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Saturday - June 24, 2006

CWS - Day 8

Oregon State v. North Carolina.

I begin today's post with a bit of a rant. Have people completely forgotten the definition of the word "literal"? During the bumper at the top of the broadcast, Mike Patrick stated: "North Carolina literally sailed through this tournament so far." Never mind the shaky grammar. It's the use of the word "literally" that's so very very wrong. North Carolina has not sailed through anything. He's talking about baseball. Sailing has nothing to do with it. He can say that they "figuratively" sailed through. He can easily make a case for that. But, they did not "literally" sail through. That would've involved, at the very least, a body of water and some sort of vessel with sails. Argghhhhh!

Sigh. Okay...I'll try to put that behind me. 'Cause we're actually getting the chance to watch some baseball and we've got Mike and Harold in the booth. They're a lot better than any of the other jokers who've been broadcasting thus far. It's just...please, people, think about what the word means. You hear it all the time. Someone "literally died last night" and yet, they're talking to you. Alive and well. Not the least bit dead. Please stop misusing it. Please? Thank you.

End rant.

Andrew Miller got the start for North Carolina. Dallas Buck got the start for Oregon State. Oregon State got a couple of runners on in the 1st but were unable to score. In the bottom, Buck started out strong, getting the first two he saw out, but then walked the third and ended up giving up two runs. In the 3rd, Chris Kunda hit a ball that was ruled a double after a fan interfered with the ball by reaching over the outfield fence. Kunda did end up scoring to move Oregon State within one run of North Carolina. In the top of the 6th, John Wallace singled and then moved to 3b when Miller tried a snap pick-off throw to 1b that went wide of the first baseman. Cole Gillespie then hit his 13th home run of the season into the rf bleachers to give OSU the lead.

And, one pitch later (after a ball), everything came to a complete halt due to a nearby lightening strike. During the weather delay, ESPN showed a few innings of last year's championship game between Florida and Texas. Cool.

When play resumed a little over an hour later, North Carolina decided to replace Miller on the mound; Matt Danford went in. The Beavers got a couple on but were unable to score. In the bottom of the inning, OSU left Buck in. He gave up back-to-back singles to the first two batters he saw. He got the next batter to ground into a double play but then the fourth hit a single up the middle to tie the game at 3-3. When Gillespie came up again for OSU in the 7th with a runner at 1b, North Carolina sent Jonathan Hovis (1.20 ERA!) in to pitch. NC got out of the inning when the catcher (just barely) caught the runner trying to steal 2b.

In the bottom of the 8th, Chad Flack led off with a triple to the rf corner. He then scored on a ball that got past the catcher. He made a great slide to get around the tag from the pitcher (Joe Patterson, who'd gone in for OSU during the 7th). In the 9th, OSU got the tying run to 2b but then closer Andrew Carignan went in for NC and struck out the two batters he saw to end the game (earning his 15th save of the year). North Carolina won 4-3.

Wow. That was a good game. I'm looking forward to the rematch tomorrow night.

Posted by Joanna at 10:27 PM