UCLA Baseball Open Thread - (Game 3 v. Arizona State)

by Nestor on May 4, 2008 9:53 AM PDT in Baseball Comment 20 comments

Here we go. As rye noted in his game wrap Bruins pulled of a biiiiiiiig win yesterday afternoon against the # 4 Sundevils after losing the first game in a disheartening fashion.

The rubber match is scheduled for 1 pm PST this afernoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Gavin Brooks is going to be on the mound today trying to wrap up the weekend on huge note for Savage's Bruins:

Photo creidt: UCLA Baseball's photostream (flickr)

The first pitch is scheduled for 1pm PST. Again if you are around Southern California head out to the ball park and support our team.

For the rest of us you can follow our boys online by the gametracker in official website.

Play ball.

GO BRUINS.

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Let's go get 'em, but...

...my God our uniforms are incredibly ugly. It reminds one of those terrible uniforms Lavin had us in.

Hopefully someone at Adidas can get their head out of their ass and get us some classic (and classy) looking jerseys for our guys.

by norcald503 on May 4, 2008 10:33 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

disagree

I think those uniforms are pretty badass ... We've got like 4 or 5 alternate jerseys and I like them all honestly.

by royobruin on May 4, 2008 10:37 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I hate them too

I think they're beyond ugly. Last year we had the best alternate jerseys. They were true blue with the gold lettering. Beautiful.

by ryebreadraz on May 4, 2008 11:31 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

They look like

spring practice gone wrong, put us in some traditional uni's please..

O.A.

by Ollie on May 4, 2008 11:25 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

I'm with you Rye

I'm much more of a traditionalist when it comes to baseball uniforms. True blue tops with the gold UCLA in script would be perfect.

As for these, aside from the terribe white side panels, I absolutely hate it when we wear navy blue. This isn't God-awful Cal. This is UCLA and we should be in true blue all the time.

by norcald503 on May 4, 2008 1:15 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

U G L Y

Different shades of blue with the white paneling? That looks hideous. This isn't the University of Oregon.

by McNown to Farmer on May 4, 2008 4:03 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

hate 'em.

those uniforms are hideous. if you look good, you play good. not liking our odds in these costumes.

by PasadenaBruin on May 4, 2008 6:23 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well, looks like you were right...

Since we lost, I think now would be time to banish those hideous things.

by norcald503 on May 4, 2008 6:31 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Whatever became of high stirrups?

..I yearn for the baseball uni style of the late 50s and 60s. (cf. Mays, Mantle, Maris, Ford, et al) Unis with the pants all the way down to the shoe tops suck (highly personal opinion).

But gotta also say that the white panels are inappropriately placed. One would think the darker color would be reserved for the underarm area. Sure would cut down on the laundry bills, wouldn't it?

..nah, I didn't really say that.

God, it's great to be a Bruin!

by whp68 on May 4, 2008 4:29 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

score?

Does anybody know how the baseball team did today? and while we are at it.....how about the softball team. I would love to hear that we swept them today, as that would be quite a feat.

by jbcoach on May 4, 2008 5:38 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Baseball, softball both lost

Baseball lost 11-8.

Softball lost 5-2, but did win their other two games this weekend.

by gilbert on May 4, 2008 5:43 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Neuheisel

CRN threw the ceremonial first pitch at the baseball game today. I saw him in the crowd schmoozing Tyler Gaffney, a potential football/baseball recruit from San Diego.

by bhbruin on May 4, 2008 6:32 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Baseball

game was tied 7-7 going into the 9th and then they gave up four runs in the top half of the inning. UCLA then got the leadoff man on base but proceeded to promptly ground into a double play before getting another run across in the bottom of the 9th.

by turs12 on May 4, 2008 8:47 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

For the second game this series

a very questionable coaching decision hurts the Bruins. I love Savage and what he's done with the program, but a couple of his decisions this weekend left me rather upset.

by ryebreadraz on May 4, 2008 9:09 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Which

decisions in particular are you referring to for this game?

by turs12 on May 4, 2008 10:07 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Going with Crawford in the 9th was the worst

of the coaching decisions. Bringing him in to finish the 8th made sense because the ASU batters in the 8th had longer swings with a very horizontal swing plane. This made Crawford's fastball and slider very effective.

In the 9th inning though, you had ASU's best hitters coming up, all of whom have quicker swings, get the ball in the air and are very patient. This was not a good situation for Crawford, who struggles with his command (not surprisingly so considering he is our shortstop and today was only his second career pitching appearance) and is a fly ball pitcher.

Sending Crawford out there to start the 9th was already a mistake, but sticking with him once they had men on 1st and 2nd with 1 out was the bigger mistake. You had ASU's two best hitters coming to the plate in Brett Wallace (a lefty) and Petey Paramore (a switch hitter who's better lefty). In that situation you've got to bring Lafferty in, a left hander who throws a two seamer, curveball and changeup. That combination is your best shot at a double play and most importantly, the left handed pitcher has a better chance at throwing the offspeed pitches down and away, where both Wallace and Paramore struggle to get the ball in the air.

by ryebreadraz on May 4, 2008 10:51 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Rye, You Answered My Question

I was also wondering why Crawford was allowed to pitch to ASU's left-handed hitters when Lafferty and another lefty were warming up. I did not know at the time that Crawford was pitching on only his second game. Having now learned from your post makes Savage's decision all the more dubious. Thanks for the insight.

Despite the outcome, it was a great game -- especially if you like the longball -- with lots of drama and weird plays. The ASU fans in attendance made for a lively crowd, most notably the ASU fan sitting in the front row just to the right of the plate.

Rye, how many wins do the Bruins need to be considered for post-season?

by 78Bruin on May 4, 2008 11:52 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

IMO

I think a top 5 conference finish gets us in a regional. We're currently tied for 5th. A .500 conference record should be good enough for a top 5 conference finish so we'll need to go 5-4 in the last 9 games. If we go 4-5 we'll be right on the bubble and our performance in our last 3 non-conference games could be the difference.

The rest of our games are against RPI top 30 teams so our RPI will get a huge boost the rest of the way and if we can get 2 series wins in these last 3 weeks it will be 2 quality series wins for our resume.

by ryebreadraz on May 5, 2008 12:06 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Hey rye...

I didn't really understand today when the ASU coach sent up a pinch hitter, then called him back in favor of another guy. The inning ended with that pickoff throw to 1st where they got the guy at home. Then ASU came back and let the guy work a 2-1 count only to be pinch hit for in the middle of his at bat. What was that all about? Or the guy trying to bunt with 2 outs and the bases loaded. Did they really think that was the best option?

CG (Signholder #18)

by lil eg not cs on May 4, 2008 10:59 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

The guy who was sent up

but never hit was Ike Davis, their best hitter (and maybe the best in the nation). He's batting .401 with 15 homers and an .822 slugging percentage on the year, but he's missed the past 2 weeks with an injury. He was questionable coming into the weekend so Pat Murphy (the ASU coach) sent Davis out there with no intention of having him hit. He was just trying to get Savage to make a pitching change and waste another arm, but Savage didn't bite.

The 2 out bunt try was just a chance at a bunt hit. The infield was playing deep and the batter has blazing speed so if he gets the bunt down, it would have been for a hit. He just couldn't get it down. After the pickoff play, the same batter came to the plate to lead off the 9th and he as never going to hit. Murphy sent him up there and told him not to swing until he sees a strike (not a bad move with the erratic Crawford on the mound who's really a shortstop). Murphy was hoping the batter could get ahead 3-0 and draw a walk either on the 4th or 5th pitch of the at-bat and give the Sun Devils great speed at 1st. Once the count got to 2-1 though they pinch hit with a far better hitter, who ironically did draw a walk.

by ryebreadraz on May 4, 2008 11:15 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs