Q&A with Behind the Plate

So comes another weekend series against a BigTen foe with a blog. I like it. This week I’ll be doing some Q&A with IUbaseballfan of the Indiana Baseball blog Behind the Plate. So here’s my draft of questions going to IUbaseball fan, feel free to leave your questions in the comments.

Question 1: While much praise is due to manbearfreak Josh Phegley, I can’t help but see headlines about freshman Alex Dickerson. Who is this 6′3″ freshman phenom? How in the hell did he end up at Indiana from San Diego? I know its not Friday yet, but is it already too late to hide the women and children? Does he have a weakness?

Question 2: Now to Phegley. while most of my readers may not remember/know this, Phegley is probably the best offensive player in the BigTen, and is probably a first round draft pick in this year’s MLB draft. His defense however is a bit suspect. He’s only caught 6 of 25 stolen base attempts this year. What does Indiana do to keep runners honest? A ton of pickoffs? Quick slide steps? Arnett, subject of question 4, just not allowing base runners? Do you expect the Wolverines to run much?

Question 3: Speaking of base stealing, who do the Wolverines need to watch out for on base?

Question 4: I have to think Arnett is up for pitcher of the year. A sterling 8-1 record, 1.94 ERA, opponents batting .202, 9 K/9IP, and 4 complete games. Wow. His only loss came against then #20 ECU in a complete game. What hope does Michigan have against them in game 2?

Question 5: Last year’s Fetter vs Bashore game was an epic thriller (2-1 IU victory in walk off fashion as both pitchers got the 7 inning complete game). Does Blake Monar stand any chance of going head to head with Chris Fetter on the mound, assuming he’s still the Friday starter?

Question 6: What happened to Chris Hervey? The guy was a monster last year, now he’s just rotating in occasionally. What gives?

Question 7: What are your expectations for the weekend?

Weekend Recap: MSU

There is a lot of suck in game 1 and 2, but game 3 went well.

Game 1

Box Score																R	H	E
Michigan	0	0	4		0	0	0		0	1	0		2	0		7	10	3
MSU	0	0	2		0	1	0		0	0	2		2	1		8	11	1

W – Wonderlich (4-4) L – Eric Katzman (5-3) Sv – None

Michigan jumped ahead in this one with a big 3rd inning, but the defense kept creating new ways to let State get back into the game.  In the third, Lorenz made a throwing error trying to get a runner at the plate.  That would have been out number two and the insuing fly ball would be the end of the inning.  Instead a run scored, and the fly ball was a sacrifice fly to bring in another.

In the fifth, Fetter made his only mistake of the game, a lead off homerun on the first pitch of the inning.  In the 9th, with the lead, Tyler Burgoon fielded a sacrifice bunt and went to second for the close play on the lead runner.  The ball went into the outfield.  Two runs would score unearned.

In the 10th, the bullpen fell apart.  Burgoon let two runners on, Miller faced one batter (a walk), and Katzman gave up a few hits.  Two runs would score and we’d blow our second save of the game.  In the 11th, the winning run would reach on a Anthony Toth error.  It was awful.

Offense looked good though.  The bottom of the order produced very well and we were getting the timely hits.  We only stranded 6 runners the whole game.  Unfortunately, it takes more than just scoring runs to win ball games – you’ve got to play defense.

Notable Stars

• Chris Fetter – 8 IP, 3 R, 1 ER, 8 H, 3 BB, 6 K, ND
• Mike Dufek – 1/4 3 RBI, R, HR, SACF
• Anthony Toth – 3/5 R, RBI
• Chris Berset – 2/5 R, 2B

Notable Goats

• Defense – Toth/Lorenz/Burgoon.  Errors lead to 5(!) unearned runs.  Burgoon’s blew a save, Toth’s lead to the final MSU run
• Bullpen – Along with Burgoon’s error, he had two earned runs (Miller/Katzman inherited them and couldn’t finish the inning).  Miller faced one batter and walked him.

Other Notes

• Lansing State Journal – Extra special win for Spartans

Game 2

Box Score													R	H	E
MSU	0	0	1		0	2	0		0	0	0		3	6	1
Michigan	0	0	1		0	0	0		0	0	0		1	4	0

W – Achter (2-3) L – Alan Oaks (0-2) Sv – Wolff(4)

See: Why We Lost MSU Game 2.  I think that touches nearly all the bad I wanted to touch upon.

As for the good, Alan Oaks pitched the game of his college career.  Maloney said he earned the start and did he ever make the most of it.  It is sickening he took the loss in this game.  Alan only gave up 3 runs in the start, one from a balk with two outs and a runner on third (ouch); the other came from a one out walk followed by 3 2-out hits.  Oaksie gave up 5 hits, walked 5 and hit a batter, but he managed his base runners well, working his way out of trouble. He even recorded four strikeouts, 2 coming in an inning where he had runners on 2nd and 3rd with one out.

Notable Stars

• Alan Oaks – 7.2 IP, 3 ER, 5 BB, 1 HBP, 4 K, 1 Balk, 121 Pitches, 65 Strikes
• Chris Berset – 2/4 RBI
• Jim Abbott – Retired his #31 jersey, signed autographs for nearly an hour and a half
• Attendance – Officially 3453.  Highest of the season.

Notable Goats

• See that Why We Lost Post.  I don’t want to get into it again.

Other Notes

• My one regret:  Chris Berset was on deck to end the game.
• The Ann Arbor News – Frustrating.

“Timely hitting … you can’t teach it. It just has to happen,” Maloney said. “… Right now for our team, things haven’t been going real well.

• Michigan Today – John U. Bacon recaps Jim Abbott’s career.
• The Ann Arbor News – Abbott Blessed to have number retired.

Game 3

Box Score													R	H	E
Michigan	0	0	2		0	4	0		0	1	2		9	12	0
MSU	0	0	0		0	0	2		0	0	0		2	7	0

W – Eric Katzman (6-3) L – Corcoran (0-4) Sv – Miller (3).

Thank god we won one to avert the first series sweep in at least 8 years.  This game is everything I expected from the Michigan team this year.  I expected us to hit well.  I expected the pitching to be a little shaky but pull through.  I expected us to take care of lesser opponents.  Finally, for the first time all season, I saw Michigan baseball.

Eric Katzman, who apparently wants to earn a decision as often as possible, started this game and did fairly well.  He wasn’t outstanding, but he was “good Katzman.”  He didn’t have the best control, but he got outs.  He just ran out of gas after 120 pitches, leading to the two runs scored.  Matt Miller on the other hand was lights out for the 3+ innings of work.

Everything was clicking on offense.  The top of the lineup was on base every inning and the middle of the lineup got the timely hitting to knock them in.  Even John Lorenz had a great game knocking in 3 runs.

This game has me excited.

Notable Stars

• Mike Dufek – 2/4  2 R, 3 RBI, 2B
• Kenny Fellows – 3/5 2 R, SB
• John Lorenz – 2/4  3 RBI
• Kevin Cislo – 2/5  2 R
• Matt Miller – 3.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, Save

Notable Goats

• I got nothing.  This was good Michigan baseball.
• McLane Stadium Press Box for not having audio capabilities installed yet.

Other Notes

• No news stories yet.

Wrap Up

This weekend was a bunch of gray clouds with a silver lining.  We lost two of three to lowly Michigan State, a team who ranks in the 260s of 288 in team hitting.  We lost to an in state rival, who we haven’t lost a series to since I don’t even know when – at least 8 years.  We beat ourselves so badly in the first two games. We’ve dropped into 8th place in the Big10.  We’re in jeopardy of missing the BigTen Tournament for the first time since 2002.

And then Sunday happened.  While Game 3 was Michigan Baseball like I expected all season.  Game 3 offers hope.  Perhaps, just maybe, we finally had that “turning point” so many people have talked about the last 4 weeks.  Perhaps Michigan has finally hit stride and will begin to compete.  Perhaps I’m being to optimistic.  Perhaps not. This game has me excited for the rest of the BigTen season.

Speaking about the rest of the season, it’s the midway point of the conference season, so I’ll be breaking down what happened so far and what we can expect to come in a post due out either later today or tomorrow.  As for the week ahead, we’ve got a home-and-home with Notre Dame on Tuesday/Wednesday.  Tuesday is here at the Fish.  The weekend sees the Indiana Hoosiers and probable BigTen Player of the Year Josh Phegley come to Ann Arbor.  More updates on those as the week progresses.

Draft: Half Way Through

Disclaimer: This post will be updated and posted on VB on either Monday or Tuesday after the Recap comes out.  I just wanted to get on it before I got busy with school and work on Monday.

With the Michigan State Series wrapping up today, the BigTen Conference season has reached the midpoint.  The conference season hasn’t fared so well for Michigan, obviously, as the Wolverines are currently 4-7 in 8th place.  Lets take a look back at what we’ve seen, then look forward to what we have left to know what we have to do to make a solid run, and finally end up with my projections to the finish.

Where We’ve Been

@Iowa
Series Record	2-1
Scores	4-3	1-2	7-5
Game 1	Fetter gives up 3 early, but clamps down for the CG, and the comeback win
Game 2	Katzman/Miller/Burgoon combine to 6-hit Iowa but lose as we have no offense
Game 3	With snow piled up in the warning track, an ugly game defensively for both teams.  We out hit and take advantage of 5 Iowa errors.
Outlook then	We should have swept, but this series shouldn’t affect a tournament bid.

We should have swept.  Iowa is one of only two teams below us in the standings.  We definitely need that win now. Iowa’s season has been a slow spiral downward. They took one game from Purdue, were swept by Indiana, and split with Northwestern. Iowa isn’t a good team and we squandered that game.

vs Penn State
Series Record	1-2
Scores	4-6 (10)	9-5	5-16
Game 1	Fetter gives up 3 in the 4th and 1 in the fifth, but offense went to sleep and Miller gave up two in the 10th.
Game 2	Katzman pitched well, but PSU scored a 5 spot late from a LaMarre error, we scored 5 to answer in the bottom of that inning.
Game 3	We never stood a chance as Smith/Wilson/Sinnery/Gerbe give up 16 runs(12 earned).  Total blowout.
Outlook then	My expectations for the team are falling pretty fast. With the massive amount of inconsistency, added with the sloppy play all weekend on defense, I’m not sure we get higher than a 4 seed in the BTT now.

We’re pretty equal to Penn State.  They are currently right at .500 in conference play.  We’ll be fighting them head to head for a 6th spot in the tournament.  Losing the series to them hurts as it is the tie breaker.

vs Illinois
Series Record	1-2
Scores	4-2	8-10	5-11
Game 1	Fetter goes the distance again with 13 Ks. Offense scrapes by.
Game 2	We knock out the Big10s best pitcher (along with possible injury) out after 1 inning.  Sloppy defense in the 5th gives up 5 runs.
Game 3	Alan Oaks kept the team in the game after a shaky Smith start.  Unfortunately he stayed in about 3 batters too long, leading to a late 4 run inning.
Outlook then	I don’t think this was too bad of a weekend for the team. Illinois is one of the better teams in the conference this season, especially in the pitching department. There were a few lapses though, especially on defense.

This still wasn’t a bad series.  We could have performed a little bit better, but the outcome is about what I would have expected.  Illinois is a strong team and toward the top of the BigTen standings.  They’ll be a top 3 seed in the tournament.

@/vs Michigan State
Series Record	0-2
Scores	7-8 (11)	1-3	0-0
Game 1	Fetter gives up 3 (1 earned) in 8 innings, leaving with the lead. Burgoon blows the save by overthrowing 2nd base on a sac bunt.  He blows the win again in the 10th giving up 2 earned runs.  Katzman takes the loss in the 11th.
Game 2	Alan Oaks throws the game of his career, 7.2 innings, 3 Rs, 5 BB, 4 K. No offense as we only get 5 total bases.
Game 3	TBD
Outlook then	TBD

Then is now. It still sucks.  Michigan State defends their homefield well, but we would have won Game 1 if not for the bullpen.  We should have won Game 2 if not for the lack of offense.  Would have, should have, didn’t.

Where We’re Going

Indiana (6-3):  The Hoosiers are a great hitting team and have probably the best offensive player in the BigTen with Josh Phegley.  The Hoosiers have players in the top 3 of nearly every offensive category in BigTen play.  They also rank third in the league in strikeouts.  The Hoosiers split a pair with Minnesota, took 2 of 3 from Illinois, swept Iowa, and took 2 of 3 from Penn State.   We may take one game in this series.  I fear the Sunday game.

@#26 Ohio State (7-3): Everything the Hoosiers do, Ohio State does better.  The Buckeyes sit atop the BigTen standing and will have a hostile home crowd.  They took 2 from Penn State, 1 from Minnesota, swept Michigan State, and swept Purdue.  My prediction: pain.  I again think we have a shot to win a game, but it’s not a very high chance.  The one thing we’ve got going for us is no midweek games so the entire bullpen should be rested.  Game 1 of Fetter vs Wimmers should be epic (aka most of you will find it boring as all hell).

Minnesota (7-3): Minnesota completes our three game streak of tough competition.  The Gophers are ranked in some polls – deservedly so.  Offensively, their numbers match up to Michigan’s very well, but they get that extra hit to drive in the run where Michigan has failed consistently all year.  On the pitching side, they are exactly opposite of Michigan… they are consistently good.  Minnesota split a pair with Indiana, took 2 of three from Ohio State, swept Northwestern, and took 1 of three from Illinois.  The outlook doesn’t look good right now.  It’ll be a struggle to win a game here.  The only good news I can offer is we do better against good pitchers than we do meh pitchers.

@Northwestern (2-7):  Northwestern is the worst team in the BigTen.  They are the worst hitting team in the BigTen and they don’t pitch particularly well.  They rival Michigan State for fewest strikeouts, but sit 7th in BigTen team ERA.  I see us winning at least two games in this series, most likely a sweep.  But as we’ve seen all season, we have a tendency to blow games to inferior teams.

I really think we end up with 6 or 7 wins out of that schedule, especially the way we’re playing right now.  That leaves us with a conference record around 10-13 or 11-12 for the season.  The cut of for the tournament is historically around 12 wins (actually ~=16 wins, but we moved from 4 game series to 3 this year, 16*.75=12).  We’ll be very close to making the 6 seed to keep our 6 year conference tournament streak alive.

Interview With An Umpire

I’ve been saving this post for about a week and a half for a lull period.  I’ve been too busy to work up too much, so its good as time as any to put this out there. -FA

Eric Sorenson, who I quote here often, does some amazing topics at his site CollegeBaseballToday.com. In his most recent post, he interviewed Dave Yeast, one of the top umpires in college baseball. I found it absolutely fascinating and thought I’d share some thoughts.

This question seemed the strangest to me:

What’s the toughest call to make?

Dave Yeast:
The checked swing. Because it is so fast. It is just so fast. Most of the time you just make the call on gut instinct. It’s almost impossible to tell if the bat crossed the front edge of plate or if it went past the hip of the batter. At that speed, and if you’re standing 120 feet away, if you can honestly tell me if that’s a swing or not, I’ll give you the shirt off my back.

Perhaps its my inexperience, or perhaps its the vagueness of the rule, but I don’t find this too hard.  The rule states it is a swing if the ball made an attempt at contacting the ball.  How far the bat travels should have nothing to do with if he swang.  Yes, those visual cues can help an umpire decide if it was an attempt or not, but they have no meaning in terms of a swing.  Examples of “swings” that are not a true swing would be a batter turning toward the pitcher on an inside pitch.  While the bat may come around, it’s not a strike.  The same thing with a bunt attempt where the batter may not pull the bat back all the way.  If during a bunt, the bat does not make an attempt to contact the ball, it doesn’t count as a swing.

I guess his “gut instinct” description may be part of my inexperience coming through.  I haven’t had that many close check swings.  When I have, I make a clear and decisive call whether I’m sure or not.  I think its the same gut instinct, but the call never even is a question in my head.  Once its made, I think I may just sell myself that I saw it and I’m right.

The next question was about how much “chatter” Yeast will take from a player before he throws him out.  I skipped through some of the less interesting stuff, but a part of it grabbed my attention as it touched on a previous post of mine (Balls and Strikes Question).

I tell the catchers I work with right from the start, “Call me Dave. If you have a question, ask it. No problem. Just don’t yell at me.”

I am trying to build a relationship with them because we are going to be out there for three hours, so it is in my best interest and the game’s best interest to get along with him. But if a catcher puts up too much of an attitude right off the bat or gets belligerent as the game goes along, that’s when I “divorce” him, as I call it. And I can turn into a real jerk if I get THAT kind of attitude.

The guys in my profession know that there’s a real fine line between being assertive and in control and becoming a jerk about things. if you cross that boundary, I can’t lose control of the game. I don’t put up with any bullshit after that.

I’ve been lucky that most catchers I’ve worked with have been pretty good kids.  I’ve had one or two who try to protect their pitchers a little too much, but nothing where he’s mouthing at me.  The worst I’ve had was a catcher I called out on strikes for the third out of the previous inning.  The kid was steamed, but the pitch I called was obviously a strike.  I try to get the kid to at least laugh at a joke or something to see if he’ll crack a smile.  If he doesn’t, it can become a long inning or so before he cools down.

The rest of the article was pretty good, too.  Yeast went over how he got into umpiring, how he became the top umpire coordinator in college, crowds, and coaches.  Really good read.

Formerly Against: Rick Perry

Perry says Texas can leave the union if it wants to
Texas Politics Blog via chron.com
Posted by R.G. Ratcliffe at April 15, 2009 02:27 PM

What the hell is with Rick Perry lately?  Is this guy just that uninformed?  Is he just that radical?  I know he’s been one state’s rights guy for a while, but what is with this current streak of comments.  Well start with this video of his endorsement of HCR 50.

Where do I even start with this? Let’s just bullet point as we go.

• Let’s start a fairly ad homenim attack (might as well get this out of the way first) with the frog metaphor.  Even the people there audible say “oh, come on.”  What a weird and strange way to start.  On top of that, I’m sure there’s some PETA nut who went nuts hearing that. (2:00 minute mark)
• To say the U.S. constitution has been “slowly turning up the heat on the states” is wrong.  They only set forth improvements that states wouldn’t do themselves.   See:  Slavery, Women’s voting rights, (2:20 mark)
• The leaders in the 1780s realized a multi-sided approach of state governance  doesn’t work.  See: Articles of Confederation being replaced.
• Texas economic strength only happened because oil stayed high due to OPEC and the speculators’ driving the price way up.  Texas isn’t all that solvent in the budget lately.  See:
• “[...] but when it comes down on the side that favors the side of state’s right over unrestrained federal power, that’s the message.  That’s the right place to be.”  You say that with absolutely no back up evidence.  Why is that?  Is it because it lets the rich over run all of the poor?  Is it because business can overtake the workers?  Government is nothing more than a moral tool.  It has become obvious that corporate greed requires that moral tool to be exercised to protect the lower and middle classes.  Even the lower upper class (those who live in comfort but lack wealth) need help at the current times. (3:54 mark)
• The U.S. Constitution does give the U.S. Government power over the states. (4:18 mark)  It’s called the supremacy clause:

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

• Texas has learned to live with one form of oppression.  The republican party and their exclusion and hatred for anything resembling liberal.  This includes calling the state congress to meet to only gerrymandering congressional districts to gain republican seats in a year when there was not supposed to be redistricting. (4:31 mark)
• Did he just say that you either side with political members in Washington or do I side with a group who wants to overthrow the government? (5:03 mark)
• Does he realize it was George Bush who put together the bailout?
• He’s promoting Tea Parties? Those are the stupidest thing going on right now.  I planned to protest them but unfortunately had class today.  Most of them happening here are just republican camps protesting socialism.  These people are totally uninformed (much like the governor) and doing it just because FoxNews and Rick Perry are telling them to do it.
• So Rick, you have spoken in favor of TANF grants from the US Government in the past.  Are you against those dollars returning to the state now?  Those are federal dollars given to you that help needy families.  That’s a string attached.
• He’s drawing lines in the sand?  Why on earth is he drawing a line in the sand for?  What does that mean?  Is he saying, stop or else?  Is he trying to run for president?  Haven’t people learned what a weak office the Texas governor is?
• He admittedly is against not protecting new taxes on the people, but the job creators.  BAH!!!

It gets better…
Via R.G. Ratcliffe

That’s an mp3, wordpress.com won’t let me embed it or play it unless I buy more space.  Here’s a transcript of much of it:

“Texas is a unique place. When we came into the union in 1845, one of the issues was that we would be able to leave if we decided to do that,” Perry said. “My hope is that America and Washington in particular pays attention. We’ve got a great union. There’s absolutely no reason to dissolve it. But if Washington continues to thumb their nose at the American people, who knows what may come of that.  But Texas is a very unique place, and a pretty independent lot to boot.” [...]

“I don’t believe we quite get into [terrorist state] category.  I have no idea who that numb skull was that wrote that, but I would suggest to you that you probably can’t find them at the Department of Homeland Security Department today.”

The terrorist state comment comes from the recent string of satiring of the Right-wing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment document put out by the Department of Homeland Security.  It would seem to me he is threatening the dissolution of the United States.

The thing that stood out to me more was the wrong notion that Texas agreed to split out of the Union if it wanted to.  Realistically, the only privilege the state has is to divide itself up into as many as 5 smaller states.  At this point I’m not sure if Rick is buttering up his consitutents for re-election or a run for President (either US or the Republic of Texas).  Regardless, the guy isn’t coming off intelligent.

As for pitting the state against the nation, I think its a crappy move, but I’m sure it motivates way too many republicans in these parts.  Far too many of them hear Democrat and they naturally assume they want to make the nation communist.

General disclaimer: I don’t necessarily like the use of all the tax money in the bailouts to financial institutions or especially the auto industry, but the increased limited unemployment insurance is good in my opinion.  There are several good things Perry and our state legislature will not allow to be brought into the state.  That I don’t like at all.