Stanford: The Card win another wild one, 5-4
By Alex Gyr - March 03, 2007
Remember how I said yesterday's game was what a Stanford-Cal game should be? Today's game? It was more like a Little League game than a Pac-10 battle. It was amazing how, despite how close the game was from beginning to end, how little intensity either team showed.
Cal head coach David Esquer was all over the map in this ballgame. The Bears used eight pitchers, including right fielder Blake Smith and star first baseman David Cooper. Cooper came in the inning after Cal had taken a 4-3 lead and promptly gave up a pair of walks and two runs to give the lead right back to Stanford. Cooper is a great hitter and all (even though he is now 0-for-9 on the series), but as a pitcher in a one-run game? I just don't get it. There were wild substitutions all game long from the Bears, and there was a rumor that began circulating around the fifth inning that Stanford was playing the game under protest because of illegal substitutions. No word on whether the rumor was true, but it seemed to fit with the feel of the game.
Esquer was also in the face of the home plate umpire all game, mostly for balls and strikes. The ongoing argument came to a head in the top of the eighth when the Bears put runners on first and second with no outs, down by one. Cal catcher Charlie Cutler put a bunt down the first base line, but ran out of the basepath and had the ball hit off his back. The home plate umpire called Cutler out and sent the runners back to first and second. Esquer, who also coaches first and was right on top of the play, went nuts. Amazingly, he wasn't ejected after getting right in the umpire's face. Stanford ended up getting out of the inning and holding on to their lead.
Lost in the shuffle was a great outing by Jeremy Bleich. Bleich allowed just two hits through the first six innings, before running into some trouble in the seventh and taking a no decision. Stanford's starting pitching has really picked up this weekend, and they still have thier "ace" Nolan Gallagher going tomorrow afternoon.
Some final thoughts from game two after the jump:
It is now a good half hour after the final out, and I'm still in shock how crazy this game was. Cal used a different pitcher in each of the first seven innings. The Bears comitted three errors, including two in the third that allowed two runs to score for Stanford. It was just a rediculous game. With all the substituions, my scorebook will never be the same after all the blue ink from today's game ran through the next four pages.
But, beyond all that, it was Stanford's seventh straight win and they remain undefeated at home at Sunken Diamond where they are now 8-0. Cal has now lost seven of their last nine and with Nolan Gallagher on the hill for Stanford tomorrow things don't get any easier. Cal has to regroup and figure out what is going on.
Finally, Stanford now has 2,499 wins all time. That's a lot of wins. Only four teams (Fordham, USC, Michigan and Texas) have ever reached the 2,500 mark. Stanford's next win will also put head coach Mark Marquess in a tie for 11th in all time Division I wins as a head coach with former Miami coach Ron Fraser at 1,267. If you ever ask Marquess about it all he'll say is, "it only means I'm getting older," but no matter what he says, it is impressive.
I'll be back for game three tomorrow afternoon. It's slated to be Gallagher against Cal righty Alex Rollin. Hoping for another gorgeous day after it was absolutley beautiful today (that is, everywhere but on the field).
Thanks for reading and I'll talk to you tomorrow.
Posted by Alex Gyr at 07:47 PM on March 03, 2007
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