Tuesday - November 22, 2016
Officially Retired
I had a lot of fun with this blog back in the day. But, I haven't posted anything here in years. So, it's clearly time to officially retire the beast. Thanks so much to all the people who checked in over the years. I had a blast.
Hook 'em, Horns!
Posted by Joanna at 6:37 PM | Permalink
Saturday - February 22, 2014
Game 6: Stanford at Texas
Whew. Turns out I was right. The only place to go from Game 1 was up.
The line from last night's game:
Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stanford | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 9 | 0 |
Texas | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | x | 9 | 13 | 0 |
After losing 6 straight against Stanford (all at Stanford) over the last couple of seasons, last night's game was great. Parker French bounced back from last week's nightmare at Cal to earn his first win of the season. He also threw a career high 8 strikeouts. Mark Payton is killing it with his bat and doing a great job in cf. After last night's game, he's batting .577 and leads the conference in slugging, hits, triples (3!), and total bases. So glad he's back for his senior season.
I missed the opener on Tuesday and was happy to be there last night. The team looked good. Here's hoping for more of the same. Hook 'em, Horns!
Posted by Joanna at 6:43 AM | Permalink
Saturday - February 15, 2014
Game 1: Texas at Cal
No, this doesn't mean I'm starting back up. I just... I just...
Wow. Happy Valentine's Day to the Longhorns. I listened to the game off and on. Parker French started and took the loss. He commited 2 of those errors. All but two of the runs were unearned. The good thing, of course, is that things can only get better from here. Right? Right???? I certainly hope so.
Hook 'em, Horns!
Posted by Joanna at 8:50 AM | Permalink
Saturday - March 23, 2013
Throwing in the towel
Hmmm...well, that didn't last long, did it? Sorry about that. It looks like I truly have lost my "passion" for this project. I'm not really sure why. A combination of things, I guess:
- Doing game reports takes a lot of time and effort. It can easily eat up 2 or 3 hours to do one of my "in-depth" reports. I just don't seem to want to put the time in these days. I'd rather go watch a band play some music.
- The Longhorn Network. I know it's always been about money around here. But with the advent of the LHN, the Athletic Department has basically given up all pretense about caring about the local fans. Everything is scheduled to maximize the fabled TV audience. You used to be able to count on games starting at a set time pretty much every day. Now? Who knows when a game will start. You can bet it will depend on what else is going on that day on the LHN, though. It's depressing to those of us in the stands.
- We cannot get any help from the Athletic department. They used to tweet the starting lineups for both teams before games. That made things so much easier to get my score sheet ready. Now? I've asked multiple times for opposing lineups. Not only will they not post then, they won't even acknowledge my requests. Then, when Bob Cole (God love him) starts saying the lineup over the PA, he cannot say it in a uniform way. Batter number, name, jersey number, position. That's what we want. In any order you please but, please, in the same order for each player as you go down the list. And, slow enough that we can catch all the info. Nope. Info for each batter is given in a random order, much too quickly, and half the time, we get no jersey number at all. It's frustrating. I hate playing catch-up during the game.
Huh. That's only three things. Oh well. Those are enough. I'm done whining. I just wanted y'all to know what's up. I am basically throwing in the towel...for the time being. I will probably occasionally post updates. But, it won't be on a regular basis. Trying to post an update for every game means I don't post anything because I can never catch up.
I'll try to post when I feel like there's something interesting or noteworthy to post. But, no promises.
Hook 'em, Horns!
Posted by Joanna at 11:24 AM | Permalink
Sunday - February 24, 2013
Game 7: Nebraska at Texas
Final game of the Nebraska series. As Ellie said: "Get out your brooms." Texas won 2-0 to complete the 3-game sweep over Nebraska. Sweet. I'd like to say it was a pretty pitchers' duel. But it really wasn't. Nathan Thornhill got the nod and threw a fantastic game. He had 4 (of 7) perfect innings to get the win. Corey Knebel threw the final two and faced the minimum to earn his 3rd save. He's got his ERA down to 2.25 now. Yes! So...lovely pitching and defense.
But...pitchers' duel? Well...the Longhorns actually got nine hits. But, they also struck out nine times. It was very interesting. Luckily, they managed to string enough hits together in the 4th and 6th innings to push a couple of runs across to win the game. Too many runners (5 by my count) stranded in scoring position again. Mark Payton had another fantastic day. He went 3-for-3 with a double, a run batted in, a run scored, and a sac bunt. He's hitting .500 through the first 7 games of the season. So much fun.
By the way, Nebraska is now 0-7 on the year. What's up with that? Wow.
Here's the line (from GameTracker):
And, a link to the GameTracker replay as well.
And, more links:
The Horns host Sam Houston State at 5 o'clock on Tuesday and then head to California to play Stanford over the weekend. Hook 'em, Horns!
Posted by Joanna at 11:59 PM | Permalink
Saturday - February 23, 2013
Game 6: Nebraska at Texas
Game 2 of the Nebraska series. Texas let the game get away from them a little bit but pulled off the win on a "walk-off" single by CJ Hinojosa to win the game 4-3. It also meant they won the series. Dillon Peters started and went 6 innings; he gave up 2 runs (1 unearned) on 6 hits with a walk and 4 strikeouts. Texas and Nebraska spent an inordinate amount of time in the 7th getting the tying run on the board. To wit...
- The inning started with Dillon Peters on the mound.
- He gave up a lead-off single to 3b Josh Scheffert.
- Which prompted a pitching change. Texas sent Ty Marlow to the mound.
- Jake Placzek (ss) advanced Schaffert to 2b on a 1-3 sac bunt.
- Texas sent Travis Duke to the mound.
- Rich Sanguinetti (cf) grounded out to ss. Schaffert stayed at 2b.
- Austin Darby (rf) reached on an infield single (high-bouncer) to 2b, moving Schaffert to 3b. Brooks Marlow, playing 2b at the time, made a bare-handed scoop and almost beat Darby with his throw to 1b.
- Texas sent Cameron Cox to the mound.
- Bryan Peters (dh) singled up the middle, scoring Schaffert and moving Darby to 2b.
- Tanner Lubach (c) grounded out to 2b. Another high-chopper fielded by Marlow. Hinojosa was also charging the ball and ran into Marlow as he released the ball on his throw to 1b. Luckily it was a minor collision and nobody was hurt. And, the throw to 1b was not affected.
Happily, the Horns answered with a run in the bottom of the inning as the Nebraska pitchers took a bit of a dive...giving up 4 walks, 3 of them with 2 outs on the board. Ouch.
The Horns turned around and gave up another tying run in the 8th. In the 9th, Toller Boardman (who'd gotten the last out of the 8th) gave up a lead-off single. The next batter tried to bunt the runner to 2b but hit the ball a bit hard. Boardman fielded and fired the ball to ss for the start of a 1-6-3 double play! Nice. Chad Hollingsworth replaced him on the mound to get the final out of the top of the 9th on a really nice play by Mark Payton in rf who made a long run to track down a fly ball in the corner near the warning track. Nice.
In the bottom of the 9th, Erich Weiss (playing 3b) reached on a 1-out double to the cf/rf gap. Mark Payton was intentionally walked. CJ Hinojosa was up. The infield pulled in. Strike. Ball. Single past ss up the middle. Weiss scored. Texas won. Whew. My favorite part of the whole deal? Hollingsworth got the win. He threw a grand total of two pitches. I love baseball. I really do.
Here's the line (from GameTracker):
And, a link to the GameTracker replay as well.
And, more links:
The Horns left way too many runners on the bases today, many of them in scoring position. It was a really fun finish to the game but...wow. They shouldn't have even been playing in the bottom of the ninth!
Posted by Joanna at 11:59 PM | Permalink
Game 5: Nebraska at Texas
Another night spent at the Cactus instead of Disch-Falk Field. (I went to the Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison CD release party which was fantastic!) I was very happy to pull up Twitter after the show was over to find that the Horns started the series off right by defeating Nebraska 8-2.
Parker French earned his 2nd win of the season. He threw 6.1 innings and gave up both runs in the 2nd inning of the game. After a 1-out walk and a single to put men on 1b and 2b, Texas sent Ty Marlow in for the final two outs of the 7th. Corey Knebel threw 6 strikeouts to end the game. Of course, he also gave up a double in the 8th and 2 lead-off walks in the 9th to make things more interesting. Ha! He apparently also earned a save but I'm not quite sure how that works out since he entered the game with a 6-run lead. But...not mine to quibble.
On the offensive side of things, Mark Payton continues to pace the team. He had 2 hits and 2 runs batted in. Jacob Felts and Codey McElroy also had 2 hits. Both teams came away with 9 hits on the day but Texas did a better job of capitalizing on theirs. I don't think I've written about it yet but the team is also stealing bases like crazy. Taylor Stell stole his 4th base of the season last night. Erich Weiss and CJ Hinohosa also stole a base last night (a double steal, in fact)...the second stolen base on the season for both of them.
Here's the line (from GameTracker):
And, a link to the GameTracker replay as well.
And, more links:
- Recap from TexasSports.com
- Photo gallery from TexasSports.com
- Box score and play-by-play from TexasSports.com
Congratulations to Coach Garrido who recorded his 700th coaching win at Texas. Not too shabby!
And, here's hoping the Horns keep the pressure on and win today and tomorrow and send the Huskers home with a record of 0-7. Wouldn't that be sweet? I think so!
Posted by Joanna at 11:00 AM | Permalink
Tuesday - February 19, 2013
Game 4: UT-Arlington at Texas
I went to the Cactus and watched Hayes Carll put on a fantastic show this evening...which resulted in me missing tonight's baseball game. It looks like the Horns managed to do enough to win their game against UT-Arlington by a score of 2-1. Yikes. That's too close for my comfort.
A 1-out 2-run single by Erich Weiss in the third drove in both of UT's runs and proved to be the game winning hit. The Horns were out-hit and charged with an error so it looks like they had a bit of luck on their side.
Chad Hollingsworth (Freshman from Waco) got the start, went 5 innings, and came away with his first win as a Texas Longhorn. Corey Knebel threw the last 2 innings for another save. On Sunday, he reduced his ERA by an order of magnitude; this evening he reduced it by another half and has it down to 4.5. Nice.
Here's the line (from GameTracker):
And, a link to the GameTracker replay as well.
And, more links:
- Recap from TexasSports.com
- Photo gallery from TexasSports.com
- Box score and play-by-play from TexasSports.com
- Recap from the UT-Arlington baseball page
- Pitchers Carry Horns to Win (from the Statesman)
It's always interesting reading through the play-by-play. In the 9th it says: "Lawrence grounded out to 3b unassisted, SAC, bunt; Dyvig advanced to second." Wait? What? He hit an unassisted sac bunt to 3b? Huh? How does that work? Surely that's wrong? So I decide I'll go to GameTracker and see what it says. Alas, it's not nearly as helpful. As it were. It abruptly ends saying: "Lawrence grounded out to c unassisted, SAC; Shortall out at second c unassisted." That's even more unintelligible! The recap actually mentions the final two outs of the ninth but fails to explain how the runner got to 2b. Oh well.
Side note: I got email from someone in Ohio (hi, Ruy) who claims he actually has access to the Longhorn Network and is able to watch these games on Cable TV. Can you imagine? I cannot. If I had access to this fabled LHN, I could actually record the games when I went out to listen to music, and I could (maybe) tell you what really happened there in the 9th. Maybe. But, I don't. So, we'll just have to live with the confusion. I guess.
Next up...Nebraska comes back to town. I'll be missing the Friday game but should be there on Saturday and Sunday. I'm hoping for a sweep this weekend! Hook 'em, Horns!
Posted by Joanna at 11:57 PM | Permalink
Sunday - February 17, 2013
Game 3: Sacramento State at Texas
The Horns came back to win the final game of the Sacramento State series 6-3. Dillon Peters started for the Horns and plonked the first batter he saw with the first pitch he threw. Not the best start to a game...especially since that player went on to score (he was advanced on a walk, and two ground outs). The Hornets final two runs came on solo homeruns in the 5th (into the visitor's bullpen) and 9th (way over the lf fence). Peters threw 7 innings to take the win. He gave up 2 earned runs on 5 hits (including the one homerun) with 1 walk, 1 hit batter, and 1 strike out. Corey Knebel threw the final two innings to get his first save of the year. He gave up 1 earned run on 2 hits (double, homerun) and struck out 2. He also managed to reduce his ERA from 99 to 9. I'm gonna enjoy watching his ERA go down as the season moves forward.
On the offensive side of things, it was great to see the Horns respond to the Hornets' 1st-inning run with a run of their own. I was pleased to see them hitting early again. Four Texas batters came away from the game with 2 hits: Taylor Stell, Mark Payton, CJ Hinojosa, and Weston Hall. Extra-base hits came from Hinojosa (double) and Payton (triple).
Here's the line (from GameTracker):
And, a link to the GameTracker replay as well.
All-in-all, it was a good game. It was really nice to see the team respond in such a positive way to their loss yesterday.
On a bit of a tangent, the athletic department is playing with social media this season. At some point during the first three games, they've made an announcement that if you tweet your seat number to the @Texas_Baseball twitter account you will be put in the running for a prize pack. I tweeted my seat number on Friday but did not win. I did not tweet yesterday (I missed the announcement) but did today. And...I won! I was sitting in my seat waiting for the home-half of the 5th to start when a young lady walked up and asked if I was Joanna. I said I was and she handed me my prize! Which turned out to be a burnt-orange t-shirt with a Longhorn logo on the chest. There are sponsor logos on the sleeves from Coca Cola and Southwest Airlines. That was fun. Ha!
Texas hosts UT-Arlington on Tuesday. I won't be at the game. I'll be at the Cactus Cafe watching Hayes Carll do the singing thing. I'll try to put some sort of report online, though. At a minimum, I'll post a link to the game report from the TexasSports web site. Hook 'em, Horns!
Posted by Joanna at 11:58 PM | Permalink
Saturday - February 16, 2013
Game 2: Sacramento State at Texas
Sadly, the Horns fell to Sacramento State 3-5 this afternoon. Nathan Thornhill took the loss. He went 3.2 innings and gave up 4 runs (1 unearned) on 6 hits (1 double) with a walk, a hit batter, and one strike out. Matt Moynihan and Madison Carter paced the Horns on the offensive side of things; each had 2 hits with 1 run batted in. Alas, the Horns took a bit too long to get into their groove at the plate today and could not get hits to fall in when they needed them as they tried to fight their way back into the game in the latter innings.
Here's the line (from GameTracker):
And, a link to the GameTracker replay as well.
Here's hoping the Horns take the rubber match of the series tomorrow. Hook 'em!
Posted by Joanna at 11:39 PM | Permalink