Papi's hit aside, why'd Bianco let him bat with 1B open?
- Thread starter EurekaDog
- Start date
no error in your thinking....
bad mistake with first base open. with 1 out, you have a possible double play and / or avoid one very good hitter.
honestly, tsun dodged several virginia at bats that almost cost them runs.
good pitching always beats good hitting. the game would not have been tied had the UVA pitcher not walked the first two tsun batters in the 8th inning.
bad mistake with first base open. with 1 out, you have a possible double play and / or avoid one very good hitter.
honestly, tsun dodged several virginia at bats that almost cost them runs.
good pitching always beats good hitting. the game would not have been tied had the UVA pitcher not walked the first two tsun batters in the 8th inning.
i guess it was the fact that they were 1 strike away from being out of the inning in a park that is very much a pitchers park. pitchers can make mistakes and more often than not, get away with them coupled with the fact that greenwood has been solid for them all year. that is the only thing i can think of. no way on earth i give him anything drive-able to the gaps.
If that's the reason, then let Greenwood face the next guy. Put Papi on. He can't beat you if you walk him.
There is no logical explanation to pitch to Papi there.
There is no logical explanation to pitch to Papi there.
Gotta give Bianco ...
some credit here. At least he admitted he made a big mistake in the post-game interviews.
Oh wait ... instead of taking some the blame, he just blamed the loss on the 'team.'
From Michael Bonner:
Bianco: If you're going to win here you've got to play a little bit better than we did today.
Bianco: The reason the pitch count was so low was because we didn't get any hits.
some credit here. At least he admitted he made a big mistake in the post-game interviews.
Oh wait ... instead of taking some the blame, he just blamed the loss on the 'team.'
From Michael Bonner:
Bianco: If you're going to win here you've got to play a little bit better than we did today.
Bianco: The reason the pitch count was so low was because we didn't get any hits.
Didn`t we do essentially the same thing in the 2011 super regional at Florida ? I don`t think it was the bottom of the ninth but we pitched to a kid that was "the best hitter in college baseball" at the time with a base open. I remember screaming at my TV...just put him on, just put him on and he ends up hitting a 2 or 3 run blast that eventually beat us. All of these coaches have their moments.
It was totally a bad call on Bianco's part for letting Papi even bat to begin with. His run meant nothing, the winning run on was on second so why even try to pitch to him. As others have said, walk him then u have a force at any base with a lesser know hitter coming up. If not mistaken the next batter was another lefty, so you walk Papi, bring in their lefty who had been warming up and go with left on left. Bianco needs to suck it up and admit he screwed up.
No error in your thinking....
Was a huge mistake by Bianco. You have perhaps the best hitter in college baseball at the plate. With a runner already on second and two out Mike Papi could do nothing to hurt them standing on first base, nothing. In fact, it would have helped them by creating a force at any base. Wasn't a match-up thing as the guy behind him was also a lefty. Don't even start about how it almost worked but the pitcher just made a mistake. That mistake is another reason why you put him on because Papi will make you pay for a mistake.
Complete bonehead move by Bianco.
UVA deserved the win though. They clearly were the better team and outplayed the bears. They should have never scored because the UVA pitcher should have gotten a strike-out, throw-out in the 8th. The ump called the previous pitch a strike to go 3-2 and the next pitch was close but better than that one. I thought the plate ump was very inconsistent with his strike zone.
Was a huge mistake by Bianco. You have perhaps the best hitter in college baseball at the plate. With a runner already on second and two out Mike Papi could do nothing to hurt them standing on first base, nothing. In fact, it would have helped them by creating a force at any base. Wasn't a match-up thing as the guy behind him was also a lefty. Don't even start about how it almost worked but the pitcher just made a mistake. That mistake is another reason why you put him on because Papi will make you pay for a mistake.
Complete bonehead move by Bianco.
UVA deserved the win though. They clearly were the better team and outplayed the bears. They should have never scored because the UVA pitcher should have gotten a strike-out, throw-out in the 8th. The ump called the previous pitch a strike to go 3-2 and the next pitch was close but better than that one. I thought the plate ump was very inconsistent with his strike zone.
TBH I thought the ump's strike zone was pretty good. The guy had a tough job. Seemingly every pitch from Ellis or Kirby was clipping the edge of the plate or just barely missing.
It was completely the wrong decision. Makes sense now why they've struggled for so long to get there.
Both of these sentences are more accurate if you end them "with our confiscated bats".
"good pitching always beats good hitting. the game would not have been tied had the UVA pitcher not walked the first two tsun batters in the 8th inning."
"This"
Had UV made the pitching change after the first walk, I think that they win it in the top of the 9th
"This"
Had UV made the pitching change after the first walk, I think that they win it in the top of the 9th
Yup. Decisions like that have cost bianco several key games in the past. You don't win Omaha winning games 9-3 like you do in the regular season... Every single move and every single situation better be carefully considered because most games in the dead bat era in the CWS are 1-3 runs. See us last year. Every game but the last one was decided by 1-3 runs.
i agree totally....i think the answer to the op's question is that he got greedy. i think the original plan was to not give him anything to hit and that worked it into an opportunity for an out with a RISP and bianco went braindead or greenwood badly missed on his location and thats all she wrote. there shouldnt have been anything remotely close to something over the plate. either way, they werent winning that game with 1 hit.