BMAC vs Norfolk tonight

[gettysburg32]

I'll be at the Charlotte/Norfolk game tonight (working, supposedly) and McCarthy is scheduled to be the Knights starter. So I can bring back a bit of a 1st person report either later on tonight or early tomorrow morning.

 

[Chisoxfn]

Cool stuff, looking forward to your comments.

[Kalapse]

BMAC's line:

 

IP  H R ER BB SO HR ERA
8.0 5 0 0  1  10  0 3.35

 

He pitched one helluva game.

 

Knights win 1-0

 

WP: Mcarthy (3-2)

S: Smith (1)

[southsider2k5]

BMAC!!!!

[gettysburg32]

First and foremost.

 

BMAC

 

He was even more dominant then the stats from last night say he was. Out of the 5 hits he allowed, 0 were extra base hits, 2 were jammed ducksnorts, and 2 were infield hits. He had 10 Ks, but many more outs were weak or off-balance swings. The Tides lineup had 5 guys htting .300 or more, and they have been the hottest offense in the IL, but McCarthy owned them. He attacked and went right at every hitter, getting ahead of the first 10 batters he faced, and 20 out of 28 overall. BMAC faced no more than 4 batters in any inning, and no Tide reached second against him.

 

He K'd the side on 14 pitches in the 2nd inning. The last of the three was against Luis Garcia, and strike three was a gross curve that snapped down nearly into the dirt of the left handed batters box while Garcia took a massive cut about a foot and a half above the pitch and the home crowd litterally laughed in a "damn did you see that" reaction. McCarthy's heater, curve, and change were all equally nasty, and equally accurate, damn, damn impressive.

 

He doubled up quite often, and quite effectively, with his straight change. Benji Gil K'd all three times vs BMAC, and on his 3rd try in the 8th inning, BMAC threw him changes on 4 of his last 5 pitches (in a 6 pitch AB). Gil weakly tapped foul the first change, and then a change for a ball, then a swing and miss at a change, then a ball with a fastball, and then a swinging strike three with another change. BMAC's fastball was 92-93 all night, including the 7th and 8th innings.

 

Fields, Walker, and Smith fought through the ninth, but to be fair, the Tides were probably newly energized simply to see anyone but BMAC. Fields gave up a 2B and was pulled, Walker got a K, a PB, and a BB to make it corners and 1 out. Smith came in, and with the Norfolk catcher (Mike DiFelice) batting, got a 1-6-3 DP to end the game very dramatically.

 

Offensively, there's not a whole lot to say, it was 1-0. Anderson was 1-3 with a 2B and a BB (his 2B was the hardest hit ball of the game on either team). Anderson also did very well in CF, he made a great diving catch in shallow LCF to end the 7th. He's deceptively fast out in CF and covers a lot of ground.

 

Bikowski did a good job as a leadoff man, he was on base 2-4 and scored the only run in the 4th. He started the inning with a single, and then he and Martinez exectued a textbook hit and run as Martinez hit a sharp grounder right at where the shortstop should've been and Bikowski went to third. Greg Norton then hit into a 4-6-3 DP, scoring Bikowski. The Knights left 8 men on base in the next four innings, luckily BMAC was untouchable (everything about this game pretty much came back to BMAC.)

 

Edited May 6, 2005 by gettysburg32

[YASNY]

Thank for the detailed analysis.

[aboz56]

Brandon McCarthy, YES

[daa84]

First and foremost.

 

  BMAC

 

He was even more dominant then the stats from last night say he was.  Out of the 5 hits he allowed, 0 were extra base hits, 2 were jammed ducksnorts, and 2 were infield hits.  He had 10 Ks, but many more outs were weak or off-balance swings.  The Tides lineup had 5 guys htting .300 or more, and they have been the hottest offense in the IL, but McCarthy owned them.  He attacked and went right at every hitter, getting ahead of the first 10 batters he faced, and 20 out of 28 overall.  BMAC faced no more than 4 batters in any inning, and no Tide reached second against him. 

 

He K'd the side on 14 pitches in the 2nd inning.  The last of the three was against Luis Garcia, and strike three was a gross curve that snapped down nearly into the dirt of the left handed batters box while Garcia took a massive cut about a foot and a half above the pitch and the home crowd litterally laughed in a "damn did you see that" reaction.  McCarthy's heater, curve, and change were all equally nasty, and equally accurate, damn, damn impressive. 

 

He doubled up quite often, and quite effectively, with his straight change.  Benji Gil K'd all three times vs BMAC, and on his 3rd try in the 8th inning, BMAC threw him changes on 4 of his last 5 pitches (in a 6 pitch AB).  Gil weakly tapped foul the first change, and then a change for a ball, then a swing and miss at a change, then a ball with a fastball, and then a swinging strike three with another change.  BMAC's fastball was 92-93 all night, including the 7th and 8th innings. 

 

Fields, Walker, and Smith fought through the ninth, but to be fair, the Tides were probably newly energized simply to see anyone but BMAC.  Fields gave up a 2B and was pulled, Walker got a K, a PB, and a BB to make it corners and 1 out.  Smith came in, and with the Norfolk catcher (Mike DiFelice) batting, got a 1-6-3 DP to end the game very dramatically. 

 

Offensively, there's not a whole lot to say, it was 1-0.  Anderson was 1-3 with a 2B and a BB (his 2B was the hardest hit ball of the game on either team).  Anderson also did very well in CF, he made a great diving catch in shallow LCF to end the 7th.  He's deceptively fast out in CF and covers a lot of ground. 

 

Bikowski did a good job as a leadoff man, he was on base 2-4 and scored the only run in the 4th.  He started the inning with a single, and then he and Martinez exectued a textbook hit and run as Martinez hit a sharp grounder right at where the shortstop should've been and Bikowski went to third.  Greg Norton then hit into a 4-6-3 DP, scoring Bikowski.  The Knights left 8 men on base in the next four innings, luckily BMAC was untouchable (everything about this game pretty much came back to BMAC.)

 

 

 

thanks for the notes, much appreciated.

btw what type of work were you doin there?

[gettysburg32]

thanks for the notes, much appreciated.

btw what type of work were you doin there?

 

I'm part timing working for a minor league scouting/stat collecting company. I work about half the Norfolk home games.

[danman31]

Anderson also did very well in CF, he made a great diving catch in shallow LCF to end the 7th.  He's deceptively fast out in CF and covers a lot of ground.

Yeah, I noticed the same thing about Anderson's speed in 2004 Spring Training. He roped a ball and I was watching the ball and then looked back and he was on his way to 2nd already blazing towards 3rd. In my notes I even wrote deceptive speed.

[Rex Hudler]

He doubled up quite often, and quite effectively, with his straight change. Benji Gil K'd all three times vs BMAC, and on his 3rd try in the 8th inning, BMAC threw him changes on 4 of his last 5 pitches (in a 6 pitch AB). Gil weakly tapped foul the first change, and then a change for a ball, then a swing and miss at a change, then a ball with a fastball, and then a swinging strike three with another change. BMAC's fastball was 92-93 all night, including the 7th and 8th innings.

 

That is exactly what I was looking for him to do last year in Birmingham. I saw three starts and didn't see him doubling up much, and not at all on his changeup. He was very predictable in those three starts I saw. Doesn't sound like he was last night. That's good news.