So what, if anything, did we learn from the first weekend?

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CadaverDawg

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1. While our starting pitchers weren't dominant, they were solid. And overall our pitching appears to be a strength again if this weekend is a precursor.

2. Our hitting was superb in Game 1, and then average after that. If that continues, it is an improvement over last year because we were below average hitting team last year.

3. Our defense is very good, and our outfield has serious speed. Frazier is stout at SS. We will likely see a revolving door at 2nd base, with Cohen going with the hot bat. I was thinking Henderson's job may be in jeopardy early in the weekend, but he finished with some key hits in the last few games and Robson took too many fastballs down the middle...so as of now LF seems to be Henderson's to lose.

4. Will James still hates a bunt. And this is going to be a terribly long year on the board if we have a thread for every bunt. I think drt is on to something, and we should have a bunt thread for every game so they can at least all be consolidated.

5. We held our opponent to 4 runs in 4 games this weekend. We did it without even pitching our Ace. And our stud closer only pitched in one game.

6. It was great to see CT swinging the bat well, and Frazier picked up where he left off. Renfroe is going to be a masher, and Rea appears to have improved his hitting we just need him to stay healthy. We definitely have some solid young talent that will help push our starters to stay sharp. I'm still a little worried about the end of the lineup, but at least there are several guys with the ability to step up. Norris started out well, but faded fast today. I still expect him to start and be a good bat near the end of the lineup. We need some guys to reach base ahead of Frazier.

7. Has their ever been a team with as many midget left handed hitters as we have. Not complaining, we just seem really small except for big Wes.

8. It's really too early to tell a whole lot, so this thread is somewhat pointless....but the bottom line is that we are 4-0. Arkansas, Vandy, South Carolina, and Florida cannot say the same. We just gotta keep winning in the non conference so that we are in good shape come SEC play.

Feel free to add to what we learned. Also, does anyone know what Woodruff's status is, and who we will likely start at pitcher on Tuesday night?
 

Will James

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1. They will go longer in games later in the season and dominate. They did everything that was asked. Solid A for the starters.

2. It will be an improvement from last year because being any worse is impossible.

3. Gotta remember Robson will go through his growing pains like everyone else. His K today with 2 men in scoring position was really bad. All he has to do is roll a ground ball to 2B there. Hendersons to lose for sure.

4. Yeah. Also I don't start threads in game.

5. Solid weekend

6. CT is a huge factor in our success.

7. Nm

8. Can't tell until some league play

Added: How about Mitch 17ing Slauter!!!! Any extra from his leadership and catching would be a plus an man didn't he look great at the plate.
 

MetEdDawg

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Here's what I took from this weekend

1) We have quality arms for days. We actually only gave up 3 runs this weekend, not 4. If I did the math right, that's a .75 ERA for a 4 game weekend. I don't care who you are playing. That's damn good, and it's better than every other ranked team in the entire nation did this weekend, and most of them only played 3 games. If our rotation stays healthy, we will finish Top 3 in the SEC at the end of the year. We've got 5 quality SEC starters in Lindgren, Woodruff, Graveman, Cox, and Evan Mitchell. We've got quality bullpen guys like Bracewell, Pollo, and Fitts that can start in a pinch. And we've got Ross Mitchell, Shelley, Girodo, Gentry, and Holder that all can and will come out of the bullpen. That's solid depth all over the place.

2) You may not find a better overall 1-2 punch at the top of a lineup than Frazier and Bradford. Frazier hit .500 with 3 RBI, 4 runs, 8 hits, and a stolen base. Bradford hit .357 with 3 RBI, 3 runs, a HR, a stolen base, a BB, and a HBP. They were on base all weekend and they fielded their asses off. These two guys are special and if they stay healthy, our offense is gonna go this year.

3) There wasn't one point in any of the games where I felt uncomfortable with what our team was doing. Runners on base, pitchers in jams, clutch plate situations, I felt like our team was going to make a play regardless. We can point to the quality of the opponent, but the point is that this team finally has all the parts to make you feel like we've got a chance to come through in every pressure situation. That's a really nice feeling.

4) We've got some quality youth. I love Robson. He's a player and he will see the field a lot this year. Gentry looked good, Flair looked good, Brown looked good, I like Shelley. Few others sprinkled in there, but you can clearly see the talent these guys have and will bring to the table this year.

5) We are going to be nasty on defense. Best defensive outfield in the SEC, Frazier was solid all weekend. 4 games, 1 error. Now they weren't putting it in play much because our staff was too busy striking out 36 guys this weekend, which for those of you playing at home that's 9 a game. But overall our defense was really good. Anytime you pitch well and play good defense, you give yourself a chance every game.

6) To me, there isn't a clear weakness on the team. 2nd base is still undecided, but I don't see any part of our team that we can look at and say for certain that it will keep us from Omaha. The whole lineup hit this weekend, the starters weren't overpowering but they were solid and managed tough situations well, the bullpen was very solid, and the defense was great.

Obviously it's early, but you have to be pleased after what you saw this weekend. I think it's pretty clear this team has what it takes to get to Omaha. The question, like always, is can you stay healthy and can you stay consistent through the whole season. Can't go on 4 or 5 game losing streaks in conference. Stay healthy and play consistently good baseball. If we can do that, we should have a fun season.
 
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CadaverDawg

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Yea, not sure how I forgot to mention Mitch Slauter. He was absolutely incredible this weekend.
 

Lawdawg.sixpack

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1. Sixpack will be unreadable during baseball season if the bitching about bunting continues throughout.
 

drt7891

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It can't get any worse than the C34 threads used to get during the Stansbury era... this place was damn near unreadable after a loss (or even some wins with the douchebags wanting to prove him wrong).
 

patdog

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Completely agree except that think the only reason the pitching didn't seem dominant was because the staff set the bar so high after last year. As I've been saying ever since late last season, I'm more optimistic about MSU baseball than I've been in more than a decade.
 

dawgstudent

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It's annoying if there will be a 20+ reply thread every time we bunt. Just let it go.
 

Shmuley

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One takeaway for me. I don't think one key injury will destroy our season. Quality depth.
 

dawg21

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Swag

This team is full of confidence and focus. I went to a few games early last year too and this team is miles ahead of where we were last year this early in the season. If we get hot at the right time we can compete at the highest level.

Also, not sure if its going to be standard procedure but they announced Friday in the 2nd inning that all fans could move to the grandstands....this makes a big difference in the experience. Hope this continues.
 

Coach34

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1. While our starting pitchers weren't dominant, they were solid. And overall our pitching appears to be a strength again if this weekend is a precursor.



5. We held our opponent to 4 runs in 4 games this weekend. We did it without even pitching our Ace. And our stud closer only pitched in one game.

That was as dominating of a pitching performance as you are likely to see in a college baseball series

45 strikeouts in 36 innings? Dominating
Only 20 hits in 36 innings? Dominating

Just because our starters didnt go deep into the games- didnt mean they didnt dominate...they pitched 20.1 innings and gave up only 2 runs for an ERA of less than 1.00
 

Lawdawg.sixpack

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You should learn to let go. It's just a message board. The bitchfest is all due to your incessant need to prove yourself. But whatever makes you feel good about yourself...
 

CadaverDawg

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That was as dominating of a pitching performance as you are likely to see in a college baseball series

45 strikeouts in 36 innings? Dominating
Only 20 hits in 36 innings? Dominating

Just because our starters didnt go deep into the games- didnt mean they didnt dominate...they pitched 20.1 innings and gave up only 2 runs for an ERA of less than 1.00

I agree about the stats, but I'm talking overall command and performance. In other words, there were several missed spots and a few too many walks....but all in all they were very solid. Dominant is Chris Stratton last year....and nobody showed signs of being a dominant pitcher this weekend. But we obviously have some guys capable of becoming dominant, and Woodruff if healthy could be that guy as well.

I'm pumped about everything I saw this weekend, especially the pitching. I am anxious to see Woodruff, because I would love for us to have another shut down guy for Friday nights that can get us a W every weekend.
 
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I learned that Will James is the top 10 worst posters to ever type something on SPS.
I haven't posted on here much since the board change. So can someone tell me where this guy came from, and what MLB team did he coach?
 
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Will James

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I learned that Will James is the top 10 worst posters to ever type something on SPS.
I haven't posted on here much since the board change. So can someone tell me where this guy came from, and what MLB did he coach?

I learned that facts still hurt some peoples feelings and that a majority of knowledgeable baseball posters agree with Man on First No Out.
 

Hump4Hoops

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The vast majority of people that want you to shut the 17 up

think that you're probably technically right, but the fact that you're such an obnoxious attention whoring whiner over such a small detail makes me root for us to **** anyway, just to increase the chances you have an aneurysm.
 

Will James

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think that you're probably technically right, but the fact that you're such an obnoxious attention whoring whiner over such a small detail makes me root for us to **** anyway, just to increase the chances you have an aneurysm.

Its not that small of a detail and I don't seek attention. Threads started, 0. Threads responded to about it, 2. If it bothers you don't view those small portion of threads.
 

IBleedMaroonDawg

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Nov 12, 2007
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Are you kin to 34?

He likes to post constantly about the same **** over and over and over and over and over and write it all off to his "facts."
 

Tds & Beer

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We are still bad about pulling off breaking balls. If we can take the next step on offense, it will be because we are keeping our shoulder in and not pulling off those pitches. Lookin at you Rea and Renfroe.
 

Will James

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Live by the ****, die by the ****

Do you all want to know why this move is such an important issue??? Last year in league play we scored in over twice as many innings (55% to 23%) when not bnuting man on 1 no outs (1.12 runs/inn to .2). This equates to dropping 21 runs in SEC play only.

The road to Omaha is paved by hosting, the difference in hosting could be as minuscule as two or three games. Dropping 15+ runs this year in SEC play by doing that **** will inevitably cost us games. This is the only part of our game where we aren't maximizing our potential. I don't want to be left out of hosting either a Regional or a Super and have to try to go on the road because of this ****. This is why it annoys me because it is so unnecessary and could drastically hurt our chances at making it to Omaha by not hosting; not to mention if we actually employ the strategy once we get to the NCAA's like RougeDawg said yesterday.
 

hatfieldms

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Feb 20, 2008
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Hopefully you will also eventually learn.....

......that you don't have to constantly repeat yourself to get your point across. It is annoying as hell. Between you and rugbdawg this board will be annoying as hell until baseball season ends which is hard to believe when we have a top 5 team
 

Lawdawg.sixpack

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Jul 22, 2012
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The fallacy in your argument is that you are saying we should play the percentages, but you are using what actually happened instead of the percentages. Let me give you an example. Coin flips are 50/50. But if you flip a coin 10 times, you might not get 5 heads and 5 tails. But even if you get 9 heads in a row, he next time you flip the coin, your odds are still 50/50.

If you strictly the percentages, then it is more likely that you can get one hit in two attempts (with a sacrifice) than getting two hits in three attempts (no sacrifice). I understand as well as you do that there are other variables - extra base hits, walks, errors, etc -so you can't just use hitting % or even OBP to do the math. And then you have to consider the hitter's likelihood of those, who is behind him in the lineup, who is pitching for you and the other team, current score and inning, etc.

I wholeheartedly agree that you shouldn't sacrifice every single time with man on first no out -you often give up the chance of a big inning. but to say that you should NEVER isn't correct either. I agree that you don't want to take the bat out of your best hitter's hands unless its late in a one-run game. But it's situational. There's not an absolute rule.

BUT MY GOD, JUST LET IT GO. WE GET YOUR POINT.
 

patdog

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It's actually not. Boyd did a study on the percentages a couple of years ago. On average you score both more runs and score at least 1 run more often with a man on 1st with 0* out than you will with a man on 2nd with 1 out. It's a fact. If anything, his flaw is in not looking at who was doing the ****ing. If you have a weak hitter at the plate, you may be better off b-u-n-t-ing in that situation.

* - Corrected from original post.
 
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Will James

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It's actually not. Boyd did a study on the percentages a couple of years ago. On average you score both more runs and score at least 1 run more often with a man on 1st with 1 out than you will with a man on 2nd with 1 out. It's a fact. If anything, his flaw is in not looking at who was doing the ****ing. If you have a weak hitter at the plate, you may be better off ****ing in that situation.

You meant "man on first 0 outs than you will with a man on 2nd 1 out".

Boyd updated his numbers and just looked at 2011-2012 with the BBCOR bats. Same results, you score more AND have a higher chance of scoring at least 1.

http://www.boydsworld.com/data/ert.html

Here is who was doing the bnuting Pat in our league games with Man on 1, 0 out

Frazier 3
Rea 3
Britton 3
Frost 3
Bradford 3
Renfroe 3
Slauter 2
Norris 2
Jones 1
Stark 1
Brownlee 1
Fullerton 1

Pat gets it. Rouge gets it. Coach gets it. Philly gets it. Others are coming onboard. This costs us runs and games and could potentially cost us a hosting opportunity. Thats why is such a big 17ing deal and you idiots that think it's not are wrong.
 

Lawdawg.sixpack

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Though I haven't seen the study, I can understand that - I definitely understand that there are a lot of other variables in play, so it's not just a simple batting average analysis. And in college baseball, with metal bats and lower quality pitching and fielding than MLB, I would think you should **** LESS in college baseball (except that every hitter in mLB is a professional, but I digress). Plus you generally need more runs and therefore big innings in the college game. But there are still situations where you want to **** a man to second.

I think it's funny, because I mostly agree with him, but it will get real old if every game produces the same "discussion".
 

MSUDawg4Life

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Though I haven't seen the study, I can understand that - I definitely understand that there are a lot of other variables in play, so it's not just a simple batting average analysis. And in college baseball, with metal bats and lower quality pitching and fielding than MLB, I would think you should **** LESS in college baseball (except that every hitter in mLB is a professional, but I digress). Plus you generally need more runs and therefore big innings in the college game. But there are still situations where you want to **** a man to second.

I think it's funny, because I mostly agree with him, but it will get real old if every game produces the same "discussion".

Agreed.

It would be great to have a baseball game thread without his whining and attempts to second-guess every coaching decision Cohen makes.
 

patdog

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May 28, 2007
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Agreed. He does link the study in his reply to my post. It's pretty interesting. Like you, I agree with him in most situations. But you can't just look at the stats or you'd always be doing the exact same thing every time you faced a situation and the other team would pitch/defend you accordingly. You have to change it up depending on who's at the plate and occasionally you have to go against the percentages. But you'd better be going with the percentages a lot more than you go against them or you're hurting your own team.
 

Will James

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Agreed.

It would be great to have a baseball game thread without his whining and attempts to second-guess every coaching decision Cohen makes.

I don't start threads and I dont bring it up unless others do first, like Rouge the other day. When people say it doesn't matter or that its not important I educate the board. The attempts to discredit me then come and I have to counter those as well. It's frustrating to you all because either
A. You are mad because you know that I'm so 100% correct on this issue. or
B. You are a part of the Cohen Does No Wrong crowd and any criticism whatsoever upsets you.

Stop the strawmanning "second guessing every coaching decision" ********. Cohen has the pulse of this team and especially this bullpen. The only decision I second guess is this one thing that for some unknown reason against all logic he continually does. Other than this I am fine with John Cohen. But as I said this action costed us upward of 20 runs last year in league play and with a team poised for Omaha, I dont want to barely miss out on hosting which gives us the best chance to get there. Two or three games can make or break a host site, for the good of the team you should view this issue as seriously as some of us do
 
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