dperry
Postdoc
Posts: 2215
Loc: Houston, TX
Reg: 11-24-04
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04-08-22 11:32 PM - Post#340411
As predicted by the preseason poll, the Ivy baseball season has so far been a four-team race, with Harvard currently leading and Columbia, Yale, and our heroes one game back. Penn currently leads the league in both OPS and ERA, and has probably the biggest series of the regular season coming up this weekend at Harvard; two out of three in that one would most likely have us tied for first, would give us the tiebreaker over both Harvard and Columbia (we took two of three from the Lions the first league weekend), and would leave us with by far the easiest remaining schedule, having only Yale of the other contenders to play, whereas the other three will still have to take on each other. If you like explosive, sabermetrically sound offenses, you're gonna love Penn; so far we're averaging over 1 HR per game and lead the league in OBP at .378. The last gives me optimism, in that in previous years it did not seem that the coach valued walks, but this year they have been very patient at the plate, and it has paid off. The baseball gods owe us one, as we were the slight favorites to win the league in 2020; let's see if they pay up.
David Perry
Penn '92
"Hail, Alma Mater/Thy sons cheer thee now
To thee, Pennsylvania/All rivals must bow!!!" |
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Streamers
Professor
Posts: 8327
Loc: NW Philadelphia
Reg: 11-21-04
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Off Topic--Baseball
04-09-22 09:50 AM - Post#340415
In response to dperry
Thanks David - you just saved me a lot of time catching up on the baseball team. Now I can focus on our #5 ranked Lacrosse team matched up with Brown at FF today.
Edited by Streamers on 04-09-22 09:52 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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Streamers
Professor
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04-09-22 04:14 PM - Post#340422
In response to Streamers
Brutal loss to Brown - after going out to a 5-0 lead, they just couldn't match Brown's intensity for some reason I cannot understand.
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dperry
Postdoc
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Loc: Houston, TX
Reg: 11-24-04
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04-09-22 09:42 PM - Post#340425
In response to Streamers
Well, things got off to an unusual but good start today, as the first game was suspended in the top of the fifth with alma mater leading 17-3, so I think they'll get one out of this trip, at least.  That game will be finished starting at noon tomorrow, followed immediately by game 2; game 3 is on hold for the moment (I suspect they will wait to see if it matters.) More good news as Yale only split with Dartmouth, while Columbia took both from Brown.
David Perry
Penn '92
"Hail, Alma Mater/Thy sons cheer thee now
To thee, Pennsylvania/All rivals must bow!!!" |
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Streamers
Professor
Posts: 8327
Loc: NW Philadelphia
Reg: 11-21-04
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04-10-22 09:22 AM - Post#340433
In response to dperry
17-3? That’s baseball in Philly this year. ;-)
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dperry
Postdoc
Posts: 2215
Loc: Houston, TX
Reg: 11-24-04
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04-10-22 01:54 PM - Post#340438
In response to Streamers
Well, we scored four TD's in game 1, but missed an extra point, so only won 27-6.  (Not an all-time record, by the way; they definitely got 33 on La Salle in 2000.) Hopefully they saved some runs for game 2; good news there is they only used two pitchers, one on each day, so plenty of arms in the bullpen if needed.
David Perry
Penn '92
"Hail, Alma Mater/Thy sons cheer thee now
To thee, Pennsylvania/All rivals must bow!!!" |
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dperry
Postdoc
Posts: 2215
Loc: Houston, TX
Reg: 11-24-04
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04-10-22 05:30 PM - Post#340443
In response to dperry
Well, obviously the Penn hitters were a bit tired from their exertions in game 1, as they could manage only six in the afternooncap , but it turned out that they didn't need the arms in the pen after all as Kevin Eaise and Owen Coady (the latter has been sterling in long relief this year) combined to scatter six hits and gave up only two runs. So mission accomplished in dominant fashion, with a absolute humiliation in game 1 and a dominating pitching performance in game 2. For whatever strange reason, only Brown and Cornell are playing the next-to last weekend of the season, so if game 3 is needed it will probably happen then. Yale dropped another one to Dartmouth, but Columbia erupted late against Brown, so officially the Lions are in first, though Penn is tied in the loss column. Now Penn gets to feast on Cornell and Brown the next two weeks while Columbia has to tangle with both Harvard and Yale, albeit both at home.
David Perry
Penn '92
"Hail, Alma Mater/Thy sons cheer thee now
To thee, Pennsylvania/All rivals must bow!!!" |
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dperry
Postdoc
Posts: 2215
Loc: Houston, TX
Reg: 11-24-04
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04-15-22 12:46 PM - Post#340651
In response to dperry
So far, we are guaranteed series wins over two of the three other contenders as predicted in the preseason poll (Columbia and Harvard). The fourth team is Yale; however, the 'Dogs are currently tied with Dartmouth for fourth, and the Green took two of three in New Haven last week and have generally looked better (in league play, their pitching staff leads in ERA by almost two full runs!), so I think we've now taken series wins over all three of the actual contenders. Now it's crucial to take care of business the next two weeks against Cornell and Brown, who are two of the three worst teams in the league (the orange stain being the third). Five out of six would put us at the brink of qualifying for the ILCS and would lessen the pressure when we make our own trip to New Haven to face what is likely to be a desperate Yale team. For those in the area who haven't been to Meiklejohn Stadium yet, come on out if you can; it's an awesome place to watch a game, with very comfy seats and a very short backstop; sitting behind the plate, you feel like you're peering right over the umpire's shoulder.
David Perry
Penn '92
"Hail, Alma Mater/Thy sons cheer thee now
To thee, Pennsylvania/All rivals must bow!!!" |
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palestra38
Professor
Posts: 32885
Reg: 11-21-04
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04-15-22 01:10 PM - Post#340652
In response to dperry
It is indeed a great place to watch a game on those rare days when it isn't 45 degrees with a stiff wind off the river. They should play college baseball in the fall.
Speaking of the minor sports, that Lacrosse team sure fell with a thud.
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Streamers
Professor
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04-15-22 04:15 PM - Post#340657
In response to palestra38
There’s still time for the lax team to recover but they have to stop playing down to their lesser competition and cut down on the turnovers and lost face offs.
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dperry
Postdoc
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Reg: 11-24-04
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04-16-22 11:39 PM - Post#340670
In response to palestra38
It is indeed a great place to watch a game on those rare days when it isn't 45 degrees with a stiff wind off the river. They should play college baseball in the fall.
Speaking of the minor sports, that Lacrosse team sure fell with a thud.
It was actually quite pleasant today; the sun and the breeze balanced each other out nicely. Also, no one would pay attention to baseball in the fall, and the weather would suck at the end of the season instead of the beginning, and it would be harder to make up games.
David Perry
Penn '92
"Hail, Alma Mater/Thy sons cheer thee now
To thee, Pennsylvania/All rivals must bow!!!" |
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dperry
Postdoc
Posts: 2215
Loc: Houston, TX
Reg: 11-24-04
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04-16-22 11:51 PM - Post#340671
In response to dperry
This team is really a delight to watch; a patient, sound approach to at-bats, pitchers with good stuff who can mix it up, and very good instincts on the basepaths. The only weakness is an occasional eruption of errors, although even there they're second in the league in fielding. Today's first game, in which they beat Cornell 10-1, was the closest I've ever seen a team come to the Platonic form of a good baseball; they just did all the big things absolutely right. The second game was not as clean, with one of those error eruptions happening, but in a way, it's also cheering, in that they can have a not-great outing against a bad team and still win pretty easily. The best part was when they were leading 6-3 going into the bottom of the eighth, having given up a couple of runs in the 7th and 8th; they got four more in the 8th, including a three-run HR with two outs from 3B Wyatt Henseler, who's been the hitting star of the season so far. That turned Cornell loading the bases with 1 out in the 9th from nail-biting to mildly annoying. Well, two down, four more to go between tomorrow and next week vs. Brown; three more wins in those games should pretty much do the trick.
David Perry
Penn '92
"Hail, Alma Mater/Thy sons cheer thee now
To thee, Pennsylvania/All rivals must bow!!!" |
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dperry
Postdoc
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Loc: Houston, TX
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04-18-22 01:28 AM - Post#340673
In response to dperry
In today's action, our heroes trailed 6-3 going into the bottom of the sixth, at which point they clearly said "Enough is enough," and put up an 11-spot, sending 14 batters to the plate and running off 3 Cornell pitchers. They are just incredibly explosive. Meanwhile, Columbia completed an impressive sweep of Harvard, and Brown had their cleanup hitter pull a squeeze play to beat Yale in the 9th, so I think it's time to stick a fork in both the Crimson and Bulldogs. At this point, we and the Lions lead everyone else by 2 games in the loss column; Dartmouth, currently in 3rd, looks like the only other team with a legitimate chance to get into the ILCS; however, the most likely scenario for that to happen involves sweeping Columbia in the final weekend at Hanover, which seems unlikely.
There is a website called Warrennolan.com, which does a lot of power rankings for various college sports, including baseball. Their projections keep changing every few minutes, for reasons which are unclear to me, but some of them have Penn finishing with an RPI in the low 30's . If Penn were to win out in the regular season but lose to Columbia in the ILCS, they'd have a real argument for an at-large bid; I'd believe that when I saw it, of course, but the argument is there.
David Perry
Penn '92
"Hail, Alma Mater/Thy sons cheer thee now
To thee, Pennsylvania/All rivals must bow!!!" |
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dperry
Postdoc
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Loc: Houston, TX
Reg: 11-24-04
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Off Topic--Baseball
04-22-22 11:48 PM - Post#340809
In response to dperry
Brown comes to visit us this week, and they're not any better than Cornell is; they enter the week hitting a lusty .223 in league play, putting them squarely at the bottom of the list, and their .654 OPS also ranks worst in the loop by over half a point. The pitching, with an ERA of 7.34, is not exactly stellar either. I predict that the Penn side of the scoreboard will get a vigorous workout this weekend, particularly with things finally starting to warm up a bit. Again, two out of three is the minimum acceptable performance here in order to keep up with Columbia, who hosts Yale this week in what may be the last gasp for the Bulldogs, while Dartmouth goes to Cornell and Harvard to Princeton; both the Green and Crimson are looking to keep their ILCS hopes going, with Dartmouth being in a much better situation than Harvard. Good news for Penn: Andrew Hernandez, the senior who was supposed to be the starting catcher this year but has struggled with injuries, DH'ed against St. Joe's on Wednesday and was 2-3 with an HR. Given that they have three good catchers, that gives them a lot of options in arranging the lineup. One of the odder pitching boxes I've ever seen, as no one went more than 1 1/3 for Penn; they definitely seem to be laser-focused on the Ivy games this year, treating the mid-week games as essentially warmups.
David Perry
Penn '92
"Hail, Alma Mater/Thy sons cheer thee now
To thee, Pennsylvania/All rivals must bow!!!" |
Edited by dperry on 04-23-22 12:00 AM. Reason for edit: No reason given.
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dperry
Postdoc
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Re: Off Topic--Baseball
04-24-22 12:30 AM - Post#340824
In response to dperry
Well, today was not the offense-fest I was anticipating, but alma mater got the job done. Game 1 featured six solid innings from staff ace Kevin Eaise and a five-run burst in the 4th, kicked off by 3B Wyatt Henseler's league-leading 11th dinger and followed by another big hit by DH Andrew Hernandez with a two-run double, then capped off by LF Seth Werchan's two-run single; final 5-2. The second match started off even better from a pitching standpoint, as Joe Miller threw six innings of no-hit ball; however, Brown starter Tobey McDonough was almost as good, giving up only one run in seven innings. The Bears finally got to Miller for a run in the seventh to tie it up. Penn made a brillant 8-6-2 relay after a Brown double to cut a runner down at the plate by an eyelash in the top of the 9th; they then got out of bases-loaded jams with no outs in the 10th and 1 out in the 13th. Finally, in the bottom of the 13th, Henseler once again initiated with a one-out walk; he was pushed to second by 1B Ben Miller's single and took third on Craig Larsen's fly to right. With two out, Brown P Paxton Myers, who had gone scoreless for 5 2/3 innings in relief of McDonough, got two quick strikes on 2B Cole Palis, but Palis fouled off pitch 3 to stay alive. Pitch 4 was a little too fat, and Palis drove it to the track in right-center. Brown's RF Jared Johnson ran it down nicely, got his glove underneath the ball--and then dropped it; game over, 2-1.
Yale was up 4-1 on Columbia going into the 7th in game 1, but the Lions once again came up with a big rally to win 5-4, and then crushed the Bulldogs 11-2 in the evening match, so no help there. Dartmouth and Harvard did lose once each, so our spot in the ILCS is pretty much assured at this point. Hopefully Yale can salvage game 3 tomorrow and we can take advantage.
David Perry
Penn '92
"Hail, Alma Mater/Thy sons cheer thee now
To thee, Pennsylvania/All rivals must bow!!!" |
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Streamers
Professor
Posts: 8327
Loc: NW Philadelphia
Reg: 11-21-04
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04-24-22 01:52 PM - Post#340831
In response to dperry
I was just looking at the stats. This kid Henseler is a beast, and he is only a soph. Probably already on MLB radar.
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dperry
Postdoc
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Loc: Houston, TX
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04-26-22 11:58 PM - Post#340887
In response to Streamers
Well, it's a bit disquieting that our heroes only managed 11 runs in three games against Brown this past weekend, particularly since Columbia has been beating up on at least somewhat better opposition in Harvard and Yale. In fairness, Brown does have three pitchers in the top 10 in ERA in league play, and we faced all of them for long stretches; nevertheless, it's a bit worrisome, particularly since Tommy Courtney, Jackson Appel, and Wyatt Henseler, who have been the top of the lineup, went 6 for 38. However, I will say that even in the throes of a tough weekend, the offense still managed to reach by walk or HBP 17 times, which proved to be way too many opportunities for the Bears to screw things up. It is also true that Columbia has to finish the season on the road; we'll see how it goes for them, particularly since their last series is against third-place Dartmouth, who hopefully will still be alive at that point. The magic numbers are now four to reach the ILCS and seven to host it.
David Perry
Penn '92
"Hail, Alma Mater/Thy sons cheer thee now
To thee, Pennsylvania/All rivals must bow!!!" |
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dperry
Postdoc
Posts: 2215
Loc: Houston, TX
Reg: 11-24-04
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04-28-22 10:54 PM - Post#340895
In response to dperry
Doing the preview early as I am heading up to Connecticut tomorrow to take in alma mater's first game at Yale. We'll find out whether my fears of their offense slumping late in the season are justified or whether last weekend was just a blip. Meanwhile, Columbia travels to Cornell riding a 16-game winning streak, and Dartmouth heads to Harvard trying to make sure their season-ending series hosting the Lions has meaning. The weather returns to cool and blustery this weekend, so expect wind-blown homers and exciting adventures in fielding. :-)
David Perry
Penn '92
"Hail, Alma Mater/Thy sons cheer thee now
To thee, Pennsylvania/All rivals must bow!!!" |
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AsiaSunset
Postdoc
Posts: 4366
Reg: 11-21-04
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04-29-22 03:14 PM - Post#340904
In response to dperry
I’m going to stick my neck out and say it’s a blip.
Penn 22. Yale 4 in the bottom of the sixth
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T.P.F.K.A.D.W.
PhD Student
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Loc: Our Nation's Capital
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04-29-22 03:41 PM - Post#340905
In response to AsiaSunset
We have had trouble with 14 run leads in the past.
But an 18 run lead should be safe.
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