First of all, sorry for the rant- but I get rather upset when we lose and it's something that could have been prevented. I think Brent Brownlee knows where I'm coming from. Speaking of, I don't think flipping off the crowd is all THAT bad, and actually quite funny, but nonetheless is still wrong no matter how you slice it, and Cohen handled it the right way. Rick Stansbury was hopefully taking notes. But for the second week in a row, we won one out of three against a top 15 team, and had a real chance to take the series. Improvement for sure, but now we've got to take that next step and win a series from a top 15 team. I've seen a lot of people complain about the hitting with runners on base, and rightfully so. I wouldn't be surprised if we hit better in May simply because the pitching won't be as tough- see the Auburn series. I actually like the new rotation, but they need trust Stratton less, and they need to give Daryl Norris a chance on Sunday. Either that, or just start Pollerena and let him go five and then let Reed go four. It probably won't happen, but I would love to take the South Carolina series. Of course, we have the Governors Cup first, and it would be really nice to give the Egg and Gator Bowl trophies a buddy.
Some obvious thoughts
- Thread starter Todd4State
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It's a sign that things are improving, and we're close to being a good team. We just aren't yet. It doesn't make it any easier to take, though,when we can't get some key hits and Cohen makes some serious errors in management. Like you say, I hope the easier second half will be more of a downhill run for us instead of more of the same.
Still missing a few pieces. Stratton is good on Friday, Routt is good on Saturday. Need to figure out what to do on Sunday. He should just stick Pollorena out there, the kid competes harder than anyone on the staff has pretty good stuff and you know what you are going to get out of him. That is a lot more than you can say for anyone else that could start on Sunday. I know that would take a piece away from the bullpen but I dont think it would be that big a blow if Cohen would start using Stark and Norris in bigger relief roles, then you still have Reed closing the door.
and given our SOS, the results aren't surprising. We're getting better and that's all that matters for right now.</p>
along with Evan Mitchell, Devin Jones and Girado even if you started Pollerana along with having Stark and Norris. Heck Graveman hasn't pitched in weeks now and he was doing a nice job although granted against mostly weak competition during the midweek. Overall I'm pleased with where we are headed as a program but next year the key will be replacing the bats of Parks and Freeman (mainly Parks). Those are our 2 top hitters, both seniors, and the hitting statistically really drops off for us after those 2. We aren't losing anyone else, offensively or defensively, that will be that difficult to replace next year.
to say that Brantley Jones shooting Ole Miss the double bird was one of my favorite MSU baseball moments and then blast Brownlee for doing this. And as I said it was wrong, so I'm not giving him a pass. I'm just saying he could have gone Milton Bradley or Joey Belle and gone up in the stands after those people, or mooned them. Both of which are WAY worse than what Brownlee actually did.
include Ryan Collins, Sam Frost, Trey Johnson, Wes Thigpen, Jarrod Parks, Ogden, Bradford, Frazier, Vickerson, Norris, and Stark.
Our two best hitters in conference are Parks and Thigpen...and it really isn't even debatable. Freeman is the Ravern Johnson of the baseball team. He doesn't do **** in conference.
Our two best hitters in conference are Parks and Thigpen...and it really isn't even debatable. Freeman is the Ravern Johnson of the baseball team. He doesn't do **** in conference.
because we don't have another bat like him now or likely next year. He is batting nearly 90 points higher than anybody else on our entire team.
chance at Hoover & I still feel that way. However, that will give us little margin of error, requiring that we go 8-4 the last 4 series of the year. We can do that, but I'd prefer we take 2 from the Gamecocks in case we blow a game we should have in the bag, which we are totally capable of.
And keep Price out of any of the games to have a chance at 2 out of 3. We will need to score 5 or more and take our chances with our bullpen holding them down.
If SC gets to Price with a lead....there will not be any comebacks.
If SC gets to Price with a lead....there will not be any comebacks.
Todd4State said:
Its been so bad that I'd feel a little better if we would just swing at the 3rd strike with runners in scoring position. I don't know if this stat is tracked anywhere but it sure seems that around 50% of our outs with runners in scoring position have been backwards k's this year.
is we're fifth in the SEC in striking out. But that includes looking and swinging. I think it's probably magnified simply because we follow MSU all the time and not the other teams.