C'mon man. That's just crazy. Cohen took that team from worst to first. Plus, Hudson was beaten 1-0 by Bobby Dalbec in that super by a hot 'Zona team.
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C'mon man. That's just crazy. Cohen took that team from worst to first. Plus, Hudson was beaten 1-0 by Bobby Dalbec in that super by a hot 'Zona team.
Yes - that 2015 team was awful. And Cohen let a number of guys go from that squad. While Reynolds did excel at USM in 2018 (not 2016 as Fed indicated)- lets not oversell what he did here either. On April 25th he was batting .154 - 8 for 52 in 25 games. He then went 20 for 40 over a 10 game stretch closing out the season. He also had an .846 fielding percentage. He was a mess until the last 10 games of the season. That streak was excellent - but there had to be a legit reason for letting Reynolds go, or else he would have caught on somewhere in 2017 and not sat out 2 years before catching on at USM.
The Dalbec game was just kind of a fluky deal, tip your cap to a talented guy for throwing the game of his life and mowing down a really good lineup. The game ended with runners on base and Jake Mangum at the plate, you take that all day every day, unfortunately he had maybe the worst AB of his career in that moment.
We had Game 2 won and then our bullpen imploded. Went to Ryan Rigby, who had been our best reliever all year, with a 5-1 lead in the 8th and he proceeded to put two guys on base and give up a three run moon shot. After that we were hanging on for dear life and couldn?t do it. I think they outhit us something like 19-7 in that game, we just couldn?t get them out.
That was one of our all-time great teams and unfortunately we just ran into a buzzsaw. That Arizona team made it all the way to the championship series. The only move I question Cohen on is the Smith for Rooker defensive sub. I get prioritizing defense in a game where we had a 5-1 lead late, but it was definitely a gamble to think we wouldn?t need any more runs. It?s the kind of move you make in March and nobody bats an eye, but in an elimination game of a Super Regional the stakes are way higher and taking out a guy who had hit two home runs in that game is a move that Cohen will admit now was a mistake.
Smart thoughts, KO. But two things to consider:
(1) "Worst to First" is only impressive when you were not the coach during the "Worst", especially at a School that is supposed to have elite baseball.
(2) Can you imagine the alternate universe where MSU had hired the other coach in the state of Kentucky in 2008? Dan McConnell of Louisville.
Byrne did a great thing in not hiring Polk's favorite, Raffo. But what if Byne had said, "I cant decide between the two Alumnus, so I will go Dan McConnell to prevent bad feelings".
In 2008, I bet even Tim Corbin was gettable.
So, the Arizona loss was really Gregg Byrne's mismanagement ***
Cheers
He pulled Rooker as defensive replacement when we were up. He didn't get pinch hit for. It was still dumb though. And Lemonis has done the same thing w TAnner Allen 3 times this year. Twice in one run games. I would never ever take him out of a one run game. Did it again on Sunday. Skinner isn't THAT much of an improvement in the field to justify that move, IMO
Arizona was slow death.
https://i.imgur.com/i05QJEX.gif?noredirect
Still not as bad as 1989, i was just like this kid at 10. I know his pain.
https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/qv...e6c2ffdcde4f1e
Bobby Dalbec was Superman that Super Regional. He damn near pitches a CG Shutout and then the next day hits a baseball that I'm still not sure where it actually landed. It was still rising going over the LFL. Cohen had his flaws as manager but that was one of his best managed teams. We were peaking at the right time and just ran into a buzzsaw.
You ain't lying brother. The '89 team, IMO, is still the best MSU team ever. I guess it can be aruged because they didn't make the CWS, yada, yada but that team was the best I've ever personally seen in maroon/white and that includes the 79, 81, 85, 90, 13 and 19 teams.
Best lineup ever and it's not even close. Heck we played 12 guys regularly and didn't drop off. One more pitcher is all we needed. Or two. Great team. One bad game and dig ourselves a hole we couldn't get out of. I just knew when we to them to the elimination game we would win. Wrong. I'll never forget coach Mac sitting in the stands all by himself and not leaving. Course that was his last game as an assistant first time around. Well second if you count him leaving after being a GA.
BTW, anyone know what Mac is up too these days? He bailed on us going to UF and that was a mistake. Anyway, just wondered what happened to him.
Pat is a great guy and a big part of our history. I do wonder what would have happened had he not left for Florida, though. Have to think he would have fared better than Polk 2.0 did, but his Florida run was kind of odd in itself. A couple of pretty good years, then had a very good team that played for a national title in 2005, then had back to back years where he didn?t even have an overall winning record and that was it, he was fired two years after having a national finalist.