Mickey Mantle's Liver

The Beavers Baseball Team Gets No Love - Part Deux!

Remember last year, when I posted here about ESPN the Magazine's annual list of the top 100 sports stories of the year and the Mag conveniently forgot to list the incredible run by the Beavers baseball team - playing five consecutive elimination games AND beating Number 1 overall pick Andrew Miller....TWICE! -- as one of the top 100 sports stories?  Remember that?

Well guess what, ESPN the MAGAZINE did it again!!!!!

This time, the Beavers baseball team won a second consecutive national championship and they get no love from the WorldWide Leader.

And again, just like last year, the Magazine listed as one of its top sports stories something from professional wrestling!  Since when is professional wrestling a sport?  The Mag mentions the death of a cricket coach in Jamaica, the U.S. Track and Field Championships, base jumping in the Grand Canyon and even the Little League World Series....but no love for the College Baseball National Champions?

The Magazine lists the weiner-eating champion as the 99th best sports story.  What?  I realize beating that little Japanese dude in a weiner eating contesting is a big deal and all, but is it really (a) a sport, and (b) more impressive than the Beavers winning a second consecutive National Championship in college baseball.

But what is probably the worst pick of all is #100 - Helio Castroneves  winning "Dancing With the Stars".  Now, I understand that old Helio is a race car driver and all, and that race car driving counts as a sport.  But he is mentioned in the Magazine not for winning a race, but for winnig a DANCING CONTEST!!!!

What makes this last pick especially questionable is the fact that Dancing With the Stars appears on ABC, which is the sibling network of ESPN, which owns and publishes the Magazine.  Suffice it to say, the Magazine's #100 pick is a transparent attempt at shameless self-promotion.

Last year I did nothing, assuming that if the Beavers were to do the unthinkable and win yet another National Championship, ESPN the Magazine would give the Beavers their due.  Now that i know that ESPN the Magazine has no clue, I am going to take action.  Stay tuned......

ESPN is getting on my bad side....quit dissin' the Beavers!

OK , it was bad enough when ESPN The Magazine, listing the top 100 sports stories of 2006 failed to mention the Beaver miraculous run through the College World Series - winning five straight elimination games and beating Andrew Miller and the North Carolina Tar Heels (yes, the same Andrew Miller pitching for the Detroit Tigers) - to win the National Championship.

Instead, The Mag picked "sports" stories such as the possibility that David Beckham might come to the United States as a sports story (picked at #47, no less) over events that actually happened!

Now, here come the ESPYs, ESPN's annual awards show acknowledging athletic success.   Overall, the ESPYs are a fun time and do a good job recognizing deserving athletes and teams across a broad spectrum of sports.

And ESPN generally does a good job canvassing all sports, not just the big three, recognizing remarkable achievements in all the various sports people play.

Which is why it is even more inexcusable that ESPN did not even nominate the Oregon State Beavers' baseball team in the category for Best Team, or Pat Casey in the category of Best Coach.

I just don't understand what the hell they are drinking in Bristol.  I suspect the fact that Colon Cowturd works at the WorldWide Leader has something to do with it.  It is well known in Oregon that Cowturd is a big Oregon Duck supporter.  During his tenure here in Oregon, old Cowturd would regularly bash on the Beavers and praise the floundering Ducks.

So I bet old Cowturd told the higher-ups at ESPN not to recognize the amazing accomplishments by the Oregon State Baseball team.

Regardless, ESPN really screwed the pooch on this one.  The fact that the Beavers repeated as College Baseball National Champions is a remarkable achievement.  Think about it.  No team has repeated in 10 years, since the days of Ben McDonald and the LSU Tigers.  Second, the Beavers only had two returning starting position players, and the Beavs lost their two best pitchers.

Now consider the fact that for the first part of the Beavers' 2007 baseball season the Beavers played on the road (given our wonderful "liquid sunshine" in the Pacific Northwest during March and April), which makes the season that much longer and difficult for the defending national champs.

Given all that they lost, and all they had to deal with,  the Beavers still won the national championship.

The Beavers accomplishment is worthy of some recognition by ESPN.  But the Beavers got bubpkah!

I know that ESPN is, in fact, a Mickey Mouse operation, but this time they are taking this  "mickey mouse" analogy a bit too far.  Somebody at ESPN needs to get on the ball and give the Beavers the props they deserve.  I can understand missing the Beavers championship run in 2006, but screwing this up in 2007 makes ESPN look stupid.

The Beavers Are National Champs!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One win from the chamionship series.......

For those of you who may have missed it, the Beavers pulled off an impressive 12 to 6 victory over the 5th ranked Sun Devils of Arizona State University.  The Sun Devils prolific offense averages 9.6 runs per game, and yet through 7 1/3 innings the Devils managed to score only one run.

Typically I am a glass-is-half-full kind of guy, but last night's game really raised some  concerns about our pitching.  Our pitchers couldn't seem to hit the broad side of the barn.  I mean, Grvaback comes in and throws four straight pitches that were nowhere around the plate.

Then Joe Paterson, who did strike out 6 batters in 2 and 2/3 innings, hits the first batter he faces.  The point is, the Beavers should have never let the game get as close as they did.  Now granted, we were up by 11 runs at the time, but we ended up allowing another 5 runs when all the pitchers had to do was throw strikes.

It concerns me because this is still a young Beavers baseball team.  Mike Stutes was lights out, and Jorge Reyes is a stud-in-the-making, but this team wins on consistent pitching and great defense.  As soon as one of those factors is removed from the Beaver baseball equation, the Beavers lose.

It is tough writing a post like this, given that only a few years ago all of Beaver sports - not just the baseball team - were nowhere to be found.  Now, the Beavs have a top-tier baseball program, and a football program that finished last year in the top 25 and found themselves with 10 wins. 

As a Beaver fan, I am used to losing.  As hard as it is to deal with losing, I am finding it even harder to deal with winning.  I don't want to get my hopes up because in true Beaver fashion, my hopes can quickly be crushed.

But this Beaver team is just scrappy enough to pull it off, provided the pitching doesn't take a vacation.  The key to winning any championship is to peak at the right time, and that is what the Beavs have done.  They are playing their best baseball of the year at the time it matters most - in the post season.

We are one win away from the College World Series championship.  Go Beavs!

Look Out Warren Buffett, the Beavers Are Coming Back to Omaha

CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Oregon State shortstop Darwin Barney can spot the very pitch in a game that signals pitcher Mike Stutes is on.

He saw it early during Monday's game, when the defending national champion Beavers eliminated Michigan 8-2 to earn their third straight trip to the College World Series.

"I believe I looked over at Joey [Wong] and said, 'Uh-oh, they're in trouble,'" Barney said when he saw the curveball.

Stutes allowed two runs on three hits over eight strong innings at the NCAA Corvallis super regional.

Barney was 3-for-5 with three RBIs for the Beavers (44-18), who will face Cal State Fullerton in their opening game of the College World Series on Saturday.

It is Oregon State's third straight trip to Omaha. Last season they won six elimination games en route to the title.

Stutes (10-4) struck out nine and walked just one. The only runs he allowed were a pair of solo homers by Michigan outfielder Eric Rose.

Starter Mike Wilson (7-1) lasted only 1 1/3 innings for the Wolverines (42-19), allowing four runs without giving up a hit.

"Nobody expected us to do as well as we did this year, and I'm proud of all my players," said Rose, a co-captain of the Wolverines.

The first game of the best-of-three series was postponed by rain on Saturday. In Sunday's opener, Michigan starter Zach Putnam had a no-hitter two outs into the ninth, when Wong singled to bring in a run, and Oregon State won 1-0.

The Beavers went ahead Monday with a four-run second inning. Wilson, who struggled mightily with his control, walked Chris Hopkins with the bases loaded to make it 1-0.

He was relieved by Michael Powers, who walked Wong for another run. Barney followed with a two-run single to right to make it 4-0.

"I was delighted when he [Wilson] was taken out of the game," Barney said. "His stuff was really good; he just couldn't get it over the plate."

The Beavers added three more runs in the fifth. Facing Michigan reliever Chris Fetters with the bases loaded, Wong's sacrifice bunt scored Braden Wells. A balk scored Jordan Lennerton before Barney added another RBI single to make it 7-0.

Pitch hitter Mike Santschi hit an RBI single in the eighth.

Rose, who hit the first of his home runs in the sixth, added a second off Stutes to lead off the ninth. Stutes was cheered with a standing ovation as he was relieved by Eddie Kunz, who got the final three outs. Wong hugged Stutes as he left the mound.

After the game, the sellout crowd at Goss Stadium and Coleman Field chanted "Om-a-ha! Om-a-ha!"

"We knew we were going to get some runs. We knew Stutes was going to pitch well," Barney said. "So we knew we had a pretty good chance."

The Beavers received an at-large bid despite finishing sixth in the Pac-10. They won the Charlottesville Regional as the No. 3 seed, beating Rutgers in the opener before losing to top-seeded Virginia in 13 innings. The Beavers eliminated Rutgers before beating Virginia twice to advance to the super regionals.

The Wolverines beat Memphis and then won two of three against top-ranked Vanderbilt to advance to the super regionals for the first time.

"I love my offensive team. Unfortunately we didn't get it done offensively in this venue this week," Michigan coach Rich Maloney said. "I didn't think they would hold us down like they did."

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

Beavers are one win from Omaha!

Wow, what a game today.  Being a baseball fan, I love a 1-0 game as much as I love a 15-11 game.  But today's game was, in a word, strange.   

The Beavers get no-hit for 8 2/3 innings, and then get one hit, which just happens to knock in the only run of the game.  The Beavers had a grand total of 4 baserunners (3 via walk, and the one hit).  In fact, the Beavers never had a runner reach third base (except, of course, for the one runner who scored in the ninth inning).

Michigan pitcher/designated hitter Zach Putnam pitched a GREAT game.  His combination of fastballs and sinkers had the Beaver hitters baffled, to say the least.  The Beavers had to have grounded into at least 15 outs.  The one thing I noticed, though, was that the Beaver hitters were not very patient, chasing pitches that were out of the strike zone.  I have a feeling the Beavs were a little anxious.

In the meantime, redshirt freshman Jorge Reyes pitched a beautiful game.  He is the future of our pitching staff, we are in for a good next couple of years.  Reyes throws a good fastball that has a lot of movement on it.  His fastball is in the low to mid 90's, and it appears as though he has a good change/splitter.

What was important was that Reyes threw a LOT of groundballs, using his defense to help  win the game.  It is no secret that the Beavers have a GREAT defense (they are second in the nation in fielding and errors committed), and Reyes showed a lot of maturity by throwing to his defense, and keeping the seven fielders behind him in the game.

Patterson and Kunz came in and finished the gem that Reyes started.  Kunz got the last two outs, and got the save.

Tomorrow is game two of the best-of-three series, and a Beaver victory means another trip to Omaha.  Six of the last seven defending national champs have failed to make a return trip to Omaha to defend their title.  If the Beavers close out the series tomorrow, they would be only the second team in eight years to make it back to Omaha to defend their title.  Even more impressively, it would be the Beavers third straight summer vacation in Omaha.

Tomorrow's game starts at 4 p.m. at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field.

Stayin' Alive!

  Despite a poor performance during PAC-10 play, the Oregon State Beavers' baseball team is just two victories away from their third straight appearance in the College World Series.  Last season, the Beavers won the whole enchilada, taking the national championship trophy home to Corvallis.

The Beavers run in the regionals was a result of the very same things that helped the Beavers to their first national championship last year - pitching, defense and timely hitting, and today's game was no different. 

After going up 2-0 after the first inning, the University of Virginia - the host team - scored 3 runs in the top of the second inning.  Those were the only runs the Cavaliers would score for the rest of the day.  The Beavers scored 3 runs in their half of the second inning, and they never looked back.  The Beavers scored two more times in the bottom of the seventh to seal the deal.

Although they are only ranked #25 in the country going into the playoffs, the Beavers are definitely playing like the defending national champions that they are.  Their next test, though, is a mighty one, the maize and blue of the University of Michigan.

And for those of you who think the Wolverines are going to be intimidated by the fact that the Beavers are the defending national champs, you got another thing coming.  The Wolverines are fresh off an upset of Vanderbilt, ranked #1 in the country by rivals.com for the last 9 weeks.  Vanderbilt also sports David Price, a 6-5 lefty who most acknowledge is the best pitcher in this Thursday's major league draft.

Michigan defeated Price and the Commodores yesterday to earn their trip to Corvallis.

The Beavers play Michigan starting this Saturday at noon.  Only the Sunday game and the Monday game (if necessary) will be televised on ESPN.