[JJJ]

Announcer: "A little off for him today"
Sasaki: I'll show you off

Man, I want to be "a little off" like Sasaki every day.

BC

The "little off" likely was referring to his first 2 ABs - in which, IMHO it was the umpiring crew who were a little off.  in the first inning, he worked a 3-2 count on 7 pitches, then had strike 3 called on him due to a pitch clock violation - apparently stepping out with too little time on the clock to do that.  In my view he was back in ready to go without a peep from the umps.  The Duke dugout was going crazy, then the 3rd base umpire suddenly raised his right arm indicating the strike and the out.  Then in the third inning, he hit a ball that seemed obvious to me (and everyone around me, and everyone in the Stanford dugout) hit off his foot and rolled in front of the plate.  What we all thought was a foul ball turned into a catcher to first ground out.

A couple ABs like that can be tough to come back from, but he went 3-3 with 2 HRs in his final 3 ABs.  Good mental toughness.

My buddy in the third row behind the plate said Sasaki asked for a timeout but wasn’t granted one on that (reverse?) pitch clock violation.

[JJJ]

Announcer: "A little off for him today"
Sasaki: I'll show you off

Man, I want to be "a little off" like Sasaki every day.

BC

The "little off" likely was referring to his first 2 ABs - in which, IMHO it was the umpiring crew who were a little off.  in the first inning, he worked a 3-2 count on 7 pitches, then had strike 3 called on him due to a pitch clock violation - apparently stepping out with too little time on the clock to do that.  In my view he was back in ready to go without a peep from the umps.  The Duke dugout was going crazy, then the 3rd base umpire suddenly raised his right arm indicating the strike and the out.  Then in the third inning, he hit a ball that seemed obvious to me (and everyone around me, and everyone in the Stanford dugout) hit off his foot and rolled in front of the plate.  What we all thought was a foul ball turned into a catcher to first ground out.

A couple ABs like that can be tough to come back from, but he went 3-3 with 2 HRs in his final 3 ABs.  Good mental toughness.

My buddy in the third row behind the plate said Sasaki asked for a timeout but wasn’t granted one on that (reverse?) pitch clock violation.