Rest in Peace, Joe Walsh

If it's August 2012, and you find yourself at this largely abandoned website, you already know that the heart of the Harvard baseball program, Coach Joe Walsh, died suddenly this week. He was 58. The folks at the Crimson were nice enough to give me a platform as I tried to put my thoughts together. The resulting column, my first in nine years and the only one I ever wrote through tears, ran here. Joe Walsh's funeral will be held at St. Brigid of South Boston on Saturday August 4. It had better be a really big church. - Martin Bell

R.I.P. John Wylde

John Wylde has passed away. He's one of the towering figures in Harvard baseball, and in amateur baseball. He will be missed.

Although I've retired the blog, I wanted to acknowledge the passing of a wonderful man.

...and we have a pulse!

This weekend's split with Yale is the bright light in what has been an extremely challenging season so far.

Thoughts welcome here.

Open Thread - Baseball America and the season's start

Baseball America likes the Crimson. Nice, sure. But I'd think unexpected.

Meanwhile, the season has started. Here's an open thread for those following the trip.

John Wolff's response

Credit John Wolff. The Harvard baseball alum, who has doubtlessly had to deal with quite a bit in the wake of his book and the related news, acted quickly and sent us this note yesterday. I think no one should form an opinion of the man, his book and his sense of the program without reading his own words:

I want to clarify something that has become a problem. In the book and in a Crimson article my father (Rick Wolff) has been quoted saying some disparaging remarks about the Harvard baseball program and the coaching staff. It is very important to me that you know that I don't share his feelings. I had an amazing time at Harvard and I love the baseball program. My dad is very bitter about his career and our opinions clash quite a bit. I didn't play much at Harvard but that was because I played behind some fantastic players like Zak Farkes, Morgan Brown and many others. I'm very proud to have played for Harvard and it hurts me very much to hear my father speak so negatively of the program and then have his words hurt friends of mine involved in the program. I would never say a bad thing about the Harvard program - either in the book or in the media. I loved my years at Harvard. I don't want to be viewed as an outcast of the baseball program.

I know this is a long email, but I know a ton of people read your blog and I was truly hoping you could post my apology to all the people who my father has offended and who I care about - Coach Hyde, Coach Walsh, Coach Donovan, Paul McNeeley, my teammates, future Harvard baseball players, and the rest of the people involved in Harvard baseball. I know I'm leaving out a ton of names but I want everyone to know that I am tremendously sorry about this misunderstanding and I would like to make amends.

Very little comment here, except this sounds awfully sincere, and it is true that the meatier criticism of the program didn't come from John himself. I hope everything works out.

Sons of Bart Brush - 2008 Outlook Post

Greetings all. As I indicated earlier, I won't be updating the blog anywhere near as much this year, but I figured it would be good to put a marker here so that fans of Harvard Baseball can maintain a discussion about the team in the comments section. I ask, as always, that you keep it fair and gentlemanly.

Potential topics:

* The major story: Sophomore ace Max Perlman will not throw a pitch for Harvard this season, for reasons that may or may not become more widely known. I don't believe the Crimson has published anything on this subject yet, but presumably, they soon will. Obviously, this is crippling. With Perlman and Shawn Haviland, you've got arguably two of the best three starters in the Ivies pitching half your league games. Now? All three spots after Haviland are question marks. Is Unger a No. 2 in this league? Can Adam Cole recover from his lost 2007? Can Boomer Eadington throw strikes consistently? Is there an unlikely freshman savior? This could be a long season.

* Offensively, the Crimson has the versatile Matt Vance, the heretofore untapped power potential of Andrew Prince, last year's breakout star Jeff Stoeckel and... well, Steffan Wilson will be missed. Can Tom Stack-Babich take another step? Is this Matt Rogers' breakout season?

* With this schedule, will the Crimson win a single game before April?

* And then there's Harvard Boys. Recent alum John and 70s grad Rick write a co-memoir of sorts about their experiences in minor league ball. Both in the book and in promotional appearances, the Wolffs take a few shots at the current Harvard coaching staff.

Wolff’s apparent frustration with the Harvard coaching staff surfaces as another of the book’s motifs. During his entire collegiate career, according to the Crimson record books, he totaled just 17 official at-bats.

“I just never really felt like I got a shot to show what I could do here with the coaching staff,” John says. “In the long run, it might have ended up helping my career because I had to work that much harder at my game to prove them wrong. It sucked to go through—it was very frustrating, a tough time mentally for me to stay positive.”

The elder Wolff is less forgiving in his assessment.

“The Harvard baseball program is not very good, and the coaching’s not very good,” Rick says. “And everybody knows it. It’s not a secret.”

Although I like the younger Wolff quite a bit and enjoy Papa Wolff's work on WFAN in New York, count me among those willing to listen to Joe Walsh on this one:

“John left the program not in a way that I felt was positive,” says Joe Walsh, the Crimson’s head coach. “A kid who goes [1-for-9] and gets drafted, there’s usually some other reasons than in [those nine at-bats] he looked pretty good, like a major leaguer.”

Walsh says he does not think the local scout for the White Sox even knew John.

“Sometimes you get drafted by people from other areas, in other ways,” he says.

Both father and son insist John did not profit from his bloodlines. Rick was a Detroit Tigers farmhand and later a psychologist in the Cleveland Indians organization. He has written a number of books on sports psychology and remains involved with baseball as a member of the front office of the Stamford Robins of the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League, the team that John played for during the summer of 2005. Rick’s father, John’s grandfather, is the Hall of Fame broadcaster Bob Wolff, the longtime voice of the Washington Senators and the first man to do play-by-play for the championships in all four major sports.

“The name recognition is something I’ve always wondered about,” John says. “It’s something that I obviously live with and something that I’m sensitive to because it’s always been a part of who I am. I would like to think that it had nothing to do with it—I’d like to think that my talent speaks for itself.”

Respectfully, I'm not sure what John did either at Harvard OR in summer ball OR elsewhere that would suggest that he deserved a draft pick where the likes of Zak Farkes, Schuyler Mann and Frank Herrmann were overlooked. But then, I may be astonishingly ignorant on this count. Wouldn't be the first time.

So all of this is on the table. Discuss, and stay tuned. Maybe we'll put up another post once the media coverage starts.

Wilson Leaves, and other updates

Hey gang,

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. Life's been quite busy. Since I've last posted:

* Steffan Wilson left Harvard after being drafted by the Brewers in the late rounds. An interesting choice--one wondered whether he might return for another year and improve his draft position after what had been, by any measure, something of a disappointing season for him. Anyway, Steffan Wilson is gone, and SoBB wishes him the best.

* Summer started. Where are people? Here and here.

* Pablo Torre did an interesting piece about race and Crimson sports, in which Joe Walsh was quoted.

* Matt Vance was Harvard's lone All-Ivy First Team rep.

I will likely conclude my regular run here at SoBB soon. I've got a new job coming up soon and a new writing project I'm taking on--with any luck, you'll hear about it some day. I will update off and on, and leave blank posts for you guys to work the comments. Thanks to Harvard Baseball and its extended family for so many years of great baseball, and for putting up with me.

That's that.

A loss in Game One doomed any shot the Crimson had, although Brown took the one game they needed to sew things up in Providence as well. Harvard's season will end with its non-league game against Northeastern on Tuesday.

Congratulations to Brown and Penn (Princeton nearly came all the way back to force a divisional playoff only to falter in 12 innings at Cornell). This is the first time in quite a few years that the Ivy League championship series will happen with neither Harvard or Princeton involved, but it's arguably overdue. Brown has fielded too many fierce lineups over the years not to break through at some point.

It's worth realizing now that we came within a hair's breadth of repeating as division champions despite huge losses in last year's seniors. That's a testament to the coaching staff and to the team leadership, particularly the seniors and Brendan Byrne. He'll be missed next year. Jake Bruton had a breakout season. Jay Brown should be commended for his body of work over the length of his career at Harvard (and what will Harvard baseball be without at least one Jason Brown on the roster?). Drew Casey, as much as I've lamented his bat here, proved to be one of the more potent bats in the games that counted. A hearty thanks and farewell to Justin Roth and Jake Levine as well.

What's left going forward? Arguably the best rotation in the Ivy League in 2008, for starters, with Haviland, Perlman and Unger back for more. Boomer Eadington and Adam Cole would seem to have an interesting offseason ahead of them, and an interesting battle come next fall and spring. Matt Vance has become an even more complete package--speed, power, versatility. Steffan Wilson will presumably be back, Matt Rogers took a big step, Tom Stack-Babich bounced back in a big way, Jeff Stoekel turned out to be a fine starter, and hopefully an Andrew Prince without hamstring trouble will be a very effective heart-of-the-order presence.

More on this later. There will be more posts in the days and weeks to come, and then at some point I'll sit down and figure out what to do next year.

An awful break

We are officially in trouble.

After Max Perlman predictably shuts down the Big Green in game one, Brad Unger can't follow up after a line drive caroms off his right (pitching) shoulder two outs into the first. Just terrible, terrible luck.

Although he battled characteristically, Unger could never really sette in after that and gave up eight runs. Harvard rallied late but couldn't make up the deficit. Meanwhile, Brown swept Yale today in New Haven. Harvard would need to sweep Dartmouth at home tomorrow (very possible) and have Yale sweep Brown in Providence tomorrow (highly unlikely) in order to extend the Ivy League season.

Feel free to add commentary.

I should also note that Dartmouth's radio broadcast proved enjoyable, with a play-by-play guy who was particularly solid compared to what we're used to out of WDRC.

It's time to think some happy thoughts

Happy thoughts like...

...as one commenter pointed out, Boomer Eadington's tremendous relief appearance back in the spring break trip, one I overlooked (although it has been a while)...

...Adam Cole and the what could be...

...the ridiculousness that is Matt Vance...

...Ryan Lavarnway and Marc Sawyer...

...the fact that we've got arguably three of the top six starting pitchers in the league going this weekend against a team that, to date, hasn't hit much...

...I'm excited. As you undoubtedly know, you can get your live stats here. We also expect Dartmouth College Radio to cover the games--and historically, their radio station is an absolute joke. Makes the HRB guys sound like Vin Scully.

Anyway: Enjoy, and go Harvard. More reading material here and here.

Elsewhere:
Brown has its eyes on the prize. Penn is achingly close to its first division title in a long while, but can only watch.

Rotation Madness

That's a bit strong. But something strange is going on here. In an earlier post I laid out what I thought was a pretty logical way for the rotation to unfold this season--a rested Max Perlman Saturday, Brad Unger Saturday afternoon, Shawn Haviland Sunday and Boomer Eadington for as long as you can ride him in the second game.

Not so, says Joe Walsh:

While the Harvard skipper normally sends out freshman Max Perlman and junior Brad Unger on Saturdays, followed by rookie Eric Eadington and junior Shawn Haviland on Sundays, Walsh expects to mix it up this weekend due to the significance of this particular series.

He plans to use Eadington out of the bullpen Saturday and possibly even Sunday and then plug someone else in as a starter alongside Haviland for the second twinbill.

“We’ve got our backs against the wall and we’ve got to win a title,” Walsh said. “We’re going to play every game like it’s our last.”

The most viable candidate as an alternative starter is sophomore Adam Cole, last season’s Ivy League Rookie of the Year.

So what's this about? My theory is that this has a lot more to do with the pen than Eadington. I think the rough outings by Jake Bruton and Cole lately have eroded Walsh's confidence in the bullpen, and he wants someone like Eadington available as another option.
If this is the reasoning behind this move, and who knows, it's the sort of thing that the commenters will have a field day over. We haven't seen much of Boomer in the pen at all, and none at all in meaningful games. Moreover, it leaves someone like Cole to start what could be a season-deciding game, days after he got shelled by Yale in his first Ivy League start all season. The Adam Cole of 2006 would be a welcome for starter, as would the Cole of recent bullpen outings. But at this point, do you know which Cole you're going to get? Harvard is, of course, saying all the right things:

While Cole was shelled for seven runs in just 2/3 of an inning in his start in Harvard’s 13-0 loss to Yale on Wednesday, he has been near-dominant out of the bullpen, including three shutout relief innings last weekend versus the Bears.

“I really hope he can just clear his mind [of Wednesday’s game],” Haviland said. “Everyone has those bad ones from time to time.”

Walsh expressed confidence in giving Cole another shot at starting. “He’s the kind of kid who can bounce back,” Walsh said. “Would I go back to him? Absolutely.”

What if he doesn't? Whom does he go to other than Cole? Presumably Eadington if he hasn't been used at all (possible against the Dartmouth lineup and with Haviland, Unger and Perlman throwing the first three). And if not? Dan Zailskas? Max Warren?

Stay tuned...

A Word About Photos

I just realized I'd gone the season without yet crediting or thanking Jim Meehan, father of Taylor, from whom we get many of our fine photographs, and Kurt Svoboda, Harvard's tremendous SID, from whom we get quite a few others and is one of the best in the business. Thanks very, very much to both of you.

So Now Then

One game back of Brown going into four this weekend with Dartmouth.

Brown plays Yale, a decent but underachieving team that needs to sweep Dartmouth to have a chance at the division championship.

Harvard plays Dartmouth, a bad team with no hope of winning the division, but a proud program that always makes these games difficult for its archrival, no matter how insignificant they may be.

Harvard presumably throws a fully-rested Perlman (my information is that he's fine, but was just unable to throw on 3 days) and Brad Unger in Hanover Saturday. Presumably, you throw Shawn Haviland in the early game Sunday, lest you risk saving him for a meaningless game. And then it's young Boomer Eadington to start a nine-inning game that could mean everything for this team, on a team with all kinds of bullpen question marks right now.

I still like Harvard's chances. Just take care of business.

Who was out there for the Yale games? Hit the comments.

Yale Games

Because the below post is comment-deficient somehow, here's a new one for the Yale games. Harvard won Game One behind ace Shawn Haviland's one-hit shutout, his finest performance of the year, 2-0. But Adam Cole, a surprise starter in Game Two, lost control after that and Harvard trails 6-0 with Jake Bruton on in relief.

Joe Walsh, All Class

I already mentioned the peculiar Beanpot fate of UMass, an apparent innocent victim of the Ivy League's decision to reschedule the Yale doubleheader on the day of the Beanpot. Well, cry for them no more:

While head coach Joe Walsh will usually opt for playing two games instead of one on any given day, this is one instance where that is not the case. Playing the Bulldogs on Wednesday means that Harvard will have to forgo its place in the annual Beanpot at Fenway Park.

Unable to play in the event, a disappointed Walsh prepared his team for a pivotal series against the Bulldogs instead. But he also did something out of the norm, setting in motion a plan that would allow Massachusetts its rightful place in the renowned ballpark. Walsh spent most of his Tuesday on the phone with the Red Sox organization, UMass and Holy Cross, proposing that the Crusaders be allowed to take Harvard’s place for the game.

How about that? Good job here by Coach Walsh, and good job by the Red Sox for allowing this to happen. Now we can only hope that whatever residual anger Harvard feels for missing the Beanpot, it takes out on Yale baseball on Wednesday.

Update: Jon Lehman of the Crimson savages Yale in this column.
Update 2: Joe Walsh is straight-up mad at Yale:

"We appreciated the fact that we're guests over there [Fenway]," said Walsh. "It's an honor to play over there.

"The Yale coach [John Stuper], he got to play in The Show, he was in the big leagues. I hope he hasn't forgotten what it means to the kids.

"That's not just a big league park -- that's Fenway."

Update 3: The comments on this post seem to have vanished in my updating: Sorry about this. There were two, generally expressing approval of what Walsh did. I'll try to figure out how to re-activate the comments here.

Dartmouth remains meaningful.

Harvard split its series with Brown this weekend, meaning at the very least that the Dartmouth series next weekend will be meaningful. The Ivy League has moved the makeup games from a week ago to Wednesday instead of Tuesday--more on that in a second--but regardless of what Brown does at Dartmouth and Harvard does against Yale at home, there will be meaningful Rolfe Division baseball next weekend. No matter how bad their team is this season, get ready for more of the brilliant young members of the Loudmouth Brigade.

This weekend saw another winning Max Perlman start, a costly and rare bad outing by Jake Bruton, another stout effort by Brad Unger (125 pitches), more Matt Vance power (the team's leader in slugging percentage) and more good stuff from Adam Cole, setup man. But anyone can read a boxscore. Were you there? Tell us what you saw in the comments.

Meanwhile, the Ivy League's decision to move the makeup games to Wednesday has cost Harvard a trip to Fenway Park to play UMass in the Beanpot consolation game. I wonder why the league made the switch--did someone lobby for to push so that the teams could have Saturday's starters able to go against league opposition on three days rest? [Update: Yep, it was Yale.] Does this mean we'll have Perlman and Haviland on Wednesday--if so, I imagine we'd flip the rotation next weekend and have Boomer and Unger Saturday and Perlman and Haviland on three days once again on Sunday. Or, Max Warren gets involved. I can imagine most coaches wanting to avoid getting to their fifth or sixth starters at this point in the season--especially Brown, whom I suspect doesn't have anyone quite as steady as Warren waiting in the wings.
Still, Fenway day has always been one of my favorite days of the year as a follower of Crimson baseball, and it's too bad the players don't get to experience it this year (they've already lost out on a first-round game due to Fenway's increasing reluctance to make the park available for the Beanpot at all). Although I've gotta say, as unfortunate as this is for Harvard, it's gotta be even worse for UMass.
Finally, a hearty congratulations to Joe Walsh for winning his 500th career game. More on this in a future post.

Brown Games

Live audio for the first game, and live stats for both, available here.

Max Perlman Facts

Max Perlman threw 20 straight strikes against Yale.

Max Perlman was named Ivy League Pitcher and Rookie of the Week.

Max Perlman got some play from Baseball America in its weekend preview.

Max Perlman's calendar goes straight from March 31 to April 2; no one fools Max Perlman.

Got more Max Perlman facts? Hit the comments.

Good hitting meets good pitching

Those of you who answered the poll in the upper right corner of this page: The answer turned out to be Brown. Just ask Dartmouth.

Still, you have to like where Harvard's pitching is going into the weekend, with Shawn Haviland returning to his dominant form of late, Max Perlman teaming with him to form the most lights-out Saturday doubleheader combo since Ben Crockett and Marc Hordon prior to Hordon's labrum injury in 2002 and Brad Unger and Boomer Eadington looking strong in their last starts against Cornell. Brown's rotation isn't quite as deep behind Jeff Dietz.

Anyway, should be an interesting matchup. Feel free to comment on the pivotal (and potentially warm!) weekend ahead in the comments. Or, today's Beanpot loss, in which, notably, Andrew Prince returned to action and Adam Cole threw a clean inning.

Wet and Cole

Beanpot Thursday... Maybe. Postponed Holy Cross game? Postponed again. Makeup with Yale? Scheduled for Tuesday...

Meanwhile, the Crimson ran an interesting story today about Adam Cole, the onetime ace-in-waiting who simply couldn't throw a strike this season, and his recent positive steps in relief.

With Harvard up, 6-2, with two outs in the top of the ninth inning and the bases full of Tigers, Walsh took the ball away from sophomore Ryan Watson, and sent Cole to the mound to exorcise his control demons in a situation where control was of the utmost importance.

The move seemed questionable at first, after Cole walked the first batter he faced to bring the score to 6-3. But the second-year fireballer’s next trio of pitches erased any doubt. Power-hitting Princeton catcher Jack Murphy stepped up to the plate, and Cole reared back and retired Murphy on three consecutive strikes to begin his transformation into a closer.

“Things just weren’t the same as last year,” Cole says. “After Coach put me in to get the save I got a lot of confidence back in my head.”

Now, almost two weeks later, Cole has emerged as a force out of the bullpen, and an important piece in a Harvard pitching staff that leads the Ivies with a 3.99 combined ERA.

"Force" might be pushing it at this stage, but the signs are certainly encouraging. I wish they'd asked him a bit about what he felt was at the root of his control problems this year, but I'm glad to hear he's coming around. Not that Harvard's floundered without him.

“You can’t say enough about [Perlman and Eadington],” Cole says. “We had expectations when they came in but I think they’ve surpassed those.”

But with Cole back to form, one might think that he would be clamoring to get his rotation spot back. On the contrary, he seems to relish his new role and the pressure that comes with it, as well as the opportunity to throw his best stuff on every pitch.

“It’s exciting coming in when the game is on the line,” Cole says. “You’ve got to hold that lead. Not having to hold back and being able to pump hard strikes is really a relief to me.”

Just the same, I can't help but think that if we wind up playing four against Brown Saturday and Sunday and two more against Yale on Tuesday, Adam Cole would start one of those Yale games. I don't know who Yale's fifth and sixth starters would be, but I'd happily take that matchup.