Thoughts: Self-defeats, farewells & moving on

GAME #61 (Regional Game 3): No. 2 TCU 10, No. 1 Texas A&M 2
BOX SCORE: LINK

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* What a horrible way to bow out of a season that began with super high expectations and even played out in a way that gave Texas A&M a really good feeling about its chances to make a run in the post-season when the College Station Regional began on Friday night. But the thing about the NCAA Tournament — in any sport — is that it can end so quickly. Just like "that" your season can be over when you fall into a slump or run into a buzz saw. The Aggies did both in a 20-hour period that began with a 6-3 loss to Ole Miss on Saturday night and closed up shop with a 10-2 beatdown at the hands of longtime in-state foe TCU.

So the 2012 campaign — the first season at the renovated Blue Bell Park and the last year in the Big 12 before the move to the SEC — comes to a screeching halt. After the loss to Ole Miss on Saturday, you knew that it would take a miracle for the Aggies to advance beyond this weekend. What shocks me is the way the Ags got bounced. They simply didn't show up from start to finish, made bone-headed plays on the field, posted a total of four errors, could not make two-out pitches to get out of innings and could not come up with big hits when they absolutely needed it most.

Simply put: You cannot win in baseball when you play the game and approach the game the way that Texas A&M played and approached the game this weekend and in Oklahoma City last week. Now, the Aggies just have to live with the result and the bitter taste of defeat for the next eight-and-a-half months.

And for guys like Michael Wacha, Ross Stripling, Estevan Uriegas, Jacob House, Matt Juengel, Scott Arthur and the great Tyler Naquin, it's the end of the road. It's been a fun ride with this core group of players, but even they would tell you that they did not accomplish anything close to what they wanted to, with sights set on a return trip to Omaha waffling away over the last two weeks of ineffectiveness.

* The offense really, really struggled. Two runs on six hits and continued struggles up and down the lineup. And the worst part about it is that Crichton told us after the game that he threw at least 80 percent fastballs. The batters got good pitches to hit and they knew what was coming … they just couldn't do anything with it.

A&M scored a total of 15 runs in its last five games, following a 10-run outburst against Kansas in game one of the Big 12 Tournament. Playing against un-ranked opponents Missouri, Kansas (for the second time), Dayton, Ole Miss and TCU and all they get is 15 runs in those six games? That is 2.5 runs per game and that simply won't cut it. That will never, ever get it done at any level of baseball.

The bats went into such a severe postseason shell, and when you combine that with mass fielding blunders, sudden ineffectiveness on the mound — including even struggles from the All-Americans and the guys that A&M has relied on all season long — and mental mistakes galore on the base paths, what we saw this weekend is the only possible result. You know it's not going well when A&M's best three hitters by a long shot don't get the ball out of the infield in their last collegiate at bat. Naquin hit a two-hopper to second and Juengel grounded out on a hard-hit ball to short in the eighth inning; House led off the ninth with a groundout to first.

A&M managed to get ahead in the count so many times throughout the weekend and just failed to get good wood on the ball when it got plenty of good pitches to hit. Too many bad swings at very hittable pitches resulting in lazy ground outs or pop outs. And when the Aggies did hit the ball hard, it typically fell into the glove of a defender. That, plus running into bone-headed double plays, almost always results into a bad day at the ball yard. Unfortunately for A&M, they don't get another day to make up for it. This is the end of the road in 2012.

* Rafael Pineda's day was tumultuous to say the least. That, and very brief. The tall right-hander lasted just two innings and was very lucky to have only given up two unearned runs. The Horned Frogs stranded the bases loaded in the second and you could tell that Rafi was not feeling it out there on the mound. He was getting hit hard and he was not getting much help from his defenders. You could just tell that Pineda was nervous and the magnitude of the moment got to him in this one.

Childress quickly went to Daniel Mengden, who was scheduled to start the Sunday night game vs. Ole Miss if it got that far. But it became evident early that A&M might not get to Sunday so Childress was forced to go to Mengden in relief of Pineda, and the results were not good … six earned runs over two innings for the freshman, who was hit very hard by the suddenly red hot Horned Frog bats.

* Bad baseball behind Mengden in the fourth inning blew open the game and allowed TCU to tack on three runs to jump out to a 6-2 lead. It all started with a two-out walk to Kyle Von Tungeln. Then on an 0-2 count to Elander, it was pretty obvious that Von Tungeln was going to second because they had nothing to lose right there. A&M needed to pitch out, but it wasn't called and he stole second. Then Elander delivered with a two-out single up the middle to make it 4-2 TCU.

The next batter, Kevin Cron, hit a bomb to left to make it 6-2 Frogs. But it all started with that two-out walk and not putting your catcher in the best position to throw out that guy at second when everyone in the park knew that he was stealing right there.

Here's another "when it rains, it pours" situation that went on during the game: Second inning … Scotty Arthur made a great play at short stop to haul in a line drive, and he had Suiter dead at first base. Suiter even fell down halfway between first and second. But Arthur nailed him in the back on his way back to first. The next batter hit Arthur a grounder to short and he threw wide of the bag at first.

One pitch later, on a double steal where Lankford might have gotten the guy running to third, Juengel dropped the throw from Lankford. That put both runners in scoring position. On the next at-bat, House nailed the runner at the plate on a ground ball for out number two. But the next hitter, Von Tungeln, delivered yet another clutch two-out hit to score Rivera from third to put TCU up 2-0.

These moments best sum up Texas A&M's day at the ball park. Just one of those days with a lot of bad breaks but also a lot of bad baseball, not giving yourself a chance for the breaks to go your way.

* TCU figured out pretty quickly that they could run all day on Lankford and they really started taking advantage of that mismatch. When the Horned Frogs got a man on first base, they almost always bolted for second, swiping a total of seven bases in seven attempts. That and the four errors created a lot of undue pressure for the A&M pitchers, who were already in hot water most of the game due to the hot TCU bats.

Everything the Frogs wanted to do in the offensive phase of the game, they did. Just one of those easy offensive days at the ballpark for an element to the game that very rarely comes easily.

* A few positives that I was able to derive from this game:

Scott Arthur was very good offensively. The senior went 2-for-3 with a run scored from the nine-hole in what may be the final game in his baseball career. Certainly the last game for him in an A&M uniform. He hit the ball hard three times and did a pretty good job at shortstop for a guy who had never started a game at short in his A&M career before today. Love the effort and will miss the intensity that Scotty brought to the program this season and throughout his A&M career.

Jace Statum gave A&M a spark offensively, beating out an infield single in the third inning that led to a two-run frame which tied the game at 2-2. He also drew a walk in the fifth after a solid at bat. I liked Jace's energy in this one … it will be interesting to see if gets a real shot at a starting spot next season.

Jason Freeman and Kyle Martin were both pretty good over the final four innings. They did allow a combined two runs (one earned) on four hits and did not walk a man. The duo did a good job of limited TCU's production after what was already a blowout by the time they entered the contest.

* Final thought on the departing players. I've gotten to know these guys pretty well covering the team throughout their time on the A&M campus and this is truly a great group of men. They will definitely be missed. Naquin is the best player that I've covered since I started doing this professionally back in 2004, and Wacha and Stripling are each top ten pitchers ever at A&M … up there with names like Granger, Rupe, Fossum, Stilson, Loux, Rau, Hillhouse, Gibson, Ross, Thurmond, Moore and Wunsch.

Wacha, Stripling and Naquin will most definitely go on to the pro circuit and House and Juengel will get a shot somewhere. For Uriegas and Arthur, it's likely the end of the road. But all will be successful in life and it was a real pleasure covering these guys on a day-by-day basis.

* We'll spend much more time after next week's MLB Draft breaking down what Texas A&M has coming back in 2013 and coming in from the high school and JUCO ranks. On paper, Aggie fans might look at all of the losses and the move to the SEC and feel that it will be a long, difficult year in College Station.

But when you really explore the talent returning and incoming, A&M certainly has a chance to be pretty good. But we'll save that breakdown for a later date.

That will just about do it from here. A bad day of baseball and the season is now over for Texas A&M. The offseason of change now begins for the Aggie baseball team as it moves into the SEC and deals with mass change to the depth chart. We'll break down the returning roster and depth chart next week after getting through the MLB Draft, which starts on Monday and runs through Wednesday.