Vanderbilt falls

by SBcaptain2 on Jun 4, 2007 11:03 PM EDT

The Michigan Wolverines defeated #1 ranked Vanderbilt today and have advanced to the super regionals. What an upset. Vanderbilt brought Price in as a reliever and freshman Alan Oaks homered off of Price in the 10th inning to give Michigan a 4-3 lead which was held in the bottom half of the inning by junor reliever Michael Powers of Michigan. BTW, Oaks was the 50th round pick of the Tigers last year but he opted to go to school.

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Andrew Friedman...

...is bouncing off the walls right now.

I would personally like to thank Dave Littlefield for banishing the ghost of Scott Kazmir from Shea Stadium.

by uga007 on Jun 4, 2007 11:05 PM EDT reply actions

Price

Maybe good for him. Keeps him from further abusing his arm. The College WS can be brutal for that. Him appearing in relief today being exhibit A.

by DrBGiantsfan on Jun 4, 2007 11:16 PM EDT reply actions

There's no chance

that Oaks was Mr. Irrelevant, right?
That would be QUITE ironic

I'll be the first A+ prospect...

by ufoboy90 on Jun 4, 2007 11:28 PM EDT reply actions

Shocking

Wow, that is shocking. The kid who hit the homerun was a pinch-hitter, he hit .188 with 1 HR coming into Regionals. Yet he goes yard off the top pitcher in college and sure #1 overall pick. That's why I love baseball!

I agree with DrBGiantsfan, this is probably better for Price. He threw ALOT of pitches this season.

Pedro Alvarez 5-20 6 BB, 1 HR, 3 RBI in the Regional. 1-4 with an HR and a BB today. Michigan pitched around him in the 8th inning when Vandy scored 2 to tie the game.

by bl on Jun 4, 2007 11:38 PM EDT reply actions

Price

I really hope that Tampa (or outside shot KC) really takes care of his arm this year. I'd even consider pitching him in relief the rest of the year. If I let him start, he's limited to 75 or 80 pitches a game.

by doublestix on Jun 4, 2007 11:54 PM EDT reply actions

F that...

...TB should send his ass home, tell him "see ya in February!" and start him in High A or AA next year depending on how he does in ST...his arm has been ridiculously abused this year.

I would personally like to thank Dave Littlefield for banishing the ghost of Scott Kazmir from Shea Stadium.

by uga007 on Jun 5, 2007 12:05 AM EDT up reply actions

Lincecum

I'd do what the Giants did with Lincecum last year. Let him have the rest of June and most of July off. Then start him out slowly and gradually increase his innings on strict pitch counts.

by DrBGiantsfan on Jun 5, 2007 12:14 AM EDT up reply actions

That

would work too.

Basically the point I was getting at - Don't take any gambles on this guys arm.

by doublestix on Jun 5, 2007 12:17 AM EDT up reply actions

Other College WS News

UNC advanced with Reid Fronk getting 3 more hits at the top of their lineup.

Travis Banwart bounced back from a bad start to help Wichita State blank Arizona and move on 3-0. 7.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 12 K!

Clemson got big games from two seniors to bounce Coastal Carolina 15-3. Marquez Smith- 4 for 6. Andy D'Alessio- 3 for 5. HR each.

Blake Stouffer, who hit for the cycle in game 1 yesterday and drew 2 BB's in game 2 was at it again today, 2 for 4 as Texas A&M advances.

Sophomore Kyle Thibeau- 9 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 13 K's!! Thibeau was 3-5 with a 5+ ERA this year but had a K/9>1. Watch out for him next year.

I'll just mention that Nick Schmidt pitched another good game yesterday in futile attempt to stave of elimination for Arkansas- 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K. He did have 3 HBP's!!!

Justin Smoak went 3 for 4 yesterday with his 21'st HR. He and Pedro Alvarez should be at or near the top of the draft board next year.

Corey Brown went 1 for 5 with his 21'st HR yesterday also.

Tony Thomas went 3 for 5.

by DrBGiantsfan on Jun 5, 2007 12:22 AM EDT reply actions

nitpick

i don't think it's technically the college world series yet. it's just the NCAA tournament. the CWS is when we get down to the final 8 in omaha.

kind of like the distinction between march madness and the final four in college basketball.

is that guy really named reid fronk? that is an awesome name.

by jpahk on Jun 5, 2007 12:42 AM EDT up reply actions

GO BLUE

Making up for that loss to ohio state by taking down the number one team in the land. I agree this was a blessing in disguise for Price. The CWS can be brutal on a star pitcher. Miller went though it last year and has held up so far thank gosh.

by rpm2419 on Jun 5, 2007 12:28 AM EDT reply actions

Pitch counts, schmidt counts

and im not talking about Nick.

I love that Price took the ball in relief today for a chance to save his college career. Shows that hes got guts, wants to win and plays for his team..not himself.
And what is even better, he dominated.

Its his last chance at a title and it'd mean a lot to him and to his teammates, hes not playing these games to collect a bonus check. If top college pitching prospects want to avoid throwing more than 100 pitches a start they can sign out of high school.

He hasn't been "abused" one bit, hes been the best pitcher in college baseball and been used as such and embraced it.

by nms on Jun 5, 2007 2:45 AM EDT reply actions

Abuse

Perhaps "abuse" is too judgemental a term. Perhaps a better term would be "mileage". I don't disagree that as long as a player is part of college team, his first prirority is to win for his team. To totally ignore the player's future professional career, though, is just not dealing with reality. Isn't the purpose of college to prepare a person for their future career anyway? I think there needs to be some balance here and Price has thrown a heckuva lot of pitches this year. I'm sure he would rather have his team advance to the College WS, and get to experience everything that goes with that. I was just pointing out a possible "silver lining" to the cloud of his early exit.

by DrBGiantsfan on Jun 5, 2007 7:46 AM EDT up reply actions

Side note

Until Oaks hit that, Price looked as dominant as anyone. The Michigan hitters were looking terrible and started having these really weak defensive swings because they were overmatched. Recknagel had the first good swing on a flyout and then I think Oaks felt more comfortable after that and took a good swing and sent it out.

Pedro Alvarez looked very good overall in that game as well.

Lastly, why are people so down on de la Osa? The guy hit like .370 with 20 HR, has a rocket of an arm from the OF and supposedly has a bit of speed though he didnt look like he has a a lot, but enough. Yet he fell to the 5th round in our mock draft and I havent heard anyone really talking about him as much higher than 3rd round.

Am I missing something about him?

by grozzy on Jun 5, 2007 9:36 AM EDT reply actions

he strikes

out a little bit, though not as much as Pedro Alvarez, and his BB/K isnt great..though not bad either.
Also, despite the power he found this year (having seen him in the past i thought he was a real good player, but his explosion has shocked me) probably wont translate into wood bat homers, though he should be good for some homers and a good amount of double.

Though hes shown the potential to play SS or CF hes been a RF at Vandy. If hes really only a pro RF his value drops like a rock.

His upside is a 5-plus-tools guy with a solid approach at the plate.
His downside is a guy with all 5 tools, but with them being better than ordinary tools

I'm drafted him thinking of a less electrifying, and a little more ordinary defensively, Brent Lillibridge. I think I'll get at least a good bench player, and maybe a good starter out of him

by nms on Jun 5, 2007 1:25 PM EDT up reply actions