There was only one positive thought that went through my mind as the Gators were ass-slapping each other after their opening game win against our Canes tonight; thank God I didn’t make the northbound drive.
This game comes down to two things, pitching and defense, cliché as that may sound. It’s the old axiom tyou roll your eyes at, but pitching and defense wins titles.
I’ve made the point about pitching for the last two weeks. Did you feel great about going with David Gutierrez tonight in the opening game of the biggest series of the year? I love Davi. Great kid, great family, but to say I had my doubts would be an understatement.
Do you go with Jason Santana instead? I don’t think that would’ve made me feel any better. I know he came in and pitched pretty well in four innings of relief, but still.
Of course, you add a few errors into the mix – ten now this post season – and that sets you up for failure.
A few other things of note. The Canes averaged more than ten runs a game last weekend in the Coral Gables regional. They got two tonight on three hits, which is unacceptable in a series of this magnitude.
Florida starting pitcher Alex Panteliodis had a career night for the Gators, throwing his first career complete game. He gave up just three hits, walked only one and struck out twelve. The kid was on, but Miami’s offense was off.
Then there was “the call”. Was Terry Porter in the house? That low line drive hit to Stephen Perez at short was an abomination to the sport and it came at the worst time, allowing Florida to score three runs in an inning when they would’ve scored none.
Take those three runs off the board and you are looking at a 4-2 game and an easier climb for the Canes to look at every time they went up to the plate. However, don’t blame the umpire for the loss – the Canes just weren’t up to the challenge tonight.
Tomorrow is do or die for the Canes. I’m assuming Jim Morris throws lefty ace Chris Hernandez.
Hernandez has had a great year for Miami and looked amazing last week against Texas A&M – twice – but he’s used to going on six days rest – not three or four.
Also, if you look back at that regular season series against the Gators at The Rod ( I miss calling it The Light), Hernandez didn’t fare so well – struggling through six innings, giving up eight hits and four earned runs. He walked three and didn’t strike out anyone en route to a 7-1 loss.
I’m not calling for a repeat performance. A lot of time has passed. I’m just saying the Gators know they can get to #27 and UF has the momentum, one game from Omaha.
Miami will have their work cut out for them tomorrow night. A few troubling stats: Miami has won six out of nine Super Regionals they’ve played in… but have only won one on the road (@ Mississippi). When Coach Morris stresses that his team has to be one of the eight national seeds, you now understand why.
More from McKeathan Stadium on Saturday night. Keep your fingers crossed that the offense, defense and stellar pitching dominate the Gators, setting up a do or die Sunday and check back with allCanesBlog.com for all the latest Super Regional coverage.