What a crappy weekend by our baseball team. I'm just thankful that good ol' Team USA salvaged a couple of wins, although I wish we had beaten Mexico out of principle. They should thank us for starting R A Dickey. But this is a MSU baseball post...
The Bad:
Everyone on the team. Hitting, pitching, defense, coaching, baserunning- EVERYONE deserves blame in some form or fashion this weekend.
Pitching- We hit too many people, walked too many people, and couldn't get out of innings. Someone talked about how well Central Arkansas did as far as their approach- well, when you don't throw strikes and you get behind the hitter, it's a LOT easier to hit. Our starting pitchers have to go deeper. I'll give Jacob Lindgren a pass- and since I have seen some people ask, so far he looks OK as far as his knee, but he will have a MRI tomorrow. At least the x-ray is negative and from what I have heard, he feels fine. Brandon Woodruff is overthrowing right now- and I don't understand what we are trying to do with him. He got behind and I think he is trying to catch up too quick. He needs to understand that he was hurt, and he is not going to be able to throw 96 right out of the gate right now- he needs to give himself time and understand that control is more valuable than velocity- although yeah, who wouldn't want to throw 110? But you have to understand where you are in his case, and right now he needs to be more Greg Maddux and less Sandy Koufax. We need to tell Woodruff- we're going to start you against LSU, and we want you to go three innings and then turn it over to the bullpen. We just want nine outs. Then build on that one inning at a time. Woodruff may be a five inning guy this year- while that's not optimal, it sure is better than what we are getting. I also think Slauter needs to catch him and not Ammirati. Woodruff's one good outing was with Slauter at catcher. The rest have been with Ammirati. The bullpen was bad this weekend as well- I think a lot of it was because we had to burn Myles Gentry in game one, which is no one's fault. In fact, Gentry was the bright spot of the pitching staff this weekend. In my opinion, not having Gentry might have cost us yesterday's game. Holder will be fine- he is a closer and when you put closers in non-save situations, sometimes they **** the bed. Will Cox needs to start over Evan Mitchell at this point- Cox has simply performed much better and he may be the answer if Woodruff can't figure things out. I think Evan would be MUCH better in one inning incriments than trying to ask him to start and get through five. He has yet to have a consistent start where his control is where it needs to be. I saw some people on twitter complaining about a 3-2 call that didn't go our way- well, I have this to say about that- when you have a wild pitcher, those calls are a lot less likely to go your way than someone that throws strikes. Girodo needs to pitch more, as does Bracewell.
Offense- We are better than we were last year, but our balance is out of whack right now- we need more power, and that is going to come in the form of Wes Rea. It would be really nice if Daryl Norris stepped up with a few bombs because that would make us so much more dangerous. I think we all see why you want to have your best all-around hitter hitting third- without protection, teams have attacked CT Bradford, and it has made him less effective and put him in a slump. Detz has performed well, but with him not being a long ball threat, teams didn't have to quite as careful with CT. I thought we kind of got away from the pressure baseball that we play- and a lot of that was because we were behind, but we have to find a way to get back to that. That is our identity- creating pressure and doing what it takes to win and adding a little bit of power with that. That means stealing, putting runners in motion, leaning in to pitches, and yes, ****ing. By the way- if you saw the WBC game today, Team USA executed a **** early in the game and it helped them come back from a 2-0 lead and go on to beat Canada. And that was with a de facto All-Star team- sometimes you do things like that and good things happen. One thing that hurts us is Cohen's insistence on playing guys like Kyle Hann, Brett Pirtle, and Jacob Robson when he should be playing guys like Daryl Norris and Demarcus Henderson more. Subbing out Norris yesterday was a bad move and it shocked me when I saw it- especially since Norris was 2 for 3 at that point. We needed runs- not defenders in at that point. And no John- I don't think Pirtle is going to start hitting at some point unless it's a SWAC team. It sure would have been nice to have had Norris up there in the ninth yesterday instead of Matthew Britton.
Defense/baserunning- CT's error- and Norris's lack of ability to catch his throw REALLY hurt bad. Flair's error was a killer too. Frazier getting thrown out at second in the 10th inning was something that CAN NOT happen. I'm not sure whether it was Frazier or the first base coaches fault, but someone was trying to do too much there.
Now- I'm calling this the Circle of Trust edition- I know you're all wondering where that came from- and what I mean is, players that we can trust to perform. If I was Cohen- these are the players who would start right now. The others, my faith is fleeting.
Fri- Lindgren
Sat- Woodruff- I'm throwing his *** to the wolves, and if he doesn't perform I'm bringing in Will Cox.
Sun- Graveman
Tues- Pollorena
Bullpen- Holder, Girodo, Bracewell, Gentry, Cox, Ross Mitchell, John Marc Shelly, Pollorena if applicable.
1. Frazier SS
2. CT CF
3. Renfroe RF
4. Rea 1B
5. Detz 2B (Guess what Detz would be working on during spring break?)
6. Norris 3B
7. Porter/Flair DH
8. Slauter C
9. Henderson LF
Bench- Porter/Flair (Pinch hit aces), Derrick Armstrong (Ace Pinch runner), Sam Frost (Yep- Defensive replacement/pinch hit/pinch runner)
I've seen some people talk about how the lineup isn't "settled"- it's going to change throughout the year based on how people are performing. If someone is going to get "their feelings hurt" because they are hitting ninth, they shouldn't be on our team. And I would tell them this- it's only going to get worse in pro baseball because minor league teams experiment with lineups a lot of times to see how a player reacts. If you go up to your minor league manager and complain about hitting ninth, that's a good way to find yourself leading off in some obscure Independent League. This is also another reason why I like my personal lineup philosophy- instead of the guys in the bottom of the order being "leftovers"- you give them a defined, meaningful and important role. That helps with bruised egos a little bit. It also helps put people on base for guys like Frazier who is a darn good hitter as well.
The good news is we have spring break going on, which means that our guys don't have to go to class (my Dad didn't go to class when it WASN'T spring break. He helped feed the needy with the fish he caught illegally in traps though.) What is does mean is instead of illegal fishing on the Tombigbee and checking out tail, our guys are going to be working their *** off trying to get this **** fixed. Well, OK, they're going to check out tail no matter what. They get to take a nice vacation to Pearl on Tuesday, and that would be a great time to start another winning streak.
The Bad:
Everyone on the team. Hitting, pitching, defense, coaching, baserunning- EVERYONE deserves blame in some form or fashion this weekend.
Pitching- We hit too many people, walked too many people, and couldn't get out of innings. Someone talked about how well Central Arkansas did as far as their approach- well, when you don't throw strikes and you get behind the hitter, it's a LOT easier to hit. Our starting pitchers have to go deeper. I'll give Jacob Lindgren a pass- and since I have seen some people ask, so far he looks OK as far as his knee, but he will have a MRI tomorrow. At least the x-ray is negative and from what I have heard, he feels fine. Brandon Woodruff is overthrowing right now- and I don't understand what we are trying to do with him. He got behind and I think he is trying to catch up too quick. He needs to understand that he was hurt, and he is not going to be able to throw 96 right out of the gate right now- he needs to give himself time and understand that control is more valuable than velocity- although yeah, who wouldn't want to throw 110? But you have to understand where you are in his case, and right now he needs to be more Greg Maddux and less Sandy Koufax. We need to tell Woodruff- we're going to start you against LSU, and we want you to go three innings and then turn it over to the bullpen. We just want nine outs. Then build on that one inning at a time. Woodruff may be a five inning guy this year- while that's not optimal, it sure is better than what we are getting. I also think Slauter needs to catch him and not Ammirati. Woodruff's one good outing was with Slauter at catcher. The rest have been with Ammirati. The bullpen was bad this weekend as well- I think a lot of it was because we had to burn Myles Gentry in game one, which is no one's fault. In fact, Gentry was the bright spot of the pitching staff this weekend. In my opinion, not having Gentry might have cost us yesterday's game. Holder will be fine- he is a closer and when you put closers in non-save situations, sometimes they **** the bed. Will Cox needs to start over Evan Mitchell at this point- Cox has simply performed much better and he may be the answer if Woodruff can't figure things out. I think Evan would be MUCH better in one inning incriments than trying to ask him to start and get through five. He has yet to have a consistent start where his control is where it needs to be. I saw some people on twitter complaining about a 3-2 call that didn't go our way- well, I have this to say about that- when you have a wild pitcher, those calls are a lot less likely to go your way than someone that throws strikes. Girodo needs to pitch more, as does Bracewell.
Offense- We are better than we were last year, but our balance is out of whack right now- we need more power, and that is going to come in the form of Wes Rea. It would be really nice if Daryl Norris stepped up with a few bombs because that would make us so much more dangerous. I think we all see why you want to have your best all-around hitter hitting third- without protection, teams have attacked CT Bradford, and it has made him less effective and put him in a slump. Detz has performed well, but with him not being a long ball threat, teams didn't have to quite as careful with CT. I thought we kind of got away from the pressure baseball that we play- and a lot of that was because we were behind, but we have to find a way to get back to that. That is our identity- creating pressure and doing what it takes to win and adding a little bit of power with that. That means stealing, putting runners in motion, leaning in to pitches, and yes, ****ing. By the way- if you saw the WBC game today, Team USA executed a **** early in the game and it helped them come back from a 2-0 lead and go on to beat Canada. And that was with a de facto All-Star team- sometimes you do things like that and good things happen. One thing that hurts us is Cohen's insistence on playing guys like Kyle Hann, Brett Pirtle, and Jacob Robson when he should be playing guys like Daryl Norris and Demarcus Henderson more. Subbing out Norris yesterday was a bad move and it shocked me when I saw it- especially since Norris was 2 for 3 at that point. We needed runs- not defenders in at that point. And no John- I don't think Pirtle is going to start hitting at some point unless it's a SWAC team. It sure would have been nice to have had Norris up there in the ninth yesterday instead of Matthew Britton.
Defense/baserunning- CT's error- and Norris's lack of ability to catch his throw REALLY hurt bad. Flair's error was a killer too. Frazier getting thrown out at second in the 10th inning was something that CAN NOT happen. I'm not sure whether it was Frazier or the first base coaches fault, but someone was trying to do too much there.
Now- I'm calling this the Circle of Trust edition- I know you're all wondering where that came from- and what I mean is, players that we can trust to perform. If I was Cohen- these are the players who would start right now. The others, my faith is fleeting.
Fri- Lindgren
Sat- Woodruff- I'm throwing his *** to the wolves, and if he doesn't perform I'm bringing in Will Cox.
Sun- Graveman
Tues- Pollorena
Bullpen- Holder, Girodo, Bracewell, Gentry, Cox, Ross Mitchell, John Marc Shelly, Pollorena if applicable.
1. Frazier SS
2. CT CF
3. Renfroe RF
4. Rea 1B
5. Detz 2B (Guess what Detz would be working on during spring break?)
6. Norris 3B
7. Porter/Flair DH
8. Slauter C
9. Henderson LF
Bench- Porter/Flair (Pinch hit aces), Derrick Armstrong (Ace Pinch runner), Sam Frost (Yep- Defensive replacement/pinch hit/pinch runner)
I've seen some people talk about how the lineup isn't "settled"- it's going to change throughout the year based on how people are performing. If someone is going to get "their feelings hurt" because they are hitting ninth, they shouldn't be on our team. And I would tell them this- it's only going to get worse in pro baseball because minor league teams experiment with lineups a lot of times to see how a player reacts. If you go up to your minor league manager and complain about hitting ninth, that's a good way to find yourself leading off in some obscure Independent League. This is also another reason why I like my personal lineup philosophy- instead of the guys in the bottom of the order being "leftovers"- you give them a defined, meaningful and important role. That helps with bruised egos a little bit. It also helps put people on base for guys like Frazier who is a darn good hitter as well.
The good news is we have spring break going on, which means that our guys don't have to go to class (my Dad didn't go to class when it WASN'T spring break. He helped feed the needy with the fish he caught illegally in traps though.) What is does mean is instead of illegal fishing on the Tombigbee and checking out tail, our guys are going to be working their *** off trying to get this **** fixed. Well, OK, they're going to check out tail no matter what. They get to take a nice vacation to Pearl on Tuesday, and that would be a great time to start another winning streak.
