Troy Game Thread

[maroonmania]

Boy, this team certainly lives on the edge.

[HoopsDawg]

Henderson, little free advice... get macnamee in 4-hole this weekend

Yeah, you could swap those 2 and be fine. Need to figure out who is our best DH among Hatcher, Vansau, Anderson and Westburg.

[Bulldog1]

Henderson, little free advice... get macnamee in 4-hole this weekend

Absolutely. I read on sps that Luke is 3-29 since batting cleanup.

[Dawgcap]

We have a limited staff based on a 3 game series this weekend. Is coaching the problem or do we at some point question the players or better yet the team we are playing?? We are limited with pitchers for a mid week game. Is it always the coaches fault?

[Skydawg1]

Whew, thanks Troy! ** CL Headline

[BeardoMSU]

Absolutely. I read on sps that Luke is 3-29 since batting cleanup.

Wow....that's.....not good

[BuckyIsAB****]

Holy shit we made that a lot harder than it had to be.

But I think we are postseason bound boys. Well done. Just keep winning

[msstate7]

All 3 games on tv this weekend

[Bulldog1]

All 3 games on tv this weekend

And next weekend vs. Florida! Now we don't have to worry about WatchESPN being down for the first 3 innings of the game for the rest of the year.

[HoopsDawg]

All 3 games on tv this weekend

6 huge games left. Got to find a way to go 3-3. If Self can give us another arm out of the pen that would be huge.

[BuckyIsAB****]

Starters have to give us quality outings this weekend.

I know thats a pretty easy thing to say but this one more than ever. Hopefully Self is ready now

[Todd4State]

We have a limited staff based on a 3 game series this weekend. Is coaching the problem or do we at some point question the players or better yet the team we are playing?? We are limited with pitchers for a mid week game. Is it always the coaches fault?

I don't think it's "always" the coaches fault. Honestly, I think one of the biggest culprits is the S&C because a lot of our guys look tired and have had nagging injuries and things like that.

It depends on the situation but a lot of these players- Smith, Self, Neff, Keegan, and etc. have performed well at times this year and appear to be fading. That tells me the ability is there on their part.

I do think that Henderson puts them in bad positions sometimes. Like trying to extend Smith who has been injured and then bringing in Neff with two on and no outs. Smith should have been pulled after he walked the first batter and really shouldn't have been out there at all. And I don't know what to make of the Riley Self situation other than his Mom said he was healthy and he looked good tonight...so I'm not sure why Henderson has been holding him back if that is indeed the case.

And then there is JP France. If he is going to be our Andrew Miller type long relief guy he needs to be closing in situations like tonight. IF Smith is healthy- and he did look better until he got tired, and Self is indeed healthy there is no reason why France shouldn't be our third starter right now. Hopefully Neff gets back into a groove again soon.

[BeardoMSU]

And next weekend vs. Florida! Now we don't have to worry about WatchESPN being down for the first 3 innings of the game for the rest of the year.

Or being subjected to that radio broadcast again. WTF happened tonight, btw? Was Jim using a hamster wheel for his wattage?

[Dawgcap]

Seriously we won a mid week game with limited pitching but damn tell me how you win this game with the staff available? Not defending the coaches but we won a game against a team mid week with a short staff, so what’s your call?? Lineup changes, pitching decisions? Just wondering?

[Todd4State]

Holy shit we made that a lot harder than it had to be.

But I think we are postseason bound boys. Well done. Just keep winning

Yep. Huge win tonight. RPI presently at 34 as I type this with RPI 15 on the road and RPI 1 in Starkville. I think we find a way to get in as well. We really need to win the series this weekend to make our lives easier. That would put us at 29 wins and on the bubble with 13 SEC wins. 14 is probably the magic number for us to feel really good about SEC wins. 13 wins and I think we need to do some work in the SEC Tournament to make us feel good about ourselves.

[HoopsDawg]

Starters have to give us quality outings this weekend.

I know thats a pretty easy thing to say but this one more than ever. Hopefully Self is ready now

If Self is ready, then we can go Pilk, Small and France the rest of the season and that's a strong Weekend staff. Just need all 3 to go at least 6 innings every start. That's not asking too much from those guys. Then we can find 9 innings total from Self, Smith, Billingsley, Gordon, and Neff.

[Dawgcap]

I don't think it's "always" the coaches fault. Honestly, I think one of the biggest culprits is the S&C because a lot of our guys look tired and have had nagging injuries and things like that.

It depends on the situation but a lot of these players- Smith, Self, Neff, Keegan, and etc. have performed well at times this year and appear to be fading. That tells me the ability is there on their part.

I do think that Henderson puts them in bad positions sometimes. Like trying to extend Smith who has been injured and then bringing in Neff with two on and no outs. Smith should have been pulled after he walked the first batter and really shouldn't have been out there at all. And I don't know what to make of the Riley Self situation other than his Mom said he was healthy and he looked good tonight...so I'm not sure why Henderson has been holding him back if that is indeed the case.

And then there is JP France. If he is going to be our Andrew Miller type long relief guy he needs to be closing in situations like tonight. IF Smith is healthy- and he did look better until he got tired, and Self is indeed healthy there is no reason why France shouldn't be our third starter right now. Hopefully Neff gets back into a groove again soon.

Always love your thoughts and I agree for the most part. He has a limited amount of players mid week while also looking for weekend and postseason so I think he hopes to burn innings and also fish for the final piece to win in the tournament. At the end of the day these guys are called to produce. So will some won’t but I think he is seeing who has the balls under pressure. And yes he’s still trying to win.

[Todd4State]

Seriously we won a mid week game with limited pitching but damn tell me how you win this game with the staff available? Not defending the coaches but we won a game against a team mid week with a short staff, so what’s your call?? Lineup changes, pitching decisions? Just wondering?

I think starting JB with a short leash was a good idea and then following him with McQuary was also a good idea. McQuary pitched pretty well and we had a three run lead so with a limited staff we probably should have tried to get at least one if not two more innings out of him. Instead we pull him after two and burn Keegan. And on top of that Keegan didn't get the job done. But if you keep McQuary in and he is pitching reasonably well- and I know he wasn't lights out but he was holding his own- it helps your limited bullpen. It's one of those moves that doesn't appear to be bad at first but that move was a big reason why we ran out of pitching tonight and were fortunate to win the game. Don't have a problem with pitching Cole. I was fine with bringing in Blake Smith with a lead and he looked good for an inning. But extending a guy coming back from a sore arm is not a good idea. Start Neff, France, or heck even Self with a three run lead. And if I did bring out Smith to start the inning he HAS TO be pulled after he walks the first guy. And yes, I know France threw over 100 pitches combined this weekend but he threw 61 his last outing and had two days of rest. If we're not going to start him- he needs to close. I would not have used him more than one inning and if he looked tired I would have pulled him out pretty quickly though.

[Todd4State]

Always love your thoughts and I agree for the most part. He has a limited amount of players mid week while also looking for weekend and postseason so I think he hopes to burn innings and also fish for the final piece to win in the tournament. At the end of the day these guys are called to produce. So will some won’t but I think he is seeing who has the balls under pressure. And yes he’s still trying to win.

I don't doubt that Henderson is trying to win. It's crazy for anyone to say that. I just think he's a poor manager.

[basedog]

Shake the batting order up, please move Belmont to 7th, move Mac up for sure. Mac is hot and has improved a lot since mid season.