-This one today is a tough one to describe. I'm tempted to say that it feels like we stole one, given all the walks and Tennessee leaving 10 guys on base. But then, we also only gave up 3 hits all afternoon and one run. And say what you will about Tennessee, but their problems aren't at the plate... You lose track of the strikeouts after awhile... we ended with 12.... Obviously you can't survive too many games walking 8 guys, but we did today.... So I don't know. Maybe we stole it today and maybe not. But a win is a win.. and just like yesterday, style points don't count in the standings.
-Chase Adkins is just really, really good. I'm sure the walks irritated him, but he did a great job again of minimizing the damage. I'm a big fan of his.
-I think that we may have found our 1B in Mitchell Webb... It's a bit unconventional for that position as Mitchell isn't going to hit a ton of HRs, but really, we haven't had an every day 1st baseman who is a HR hitter since Rich Poythress in 2009. Mitchell had a good weekend, though, and he made his hits count. I remember one time several years ago, may have been like 2005 or so, Perno after a loss said on radio something like "instead of going 1-5 with a solo HR, how about driving in a guy from 2nd base?" It seemed like Mitchell made those ABs with guys in scoring position count this weekend.
-Likewise, I don't foresee Will Procter not starting most of the games going forward...
-Aaron Schunk and Cam Shepherd aren't going to stay this hot the rest of the season, but man, those two are on fire right now... I don't know what Cam is like in the dugout or behind closed doors, but watching him play, I'm hard pressed to think of a more "quiet" high level player. I don't know if that's even the right word, quiet, but it seems like he takes care of his business in a very routine way.... I view Nick Markakis with the Braves in a similar manner, although Markakis is an established big leaguer and Shepherd is a college freshman. I really like those kinds of players. Cam would be getting all kinds of attention right now if we were in the front half of the SEC, but I think fans who watch this every day (or even casually) can see what an elite player he is.
-"Up and down" is about the only way to describe Tony Locey's outing today, but give him credit... he made the pitches when he had to... That was probably the most adventurous five outs of the season so far. But I thought it was a good call going to him, and I'm sure he picked up a lot of confidence pitching out of those back to back walks. I didn't know that leaving him in was the best thing for that game (even though it worked out), but it was probably the best thing for Tony and his development as a pitcher. We talked earlier this week about decisions being made for this season vs this program, and the rub that Stricklin probably feels that he is in on that front... that felt like more of a "program" decision (a very rare one), and it ended up working for today anyway. Huge positive.
-I don't know what to make of Blakely Brown's absence at this point. I don't think I can say anything that I haven't said yet. It's just weird how little he's been used given his ability and the commentary on him during the lead-up to the season.
-As tough of a start to the season as this has been, we can be +.500 in six days and back to even in the SEC. It's out there.... And regardless of what Tennessee is, today was very important. Tennessee was also awful in 2011... We got walked off on Friday night, then came back and won the series.... and those two wins wound up being critical to that season. As far as this year, and this week, Clemson is a pretty bad mid-week matchup... not just for us, but anyone, given how well they hit. They haven't lost a mid-weeker yet (they haven't lost very much in general, they're 24-5, and 23-3 since Opening Weekend when they dropped a series to our friends from Wright State). Looking at their stat sheet, they've already hit 31 home runs on the season. But we're getting better at the plate, and Clemson has given up some runs themselves in the midweek. And we'll see a much improved Missouri team this weekend with perhaps the best pitcher in the league in Tanner Houck.... So it won't be easy, it never is, but we aren't THAT far away from getting on the plus side of the ledger.
-Lastly, we've really handled our business pretty well on the road this year. The sweep at LSU wasn't a shock, but we played much better the last two that weekend. We got a series in Statesboro and we got one in Knoxville. We still have to go to Clemson and tech, and the last three road trips are all going to be very difficult... BUT, I don't think that we're overwhelmed on the road as a team. This is a very mature, young group.
-Chase Adkins is just really, really good. I'm sure the walks irritated him, but he did a great job again of minimizing the damage. I'm a big fan of his.
-I think that we may have found our 1B in Mitchell Webb... It's a bit unconventional for that position as Mitchell isn't going to hit a ton of HRs, but really, we haven't had an every day 1st baseman who is a HR hitter since Rich Poythress in 2009. Mitchell had a good weekend, though, and he made his hits count. I remember one time several years ago, may have been like 2005 or so, Perno after a loss said on radio something like "instead of going 1-5 with a solo HR, how about driving in a guy from 2nd base?" It seemed like Mitchell made those ABs with guys in scoring position count this weekend.
-Likewise, I don't foresee Will Procter not starting most of the games going forward...
-Aaron Schunk and Cam Shepherd aren't going to stay this hot the rest of the season, but man, those two are on fire right now... I don't know what Cam is like in the dugout or behind closed doors, but watching him play, I'm hard pressed to think of a more "quiet" high level player. I don't know if that's even the right word, quiet, but it seems like he takes care of his business in a very routine way.... I view Nick Markakis with the Braves in a similar manner, although Markakis is an established big leaguer and Shepherd is a college freshman. I really like those kinds of players. Cam would be getting all kinds of attention right now if we were in the front half of the SEC, but I think fans who watch this every day (or even casually) can see what an elite player he is.
-"Up and down" is about the only way to describe Tony Locey's outing today, but give him credit... he made the pitches when he had to... That was probably the most adventurous five outs of the season so far. But I thought it was a good call going to him, and I'm sure he picked up a lot of confidence pitching out of those back to back walks. I didn't know that leaving him in was the best thing for that game (even though it worked out), but it was probably the best thing for Tony and his development as a pitcher. We talked earlier this week about decisions being made for this season vs this program, and the rub that Stricklin probably feels that he is in on that front... that felt like more of a "program" decision (a very rare one), and it ended up working for today anyway. Huge positive.
-I don't know what to make of Blakely Brown's absence at this point. I don't think I can say anything that I haven't said yet. It's just weird how little he's been used given his ability and the commentary on him during the lead-up to the season.
-As tough of a start to the season as this has been, we can be +.500 in six days and back to even in the SEC. It's out there.... And regardless of what Tennessee is, today was very important. Tennessee was also awful in 2011... We got walked off on Friday night, then came back and won the series.... and those two wins wound up being critical to that season. As far as this year, and this week, Clemson is a pretty bad mid-week matchup... not just for us, but anyone, given how well they hit. They haven't lost a mid-weeker yet (they haven't lost very much in general, they're 24-5, and 23-3 since Opening Weekend when they dropped a series to our friends from Wright State). Looking at their stat sheet, they've already hit 31 home runs on the season. But we're getting better at the plate, and Clemson has given up some runs themselves in the midweek. And we'll see a much improved Missouri team this weekend with perhaps the best pitcher in the league in Tanner Houck.... So it won't be easy, it never is, but we aren't THAT far away from getting on the plus side of the ledger.
-Lastly, we've really handled our business pretty well on the road this year. The sweep at LSU wasn't a shock, but we played much better the last two that weekend. We got a series in Statesboro and we got one in Knoxville. We still have to go to Clemson and tech, and the last three road trips are all going to be very difficult... BUT, I don't think that we're overwhelmed on the road as a team. This is a very mature, young group.