What History Tells us to Expect This Weekend in Oxford...

[engie]

"You won't beat Bobby Wahl". Yet we have -- to the tune of 40% of his entire career SEC losses(we've beaten him twice and he's only lost 5 SEC games in his career). That said, I expect a war on Friday night.

Cohen tenures: 98-01 Northwestern St
04-08 Kentucky
09-present MSU

Bianco tenures: 98-00 McNeese St
01-present Ole Miss

Overall, Cohen is 25-17 against Bianco -- and has won 8 of 10 career series against him. He is 10-6 on Bianco's home fields -- including being 4-2 in Oxford while at MSU. This includes MSU going 2-6 overall against OM during the Cohen rebuild(and still somehow salvaging a series). We've won 6 of the last 9 overall against them.

McNeese State 5-10
Northwestern State 10-5
2/03/1998 Northwestern State 8 McNeese State 2 @McNeese State
2/14/1998 Northwestern State 6 McNeese State 5 @NeutralObserver
3/26/1998 Northwestern State 1 McNeese State 0 @Northwestern State
4/19/1998 Northwestern State 10 McNeese State 7 @McNeese State
4/19/1998 Northwestern State 13 McNeese State 8 @McNeese State
2/13/1999 McNeese State 12 Northwestern State 11 @NeutralObserver
3/09/1999 Northwestern State 10 McNeese State 2 @McNeese State
3/26/1999 Northwestern State 8 McNeese State 7 @Northwestern State
3/27/1999 McNeese State 4 Northwestern State 1 @Northwestern State
3/28/1999 Northwestern State 7 McNeese State 6 @Northwestern State
5/05/1999 Northwestern State 14 McNeese State 1 @Northwestern State
3/31/2000 McNeese State 11 Northwestern State 3 @McNeese State
4/01/2000 McNeese State 16 Northwestern State 1 @McNeese State
4/02/2000 McNeese State 6 Northwestern State 4 @McNeese State
5/17/2000 Northwestern State 6 McNeese State 4 @NeutralObserver

Kentucky 7-3
Mississippi 3-7
5/05/2006 Kentucky 8 Mississippi 3 @Kentucky
5/06/2006 Kentucky 3 Mississippi 2 @Kentucky
5/07/2006 Kentucky 6 Mississippi 1 @Kentucky
5/11/2007 Kentucky 8 Mississippi 1 @Mississippi
5/12/2007 Mississippi 9 Kentucky 2 @Mississippi
5/13/2007 Kentucky 9 Mississippi 7 @Mississippi
5/15/2008 Kentucky 12 Mississippi 4 @Kentucky
5/16/2008 Kentucky 9 Mississippi 0 @Kentucky
5/17/2008 Mississippi 7 Kentucky 5 @Kentucky
5/22/2008 Mississippi 8 Kentucky 7 @NeutralObserver

Mississippi 9-8
Mississippi State 8-9
4/14/2009 Mississippi 8 Mississippi State 1 @NeutralObserver
5/08/2009 Mississippi State 6 Mississippi 5 @Mississippi
5/09/2009 Mississippi State 11 Mississippi 8 @Mississippi
5/10/2009 Mississippi 8 Mississippi State 1 @Mississippi
3/30/2010 Mississippi 5 Mississippi State 3 @NeutralObserver
4/30/2010 Mississippi 4 Mississippi State 2 @Mississippi State
5/01/2010 Mississippi 12 Mississippi State 10 @Mississippi State
5/02/2010 Mississippi 19 Mississippi State 11 @Mississippi State
4/19/2011 Mississippi State 6 Mississippi 1 @NeutralObserver
5/12/2011 Mississippi State 7 Mississippi 6 @Mississippi
5/13/2011 Mississippi State 7 Mississippi 4 @Mississippi
5/14/2011 Mississippi 12 Mississippi State 3 @Mississippi
4/17/2012 Mississippi 6 Mississippi State 3 @NeutralObserver
4/27/2012 Mississippi State 4 Mississippi 0 @Mississippi State
4/28/2012 Mississippi 6 Mississippi State 2 @Mississippi State
4/29/2012 Mississippi State 4 Mississippi 2 @Mississippi State
4/09/2013 Mississippi State 5 Mississippi 1 @NeutralObserver

[msstate7]

I'm not counting Friday night as a loss, but we won't have Stratton matched against wahl this year. That said pollo pitches well against ole miss and they struggle against lefties. If we take Friday, I believe we sweep. I'm calling 2 outta 3 though -- our way

[Todd4State]

I must say, our series with them during Cohen's second year probably should get some asterisks by it. I'm pretty sure they didn't give a shit at that point.

[engie]

Yeah -- if you could remove that 4-game year sweep, this would look alot better still...

[Coach34]

Cohen is 6-1 vs Bianco in SEC series- his only loss coming during an awful rebuilding season...thats pretty damn impressive

[Will James]

Cohen is 6-1 vs Bianco in SEC series- his only loss coming during an awful rebuilding season...thats pretty damn impressive

I don't really take anything away from this. Baseball is not really a sport where the manager matchups mean much. Not like football coaching matchups.

[Ronny]

...another weekend ****ed up by rain.

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/38655

If it is late spring in Mississippi, there is always one thing you can count on: When the weekend arrives, it's going to rain.

[Esmerelda Villalobos]

that's ok. Pollos mother was a mudder. He was born in the slop....LOVES the slop

[Coach34]

Baseball is not really a sport where the manager matchups mean much.

Except for:

Making out line-ups
When exactly to make pitching change decisions- leaving a guy in 1 batter too long can make the difference in winning and losing
Bunting or not to bunt
A well-timed hit-n-run
Pinch hitting in a certain situation

And those decisions can all be done in one game that decides who wins the series.

a 6-1 series advantage is very telling- especially considering Bianco has had the supposed better team in most of them

[Will James]

Yeah but that's true of every game. Is the Central Arkansas coach better than Cohen? No.

Its a stretch to match up coach vs coach in baseball because of the games dynamics.

[engie]

I don't follow your logic, Will.

Cohen has beaten Bianco soundly in 6 of 7 years in the SEC -- despite only having a clearly better team once, maybe twice. If that's not a clear trend, I don't know what is...

The Central Arkansas comparison is also a bad one. A 4-game sample size is much, much smaller than a 42-game sample size. Yes, if Central Arky beats us consistently over the next decade 2 of 3(essentially what Cohen has done to Bianco removing the one terrible year of 2011 when the team quit), you can CERTAINLY say that the Central Arkansas coach is better than Cohen.

If it's a "stretch" to match up coach vs coach -- it must also be a "stretch" to match up team vs team. It's literally the same thing...

[Coach34]

Yeah but that's true of every game. Is the Central Arkansas coach better than Cohen? No.



If he beats Cohen in 6 out of 7 series- then yes, yes he is

This isn't being based on 1 series

[Will James]

My point is that me or you or Coach or Todd could conceivably manage our baseball team to a series win. There is no way I could coach a football team to an SEC win.

[Coach34]

There is no way I could coach a football team to an SEC series win.

I could

But you would be surprised how little some football head coaches do. Bobby Bowden did very little as HC his last 10 years in Tallahassee- his coordinators handled everything

[Will James]

Ok well me and a couple friends of mine could manage our baseball team to a series win. Me and my friends couldn't win an SEC football game. More of the game is solely on the players in baseball.

People dismiss Polks famous saying but "that's baseball" really comes into play. Thats why you play so many games in a season.

[engie]

Ok well me and a couple friends of mine could manage our baseball team to a series win. Me and my friends couldn't win an SEC football game. More of the game is solely on the players in baseball.

People dismiss Polks famous saying but "that's baseball" really comes into play. Thats why you play so many games in a season.

And you could recruit and develop those players? Nope.

You don't think you could step in with Russell at QB and Cam Lawrence at LB and "coach the football team to a win"?

Sure -- there is more parity in baseball than other sports -- but that doesn't mean that it's easier to coach and manage overall. The hard part in baseball is the part that you don't see -- and the vast majority of fans never truly understand...

[Todd4State]

Managing a bullpen is a BIG thing that managers have to be able to do. You have to be able to judge how your current pitcher is doing, and you have to be able to look ahead and know what you are going to do before it even happens. And more importantly, you have to have someone ready and you have to make sure that you give them time to get ready because if you don't, your options are to leave in a struggling pitcher, or bringing in a pitcher who isn't ready. And in both cases, you put the pitcher at risk of injury if you do not handle that well.

A managers decision can turn a game around- but you have to know when to do it, and you have to know what your players can do. In other words, don't ask Wes Rea to try to steal home. But you might ask Jacob Robson to do that- if it's right. And you have to be able to look for little things in the other players as well- like if a guy is in the windup and we have a runner at third- to me that is an opportunity to potentially steal home. Or like bunting for a hit- knowing that maybe the other teams third baseman is playing too far back- you might take a shot there. But to me, sometimes the best time to do something is when it isn't conventional or "in the unwritten book" because then the other team doesn't expect it. If it doesn't work, you've got to be able to take the heat though. And if it does, very few notice. Or if they do, a lot of times they will just say that you got lucky.

A manager has to know his players- and you have to be able to communicate flaws and try to teach them how to correct them. You have to be able to interpret stats and you have to be able to know which ones are the most pertinent. I remember Cardinals fans criticizing Tony LaRussa for sitting a player and starting someone that was maybe hitting .200 or whatever. But then you research it a little bit and you find out that Jim Edmonds was hitting .130 against the pitcher and the guy starting was hitting .600 off of him.

A good manager has to be a little bit humble and know his limitations. Like LaRussa and Cohen for the same matter may not be great pitching coaches, but they hired two very good ones and they allow them to do their thing and operate. And I think that's a big reason why both have had a lot of success.

[Todd4State]

Ok well me and a couple friends of mine could manage our baseball team to a series win. Me and my friends couldn't win an SEC football game. More of the game is solely on the players in baseball.

People dismiss Polks famous saying but "that's baseball" really comes into play. Thats why you play so many games in a season.

The problem with Polk and his saying is he believed too much in luck and not enough in hard work. Is there some luck involved? Sure. But the fact of the matter is, if you work hard and make adjustments as you need to at the plate and on the mound you are going to win more often than not. And you're going to need a lot less luck to be on your side.

Like that World Series game in 1985 that I was talking to my uncle about where Denkinger blew the call at first base. That was bad luck. But if the Cardinals hit better than .200 or whatever it was for the series, that call doesn't even matter. They still had an opportunity to get out of the inning, and they allowed the call to get in their heads and blew the game, and they had another opportunity to win game seven the next day and they instead laid an egg.

All of those things that the Cardinals did wrong- that goes back to the manager and the team. Not to luck.

[Todd4State]

The other problem with "that's baseball" is it creates an environment where the team basically believes that everything that happens is luck. And that to me also discourages hard work and looking for ways to win because otherwise what's the point? It's all about luck anyway, right?

But coaches like Skip Bertman- he created an environment about winning and doing whatever it takes to win, and sure enough- he won a lot.

[Todd4State]

My point is that me or you or Coach or Todd could conceivably manage our baseball team to a series win. There is no way I could coach a football team to an SEC win.

This sounds like a good promotion for maroonandwhitenation.com.