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Post by jimbeav on Apr 24, 2017 9:54:25 GMT -8
These are all the guys on our current roster who were also on the team in 2014 (actually, I don't think that Jack made the final roster cut his freshman year, but you get the point). They need to invite all the players around the campfire and share the lessons they took away from being the No. 1 national seed and getting slapped around in your own regional. Specifically, this team needs to figure out how to stay in the right mindset. Being #1 is great and all, but it has a tendency to make you the defender and not the aggressor. Now that the UW series is behind us, I'm a little wary that our aggression level might be lowered a notch.
We are clearly in the 'grind'; Casey even mentioned it during his dugout TV interview during the game Saturday. And we need to make sure it doesn't wear us down like it did at the end of that 2014 season. Now is the time when your team leaders need to emerge and make sure that everybody is staying loose and having fun, with an eye on the prize. We need a Darwin Barney to call a timeout so he can tell a struggling pitcher about a girl in the 5th row, and does he really want to look bad in front of her?
Casey is also going to be on the spot for situational coaching and making judgement calls that might not be the same as early in the season when we were hot. I remember one of the UW games (Friday I think), in an early inning they got their leadoff runner on, and their best hitter in the 3 or 4 hole was up, and the coach had him sacrifice the runner over. The TV guys commented on it, that they were facing the #1 team, and they were bound and determined to score that first run. I think Casey could stand to get a little more creative, and not rely on a hitter's high average to swing away as we enter what looks to be a bit of a cooling-off period.
Just some random thoughts. I'm a little worried that our offensive production in the last 2 series is starting to look a little too familiar, and I would hate to see a similar tragic ending like we had a few years ago...
GO BEAVS!
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Post by justdamwin on Apr 24, 2017 10:44:35 GMT -8
Nick Madrigal is the leader on this team. And his leadership is excellent similar to his play. Rutschman, as a defensive game controller as a catcher should be, is like a Senior not a freshman. Jake Thompson and Heimlich seem to have the pitching staff. On field leadership will not be the problem going forward.
Everybody's a little nervous about the offensive output. Do they respond with working to manufacture more runs via small ball or do you hope to find a few hot bats down the stretch?
I think it works itself out as the remaining Pac 12 schedule gets easier. The Beavs have faced the best conference staffs they will face. And two of them on the road.
Start into a regional and it all starts over again.
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Post by beavadelic on Apr 24, 2017 11:34:42 GMT -8
These are all the guys on our current roster who were also on the team in 2014 (actually, I don't think that Jack made the final roster cut his freshman year, but you get the point). They need to invite all the players around the campfire and share the lessons they took away from being the No. 1 national seed and getting slapped around in your own regional. Specifically, this team needs to figure out how to stay in the right mindset. Being #1 is great and all, but it has a tendency to make you the defender and not the aggressor. Now that the UW series is behind us, I'm a little wary that our aggression level might be lowered a notch.
We are clearly in the 'grind'; Casey even mentioned it during his dugout TV interview during the game Saturday. And we need to make sure it doesn't wear us down like it did at the end of that 2014 season. Now is the time when your team leaders need to emerge and make sure that everybody is staying loose and having fun, with an eye on the prize. We need a Darwin Barney to call a timeout so he can tell a struggling pitcher about a girl in the 5th row, and does he really want to look bad in front of her?
Casey is also going to be on the spot for situational coaching and making judgement calls that might not be the same as early in the season when we were hot. I remember one of the UW games (Friday I think), in an early inning they got their leadoff runner on, and their best hitter in the 3 or 4 hole was up, and the coach had him sacrifice the runner over. The TV guys commented on it, that they were facing the #1 team, and they were bound and determined to score that first run. I think Casey could stand to get a little more creative, and not rely on a hitter's high average to swing away as we enter what looks to be a bit of a cooling-off period.
Just some random thoughts. I'm a little worried that our offensive production in the last 2 series is starting to look a little too familiar, and I would hate to see a similar tragic ending like we had a few years ago...
GO BEAVS!
Yeah...it's definitely more important to be playing sound baseball heading into the post-season than to rest on a lofty regular-season record and be sloppy/complacent going in. I agree about the leadership. I felt that guys like Canham and DBar were just about as effective off the field and in the dugout as they were on it. That looseness (loving the game and enjoying ithe moment) combined with a tenacious focus to detail were what separated those championship teams from everyone else. We may have had more pure talent on 2 or 3 other clubs (including 2014, in which some of the best hitters anywhere inexplicably just went flat at the absolute wrong time and Ellsbury's Omaha team), but the leadership is what made our champions special. It seemed like the higher the stakes, the more cohesive and dialed in those kids were. Hopefully we have some of that emerge down the stretch this year! |
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