What’s up Canes’ fans? The Beast back here in the blogosphere as we get revved up in the baseball post season.
It’s been awhile since I’ve talked to you guys. I had just a brutal month of May, but we’ll leave that for a blog some time in July when the dog days of summer are tearing us apart. While I couldn’t make it down to the park today for the Canes’ victory over Dartmouth, I did keep my eyes on the game from home. I will be down at the park to cover Miami’s second day game against a pretty tough Texas A&M team that absolutely trounced FIU.
Don’t pay much attention to the final score of today’s 12-8 win for the Canes. The game was Miami’s after the six-run first inning. The important thing to do in these No. 1 vs No. 4 matchups is to come out and let the other team you aren’t taking them lightly. After being around the team for a bit yesterday as they had their last tune up before the regionals, I could tell that this team was incredibly focused on Dartmouth. I think most people looked at the Coral Gables regional being about the Miami/FIU feud, but I generally think that this Canes team has their eyes set on something greater than whatever tension may exist between the Canes and Golden Panthers.
While the loss of Eric Erickson was a blow for this team, the breakout of freshman righty Eric Whaley is something to feel very positive about. It’s not often a freshman makes his presence known, this late in the year, but I’m one person that thinks this kid is only going to get better as the stakes get higher. The mighty bats these Canes are wielding are great, but I can tell you after being around this spot for a long time, when you get to the post season, you need pitching.
You need starting pitching, relief pitching, and most imporant guys that are willing to be put in tough situations and find a way to get it done. You might find a starter coming out of the pen. You might a relief guy needed to start a do or die game. Pitching gets you to Omaha. The bats help, but with out the arms, fahgetaboutit.
I’m hoping the Canes can polish off A&M tomorrow, but after seeing what they did to FIU today, I’m not going to be pounding my chest until tomorrow’s game is in the books. The most important thing is that you get out and support the team for tomorrow’s big game. I’ll be at the park. Should we do a Tweet up? If anyone wants to grab an A-Rod Park shake, hit me up on Twitter @beastshow. Otherwise, look for much more here tomorrow following the game. I’ll have all of the sound from the post game presser, and my thoughts as well.
Bottom line, it was a great opening game win for the Canes. Ace Chris Hernandez takes the mound tomorrow and I know he’s hungry to get his post season going. We’ll see you tomorrow 4pm at A-Rod Park.
It’s Dartmouth .. that’s all that needs to be said
How did they score 3 runs, let alone 8. Joe Lovecchio giving up 5 earned runs in 3 1/3 IP – awful. I don’t want to hear about the game was already in hand, b/c J-Lo is the future for the Canes. Ya great, the Cane dirt pups went yard 3 times – that’s not going to happen against quality teams. Unlike what Nike says – chicks don’t really dig the long ball, b/c the long ball is a mistake .. it’s not as sexy as some might think. I want a team that has a high level of BB, a high OBP, & can hit in the clutch by capitalizing on getting RISP in. With the team speed that these Cane pups have, they should be able to score from 2nd on a duck fart to the outfield, every time – so why try to do anything more than that at the plate, like I’ve seen too many times this year
HRs obviously get runners in – but if you count on them primarily to score, you’ve got problems
It’s not just the post-season where pitching is key – pitching is key from your very first game & should be addressed every single game there after, every single year
How about the Canes bully & fielding? Yes, they have some youth in the field that will hopefully get better – Perez, Frankie, Nate, Roadrunner DeVoss & Roldy Martinez. Roldy has 18 errors? Perez has 11? They don't have frying pans on their hands out there – & to throw the ball to a base is something that they’ve been doing since watching Duck Tales & Rugrats on Saturday mornings in their pjs – so why all the errors? 66 errors on the year, 6th in the ACC … painful & inexcusable. The good thing is, they are what I call them – dirt pups. They’re still young & can improve .. but we’ll see. I don’t believe in “oh, well, he f”ed that grounder in the field, he can make it up at the plate” – no, no he can’t, b/c there is no guarantee that it will happen
Anyone tell me as well, what series did the Canes take during the year that was of any meaning against a quality opponent – beside the North Cackalacka series? Rutgers? No. Manhattan? No. BC? Duke? Wake? Maryland? Barry? Florida Gulf Coast? FAU? USF? No x 8
Maybe NC State? They didn’t take the series from any team that was worth a crap. They were up on FSU, they blew it .. they blew the series against the Crocs .. VTech .. GTech .. UVA. If you want to make it back to Omaha, where the Canes basically owned a timeshare in the past – you have to beat these type of teams. They are the measuring stick. You blow past the teams you’re supposed to, like the Canes did – but you absolutely have to be able to beat the teams that will personify you as an elite squad. The Canes are no elite squad by any means
If you look at the Canes last 9 games to end the season – they were 3-6. I’m not counting the game against Florida Gulf Coast – come on, that’s some glorified batting practice & the Canes had to come from behind in the 9th to win that game
Their bully sucked in the ACC Tourney. Who does that fall on. JD? Losing Erickson wasn’t exactly good, then again, it shouldn’t be any sort of excuse. Where’s the recruiting gone for the guys on the mound? Can we please clone Turtle? I know that you can’t throw the ball for them – but, you can get the guys to come to your school that CAN throw the ball. I don’t care how many home runs you hit or how many runs you can score – there is no greater control over the outcome of a game as there is with the power the person on the mound has in his hand. No other team sport has that type of control. George Horton (Cal State Fullerton ex-head coach, now the coach at Oregon) said it best and the Canes need to adopt this philosophy …
“You win each pitch, you win the game”. There is nothing more true than that. You don’t take it game by game, you take it pitch by pitch – you win each pitch, both offensively/defensively, you win the game. Pretty damn simple. The Canes aren’t doing that
I’ll be very surprised if this Canes team makes it out of the Super Regional