Arizona?!!??!??

California was 35-26 entering the CWS in 1992.
They finished the regular season 31-25 (14-16 in the Pac), lost a
first-round game at Gainesville to the Aggies before winning four straight
to earn their ticket to Omaha, then final one over A&M.

They went 2-and-Q in the Series, although they hardly embarrassed
themselves (lost 4-3 to the Canes in 13 innings and 5-4 to the Noles).

GTanner wrote:

> Jeez, I went to bed last night with the score 5-1 in the 8th and Weaver
> still on the mound. I guess I'll make sure to stay up as long as it
> takes tonight.
>
> When is the last time a team with a season record worse than Arizona
> made the CWS?
 >> Stay informed about: Arizona?!!??!?? 

Eric Maddy <emaddy RemoveThis @socal.rr.com> wrote in message news:<40CD185B.219B3051 RemoveThis @socal.rr.com>...
> California was 35-26 entering the CWS in 1992.
> They finished the regular season 31-25 (14-16 in the Pac), lost a
> first-round game at Gainesville to the Aggies before winning four straight
> to earn their ticket to Omaha, then final one over A&M.
>
> They went 2-and-Q in the Series, although they hardly embarrassed
> themselves (lost 4-3 to the Canes in 13 innings and 5-4 to the Noles).
>
> GTanner wrote:
>
> > Jeez, I went to bed last night with the score 5-1 in the 8th and Weaver
> > still on the mound. I guess I'll make sure to stay up as long as it
> > takes tonight.
> >
> > When is the last time a team with a season record worse than Arizona
> > made the CWS?

This series certainly shows where the cliche "that's why they play the
games," comes from. As a Dirtbags fan (and uncle of one of the
players), I attended all of the games. Not much went as you'd expect
"on paper". From Long Beach, you expect pitching and defense to
dominate. From Arizona, you expect the bats to dominate. Yet Friday,
LB closer Neil Jamison clearly doesn't have his stuff, they stay with
him, and the game is lost. Saturday, LB bats explode, and the Beach
cruises to victory 9-4. On Sunday, Arizona scatters Long Beach hits
all over, as the Dirtbags strand 10 and lose 4-3 in 11. I'm still
trying to figure out how John Meloan of Arizona has the following
stats for the year: 10-0 with a 4.80 ERA. How can that be?!!!
Impressively, Jamison bounces back and pitches 2.2 innings to finish
the game for LB, not allow a hit or walk, except an intentional pass.
Other than 1 deep fly ball, the Wildcats couldn't touch him. But he's
hung with the loss on a throwing error by the 3rd baseman in the 11th
that put a runner at 2nd with no out. That runner ended up scoring on
a sac fly.

I wish Arizona well in Omaha. But I'm afraid they just won't have the
pitching to carry them against some of the heavy hitting teams they
will face.

Jeff
 >> Stay informed about: Arizona?!!??!?? 

Meloan is actually 9-0 (8-0 as a starter) after getting no decision Sunday. As for the "how",
there are a few key ingredients:

Get your bad outings out of the way in mop-up relief. Meloan didn't start a game until April
6, and he was hit hard a couple of times in games already lost before that. As a starter,
Meloan is 8-0, 4.11, and that's probably more representative.

Start on Sundays against other teams #3 starters.

Get lots of offensive support.

Here's the breakdown of his starts:
4/10 UCLA -- 2 ER in 8 IP, Cats win 9-5
4/16 Texas Pan Am -- 5 ER in 8 IP, Cats win 12-5
4/25 Washington -- 7 ER in 7 IP, no decision in 12-11 loss [And note, he left leading 11-7 in
position to get the win -- the Huskies came back and won in the 10th!]
5/2 Cal -- 2 ER in 6 1/3 IP, Cats win 8-3
5/9 UCLA -- 2 ER in CG , Cats win 11-2
5/17 Stanford -- 2 ER in 8 IP, Cats win 11-2
5/23 ASU -- 3 ER in 6 1/3 IP, Cats win 13-7
5/30 USC -- 4 ER in 7 1/3 IP, Cats win 7-6
6/6 Notre Dame -- 5 ER in 8 IP, Cats win 7-6
6/13 Long Beach -- 3 ER in 8 1/3 IP, no decision in 4-3 win.



Jeff wrote:

> Eric Maddy <emaddy.TakeThisOut@socal.rr.com> wrote in message news:<40CD185B.219B3051.TakeThisOut@socal.rr.com>...
> > California was 35-26 entering the CWS in 1992.
> > They finished the regular season 31-25 (14-16 in the Pac), lost a
> > first-round game at Gainesville to the Aggies before winning four straight
> > to earn their ticket to Omaha, then final one over A&M.
> >
> > They went 2-and-Q in the Series, although they hardly embarrassed
> > themselves (lost 4-3 to the Canes in 13 innings and 5-4 to the Noles).
> >
> > GTanner wrote:
> >
> > > Jeez, I went to bed last night with the score 5-1 in the 8th and Weaver
> > > still on the mound. I guess I'll make sure to stay up as long as it
> > > takes tonight.
> > >
> > > When is the last time a team with a season record worse than Arizona
> > > made the CWS?
>
> This series certainly shows where the cliche "that's why they play the
> games," comes from. As a Dirtbags fan (and uncle of one of the
> players), I attended all of the games. Not much went as you'd expect
> "on paper". From Long Beach, you expect pitching and defense to
> dominate. From Arizona, you expect the bats to dominate. Yet Friday,
> LB closer Neil Jamison clearly doesn't have his stuff, they stay with
> him, and the game is lost. Saturday, LB bats explode, and the Beach
> cruises to victory 9-4. On Sunday, Arizona scatters Long Beach hits
> all over, as the Dirtbags strand 10 and lose 4-3 in 11. I'm still
> trying to figure out how John Meloan of Arizona has the following
> stats for the year: 10-0 with a 4.80 ERA. How can that be?!!!
> Impressively, Jamison bounces back and pitches 2.2 innings to finish
> the game for LB, not allow a hit or walk, except an intentional pass.
> Other than 1 deep fly ball, the Wildcats couldn't touch him. But he's
> hung with the loss on a throwing error by the 3rd baseman in the 11th
> that put a runner at 2nd with no out. That runner ended up scoring on
> a sac fly.
>
> I wish Arizona well in Omaha. But I'm afraid they just won't have the
> pitching to carry them against some of the heavy hitting teams they
> will face.
>
> Jeff
 >> Stay informed about: Arizona?!!??!?? 

Eric Maddy <emaddy.TakeThisOut@socal.rr.com> wrote in message news:<40CE8FEA.5639D558.TakeThisOut@socal.rr.com>...
> Meloan is actually 9-0 (8-0 as a starter) after getting no decision Sunday. As for the "how",
> there are a few key ingredients:
>
> Get your bad outings out of the way in mop-up relief. Meloan didn't start a game until April
> 6, and he was hit hard a couple of times in games already lost before that. As a starter,
> Meloan is 8-0, 4.11, and that's probably more representative.
>
> Start on Sundays against other teams #3 starters.
>
> Get lots of offensive support.
>
> Here's the breakdown of his starts:
> 4/10 UCLA -- 2 ER in 8 IP, Cats win 9-5
> 4/16 Texas Pan Am -- 5 ER in 8 IP, Cats win 12-5
> 4/25 Washington -- 7 ER in 7 IP, no decision in 12-11 loss [And note, he left leading 11-7 in
> position to get the win -- the Huskies came back and won in the 10th!]
> 5/2 Cal -- 2 ER in 6 1/3 IP, Cats win 8-3
> 5/9 UCLA -- 2 ER in CG , Cats win 11-2
> 5/17 Stanford -- 2 ER in 8 IP, Cats win 11-2
> 5/23 ASU -- 3 ER in 6 1/3 IP, Cats win 13-7
> 5/30 USC -- 4 ER in 7 1/3 IP, Cats win 7-6
> 6/6 Notre Dame -- 5 ER in 8 IP, Cats win 7-6
> 6/13 Long Beach -- 3 ER in 8 1/3 IP, no decision in 4-3 win.

Thanks for the information Eric. When I wrote the question, it was
really more of a frustrated declaration than a query. But it's very
interesting - and impressive - how he turned his season around. He
threw a whole lot of off speed stuff, so he must mix it up real well.

Jeff
 >> Stay informed about: Arizona?!!??!??