The game of baseball is full of what ifs. My team, Boston Red Sox, has a century of them. Miss State baseball has had it's share of them too. By telling you, we should be 6-0 or 5-1 in the SEC is like saying I should have married Suzi 20 years ago instead of.....get my meaning. Spilt milk.
From this day forward, what do we do. We must find a third starter on the weekend who can give us 6 innings and keep us in the game. Jacob Lindgren is the Friday guy. He is still a little inexperienced but keep putting him out there. Friday nights we are 1-1 and of course we should have beat LSU...another what if. Kendall Graveman is solid as a rock. Again just keep putting him out there. He is 1-1 in his starts and of course we should have beat Kentucky....another what if.
All we need is a pitcher to give us 6 innings in the 3rd game and when he leaves we are in the game, meaning we are ahead, tied or behind by 2. It's that simple. We have a few guys who are capable but they haven't shown it or given us flashes of it. Evan Mitchell has been tried and it doesn't seem to work. It has been tough luck for him. When he is throwing good, the ump doesn't call his pitches strikes. IMO, Evan is a long reliever when he is on. So put in Evan in relief and if he has his stuff, then leave him in until he doesn't have his stuff. I wouldn't doubt we see Evan start the game on Tuesday night followed by Brandon Woodruff in relief or vice versa.
I think Luis Pollorena will get the 3rd spot this weekend versus Arkansas and when Woodruff gets back to his old self, Woody will be the 3rd starter.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
"The Pitch"
The bottom line in the LSU series is mistakes. We make none on Sunday and we win handily. We do the same on Friday, we win that one too. This post is entitled "The Pitch" bc I think Graveman's pitch over Katz's head will have a wave affect throughout the team. I think it gave them swagger. I wouldn't be surprised if we did very well at Kentucky and at Arkansas bc of it.
The 1# goal going into the SEC season is to win the regular season championship and it looks like that is not going to happen. Why? We don't play the worst teams in the East, Georgia, Tennessee and Missouri. Vanderbilt and South Carolina will play them and sweep most of them. That is there advantage. We play the toughest schedule. If we can win 16-18 in the SEC that should be good enough to host a regional.
We did get markedly better this past weekend. We will get better every weekend. We will be a seasoned, tough team by June. The key IMO, is we need to host a regional. That will give credence to our fans and program.
Now back to "the pitch". LSU's coach has always been a whiner, always. I was there in 2010 when our 1B coach yelled 2 or 3 to the base runner meaning run to 2nd or 3rd and the LSU OF threw it to the wrong base bc he thought that was meant for him. Well, Coach Whiner went to the umpires and complained. The 1B coach has no right to yell to his runner?? If you saw the Super with Stoney Brook, he is constantly saying something to the umps about something he doesn't like. He shouldn't have said anything to the media, he should know baseball by now. Our coaches will take care of whatever happened. Coach Whiner is far from being a class coach.
Like I said, that pitch will have an impact on us long after it happened. I hope we don't face LSU in the SECT bc I don't want to be there past 1 or 2 games. At that point, I want to focus on winning the regional and super.
The 1# goal going into the SEC season is to win the regular season championship and it looks like that is not going to happen. Why? We don't play the worst teams in the East, Georgia, Tennessee and Missouri. Vanderbilt and South Carolina will play them and sweep most of them. That is there advantage. We play the toughest schedule. If we can win 16-18 in the SEC that should be good enough to host a regional.
We did get markedly better this past weekend. We will get better every weekend. We will be a seasoned, tough team by June. The key IMO, is we need to host a regional. That will give credence to our fans and program.
Now back to "the pitch". LSU's coach has always been a whiner, always. I was there in 2010 when our 1B coach yelled 2 or 3 to the base runner meaning run to 2nd or 3rd and the LSU OF threw it to the wrong base bc he thought that was meant for him. Well, Coach Whiner went to the umpires and complained. The 1B coach has no right to yell to his runner?? If you saw the Super with Stoney Brook, he is constantly saying something to the umps about something he doesn't like. He shouldn't have said anything to the media, he should know baseball by now. Our coaches will take care of whatever happened. Coach Whiner is far from being a class coach.
Like I said, that pitch will have an impact on us long after it happened. I hope we don't face LSU in the SECT bc I don't want to be there past 1 or 2 games. At that point, I want to focus on winning the regional and super.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
End of First Phase
I don't know about you but I will take 18-2 after 20 games. Yet still I feel kinda bad bc we could be 20-0. We have such a good team you feel kind of cheated after Central Ark beat us those two games. But the last two years have been some bad losses that have hurt so this year I feel pretty darn good going into SEC play.
I went to Pearl to see them play USM last night. First thing I noticed was the team getting in a huddle like a football team does. They were fired up to play. They were very loose. Even after losing 2 games they shouldn't have lost. This is where the experience factor comes in. Learn from it and move on.
Notes:
Alex Detz is a darn good defender at 1B. He is just a great player all around. He may stay only 1 year after this years draft though.
I think the coaches like the combos of Brett Pirtle and Kyle Hann at 2B, Daryl Norris and Sam Frost at 3B. Hann and Frost can play both positions.
Nick Ammiratti looked excellent behind the plate. His offense is still coming around. In fact, I really didn't see any hitter take bad cuts.
You better go see Hunter Renfroe while you can, this is his last year. He will be a high high draft pick in June.
Like Cohen said after the game, CT Bradford is in a hitting slump but he will come out of it, he is too good.
Wes Rea didn't take infield and after the game Cohen said his leg still is hurting. So maybe an AB here and there until he gets better. And when he does gets better the offense will really take off then.
The crowd in Pearl last night was really good. I do beleive the magic is back in Ms State Baseball.
And lastly, I want to commend the plate umpire last night. His zone was pretty good. If he was the ump versus Central Ark we would have swept them.
SEC Games
With the start of the SEC, I beleive we are ready in all phases except for one and that is a big one: starting pitching. We need to have 3 starters go 5+ innings this weekend and have us in the ballgame when they leave. That is why Arkansas and LSU are picked ahead of us bc of starting pitching. We don't have a Chris Stratton. If we did and he ate up 7-8 innings on Friday night and won more than half those then I would feel great. Friday night starter is the key. That is why we had such a bad weekend versus Central Ark. The Friday starter sets the tone.
We must win 2 of 3 when we are playing at home in the SEC. May be hard to do sometimes but winning on the road is real tough and you are fortunate to win 1.
The SEC schedule for March is pretty tough for us. We play at Kentucky which Cohen knows how the park plays so that is good for us. Then we play at Arkansas. Even though they have struggled in preseason, they are still very talented and it is a tough place to win.
We have a team that can go very far. We have everything a coach would want. The one thing lacking at this point in time is starting pitching. If they will step up and pitch like they are capable then again, we can go all the way.
I went to Pearl to see them play USM last night. First thing I noticed was the team getting in a huddle like a football team does. They were fired up to play. They were very loose. Even after losing 2 games they shouldn't have lost. This is where the experience factor comes in. Learn from it and move on.
Notes:
Alex Detz is a darn good defender at 1B. He is just a great player all around. He may stay only 1 year after this years draft though.
I think the coaches like the combos of Brett Pirtle and Kyle Hann at 2B, Daryl Norris and Sam Frost at 3B. Hann and Frost can play both positions.
Nick Ammiratti looked excellent behind the plate. His offense is still coming around. In fact, I really didn't see any hitter take bad cuts.
You better go see Hunter Renfroe while you can, this is his last year. He will be a high high draft pick in June.
Like Cohen said after the game, CT Bradford is in a hitting slump but he will come out of it, he is too good.
Wes Rea didn't take infield and after the game Cohen said his leg still is hurting. So maybe an AB here and there until he gets better. And when he does gets better the offense will really take off then.
The crowd in Pearl last night was really good. I do beleive the magic is back in Ms State Baseball.
And lastly, I want to commend the plate umpire last night. His zone was pretty good. If he was the ump versus Central Ark we would have swept them.
SEC Games
With the start of the SEC, I beleive we are ready in all phases except for one and that is a big one: starting pitching. We need to have 3 starters go 5+ innings this weekend and have us in the ballgame when they leave. That is why Arkansas and LSU are picked ahead of us bc of starting pitching. We don't have a Chris Stratton. If we did and he ate up 7-8 innings on Friday night and won more than half those then I would feel great. Friday night starter is the key. That is why we had such a bad weekend versus Central Ark. The Friday starter sets the tone.
We must win 2 of 3 when we are playing at home in the SEC. May be hard to do sometimes but winning on the road is real tough and you are fortunate to win 1.
The SEC schedule for March is pretty tough for us. We play at Kentucky which Cohen knows how the park plays so that is good for us. Then we play at Arkansas. Even though they have struggled in preseason, they are still very talented and it is a tough place to win.
We have a team that can go very far. We have everything a coach would want. The one thing lacking at this point in time is starting pitching. If they will step up and pitch like they are capable then again, we can go all the way.
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