7.30 Tues night at The Cliff...should be a full house better get there early. Would make the drive if I already had a ticket
Cats vs Otis ...
- Thread starter sluggercatfan
- Start date
The game is Wednesday night and sadly, it looks like the weather is not going to cooperate. I have three tickets in the reserved section that I won't be using. With the game at 7:30 and work starting at 630 the next morning, I just can't make it.
As for the game itself, I have this feeling it could get ugly. I just don't think UK has the pitching to stay with Louisville. Especially the starters for midweek games.
As for the game itself, I have this feeling it could get ugly. I just don't think UK has the pitching to stay with Louisville. Especially the starters for midweek games.
Think you and you are correct about the weather...sucks...and you are correct in that I think Oits has scored almost 70 runs in the last 5 games...thats scary good
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I don't know. We seem to show up in the big time games, but if the trend holds up on the midweek then this one could get ugly. Louisville is a hell of a team and getting a win against them will definitely build confidence and help build our resume.
I got three tickets for me and the kids for the game in Louisville last year and it was postponed due to deluge...that's Spring time in Kentucky.
Louisville plays tonight with Funkhouser our two and a half year Friday starter being pushed back to a Sunday slot tonight against Va Tech. Louisville's midweek pitcher Kade McClure is 6-0, but our midweek games with the possible exception of Western have been pretty punchless. Louisville has been knocking the hell out of the ball since the opening night loss to UVa a week and a half ago.
Louisville plays tonight with Funkhouser our two and a half year Friday starter being pushed back to a Sunday slot tonight against Va Tech. Louisville's midweek pitcher Kade McClure is 6-0, but our midweek games with the possible exception of Western have been pretty punchless. Louisville has been knocking the hell out of the ball since the opening night loss to UVa a week and a half ago.
Glad to have you CardHack. Should be an interesting game. It is almost always a competitive game and you really never know what will happen. Louisville is an exceptional team and once again they have been able to develop 4 solid pitchers. Their pitching staff is just unbelievable. An overall team era, once again, of 2.20. McClure is going to be hard to beat.
UK pitching during the midweek has struggled. I am curious to see what Henderson will do. We did not use Justin Lewis out of the bullpen this weekend, so it might be possible to use him as a starter on Wednesday. However, I don't think Henderson has the intelligence or go-nads to do that. Instead, he'll likely march out Zach Pop and his 6.00 ERA out to the mound. Pop hasn't gone over 4 innings this year in his 5 starts, but for some reason Henderson likes to rely on him during the midweek. Would also be nice if we could just go ahead and pitch Zack Brown on Wednesday and replace him with Beggs on Friday and have Lewis start on Saturday. However, once again, I highly doubt that Henderson will change his weekend starters despite the struggles of Brown.
As for UK at the plate... never know. It can be feast or famine. Might also depend on how Henderson wants this thing to play out. He's moved things around a lot and had some strange moves. He needs to continue to make some moves, but it isn't the moves he needs to. Wilson needs to be moved down. He's merely hitting .114 in league play. Shelby is also struggling in league play hitting just .216. It might be better to have Becker leading off and Reks hitting third. Move Shelby to hitting 5th or 6th with Wilson probably hitting 9th. Still, Henderson likely won't mess with his top 3-4 guys and will only move around the bottom half of the lineup.
Could be a big time game and a great one if UK shows up and plays like they have the ability. However, it could be worse than the UK/WKU game from a few weeks ago if UK lays another egg.
I never have anyone agree with me on this, but I've thought it would be to both UK and UofL's benefit in baseball to play consecutive midweek games on a Tuesday/Wednesday and do it twice in the year to bring the total number of games from two to four. RPI is a big deal in tourney selection and replacing some of the MAC or OVC games with each other would be mutually beneficial in that context.
We've seen Louisville take an unusual path through the season so far. Funkhouser as the Friday starter has been wholly ineffective with the classic power pitcher lament, he gets behind in the count, loses confidence in his breaking pitches and gets blistered on fastball counts. McKay and Drew Harrington have been outstanding along with McClure probably to the extent that it's been to the detriment of the relief corps which on the backend is a real strength with Henzmann and Burdi and a handful of your classic 6"4 to 6"7 underclassmen with great arms. The relief corps really hasn't gotten enough work. It doesn't show up in regular season series of course, but when you have three starters you know are going to get you into the seventh without the need for anything more than minimal run support is huge in postseason. If the move of Funkhouser to the Sunday slot gets him righted that will make them that much more dangerous.
They are starting to hit the ball but I caution even our own people on this...we do play at a whole different level at home. Jim Patterson isn't a hitter's ballpark by any stretch though with the wind conditions this weekend it played like one (both of UVa's homers Saturday were unquestionably wind aided). If Louisville gets the Regional Seed and stays healthy, they would be very difficult to put out with what they have in their pitching staff in a three game series.
UK doesn't seem to have a #3 pitcher...definitely do not have midweek depth at that position. I don't see this one going too well.
One thing I would think would be really cool for UL/UK would be to do something like Auburn and Alabama do. Every year they play what they call the "Capital City Classic" in Montgomery. They play in the Montgomery Biscuits stadium and they play the game very near the beginning of the season, before the Montgomery Biscuits start their season. It is a huge draw. Kentucky and Louisville could play early games in the year, one midweek game at the Louisville Bats stadium and then the next week do one at the Lexington Legends stadium. The minor league teams and their marketing programs could promote the game as well as the UK/UL marketing teams. The two teams could then play midweek games home/away later in the year. This would help promote the series and baseball in the state. The two games in the midweek would be pretty good as well. I think the more you can lump some games together the more you're going to get a good crowd and the more you can promote it.
I have to laugh at you lamenting about Funkhouser struggling. His ERA is 4.89... our TEAM ERA is 4.10, and 5.62 in league play. I'd be quite happy if one of our weekend starters was "struggling" at 4.89. Instead, Cody is pitching pretty well with an ERA of 5.56 and Brown is struggling at 7.12. I have to laugh to keep from crying... I hate you Gary Henderson. haha
Last year we threw lefties against UofL and they fared pretty well. Maybe Zack Logue, or Logan Salow, with a dose of Dylan Dwyer. Keep it close until the 8th inning or so, and let Strecker and Hjellie close it out.
Double dip that evening UK-UL softball game at 5:30 and Baseball game at 7:30, baseball to be on ESPNU.
Double dip that evening UK-UL softball game at 5:30 and Baseball game at 7:30, baseball to be on ESPNU.
Just checked the forecast and it is 50% for part of baseball, but don't forget SB game at 5.30....thinking seriously about driving down from Lou , just don't know if I want to risk it
Both the softball and baseball games have been postponed. Baseball game is rescheduled for next Wednesday and there's no makeup date yet for softball.
Huge series this weekend. Have to take at least 2 of 3 at home, and would be nice to get a Friday win for a change.
It is obvious to me that Henderson doesn't give two ***** about this game.
Cats missed a big inning by literally inches in the 6th. Squires liner down the LF line just foul would have cut it to at least 7-5.
Just cannot string hits together tonight, we have had runners on in almost every inning.
Just cannot string hits together tonight, we have had runners on in almost every inning.
Can't leave all the guys stranded...has to be close o double digits. Just don't have a deep staff like Otis does.
Our staff could be pretty deep... problem is that Henderson only truly trusts 1-2 guys ever year, so he never actually develops a bullpen.
Why was he not in the starting line up, he is playing against both Louisville and his brother !
Because Hairston is a righty and the pitcher they threw today was a righty. Henderson has been huge with these matchups and hasn't actually cared at all about who has hit well against who. It is pure righty v. lefty and lefty v. righty.
In reading the pre-game interviews he pretty much all but wrote this game off. Acted like it was important, but not really. This series is huge. Just as big as a weekend series. We have to beat Louisville in one of these games. Now we have to beat them on the road. I highly doubt that happens.
I do like how the Cats battled back from a 7-0 defecit, an interesting stat, all of the 9 hitters in the line up had at least 1 hit except Shelby, and he fanned 4 times. Maybe they should move him down in the order, take some pressure off.
I've said this hundreds of times and I'll say it again. As long as 20 is the mgr, UK will never do anything. What we've had since he's been here is a just short of a clown show.
I am not a fan of Henderson at all, but for a litter perspective...Uncheat 11..SC 0 heading to the 9th
USC has won two CWS. We've never been out of a regional. Their new coach hasn't done quite as well but they at least have something good to look back on. Plus they know if they continue to underperform with this new coach that Ray Tanner will likely fire him. Barnhart will seemingly keep Henderson until the second coming.
I said it in the notes on my story, but Shelby's average is down 89 points since his seven RBI game against Georgia on March 20.
I simply do not understand why Zack Arnold and Doc Hairston, 2 veteran players, who can both hit, never get a whole lot of PT. Pompey will be a good one, Wilson is inconsistent, and is NOT a lead off man.
I understand match ups, lefty vs righty and so forth. However veteran players have seen it all pretty much, and Hairston was a prime example last night !
I understand match ups, lefty vs righty and so forth. However veteran players have seen it all pretty much, and Hairston was a prime example last night !