My optimistic, positive game recap went up a few minutes ago. Since hitting the "publish" button, I've had a few lingering thoughts.
--Geeze, I wasn't expecting the off-season to come so abruptly. It's almost like I wasn't ready to say goodbye to this season yet... but I guess that's a result of having the success in Omaha in the last few years. We've gotten so used to success at this time of year that it seems like it hurts even more to experience this end result of losing in regionals that 48 teams experience every year.
--Looking back on the game, the play in the fifth inning in which Adalberto Santos was thrown out at second base looms large. I was listening on the radio at the time, but according to Parker, the throw was off line and Santos arrived at the same time as the throw from catcher Bryan Holliday. Pat Casey was visibly angry with second base umpire Chris Marshall on the call, possibly citing the fact that Marshall was playing to the interests of the Lupton Stadium crowd. Regardless of that fact, the Beavers went from potentially having a man on second with no outs to nobody on base with one out, a large swing. Two ground balls would end the inning.
--Speaking of the crowd, I wasn't too impressed with the sportsmanship shown by several TCU fans who were yelling at OSU players the entire weekend, and the overall crowd in general. They didn't seem as astute and baseball literate as fans in Corvallis, but maybe that's a bit to much of my OSU bias seeping into my analysis.
--Speaking of poor sportsmanship, I felt that TCU head coach Jim Schlossnagle's decision to make Josh Osich change his undershirt was done in poor taste as well. There's no reason for an opposing coach to force a player to go into the clubhouse and change his undershirt during the middle of an inning-- just ridiculous. It's not like the two inches in which the two shirt sleeves were uneven gave Osich a competitive advantage, it was just something that Osich did for comfort by preference. And the appeal came in the middle of the inning, as if the TCU staff didn't notice the sleeve until later in the inning. If that was the case, could the sleeve really be all that distracting? However, it also seems that the TCU coaches may have noticed the sleeve and just waited until an inopportune to disrupt Osich. Obviously, he wasn't the same pitcher after that. Maybe it's more of my Oregon State bias again, but I don't think that Oregon State coaches would ever make an opposing pitcher change shirts because they are uneven.
Feel free to weigh in. Maybe I'm just bitter after that loss.
--Jake (jake.buildingthedam@gmail.com)