The Tigers were on easy street for almost all of Monday's 8-6 win over Alabama -- until the ninth inning.
Relief pitching, a frequent bugaboo during the season, had been solid most of the NCAA Tournament. But it suffered a pretty large hiccup late Monday, playing a role in Alabama getting the tying run to the plate.
An error by shortstop Brad Miller on what looked to be a game-ending grounder tightened the knots in the stomachs of the Tiger faithful. Thankfully for the Tigers, Tomas Cruz induced Jake Smith to fly out to end the game and Clemson was headed to Omaha.
I saw a couple of Facebook comments about Miller's defense, While his fielding percentage is under .900, he is leading the Tigers in hitting -- which his critics likely conveniently forgot.
That reminded me of the "attaboy" joke involving work. Every time you do something right you may get an "attaboy," but one "Aw, crap" wipes out 10 attaboys. Miller's ninth inning play was an "Aw, crap" moment for Tiger fans.
Every school goes through it. As good as second baseman Scott Wingo has been defensively for South Carolina, he committed an extra-inning error -- on what also appeared to be a routine play -- against Auburn that contributed to the Gamecocks being eliminated from the SEC Tournament. The criticism of Wingo on USC message boards from the armchair coaches who've never made a mistake in their life was pretty intense.
But Wingo wiped out that "Aw, crap" moment with an "attaboy," a brilliant sixth-inning effort to turn an inning-ending double play in Saturday's Super Regional win over Coastal.
Miller will be looking for his "attaboy" moment in Omaha.
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