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Tuesday - March 7, 2006

Game 19: Texas at Rice

Eight in a row. With tonight's win, that's the Horns' win streak against Rice. 'Makes me think Rice has some kind of mental thing going on when they play Texas these days. Texas kept up with the offensive explosion this evening. And, for a change, played an error-free defensive game. Rice, on the other hand, made 5 errors. I missed the first couple of innings but got to hear the rest of the game. Texas won 9-5.

The line:

																			R	H	E
Texas			2	0	1			1	0	1			4	0	0		-		9	12	0
Rice			0	1	0			0	0	2			2	0	0		-		5	9	5

When I turned my radio on I have to say that I was delighted to hear that Kenn Kasparek got the start for the Horns. I don't think I wrote about it here but I've told several people that he really needed to get back to being a starter. And, did he ever come through. I'm sure Kenn was willing to do what the team needed. He tried to do the bull pen thing. But, he sure does seem to be more suited to the starter role. I was puzzled at the decision by the Texas coaching staff. They seemed so determined to turn him into a closer but it just didn't look like it was working out all that well. But, I figured they knew better. After all, they see the kids all the time. I just see them from time to time for a few innings from a seat high up in the stands. But, I'm glad they've decided to change their minds on this issue. Welcome back to starter land, Kenn!

Kyle McCulloch came on at the start of the home half of the 7th in relief to earn his first save of the year. He looked a little shaky when he came out (giving up a couple of singles and a triple) but he settled down and sat the last seven he faced down in order.

Jordan Danks jammed a finger (or thumb...I didn't hear which) in the first inning diving back to 1b on a pick-off attempt (I think Rice got the out on the play). He came out of the game. Afterward, it was reported that it was dislocated and that he'd be day-to-day.

On the offensive side of things, Nick Peoples continued with his hot streak. He went 2-for-4 with a run scored and 2 batted in. Kyle Russell (Rice killer!) went 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored and 2 batted in. Bradley Suttle went 2-for-5 with a couple of runs batted in. Brett Lewis had a great night, going 3-for-4 with a run scored and 2 batted in.

As a bit of an aside, UNLV also kept up their offensive prowess today, beating Texas Tech 16-11.

In the post-game interview, Coach Garrido was in a very good mood. He cracked a couple of jokes (paraphrased):

• "We had a celebration on the first fly ball caught in the first inning."
• "I think Kenn told us he wants to start."

The celebration refers, of course, to those two dropped fly balls that allowed 6 unearned runs in the Saturday and Sunday games at UNLV. And, he seems to agree with me that Kenn is much more comfortable starting than coming in from the bull pen. He said they hoped to have Kenn ready to start on Sunday against Long Beach State. After he was done joking around, Coach Garrido said they hoped to develop Kyle McCulloch and Adrian Alaniz into guys who could pitch two or three strong innings in relief on weekdays. He said he didn't like the idea of them pitching a relief inning or two on Friday and coming back to start on Sunday but he felt if they pitched a few innings during a Tuesday or Wednesday game, the team could shuffle the weekend starters around to accomodate the weekday reliever.

On the one hand, I like that idea. It'd be nice to have some pitchers you can really rely on regardless of the situation (starting, relieving, shutting the door). On the other hand, it sure makes me nervous when they don't use all their pitchers on a fairly regular basis throughout the season. It just doesn't seem prudent to be heading into the post-season without all of the pitchers having a decent number of innings under their belt. It worked out pretty well last year, though. So, I'm not gonna fret about it too much. Not for now, at any rate.

Posted by Joanna at 10:58 PM