I just got back from Lousiville. I went to Lousiville Slugger Stadium on Wednesday afternoon to watch the Lousiville Bats beat the Scranton Yankees, 11-6. The Bats scored 8 runs in the second inning to take a 10-1 lead and they never were threatened after that. I spent Wednesday night at Caesar's Indiana in New Albany. I went to Chruchill Downs this morning and watched 7 of the 9 races of the day. Of course, it was raining all day and I stayed indoors most of the time but did take a few treks to the outside seats to watch the horses run over the sloppy track.
The Braves beat the Philles on Wednesday, 8-6.
Ball State starts a three-game series at Toledo today.
Brownsburg beat Harrison on Tuesday 13-3. There are only three teams left that have a chance to win the conference. With 4 games left, Noblesville is 12-2, Brownsburg is 11-3, and Avon is 9-5. There is still one two-game series for each team this weekend. Noblesville plays Westfield, BBurg plays Zionsville, and Avon plays McCutcheon.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Short post due to vacation
I'll be in Louisville over the next few days, so the posts will be short.
The Braves lost to the Phillies last night 5-4. They are now 1-11 in one-run games.
Ball State got beat by Louisville 9-3.
I don't have the Brownsburg score yet. Noblesville beat HSE, so no matter what the Dogs are still at least a game behind in the conference.
The Braves lost to the Phillies last night 5-4. They are now 1-11 in one-run games.
Ball State got beat by Louisville 9-3.
I don't have the Brownsburg score yet. Noblesville beat HSE, so no matter what the Dogs are still at least a game behind in the conference.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
NCAA Softball Regional Predictions
The NCAA softball four-team regionals are Thursday-Sunday this week. Here are my predictions in order of confidence from strongest to weakest:
#1 Florida over UCF
#3 Alabama over Florida State
#4 Michigan over Kent State
#6 Arizona St over Miss St
#2 UCLA over Nevada
#8 Houston over Texas
#5 Texas A&M over Auburn
#10 Oklahoma over Arkansas
#7 Arizona over Hofstra
#12 Stanford over UMass
#9 LSU over U-La-La
North Carolina over #15 Georgia
#13 Tennessee Over Virginia Tech
#16 Fresno State over San Diego State
Missouri over #14 Long Beach St
#11 Northwestern over Depaul
#1 Florida over UCF
#3 Alabama over Florida State
#4 Michigan over Kent State
#6 Arizona St over Miss St
#2 UCLA over Nevada
#8 Houston over Texas
#5 Texas A&M over Auburn
#10 Oklahoma over Arkansas
#7 Arizona over Hofstra
#12 Stanford over UMass
#9 LSU over U-La-La
North Carolina over #15 Georgia
#13 Tennessee Over Virginia Tech
#16 Fresno State over San Diego State
Missouri over #14 Long Beach St
#11 Northwestern over Depaul
Playing to the level of your competition
The Braves spilt a double-header with the Pirates yesterday. They lost the first game 5-0. Jair Jurrjens pitched 5 innings and gave up 3 runs. He took the loss and his record is now 4-3. Chipper Jones had 3 hits, Jeff Francouer and Gregor Blanco each had two hits. In the second game, Tim Hudson threw 7 scoreless innings to pitch the Braves to a 8-1 victory. Francouer and Mark Kotsay each had 3 hits. Kelly Johnson and Yunel Escobar each had two hits. Kotsay and Brian McCann had 3 RBI each to lead the attack.
One of the Braves problems this year is that they are playing to the level of their competition. The Pirates are below .500 and the Braves are only 2-5 against them. In fact, the Braves are 8-5 against teams that are over .500 and 11-13 against teams that are not. Add that to the luck factor that I spoke about yesterday and it seems that this team is pretty good when they want to be, but who knows which team will show up on a certain day.
Ball State plays at Lousiville tonight to attempt to snap a 3-game losing streak. BSU is 26-20 and Louisville is 34-18. Brendan Stines is expected to start on the mound for Ball State. BSU finishes the regular season with a Thurs-Fri-Sat series at Toledo. The Cardinals need to take 2 of those three games to secure a spot in the MAC tournament.
The Brownsburg Bulldogs beat Harrison last night 5-4. Alex McGowan was the star of the day, he got the win on the mound and hit 2 home runs. The Dogs play Harrison again tonight still needing a win to stay with Noblesville in the conference race. BBurg is one game behind Noblesville, as they also won last night.
One of the Braves problems this year is that they are playing to the level of their competition. The Pirates are below .500 and the Braves are only 2-5 against them. In fact, the Braves are 8-5 against teams that are over .500 and 11-13 against teams that are not. Add that to the luck factor that I spoke about yesterday and it seems that this team is pretty good when they want to be, but who knows which team will show up on a certain day.
Ball State plays at Lousiville tonight to attempt to snap a 3-game losing streak. BSU is 26-20 and Louisville is 34-18. Brendan Stines is expected to start on the mound for Ball State. BSU finishes the regular season with a Thurs-Fri-Sat series at Toledo. The Cardinals need to take 2 of those three games to secure a spot in the MAC tournament.
The Brownsburg Bulldogs beat Harrison last night 5-4. Alex McGowan was the star of the day, he got the win on the mound and hit 2 home runs. The Dogs play Harrison again tonight still needing a win to stay with Noblesville in the conference race. BBurg is one game behind Noblesville, as they also won last night.
Monday, May 12, 2008
What's luck got to do with it
It was a total rainout yesterday for all my teams. The Braves game will be played as part of a double-header starting at 1235p on Monday. The Ball State game against Northern Illinois will not be rescheduled.
Let's say a team leads the league in ERA and in batting average. You would think that this team would be in first place. However, this team is the 2008 Atlanta Braves, and they are 18-17, four games behind Florida for the division lead. According to their runs scored versus their runs allowed, their record should be 22-13. Stat heads call the difference between those records the "luck factor". Currently, the Braves luck factor is -4, by far the worst in all of baseball. Over the last 5 years, the worst luck factor over an entire season has been -5 to -7. The Braves have almost hit that already and they are barely 25% into the season. I have a feeling that this "luck factor" will self correct sometime in July or August when the Braves traditionally put a winning streak together.
The Brownsburg baseball team has four conference games this week as they try to stay in the hunt for the HCC championship. The Dogs play Harrison on Monday and Tuesday and Zionsville on Friday and Saturday. Noblesville leads the conference with a 10-2 record. Brownsburg is one game behind and Lafayette Jeff is two games out of the lead. There are only six conference games left, so the Dogs will most likely have to win out and hope Noblesville loses one or two.
Let's say a team leads the league in ERA and in batting average. You would think that this team would be in first place. However, this team is the 2008 Atlanta Braves, and they are 18-17, four games behind Florida for the division lead. According to their runs scored versus their runs allowed, their record should be 22-13. Stat heads call the difference between those records the "luck factor". Currently, the Braves luck factor is -4, by far the worst in all of baseball. Over the last 5 years, the worst luck factor over an entire season has been -5 to -7. The Braves have almost hit that already and they are barely 25% into the season. I have a feeling that this "luck factor" will self correct sometime in July or August when the Braves traditionally put a winning streak together.
The Brownsburg baseball team has four conference games this week as they try to stay in the hunt for the HCC championship. The Dogs play Harrison on Monday and Tuesday and Zionsville on Friday and Saturday. Noblesville leads the conference with a 10-2 record. Brownsburg is one game behind and Lafayette Jeff is two games out of the lead. There are only six conference games left, so the Dogs will most likely have to win out and hope Noblesville loses one or two.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
A total loss
The Braves lost to the Pirates last night, 5-2. Chuck James started for the Braves and gave up 5 runs in 6 innings. Marx Teixeira had 2 hits and a 2-run homer, accounting for the only runs scored for Atlanta. Omar Infante was 3 for 4 and is now 4 for 7 since being called up from the minors. Game three of the series is Sunday afternoon at 1pm. Jair Jurrjens will pitch for the Braves and Zach Duke will pitch for the Pirates.
Ball State lost both games of the doubleheader to Northern Illinois yesterday. In the first games, Tyler Pritchard gave up 3 runs in 5 innings to take the loss. He is now 3-6 on the season. Wayne Bond had 2 hits and Matt Stokelen had a solo homer for the only Cardinal RBI of the game. In the second game, Brad Piatt started and kept the Cardinals in contention giving up 4 runs in 5 innings. Aaron Hammons gave up 2 runs in the next two innings to get the loss. He is 2-3 for the season. Stokelen, Bond, Kolbrin Vitek, and TJ Baumet all had home runs for BSU. Stokelen had 3 hits and 2 RBI. Vitek had 2 hits and 2 RBI. The Cards and the Huskies play the final game of the series Sunday at 1pm.
Yesterday was my niece's third birthday, so I thought I would show a picture of her enjoying the best part of the day, the cake.
Ball State lost both games of the doubleheader to Northern Illinois yesterday. In the first games, Tyler Pritchard gave up 3 runs in 5 innings to take the loss. He is now 3-6 on the season. Wayne Bond had 2 hits and Matt Stokelen had a solo homer for the only Cardinal RBI of the game. In the second game, Brad Piatt started and kept the Cardinals in contention giving up 4 runs in 5 innings. Aaron Hammons gave up 2 runs in the next two innings to get the loss. He is 2-3 for the season. Stokelen, Bond, Kolbrin Vitek, and TJ Baumet all had home runs for BSU. Stokelen had 3 hits and 2 RBI. Vitek had 2 hits and 2 RBI. The Cards and the Huskies play the final game of the series Sunday at 1pm.
Yesterday was my niece's third birthday, so I thought I would show a picture of her enjoying the best part of the day, the cake.
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