Dont look now- but our softball hitting line-up

[Coach34]

has scored 9 or more runs in 9 of our last 13 games. It's really not a softball line-up anymore with Davis in CF- but it shows inserting him into the line-up hasnt hurt a thing. The offense is fixed and is on pace to be better than last year as some of us predicted. Also on pace to break the HR record

Now Fox has some pitching to fix. Hopefully we get to see Hunt throw an inning or two this weekend.

[Commercecomet24]

If we can get the pen sorted out this team could be heck.

[basedog]

Need 2 wins this weekend, but I’d take 3.

[Activated Alpha]

Would love a rematch with both the trash bastards from Tulane and LBS

[Commercecomet24]

Need 2 wins this weekend, but I’d take 3.

Amen!

[HoopsDawg]

Yep. Like I said in the game thread, 5-7 hole is brutal for the opposition. 21 HR's combined from Hines-Clark-Cumbest. And 4-8 hole are all hitting it well.

Auger and Fristoe looked the part of set up man and closer. That could be huge for the rest of the season if they can settle into those roles. Then you have B. Smith and hopefully Hunt providing middle relief.

[OLJWales]

Call me out if deserved but I'm still a bit squeamish. Before Sunday I was worried about how many's gonna no hit us this year so I'm really needing to see us hit Fri & Sat SEC pitching. Need improvement in fielding and pitching too but I know we can right this ship if we keep our heads out of our asses.

[Coach34]

Jawja's Friday guy put it to us. But we scored 11 runs on Saturday. This offense is getting going

[BayouDawg]

The bats are looking very good. I just want one season where we can start the season hitting at least decent instead of having to start from ground zero each year under GoTro.

[Todd4State]

has scored 9 or more runs in 9 of our last 13 games. It's really not a softball line-up anymore with Davis in CF- but it shows inserting him into the line-up hasnt hurt a thing. The offense is fixed and is on pace to be better than last year as some of us predicted. Also on pace to break the HR record

Now Fox has some pitching to fix. Hopefully we get to see Hunt throw an inning or two this weekend.

Hunt is supposed to be out until the week of the LSU series. If he's not back by the time we play UAB it probably isn't happening.


Would love a rematch with both the trash bastards from Tulane and LBS

Hindsight is 20/20. But I would have liked to have played USM and Texas Tech during the SEC regular season after we had figured our lineup out somewhat. Switch them with a SWAC team and maybe UT-Martin or North Alabama or even Samford. Would have made things a lot more manageable for our pitching staff and team. Probably would have given us at least one more quality win at a bare minimum. As far as Long Beach State I wish we would have played them week four instead of week one and played Northern Kentucky or Princeton instead. That way we could have "learned" about our team without losing as many games. Tulane was a perfect storm of pitching injuries that greatly affected the outcome of that series which we lost two games by one run each.


If we can get the pen sorted out this team could be heck.

I think we're pretty close. Fristoe and Auger are legit. Brandon Smith has been good when he's not overextended. Talley was disappointing tonight. Hopefully he rebounds. I understand why Lemonis was mad at him. Cost us a chance to get some guys like Tepper some action to get him right and also forced us to use our big bullpen gun instead rather than rest them. Right move though- we couldn't afford to have another meltdown from Walker or Tepper and have Southern potentially get the game close or Heaven forbid they take the lead and give us a loss that would pretty much sink our RPI and hosting chances completely in week two of SEC play.


The bats are looking very good. I just want one season where we can start the season hitting at least decent instead of having to start from ground zero each year under GoTro.

I just think it's mostly a situation where we have a group of players that start out slow. Kam and LoTan are going to have 10+ home runs by the end of the year. Gautreau's philosophy I don't agree with as far as college hitters go where you just let them struggle and then build them back up. If we're going to do that- that's another reason to adjust our schedule going forward.

[OLJWales]

Jawja's Friday guy put it to us. But we scored 11 runs on Saturday. This offense is getting going

Yep. I shoulda said before Sat not Sun. Had we not shot ourselves in the foot we take 2 of 3 from #10 on the road. Still much smaller sample than prior to Jawjuh though. Gonna be interesting to see how things play out because they've somehow managed a 180 degree flip with the bats of late. Hoping it keeps trending this way and not revert back to pre-UGA.

[BrunswickDawg]

Jawja's Friday guy put it to us. But we scored 11 runs on Saturday. This offense is getting going

Cannon is one of the best in the SEC, if not the country. 37 k's and 1 BB in 34 innings is pretty damn strong. I wasn't surprised Friday started out as a pitchers duel and that Presto was slightly out matched - although he gave us a pretty strong outing that kept us in the game.

[BrunswickDawg]

The bats are looking very good. I just want one season where we can start the season hitting at least decent instead of having to start from ground zero each year under GoTro.

That's just not how baseball works. Why do you think MLB typically has a month of games that don't count? There is such a huge difference in practice and games with no way to really simulate the intensity and the general randomness of baseball. Yeah, some guys come out of the gate hot, but most players don't. And a lot of players that start off hot go cold just as the rest of the team is getting in a groove.

Remember 2015? We came out pretty hot that year with a 13-0 start, pretty much destroying everyone we played - including taking 2 from Arizona and Samford, and 3 from Cincinnati - and felt pretty damn good with a team that had talent.
Going into SEC play in our starting lineup Robson was hitting .431; Cody Brown .372; Jake Vickerson .361; Wes Rea .314; Seth Heck .384; Ryan Gridley .339; and josh Lovelady .275.
Of our starting pitchers - Laster, Austin Sexton, Preston Brown, Vance Tatum - no one had an ERA over 2.49 and there was only 1 loss between them. We seemed primed for another run. Then we went 8-22 in SEC play.

[OLJWales]

That's just not how baseball works. Why do you think MLB typically has a month of games that don't count? There is such a huge difference in practice and games with no way to really simulate the intensity and the general randomness of baseball. Yeah, some guys come out of the gate hot, but most players don't. And a lot of players that start off hot go cold just as the rest of the team is getting in a groove.

Remember 2015? We came out pretty hot that year with a 13-0 start, pretty much destroying everyone we played - including taking 2 from Arizona and Samford, and 3 from Cincinnati - and felt pretty damn good with a team that had talent.
Going into SEC play in our starting lineup Robson was hitting .431; Cody Brown .372; Jake Vickerson .361; Wes Rea .314; Seth Heck .384; Ryan Gridley .339; and josh Lovelady .275.
Of our starting pitchers - Laster, Austin Sexton, Preston Brown, Vance Tatum - no one had an ERA over 2.49 and there was only 1 loss between them. We seemed primed for another run. Then we went 8-22 in SEC play.

Damn. Excellent stuff.

[basedog]

That's just not how baseball works. Why do you think MLB typically has a month of games that don't count? There is such a huge difference in practice and games with no way to really simulate the intensity and the general randomness of baseball. Yeah, some guys come out of the gate hot, but most players don't. And a lot of players that start off hot go cold just as the rest of the team is getting in a groove.

Remember 2015? We came out pretty hot that year with a 13-0 start, pretty much destroying everyone we played - including taking 2 from Arizona and Samford, and 3 from Cincinnati - and felt pretty damn good with a team that had talent.
Going into SEC play in our starting lineup Robson was hitting .431; Cody Brown .372; Jake Vickerson .361; Wes Rea .314; Seth Heck .384; Ryan Gridley .339; and josh Lovelady .275.
Of our starting pitchers - Laster, Austin Sexton, Preston Brown, Vance Tatum - no one had an ERA over 2.49 and there was only 1 loss between them. We seemed primed for another run. Then we went 8-22 in SEC play.

You win, I don't think many of "us" understand that pre fall and spring along with early non conference games are "just practice". Hey I get a little frustrated early in the season but I do realize what coaches and players are striving for and that's their pecking order and make a hot run!

Baseball is a strange sport.

[BrunswickDawg]

You win, I don't think many of "us" understand that pre fall and spring along with early non conference games are "just practice". Hey I get a little frustrated early in the season but I do realize what coaches and players are striving for and that's their pecking order and make a hot run!

Baseball is a strange sport.

Base, I know you understand the game. But, fall and pre-season is practice. You spend a ton of time working on what isn't working for you. I had a coach that spent an entire practice one January on our bunt defense because during the previous season we blew a game because the 3rd baseman was clueless on bunts. And non-con is a little like spring training.

Yeah - baseball is strange. I will always consider it and golf the hardest sports to master because you can just lose your knack at any point.

[Cooterpoot]

I've got news, we don't sacrifice wins for the sake of "figuring things out". That's not real. We expect the kids to perform. There's some trial and error involved, but not one coach in America wants to lose a game. You learn from mistakes but losing is never ok for any coach. I'd challenge anyone to find a coach that's happy with any loss. You won't find one.
We fans have to know hitting gets better as the weather warms up. Pitching is ahead of hitting (all the time really) during early season. Injuries have decimated our pitching this year and now we're trying to reassign and settle some roles.

[Johnson85]

I've got news, we don't sacrifice wins for the sake of "figuring things out". That's not real. We expect the kids to perform. There's some trial and error involved, but not one coach in America wants to lose a game. You learn from mistakes but losing is never ok for any coach. I'd challenge anyone to find a coach that's happy with any loss. You won't find one.
We fans have to know hitting gets better as the weather warms up. Pitching is ahead of hitting (all the time really) during early season. Injuries have decimated our pitching this year and now we're trying to reassign and settle some roles.

Good coaches absolutely do in baseball. Last season we left regular season wins on the table to protect Sims' arm and to develop alternatives. That's not to say they ever intentionally give up a game to figure things out, but they absolutely do not optimize their decisions to win individual games early in the season.

[Cooterpoot]

Good coaches absolutely do in baseball. Last season we left regular season wins on the table to protect Sims' arm and to develop alternatives. That's not to say they ever intentionally give up a game to figure things out, but they absolutely do not optimize their decisions to win individual games early in the season.

No, we expected other kids to perform. You don't know until they're put in that position, but we aren't going to sit guys that do perform and take a loss. We can't throw a guy every game. Roles get reassigned & changed, but we aren't intentionally losing games. That's not real. And if guys don't perform, they won't play. See Walling and Cerantola. Both really talented. Both taken off the field to work on issues.

[BayouDawg]

That's just not how baseball works. Why do you think MLB typically has a month of games that don't count? There is such a huge difference in practice and games with no way to really simulate the intensity and the general randomness of baseball. Yeah, some guys come out of the gate hot, but most players don't. And a lot of players that start off hot go cold just as the rest of the team is getting in a groove.

Remember 2015? We came out pretty hot that year with a 13-0 start, pretty much destroying everyone we played - including taking 2 from Arizona and Samford, and 3 from Cincinnati - and felt pretty damn good with a team that had talent.
Going into SEC play in our starting lineup Robson was hitting .431; Cody Brown .372; Jake Vickerson .361; Wes Rea .314; Seth Heck .384; Ryan Gridley .339; and josh Lovelady .275.
Of our starting pitchers - Laster, Austin Sexton, Preston Brown, Vance Tatum - no one had an ERA over 2.49 and there was only 1 loss between them. We seemed primed for another run. Then we went 8-22 in SEC play.

Thats true. My football and basketball mindset blurs my judgment but that seems pretty accurate.

[Cowbell]

I've got news, we don't sacrifice wins for the sake of "figuring things out". That's not real. We expect the kids to perform. There's some trial and error involved, but not one coach in America wants to lose a game. You learn from mistakes but losing is never ok for any coach. I'd challenge anyone to find a coach that's happy with any loss. You won't find one.
We fans have to know hitting gets better as the weather warms up. Pitching is ahead of hitting (all the time really) during early season. Injuries have decimated our pitching this year and now we're trying to reassign and settle some roles.
This is a bad take. We absolutely play the long game. Coaches don't intentionally lose but we have absolutely rolled questionable pitchers and lineups out to mature kids, regardless of the outcome. Nobody is happy about losing though.

[Commercecomet24]

That's just not how baseball works. Why do you think MLB typically has a month of games that don't count? There is such a huge difference in practice and games with no way to really simulate the intensity and the general randomness of baseball. Yeah, some guys come out of the gate hot, but most players don't. And a lot of players that start off hot go cold just as the rest of the team is getting in a groove.

Remember 2015? We came out pretty hot that year with a 13-0 start, pretty much destroying everyone we played - including taking 2 from Arizona and Samford, and 3 from Cincinnati - and felt pretty damn good with a team that had talent.
Going into SEC play in our starting lineup Robson was hitting .431; Cody Brown .372; Jake Vickerson .361; Wes Rea .314; Seth Heck .384; Ryan Gridley .339; and josh Lovelady .275.
Of our starting pitchers - Laster, Austin Sexton, Preston Brown, Vance Tatum - no one had an ERA over 2.49 and there was only 1 loss between them. We seemed primed for another run. Then we went 8-22 in SEC play.

Great post, Bruns! You get it!

[HoopsDawg]

This is a bad take. We absolutely play the long game. Coaches don't intentionally lose but we have absolutely rolled questionable pitchers and lineups out to mature kids, regardless of the outcome. Nobody is happy about losing though.

I would guess the coaches regret their pitching decisions in that Saturday game vs Tulane. Then our defense had a meltdown on saturday vs UGA. Give me those 2 wins and we are sitting a lot better.

[Turfdawg67]

Great post, Bruns! You get it!

Yep. And that's why Polk always used to say, "That's baseball." Strange sport.

[Johnson85]

No, we expected other kids to perform. You don't know until they're put in that position, but we aren't going to sit guys that do perform and take a loss. We can't throw a guy every game. Roles get reassigned & changed, but we aren't intentionally losing games. That's not real. And if guys don't perform, they won't play. See Walling and Cerantola. Both really talented. Both taken off the field to work on issues.

No one ever claimed they intentionally lose games. That is something you made up to argue against. But it's a shitty high school or college coach that doesn't realize there is a tradeoff between playing to maximize your chances of winning a game and making sure you are developing players (baseball is probably a little unique in that you are likely developing players to win later in the same season; in football and basketball it's usually about preparing a backup in case of injury and/or developing players you will need in a subsequent season). Even if you have a proven guy you can go to, if you don't take opportunities to find out which of your other guys you can rely upon, even if that increases the chances of losing a particular game, you are going to be in for some pain later (or at the very least will have a more painful dropoff if you have a key injury).

[Commercecomet24]

Yep. And that's why Polk always used to say, "That's baseball." Strange sport.

It is a strange and wonderful sport that I love! To many folks look at it like football or basketball and you can't. Terrible teams beat great teams every single day in baseball, that rarely happens in football or basketball. Like you said it's a strange sport and not easy to play or coach! Earl Weaver told a story one time about cussing out a rooke in spring training for doing something dumb and not thinking and the kid said, you scream at us for thinking to much, you scream at us for not thinking enough. what are we supposed to do? Earl said when you figure that out you can be the manager, lol!

[BrunswickDawg]

Yep. And that's why Polk always used to say, "That's baseball." Strange sport.

It's so strange it can be surreal sometimes. Name another sport where a professional all-star caliber player can literally wake up one day and be unable to make the throw from 2nd to 1st (Knoblauch & Sax), catcher to pitcher (Dale Murphy, Mackey Sasser), or be unable to pitch (Ankiel, Steve Blass). I will always believe that baseball is the toughest sport to play - both mentally and physically. It's the only sport you can fail at 70% of the time and be considered an excellent player. A game based on failure messes with your head - especially since failing less 1 time in 10 is the difference in having a career or not.

[Commercecomet24]

It's so strange it can be surreal sometimes. Name another sport where a professional all-star caliber player can literally wake up one day and be unable to make the throw from 2nd to 1st (Knoblauch & Sax), catcher to pitcher (Dale Murphy, Mackey Sasser), or be unable to pitch (Ankiel, Steve Blass). I will always believe that baseball is the toughest sport to play - both mentally and physically. It's the only sport you can fail at 70% of the time and be considered an excellent player. A game based on failure messes with your head - especially since failing less 1 time in 10 is the difference in having a career or not.

I think Crash Davis said it best and it also speaks to some of our baseball fans to: Crash: “You know what the difference between hitting .250 and .300 is? It’s 25 hits. Twenty-five hits in 500 at-bats is 50 points, OK? There’s six months in a season. That’s about 25 weeks. That means if you get just one extra flare a week, just one, a gork, a ground ball — a ground ball with eyes! — you get a dying quail, just one more dying quail a week and you’re in Yankee Stadium. You still don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?”

[BrunswickDawg]

I think Crash Davis said it best and it also speaks to some of our baseball fans to: Crash: “You know what the difference between hitting .250 and .300 is? It’s 25 hits. Twenty-five hits in 500 at-bats is 50 points, OK? There’s six months in a season. That’s about 25 weeks. That means if you get just one extra flare a week, just one, a gork, a ground ball — a ground ball with eyes! — you get a dying quail, just one more dying quail a week and you’re in Yankee Stadium. You still don’t know what I’m talking about, do you?”

Spot. On. There should also be a constitutional amendment banning artificial turf and the designated hitter.

[Commercecomet24]

Spot. On. There should also be a constitutional amendment banning artificial turf and the designated hitter.

Amen to that!

[OLJWales]

Spot. On. There should also be a constitutional amendment banning artificial turf and the designated hitter.

Never cared much for either. Always wondered why the AL kept it because I deem it an AL handicap in World Series Play forcing pitchers who haven't put on a batting
glove in forever shoved immediately into a NL Stadium's Batters Box with little prep time.

Wasn't the AL's Reasoning and concern based on fear of fan boredom as a result of a lack of scoring during the era? I wonder if this was during Bob MFKIN Gibson's tenure? (Yes, Met Fan bowing to a Bird). Didn't he get the mounds lowered? Didn't that increase runs rendering the need for DH Moot? Do the Dodgers still cheat on mound height?

[The Federalist Engineer]

That's just not how baseball works. Why do you think MLB typically has a month of games that don't count? There is such a huge difference in practice and games with no way to really simulate the intensity and the general randomness of baseball. Yeah, some guys come out of the gate hot, but most players don't. And a lot of players that start off hot go cold just as the rest of the team is getting in a groove.

Remember 2015? We came out pretty hot that year with a 13-0 start, pretty much destroying everyone we played - including taking 2 from Arizona and Samford, and 3 from Cincinnati - and felt pretty damn good with a team that had talent.
Going into SEC play in our starting lineup Robson was hitting .431; Cody Brown .372; Jake Vickerson .361; Wes Rea .314; Seth Heck .384; Ryan Gridley .339; and josh Lovelady .275.
Of our starting pitchers - Laster, Austin Sexton, Preston Brown, Vance Tatum - no one had an ERA over 2.49 and there was only 1 loss between them. We seemed primed for another run. Then we went 8-22 in SEC play.

2015, the recruiting then needed time, miracles and instant impact from the JCs. Also, we got caught with a dead ball team as things changed. Ross Mitchell's approach hit-a-wall in 2015. With another year of dead ball, the 2015 team would have won 16-18 SEC games.

That team had Rooker, Hudson, Houston, Collins, Robson, Daniel Brown, and Sexton. That's two 1st Rounders and several draft players, but they were not developed in time for 2015. Also Jessie McCord got injured and he could have been huge for MSU.

[FISHDAWG]

I think Crash Davis said it best and it also speaks to some of our baseball fans to: Crash: ?You know what the difference between hitting .250 and .300 is? It?s 25 hits. Twenty-five hits in 500 at-bats is 50 points, OK? There?s six months in a season. That?s about 25 weeks. That means if you get just one extra flare a week, just one, a gork, a ground ball ? a ground ball with eyes! ? you get a dying quail, just one more dying quail a week and you?re in Yankee Stadium. You still don?t know what I?m talking about, do you??

if we could just get our shortstops to get on board with this and join the rest of the 5 through 8th hitters we would be on to something


Spot. On. There should also be a constitutional amendment banning artificial turf and the designated hitter.

wished I could rep this

[The Federalist Engineer]

Spot. On. There should also be a constitutional amendment banning artificial turf and the designated hitter.

The DH is a Baseball Players Union thing. They see it as another valuable job for veteran players.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2022/03/new-cba-officially-introduces-universal-designated-hitter.html

"The union has sought a universal DH for quite some time, with more possibility for aging or defensively-limited players to have regular roles."

I even read about a 2nd DH being considered. It would be another hitter, not batting for a pitcher, simply another hitter.

[TheLostDawg]

Need 2 wins this weekend, but I?d take 3.

I want all three after the crap the Alabama coach said about us (last year?)