re: 5 games, total 4 runs given up by UCLA in the CWS!!!!

I think a lot of people underestimate CWS experience. Both UNC and UCLA have been to Omaha a lot in the recent years, and it showed especially for UCLA. They didn't get rattled under pressure and their pitching was very good. Sure Plutko used the ball park to his advantage. If a normal stadium was used LSU probably beats UCLA 5-2 on the warning track outs being homers, but UCLA played smartly and didn't allow the ball park to beat them. This was the first trip to the new park for PM and LSU had no Omaha experience to draw from.

It's ranked on talent and W's, but it's Championship is won on HBP's, safety squeezes, and unearned runs.

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5 games, total 4 runs given up by UCLA in the CWS!!!!

How is that possible? I know the park doesn't carry the ball, but this is still unfrigginbelievable!

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UCLA had great pitching and apparently had great scouting on their opponent's hitters. They were able to coax fly ball after fly ball out of both LSU and MSU (the two teams I watched them play).

They were the beneficiaries (or were able to put the pressure on to induce) errors, hit by pitches, etc. by their opponents.

There was a helping of luck in there. Or maybe again they had scouted well - there were lots of hard hit balls by opponents but the UCLA defenders were right there to get them.

I just...I really don't know what to say. Purposefully throwing balls to be hammered isn't great pitching.

Great pitching always beats great hitting. I'm always reminded of the 2001 World Series. The Diamondback lineup was no match at all for the Yankee lineup. The Yankees were better hitters for average and better power hitters, and it was not close. But, Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson were on their game in that series. The 4 games they pitched (including game 7 where both pitched), Arizona won. When they sat, the Yankees won.

You give me a team that gives up 4 runs in 5 games and i'll give you every power hitting team you want because my team will win, especially in a double elimination format.

And as far as the people claiming that LSU was the best team, you are the fans that give the rest of us a bad name. They played 2 games in Omaha. They couldn't get the job done. Greatness comes from oppurtunity, and LSU had an oppurtunity to achieve greatness and failed. It is what it is.

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If LSU was the best team, they'd have beaten ucla. Fact is, they made critical defensive errors. ucla didn't, and the bRuins made LSU pay.

The best teams win championships, and as much as ucla winning anything makes me want to vomit, they were the "best team."

No matter how talented you are, if you don't execute when it counts, you aren't the best.

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What's up LAT? He was being facetious.

If LSU doesn't commit two horrible errors, they win 1-0.

UCLA was the 5th best team LSU played this year at best.

Congrats to them though. They are the champs.

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Great pitching always beats great hitting. I'm always reminded of the 2001 World Series. The Diamondback lineup was no match at all for the Yankee lineup. The Yankees were better hitters for average and better power hitters, and it was not close. But, Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson were on their game in that series. The 4 games they pitched (including game 7 where both pitched), Arizona won. When they sat, the Yankees won.

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Not that great of an example because if the greatest closer of all time doesn't blow the game 7 save.. The Yankees win.