Great move to bring your closer in in the 6th inning. He knew the game could be lost right there and he brought in his best releiver to get out of the jam. Terrible job of leaving him in too long. General rule of thumb is you don't leave a releiver in more than one turn through the batting order. He got away with it in the 10th. It caught up to him in the 11th.
What Cohen did right and what he did wrong today.
- Thread starter patdog
- Start date
I've got to say that I'm pretty impressed by the competitive games you've played against some pretty good SEC competition. I know 2-4 doesn't look too good right now, but you could easily be 4-2. Close losses.
you are probably as well off with a tired Reed than you are with a true freshman who has never pitched in an SEC game before (Woodruff) or a guy who has repeatedly shown he's not dependable (Girodo). We need some other relievers that we can depend on. Of course, all of that wouldn't be so crucial if we could generate just a little more offense.
Unfortunately, we're not going to generate more offense this year. I still think it's a shame that Reed wound up with the loss. He did a good job and it's not his fault. What happened to the deep pitching staff we're supposed to have?What the17happened toLuis Pollerena?
That's the second time he's done it this year. But I agree about putting him out there in the 6th. That was a good move and I think it gave us the best chance to win it in 9 innings. But he shouldn't have let him go out for the 11th. This is where missing Stark and Bracewell hurts because I think today would have been a good situation forStark to come in and pitch the 11th, and wealso wouldhave had the option to bring in either Bracewell or Graveman out of the bullpen depending upon which of the two had started during the week with Bracewell healthy.
Our bullpen is young and with Bracewell and Stark out it's no longer deep. Anyone watching the game today could see Woodruff looked pretty out of his element from the first pitch. He didn't look confident or ready for the situation at all. Someone young needs to step up and not be afraid to go out there and throw strikes because if we want to win some of these games, we are going to have to rely on more than just the starting pitchers and Reed.
Our bullpen is young and with Bracewell and Stark out it's no longer deep. Anyone watching the game today could see Woodruff looked pretty out of his element from the first pitch. He didn't look confident or ready for the situation at all. Someone young needs to step up and not be afraid to go out there and throw strikes because if we want to win some of these games, we are going to have to rely on more than just the starting pitchers and Reed.
we'd follow suit, but like some on here, I wasn't sure who I'd put in. Woodruff would have been my first choice, too, but considering the circumstances, I'd rather Reed try to win the game than Chad Girodo, Woodruff, or Gaines. After Reed walked the leadoff man in the 11 (or gave up the base hit... I forgot what it was, but he got on), he should have been pulled.
today letting Reed keep going pissed me off. I was almost screaming at the tv when I saw him come out for the 11th. Like you said it's a youth baseball approach to just ride your best guy.
Then you screw a freshman inWoodruff by putting himin there against the #3 ranked team in the country with runners on 1st and 2nd and no outs in the 11th inning. I mean what did you expect was gonna happen? Maybe if you give Woodruff a clean slate and let him start the inning he can gain some confidence, but don't throw a true freshman in the fire like thatin extra inningsand expect something good to happen. Then you compound the problem by putting Girodo in. That's just a give up move.
I really think we are missing Bracewell and Stark. They would have been perfect for a day like today. I hate losing this game, but goinginto the series I wanted 1 of 3 from Arkansas. I expected us to be 2-4after these 1st two series because I didn't think we wereexperienced enoughto takeseries from teams like this. But I do think we might could get some sweeps this year if we keep getting the starting pitching we have. I think once we get completely healthy we will be in really good shape.
Then you screw a freshman inWoodruff by putting himin there against the #3 ranked team in the country with runners on 1st and 2nd and no outs in the 11th inning. I mean what did you expect was gonna happen? Maybe if you give Woodruff a clean slate and let him start the inning he can gain some confidence, but don't throw a true freshman in the fire like thatin extra inningsand expect something good to happen. Then you compound the problem by putting Girodo in. That's just a give up move.
I really think we are missing Bracewell and Stark. They would have been perfect for a day like today. I hate losing this game, but goinginto the series I wanted 1 of 3 from Arkansas. I expected us to be 2-4after these 1st two series because I didn't think we wereexperienced enoughto takeseries from teams like this. But I do think we might could get some sweeps this year if we keep getting the starting pitching we have. I think once we get completely healthy we will be in really good shape.
I don't believe LSU is very good and either Auburn is better than I thought or LSU is about right where I thought they were talent-wise...which is about even with us.
If we get guys to the plate that have some nuts on them, we are 4-2 at worse right now and we aren't talking about a closer going 5 innings or guys having to pitch that we just cannot count on. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Hitting.....Hitting.....Hitting.....Hitting..</span>. That is the problem with this team. They do not have a hitting coach worth a dang on staff to work with them on all phases including their approach to each at bat and then to each pitch. The young guys are scared to be heroes as was evident today. Nobody wanted to be "that guy". Great pitching can keep you in games, but against SEC competition, you have to do better than 1-15 with RISP (we forced in 2 runs today with a hit batsmen and a walk, scored on a fielders choice that should have been an out and got a sacrifice. And that is more the norm for this group than the exception...see number of 1 run losses and/or extra inning losses for reference.
If we get guys to the plate that have some nuts on them, we are 4-2 at worse right now and we aren't talking about a closer going 5 innings or guys having to pitch that we just cannot count on. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Hitting.....Hitting.....Hitting.....Hitting..</span>. That is the problem with this team. They do not have a hitting coach worth a dang on staff to work with them on all phases including their approach to each at bat and then to each pitch. The young guys are scared to be heroes as was evident today. Nobody wanted to be "that guy". Great pitching can keep you in games, but against SEC competition, you have to do better than 1-15 with RISP (we forced in 2 runs today with a hit batsmen and a walk, scored on a fielders choice that should have been an out and got a sacrifice. And that is more the norm for this group than the exception...see number of 1 run losses and/or extra inning losses for reference.
The problem is when you try not to be "that guy," you end up being "that guy." I think there is validity to your statement because we just have a pitiful time hitting when the game is on the line or when we have RISP... the numbers clearly show we struggle hitting when it counts... but we have walked our way into runs on more than one occasion this year. Only one game this year have we really come through because of our hitting, and it was Wes Rea's walkoff double to win against Kansas. I may be missing a few, but generally speaking, we work ourselves so deep into counts, but in doing that, we pass on some very hittable pitches. For instance, Porter let two hanging breaking balls pass right by him for strikes, but instead, he swings away on low fast balls. Britton is about as bad a hitter as I've seen... I know at least twice this weekend, he has been put out by 3 pitches and his BA is at .132 and plummeting fast. The only thing he is even good for is bunting, but even this year, he's popped up a bunt for an out to the catcher.
