By now, you know that the USA Softball team lost to Japan in the gold medal game 3–1. In single elimination play, it doesn’t really matter that the USA was clearly the best team. It didn’t matter that they had the best slugger in the world (Crystl Bustos), or the best offense in the world, or the best pitcher in the world (Cat Osterman). One or two bad pitches, one or two bad at-bats, and you don’t win that game, and you get the silver medal.
An Associated Press writer summed it up: “This wasn't how it was supposed to end for the Americans, who had lost just four of 36 in Olympic play. Not this team. Not this time. Not this tournament.” Five USA players, who were retiring from the team, left their cleats at home plate.
I was pretty deflated. Nothing like what Cat Osterman was feeling, of course. A week later, Cat explains her feelings: “I figured it’s finally time to face reality. After all, life does go on. I don’t think I have ever felt the way I’ve felt for the last week. It’s been an emotional roller coaster to be honest. It’s hard to put all of this into words, so bear with me.”
We still love you, Cat, you have given us so many great memories, and we look forward to seeing you in the circle again. In my mind, and in many people’s mind, you are still the best pitcher in the world. Go get ’em, Cat!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Friday, August 15, 2008
Friday Cat Blogging
In the Athens Olympics, the USA Softball team outscored its opponents 55–1. This summer, we were told that the world has been catching up to the USA.
You’d never know it from USA Softball’s first four games, where the United States has outscored its opponents 29–1. It’s pitching staff, supposedly young and not terribly experienced in International games, has allowed only two hits. The ace of the staff, Cat Osterman (right), pitched a no-hitter against medal-contender Australia, allowed only one hit in relief against Japan, and now has 21 strikeouts in 11 innings. In contrast, the pitcher thought most likely to cause trouble for the USA, Yukiko Ueno of Japan, has allowed six hits and three earned runs in seven innings.
USA Softball had to win two games against medal contenders on Friday. Monica Abbott threw a one-hitter against Japan, and the USA won 7–0 in five innings, with Jessica Mendoza hitting two homers and Natasha Watley and Crystl Bustos hitting one homer. Then Abbott and Osterman combined for another one-hitter against Canada, a game that was started on Thursday and suspended due to rain. The United States fell behind 1–0 before the rains came, but scored 4 runs in the sixth and 4 more in the seventh to win 8–0.
And they said the world is catching up.
Meanwhile, NBC has fallen clearly behind ESPN in their coverage of softball, mostly because of NBC’s decision to have the announcers call the game from a studio in New York. Their was no sideline or on-site reporting, so when Abbott started the game (after Osterman was announced as the starter), the announcers were left to guess why. When Canada had to remove their pitcher, we never found out why. The play-by-play announcer didn’t know if a pinch-hitter had come up or not. When the camera failed to follow the play, the announcers had to guess what had happened. And of course, the announcers hadn’t spoken to the players or coaches before the game, so those inside insights about what the players and coaches were thinking were missing.
NBC also shot itself in the foot in other ways as well. Their anchorwoman, Alex Flanagan, quite simply hadn’t done her homework when she called Jennie Finch the ace of the USA staff. Finch is one of the best pitchers in the world, but she has never been the ace of the staff. There was usually one replay of important plays. The play-by-play announcer Joe Castellano felt that Canada right-fielder Alison Bradley had made a diving catch on a ball hit by USA’s Taria Flowers, the ball came loose and Castellano said Bradley had held the ball “long enough”. Unfortunately, there is no such rule.
At least NBC chose to use Michelle Smith as their color announcer. Smith is one of the best color announcers in any sport, but she is working from New York and her commentary was not as insightful as when she works at the game site.
You’d never know it from USA Softball’s first four games, where the United States has outscored its opponents 29–1. It’s pitching staff, supposedly young and not terribly experienced in International games, has allowed only two hits. The ace of the staff, Cat Osterman (right), pitched a no-hitter against medal-contender Australia, allowed only one hit in relief against Japan, and now has 21 strikeouts in 11 innings. In contrast, the pitcher thought most likely to cause trouble for the USA, Yukiko Ueno of Japan, has allowed six hits and three earned runs in seven innings.USA Softball had to win two games against medal contenders on Friday. Monica Abbott threw a one-hitter against Japan, and the USA won 7–0 in five innings, with Jessica Mendoza hitting two homers and Natasha Watley and Crystl Bustos hitting one homer. Then Abbott and Osterman combined for another one-hitter against Canada, a game that was started on Thursday and suspended due to rain. The United States fell behind 1–0 before the rains came, but scored 4 runs in the sixth and 4 more in the seventh to win 8–0.
And they said the world is catching up.
Meanwhile, NBC has fallen clearly behind ESPN in their coverage of softball, mostly because of NBC’s decision to have the announcers call the game from a studio in New York. Their was no sideline or on-site reporting, so when Abbott started the game (after Osterman was announced as the starter), the announcers were left to guess why. When Canada had to remove their pitcher, we never found out why. The play-by-play announcer didn’t know if a pinch-hitter had come up or not. When the camera failed to follow the play, the announcers had to guess what had happened. And of course, the announcers hadn’t spoken to the players or coaches before the game, so those inside insights about what the players and coaches were thinking were missing.
NBC also shot itself in the foot in other ways as well. Their anchorwoman, Alex Flanagan, quite simply hadn’t done her homework when she called Jennie Finch the ace of the USA staff. Finch is one of the best pitchers in the world, but she has never been the ace of the staff. There was usually one replay of important plays. The play-by-play announcer Joe Castellano felt that Canada right-fielder Alison Bradley had made a diving catch on a ball hit by USA’s Taria Flowers, the ball came loose and Castellano said Bradley had held the ball “long enough”. Unfortunately, there is no such rule.
At least NBC chose to use Michelle Smith as their color announcer. Smith is one of the best color announcers in any sport, but she is working from New York and her commentary was not as insightful as when she works at the game site.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Cat Osterman Alert
USA Softball, the favorites to win an Olympic gold medal in softball, dominated their opening match of the Beijing Olympics by trouncing Venezuela 11–0. Jennie Finch and Monica Abbott pitched a combined no-hitter.
The highlight of the night for me was Caitlin Lowe’s inside the park homerun. She hit the ball over the left-fielder who was playing very shallow. As soon as the ball landed, knowing Lowe’s speed, I said to myself that’s an inside the park home run, and sure enough, Lowe scored easily on the play.
Most likely, Cat Osterman (right) will start for the USA on Wednesday against Australia, the silver medalist at the Athens Olympics. Osterman is considered by many to be the best pitcher in the world, and she has such great movement on her pitches that she often makes the batters look foolish. Australia lost 4–3 to Japan on Tuesday, but they were able to score against Japan’s fireballing ace Yukiko Ueno. It will be interesting to see how Australia hits against Osterman after having some success against Ueno.
The broadcast from Beijing on CNBC was quite a disappointment. The announcers were in New York, so they must have been announcing the game while watching it on a screen back in the studio. And while the announcers did a fine job of describing the game, it was obvious that the announcers hadn’t interviewed or spoken to the teams before the game, and there were no sideline reporters. Unlike the ESPN softball broadcasts over the summer and in the Women’s College World Series, the CNBC broadcast didn’t give you the feeling that you were there in the park. There were also no post-game interviews.
Another thing lacking was the ability (that ESPN does so well) to splice in highlights from other softball moments. So when Lowe, playing centerfield, ran back towards the wall and made a diving catch, you could just imagine if the broadcast had been on ESPN that they would have shown you the spectacular play where Caitlin Lowe ran into the wall in the 2007 NCAA Tournament.
The final CNBC disappointment was that their commercial breaks often caused you to miss a pitch or two at the start of the next inning. One player you definitely don’t want to miss is Crystl Bustos, who hits tape measure homeruns. And when Bustos led off the third inning with a homerun, we didn’t get to see it live. The replay was also a disappointment, as you couldn’t even see how far the ball was hit.
The highlight of the night for me was Caitlin Lowe’s inside the park homerun. She hit the ball over the left-fielder who was playing very shallow. As soon as the ball landed, knowing Lowe’s speed, I said to myself that’s an inside the park home run, and sure enough, Lowe scored easily on the play.
Most likely, Cat Osterman (right) will start for the USA on Wednesday against Australia, the silver medalist at the Athens Olympics. Osterman is considered by many to be the best pitcher in the world, and she has such great movement on her pitches that she often makes the batters look foolish. Australia lost 4–3 to Japan on Tuesday, but they were able to score against Japan’s fireballing ace Yukiko Ueno. It will be interesting to see how Australia hits against Osterman after having some success against Ueno.The broadcast from Beijing on CNBC was quite a disappointment. The announcers were in New York, so they must have been announcing the game while watching it on a screen back in the studio. And while the announcers did a fine job of describing the game, it was obvious that the announcers hadn’t interviewed or spoken to the teams before the game, and there were no sideline reporters. Unlike the ESPN softball broadcasts over the summer and in the Women’s College World Series, the CNBC broadcast didn’t give you the feeling that you were there in the park. There were also no post-game interviews.
Another thing lacking was the ability (that ESPN does so well) to splice in highlights from other softball moments. So when Lowe, playing centerfield, ran back towards the wall and made a diving catch, you could just imagine if the broadcast had been on ESPN that they would have shown you the spectacular play where Caitlin Lowe ran into the wall in the 2007 NCAA Tournament.
The final CNBC disappointment was that their commercial breaks often caused you to miss a pitch or two at the start of the next inning. One player you definitely don’t want to miss is Crystl Bustos, who hits tape measure homeruns. And when Bustos led off the third inning with a homerun, we didn’t get to see it live. The replay was also a disappointment, as you couldn’t even see how far the ball was hit.
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