is basically that baseball is a game of chance and that there is not much you can do to really control the outcome. We made six errors? All bad bounces, that's baseball. We struck out 20 times? Their pitcher had a good day. That's baseball. We gave up 25 runs? They had a good day at the plate. That's baseball. Etc.
I don't believe that. Is there some degree of luck involved? Sure. But, it's like my uncle says- you make your own luck. There is a reason why teams like the 62 Mets are the 62 Mets and why the 1927 Yankees are the 1927 Yankees.
If you have a weakness, that's not something that's due to bad luck. That's something that's a problem that needs to be corrected. It's up to the coach to correct that. A lot of people wonder what the manager does, but that's what they do. They have to be able to evaluate their players strengths and weaknesses and also evaluate how the team as a whole performs and put the best lineup that gives them the best chance to win.
For example, a guy like Sam Frost, you look at him and you see on the surface as an individual player that he is a walk-on freshman second baseman who has to work on his offense. Not exactly a guy that stands out as a starter based on the eye test. However, because of injuries and issues we had during that very SELU series, he is a key player for us at this time and makes our team so much better because he can catch and throw the ball, even though he is lacking on offense at times. A competent coach has to see that, identify that, and make the change or at least experiment with it to see what happens. If Polk is still around, he sticks Jet Butler out there, he screws up all year and then Polk makes a ton of excuses about it, and MAYBE changes at the end of April or early May. By then it's too late. One simple change at second base has made our team so much better already, and that's all it took. It doesn't always have to be about reps and running bleachers. It's usually about putting someone who can perform.
I think the SELU series is more about a team that had a lot of new players that was trying to figure out the right combination of players to use vs a team that is a good mid-major team that knew that beating MSU could help their resume- especially since they didn't make it the previous year and played their butts off and got some wins. To their credit. They dog piled on the infield for a reason on the Sunday of their series with us. They played us at the right time, and got the job done.
I'll tell you- That's baseball by my definition is playing hard all the time, putting pressure on the other team and doing whatever it takes to win. It means that my team is so well prepared that there is no way that we will be beat because we don't know the fundamentals of the game. That's baseball means we don't beat ourselves with errors and walks. It means that we have a balanced lineup with power and speed, and that everyone is a good hitter. It means having power arms in the rotation, guys that throw strikes, guys that are not afraid to challenge hitters and guys in the bullpen that are consistent and perform their roles. It means that we play the most sound defense in the league. It means that we win most of the time, and should we lose we look at why we lost and learn from it and correct it. To me, that's the right way to play the game. But I didn't write a book.