FanPost

The ninth inning that wouldn't end and more

As I mentioned previously, my wife and I went to see an FSU vs. Virginia baseball game on Saturday. It was a pretty big matchup - in Baseball America's Top 25, Virginia was #1 and FSU was #5, while in USA Today's rankings, FSU was #2 and Virginia was #4. Coming into the series, FSU was undefeated - 12-0 - but they lost the first game of the series 5-0. So game two was a pretty big game for FSU, trying to come back after being shut out.

The last game we went to was a day game, and they had a big setup selling barbecue by the entrance to the bleachers. We didn't eat at the ballpark then, but my wife was excited to try the barbecue. But when we got there, well, it wasn't there. We sadly wandered back to the stand selling crappy ballpark food, and learned from them that they only have that on Sundays. Oops. So we decided we would get something to tide us over, and then pick up barbecue after the game was over. I got a grilled chicken sandwich and french fries - the grilled chicken sandwich consisted of a slab of chicken breast on a bun. Nothing else. Whoo. And the fries were kind of stale. It was a sad, sad state of affairs, especially since I'm spoiled by the excellent food at AT&T Park.

Anyway, the game got off to an exciting start - after Virginia went down 1-2-3 in the top of the first, FSU scored three in the bottom of the first thanks to doubles by FSU's two All-American outfielders, Tyler Holt and Mike McGee, and an error.

Speaking of Holt, I'm not sure what to make of him - who I hear is projected as a second or third rounder. He looks like a very good defensive center fielder. Before the game, he was presented with a college Gold Glove Award. He's just the second FSU player to win a Gold Glove - the other being Buster Posey. As a hitter, he doesn't have much power, but he can work the count and draws a lot of walks, and when I've seen him make contact, he hits nice, crisp line drives. On the other hand, in two games, I've seen him make three first-pitch outs, which isn't such a good thing for that type of guy - a hitter who doesn't have a lot of power and relies on plate discipline for his value as a hitter. Both he and McGee are off to slow starts, so if they don't get going, they could fall in the draft - and I love when the Giants pick up that sort of player in the fourth or fifth round a la Brandon Crawford or Jason Stoffel.

Holt and McGee in the field after Holt made a nice running catch:

They then scored two more in the third inning, and FSU's pitcher, a lefty junior named John Gast, looked impressive. I'm not sure he's considered a prospect at all, and he only ended up pitching four innings, but I liked him. He didn't throw too hard, but he had pretty good stuff. Got some nasty swing-throughs. He got out Virginia's First Team All-American, Jarrett Parker, twice, including a strike out on a really nice curveball. Parker had a pretty lousy game for someone who's a potential first-round pick - 0-5 with three strike outs. What's more, he looked overmatched at the plate. If I hadn't already known he was an All-American, I wouldn't have guessed. By the way, Virginia's other All-American, Danny Hultzen, wasn't playing - he was only used as a pinch-hitter. I have no idea why. Overall, Gast got five strike outs and three walks in five innings. He also gave up seven hits, so he wasn't exactly cruising. Here he is mid-pitch:

However, after being up 5-2 after three, FSU did their best Giants impression by failing to capitalize on several opportunities to blow the game wide open. One thing I noticed - and I don't know if this is an FSU thing or a college baseball thing - they LOVED to sacrifice bunt. At one point, for two innings in a row, they got runners on first and second with nobody out, and both times, they sacrifice bunted the runners over. One time, it was their #2 hitter who they had bunt! And one of those times, the next two hitters both struck out. Oops. Way to throw away an out, guys.

Meanwhile, Virginia's starting pitcher, Robert Morey, was maddening to watch. He wasn't very effective - lots of loud contact from FSU, multiple baserunners on every inning. When there were baserunners, he became the slowest pitcher in the history of the game. I swear to god he seemed to step off the mound and throw to first at least twice as often as he actually pitched. He was also one of several pitchers in the game who had seriously weird-looking mechanics. My wife got a great shot of him mid-rotation, where he looks like he's celebrating good times, come on!:

After the two teams combined for seven runs in the first three innings (which took an hour and a half to get through), the game sped up quite a bit, and by the ninth it looked like the game would take just over three hours, and like FSU would get the easy win. In the eighth, their right fielder an #2 hitter (the same guy they had sacrifice bunt earlier) hit a 2-run homer to give FSU an 8-3 lead. FSU's players were all lined up at the dugout's top step, anticipating the big win:

However, well, uh...things didn't go quite as expected. Daniel Bennett, who had pitched a scoreless eighth, returned to pitch the ninth for FSU. He was interesting pitcher - a big, tall, somewhat heavyset sidearmer. He's listed at 6'4", 220 pounds, which seems awfully big for a sidearmer. He looked good in the eighth, though - again, lots of swing-throughs on nasty-looking pitches. In the ninth, though, things quickly started falling apart. The inning opened with an error, then a strike out. Then a single, another single, and then Bennett was gone. Then...well, I won't give you the play-by-play or anything, but suffice to say that lots more hits followed. The inning started 8-3; it ended 9-8. FSU's bullpen just completely melted down and couldn't seem to make that one big pitch to get an out. At one point, with two outs and two strikes, the pitcher threw a pitch that looked to be right down the middle at the knees, and probably should've ended the game - but it was called a ball. The home plate ump, it should be said, had a pretty tiny strike zone all night. Anyway, the next pitch was an RBI single. By the end of the inning, FSU had gone through three pitching changes, lost its starting catcher to injury:

It was the most spectacular ninth inning collapse I've ever seen. Also, one of the longest innings I've ever seen - it went on for almost an hour. All of a sudden, instead of the game taking three hours, we were getting close to four. One of their relievers - I don't remember which one, but this guy reminded me of someone who should be in the Giants system, because he threw really hard and got swing-throughs, but his control was very suspect:

In the bottom of the ninth, there was still hope for FSU - they were only down one run, and their offense is as good as you'll find in college baseball. After a leadoff strike out, Justin Gonzalez, the second baseman, got a single. After that, however, the pinch-hitter, Sean Gilmartin, hit what looked like a potential double play ball. FSU got a break, though - after Gonzalez was retired at second, the ball was thrown away. Gilmartin rounded first wildly - and was promptly caught in a run-down and easily tagged out trying to get back to first. Game over.

Overall, it was a very exciting game. I wouldn't exactly cal it a GOOD game - too sloppy. The teams combined for five errors, and there was a lot of really bad pitching. Still, it was a lot of fun.

By the time we got out of there, it was almost 10 o'clock. We tried driving by two barbecue places - both of which were closing up shop just as we got there. Woe. We found a Mexican place that was open and got food to go. It was, I'm sad (but not surprised) to report, thoroughly mediocre. My mole poblano didn't really taste like mole poblano, the chips were bland, and the salsa was watery. Also, it came with flour tortillas instead of corn. Boo. The photos are all by my wife, incidentally.

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