After Dalton Carriker (above left) hit the game-winning shot over the right field fence to give the gritty team from Warner Robins, Georgia the Little League World Series crown, I looked over at my brother and I said this was not one of the best teams this year. I was wondering if this was the worst Little League World Champ ever. As much drama there was during pool play this year, the coaching and the errors were making me sick throughout this tourney. A lot of the kids from this Georgia team were not baseball players, some weren't even athletic. If it hadn't been for Carriker this team would have never gotten out of pool play. The kid hit over .700 in the tournament and I'm not sure but I think that his game winner was his third homer. The best two teams in this tournament I thought was Texas and Venezuela who both had coaching mishaps. Georgia's manager, Mickey Lay, I was scrutinizing throughout for his inability to manage a pitching staff throughout this tourney and allow the hopes of a world title in the hands of a 12-year-old who hadn't pitched in four and a half weeks was ridiculous. Also, finally in the bottom of the forth inning he figures he'd tell is team to move closer in the box because the pitcher kept pitching outside. "Hey coach, you didn't notice that in the first inning!?" I just thought that I would voice my opinion that the play and coaching in this World Series was sub par at best and I really didn't think going into the championship game that these were the two best teams in the world. But, I still love the Little League drama and if we forget the name Garrett Williams (above right) that's because the kid had to have Tommy John surgery at the age of 14!
2 comments:
Let's talk about scrutinizing Little league coaching and decisions. Why was Garrett Williams, Zane Ancell or Taylor Bridges not starting for Texas vs. Georgia? You can't make me believe that they all had used up 85 pitch counts and couldn't pitch. Maybe they were thinking of saving a big arm for the championship, but as we had discussed many times over, you have to win THIS game before you play the next. Not to mention they have three kids that can throw and they use #4. Huh?! You have to give it to Japan they have some good players but what happen to the stud from Venezuela? Did he pitch the day before? On another note, I didn't here too many intelligent things come out of coaches mouths the whole tournament. I can't remember what was said or what game it was but I sat in disgust when I heard some of the shit come out of these coaches holes. I told Tracy that I am going to have a tough time sitting and watching our children play baseball/softball because the moms and dads of the worlds who think they have half a clue about the game tell my kids something stupid and fucking my kid up. On a whole I thought the LL World Series was down from some of the past tourneys but we still got to see some great little players. My personal fave was Bryndan Arrendondo from Texas.
While I agree with you guys about the coaches being a little suspect and the fact that Georgia was clearly not the best team overall in the tourney, I disagree with the idea that the play was down from previous years. I actually thought that the outfield defense was above average this year, as I saw very few errors and several outstanding catches. The infield defense also seemed solid to me. The fact is that the pitching will always be dominant in the LLWS simply because some of the kids develop so much quicker and the real stud athletes are definitively more advanced than some of their peers. Good conversation though...
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