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Sunday - March 9, 2008

Game 13: Stanford at Texas

Texas needed a win today to take the Stanford series. Alas, it was not to be as the Horns lost 9-12 in 8 innings. The teams agreed before the game began that no inning would start after 4 pm due to Stanford's travel plans. It'd be nice to think that the Horns could've pulled the win off if they'd had a full 9 innings but...eh.

Today was Letterman Day at Disch-Falk. They honored a whole bunch (numerically specific, eh?) of former Letterman before the game started. A player from the 1938 team showed up. Wow. Here's a shot of the oldest of the old-timers:

And, before things started, I spotted Coach Gus in the crowd:

And, these are the Letterman who showed up from the 1983 Championship team (other players from the 70s and 80s are standing behind the guys from the '83 squad):

That's "my" Championship team since they won the CWS the summer between my Sophomore and Junior years at UT. Cool.

It was fun seeing the Letterman out on the field. Alas, once they left the field, most of the fun was over for the day.

Stanford improved their record to 8-4 while the Horns fell to 9-4. Cole Green started for the Horns and had a really bad day. He faced 7 batters and gave up 6 hits before handing the reigns over to Casey Whitmer. Giving up a 5-spot to Stanford in the 1st inning was bad enough. Grounding into 6 (yes...six!) double plays in 8 innings is what really did the Horns in, though.

I have to give the offense credit. They did not give up. But, every time they'd start to make a little bit of comeback, they'd ground into one of those double plays and then the defense would give up another run or two. Very frustrating. Stanford scored 5 in the 1st, 1 in the 2nd, 3 in the 5th, 1 in the 7th, and 2 more in the 8th. Every Texas pitcher (there were 6 of 'em) gave up at least one run. Surprisingly, 4 of the 6 Stanford pitchers also gave up at least one run.

Four Stanford players had multiple hits but the standout was Sean Ratliff who went 4-for-5 with a double, a triple, and 2 homeruns. Entertainingly, he went 0-for-3 on Friday with 3 strikeouts. You really never know who's gonna get hot.

Texas scored 1 in the 3rd, 1 in the 5th, 2 in the 6th, 4 (!) in the 7th to draw within 2 while Stanford did everything they could to drag the game out and avoid having to play an 8th or 9th, and 1 final run in the 8th. It's really rather remarkable that they managed that much offense with all those double plays. I honestly don't think I've ever seen a game where a team grounded into 4 double plays to start off a game. And, then? To top those off with 2 more...one in the 6th and another in the 8th to end the game? Sometimes, baseball really isn't fair. And, you know what? If Michael Torres hadn't managed to steal 2b after walking in the 5th, the ground ball David Hernandez hit to 3b would almost surely have been turned for another double play. Can you imagine if Stanford had managed to turn double plays in 7 of 8 innings? Wow.

Today's offensive power came from Preston Clark and Cameron Rupp who hit back-to-back homers in the 6th. And, Jordan Danks hit his 2nd homerun of the year in the 7th.

A few more photos since, really, I can't think of much more to say about the oddness that was today's game...

Cole Green on the mound:

Brandon Belt watches the action from 3b in the 2nd:

Prevailing conditions in the top of the 3rd:

Note the clouds, stiff wind, and the lights...already on at about 1:45. These conditions were not unique to the 3rd. They were that way for most of the game. The wind, coming from the south, was cold but a bit more forgiving than the wind on Friday. We were not miserable in the stands. Well, we were somewhat miserable but it wasn't really the weather that was causing the misery.

Keith Shinaberry on the mound:

Michael Torres appearing to hover above the ground near 2b in the 3rd:

Chance Ruffin's hand disappears in a blur as he pitches in the 5th:

Travis Tucker stole 2b in the 5th and was then stranded there:

Preston Clark takes a curtain call after hitting a homerun in the 6th:

Cameron Rupp gets props from his teammates after he followed Preston's homerun with one of his own:

Brandon Workman on the mound:

Jordan Danks gets props after his homerun in the 7th:

The final line...as displayed on the scoreboard:

Posted by Joanna at 10:42 PM