COLUMN ARCHIVE Talking Baseball The Debate Tempe: A Hoops Hotbed? Heading into Exams Prepared Bruce's Call to Action It Doesn't Get Much Better than This Strange Scheduling Big Weekend in Sun Devil Athletics Saturday Afternoon Fever Frustration = Motivation? Attention Traveling Sun Devils! Blazing The Trail That's Okay, I'll Let Bruce Handle It

April 3, 2000

Who's beaming this week at work following ASU's weekend series success against the Stanford Cardinal? I know that I am. The Cardinal came swaggering into Packard Stadium this weekend with a #2 ranking notched on their belt and a group of some of the nation's most talented collegiate baseball players.

They left Tempe on Sunday with a 3-3 conference record having lost two out of three. Those around the team and the conference who were wondering if the Sun Devils are for real, you can stop now, they definitely are.

Keep in mind, in the preseason this team was picked by the Pac-10 coaches to finish sixth in the conference-as of this morning they were seventh in the country, and probably on their way up after winning the Stanford series. Also keep in mind that the Sun Devils are winning without the services of their two of their top four pitchers. Mike Esposito, a sterling freshman from Las Vegas, has missed most of the year with a right elbow injury that will keep him out for the rest of the season (he had successful Tommy John last week).

Will Waldrip was supposed to fill a vital relief role for ASU all season long. Coach Pat Murphy wanted to use him in the middle innings of conference games if, by chance, a starter didn't have his best stuff. When Esposito went down, Waldrip was moved to the starting rotation where he was giving Murph quality innings on the hill. Now they've found bone chips in his elbow and his availability to throw is still up in the air. Yet this team now has 28 wins on the season, is 4-2 in conference play and is heading towards a top five national ranking.

Pat Murphy's squad, without a doubt, is the surprise team in the country this season. Even with a couple of top pitchers down they continue to pile up the victories. Here are a couple of reasons why:

First of all, these guys absolutely mash. To use the baseball vernacular, they just flat out rake. There isn't an out in the lineup-not one. From Jonah Martin to Dennis Wyrick, each hitter demands you make three quality pitches to get them out. Mitch Jones is putting on one of the best power hitting displays in recent NCAA memory. Casey Myers, Brooks Conrad and Jeff Phelps are coming into their own as some of the conference best hitters.

Much of the hitting success of the Sun Devils feeds off of Pat Murphy's hitting philosophy. Murph told us recently that in the last couple of years he has done less tinkering with guys' swings and has allowed them to head into the batters box and feel comfortable with their own style. Most collegiate coaches don't have the patience, or the ego for that matter, to not demand a player to make a change in their players' swing mechanics. Murphy is allowing his athletes to be themselves, and they are one of the nation's best hitting teams because of it.

Here's another reason for the team's success-their bullpen. ASU is taking the term "bullpen by committee" to a new level. With the lack of depth in the starting rotation with the Esposito and Waldrip injuries, the Sun Devil bullpen has been called on to perform well virtually every game. Ironically enough, they have come up aces.

Because collegiate baseball is so offensively oriented, to have a true closer that can come in and slam the door on a team day in and day out (like, say, a Jeff Mantei does) is extremely rare. For the Sun Devils, guys like Eric Doble, Franco Pezely, Luke Field and Robby Milner have all filled in the stopper role at one time or another. If you want to be successful in college baseball, you have to have your relief pitching come through for you-Murphy's corps has this year.

Finally, there is the team chemistry factor. This year's Sun Devil baseball team is made up of some great guys with even better work ethics. It is very much a blue-collar group who brings the lunch pail to the work site everyday and does their job. Every player that I have met is a genuinely nice guy who goes out of their way to talk to you. It is a happy clubhouse over there at Packard, filled with players who emulate their coach, and they are winning games like tomorrow is a rumor.

Bullet Holes

From the "We asked and you told us department" here in the home office: