The Silver Lining To Getting Blown Out in Game One
That was not pretty.
It never is when you lose 15-3. It was all Stanford today on both sides of the ball. The Cardinal pitched it better than Texas Tech with Brendan Beck throwing a masterful gem in 108-degree heat striking 13 Red Raiders across 7.2 innings. Stanford only needed one arm out of the bullpen.
Texas Tech however needed six bullpen arms after a shaky start from Chase Hampton got Texas Tech in trouble early with a four-spot allowed in the first inning. It didn't matter after that because Texas Tech only got to three runs, but every single arm out of the pen allowed at least one run. The only one who didn't allow an earned run was Riechmann, but only because he came in with inherited runners and he didn't record an out.
As Ron Washington used to say, that's the way baseball go.
I still think that Texas Tech is a better baseball team than Stanford. Hard to fathom at the moment after being taken to the woodshed, but Texas Tech is in the driver's seat.
Hang with me here.
I get that game one winners of Super Regional's win at a ridiculous rate. Most teams don't throw backward in a Super Regional though and Texas Tech certainly has. That's cause for at least a modicum of hope moving forward into the weekend. Patrick Monteverde and Mason Montgomery are much better than what Texas Tech hitters will see from Stanford tomorrow and potentially Sunday.
Both Texas Tech and Stanford also have complete utilization of their best bullpen arms as well. Nobody that pitched for Texas Tech on Friday will throw for Texas Tech on Saturday, even with six bullpen arms being used. That doesn't become as much of a strength when Stanford's premier bullpen arm wasn't used today either.
Still, I like Texas Tech to win game two. Now it's a must-win, but if Texas Tech can get to Sunday, I really like Texas Tech's depth over what Stanford can provide. Of course, none of that matters without on-field execution, something Texas Tech couldn't buy today.
You know what though? With the chips on the table in a must-win game to get to Omaha, give me Tim Tadlock and the boys. Far more often than not when given the chance to put up or shut up Tadlock's Red Raiders have put up. In bunches. I don't know exactly what it will look like, but I'm confidently looking forward to game three.