Ross

[msstate7]

What do we do with him next week? I think we have to put em back in the pen to follow someone with some velocity. I'm assuming we win tonight. Sorry fff, hoops, and goat.

[basedog]

Ross hasn't been himself now for a few weeks. Yes he battles and competes but lately the batters aren't swinging and missing. I wonder if all of the innings that he has pitched has taken a toll on him.

I still have a whole lot of respect for Ross.

Tonight's game should be a good one! I just don't believe we will pitch bad two days in a row and misplay fly balls like last night!

[msstate7]

I definitely think Ross could be feeling some fatigue. Sure he has a rubber arm, but he's still very small. Pitching takes a toll on more than your arm. I think he's just run out of gas. We'd be best served to let em pitch out of pen next weekend

[basedog]

If we win tonight, I'm thinking he will start again next week. His biggest problem has been the first inning, once he settles down he seems to be ok although last night everything he threw was up and didn't have much bite.

[War Machine Dawg]

I agree, move him back to the pen. Let him follow a power pitcher like Hudson. Can you imagine what his stuff would look like after seeing 98 from Huddy 1 time through?

[smootness]

He's going to continue starting for us. He just needs better command, needs to keep the ball down, and he'll be fine.

[thf24]

I don't know as much about baseball as a lot of you, but from my limited perspective, it seemed like a lot of Ross's problem last night was not getting the low strike call. Having to keep it up with his velocity was a death sentence.

[KB21]

The thing with Ross is that when he is good, he's getting folks to swing early in the count and roll over the top of his pitches. He induces a lot of ground ball outs. Last night, he was pitching from behind in the count on every batter, and that was an issue with him in the tournament as well.

I think someone made a good point that he is probably at his fatigue point. If we advance on, we may need to lean a little more on Lucas Laster, who has been lights out lately.

[Goat Holder]

Number one, there may not be a next week. Number two, if there is, I think he should start again on Saturday. Number three, he'll go back to the bullpen NEXT season.

[Goat Holder]

Agree KB21.

[Dawg61]

Small strike zone, turf surface, bad defense and not locating down are what killed Ross. He'll be just fine.

[sandjunky]

Cohen mentioned him battling arm soreness last night in post game presser, SO....there's that

[MetEdDawg]

Here's the thing that happened last night. He had a bad night. Left a lot of stuff belt high, left some stuff over the plate, missed out and over on pitches that needed to be down and in. With the arm soreness that was mentioned, that explains a lot of what happened. He couldn't bury stuff and he ended up leaving it arm side over the plate. We are so used to him always getting ground balls and doing no wrong that all of a sudden we freak out when he had a bad day in a big time spot. It happens and if arm soreness is a problem, that completely explains last night.

Don't need to second guess anything now. He's still a solid starter, our starting ace, and that's not going to change. He just had a bad night. We get through today to get to the Super Regionals and he will start game 2 like he has all year as long as the arm soreness isn't worse.

[Homedawg]

I agree, move him back to the pen. Let him follow a power pitcher like Hudson. Can you imagine what his stuff would look like after seeing 98 from Huddy 1 time through?

Yea lets throw a guy who has pitched one inning in the last month and hasn't made it thru the lineup once in an sec game. Great idea******

[Goat Holder]

This is his second bad night in a row, and he's feeling soreness in his arm. That's what's more alarming. I think our Super Regional chances (if we win tonight) rest with Fitts and Laster (and obviously Lindgren/Holder). Tatum is another guy we may have to rely on. I don't trust anybody else.

[DudyDawg]

Soreness probably has something to do with it. But look back at all our threads this year about pitching. How many times have we talked about how it is important for him to have a routine and throw saturday, doing the same weekly routine. Well, he went on Sunday, not Saturday. Maybe that talk was more than just speculation and does mean a lot to Ross.