-I was in and out of game one today as my daughter had a birthday party. It was similar to last night early on in that it really was a pitcher’s duel. I think the final of both games today suggests these were offensive games. They really were not. It was 4-3 going into the 9th inning tonight. You have to credit Auburn. They really pitched us well, all weekend long. Much like Florida Gulf Coast they have to wondering how they didn’t manage to get one game here.
-I thought the hook was a little quick on Finley. 1st inning wasn’t good for him, but I thought he’d settled in and was pitching well after that. Whenever I am 10 minutes late getting out the door in the morning, I feel like I’m “chasing” those 10 minutes the rest of the day. Same thing today, I felt like pulling Finley when we did got everything else of schedule. I’d say the same for pulling Alton Davis. I’m sure there was a reason behind it that justified both moves, but both guys seemed to be doing fine and it seemed like they could have gotten more outs. I don’t know if we wanted to come back to Zeldin and Radtke today, but we basically had to.
-I thought Davis looked good and I’m sure today was good for his confidence. I hope Hoskins is the next guy for whom they take a deep dive. He’s got very good stuff, but he doesn’t throw enough strikes right now. And it looks like he overthrows some also.
-I loved that Henry Hunter caught both ends of the DH. That said a lot to me. He’s really turning into a guy on this team. His last AB today, you could tell it had been a long day… he’s really having a strong season and it’s not fully reflected on the stat sheet.
-For them, Tilly last night and Myers today were better than anyone we saw the previous two weekends. If Auburn could have just gotten 2 innings out of their starter today, Myers probably finishes that game for them and we probably end up with 2 runs.
-Hindsight being 20/20, we probably should have just started Ryan Black at 2b. It was apparent that Robbie Burnett was just out of gas, they made the change defensively with Burnett’s spot coming up 2nd in the next inning.
-Over two games today, each time Auburn scored, we answered. We go up 6-1 in the 5th in the first game. They make a push in their inning and tie it. Then we answer right back and go up 10-6. In the second game today they get 1 in the 1st, then we get 2. They go up 3-2 and then an inning later we are up 4-3. They tie the game in the 9th, but we don’t give up the lead. Then they score 2 in the 10th and we put up a 5-spot. They might have pitched us well, but we controlled all three of those games this weekend.
About 10-15 years ago I remember watching Usain Bolt running the 100… a couple of other runners were even or a bit ahead of him 50 yards (or “meters”) into the race, then Bolt just blew past them. I remember reading a commentator write about how much that must hang over the heads of the other runners… that they just KNOW he has that extra gear and regardless of what is happening during the race, it’s just hard to believe you’ll finish ahead of him.
We aren’t that right now, but it did seem that way this weekend… like there is always another arm, there is always a push coming from the offense, always another gear.
You can talk about talent and analytics. We have a lot of the former and obviously do very well with the latter. But there is a third thing, mental toughness, that we have in abundance… we don’t sweep this weekend without that.
It’s just like the “good ole days”… I was fired up about this series on Tuesday. Couldn’t wait until Friday night, all week long. It’s been a long time since Georgia Baseball was this.
-I thought the hook was a little quick on Finley. 1st inning wasn’t good for him, but I thought he’d settled in and was pitching well after that. Whenever I am 10 minutes late getting out the door in the morning, I feel like I’m “chasing” those 10 minutes the rest of the day. Same thing today, I felt like pulling Finley when we did got everything else of schedule. I’d say the same for pulling Alton Davis. I’m sure there was a reason behind it that justified both moves, but both guys seemed to be doing fine and it seemed like they could have gotten more outs. I don’t know if we wanted to come back to Zeldin and Radtke today, but we basically had to.
-I thought Davis looked good and I’m sure today was good for his confidence. I hope Hoskins is the next guy for whom they take a deep dive. He’s got very good stuff, but he doesn’t throw enough strikes right now. And it looks like he overthrows some also.
-I loved that Henry Hunter caught both ends of the DH. That said a lot to me. He’s really turning into a guy on this team. His last AB today, you could tell it had been a long day… he’s really having a strong season and it’s not fully reflected on the stat sheet.
-For them, Tilly last night and Myers today were better than anyone we saw the previous two weekends. If Auburn could have just gotten 2 innings out of their starter today, Myers probably finishes that game for them and we probably end up with 2 runs.
-Hindsight being 20/20, we probably should have just started Ryan Black at 2b. It was apparent that Robbie Burnett was just out of gas, they made the change defensively with Burnett’s spot coming up 2nd in the next inning.
-Over two games today, each time Auburn scored, we answered. We go up 6-1 in the 5th in the first game. They make a push in their inning and tie it. Then we answer right back and go up 10-6. In the second game today they get 1 in the 1st, then we get 2. They go up 3-2 and then an inning later we are up 4-3. They tie the game in the 9th, but we don’t give up the lead. Then they score 2 in the 10th and we put up a 5-spot. They might have pitched us well, but we controlled all three of those games this weekend.
About 10-15 years ago I remember watching Usain Bolt running the 100… a couple of other runners were even or a bit ahead of him 50 yards (or “meters”) into the race, then Bolt just blew past them. I remember reading a commentator write about how much that must hang over the heads of the other runners… that they just KNOW he has that extra gear and regardless of what is happening during the race, it’s just hard to believe you’ll finish ahead of him.
We aren’t that right now, but it did seem that way this weekend… like there is always another arm, there is always a push coming from the offense, always another gear.
You can talk about talent and analytics. We have a lot of the former and obviously do very well with the latter. But there is a third thing, mental toughness, that we have in abundance… we don’t sweep this weekend without that.
It’s just like the “good ole days”… I was fired up about this series on Tuesday. Couldn’t wait until Friday night, all week long. It’s been a long time since Georgia Baseball was this.
