the soft tossing LHP (Pollo) who tends to leave things up and is going with the harder throwing RHP in Fitts.
Look like Cohen read SPS and is avoiding
- Thread starter missouridawg
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I just hope we have enough
sense to pull him and put girodo/gentry/bracewell/holder in when the time comes. I honestly wouldn't mind seeing us go all out today, if our hitting is up to par with yesterday's performance.
sense to pull him and put girodo/gentry/bracewell/holder in when the time comes. I honestly wouldn't mind seeing us go all out today, if our hitting is up to par with yesterday's performance.
If we could get 3 scoreless innings from Fitts, I'd really like our chances... Especially coming with Girodo and Holder after that.
He's
A two time Louisville Slugger High School AA, so his contributions can't be all that surprising.
A two time Louisville Slugger High School AA, so his contributions can't be all that surprising.
I was just about to bring this up about going all out.
It is going to be interesting to see how Cohen/Thompson handle in-game pitching decisions today. Do you go all in for today and possibly stretch the staff? Or with tomorrow still available for us do you play it safe and play for tomorrow? Probably will have a lot to do with how we are handling the bats. If UVA is getting 10 pitch innings and we are not putting the bat on the ball at all you would think we would hold back some, let the leash out a little longer on our pitchers and just play it out till tomorrow. With a lead, though, I would throw the gauntlet at 'em.
It is going to be interesting to see how Cohen/Thompson handle in-game pitching decisions today. Do you go all in for today and possibly stretch the staff? Or with tomorrow still available for us do you play it safe and play for tomorrow? Probably will have a lot to do with how we are handling the bats. If UVA is getting 10 pitch innings and we are not putting the bat on the ball at all you would think we would hold back some, let the leash out a little longer on our pitchers and just play it out till tomorrow. With a lead, though, I would throw the gauntlet at 'em.
I don't like it. But I didn't like Graveman starting game 1 either. Losing to Graveman was this team's first loss ALL SEASON to a RHP. It seems unlikely that we would beat them with two RHp's in a row....especially with Fitts not being quite as good as Graveman, not yet anyway.
This is a team full of left handed hitters and they will be facing a 90 mph righty with a fairly flat fastball. I hope his change and curve are working because if he doesn't get a generously low strike zone, they could pound Fitts.
But, hopefully I am as wrong as I was yesterday. One thing about it, if we lose with Fitts, we'll have Pollo, Lindgren, Ross, and possibly Girodo to throw at them tomorrow from the left side. I have faith in Fitts, but the initial decision worries me (like everything else MSU sports related does*)
That's easy to say when Fitts has pitched against Mizzou and Central Ark, while Pollo has pitched against all of the SEC guys and against their Friday night starters. Not saying it won't work, but I don't think you can compare ERA's with those two when you consider competition and innings pitched.
I have faith in Cohen, he has gotten us this far, so hopefully it works. Plus, it's not often that our starters stay in long enough to get a decision anyway, so I'm sure we won't leave any of our pitchers in long enough to get beaten up very bad. Our bullpen is too good to have a long leash
Fitts SEC ERA is lower than his overall ERA. Pollo hasn't had a decent outing in well over a month and Fitts has been pitching well down the stretch. Either way, Cohen is just looking at his starter as the first middle reliever from here on out. Really, that's what he's been doing for most of the 2nd half of the season other than Graveman's starts.
I like Fitts too. With our pen we only need 3 IP. Fitts is less likely to give up big runs in 3 innings than Pollo.
I knew someone would pick that one thing out of everything I said. But to answer your question, when you are facing a Friday night Ace, you have a tendency to try and be perfect because you don't think you have room for error. Therefore you walk more batters or end up making even more mistake pitches.
I agree. I'm not necessarily against Fitts, but just RHP in general make me nervous against this team. I actually thought we may see Lindgren start today. I agree that Pollo has a tendency o throw a very flat fastball at times, so he can get crushed.
ETA: All things considered, I wouldn't be surprised to see Pollo out of the pen today depending on how things are looking.
If our hitters keeps ripping, we could trot Todd4 out there and win today.**
I'm sure his knowledge alone would get him through 3-4 innings easy.
If Frazier and Renfroe continue their tear, and the bottom of lineup continues to put runners on base in front of those two, we will be tough to beat.
I'm sure his knowledge alone would get him through 3-4 innings easy.
If Frazier and Renfroe continue their tear, and the bottom of lineup continues to put runners on base in front of those two, we will be tough to beat.
Thats my thinking as well. We just need 3 innings and we can turn it over to Girardo, Bracewell, Holder. I don't trust Pollo a second time through the lineup.
Unless we go down big early I hope Cohen goes for the jugular. UVA is now playing for their lives and hopefully a little nervous and tight. We burned through their bullpen yesterday so hopefully they have some availability issues. Best thing we could do is bounce their starter by the 3rd inning.
I meant more him emerging at the end of the season. Saw him just a few times in relief against nobodies last year and I had completely forgotten about him until he came in for a relief appearance in April... then he's had some really good starts since.
Almost every kid coming into Mississippi State now has high school honors, whether that's being drafted early, being Mr. Baseball, or being an All-American.
One thing about Fitts is that he typically throws strikes and doesn't walk a lot of people. If our defense is playing well behind him, he could be successful. That is probably Cohen's thinking, or part of it....Walks are the big killer, so make them earn a win if they are going to get one.
Maybe so, but that coach that you just mentioned has "matchup'ed" our asses all the way to a 1-0 lead in a road Super...so there may be more to those matchups than any of us think. After all, a majority of our fans says we have a bunch of Punch and Judy hitters and no starting pitching....so those matchups have been big for us this season.
Exactly.
If we can get Fitts to face their order twice, I think that's the best that can be expected. We basically have a staff that consists of middle relievers and Holder. I'd go as far as saying I'd be fine with Cohen and Butch scheduling the appearances today, so to say. (In no particular order) Fitts 3, Bracewell 2, Girodo 2, Holder 2.
ETA: of course if someone is dealing it, I have no problem w them going longer. I just hope we have an extremely quick hook if things go south.
If we can get Fitts to face their order twice, I think that's the best that can be expected. We basically have a staff that consists of middle relievers and Holder. I'd go as far as saying I'd be fine with Cohen and Butch scheduling the appearances today, so to say. (In no particular order) Fitts 3, Bracewell 2, Girodo 2, Holder 2.
ETA: of course if someone is dealing it, I have no problem w them going longer. I just hope we have an extremely quick hook if things go south.
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Well, he pitched a righty in the 1st game to get to 1-0 in the super. He's done an outstanding job this season. He has outsmarted himself a few times though. One thing he's definitely done right is go to the best bullpen in college baseball early and often.
Guess so. Do you remember graveman throwing complete game against aTm with big lead? Holder closing game against auburn with big lead? We wouldn't use anyone but holder and Ross out of bullpen for a stretch
Yes, everyone remembers those
but those guys are our best pitchers and in those situations where we needed to/could go with them, we did. We also had good production from our starters during that stretch, too.
- A&M- We didn't need a quick hook with Graveman because he's a sr. and was pitching well (Only pitched 110 pitches, if I remember correctly)... no reason to give him the hook
- Auburn- They hit 2 straight doubles in the 7th to cut the lead to 3 (forgot who was pitching prior). Holder was available to come into a save situation, so we brought him in. He pitched us out of it and we won the series.
No indication throughout that stretch for me to panic about our pen. The depth has been there all year.
but those guys are our best pitchers and in those situations where we needed to/could go with them, we did. We also had good production from our starters during that stretch, too.
- A&M- We didn't need a quick hook with Graveman because he's a sr. and was pitching well (Only pitched 110 pitches, if I remember correctly)... no reason to give him the hook
- Auburn- They hit 2 straight doubles in the 7th to cut the lead to 3 (forgot who was pitching prior). Holder was available to come into a save situation, so we brought him in. He pitched us out of it and we won the series.
No indication throughout that stretch for me to panic about our pen. The depth has been there all year.
Yes, we remember you wringing your hands over us not having a bullpen that was worth a ****. And you thinking that you knew exactly what was going on in the minds of the coaches. You knew who they trusted and all that, right?