Tag Archives: College World Series

U of L Forgets Fundamentals; Cards’ CWS Case Closed

cardsThe margin is slim, the one between winning and losing in the post season, the one between the contenda and being a pretenda, the one between being the champ and being the also ran.

More than at any other time during an extended season, little things matter. Doing the technical stuff, the basics, the fundamentals. A miscue here and there, other things being equal, and the tolerance between success and failure increases.

Texas Longhorn’s were ready in yesterday’s elimination game with the Cardinals.

They fashioned a classic run in the top of the 3d. Lead off double. Runner advances on an infield out to the first sacker. Sacrifice fly plates the score. 1 nil, Texas.

In the bottom of the inning, the Cards left two on, without a tally. O.J. Hinojosa made a sterling play on a shot by  Sutton Whiting. If he doesn’t, the Cards might have answered with a run of their own. They didn’t.

It was that kind of day. Louisville wasn’t ready enough. Continue reading U of L Forgets Fundamentals; Cards’ CWS Case Closed

Louisville Cardinals Can’t Find the Funk, Drop CWS Opener

cardsA curious creature it is, this baseball bacchanal, the carnival known as the College World Series.

Streaks and taters come to die in the Great MidWest.

Texas CF Mark Payton had reached base in a stunning 101 consecutive outings. Until he and his fellow Longhorns snatched defeat from victory in a fall-from-ahead 3-1 L to Cal Irvine’s Anteaters in the 2014 circus’s opening act.

Fly balls, which would go yard in other venues, slow and droop in the pitcher-friendly confines of The Stadium That Replaced Rosenblatt. Only home boy Grant Kay of all the players on the four opening day rosters came close to clearing the fence. Instead, after his smack fell a foot or so short, the scorebook merely read 7, with a Cardinal LOB.

Pitchers taught to keep it low, and force grounders, must rethink; throw high, forcing harmless fly balls.

“Welcome to Omaha” read the signs, “Where Bases on Balls are the New Home Runs.” Continue reading Louisville Cardinals Can’t Find the Funk, Drop CWS Opener

Dogpiles ‘r’ Us: Louisville Cardinals, Omaha Bound

cardsIt can be argued, as I shall now do, that this weekend, the one ending with the Louisville Cardinal nine headed for a second straight trip to the College World Series, that this is the most wondrous time ever for U of L baseball.

The visit in 2007 was so out of the blue, it could have been considered at the time as an apparition (the appearance of something remarkable or unexpected). Or, an aberration (a departure from what is normal, usual or expected).

Or, both. Uh, where is the College World Series? How many teams play there? Qu’est que c’est Rosenblatt? It was something so rare, even the most inveterate U of L fans were caught unaware.

Last year’s undefeated journey was, in many ways, more remarkable than the first. The road went through NashVegas where highly-ranked, highly-rated Vanderbilt stood in the way.

But this, this year, this is something mo’ betta.

Earning a spot in Omaha two years in a row, doing it again without dropping a game again, the Cards are now a playah on the national scene. And, oh yes, Louisville will be the only school there this season that was also there last. Continue reading Dogpiles ‘r’ Us: Louisville Cardinals, Omaha Bound