Arkansas baseball article

[Todd4State]

Sorry this is a little late, but I wanted to make sure my access was granted to IT before I wrote something.

http://maroonandwhitenation.com/?p=5559

[RTO Dawg]

[QUOTE=Todd4State;641]Sorry this is a little late, but I wanted to make sure my access was granted to IT before I wrote something.

http://maroonandwhitenation.com/?p=5559[/QUOTE




Thanks for the write up.....always good stuff

[Will James]

Last year in SEC LOSSES we averaged 3.2 runs/game. This year in our losses were averaging 2.8. So while we can put together a big game against LSU and UK to up the totals, game by game if you look at them individually it's the offense why were losing most of them. Analyzing the losses, and that's naturally where you look to see what needs to improve for you to win, it's clear that in our losses 2.8 runs just ain't getting it done.

In our SEC losses we are only giving up 4.7 runs a game. In just our losses!
In our SEC losses last year, with the number whatever ERA in the country we gave up 5.9 runs/game!

Some people aren't blaming the offense "just to blame the offense". They are the reason we are losing these games.

[Spider-Man]

Great article Todd. I agree with others that our offense struggled on Sunday, but starting pitching has to get better, it is never a good thing to start down 3-0. We've had at least 4 games where we had a starter who couldn't even get out of the first inning. Twice in SEC play and twice against the SWAC. That's trouble.

[Ghost of Hank Flick]

Good stuff as always Todd.

I agree on the offense, they don't deserve much heat. In the 3 SEC series we've faced the best pitching staff (ARK, 1.68 ERA) in the SEC, 3rd best (LSU, 2.47) and 4th best (UK, 2.49). Our pitching staff is 5th with a 2.60 ERA.

Considering UPig's ERA is 1.64, having a game in that series with only one run isn't the end of the world - it's going to happen in baseball. The bigger point is that we scored 4 runs on Friday (over 2 runs more than they average giving up) and didn't win....mostly because of Cohen's bonehead decision to leave Pollo in for the 7th inning.

You could probably blame the offense for the DH at UK, only scoring 5 runs over the two games, but Wes Rea had a 2-run HR if not for that green monster in Game 1. Maybe not much of an excuse but still.

vs. LSU we obviously should have won the Friday night game having scored 4 runs and having the 3 run lead.

If we had won the Friday night games vs. LSU and ARK we'd be looking at having won 2 out of the 3 series and a 5-4 record...not bad. Based on what our team is supposedly built on - pitching - 4 runs should be enough. The problem has been our starting pitching's inability to get out of the 1st inning, and then our ability to hold onto leads (which Cohen put a freshman - Gentry - in both times and it cost us).

[Todd4State]

Last year in SEC LOSSES we averaged 3.2 runs/game. This year in our losses were averaging 2.8. So while we can put together a big game against LSU and UK to up the totals, game by game if you look at them individually it's the offense why were losing most of them. Analyzing the losses, and that's naturally where you look to see what needs to improve for you to win, it's clear that in our losses 2.8 runs just ain't getting it done.

In our SEC losses we are only giving up 4.7 runs a game. In just our losses!
In our SEC losses last year, with the number whatever ERA in the country we gave up 5.9 runs/game!

Some people aren't blaming the offense "just to blame the offense". They are the reason we are losing these games.

Yes, but I think you would agree that our pitching staff was much better and not putting our offense into a hole early in the game. As I said, that changes what we want to do and it affects our approach greatly. I think that's the thing that's getting the most overlooked right now as far as the offense goes.

If we give up 5 runs in a game (rounding the 4.7 in losses number) most teams are going to have trouble winning. We'll see how things shake out after we start playing some of the not top 5 pitching staffs in the SEC as last year's team had that opportunity.