burning Pomeranz in the first game was not the best strategy to get out of the regional. The old adage of winning one game at a time is nuts. You have to actually have a strategy for winning the whole thing...not just one game at a time. Obviously, UM was going to have to beat UVA to win the tourney and their best shot was to try and win the first game without Pomeranz. A stud pitcher like him should be saved for the tourney favorite. Probably I am in the minority on this one but I think it is being very short sighted to look at it in any other way.
Bianco's Old School Approach Biting Him In Butt
- Thread starter jbulldog
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burning Pomeranz in the first game was not the best strategy to get out of the regional. The old adage of winning one game at a time is nuts. You have to actually have a strategy for winning the whole thing...not just one game at a time. Obviously, UM was going to have to beat UVA to win the tourney and their best shot was to try and win the first game without Pomeranz. A stud pitcher like him should be saved for the tourney favorite. Probably I am in the minority on this one but I think it is being very short sighted to look at it in any other way.
You have to play the odds that give you the best chance to win both of your first two games. Whatever give you the best odds to do that is what you have to go with.
BFB
BFB
the general adage many go by is that if you are the best team in the regional, you just line em up and mow em down. put your best team out there every time you play. however, if you are, say, second best (as Ole Miss was), then you need to think about employing strategy gain an advantage over a team that is better than you...especially with a gem like pomeranz. cheers though. was anything else expected from the rebs this time of year?
J
JimHalpert.nafoom
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We have the pitching to win at most two games in a regional. After Barrett and Pom pitched we were going to lose almost regardless of who we were playing. If we had waited to play Pom we probably would have started off with a loss and he would have had to pitch us out of a hole.
The fact is that we came into the regional with one pitcher (Pom) who is great but hasn't been on fire lately like he was earlier in the season, a good pitcher (Barrett) who has been garbage lately, and a heaping pile of dogshit for a bullpen.
We were never going to win this regional.
The fact is that we came into the regional with one pitcher (Pom) who is great but hasn't been on fire lately like he was earlier in the season, a good pitcher (Barrett) who has been garbage lately, and a heaping pile of dogshit for a bullpen.
We were never going to win this regional.
UVA was pretty heavily expected to win this regional. Even the UM fans i talked used words like "need to get lucky" and "catch some breaks" when talking about this weekend.
UM's problem is that their staff for the most part isn't very good. Pomeranz is as good as they come, but beyond that it's pretty thin. Their biggest problem this weekend wasn't "when should we pitch Pomeranze," it was "who else can get us a win in this tournament beside Pom."
I think the answer was "not really anyone".
Having said that, as an MSU fan I would kill to have a staff that sucked as bad as OM's this year.
UM's problem is that their staff for the most part isn't very good. Pomeranz is as good as they come, but beyond that it's pretty thin. Their biggest problem this weekend wasn't "when should we pitch Pomeranze," it was "who else can get us a win in this tournament beside Pom."
I think the answer was "not really anyone".
Having said that, as an MSU fan I would kill to have a staff that sucked as bad as OM's this year.
We had almost no shot at winning the regional no matter what rotation we used. It wasn't going to happen, and that falls on Bianco for putting together a team that doesn't even have the ability to win a regional no matter what strings he pulls.
He's let the talent slide, and that falls on his head. 10 years with no trips to Omaha is pathetic. I don't care where you coach. If you're in the SEC, that's not good enough.
He's let the talent slide, and that falls on his head. 10 years with no trips to Omaha is pathetic. I don't care where you coach. If you're in the SEC, that's not good enough.
You have to give yourself the best shot. And that was by throwing Barrett G1 and Pom G2. Does ole miss lose twice on Sun/Mon? Maybe.
But then again, St. John's beat Va last night with almost no pitching so who is to say ole miss couldn't have beaten them once if they had gone 2-0.
But then again, St. John's beat Va last night with almost no pitching so who is to say ole miss couldn't have beaten them once if they had gone 2-0.
That St. John's is not a pushover.
They're a good team- they beat Ole Miss AND Virginia in the same day. I don't think they beat Virginia tommorrow, but that's still quite a feat.
They're a good team- they beat Ole Miss AND Virginia in the same day. I don't think they beat Virginia tommorrow, but that's still quite a feat.
for Ole Miss. Whether you lose game 1 or 2 makes no difference if you are definitely going to lose one of them so holding your best pitcher for game 2 is the way to go when you are playing a team supposedly weaker than you in game 1. If you do that and win game 2 and put the "better" team in the loser's bracket they eat up some additional pitching just getting back to play you again and then still have to beat you twice. Would seem there is much more than a negligible difference in percentages of winning the regional when you are the lone team left in the winner's bracket no matter what you have left in the pitching department. Only disadvantage in pitching your best in game 2 is that IF you make it to a Monday game you likely can't bring him back to pitch any in that game. Still think its more important to stay in the winner's bracket.
Who knows how their 4th and 5th pitchers line up against your 3rd and 4th? Very few college teams have any pitching left playing their 5th game in 4 days.
but I just don't think it would've mattered. Based on the way Barrett threw, we'd have been playing VCU in the loser's bracket had we thrown him in the opening game.
Even if we had lucked into a 2-0 start, I don't see how we would've won a third game. We just weren't that good, and that falls on Bianco.
I said before the tournament that the way our team was built, we would have a better chance winning a Super regional than winning a regional, because we didn't have pitching depth, and we didn't have an offense that was typically capable of taking advantage of a team's lower level pitching.
The bats obviously showed up for once for us this weekend, but our lack of pitching depth was really bad. We just weren't built for a regional, and by that I mean we just weren't very good. We could get enough pitching and hits to have a shot to win 2 of 3 against some good teams. We couldn't get enough for a regional format.
Even if we had lucked into a 2-0 start, I don't see how we would've won a third game. We just weren't that good, and that falls on Bianco.
I said before the tournament that the way our team was built, we would have a better chance winning a Super regional than winning a regional, because we didn't have pitching depth, and we didn't have an offense that was typically capable of taking advantage of a team's lower level pitching.
The bats obviously showed up for once for us this weekend, but our lack of pitching depth was really bad. We just weren't built for a regional, and by that I mean we just weren't very good. We could get enough pitching and hits to have a shot to win 2 of 3 against some good teams. We couldn't get enough for a regional format.
we weren't going to win it, and we wouldn't win the super anyway. I would have preferred to save him for UVA, but I just don't think it matters.
Ole Miss was not a bad team. You have to go Barrett vs. St. John's, Pomeranz vs. Virginia, then figure out the rest from there. Chances are alot better to win through the winner's bracket than come through the loser's bracket. Another poster posted that going Pomeranz vs. St. John's was correct so you could bring him back for the last game, but I believe that's a bigger chance to take.
So it does matter. Look at St. John's vs. Virginia. After a 20-16 game using about 14 pitchers, they come back and beat a Top 5 team at their place and force another game. That's baseball.
And you don't think you would have won a Super? You don't like your chances with a Top 5 MLB draft guy and another solid starter in a best of 3 series?
Sounds to me like you're trying to deflect a little disappointment. Being a State fan, I was definitely worried about Ole Miss advancing this year, always dangerous with those two pitchers on the roster. When I saw that Pom was pitching Game 1, I knew you'd get eliminated. That's how dumb Bianco's call was, in my opinion.
So it does matter. Look at St. John's vs. Virginia. After a 20-16 game using about 14 pitchers, they come back and beat a Top 5 team at their place and force another game. That's baseball.
And you don't think you would have won a Super? You don't like your chances with a Top 5 MLB draft guy and another solid starter in a best of 3 series?
Sounds to me like you're trying to deflect a little disappointment. Being a State fan, I was definitely worried about Ole Miss advancing this year, always dangerous with those two pitchers on the roster. When I saw that Pom was pitching Game 1, I knew you'd get eliminated. That's how dumb Bianco's call was, in my opinion.
Nomoreusernamesleft said:
Yes, we were. Dead last in the SEC in hitting and middle of the pack in pitching solely based on the results of 3 pitchers (Pomeranz, Barrett, and Huber), one of which was falling off big time toward the end of the year (Barrett). We were not a very good team, and we weren't as good as our 16-14 record indicated. This, in my opinion, was one of the weakest teams Bianco has ever put on the field, possibly even the weakest.
what's next year going to look like? Is Huber going to be a weekend starter? Maybe, if Morgan can come back to form. Will Ferguson and Smith get drafted?
even though you would look like a full-on retard to the rest of the country (the part that cares about baseball, anyway). I think he's one of the very few 'can't miss' coaches out there right now.
But just like MSU and say, Stansbury, I highly doubt your athletic administration has even given a fraction of a second's thoughttowards the potential firing of Mike Bianco.
But just like MSU and say, Stansbury, I highly doubt your athletic administration has even given a fraction of a second's thoughttowards the potential firing of Mike Bianco.
but I'd take either one. The thing both of them have that Bianco doesn't is the understanding that they can't coach everything and micromanage their teams. Well, that, and they've both been to Omaha.