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Saturday - March 28, 2009

Game 23: Texas Tech at Texas

Bah. Texas lost 2-4 to Tech this afternoon. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed to note that the high-socks fashion statement was not in evidence when the team took the field. The usual suspects had high socks but most of the team did not. In the bottom of the 9th, that changed as the batters went to the plate sporting high socks. A case of too little, too late? I guess we'll never know.

Things started off well, though...with the retirement ceremony for Brooks Kieschnick's jersey number (#23). Here he is speaking before the start of the game about what it means to him to have his number retired:

That's Deloss Dodds along with Kieschnick's wife and kids standing behind Brooks. He got a bit choked up and I have to admit that I shed a tear or two. I know I've mentioned it before but he's my favorite former Longhorn player.

He threw out the ceremonial first pitch:

Not much of a high kick, eh? He was clearly happy to be there, though. And, no...sadly...the pitch did not cross the plate without a bit of a bounce. Which gave everyone a chuckle. Too bad we didn't get to see him bat. He was interviewed by Craig Way on the radio mid-way through the game and admitted that it was always more satisfying to hit a homerun than it was to strikeout a batter.

Prevailing conditions at the start of the game:

Yep...lots of wind again today. It was pretty nippy in the shade. It was 60 °F at the start of the game and got up 64 by the end. I think.

Starting line-ups:

Texas Tech	Texas
1 Willie Rueda, 2b 2 Joey Kenworthy, ss 3 Michael Reed, cf 4 Chris Richburg, 1b 5 Scott LeJeune, dh 6 Taylor Ashby, rf 7 Justin Berry, 3b 8 Garrett Totten, lf 9 Jeremy Mayo, c - A.J. Ramos, p	1 Travis Tucker, 2b 2 Michael Torres, 3b 3 Brandon Belt, 1b 4 Cameron Rupp, dh 5 Kevin Keyes, rf 6 Preston Clark, c 7 Tant Shepherd, lf 8 Kyle Lusson, cf 9 Brandon Loy, ss - Brandon Workman, p

Brandon Workman started on the mound for the Horns:

And a great start it was. He struck out the first two batters and got the third to line out to rf. Very very nice. In the bottom of the inning, it looked like things were picking up nicely from yesterday's win. Tucker led things off with a walk. Here, he watches the pitcher from 1b:

Torres struck out looking. Belt doubled into rf, moving Tucker to 3b. Here's Belt, hitting that double:

Rupp then singled through the left side, scoring Tucker and Belt. A shot of Rupp at 1b, watching the pitcher shortly after hitting that single:

Rupp moved to 2b when Keyes grounded out to the pitcher and was stranded there when Clark struck out (after watching 3 pitches and then fouling off 4 more). Texas up 2-0. Sadly, that lead did not hold up. Tech got batters to 1b and 2b with two out in the second but stranded them there. In the bottom of the second, Lusson reached on a 1-out single but Loy and Tucker flew out to strand him at 1b. Here's Lusson, rounding 1b after hitting that single:

Top of the third. Yep, the third inning. Sigh. Mayo struck out and Rueda flew out to lf. Nice. Kenworthy singled into cf. Reed was hit by the first pitch to him. And, sadly, Richburg hit a homerun over the rf fence. The ball may have been aided a bit by the wind but...it cleared the fence by quite a bit. LeJeune then grounded out to 2b. Texas down 2-3. I didn't really feel too bad about things at this point. I mean, the Horns looked really good in the first. Right? Right.

Bottom of the third. Torres grounded out to 2b. Belt singled on a high bouncer into cf but was caught stealing with Rupp at the plate. Rupp went on to walk (yes, on the next pitch). That's always painful. But not as painful as what happened next. Keyes hit a double to the wall in the rf/cf gap:

The right fielder got the ball in quickly. But, Harmon (going back in time to the Jeff Ontiveros era?) sent Rupp around 3b. And, sadly, here's how things played out:

Very sad. In the top of the 4th (again with 2 out), Totten doubled to the lf/cf gap. He was driven home for the 4th and final run of the game by Mayo who hit a single two pitches later. Mayo was stranded at 1b.

In the bottom of the 4th, Shepherd hit a 1-out double, moved to 3b when Lusson flew out to deep rf, and was stranded at 3b when Loy lined out to rf.

The Horns went down in order in the 5th, 6th (the pitcher struck out the side...ouch), and 8th. In the 7th, the lead batter did get on but was thrown out on a fielder's choice. The inning ended with a 6-4-3 double play. In the 9th, the high socks brigade made its appearance. Sadly, Rupp grounded out to 2b. Keyes reached on a 5-pitch walk and was lifted for a pinch runner (Tim Maitland). Russell Moldenhauer (pinch-hitting for Clark) lined out to rf. The game ended when Shepherd hit into a 6-4 fielder's choice.

Texas surprised me a bit by taking Brandon Workman out of the game after the 4th. He'd thrown 76 pitches by my count. He ended up taking the loss and giving up all 4 runs on 6 hits. He struck out 4, walked none, and hit 1 batter. Keith Shinaberry pitched the 5th. It was a rather interesting inning. He walked Kenworthy (on 7 pitches). Reed moved Kenworthy to 2b with a sac bunt to the pitcher. Richburg (who hit the 3-run homer in the 3rd) was intentionally walked. LeJeune then hit into a 6-4-3 double play. Here's a shot of Shinaberry on the mound:

Taylor Jungmann pitched the final 4 innings of the game for Texas. Here he is on the mound:

Jungmann gave up a lead-off single and then mowed down the next 6 in a row (including 3 strikeouts). He looked good. The lead-off batter in the 8th got on via a strikeout/wild-pitch combo. That's twice in two days that the Horns struck a player out and then let him aboard on a wild pitch. You don't see that play often. Weird for it to happen in back-to-back games. Anyway, he was erased on a fielder's choice. The batter who reached moved to 2b on a ground-out to the pitcher but was stranded at 2b.

Jungmann struggled a bit in the 9th. It was kind of a weird inning. He hit the first batter and struck out the 2nd. The third flew out to cf and the 4th walked. With runners at 1b and 2b and 2 out, he fell behind (2-1) the 5th batter. Which prompted a quick trip to the mound by Skip Johnson. Two pitches later, the batter struck out swinging. Pretty. Jungmann's final numbers: 16 batters faced, 1 hit (a single), no runs, 6 strikeouts, 1 walk, 1 hit batter, and 57 pitches thrown by my count. Nice outing.

Here's the line (my photo of the scoreboard at the end of the game):

Rubber match tomorrow at 1 o'clock. We've got an overnight freeze warning but they're saying we'll get to the mid 70s by the afternoon. I hope that's true. I'm tired of being cold at Disch-Falk. Feel free to remind me of this sentiment come May.

Posted by Joanna at 11:08 PM