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Post by eugenedave on Mar 20, 2016 21:53:52 GMT -8
Before some of you tear me a new one, please note that I am merely repeated something that PC said in the pre-game interview today. Pat said he felt we belonged in the top 15, but not in the top 4. I have news for him. At 15-2, and with Vandy going 2-2 this weekend, we will move up to #3 in the D1 baseball poll tomorrow. And there we will stay until we lose a series.
Pat is a tough taskmaster, and I'm sure he doesn't want his kids getting a swelled head reading all the great press they have been getting. But, they have looked damned impressive these past two weekends at home. Have there been base-running blunders? Sure. Has the bullpen been dicey at times? Of course it has. But, it is only the fifth week of the season, and one-half of the team are new guys still finding their way. The starting pitching has really improved, and the bats and glove work have been outstanding.
Omaha is on the horizon, somewhere out there. I'm beginning to see it. How about the rest of you?
GO BEAVS!!!!
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Post by baseba1111 on Mar 20, 2016 22:20:56 GMT -8
I agree with most of what you say... but, agree with PC. To me there is just some key "holes" and pitching depth is one. The sweep of ASU was needed/expected in my mind as they are down and my guess will be close to a .500 team.
I'm not sure why, but this team is missing something... leadership, experience, ? We'll be good... and we'll grow... just not seeing a top 4-8 team yet. Maybe I'm spoiled?!
But, polls are just window dressing and PC not only has to keep coaching them up, but also keep the press clippings from stunting the team's growth. In the same light I think PC truly believes what he said. He knows what an Omaha team looks like... he knows what a top 4 team is... and wants his kids to know exactly where they stand. Coming from HS to D1 is a different cat... a much longer road. With our current youth he needs to make sure they understand there are travails to be overcome.
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Post by Werebeaver on Mar 21, 2016 2:08:29 GMT -8
Of all the supposed problems for a college baseball team to have in mid March, being over ranked is a nice problem to have.
We're either complaining about not getting enough "respect" in the rankings or we're scared that the rankings have us too high. I guess you've gotta complain about something. |
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Post by bwildbeaver on Mar 21, 2016 5:42:33 GMT -8
That loss to USF was PERFECT ammo for PC to use if his team gets a big head. They lost to a 2-14 team (at the time). Granted, parity in baseball is a given. But a little humble pie can bring your team back down to earth and get focused. IMHO. GO BEAVS!!!
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Post by grackle on Mar 21, 2016 7:46:37 GMT -8
I don't care much about the rankings anyhow….I'm much more interested in the PAC standings from week to week. In any case, I agree that this club is not quite "there" yet.
And most of what's not quite there yet is our pitching…..I'm NOT saying it's not pretty good now, just not quite what I suspect we'll need, and will probably have, later down the line. As I mentioned to Tigardbeav yesterday, IMO, we'll absolutely need another front line pitcher (Martinek when he's ready??) if we expect to go deep into the post-season this year. And, obviously, it's critical that the relief staff gets another horse or two that we can rely on beside Max Engelbrekt. Hickey's going to come around in another week or two and Heimlich SHOULD be sturdier than he seemed this past weekend. There's probably gonna be another "new" reliever who'll come up big for us.
We've got the parts for sure…. let's hope they're clicking a bit more by this coming weekend-- Cal's going to be a lot tougher than this year's edition of ASU was.
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Post by georgevonbeaverstrom on Mar 21, 2016 9:22:32 GMT -8
Agreed. I'm still not sure we have a Big 3 in terms of the weekend rotation and we definitely need more consistency out of the pen. a healthy Hickey makes everything a lot better on the back end. Seeing some improvement out of Thompson and Eckert the last couple weekends has been encouraging at least.
On the flip side, as it stands we have 8 guys hitting over .300, 7 guys with OBP > .400 and Morrison close at .392.
Ice has been outstanding at the plate, didn't expect that type of production. 1 strikeout ON THE SEASON! Anderson and Donahue both have done a nice job offensively as well. Expect all of those numbers to come back down to earth like always now that we are in conference play, but a lot to be excited about and we don't have to rely solely on KJ. Last year it felt like it was KJ and then crossing fingers for anyone else to provide some pop. (Looking at you Gabe Clark)
A bit surprised that we aren't running that much. Just 11 SB. Was assuming going into the season that we'd play a little more small ball and be very aggressive on base due to our overall speed.
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Post by obattack on Mar 21, 2016 10:42:38 GMT -8
I don't think we are running much because we haven't had to with the way the bats are going. Don't want to take the bats out of the hitters hands right now. I imagine if we start to slump, PC will notch things up on the base paths and also some more bunting and situational work.
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Post by atownbeaver on Mar 21, 2016 11:50:22 GMT -8
I agree with most of what you say... but, agree with PC. To me there is just some key "holes" and pitching depth is one. The sweep of ASU was needed/expected in my mind as they are down and my guess will be close to a .500 team. I'm not sure why, but this team is missing something... leadership, experience, ? We'll be good... and we'll grow... just not seeing a top 4-8 team yet. Maybe I'm spoiled?! But, polls are just window dressing and PC not only has to keep coaching them up, but also keep the press clippings from stunting the team's growth. In the same light I think PC truly believes what he said. He knows what an Omaha team looks like... he knows what a top 4 team is... and wants his kids to know exactly where they stand. Coming from HS to D1 is a different cat... a much longer road. With our current youth he needs to make sure they understand there are travails to be overcome. Best defense is a good offense!!! But yeah, I feel middle relief is weak on this team, but this is one of the better offensive teams I have ever seen. Polls largely are window dressings, i agree, but we swept a historically strong ASU team and are 15-2 with quite the handful of utterly dominating performances. It remains to be seen, but hopefully this is not a team that is going to let rankings get to its head, and drop a series to... shutter... the ducks. |
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Post by Tigardbeav on Mar 21, 2016 12:03:39 GMT -8
I don't care much about the rankings anyhow….I'm much more interested in the PAC standings from week to week. In any case, I agree that this club is not quite "there" yet. And most of what's not quite there yet is our pitching…..I'm NOT saying it's not pretty good now, just not quite what I suspect we'll need, and will probably have, later down the line. As I mentioned to Tigardbeav yesterday, IMO, we'll absolutely need another front line pitcher (Martinek when he's ready??) if we expect to go deep into the post-season this year. And, obviously, it's critical that the relief staff gets another horse or two that we can rely on beside Max Engelbrekt. Hickey's going to come around in another week or two and Heimlich SHOULD be sturdier than he seemed this past weekend. There's probably gonna be another "new" reliever who'll come up big for us. Fehmel seems to be getting some run. He's like one of the first guys up in the Middle relief. 9 appearances, 11.1 IP and a .79 ERA
Church & Pomeroy may be shagging flies and helping the ground crew w/ERA's +++
What are we about a third of the way through? Martinek hasn't even got a sniff. Seems like I'm forgetting someone else on the roster but has not appeared yet. Dunno
Tanner Sanders only 2 ABs on the year. It's tough to crack the lineup here. Maybe vs UP Tuesday
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Post by georgevonbeaverstrom on Mar 21, 2016 12:11:07 GMT -8
Given that Sanders plays 1B, I think we'd rather have the other guy in the line up as much as possible! Larnach is probably the other guy I expected to see a bit more just based on the preseason talk. I know he got off to a slow start with an injury...
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dK
Freshman
Posts: 408
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Post by dK on Mar 21, 2016 23:38:11 GMT -8
"The best defense is a good offense." Not. This coaching staff has always preached that defense wins games. The offense only determines by how much. You will never hear Casey, Bailey, or Yeskie say otherwise.
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Post by thewizard on Mar 22, 2016 6:10:34 GMT -8
"The best defense is a good offense." Not. This coaching staff has always preached that defense wins games. The offense only determines by how much. You will never hear Casey, Bailey, or Yeskie say otherwise. Very well stated! |
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Post by atownbeaver on Mar 22, 2016 10:11:31 GMT -8
"The best defense is a good offense." Not. This coaching staff has always preached that defense wins games. The offense only determines by how much. You will never hear Casey, Bailey, or Yeskie say otherwise. LOL... I was being tongue in cheek. |
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