I hope they throw their ace today

[msstate7]

Houston has been great lately, but i want sexton against their guy in an elimination game. The goal isn't to win 1. The goal is to win 2 and I think our best chance is facing their ace today

[missouridawg]

The goal is always to win the next 1. Worry about the game after that once you get there.

[I seen it dawg]

It doesn't matter who they throw. We have to get runners in early in the game when we have opportunity. There isn't a team left that if you let their starting pitcher get settled in that won't beat you. Last night we let their guy get settled in when we had him on the ropes and he fisted us up the ass. We can beat any pitcher in the country, we've proven it. Just have to execute.

And for **** sakes get 12 out of LF.

[Saltydog]

NT

[msstate7]

And for **** sakes get 12 out of LF.

I think we made a mistake when we quit giving Cody playing time. Rooker and hump vs good rhp isn't a great idea. We stopped giving Cody opportunities though, so it's hard to give him ab's now.

[MaroonFlounder]

If cody or Mangum are in LF last night we at least take it to extra innings. Hindsight is 20/20

[Coldsleeve Jr.]

Ive often wondered why Mangum and Hump don't switch places in the OF.

[HSVDawg]

I think we made a mistake when we quit giving Cody playing time. Rooker and hump vs good rhp isn't a great idea. We stopped giving Cody opportunities though, so it's hard to give him ab's now.

Agree. I think the biggest thing is we can't have both Hump and Rooker in the lineup against RHP. Need Mangum in left and Rook in right when we are facing a righty, with Marrero catching and Kruger DH'ing.

[CadaverDawg]

Houston has been great lately, but i want sexton against their guy in an elimination game. The goal isn't to win 1. The goal is to win 2 and I think our best chance is facing their ace today

The bigger issue to me is how in 3 years we haven't taught a talented hotter like Humphreys how to take a better approach vs RHP to where he hits them better.

[HSVDawg]

Looking like they will go with either Cloney or Bannister (the ace). Cloney would be much more favorable for us to face as he is a lefty who seems to pitch to contact (just 53 k's in 94 IP). Bannister, on top of being their ace, seems like a nightmare matchup as he is a RHP with swing and miss stuff. He's still only on 4 days rest, so I would expect that they might hold him until Sunday with as many pitches as he threw last weekend. Teams are only hitting .253 against Cloney, so he is not going to be chopped liver either. I think given the choice, I would rather us face Bannister today since he is still not fully rested.

[msstate7]

NT

I'm not Cohen; but I think his reasoning for Robson before rooker is bc if Robson gets on, rooker will see fastballs or Robson will be on 2nd base. Problem is that Robson isn't getting on

[CadaverDawg]

Looking like they will go with either Cloney or Bannister (the ace). Cloney would be much more favorable for us to face as he is a lefty who seems to pitch to contact (just 53 k's in 94 IP). Bannister, on top of being their ace, seems like a nightmare matchup as he is a RHP with swing and miss stuff. He's still only on 4 days rest, so I would expect that they might hold him until Sunday with as many pitches as he threw last weekend. Teams are only hitting .253 against Cloney, so he is not going to be chopped liver either. I think given the choice, I would rather us face Bannister today since he is still not fully rested.

Gonna have to beat em both to win the series....Might as well get the ace out of the way tonight.

[smootness]

The bigger issue to me is how in 3 years we haven't taught a talented hotter like Humphreys how to take a better approach vs RHP to where he hits them better.

It's not really his approach against RHP. He just doesn't see the ball well out of their hand. Nothing much you can do about that; he doesn't know if it's a fastball or breaking ball until it's too late.

[confucius say]

The bigger issue to me is how in 3 years we haven't taught a talented hotter like Humphreys how to take a better approach vs RHP to where he hits them better.

No kidding. Hit it to right center approach. Same with rooker, when he is hitting the ball hard to right center you know he is locked in.

[confucius say]

It's not really his approach against RHP. He just doesn't see the ball well out of their hand. Nothing much you can do about that; he doesn't know if it's a fastball or breaking ball until it's too late.

Meh, maybe, but he pulls off everything. If his approach would be to stay inside the baseball and work up the middle to right center, regardless of pitch, it would help tremendously. If you get busted in, just let hands fly

[CadaverDawg]

It's not really his approach against RHP. He just doesn't see the ball well out of their hand. Nothing much you can do about that; he doesn't know if it's a fastball or breaking ball until it's too late.

I disagree. He tries to pull everything. By now, everybody in the damn country knows that he & Rooker are getting low curveballs with 2 strikes, yet they both jerk at those pitches and very rarely go oppo. That's a learning and approach thing. Not to mention, Hump became a highly recruited player by hammering RHP in high school. Saying he can't see it, is a lame excuse imo. He's had plenty of hits off of RHP this year. He's just inconsistent bc he never adjusts.

Same thing every at bat...

Fast ball outside corner, take, strike 1
Fast ball outside corner, fouled off with a long swing, strike 2
Curve ball well below the strike zone, chase & miss, strike 3

Yet it happens every game, for 3 years. Learn and adjust for God's sake.

[CadaverDawg]

No kidding. Hit it to right center approach. Same with rooker, when he is hitting the ball hard to right center you know he is locked in.

Yep, every time they go oppo, good things happen...but they just can't get that little league, "I gotta pull it to have power", thought out of their heads. And apparently in 3 years our coaches haven't been able to teach them oppo approach.

[CadaverDawg]

Meh, maybe, but he pulls off everything. If his approach would be to stay inside the baseball and work up the middle to right center, regardless of pitch, it would help tremendously. If you get busted in, just let hands fly

Exactly. He's gifted enough and has quick enough hands, to where he can react on an inner half fastball and pull it. He should be looking up the middle and oppo at all times.

[smootness]

My point is that he can't tell if it's a fastball or breaking ball. Obviously if you think a pitch is a fastball and swing and it turns out to be a breaking ball, it's going to look like you're trying to pull it.

I just don't think his problem is that he sees a pitch, recognizes it, and tries to pull it when he shouldn't. I think it's that he sees it and doesn't recognize it.

[Commercecomet24]

It doesn't matter who they throw. We have to get runners in early in the game when we have opportunity. There isn't a team left that if you let their starting pitcher get settled in that won't beat you. Last night we let their guy get settled in when we had him on the ropes and he fisted us up the ass. We can beat any pitcher in the country, we've proven it. Just have to execute.

And for **** sakes get 12 out of LF.

Agree completely and we let him
Off the hook by showing no discipline at the plate and swinging at his pitches. I knew when we left all those runners on early we were gonna have a problem. Gotta get it done today!

[djaymsu5]

It doesn't matter who they throw. We have to get runners in early in the game when we have opportunity. There isn't a team left that if you let their starting pitcher get settled in that won't beat you. Last night we let their guy get settled in when we had him on the ropes and he fisted us up the ass. We can beat any pitcher in the country, we've proven it. Just have to execute.

And for **** sakes get 12 out of LF.

100% agree on everything you said. Reid cost us that game yesterday. The only thing Reid needs to be doing right now is coming in to close the game pitching. He sucks in the field and he isn't hitting worth a shit right now. Get his ass out of there. His half ass approach at the plate pisses me off. That pitcher had all our guys numbers yesterday with his changeup. His pitch sequence was a thing of beauty. Every single power hitter in our lineup yesterday continued to have an awful approach at the plate. Is it just me or did a ton of our hitters get caught guessing yesterday. Look fast ball and adjust off speed damnit!! Everybody was trying to tie it up with one swing instead of finding ways to get on base. We HAVE to play selfless baseball. And for god sakes no more pop ups! We have to get on top of the ball from here on out if we want to win ball games and especially if we want to make it in Omaha.