Quotes & Notes: MU vs. AZ State

■ Today's game: #15 Missouri vs. # 8 Arizona State @ Tempe, AZ, 7:30 PM CT

Coming up: Arizona State Tournament @ Tempe, AZ
· MU vs. Arizona State Thursday, 2/26 7:30 PM
· MU vs. Oregon State, Friday, 2/27 2:00 PM
· MU vs. Northern Illinois, Saturday, 2/28 1:00 PM
· MU vs. Arizona State, Sunday, 3/1 2:30 PM

According to the Game Day notes at mutigers.com, MU's pitcher for tonight is still TBA (that's "to be announced", not Tepesch, Berger & Allen). General consensus seems to be that Tim Jamieson sill "staff" the game, starting someone who pitched very few innings this past weekend (such as Tyler Clark or Ryan Gargano), not expecting that starter to go as long as a regular starter, filling in with anyone and everyone available in the bullpen. Of course, it will be General Jamieson, not General Consensus, who names the starting pitcher.

Oddly, the same Game Notes show Josh Spence starting the game for Arizona State. Spence was their starting pitcher Friday night, going 6 innings. It will be interesting to see, if he actually gets the start, whether starting him again on what is very short rest for a college pitcher, turns out to be a good thing or a bad thing.

■ House of Sparky has a preview of the MU-ASU game:

The Sun Devils, on the other hand, committed eight errors in the series against UWM, but was able to make up for their defensive lapses with bursts of offensive tenacity. If they keep hitting home runs every inning, the defense can afford to
improve at a steady pace without compromising our winning percentage.

■ The Columbia Missourian's Andrew DeWitt has a feature called Lineup Watch on his StripesAndSeams blog. Sounds like an interesting thing to keep tabs on through the season:

I’ve always been interested to see how a lineup evolves throughout the season. On this page, I’ll track how coach Tim Jamieson adjusts his lineup according to how players are performing. Obviously, I probably won’t begin really looking at his choices until about 15 games into the season.

■ Big12Hardball.com takes a look at the Big 12's opening weekend By the Numbers. Yes, Mizzou is represented, but not in a way you'd like to see. A few interesting numbers:

2,110 - miles Oklahoma will travel this week (assuming they go from San Diego to
Pullman, Washington).

0 - number of miles Texas will have traveled in the first two weeks.

2 - spots Baylor rose in Baseball America’s, Rivals.com, and Collegiate Baseball's rankings after a very mediocre weekend.

■ Scout.com lists Evan Frey ('05-'07) among the Fastest Runners in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.

It's hard to rank Frey so low (4th) on a list like this. While he's most definitely fast, much of Frey's effectiveness running comes from savvy and know-how rather than merely outrunning the ball. Oddly enough, he did not steal that many bases at the University of Missouri: just 20 in three years. He accelerates quickly, though his top speed isn't incredible. Frey takes great routes to the ball in center field and gets great jumps on the base paths, making him one of the most effective runners in the organization, even though he's not the very fastest.