out who will be their weekend starters. He might be. They knew Arkansas was better than Bryant. Now, I’ll say that all the pitchers benefited from a big park and heavy air.
I listened to Dave Van Horn on his pre-game radio show. He all but predicted a low scoring game. He said that he’d looked at the scores from the first weekend all across southern California for night games. No one scored. The air is heavy this time of year at night in southern Cal. They call it the marine layer effect. Damp cool air in the evenings mean you just can’t drive a baseball far. And, Tony Gwynn Park is massive. It’s a canyon in center. Heston Kjerstad launched it. You see his true power.
Jared Gates launched one in the ninth but the air gobbled it up and it died at the wall in right. It would have been a homer in day time or in any other park. Just not going to hit many home runs at night in that park.
The strike zone was wide and high. Both pitchers figured that out. The ump got some quick stares from hitters. I thought it was clear that the strike zone was bigger from the outset. The pitch Kjerstad hit out was a high fast ball, called a strike in an earlier at bat. He was ready for it second time and pounced on it. His bat is so quick.
Kjerstad is a phenom, better than I ever dreamed, even though Tony Vitello told me he was a gem. Kjerstad is 6-3 and stays on the plate and strides in. He’s been hit five times already. But he’s fearless. He can cover that outside pitch and launch it the other way. As Van Horn said, he’s got a gift. The team loves him. He’s all smile all the time. He hit over .500 in the fall against good pitching. Freshmen have a hard time getting much done against SEC pitching, so we’ll see how he adjusts to the good lefties in the SEC, but that was a good lefty last night and he lit him up for at least one at bat.
why did we not pinch hit Martin for Wilson in the 8th??? he blew him away and biggers too no way I wouldn’t have pinch hit
Martin there!
Martin was already in the game at that point at the DH spot. He entered as a pinch runner for Bonfield in the 7th.
So, you are saying tomorrow’s 1:00 PM local time game should have more scoring and more home runs?
Day game is different air. But I have a hard time believing Blaine Knight is going to give up a lot. There were three deep blasts that died in that heavy damp air that would probably be home runs in a day game.
It feels colder here today than yesterday. Low lying clouds and a little cold rain. Last night it was like hitting into molasses. Looked like the ball got slower the longer the shot.
Good info in this thread. I’m in LR & couldn’t get it on TV. (I didn’t think to check to see if it was on 103.7. Should have.). I relied on the awful Razorback sports app & the ESPN app. Neither gave me much info other than outs, occupied bases, & the score. I don’t know if they’re way behind or it just seems that way watching the app to update. I had no idea if we faced good pitching or what. (I admit I was fighting sleep in the last 4 innings.). I did see that Ariz had the bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th & we got out of it. Breathed a sigh of relief there. When I next looked the game was over.
I had never heard it called the marine layer. But that describes it pretty well. Years ago I played golf at Olympic Club in San Francisco. It was not fog but it was thick air. My wedge shots seemed to die. Normal shots were not 115. They were about 100. I was told by my playing partner to adjust. I finally did. There was no wind. It was dead air.
[quote=“Neastarkie”]
Good info in this thread. I’m in LR & couldn’t get it on TV. (I didn’t think to check to see if it was on 103.7. Should have.). I relied on the awful Razorback sports app & the ESPN app. Neither gave me much info other than outs, occupied bases, & the score. I don’t know if they’re way behind or it just seems that way watching the app to update. I had no idea if we faced good pitching or what. (I admit I was fighting sleep in the last 4 innings.). I did see that Ariz had the bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th & we got out of it. Breathed a sigh of relief there. When I next looked the game was over.
[/quote]The Arkansas Razorback Gameday app carries the audio. I’ve had great success using it, even at the games. Last Saturday the radio broadcast quit before the end of the game (they went to basketball) and I listened using my phone. It was a little behind, but not by much.
I don’t like the app for much, but it is very good at carrying the audio.
Marine layer applies at both Petco Park and Dodger Stadium too. Very hard to hit homers at night there. Which makes the hitting in the World Series even more impressive, although the game 1 weather in LA (103 degrees at game time) was more conducive to the long ball.