UVa Series

OldJacketFan

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Memory fails me more and more often these days as age keeps creeping on, but there was a pitcher for the Phil. team many years ago that once won the Cy Young Award while pitching for a team that only won like 65 games, or something like that. May have been the one of the worst MLB teams ever put on the field, but when he pitched …….. Can't remember his name, but in my foggy mind he was LH like CT, and extra outs were just something to pitch around. CT will pitch at home once more this season, and I plan to be present!!! Hope many will join me at the game!!!! Special this kid is!!!!


You're thinking about Steve Carlton. IIRC he was like 27-6 for an absolutely horrible Phillies team
 

dawgbasher

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Carlton had the best slider I ever saw. Second best lefty I ever saw. Sandy Koufax the best. Pete Rose hit around .187 against Koufax if that tells you anything. CT definitely a real D1 pitcher. Worth the price of admission to watch. Happy for the young man. Hope he has a firm handle on his academics at this point in his career.
 

The Doddfather

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Carlton had the best slider I ever saw. Second best lefty I ever saw. Sandy Koufax the best. Pete Rose hit around .187 against Koufax if that tells you anything. CT definitely a real D1 pitcher. Worth the price of admission to watch. Happy for the young man. Hope he has a firm handle on his academics at this point in his career.
I was 7 when Carlton retired. I grew up watching baseball but don’t recall how good his slider was. Was it as good as Randy Johnson’s? That was probably the best slider I remember from the left side.
 

dawgbasher

Jolly Good Fellow
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I was 7 when Carlton retired. I grew up watching baseball but don’t recall how good his slider was. Was it as good as Randy Johnson’s? That was probably the best slider I remember from the left side.
Carlton had better slider. The amount of downward break was incredible. When he was on, the slider was unhittable. Johnson very good but definitely not as good as S. Carlton IMHO.
 

FredJacket

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Connor Thomas. 13 starts (1 relief appearance... resulted in a SAVE)

...13 starts. 3 Complete games!!! 89 innings. 100 Ks. That's unbelievable. Then... now wait for this.....

EIGHT Walks.

His K/BB ratio is 25:2!!!!!!!!

He's started 13 times. ERA 2.73. It's kinda criminal he only has 6 wins. He had to/did go the distance for half of his wins. 3 losses & 4 no decisions is really a travesty.
 

The Doddfather

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https://bleacherreport.com/articles...he-top-10-slider-pitchers-of-all-time#slide11

Just looked this up and it’s funny that they are actually 1-2 on the list. Since you saw a lot of Carlton in his prime I’ll respect your judgement, especially since Randy was probably on roids in order to pitch into his mid 40s. Randy was just so tall that it looked like the ball was sweeping from the first base bag all the way to home plate. Glad Smoltzie was on this list, cause I would totally disregard if he wasn’t.
 

The Doddfather

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
523
Connor Thomas. 13 starts (1 relief appearance... resulted in a SAVE)

...13 starts. 3 Complete games!!! 89 innings. 100 Ks. That's unbelievable. Then... now wait for this.....

EIGHT Walks.

His K/BB ratio is 25:2!!!!!!!!

He's started 13 times. ERA 2.73. It's kinda criminal he only has 6 wins. He had to/did go the distance for half of his wins. 3 losses & 4 no decisions is really a travesty.
How much of his long outings/cg’s do you think had to do with the lack of confidence in our pen vs his confidence on the mound? It’s pretty apparent that he’s well equipped to handle the innings and workload, but I just wonder if he would have been given this chance if we had a reliable setup guy and closer (under the assumption that archer throws on Friday and Datoc is not reliable). It’s just rare for a soph to be able to tell the coach he’s good to finish a game unless the coach really has confidence in him, or a lack of confidence in the pen. Either way, he’s been a tremendous asset this year.
 

GTNavyNuke

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Went to the game yesterday. Glorious in all regards.

Great venue, great pitching and hitting. Great tailgate from UVa fans before the game. CT was more impressive in person than on TV since we were at third base side and could see the movement. We kind of backed into having our best pitcher on Saturday when most other teams have their best pitcher on Friday then Sunday.........

Hitting came through. Hopefully this RISP thing mean reverts!

Our D was the only real weakness yesterday with 3 errors (McCann, Serratos, Austin). But there were some real hard hits to Serratos and Austin that could have been hits in the later innings. Our D came through when it needed to; UVa left 10 on base. The only thing I questioned in the line-up was what we talked about before; why didn't English play 1st and McCann DH rather than the other way around? 1st doesn't throw a lot if there is concern over English's arm soreness.

Monday, I think our best remaining pitcher (English or Hurter) should start. We HAVE to win that game to sniff the NCAA bubble. Statistically English is better for the season and probably the last month when considering opposing line-ups (English had UGAg/ more weekend starts and Hurter had Radford). I understand trying to save English, but the future is now if his arm is ok. Lose Monday and we have to win the ACC tourney.

That leaves me to the tailgate. There is usually one in the University Hall parking lot. RVs and maybe 5 tents end to end. Really friendly people who offered me a drink when I walked up. Then later, a shot of Creek Water (shine). Fun talking baseball and football with them. Just enjoyed the time. Several former UVa players and very close knit and knowledgeable. Plus the weather while hot wasn't bad in the shade. Hope to go back in two years!
 

Deleted member 2897

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How many pitchers have thrown 84 strikes in a game? I tried to look up records but couldn’t find any.
 

FredJacket

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How much of his long outings/cg’s do you think had to do with the lack of confidence in our pen vs his confidence on the mound? It’s pretty apparent that he’s well equipped to handle the innings and workload, but I just wonder if he would have been given this chance if we had a reliable setup guy and closer (under the assumption that archer throws on Friday and Datoc is not reliable). It’s just rare for a soph to be able to tell the coach he’s good to finish a game unless the coach really has confidence in him, or a lack of confidence in the pen. Either way, he’s been a tremendous asset this year.
I think it's really situational. Of his 3 CGs, FSU was only one where there wasn't a multi-run cushion as he entered 9th. I do believe that one (FSU) was a rock & hard place for CDH. IIRC, his pitch count was up there & CDH conceded post-game, they felt he (Thomas) was his best option at that point. I'd imagine if we had a shutdown closer, he'd have come in to complete that one. Yesterday, was sort of the opposite. His pitch count was not high, 4 run cushion, & obviously... UVA had not come close to figuring him out.
 

GTNavyNuke

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For you jinxers & hexers... apparently, the only way to get Ga Tech to win at will is for @GTNavyNuke to either be on a different continent OR physically at the games. Very strange powers he has.

Last three GT games I've been to, we have won. Admittedly not a large sample size: 2 UVa games and ACC Championship versus MD.

One thing I won't do anymore is grout my shower. When I was doing a refurb and grouting part of it, we blew the lead to NC State. Then I was working on it a month later and we blew the lead to UNC. At least it's done now.

I'm not superstitious, but in baseball correlation is causation. Not leaving the country again till August (PEI Canada). Well unless you count Gatlinburg TN next weekend (re: Deliverance) :cautious:
 
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