So what is your rotation this weekend?

[thekimmer]

Any line-up changes?

I think I would stick with my current rotation and throw Pico on Friday, Siary on Sat and Ligon on Sunday. Some have said they would throw Siary on Friday but he has been clearly better and lasted longer than Pico the last few weeks and I think we must win on Friday without burning too much pitching to have a reasonable shot to advance.

In the field I would be tempted to start Stevens in right. Stallman only has one error on the books but he scares me to death out there with many balls that were technically not errors but misplayed very badly resulting in base runners and free bases that led to those huge blow-up innings that seem to be our kryptonite.

 

[CaptainFalcon]

I would argue it doesn’t really matter and our rotation is just interchangeable levels of meh. I don’t think either Siary or Pico is a clear advantage or disadvantage against anyone. You kinda have to disregard both of their best starts because to this point those are one-off performances not reflective of who they’ve been all year (at least since we started playing real teams).

I’d stick with the normal rotation and see how it goes. You are a 3 seed. Not in a position to overthink it or get too cute with it.

We threw our Friday night guy in Game 1 last year, FWIW. Only sample size we have with Parker. Though granted he wasn’t the final decision maker last year.

 

[patdog]

Ligon Friday. Then Pico vs FSU or Davis vs Bethune Cookman.

 

[57stratdawg]

Siary then Pico makes sense to me without know much about the matchups.

BTW, not sure who we’re considering the ‘Ace’ at this point. Pico and Siary’s numbers are pretty similar over the second half of the SEC season. Pico can probably be expected to get an extra couple outs. I think I want that going in game 2.

 

[GloryDawg]

If you win three in a roll you win it? Just trying to wrap my head around it.

 

[MStateDawg]

You save Pico for Florida State if you determine he's the best matchup versus their lineup.

 

[WutheringDawg]

I would just roll through with the regular rotation.

 

[BulldogBlitz]

Call all the pen in, ask who is leaving. Tell those to stay behind. Start whoever is left.

Let's get thus shitshow over with.

 

[anon1758050382]

I think you start Siary Friday and Pico Saturday.

Pico is your most reliable starter. You give yourself a chance to throw him against FSU.

As far as matchups, Northeastern's lineup is right-hander heavy, so Siary makes sense. FSU is pretty balanced.

I haven't looked at left-right splits, just assuming the numbers split as you'd expect, left-right.

You play to win the regional. 3-2 is the same as 0-2.

 

[anon1758050382]

Ligon Friday. Then Pico vs FSU or Davis vs Bethune Cookman.

No way we throw Ligon. You play to start 2-0.

If you start 2-0, I love Ligon starting against someone's 4th pitcher needing to win 1 of 2.

 

[onewoof]

Starting out slow with yuengling, then bringing in Makers to finish the night. After that it's anybody's call.

 

[karlchilders.sixpack]

Not sure we have the luxury holding back pitchers.
Must get by game one. Should we lose that one, I might go with Ligon, assuming it was not FSU.

 

[Willow Grove Dawg]

Starting out slow with yuengling, then bringing in Makers to finish the night. After that it's anybody's call.

Beer then liquor, never sicker!

 

[Leeshouldveflanked]

If we can’t beat Northeastern with Siary, we need to load up and come home anyway.

 

[onewoof]

Beer then liquor, never sicker!

Might have to bring in Johnny WholeShelf

 

[NukeDogg]

As a 3 seed we can't get cute, so if Parker wants to go Pico, Siary, then Ligon I have no issue with it.

To me though, there's not a huge gap between Pico and Siary lately. Even when he's on, Pico is inefficient so for that reason plus righty-heavy Northeastern lineup I'd throw Siary game 1 and hope to save some bullpen.

I think our biggest question will be who is first out of the pen? I absolutely cannot stand how Parker seems to premeditate who his relievers will be (Simmons always comes in first after Pico, Davis always up first after Siary) and he doesn't decide situationally. If he's automatically rolling Simmons out of the pen first I hope to God we have an enormous lead.

 

[She Mate Me]

The guy coaching us right now knows way more than I ever will about pitching and our pitchers. My opinion would be pointless.

I will say that we're a 3 seed for a reason. We don't need to be fiddling around with the rotation like we're a host.

 

[onewoof]

Remember this starts a new season and you can't base much of anything on the regular season

 

[DAWGSANDSAINTS]

I’d throw Ligon on Friday night.
If we can’t beat this team with us throwing a SEC weekend starter then we are who we thought we are.
We definitely need to win Fridays game to have a snowball’s chance of moving on but we will also most likely have to beat FSU twice to move on and Kohn and Siary give us the best chance to do so.

 

[Chesusdog]

Elijah Craig, ribeye, and baked potato. Maybe some baseball if we aren't looking like ****.

 

[MSUGUY]

Call all the pen in, ask who is leaving. Tell those to stay behind. Start whoever is left.

Let's get thus shitshow over with.

Absolutely

 

[Perd Hapley]

I don’t know enough about Northeastern or FSU lineups to know what’s best, but I’d say just play to go 2-0. No preference between Pico / Siary as to how they arrange it. They all had a weekend off, so essentially we’re starting from scratch anyways as far as days of rest, routines, etc. No right or wrong answer, really.

 

[patdog]

I don’t know enough about Northeastern or FSU lineups to know what’s best, but I’d say just play to go 2-0. No preference between Pico / Siary as to how they arrange it. They all had a weekend off, so essentially we’re starting from scratch anyways as far as days of rest, routines, etc. No right or wrong answer, really.

You have to win 3 or 4 games. Not just 2. Chances of Ligon beating Northeastern are much better than chances of him beating FSU. Are we playing for 2nd or playing to win it?

 

[BoDawg.sixpack]

I hope Pico can lower his pitch count. Need him to go 7 or 8 innings in game 2.

 

[Perd Hapley]

You have to win 3 or 4 games. Not just 2. Chances of Ligon beating Northeastern are much better than chances of him beating FSU. Are we playing for 2nd or playing to win it?

Well throw Ligon in there, too, as an option for one of the first 2 games. I do think you have to prioritize the 2-0 start though, because you don’t know who you’ll see in Game 3. But we can be fairly certain its gonna be Northeastern / FSU as the teams we have to beat to get to 2-0. I just don’t know which combination of the 3 starters gives us that best chance at 2-0, scouting wise. It’s not like a 3-game series where you are playing the same team every game. If you’re a 2-3 seed and you don’t have a dominant ace, just throw the best combination of guys to get that 2-0 start. You can determine that based on the best pitches each guy throws, vs. what the other teams strengths / weaknesses are against those pitchers…..plus taking LH/RH matchups into account of course.

 

[Podgy]

There's some overconfidence on this board from a team that's looked average quite a bit and barely beat a crappy Nicholls team at a not-really neutral site.

 

[She Mate Me]

You have to win 3 or 4 games. Not just 2. Chances of Ligon beating Northeastern are much better than chances of him beating FSU. Are we playing for 2nd or playing to win it?

It would feel pretty bad if we came home 0-2 and one of our two best starters hadn't pitched. That would be an unlikely, but possible outcome of going with Ligon on Friday. I just don't think you risk that in our situation.

 

[patdog]

It would feel pretty bad if we came home 0-2 and one of our two best starters hadn't pitched. That would be an unlikely, but possible outcome of going with Ligon on Friday. I just don't think you risk that in our situation.

Would it really feel much worse than starting 2-0 and then losing 2 to FSU because you wasted your best pitcher on Northeastern?

 

[She Mate Me]

Would it really feel much worse than starting 2-0 and then losing 2 to FSU because you wasted your best pitcher on Northeastern?

I might agree with you if we had a pitcher who was likely to be excellent in a particular game. I have no confidence that any of our starters are going to be excellent. I just cross my fingers. And I cross them twice with Ligon. I'd hate to struggle with Northeastern pitching and lose because he walks seven and they steal seven bases.

 

[patdog]

I might agree with you if we had a pitcher who was likely to be excellent in a particular game. I have no confidence that any of our starters are going to be excellent. I just cross my fingers. And I cross them twice with Ligon. I'd hate to struggle with Northeastern pitching and lose because he walks seven and they steal seven bases.

Don't disagree that any of our starters could shart the bed in any start. But I like my chances with the two who have sub 5.00 conference ERAs better against Florida State and the one with the 6.75 conference ERA against Northeastern better than I do with the 6.75 ERA vs Florida State in their ballpark. Against most #2 seeds, I could at least be OK with pitching #1 or #2 in game 1. But this team is a lot closer to a #4 seed than a legitimate #2 seed. They're 0-12 in NCAA tournament games dating back to 1973. If we can't beat that team with Ligon starting, we're doomed no matter what we do.

 

[She Mate Me]

Don't disagree that any of our starters could shart the bed in any start. But I like my chances with the two who have sub 5.00 conference ERAs better against Florida State and the one with the 6.75 conference ERA against Northeastern better than I do with the 6.75 ERA vs Florida State in their ballpark. Against most #2 seeds, I could at least be OK with pitching #1 or #2 in game 1. But this team is a lot closer to a #4 seed than a legitimate #2 seed. They're 0-12 in NCAA tournament games dating back to 1973. If we can't beat that team with Ligon starting, we're doomed no matter what we do.

Of course u know that what they've done in previous tournament appearances really means nothing. Totally different team and probably their best ever.

But that schedule is seriously weak. If Hawaii (who they lost 3 of 4 to) had an RPI of 61 rather than 57, then Northeastern would have played a single Quad 1 game all season. A road win vs UConn.

I don't think we'll find out how Ligon as the Friday guy works out. I'll just be really happy if he's starting a game Sunday and we are 2-0. That would be nice for a team that looked dead less than a month ago.

 

[Villagedawg]

I would hate to get to a second game with FSU and have to start a mid week guy. That said, pitching and errors are what have made us mediocre all year, and what will probably put us out of this regional. It would be nice to see Siary have a game like he did against Ole Miss, but how many times has that happened? Once?
Now that I've used the secret reverse jinx, I'd go Ligon, Pico, Siary. I think that gives us the best chance to stay out of the losers' bracket.