With all due respect to George Mason University and the Edmonton Oilers, there are upsets and there what-the-fuck-just-happened upsets. If the glass slipper fits, wear it. For the Jaspers to beat Nebraska in Lincoln isn’t merely the big shocker of the first day of this year’s NCAA tournament, it’s the biggest win for Manhattan’s baseball program since the discovery of fire. Or more accurately, since I discovered that Manhattan College had a baseball program.
Manhattan’s Chris Cody (above) threw 142 pitches for his 9th complete game of the year. There’s no truth to the rumor the Cubs are eager to draft him if he can demonstrate he has a little more stamina.
Texas are currently avenging a regular season loss to UT-Arlington, as the Longhorns are leading 8-1 after 7 1/2 innings. Other than a blast over the right field fence allowed to the Mavs’ Daniel Rieder, Texas’ Ken Kasparek allowed no further damage in 7 1/3 innings of work. Texas catcher Preston Clark hit a 2-run HR to left field in the bottom of the 4th.
The Longhorns are likely to face Stanford tomorrow at 4pm EST. The Cardinal beat NC State, 7-2, earlier today in front of a sparse crowd in Austin. Stanford’s Greg Reynolds struck out 7 in the complete game victory, though there is some consolation for the Wolfpack (besides getting to face UT-SA at noon EST tomorrow) ; DYS’ MySpace page is closing in on 1300 friends.
I would certainly call George Mason’s run a what-the-fuck-just-happened upset, as well as the win over UConn and maybe the one over UNC-CH. Midmajors just don’t make the final. They just don’t.
Baseball’s always going to be higher-variance than basketball, which is higher-variance than football, which is higher variance than boxing. But as baseball goes that was quite a stunner in Lincoln. And Prairie View is up 5-3 on Rice in the middle of the 8th!
Phillip,
I’m taking nothing away from GMU’s run. But Manhattan’s win today was the college baseball equivalent of a 16 seed beating a number 1…other than the not-so-small factor of it not being an elmination game.
I plead guilty to stoking the hyperbole fire. The college baseball tournament is a blast, every year. And that Prarie View A&M/Rice game was another classic, the no. 1 seed Owls winning 6-5 on Josh Rodriguez’ walk-off single in the bottom of the 9th. Earlier, Rodriguez was robbed of extra bases by the Panthers’ LF Oscar Goldman, who has far better range than I remember from his days on “The Six Milllion Dollar Man” (though predictably, he looks AWESOME when jumping in slow motion.
What-the-bleep-just-happened was that the Husker’s bats have been quiet for pretty much the last month, and whenever they’ve run into a moderately decent pitcher, they make him look like Nolan Ryan.
As a dedicated Husker fan, yesterday’s upset comes as absolutely no surprise. Now let’s see if a real miracle can happen: The Huskers will have to win four straight to make it to the next round.
correct me if I’m wrong, Lance, but shouldn’t it only take 3 in a row for Nebraska to advance? They beat SF today, win on sunday and win on Monday and they’re in, right?
You’re right, there is no truth to the rumor that the Cubs are eager to draft Cody if he can demonstrate that he has a little more stamina. You’re correct because he was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 8th round. And stamina questions? What are you talking about? The kid pitched 9 complete games this year, beating two ranked teams (Tulane & Nebraska); all this with his lackluster offensive front (except for Rizzotti and Fitzpatrick, who are exceptional talents).
An upset, yes. But if you knew Chris Cody, if you knew how competative he is especially in big games, then you would also know that this is certainly not a, “what-the-fuck-just-happened” upset. Do research before you decide to use “what-the-fuck-just-happened” terminology when describing exactly what happened in Lincoln… The Huskers got dominated by a dominating pitcher. The End.
Jeff,
the comment about the Cubs and “stamina questions” is what we in the laff-riot trade like to call “a joke”. Most readers might’ve picked up on that given the reference to 142 pitches thrown in the Nebraska game. But I apologize for any offense taken….I really hope no one in the Cubs organization was bummed that I’d infer they’ve ruined anyone’s arm.