Baseball Updatin'

It occurs to me that I'm watching this and few others have the ability to, so... Michigan leads Memphis 5-2 in the bottom of the fifth with runners at the corners and two outs. Pickens just blooped in a run after Recknagel blasted an RBI triple of his own; inning now over. Four innings to go.

Side note: I don't watch a lot of baseball, but when I do it's invariably a Tigers game. So Memphis' nickname is giving me all sorts of cognitive dissonance.

Top 6th. Putnam strikes out his sixth to open the inning; weak grounder is an easy out; high chopper fielded at the edge of the outfield turns into an infield single. Fortunate for Memphis. Next batter... dammit, blasts one off the foul pole for another home run. 5-4 Michigan. Grounded back to the pitcher to end the inning. "Tigers" back in the game.

Bottom 6th. New pitcher in for Memphis. Good control, gives up lots of homers. Cislo strikes out after a long at bat. Routine grounder for a second out. Christian walks. WTF is a guy who hits .300 doing showing bunt here? College baseball is weird sometimes. Rose strikes out. Still 5-4 M.

Top 7th. Grounder to second for one out. "If anyone has a homefield advantage, it's definitely Vanderbilt"... what a weird sentence. Putnam probably doesn't have much longer, now at 95 pitches. Second at bat taking forever, now into double-digit pitches. Lost him; walk. "When he's got that splitter working he's darn near hard to hit." Let's hear it for faint praise. Long fly for a second out. Interesting note: Putnam is both the pitcher and the DH so that he can still bat if and when he's removed from the game. Putnam picks off Chalmers! Inning over, 5-4 M.

Bottom 7th. Recknagel reaches on an error from the third baseman. Putnam goes down swinging; one down. Abraham walks on four pitches. Pickens blasts one off the wall! Reck, Abraham both score, Pickens has a double. 7-4 M. Van Buskirk flies out; Pickens tags and is at third. Dang! Squeeze play ends up with a beauty bunt laid down; attempted barehand by the third baseman fails, M scores with a bunt base hit. 8-4 M. Cislo steals second. Base hit, Cislo scores! 9-4 M! Roblin steals second; Christian strikes out, Michigan up 9-4 after a huge inning. Five stolen bases for Michigan today; this catcher is getting waaaasted.

Top 8th. Putnam still in. Leadoff hitter blasts one to the wall but it's a short wall in left -- they've got a monster -- and M holds him to a single. Next batter hits a home run. Bleah. 9-6 M. Putnam chased? Nope. Ooookay. Putnam had given up two home runs all year; three today. Next batter pops out; one down.

East Carolina leads West Carolina 9-8! Feel the fictional-Carolina rivalry!

Putnam strikes out the next guy; two down. Weak grounder ends the inning, M 9-6.

Bottom 8th. New pitcher for Memphis w/ a 7.50 era(!). Rose hits a hard grounder to third for the first out. UC-Irvine wasted Wake Forest 13-0, which would have been a realistic football score until this year. Recknagel is killin' it, blasting a solo home run: 10-6 M. Putnam puts one in the gap; single. Abraham flies out, two down. Wild pitch moves Putnam to second. Groundout; inning over. 10-6 M, three outs to go.

Top 9th. Jebus: still Putnam, starting the inning with 122 pitches. Single into center field, and Putnam is gonzo. 8 IP 6 ER. Powers now in, strikes his the first batter. Now batting is KK Chalmers... isn't "KK" a bad thing to call yourself when you play baseball? If I'm a quarterback, please don't call me Intentional Grounding Jones. Powers strikes out another guy looking, one out left. Single from Murray just under Recknagel's glove; runners at the corners. Jeez... little slap single into the outfield scores a run. First and second, 10-7 M. And the guy at the plate has 2 HR today. Todd Jones lives.

This Memphis guy totally has a mustache that screams "SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY AT THE SILVERDOME." He loops one into centerfield (ack!)... Rose flags it down. Final 10-7, Michigan. Michigan plays the Vandy-Austin Peay winner tomorrow.