Game Recap: Seminoles 9, Tarheels 8 (or as I like to call it, Matt Holliday lives)

Happy Easter Seminole Fans! This afternoon, FSU took on UNC for the rubber game of this weekend's series. Today's game seemed to be going the way of our Saturday performance: behind early and a comeback that falls short. Luckily the Noles pulled it together (and were on the receiving end of a little baseball luck) as they won 9-8 on Jason Stidham's walk off single. You can see the box score and play by play here, but I'd like to talk about the game's ending and some other observations without doing a full recap. If you don't want to read the official recap, here's a quick synopsis...

Mike McGee managed a decent outing despite not having his best stuff- he put up a line of 2 ER, 6K's and 2 walks. Geoff Parker and John Gast gave up 4 and 1 run(s) respectively in relief and continue to fall short of pre-season expectations. Tyler Holt and Stephen Cardullo were Base on Balls machines and Jimmy Marhsall did a nice job of keeping it close during the last few innings. Yet again, the Tarheel starter was tough, giving up only 1 earned run while striking out 6 and walking only 2 over 5.2 innings. With all the dominant pitching coming out UNC in recent years (Andrew Miller and Daniel Bard come to mind), how is pitching coach Scott Forbes not better known? This weekend, UNC starting pitching gave up 6 ER against a good hitting FSU team. Perhaps he likes the college game, but if I were a major league system, I'd be throwing some money at this guy to help with my player development.

But on to the other topics, like the ending of the game. FSU scores 4 runs in the 8th to make it a 1 run game. Tyler Holt collected his 4th walk of the game to begin the 9th and was followed by another walk from Cardullo. Stu Tap laid down a beautiful bunt to put men on third and second and and then Jason Stidham singled to win the game.

But here's the thing- my eyes were following the right fielder and Stephen Cardullo's progress, so I never actually saw Holt score. What I did see, was that as Cardullo was rounding third, the UNC catcher was on his back right on top of the plate (he looked like a turtle). All I can figure is that Holt somehow mananged to knock over the Tarheel backstop (who was proably blocking the plate already), which allowed Cardullo to reach the plate before he could get up. Here's the other thing, I'm 99% Cardullo didn't actually touch the plate, seeing as how Fleury (the catcher) was sort of lying on top of it. Fleury was understandably irate, and had to be restrained by several team members and coach's from going after the umpires. Sometimes the baseball gods just throw one your way I guess. If anyone saw exactly what happened, I'd love to hear more about it, but in the meantime, I'll just say that I love Tyler Holt, and once again, take back anything bad I ever said about him.

Some other observations:
Third baseman Stuart Tapley has a strong accurate arm, and looks great charging in on balls. He fielded one today that was about even with the pitchers mound and still got the runner. He also has suave new music for his at bats that makes me envision a montage of Tap courtin' the ladies with roses and champagne. Hey, Stu is a lover, not a fighter, what can I say?

College Baseball is really unpredictable. Jack Posey looked like a deer in the headlights at 1st yesterday, and today he looked solid and smart. And that was on top of being acccidentally called "Buster" by the PA guy. Parker Brunelle also had a nice day behind the plate after looking terrible in some earlier starts. I suppose this boils down to what always separates professionals from amateurs...consistency.

James Ramsey seems really fast. He darn near beat out a quick throw and he looked liked he covered a bunch of ground tracking down balls in left.

The most annoying fan of the game award goes to a visiting Tarheel fanatic. Now, I have nothing against fans of the away team cheering their squad. But there was a point in the game when UNC brought in a pitcher who was apparently nicknamed "Gator". A woman behind me kept shouting "Alright Gator, Good Job Gator! or Get 'Em Gator!". At this point we were still down several runs, and let me tell you, when you're an FSU fan and your team is losing, there is nothing worse than hearing a shrill voice yelling anything about "Gators". At the time, it was enough to make me want to drown myself in a vat of Muscle Milk (the offical protein beverage of the Florida State Seminoles!) (TM).

I liked the call to bunt with Tapley in the 9th. No outs, and in a close game Win Expectancy trumps Run Excpectancy in the closing innings. I like it less that some of our better hitters are showing bunt on first pitches in the middle of games.

Next Up: The Mike McGee question...