Overall, we're pretty close to where I thought we'd be right now. But the way we've gotten here is completely different. I thought we'd have played more like we're playing now in the first 6 weeks of the season and we'd be be playing more like we did in the first 6 weeks by now. This team is much better than it's playing (and has played) and I don't see any real reason for it. I mean, yeah we did lose our #1 starter, but he's really only missed 1 start so far. And really, pitching has mostly been ok during this slump. It's hitting and defense that's the problem.
What's wrong with baseball right now?
- Thread starter patdog
- Start date
The bats we we’re counting on to produce aren’t producing.
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Defensive mistakes at critical moments and lack of hitting at critical moments. The pitching has looked good enough to get us through especially considering we’ve been without McPherson for 3 series.
ETA: lack of hitting with RISP is more accurate TBH
ETA: lack of hitting with RISP is more accurate TBH
I guess if you want to spin it positively, it feels like it has taken Murphy’s Law to lose all of these games exclusively in close fashion. That is bound to correct itself eventually. But L’s are L’s at the end of the day.
The baseball reasons for it are we have become too homer dependent in the last two weeks and aren’t doing a very good job of stacking base runners in threatening spots. On the flip side, our pitching is allowing way too many free passes and every mistake pitch or poor defensive play is magnified times ten when you constantly let the other team have runners on base.
The baseball reasons for it are we have become too homer dependent in the last two weeks and aren’t doing a very good job of stacking base runners in threatening spots. On the flip side, our pitching is allowing way too many free passes and every mistake pitch or poor defensive play is magnified times ten when you constantly let the other team have runners on base.
Yo, y’all was out here flexing like we cold blooded killers,
But we spent February playing SWAC fillers.
We thought we was nice ’cause we beat up on the soft,
Now real SEC teams show up and our bats go cough.
Keep scheduling trash if that’s the vibe you need,
But don’t cry or act confused when the RPI says “you got played, G.”
Yo, y’all was out here flexing like we cold blooded killers,
But we spent February playing SWAC fillers.
We thought we was nice ’cause we beat up on the soft,
Now real SEC teams show up and our bats go cough.
Keep scheduling trash if that’s the vibe you need,
But don’t cry or act confused when the RPI says “you got played, G.”
I mean we’ve literally swept two SEC teams that are better than Tennessee.
Agree on the law of averages. How many of these games that we've lost could have swung our way? Maybe all of them other than that 1 bad loss at Arkansas?
It goes both ways, I’m sure Tennessee would’ve been pissed if they had lost last night after the base running gaffe at second base.
Similarly, we left a lot of runners on last weekend, but so did Georgia.
These past 4 SEc games have sucked, but we literally could have won every one of them.
Sure it goes both ways but we have gotten more than our fair share of bad luck. I can’t remember when we’ve have had a challenge from any team go our way.
I’d be interested to compare LOB numbers from last weekend to see how we fared. Georgia did leave a lot on base.
I believe they left more on base than us in Games 1 and 3, but the middle game we left like 13 on to their 5, so that one game is what stands out to most people.
The grambling game was bad for the team. Players seeing grambling keeping their players on the field no matter how bad they played. It was just bad baseball and coaching and we shouldn’t schedule a team like that.
And
It seems opposing players are extra motivated to perform well at Polk dement because it’s the largest crowd they’ve ever played baseball in front of in their entire lives and they are loving it and flourishing.
And
It seems opposing players are extra motivated to perform well at Polk dement because it’s the largest crowd they’ve ever played baseball in front of in their entire lives and they are loving it and flourishing.
I would argue it quietly started on Sunday in Oxford.
We scored 6 of our 7 runs via homer and didn’t do much else offensively. On the mound, we walked a ton of people and got away with it.
That was a comfortable win so not much to think on at the time…. But that was the first sign of us maybe not looking quite the same, IMO.
I think it’s as easy as we are a good team but not a top tier team as advertised.
The lineup just isn’t very good right now. Reese still isn’t finding it. Chance has cooled at 3-14 in this 4 game losing streak. Ryder Woodson was a plus early but now has a 50% K rate in his last 7 sec games.
Add to that seemingly every tough break has gone against us.
Add to that seemingly every tough break has gone against us.
We were pretty dang lucky to win that game. And I thought that at the time when I had no idea we were about to go into a slump.
WORD. This is the problem. The book is out.
An old fashioned Jinx is the only logical explanation for this. We swept Vanderbilt and the Bears, so a bunch of rubes went and booked rooms at a Residence Inn in Omaha.
Yeah, this is the one thing keeping me from hitting the panic button quite yet. We've been without our Friday night starter for 3 weeks, half the lineup is in a bad slump, and our pitching has been wildly inconsistent, yet we've still had chances to win every one of these ballgames.
There's time to figure it out, but they need to get things going in a hurry or else will be on the outside looking in of even hosting a regional in Starkville. It's maddening to have to go through 5 bullpen arms on a Friday night before finding one that can throw a 17n strike. Also, as other have said, can we learn to lay off an occasional slider? I get that they're hard to pick up, but the ones that UT was throwing last night started 4-6 inches off the plate and landed a foot farther out and in the dirt. At no point, were those pitches anywhere near the zone.
Need to win today and Sunday to get back on track. Baseball is a weird funny game but "that's baseball"!
Too much preseason hype that fed off of itself.. Last year we had to win 8 of last 9 or something similar just to make a road regional. 35% of this roster is last years players. Preseason no.1 and 4 pitchers aren't available. The preseason no.3 pitcher has shown who he was last year is who he is., The UVA transfers are a sho-nuff starter, a slightly above average CF and role players. This group had a higher perceived value than what was real. The non-UVA portal guys are OK but not what we hoped for. The star power is in the freshmen. They will play in Omaha. This will end up being a bridge year. And next year possibly. That will depend on how much BOC what's to buy vs develop. There is not a magic wand to move from last few year's to national champion. BOC's worst two teams will be his first two.
No doubt. Same for the other comment that this year and maybe next year will be "bridge" years before the freshmen make 1 CWS run in their JR season before going pro. If that's the case we're doing it wrong. We should at least contend for Omaha on a regular basis, like 3-4 out of 5 years.
I think we're going to contend for Omaha this year. It's annoying as hell, but it's 4 games and we were one or two plays from winning all of them, just like all of our other losses but one.
We've had a lot of really good teams that finished strongly, go through mid season stretches like this. I'd be more worried if it were obvious there was a big divide between us and the best teams, but it's obvious we're very close to the best teams.
The worm will turn...
Honestly, I think so too. But we need to start winning some games pretty soon.
Yo, y’all was out here flexing like we cold blooded killers,
But we spent February playing SWAC fillers.
We thought we was nice ’cause we beat up on the soft,
Now real SEC teams show up and our bats go cough.
Keep scheduling trash if that’s the vibe you need,
But don’t cry or act confused when the RPI says “you got played, G.”
Damn right we do. We need to win about 7 of the next 8 weekend games. And I'm about ready for a comfortable win.
It’s pretty easily explainable. We lost our ace, that’s a much bigger deal than you’re making it out to be, especially with a thin staff to start with. We played a top 5 team last week too. And third, some of our better hitters are kinda slumping during SEC play. Some of that will get worked out, some will not. Oh well. There’s nothing really “wrong”, it just is what it is.
This feels a little like how you used to concern troll us when Cohen was coach. Things weren’t as bad then as you tried to portray them.
Seeing as how Cohen was a sub .500 SEC coach who made 1 CWS in 8 years, I’d say it was more real concerns than concern trolling.
In the old days when I cared more, I’d argue and try to get to the bottom of why people had stupid opinions and agendas like this. But nowadays, hey if you want to trash O’Connor/etc. and contribute to general Emm Stake toxicity, knock yourself out.
Nobody’s trashing O’Connor. He’ll get it figured out. Best coach we’ve ever had. If he can’t win big here no one can. Although it’s been proven you can win big here, it’s really never been proved you can do it consistently. But he will.