Cory Knowlton-USA TODAY Sports
To explain the feeling of sitting up here Friday night is not something I can remotely relay to you. This team’s response of playing arguably the best game we’ve played this year pretty much sums up what’s in that dugout. And it’s not easy to go to bed after that. It’s not a pleasant day. And to watch them play their best game, that was just a thrill I’ll never forget here. And I’ve had some.
That was beyond an experience I’ve had here and just the response. And it’s hard to say that, wow, you guys have responded all year. That’s just your team. Well, when you’re in this, it doesn’t always tee itself up for you to just go and respond. You have to execute in every phase of the game. The starting pitcher has to command his stuff. It’s got to be good enough stuff to handle the best offensive team or one of the top two in the country in terms of their ability, bat-to-ball skills and athleticism. He had all four pitches going — fastball, curveball, you landed your slider, was good, and the change-up. And when he has all of that early and finds it and goes with it, it’s exactly what you saw. And when you face those guys in Charlotte, it was a little different story.
So just the toughness to deal with how that relief appearance went in Charlotte that was not good and to respond today with that performance against that team, pretty remarkable. I think Brian is one of the classiest people in the business. That is a model program. There are certain programs, as you’re trying to figure out what you’re doing in coaching, that you look to duplicating the things they have done. And that’s an A-plus coaching staff. Their team, frontline, they play the game the right way. So, again, hats off to them.
It’s not easy to be in this stadium this time of year, and they clearly are regulars. I thought the fifth inning — we talk about self-contained relief, if you’re going to start games and get through enough of it to really make this a start, I thought the fifth, when he went F7, hit by pitch, walk, right, great play in center field by Williams to lay in on the little soft fly ball and then an L6. And that’s becoming your own relief pitcher. If you can’t do that, you’re not going to be in the conversation to pitch six or seven or eight innings of a game. So, huge. And I think sometimes the momentum that you gain from getting out of it on the field, you come right in, and we had a really good bottom of the fifth. There were two outs and nobody on, if I’m not mistaken, and Cam hits the ball and turned into a double. And Tibbs, I think they walked Tibbs. And Marco had the two-strike hit. Nice job by Ty Megahee of slowing it down. He sensed Marco was getting a little bit frustrated and used an offensive visit, which was well done on his part. And then Ferrer hits another home run.
I thought the fifth inning was really the turning point in the game. Lodise’s nice home run. And Oxford, think about how that kid felt leaving here Friday when you’ve waited your whole life — you’ve been in two programs and you wait your whole life to step on that mound — and he had to deal with what he had to deal with in that game. We should have won that game. And his response to be better — his stuff was actually better. Really proud of him and happy for him. Good play at second. Two good plays at short. Really three good plays at shortstop. Really nice play at third base, a nice diving play. And then Ferrer made a nicerunning catch towards the foul line and clearly probably didn’t need to slide for the one that evaded him there late. That’s enough from me. These guys did the real work today. But I’m proud of the response and the answer by this team. I don’t know that I’ve ever been through anything like Friday night, and I haven’t been a part of a response to something that I’d never seen on this stage before.
