Yada Yada - 1998
This bit o' webspace is my "catch all" area...which is mainly devoted to a running commentary (generally disjointed and thoroughly biased) on the team as the 1998 season progresses.
Last updated: May 3, 1998
Feb. 3rd ...And, we're off...
I took the afternoon off to take in the season opener. I probably won't
be able to attend many week-day afternoon games this season, I'm sorry
to report. Anyway...
Texas lost to UT-San Antonio today (0-3).
Which, I suppose, was a bad thing. But, I have to say, I wasn't too
discouraged. UTSA did a much better job than Texas at capitalizing on
opportunities and that was the difference in the game. Frank Halter
started out very strongly, keeping UTSA scoreless through the first
three innings. Moore, Nicholson, and Schumacher turned a nice 6-4-3
double play in the 2nd to help in that effort. I don't suppose Beau
Hale will forget his first appearance as a college pitcher any time soon
since the first batter he faced (Jeff Juarez) took a 3-1 fast ball over
the fence just left of the "green monster" in cf. Hale took the next
three batters down in order, though. Munroe (3-up, 3-down) and Seibel
(walked one batter but stranded him at 1b) pitched the last two innings.
Offensive highlights included Kolbach going 2-for-3 with a triple and
Richardson hitting a double. Alas, the Horns had the bases loaded 3
times but failed to capitalize, leaving 12 runners on base (8 of them in
scoring position).
Feb. 7th ...Rain, rain, go away...
I went to the innaugural softball games today in the new McCombs stadium
(Texas swept the double header against UT-Arlington in fine fashion), so
I listened to the first game as I watched softball. I kept score...but
missed a few things since I couldn't hear the radio over the loud
speakers at times. Texas and USC were rained out last night and tried
to get two 9-inning games played today. The second game was shortened
to 5 innings due to rain, however. Texas lost the first game
(3-5) with Dunn taking the loss. Moore
and Cox hit solo homeruns, both times in answer to scores by USC, and
Texas went ahead (3-2) in the 6th. But, USC's Ticehurst hit a 2-run
homer in the bottom of the 6th to take USC ahead for good. Texas had a
good chance to tie things up in the 8th but left Loeffler stranded at
3rd. In the second game, Lane and Freitas hit homers for USC, while
Moore and Cox both homered again for Texas. The game was sent into rain
delay in the top of the 6th after Texas had scored 3 and had Nicholson
at 3b with no outs. About 20 minutes later, the game was called,
however, and the runs scored in the top of the 6th were nullified.
Texas ended up winning (6-5).
Feb. 13th ...The #1 team comes to town...
Sigh...work sure can be a pain. I can't believe I couldn't get away to
see today's game. And, that people kept coming into my office
wanting stuff. But, I did manage to hear most of a very exciting game.
Stanford jumped ahead on a homerun by Schrager in the 3rd. Texas tied
it up in the 7th as Aspito doubled, moved to 3b on a sac bunt by
Johnson, and scored on a wild pitch. Then, the Horns went ahead in the
8th as Loeffler singled, moved to 2b on a sac bunt by Moore, moved to 3b
on a wild pitch, and scored on a single by Schumacher (pinch hitting for
Cox). Stanford tied it up in the top of the 9th as Gerut walked, moved
to 2b on a balk by Kautsch (who'd just come in for Dunn who'd started),
moved to 3b as Gall grounded out to ss, and scored on a double by
Hochgesang. Texas had a good chance to win it in the 9th as Johnson
singled, moved to 2b on a sac bunt by Nicholson, and moved to 3b on a
wild pitch. Edelstein (pinch hitting for Richardson) was at the plate
and walked...on the 4th ball to Edelstein, the ball got away from the
catcher and Johnson tried to score. The catcher (Alvarado) caught up
to the ball in time, however, and threw to the pitcher covering home to
make the out on Johnson. Both teams failed to score in the 10th. In
the 11th, however, Stanford struck big time. Gall singled; Hochgesang
doubled; Borchard was intentionally walked to load the bases and set up
the force at home; and Thompson (pinch hitting for Day) hit a
base-clearing triple and then scored on a balk. Texas went down in
order in the bottom of the 11th to end the game. Sadly, Texas had
several chances to win the game and just couldn't do it. Random
observations: Dunn pitched a very nice 8 innings. Halter was charged
with the loss. Cogan took the win. Loeffler nearly hit for the cycle
(short the hr). Texas left 11 on base (6 in scoring position. Stanford
left 9 (5 in scoring position). Final score:
Stanford 6, Texas 2.
Feb. 22nd ...The #2 team comes to town...
I took Friday afternoon off (well, not really...I went back to work
after the game) so I got to see all three LSU games. And, I had a great
time. LSU brought a lot of fans with them which made the series all
that much more fun. I did get beaned once by flying Mardi Gras beads
but I know there's always one in every crowd so I won't hold it against
the rest of a great bunch of very vocal LSU fans. The weather people
were predicting rain all day Saturday and into Sunday so it wasn't clear
whether or not they'd get all three games in. But, it was a gorgeous
day for Friday's game with the temperature hovering around 70 deg F. and
the sun shining brightly. Scott Dunn pitched a great game, giving up
only one run (a homerun) in 7+ innings to lead the Horns to a
5-1 victory. Offensively, the Horns got
ahead and stayed there which is always appreciated by this fan. On
Saturday, things looked bleak weatherwise as they started the game in a
fine mist and temperatures in the low 50s. There was a brief rain
delay at the end of the 4th inning but it only slowed the action down
for about 15 minutes. The "lowlight" of the game has to be giving up 6
unearned runs. But, the highlight was that the team did not give up at
the plate. After being down 9-2 at one point, the Horns battled their
way back into contention and nearly pulled it off. Sadly, it wasn't
enough and they lost 9-12. Seibel was
charged with his first loss of the year and the Tigers kept their
homerun streak alive as Barbier and McClure both homered. In today's
final game, everyone knew going in that the game had a 4 o'clock curfew
due to LSU's need to catch their flight home. Again, this was a case of
the Horns refusing to give up. And, this time, they came away with the
win after the game was called in the bottom of the 8th due to said
curfew. The Horns jumped to an early 2-0 lead in the 1st and then fell
behind 4-2 in the 5th but tied it up again in the bottom of the 5th.
The Tigers pulled ahead in the 6th (5-4) but Texas managed to scrape a
couple of runs across the plate in the 7th to regain the lead. LSU had
the tying run at 2b in the 8th but left him stranded. In the bottom of
the 8th, the Horns managed to plate one final run before the game was
called after Aspito's ground rule double over the fence in the cf/rf
gap. The Horns had runners at 2nd and 3rd with two outs when the game
was called. Texas wins 7-5. Kautsch got
his first win of the season and Richardson showed signs of coming out of
his early season slump which can only be good news for Texas. One last
note: LSU's homerun streak (an NCAA record) was stopped at 77 games
when they failed to hit a homerun in today's game. Congrats to LSU for
achieving a milestone I can't imagine will ever be rivaled.
Mar. 16th ...Off to a very slow conference start...
I've been getting quite a bit of mail lately asking what's going on with
the team. And, since I haven't had time to update the boxes and game
summaries for the weekend series against Baylor, it seemed like a good
time for an entry on this page. This is the worst conference start the
Horns have had since I've been paying attention. I suspect it's the
worst start ever but haven't bothered to find out. Why is the team
having such a tough time? Especially after they'd held their own
against nationally ranked teams? I don't know. But, I think it has a
lot to do with the youth of this team. Nobody really expected them to
do much of anything this year. This was supposed to be a rebuilding
year. After all, they start 6 or 7 Freshmen every game. How can a
bunch of players new to college baseball be expected to compete? The
thing is, at the start of the season, they surprised us all and did a
good job of hanging in there. But then, Big 12 play was upon them.
And, no matter what they'd been through in California and Florida,
those teams weren't Texas Tech and Baylor, two teams that have a
lot more history with Texas than any of the powerhouses faced
earlier in the season. The Longhorns are a bunch of young kids.
That's really all there is to it. I watched them during the 1-1/2 hour
rain delay that interrupted Saturday's game against Baylor. The Texas
players goofed around the entire time...staying loose, joking around,
generally having a good time. The Baylor players, meanwhile, sat in
their dugout for the most part and waited patiently for the game to
resume. There was no clowning around...they stayed focused. I have to
admit, I was very happy to see the Texas team getting along so well and
enjoying themselves. It is, as we all know, just a game. But, to win
at this game, a team needs focus, experience, maturity, and a bit of
that "killer instinct" (maybe a lot of it). And, all of those things
will come with time. In the meantime, I guess we all need to readjust
our expectations again. We need to remember that we weren't really
expecting much out of these guys until next year (or, more likely, the
year after that) and enjoy the bright spots they do give us. And,
there are plenty of those. Well, maybe not in yesterday's game but
usually...
Mar. 24th ...A good day...
Games like today's make me wonder about this team. The Horns
really need to play like they did today when they're playing
conference rivals. But, for some reason, they don't. I hope that turns
around soon. They played a great game today beating Southwest Texas by
a score of 7-5. Frank Halter had his best outing of the year but got no
decision. Too bad; he deserved the win. And, Rad Weaver did a great
job coming on in the 9th to shut SWT down and get his first save of the
year. I think the radio announcers gave the Player of the Game award to
Carlos Sepulveda (who did a good job as dh, going 3-for-4 with 1 run
scored and 2 runs batted in) but I think I would've given it to Jason
Aspito for his (dare I hope?) defensive turn-around (not to mention the
fact that he scored what turned out to be the game-winning run). After
the rough time he's had lately, it was very nice to see him make some
sharp plays in the field. He had 6 assists and 1 put-out. He really
looked comfortable and confident at 3b, fielding cleanly and making
accurate throws without hesitation. I hope it's a sign of things to
come.
Apr. 8th ...One step forward, two steps back...
Looking back at what I wrote here on March 24th gives me pause. Today's
loss to UT-Arlington (12-11) was terribly
disappointing. Everytime I think this team has turned the corner, they
seem to lose their way and end up turning back. It's clear they've got
everything it takes to win on a regular basis. This is a bunch of very
talented guys. I don't know (and it seems obvious they're in the same
boat) why they go through such ups and downs. Every day someone does
something to reaffirm our faith in this team. Every day. So, we keep
showing up and we keep cheering them on. We know they can do it. And,
again, I tell myself that before the season started, we really weren't
expecting much. That what this team has accomplished is surprising.
But, it's frustrating because those accomplishments prove they can do
better. I'm sure they will. I've got my fingers crossed it'll be
soon.
May 2nd ...Post-season hopes fizzle...
I think today's loss to Nebraska means the Horns are numerically out of
the race for the Big 12 post-season tournament. It was gonna be tough
getting in: they had to win out these last six games and count on
Oklahoma State to beat OU at least once in their series this weekend. I
believe Texas' loss today coupled with OU's win yesterday mark the end
of Texas' post-season hopes. Which is too bad. I really like this
group of guys (no need to write...I know that always happens to me by
the end of the season!) and think they deserve better. So, what went
wrong this season? I get that question a lot. And, I don't know. For
some reason, consistency has been an extremely elusive commodity this
year. Beau Hale had a great game last week pitching in relief against
Missouri but couldn't get his curve ball over the plate today to save
his life. It's been like that all season. Dunn seems to have turned
the corner and become the pitcher people were hoping he'd be at the
beginning of the season and the offense seems to be rallying around him
when he starts. But, you can't lay it all on pitching inconsistency;
it's been about a month since the Horns have managed a win when the
opposing team starts a left-hander on the mound.
May 3rd ...Senior day...
Today was Senior Day at the Disch as the home crowd bid farewell to this
year's crop of Seniors (Donny Barker, Mark Cridland, Chris Edelstein,
Arnold Gonzales, Matt Simpson, Brian Starcich, and Rad Weaver). And,
did they ever do us proud! Rad Weaver pitched a great complete-game
shut out (the first shut out of the season for the Horns). I can't
think of a better way to end their final home stand of the year,
especially after they struggled through such a tough season. Matt
Simpson hit his fourth homerun of the season and Mark Cridland (after
Nebraska put on the most exaggerated shift to right I've ever seen) hit
his 17th over the trees outside the rf fence. Chris Edelstein went
1-for-3 with a single, a walk, and a couple of nice plays in lf. Donny
Barker and Brian Starcich were apparently up in the bullpen a couple of
times but did not get the chance to contribute as Weaver went the
distance (he threw 133 pitches, gave up 5 singles, 1 double, 1 walk, and
threw 7 strikeouts). And, for those of you who don't remember hearing
or reading his name, Arnold Gonzales is one of the bullpen catchers who
hasn't had a chance to play this year but he goes all out every day
working with the pitchers. Congratulations to the Seniors. I only wish
that things had gone better for them (and the rest of the team) this
year. And, I wish them the best as they leave UT and embark on their
post-academic lives. Good luck, Seniors. And, thanks.
Joanna's Longhorn Baseball page |
Joanna L. Castillo
Email: joanna@joanna.org
URL: http://www.joanna.org/hook-em/yadayada_98.html