Thoughts on baseball as we head to Regionals

[CadaverDawg]

* This is all icing on a cake we shouldn't be eating this year. What we saw in the late innings of both games today, is what we SHOULD have seen most of the year...but our guys weren't having it. Today we just ran out of gas

* We actually found something in our starting pitching this week. Gordon and JBill pitched well, and Plumlee looks like the guy that was our Saturday starter early on.

* Our hitting is struggling badly, but hitting can be turned around quickly, especially when you get away from seeing pitchers that have faced you multiple times this year. I think our bats will come alive when we face some OOC opponents that don't know exactly how to pitch us.

* I think Cann experimented with more offense, but quickly found out that we can survive with Cody at 3B, but we need Poole in RF. We may have seen Bragg for the last time, and Vansau better get comfy in the DH spot...which damn, he can hit. Macnamee hit like .500 for the tourney too....so if our big bats can get going, we are starting to see other guys swing it.

* Lovelady is a damn warrior. He's slower than a son of a bitch, but I love that dude. Gives it everything he's got, and Jake Mangum could learn a ton from Josh's approach and discipline at the plate.

* Mangum is only going to get worse and worse until he stops swinging at everything they throw to him.

* Our pitchers have to start holding runners on better, bc Lovelady throws nobody out, and teams will take advantage in Regional play.

* We gotta start using small ball more. I know that's a sin to some, but guys like Lovelady, Poole, and Alexander need to be bunting to avoid hitting into double plays and striking out. At least get an advancement of runners and another guy to the plate. I'm seriously thinking Poole should bunt every at bat in Regionals

* Finally, we have a real shot at stealing a Regional somewhere. I think we have no shot if they send us way out West...we traditionally suck out West. But we have some bats, and our pitching may be turning it up at just the right time. It's definitely a long shot, but we have the talent and toughness and fight to be a tough out. It's always about matchups of course, but our guys should play loose and realize it's house money and low expectations they're playing with....ya never know. I can tell you one thing, we'll fight for 9 innings and we have some scrappers.
I encourage everyone to really enjoy & appreciate Rooker in his final games, and what he's done this year. He is one of the best to wear the maroon and white, which is saying something. Also, enjoy the last games of Cody Brown...that guy has given his all to MSU baseball, and he is one of my all time favorites. He does not want his career at MSU to end, so I expect big things from him in the Regional. Regardless, I tip my cap to Cody and his effort.

Let's go surprise some folks. Hail Damn State

[Dawgowar]

I love this team. Truly do. And this season has provided some good times from every possible angle.

[Bass Chaser]

Great post! Rep given.

[Commercecomet24]

Spot on, Cadaver! These kids and coaches have worked their butts off to do what they've done this year! Scrappy bunch, lotta heart. Bullpen is worn out and it's understandable. Hopefully the break gives them a chance to get a second wind before the regional. Loved what you said about Lovelady. Caught both games today(and there were some LONG innings today). He got hbp couple times today and blocking balls and foul tips. He just does his job. Warrior describes him perfectly. This team can be proud of the way they've handled adversity this year and the season they've had. Hopefully there's a few more bullets in the fun left. If Cann accomplished this year with half a team imagine what he's gonna do with a full roster of talented players. Future is bright!

[Todd4State]

Great post!

Here's the thing- like Cann said today we're not built right now to win the SEC Tournament. It's too much of a meat grinder and you really need at least four and probably five legit starters to get through the thing. The SEC should honestly look at reformatting it because it's the most ridiculous tournament I've ever seen in my life in terms of format. It goes from single elimination to double elimination and then all of a sudden it's back to single elimination. The way I see it in a normal year with a normal staff we probably beat Florida today and might even win the thing. With a healthy staff we're probably hosting at worst and a National Seed at best- and with the talent we brought in probably a National Seed considering we won 17 SEC games with all the crap that went on.

But the good news is going forward we don't have to have five starters and 2-3 reliable relief pitchers. I think if we get a decent draw we can win a regional. That's just an unknown at this this time. At any rate I think being in the SEC really helps us out a LOT and that's probably a big reason why we've seen some of our teams go on miracle runs over the years. Because we go from SEC pitching where there are all these high draft talent arms and relievers throwing gas and filth to mid major arms.

We do have some things going for us- Pilkington is a legit ace and Rooker is a Golden Spikes candidate. That's more than a lot of teams. It looks like some of our pitchers are stepping up like Gordon and Plumlee. The good news for them is they aren't going to be facing SEC hitters. We see the difference between Plumlee vs. Columbia or whoever vs. Arkansas. Our guys also play really hard. We could be fine against a West Coast team but we have to change our mindset when we play them. They like to bunt a lot and someone like LA could be valuable at third if that's the case. And our hitters have to not try to do too much against their pitchers. We've actually done OK against West Coast teams in the past- last year we swept Oregon, beat USC on the road, and beat Cal State Fullerton. And yes we lost to UCLA - but they burned their ace for the year doing it and Arizona had to really stretch their guys out and barely beat us.

Hopefully we will be a two somewhere like USM and hopefully USM will get the National Seed so that if we win and the two wins the other regional we can maybe host a SR. Like 2007.

The crazy thing is we're not going to have a "normal" year until 2019 when all of the construction is done.

[msbulldog]

This is a team I (and I suspect most of you) will never forget. Last Fall when all of those pitchers started dropping like flies to TJ, I thought no way this team sniffs a regional. But, this season has been fun, bad for the heart though, how many come from behind wins 22 or 23?
Maybe just maybe the fun is not over, I think we just might make a little more noise yet.
Hail State! Go Dawgs!

[MarketingBully]

Great post Cadaver. I concur!

[Leeshouldveflanked]

Over Achieving team, but we have about petered out..

[Tbonewannabe]

This team is fun to watch because they are going to give it everything they have. One thing about our pitching is a lot of the guys being thrown into SEC games either need more development or should be eating up some midweek innings for us. Our roster is so screwed up in every aspect that we don't have a real backup at any position. We are going to be really young next year but with a lot of pitching experience. It will probably take another year of recruiting for Canny to get the roster straight.

[State82]

Very nice write up, CD.

[confucius say]

Teams are 26-31 stealing against lovelady. Hope we don't face a running team.

Rooker and Mangum were combined 0-17 Friday. I mean wow.

Will be some interesting pitching decisions next week. Plumlee, Gordon, JB, and Denver. Who starts game 2 & 3?

[maroonmania]

We certainly need to get the offense going and I agree we have got to start getting more productive outs from the bottom end of our lineup. My biggest concern now though is that when we had Self AND Spencer going we had one of the best bullpens around. Now, unfortunately, ever since the ankle injury it just seems Spencer is not the same pitcher anymore. A month ago Spencer would have closed that Florida game out by himself, given he had not pitched in 6 days and Self had had to go in back to back games, but couldn't do it yesterday and that is where everything fell apart for us. We really need both guys to make any type of post-season run. Still proud of this team thought even if we go 2 and out in a regional.

[tcdog70]

Bunting Luke and Tanner sounds good but from what I've seen they are terrible bunters .Let Cody, Mac and Jake play in the outfield. And play Luke at third. Tanner Poole had the bases loaded 3 times with two double plays and a K. Wish he would have not had a bat when he went to the plate. 3 Ks would have been much better. Chance are Gridley would have knocked in at least a couple of runs. At least every once in a blue moon Luke hits a homer. When a check swing is your highlight you know,you sux.

[rcsteph1]

Obviously we all knew the pitching was gonna be the issue with the tourney setup. I hate to say it but the best thing that probably could happen to us was get put out. We need to rest and get ready for regional play. If we get past regional to super I think we have a chance at winning two. I believe the same issue will arise if we make it to Omaha. Side note: Cole Gordon really showed up against Florida. You couldn't ask for a better outing. He gave us a real chance at it.

[HoopsDawg]

I think I would just go with this lineup and batting order:

1. Grid, SS
2. Rooker, 1B
3. Mangum, CF
4. Cody, LF
5. Stovall, 2B
6. Vansau, DH
7. MacNamee, RF
8. Lovelady, C
9. LA, 3B

Then we can use Poole as a pinch runner late for Lovelady.

[CadaverDawg]

I think I would just go with this lineup and batting order:

1. Grid, SS
2. Rooker, 1B
3. Mangum, CF
4. Cody, LF
5. Stovall, 2B
6. Vansau, DH
7. MacNamee, RF
8. Lovelady, C
9. LA, 3B

Then we can use Poole as a pinch runner late for Lovelady.

I like that

[HoopsDawg]

Teams are 26-31 stealing against lovelady. Hope we don't face a running team.

Rooker and Mangum were combined 0-17 Friday. I mean wow.

Will be some interesting pitching decisions next week. Plumlee, Gordon, JB, and Denver. Who starts game 2 & 3?

No chance we save KP for Game 2 right?

[yjnkdawg]

I think I would just go with this lineup and batting order:

1. Grid, SS
2. Rooker, 1B
3. Mangum, CF
4. Cody, LF
5. Stovall, 2B
6. Vansau, DH
7. MacNamee, RF
8. Lovelady, C
9. LA, 3B

Then we can use Poole as a pinch runner late for Lovelady.


I like that lineup. Maybe get Bragg in at 3rd some if applicable.

[HoopsDawg]

I like that lineup. Maybe get Bragg in at 3rd some if applicable.

At this point, it's too late on Bragg.

[Commercecomet24]

I think I would just go with this lineup and batting order:

1. Grid, SS
2. Rooker, 1B
3. Mangum, CF
4. Cody, LF
5. Stovall, 2B
6. Vansau, DH
7. MacNamee, RF
8. Lovelady, C
9. LA, 3B

Then we can use Poole as a pinch runner late for Lovelady.

I like that lineup. Poole should only be used as a runner from here on out because he does run well.

[Drugdog]

What's the problem with Bragg?

[HoopsDawg]

What's the problem with Bragg?

He just hasn't had enough AB's to play him at this point.

[Lumpy Chucklelips]

If Vansau continues to swing a hot bat like he did in the tourney, I'd put him at 4 instead of Stovall and let Stovall go back to the 9 hole. I know it may not have played out exactly like it did yesterday, but think if Stovall had come up to bat those 3 times when Poole did. LA in the 9 hole would have produced the same results as we got yesterday.

On a side note, I can't help but wonder how Bragg would be hitting if he had been playing more. You can't expect someone to go from not hitting live in a game for 3-4 weeks and then plug him in and expect results. His timing on his swings were horrible yesterday.

Thought everything in your post was spot on. Can't wait to see what the future holds.

[msstate7]

I think I would just go with this lineup and batting order:

1. Grid, SS
2. Rooker, 1B
3. Mangum, CF
4. Cody, LF
5. Stovall, 2B
6. Vansau, DH
7. MacNamee, RF
8. Lovelady, C
9. LA, 3B

Then we can use Poole as a pinch runner late for Lovelady.

Rather have Jake leadoff, gridley 2nd, and rooker 3rd. Mangum 3rd scares no one... id rather have brown's pop behind rooker

[LC Dawg]

Great post Cadaver.
I agree that we could steal a regional and if we get to a super we are set up pretty good for a 3 game series if we pick the right 2nd starter.
However, since the odds are stacked against us to win it all my biggest desire is for Rooker to win the triple crown. It's a stupid rule for post season stats to count and it will suck if Rooker loses it because another team makes it farther than we do so each game we play helps his chances to pad his lead. He lost a lot off his average yesterday so hopefully he starts the regional strongly.

[msstate7]

Great post Cadaver.
I agree that we could steal a regional and if we get to a super we are set up pretty good for a 3 game series if we pick the right 2nd starter.
However, since the odds are stacked against us to win it all my biggest desire is for Rooker to win the triple crown. It's a stupid rule for post season stats to count and it will suck if Rooker loses it because another team makes it farther than we do so each game we play helps his chances to pad his lead. He lost a lot off his average yesterday so hopefully he starts the regional strongly.

Deichmann has hit his 18th and 19th HRs today.

[LC Dawg]

Deichmann has hit his 18th and 19th HRs today.
That sucks.

[msstate7]

That sucks.

Spanburger (however you spell it) just hit his 18th hr. Rooker better hit a homerun if he wants to hold them off

[msstate7]

Spanberger hits 19th

[LC Dawg]

Spanberger hits 19th
If we go two and out in a regional Rooker won't win the triple crown. I think it's stupid for postseason stats to count.
One thing I do feel good about is we did a better job pitching Arkansas than other teams in the tournament (until we threw in the towel last night).

[somebodyshotmypaw]

No chance we save KP for Game 2 right?

I think you wait and see the regional pairings before you make a decision.