Zac Houston starting game one

[maroonmania]

Well, it was pretty much going to either be Houston or Cyr. Houston is the experienced guy over Cyr and will likely do well IF he can throw strikes. If he looks shaky though through the first couple of innings though I would bring in Cyr.

[AlSwearengen]

It wouldn't bother me one bit if we won only one game in the SEC tournament and then take it to the house and rest. We won nine straight SEC games. It is asking a lot to go deep into the SEC tournament and I would be afraid that it would leave our gas tanks low going into the tournaments that really matter.

[SaintDawg]

Going back and looking at prior seasons, it is fairly unusual for the SEC Regular Season Champs to win the SECT. Last time it happened was in '11. South Carolina.
I agree with many of y'all. It wouldn't hurt my feelings a bit if we went out early in the tourney. We got bigger fish to fry

[drunkernhelldawg]

It may be better for the NCAA's if we go out early, but I am concerned that losing two games takes our winning edge away. I'd rather go ahead and win the SECT. It'll be tough with Florida and LSU in the way, but the thing this team does is win. I don't see how they let up on that without sliding a little. 21-9. 40 win season, and counting.

[maroonmania]

It wouldn't bother me one bit if we won only one game in the SEC tournament and then take it to the house and rest. We won nine straight SEC games. It is asking a lot to go deep into the SEC tournament and I would be afraid that it would leave our gas tanks low going into the tournaments that really matter.

To be honest, now that the national seed is wrapped up, I wouldn't mind making a fairly quit exit either. Yes, I would love to win the SEC tournament but the fact is, every game we play in the SEC tournament is another opportunity for one of our starters to get injured before the NCAA tournament starts.

[CadaverDawg]

There are no guarantees beyond this tournament, and these guys came here to win Championships. You play this tourney to win it, period. If you tank on purpose and then get upset in Regional play...all you did was take away a chance at a big accomplishment for these guys for no reason. These are young guys...let them play to win everything. They will have a week off between each of the next steps...this isn't MLB and they are 18-22 year olds. I've never wrapped my head around purposefully losing or not playing to win. Post season tournaments & Regular season titles are why you play. These guys WANT to win every tournament, they're competitors! Come on, guys...are you really suggesting we purposefully tank the tournament that should be more competitive than Omaha? This is what these guys live for.

[BrunswickDawg]

There are no guarantees beyond this tournament, and these guys came here to win Championships. You play this tourney to win it, period. If you tank on purpose and then get upset in Regional play...all you did was take away a chance at a big accomplishment for these guys for no reason. These are young guys...let them play to win everything. They will have a week off between each of the next steps...this isn't MLB and they are 18-22 year olds. I've never wrapped my head around purposefully losing or not playing to win. Post season tournaments & Regular season titles are why you play. These guys WANT to win every tournament, they're competitors! Come on, guys...are you really suggesting we purposefully tank the tournament that should be more competitive than Omaha? This is what these guys live for.

A lot of these kids have grown up in the travel ball world - so they are used to 3-4 days where they sometimes played multiple games per day. They can handle it.

[CadaverDawg]

A lot of these kids have grown up in the travel ball world - so they are used to 3-4 days where they sometimes played multiple games per day. They can handle it.

I agree.

[shoeless joe]

There are no guarantees beyond this tournament, and these guys came here to win Championships. You play this tourney to win it, period. If you tank on purpose and then get upset in Regional play...all you did was take away a chance at a big accomplishment for these guys for no reason. These are young guys...let them play to win everything. They will have a week off between each of the next steps...this isn't MLB and they are 18-22 year olds. I've never wrapped my head around purposefully losing or not playing to win. Post season tournaments & Regular season titles are why you play. These guys WANT to win every tournament, they're competitors! Come on, guys...are you really suggesting we purposefully tank the tournament that should be more competitive than Omaha? This is what these guys live for.

Has anyone said tank it?

[maroonmania]

There are no guarantees beyond this tournament, and these guys came here to win Championships. You play this tourney to win it, period. If you tank on purpose and then get upset in Regional play...all you did was take away a chance at a big accomplishment for these guys for no reason. These are young guys...let them play to win everything. They will have a week off between each of the next steps...this isn't MLB and they are 18-22 year olds. I've never wrapped my head around purposefully losing or not playing to win. Post season tournaments & Regular season titles are why you play. These guys WANT to win every tournament, they're competitors! Come on, guys...are you really suggesting we purposefully tank the tournament that should be more competitive than Omaha? This is what these guys live for.

I don't want anyone to tank anything. Heck, I will be at the games. My only point was, due to risk of injury prior to the NCAA tournament, I will not be upset if we get put out of the SEC tourney before the weekend. Would love to win the whole thing but I won't be down about it if we don't. In prior years we had a lot to prove in the SEC tourney, this year, not so much.

[BeardoMSU]

Has anyone said tank it?

No, but some are arguing to go into it without the intention of winning it, and you just can't do that from a competitive stand point. You want our guys mentally sharp and firing on all cylinders wanting to win every game they play. Without that mentality, it'd be easy to get complacent, and that's NOT an attitude you want to have in the post-season. Period.

[klong-dog]

I was more in hoping for Cyr. Mainly because of strikes being thrown. Hoover is of course a big park and we just need someone that can throw it over the plate. Houston can lose it and lose it in a hurry. Hopefully we can get some early runs and not have to put much pressure on him, for when he does start to struggle. I'd love to see him give us 5 or 6 solid innings. Anything more is gravy.

[CadaverDawg]

No, but some are arguing to go into it without the intention of winning it, and you just can't do that from a competitive stand point. You want our guys mentally sharp and firing on all cylinders wanting to win every game they play. Without that mentality, it'd be easy to get complacent, and that's NOT an attitude you want to have in the post-season. Period.

This^

[msstate7]

I wanna get deep enough to get pilk a start. I don't want his next start to be to win regional or avoid elimination after his shaky last start

[Mjoelner34]

Where does that second to last gif come from?

I think that may be me out in centerfield when the homeplate ump totally screws up a call.

[BeardoMSU]

Where does that second to last gif come from?

I actually don't know. I know it's Dennis Hopper - I just assumed that's always how he looked, lol.

I just searched for "17 you gifs", and it was one of the pictures that really resonated with me.**

[Tbonewannabe]

I was more in hoping for Cyr. Mainly because of strikes being thrown. Hoover is of course a big park and we just need someone that can throw it over the plate. Houston can lose it and lose it in a hurry. Hopefully we can get some early runs and not have to put much pressure on him, for when he does start to struggle. I'd love to see him give us 5 or 6 solid innings. Anything more is gravy.

That is the biggest difference now from the beginning of the year. Wes understands his pitching staff a lot better. Houston can go from being dominant to not hitting the strike zone in 1 batter. Wes now knows this so he has a quicker hook than someone that will work out of it. I hope Houston gives us some good innings and really turns it up now. He is probably getting drafted high enough to not come back so hopefully he has some good games.

[Tbonewannabe]

No, but some are arguing to go into it without the intention of winning it, and you just can't do that from a competitive stand point. You want our guys mentally sharp and firing on all cylinders wanting to win every game they play. Without that mentality, it'd be easy to get complacent, and that's NOT an attitude you want to have in the post-season. Period.

This group of guys are just different than last year. I think they are just so competitive it wouldn't matter if they were playing an exhibition game, they would want to kick ass. Last year it seemed like Cody Brown was the definition of going all out but this year the whole team has that kind of attitude. Wes has brought that kind of attitude to the pitching staff and I love it.

[War Machine Dawg]

To be fair, I'm actually ok with starting Houston. He makes me nervous, but he does better with a clean inning than he does coming out of the pen with runners on. So starting the game probably works in the favor of a headcase like that. Wouldn't surprise me if he went out and dominated for 7 innings. Also wouldn't surprise me if we're down 5-0 in the first before we can get another reliever into the game. I know if it were me, I'd have Breaux/Cyr/Billingsley/James/etc. warm up pre-game just in case Houston starts walking guys and getting shelled early. Nothing worse than starting a guy who's been unreliable and not having anyone ready to go early if he implodes.

[Commercecomet24]

A lot of these kids have grown up in the travel ball world - so they are used to 3-4 days where they sometimes played multiple games per day. They can handle it.

Yep. It's a different world in baseball now. I've coached travel ball the last 15 years and the more these kids play the better they play. I watched my kids win a World Series by winning 5 games on a Sunday in July in Baton Rouge. They're used to it. They'll be fine.