Rainbow Baseball 2014: Opens With Heartbreaker!

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GoBows2014
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Rainbow Baseball 2014: Opens With Heartbreaker!

Post by GoBows2014 »

UH Rainbow Baseball 2014
Opener against Oregon
Weather held up, some rain but got 9 innings in
Good crowd, loud and supportive
Cooper on the hill, struggled a bit but should have had the win
Love it when Matt gets thru 3rd inning and starts delivering,
he has a new pitch that just *drops* thru the basement!!
WOW! That was friggin' amazing. Coop, in the groove,
will throw one good pitch for a strike, that messes
with the batter. Then he pulls another one out of his
mitt that fools the batter again! No foolin' around,
when Matt gets in the groove he just goes, and
goes and goes!

But tonight? Two *superb* pitches! Then he bounces
one waaay before the plate. But Baldwin scoops up
another impossible delivery, and better yet, throws
the runner out. RU KIDDING ME! Wow, AB, WOW!

But Matt didn't seem to synch after that. I know,
and love it, on the good nights (when he gets past
3rd inning...yeah, we know 3rd inning is his biggee).
But Matt, in the groove, 4th/5th/6th? When he is
on his game, something to behold! Strike, after
strike, after strike. Every pitch different, and
never shaking any call off, that is synergy
between pitching staff/dugout/catcher/pitcher.
In this case defer to MC in the groove.
When he is feeling it, give him the
"give me whatcha' got" call, Matt will deliver.

But whatever. Glimpses of *pure* Matt tonite.
and that new WTF pitch that drops like what,
18" in the last couple feet before the plate?
I'm gonna' call that the "Basement" pitch.
Lay 9 feet of hollow tile, and M.Cooper
will throw it *over* your wall and bounce it!

YEAH BABY!

But back to the game

No breeze most of the night
Oregon up 2-0
Then we got 'em back. 2-2 tie for a while
SV booted an easy infield fly that should have been an out,
(SV i saw it and felt it. easy popup, why wasn't it in ur glove?)
maybe expecting Manoa breeze that wasn't there? Cost us 2 runs.
Worst hurt was later. Middle reliever Eric was OK, no phenomenal,
but got the job done. Closer the slimmer Mililani/MidPac Lawrence
got robbed by his defense when he got the 3rd strike that should
have closed it. Podratz in for the bat 1 inning earlier let his 2nd
passed ball of the night allow Oregon the winning run. WTF over?

We were in this game, had this game, and then? wow. Manoa,
they gave us some easy errors early, we gave them some late.
Hope we come back and kick butt for the next three!

And Trev? Dude, I know u can hit. So next time in clutch? Pls
deliver. But on D? Lawrence deserved better, but maybe you
both were rusty. Long season, lots of time to recoup.

But our dugout and their side both know who should have won
this game, so let's prove it the next 3 times out!

'Bows fan out

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HawaiianHogster
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Re: Rainbow Baseball 2014: Opens With Heartbreaker!

Post by HawaiianHogster »

UH loses because their defense is lacking big time.
“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checked by failure...than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

GoBows2014
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Re: Rainbow Baseball 2014: Opens With Heartbreaker!

Post by GoBows2014 »

yup, Hogster, "D" is lacking a bit w/o PK and Kolten.
Plus new 1B. My bad on the 1st post, closer 14 not 41
Jordan DePonte not Lawrence Chu.

But weak on D? I'm thinking maybe not. Alan Baldwin
got a little bigger and a *bunch* stronger at catching,
now has a great arm and we now can gun them down
almost like Freitas. Picked off a runner in 2nd game,
and had a couple more close. Tonight (Sunday) Alan
picked off another. Plus we got a friendly ref call on
that play at 1st but another topic.

Game three just ended, and coach is cutting no slack.
Benched 3 players during the game (Ventemilia, J.Jones,
& one more). And major cajones to make one switch
with bases loaded that gave us the go ahead runs (2).

Only downside? Game 2 loss, maybe coaches call to
leave a struggling pitcher in too long, trying to build
pitcher's confidence but lost the game?

Again this (Sunday) night, left a struggling pitcher in
too long and cost us the game. Helping pitchers build
self confidence is important. Maybe those early losses
based on this faith will redeem later? We'll see.

BTW, love Baldwin's arm, he's throwing to 2nd w/power.
And Trevor in game 3 looked *much* better than game 2.
Pulling Flores? No brainer. He is double clutching pitches,
only saw 2 or 3 really good swings out of him in last five
at bats, Sunday night he tagged one pretty good to left
center but he can't be holding up or second-guessing his
own swings.

Game 2 loss due to coach? Maybe. Helping build self-
esteem for pitcher may pay off later

Game 3 loss due to coach? Definitely. No other way to
call it. Up 2 runs going into 9th? Maybe we don't have
Linsky any more, but c'mon. DuPonte was already
struggling, why leave him in? With 2 runs up? Couple
of outs to go? Lawrence Chu was the call, coach,
why didn't that happen?

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