This board's over-reaction on Stratton is mind-boggling.

[missouridawg]

He's an above average pitcher having a below average night. Relax. USC is the #2 team in the nation... they make a lot of teams' aces look bad.

 

[38843dawg]

let's not act like this is the first time this has happened. He's not just have a "below average night" he's had a below average season. And honestly it's tough for me to say that he's an above average pitcher right now.

 

[rugbdawg]

He consistently gets shelled in SEC play.

 

[hotdigitydog]

are a little better.........

 

[missouridawg]

But he still has filthy stuff. Hopefully he'll get out of his funk soon.

 

[State82]

is a third baseman and maybe a closer. I know its the #2 team in the country, but ****, its that way just about every week in this league. At some point, it will be time to fish or cut bait. And the bait is piling up and beginning to really stink.

 

[bruiser.sixpack]

And I might add that it sure seems like Thompson gets decent pitchers and turns them into stinkers by the time they are sophs or juniors.

But my question is...other than Parks, has there ever been a worse collection of seniors assembled on one SEC team?
And I count ogden in that spectacular level of suckiness, because otherthan his 7 pop fly homers, he is more a liability than most of the other stiffs.

 

[skydawg1]

is to just salvage one game somehow. Then, in my opinion, the hard part starts. Its easy to play scrappy and win a game here or there against the cream of the SEC like we've been doing. But it's another whole challenge to play well and WIN series' against the rest of the SEC, which is what we'll be facing after this weekend. I think the 2nd half of the season is going to be a more accurate barometer of our team than the 1st half.

 

[State82]

I will admit that I said earlier this week we just have to avoid getting swept. But that mindset is going to have to change quickly after Sunday.

 

[Hanmudog]

is to just salvage one game somehow. Then, in my opinion, the hard part starts. Its easy to play scrappy and win a game here or there against the cream of the SEC like we've been doing. But it's another whole challenge to play well and WIN series' against the rest of the SEC, which is what we'll be facing after this weekend.<font color="#cc0000"> I think the 2nd half of the season is going to be a more accurate barometer of our team than the 1st half.</font>

I am more worried about what happens when we play teams like Tennessee, LSU, and Ole Miss. Getting swept byGeorgia just shows that we are still capable of being swept by anyone.
Whether we win a single gameagainst SC or not, we have absolutely got to start taking series against the weaker teams in the SEC.

 

[chew1095]

nm

 

[TheLostDawg]

He seems to be struggling to locate his curve for a strike, especially early in the count; thus hitters are more apt to take it later in the count. He has a plus fastball (91-93 mph), and a decent cutter, which seems to be a work-in-progress. I think hitters have started sitting on the fastball and cutter, due to the curve ball location issues. I wish the coaching staff would have decided to have him work on a change-up, verses the cutter (just my opinion). I think if he gets the early count curve location issue fixed, he will be o.k.

 

[drt7891]

His curveball had a lot of movement on it, but he seemed to have trouble commanding a fairly slow fastball (never really pitched above 86 or so). The big hits came off fastballs.

 

[Todd4State]

He seems to be struggling to locate his curve for a strike, especially early in the count; thus hitters are more apt to take it later in the count. He has a plus fastball (91-93 mph), and a decent cutter, which seems to be a work-in-progress. I think hitters have started sitting on the fastball and cutter, due to the curve ball location issues. I wish the coaching staff would have decided to have him work on a change-up, verses the cutter (just my opinion). I think if he gets the early count curve location issue fixed, he will be o.k.

A couple of things about Stratton that a lot of people don't seem to understand sometimes:

1. He is not a shutdown SEC ace- he is really a number 2 or 3 guy posing as our ace. He is more of an inning eater than anything- and that's not a bad thing, but more often than not, when he goes up against a guy that is an elite SEC ace, he and we are at a big disadvantage.

2. He is a good pitcher, but he is also a sophomore. When Stratton was in high school, he was a fastball/curveball pitcher and that was it. He is still learning- as the above post mentions, and is a post that I agree with 100%- and he is still trying to refine his pitches. That's why he is having location issues- because he hasn't mastered all of his pitches yet. Once he does, he will be a very successful pitcher in the SEC.

 

[TheLostDawg]

Or either the guns I have seen are juiced. I went to the game at Baum last Friday night, and the guns there were reading 91-93, with a dip to 89 every now and then, with regards to the fastball. I doubt Gene got to tamper with them. Fastball velocity in the SEC seems to be a non-factor, it comes down to being able to throw the curve or any off-speed pitch for a strike early in the count. It gets the hitter thinking, especially in a deep count. Stratton gets a great amount of movement on his curve; he just has to be able to sell it late in a count. A good curve can compensate for a lack of in other areas. For example, take Mike Mussina. He had an average fastball by MLB standards, but he also had a devastating curve. Granted, he threw a knuckle curve, but it has the same sink as the 12-6 that Stratton throws. I didn't go to or watch the game tonight, but if they were jumping on the fastball, that means they didn't respect anything off-speed. The key is being able to beat the strike zone up with everything you have, not just the fastball.

 

[JxnDawg39211]

they started hitting alot offirst pitches he threw. They knew he was going to throw a fastball strike early to try and get ahead in the count. Carolina jumped on alot of those early pitches, knowing it was going to probably be the best pitch they saw from him in their at bat.

 

[8dog]

we just left him in 1 inning too long against Ark. He gave us a chance to win all of those games, and we only won 1.

He lost all command against Florida, and he really made 1 bad mistake last night.

He isn't a Friday guy, but more often than not, he gives us a chance to win.

 

[BriantheDawg]

last night:

1st inning - catcher's interference - cost us a run. Not Stratton
2nd inning - another Ogden boot - next batter with a double - 2 more runs score - ****** fielding leads to momentum swing. Hard to pin that on Stratton.
4th inning - check swing by SC batter, should have been strike 3 & ended the inning - next pitch = 2 run homer

5 runs that could have easily been avoided, but Stratton sucks. Good Lord we have some idiot fans.

 

[missouridawg]

I'd love to see his stat lines if you take away the last inning of those few games in which he was left in too long.

 

[Todd4State]

I don't know- but when hitters are jumping on pitches like that, they've certainly picked something up. It might be that he needs to throw more breaking balls early as well.