Todd4State
05-24-2014, 12:47 AM
First of all, I am glad we are out of that God awful tournament in Hoover and I hope LSU is eliminated tomorrow so that it will cost the SEC as much money as possible. Too bad Kentucky and Florida are in the same bracket.
Overall, I thought we played pretty well and we hit the ball as well as we have this season other than the Florida game- but I'm hoping that part of that is because our players stopped giving a crap because we don't have the pitching depth to get through the SEC Tournament. Our best shot to win was to be one of the top four seeds, and then go with Fitts and then Ross and have them pitch like normal. And then go with Laster so that we could go with Johnny Wholestaff in the championship game which would essentially be Bracewell or Woodruff for an inning or two and then Lindgren and Holder for seven innings. A healthy Will Cox and Preston Brown would have helped us out a lot as far as navigating through this- but they aren't healthy so that hurt us. But- oh well.
We will likely be a two seed somewhere- maybe a three if we get screwed, which isn't likely before anyone gets worried. It probably won't be Louisiana-Lafayette because I suspect LSU is going to host and if by chance they don't- guess where LSU is going to go. I do not know where we are going and I haven't heard any rumors. If I had to guess it will be either an ACC school or Houston.
So, either way, we are playing a two or much more likely a three seed. Playing in the SEC is going to pay off for us as it does every year because we are either going to have to play a mid major and their ace in game one or a middle level ACC/Big 12/PAC 12 team. And we DO have the pitching to get through a regional because of how the format sets up. I'm pretty sure we will pitch Fitts/Lindgren first whomever we play. That will allow us to pitch Ross either against the 1 seed or in an elimination game. And sure, there is the possibility that a four could upset the one and etc.- but as of now those two are the most likely scenarios for us. If we win our first two, then we can go to Laster for the championship- which is good because I want to give him some extra rest after throwing 120. If we have to go through the losers bracket or play a fourth game, you'll probably see us throw Bracewell and or Woodruff depending on the match-ups. But with our pitching in a regional format- I like our odds. Especially with a team with a lot of postseason experience.
We need to try to keep Gavin Collins in the lineup as much as possible because of how well he is hitting right now. I'd DH him and start Walker when Fitts pitches because we know that we are more than likely going to bring Lindgren in at some point.
It's good to see Wes Rea step up at times, Pirtle and Heck are solid- despite Heck having a rough day today. Britton plays really good defense and is good for a one for four typically. That's not exactly the second coming of Mike Schmidt, but I can live with that.
We're going to miss Derrick Armstrong a lot next year. He does a lot of little things that don't show up in scorebook a lot of times. CT has been playing well and hitting well and then Cody Brown/Vickerson/Demarcus have all been OK. It would be nice if Alex Detz stepped up now that the postseason has started. Reid Humphreys is going to be a very good player for us- and you can see the talent that he has. It's just a matter of him getting experience, getting reps in summer ball, and then finding him a position which we will.
Finally the uniforms- Scott has got to put his foot down. I'm pretty sure that Adidas probably has something super special that their sixth graders have come up for us during the postseason. But it has become embarrassing. We need to wear the Clark/Palmeiro all white uniforms and the ones with the maroon top that say Mississippi State on them and then the ones with the pin stripes on them. That is it. We have no connection to the Astros- but I will say at least that was somewhat baseball related. (I can not believe I actually somewhat defended that) What they rolled out in this year was completely ridiculous. It's not trendy, it doesn't look good, it never did look good at any point, and it never will look good. If Adidas wants to impress me- come out with an all gray version of the Clark/Palmeiro uniforms. THAT would look good even though it's not hard.
And I do NOT want to hear any of this BS from Scott about how Adidas has been "good to us" when they are dressing us up like clowns. Being "good to us" does not mean dress us up in something that I wouldn't put a church league softball team in. Do NOT tell me that the players "like it". Do NOT tell me that the material is "more comfortable" than the pinstripes- and if you do, my response will be to make a pin striped uniform out of the material. Basically don't insult my intelligence to toe the company line.
Let's get a good draw and go kick some ass.
Overall, I thought we played pretty well and we hit the ball as well as we have this season other than the Florida game- but I'm hoping that part of that is because our players stopped giving a crap because we don't have the pitching depth to get through the SEC Tournament. Our best shot to win was to be one of the top four seeds, and then go with Fitts and then Ross and have them pitch like normal. And then go with Laster so that we could go with Johnny Wholestaff in the championship game which would essentially be Bracewell or Woodruff for an inning or two and then Lindgren and Holder for seven innings. A healthy Will Cox and Preston Brown would have helped us out a lot as far as navigating through this- but they aren't healthy so that hurt us. But- oh well.
We will likely be a two seed somewhere- maybe a three if we get screwed, which isn't likely before anyone gets worried. It probably won't be Louisiana-Lafayette because I suspect LSU is going to host and if by chance they don't- guess where LSU is going to go. I do not know where we are going and I haven't heard any rumors. If I had to guess it will be either an ACC school or Houston.
So, either way, we are playing a two or much more likely a three seed. Playing in the SEC is going to pay off for us as it does every year because we are either going to have to play a mid major and their ace in game one or a middle level ACC/Big 12/PAC 12 team. And we DO have the pitching to get through a regional because of how the format sets up. I'm pretty sure we will pitch Fitts/Lindgren first whomever we play. That will allow us to pitch Ross either against the 1 seed or in an elimination game. And sure, there is the possibility that a four could upset the one and etc.- but as of now those two are the most likely scenarios for us. If we win our first two, then we can go to Laster for the championship- which is good because I want to give him some extra rest after throwing 120. If we have to go through the losers bracket or play a fourth game, you'll probably see us throw Bracewell and or Woodruff depending on the match-ups. But with our pitching in a regional format- I like our odds. Especially with a team with a lot of postseason experience.
We need to try to keep Gavin Collins in the lineup as much as possible because of how well he is hitting right now. I'd DH him and start Walker when Fitts pitches because we know that we are more than likely going to bring Lindgren in at some point.
It's good to see Wes Rea step up at times, Pirtle and Heck are solid- despite Heck having a rough day today. Britton plays really good defense and is good for a one for four typically. That's not exactly the second coming of Mike Schmidt, but I can live with that.
We're going to miss Derrick Armstrong a lot next year. He does a lot of little things that don't show up in scorebook a lot of times. CT has been playing well and hitting well and then Cody Brown/Vickerson/Demarcus have all been OK. It would be nice if Alex Detz stepped up now that the postseason has started. Reid Humphreys is going to be a very good player for us- and you can see the talent that he has. It's just a matter of him getting experience, getting reps in summer ball, and then finding him a position which we will.
Finally the uniforms- Scott has got to put his foot down. I'm pretty sure that Adidas probably has something super special that their sixth graders have come up for us during the postseason. But it has become embarrassing. We need to wear the Clark/Palmeiro all white uniforms and the ones with the maroon top that say Mississippi State on them and then the ones with the pin stripes on them. That is it. We have no connection to the Astros- but I will say at least that was somewhat baseball related. (I can not believe I actually somewhat defended that) What they rolled out in this year was completely ridiculous. It's not trendy, it doesn't look good, it never did look good at any point, and it never will look good. If Adidas wants to impress me- come out with an all gray version of the Clark/Palmeiro uniforms. THAT would look good even though it's not hard.
And I do NOT want to hear any of this BS from Scott about how Adidas has been "good to us" when they are dressing us up like clowns. Being "good to us" does not mean dress us up in something that I wouldn't put a church league softball team in. Do NOT tell me that the players "like it". Do NOT tell me that the material is "more comfortable" than the pinstripes- and if you do, my response will be to make a pin striped uniform out of the material. Basically don't insult my intelligence to toe the company line.
Let's get a good draw and go kick some ass.