Former Sun Devil and current ASU Baseball color commentator Seth Dhaenens shares his thoughts on the week that was for Arizona State Baseball.

Weekly Recap

7 days. 5 games. 5 wins. That pretty much says it all. But for the sake of the column, let’s look a little deeper. ASU took two games from Cal St. Fullerton. Fullerton has struggled early this season, but they will be a postseason team this year. They have a lot of talent and a very good coaching staff. The Devils were able to mount two comebacks to win those two ballgames at Goodwin Field. They handled the new environment, which is not friendly, and were able to play two very complete ball games. The University of Houston was next. Houston is another very good team. They will probably finish second in Conference USA this season and will be a tough three seed in a southern regional. ASU did catch the Cougars at the end of a long road trip, and you could see them give up some at bats. But after losing the first two games, and looking awful in both of those, they mounted a furious comeback in the ninth inning of Sunday’s game. Jordan Swagerty had the extremely atypical one-out-catcher-to-closer-save. This was an outstanding week for ASU. They played very complete ball games. Great pitching, very good defense, timely hitting and solid, aggressive base running. It was a great week for the guys preparing to enter Pac-10 play this Friday.

Most Impressed With

Hands down…Starting Pitching. Jimmy Patterson, Brady Rodgers, Seth Blair, Merrill Kelly, and Jake Borup combined this week to pitch 29 1/3 innings, allow 9 ER, and only issue 7 walks. That’s 5 starts averaging almost six innings of work and only allowing about one and a half earned runs. That’s filth. Blair, Kelly, and Borup, the three ASU weekend starters, are 13-0 in their 15 starts this season. I’ll let you chew on that number for a moment. I think Ken Knutson has done a fantastic job developing these guys. It seems, even from last season, velocities are up and second pitches are sharper. And give a lot of credit to Head Coach Tim Esmay who has been able to get everyone quality innings while keeping their pitch counts low. This is a time of the year when fatigue starts to set in, but everyone that I talk to in the dugout feels fresh and sharp. Another good sign for the weeks to come.

Words of Caution

There is an interesting, and somewhat delicate, situation brewing in Sun Devil country. ASU currently has five quality starting pitchers. And by quality, I mean five starters with sub-five ERA’s. ASU offensively is averaging 10 runs a game, so a sub-five ERA means a win. ASU also has left-hander Josh Spence getting healthy. Spence was outstanding last year, winning ten games and posting a 2.37 ERA. He was the second best pitcher in the conference last year, second only to teammate and Pac-10 Pitcher of the Year Mike Leake. So when he comes back, you would assume he would sink right back into his “Ace of the Staff” role. But I’m going to play Devil’s Advocate. ASU will have played at least 23 ballgames before Spence will get a start. That’s 23 of their scheduled 56 regular season games. And in a worst case scenario they are going to be 20-3, and that is assuming a weekend sweep at the hands of Cal. So how do you plug in a guy who hasn’t pitched in months into a pitching staff who have won 87% of their ball games? One of the great things about ASU Baseball is that there is always someone waiting behind you. There is always competition amongst the guys in the lineup. And more often than not, the line between starter and bench player is microscopically thin. How do you think I snuck in for so many AB’s? One potential solution is to use Josh Spence like ASU uses Mitchell Lambson. It adds another quality arm that can throw five innings over two games on the weekend. Then you can almost have two crews to close ball games Lambson and Spence teamed up with Barrett and Swagerty. That is a juicy proposition. This decision may define the season. It’s difficult to integrate such a good player into roles already assumed by guys who kept themselves healthy. It’s difficult to keep everyone happy in situations like this. And I suspect this will be a great test for Head Coach Tim Esmay.

Week Ahead

ASU plays host to the University of California at Berkeley, meaning Pac-10 Baseball is upon is. ASU is going for the unprecedented back-to-back-to-back-to-back Pac-10 Baseball Championships. I understand that was probably hard to read, but it was even harder to type. Conference play is an entirely new beast. This is where all of your shortcomings as a hitter are mercilessly exposed. This is when every bad pitch you’ve made is scrutinized in the search for weakness. This is the time of year when anyone can beat you on any day. Cal has been up and down this season. They’ve had tough weekends against Rice, a four game split, and Arkansas, losing two out of three. However, they are still a dangerous team and have always played the Devils tough. In a slightly not related note, Cal is striving to take over the top spot in the Pac-10 for Smartest Athletes. An honor currently held by the Stanford Cardinal, even though the Cardinal mascot is a tree. Obviously not too many botanalogical classes in Palo Alto.

Weekend Coverage

All three games will be broadcast live on The FAN AM 1060. The Voice of the Devils Tim Healey and I will call all three ballgames. And hopefully we’ll see you at the field cheering on the Devils. For tickets, you can call 480-727-000 or visit the Sun Devil Online Ticket Office.