If you didn't see the asterisks- just kidding.
There were two big things that I wanted us to do today- 1. Win the game and 2. For Devin Jones to have another solid outing. At least one of the two happened- that doesn't make this a moral victory, but it's something positive.
I'll go ahead and address that first- normally, I wouldn't have a problem with keeping Devin in to start the ninth. He threw 115 pitches- that's probably 15 more than I would have expected, nothing too horrible, though. I'm sure that some people will disagree with me on that- but I am not a huge strict pitch count guy. I believe pitch count should be based on the individual pitcher. He had a shutout going into the ninth, and I think that he deserved a chance to win finish it out NORMALLY. Now, that was in big type because of one thing- it's February. I thought he should have been pulled out in the 8th to be honest. But, he definately should have been pulled without a doubt in after the leadoff hit in the ninth. I say that because while you want to give a pitcher a chance to finish out a shutout if possible, you also want to make sure that he does not lose it. Only thing I can say about Devin that I would like to see him do better is maybe one less walk. That's certainly nitpicky especially in light of the other things that went on during the game.
Brent Brownlee, and whoever is positioning the MSU outfielders- you should always, always, always play no doubles when you have a one run lead in the ninth inning. To me, that was the worst thing about today. That is a gross error that should never, ever, ever, ever happen. A team with a lead should never, ever, ever, get beat on an inside the park home run. Sure Brownlee should have played the ball better- but he would have/should have if he was positioned correctly to start with. And I don't care how fast our outfield is, they need to play no doubles. Heck, to me- speed is even more of a reason to play them back because it's easier to for them to try to run in and get a bloop hit anyway. And yeah, I know that guys like Andruw Jones and Jim Edmonds like to play shallow to try to take away bloop singles because they were so good at going back on the ball, but you still do not do that in that situation, and I think those two would back me up on that.
Now the hitting- I think the biggest thing today were the amount of double plays that we hit into, and also the other thing that stood out to me was the lack of trying to do things on the bases. As I have said for a long time, we have to find ways to create runs. We did not do that today, and as a result, we only got 1 run. As far as the double plays- the whole point in stealing bases is to try to stay out of double play situations as well as get guys in scoring position. And for our offense to work we have to do those things. It's not what I prefer to do, but it's what our personnel dictates. Another play that stood out was Cody Freeman getting picked off, and then Ryan Collins getting gunned down at the plate. Those were huge plays where we simply did not execute. So, if someone were to ask me how I would fix the offense, I would do two things- 1. Make a concious effort to try to create more runs and 2. Change the lineup a little bit. And what I would do personally is sit Jonathan Ogden and start Demarcus Henderson at SS, and the other is sit Ryan Collins, and replace him with Jaron Shepherd. I would try that and see if that helps and- that would also be done without sacrificing any defense or speed. You could argue that it might even improve the team. Also, hitting is about making adjustments. Our team needs to watch some video and try to figure out how they are being pitched and adjust.
Like I said yesterday, this is a huge series in my mind, and we did not get it done today. That makes the next two huge. While I am not happy with losing ever, I want to see how this team responds. Are they going to fold up and keep playing poorly, or are they going to step up and win the next two? Will they learn from their mistakes? To me, this is their first challenge, and they need to step up.
There were two big things that I wanted us to do today- 1. Win the game and 2. For Devin Jones to have another solid outing. At least one of the two happened- that doesn't make this a moral victory, but it's something positive.
I'll go ahead and address that first- normally, I wouldn't have a problem with keeping Devin in to start the ninth. He threw 115 pitches- that's probably 15 more than I would have expected, nothing too horrible, though. I'm sure that some people will disagree with me on that- but I am not a huge strict pitch count guy. I believe pitch count should be based on the individual pitcher. He had a shutout going into the ninth, and I think that he deserved a chance to win finish it out NORMALLY. Now, that was in big type because of one thing- it's February. I thought he should have been pulled out in the 8th to be honest. But, he definately should have been pulled without a doubt in after the leadoff hit in the ninth. I say that because while you want to give a pitcher a chance to finish out a shutout if possible, you also want to make sure that he does not lose it. Only thing I can say about Devin that I would like to see him do better is maybe one less walk. That's certainly nitpicky especially in light of the other things that went on during the game.
Brent Brownlee, and whoever is positioning the MSU outfielders- you should always, always, always play no doubles when you have a one run lead in the ninth inning. To me, that was the worst thing about today. That is a gross error that should never, ever, ever, ever happen. A team with a lead should never, ever, ever, get beat on an inside the park home run. Sure Brownlee should have played the ball better- but he would have/should have if he was positioned correctly to start with. And I don't care how fast our outfield is, they need to play no doubles. Heck, to me- speed is even more of a reason to play them back because it's easier to for them to try to run in and get a bloop hit anyway. And yeah, I know that guys like Andruw Jones and Jim Edmonds like to play shallow to try to take away bloop singles because they were so good at going back on the ball, but you still do not do that in that situation, and I think those two would back me up on that.
Now the hitting- I think the biggest thing today were the amount of double plays that we hit into, and also the other thing that stood out to me was the lack of trying to do things on the bases. As I have said for a long time, we have to find ways to create runs. We did not do that today, and as a result, we only got 1 run. As far as the double plays- the whole point in stealing bases is to try to stay out of double play situations as well as get guys in scoring position. And for our offense to work we have to do those things. It's not what I prefer to do, but it's what our personnel dictates. Another play that stood out was Cody Freeman getting picked off, and then Ryan Collins getting gunned down at the plate. Those were huge plays where we simply did not execute. So, if someone were to ask me how I would fix the offense, I would do two things- 1. Make a concious effort to try to create more runs and 2. Change the lineup a little bit. And what I would do personally is sit Jonathan Ogden and start Demarcus Henderson at SS, and the other is sit Ryan Collins, and replace him with Jaron Shepherd. I would try that and see if that helps and- that would also be done without sacrificing any defense or speed. You could argue that it might even improve the team. Also, hitting is about making adjustments. Our team needs to watch some video and try to figure out how they are being pitched and adjust.
Like I said yesterday, this is a huge series in my mind, and we did not get it done today. That makes the next two huge. While I am not happy with losing ever, I want to see how this team responds. Are they going to fold up and keep playing poorly, or are they going to step up and win the next two? Will they learn from their mistakes? To me, this is their first challenge, and they need to step up.