-Obviously, it's hard to win when you don't score. You really shouldn't be getting shutout in midweek games, even if you're playing Clemson. They actually shut us out at their place too last year, so that's back to back games. Their guy, Jackson, was good tonight, but we really didn't make him work. He's at 40 pitches after 4 innings and I think he was under 60 after 6 innings. I was surprised they got him when they did.
-We did pitch well tonight. Clemson doesn't hit for an overly high average, but they hit a lot of HRs and seem to be pretty balanced through their order. I think that we're finding some confidence on the mound. Honestly, I didn't think we'd hold them to 4 runs... After that 2 run HR in the first, I'm sitting there thinking "here we go..." Ryan Avidano really pitched well, Christian Ryder pitched around some adversity that he created and then Blakely Brown was terrific (imagine that....) I really didn't think that we were going to get into that kind of game with them. We did a terrific job with Seth Beer also.
-Offensively, it's just disappointing right now.... We had 4 hits against a very average pitching staff at Tennessee on Friday night. We scored 6 runs all weekend against Auburn.... 4 runs all weekend against UAB.... So it's not a new thing, although this was the first time we've gotten shutout this year.... I thought we'd be a little bit farther along than this, by this point. Even with the good work that Aaron Schunk and Cam Shepherd have done lately, we're still only hitting .264 as a team...
-To that end, Cam Shepherd needs to be your leadoff hitter. I'm convinced of that... He doesn't draw a ton of walks, but he also doesn't strike out much and he gives you a very good at bat each time up. I'd hit him 1, Schunk 2, Keegan 3, and Curry 4. I think Tucker Maxwell can help out offensively, but we probably need to look elsewhere at the top of the order right now.
-We've made 52 errors now in 30 games. We've thrown 38 wild pitches, allowed 7 passed balls, and have allowed 34 stolen bases in 38 attempts. Although we are pitching better right now, we aren't good enough to overcome that (no staff is, really). Stricklin can talk about how we need to make routine plays and I don't disagree with that. But I'd question why we have our LF playing 1B and why we pinch hit with LJ Talley for Will Procter (Will didn't scald his ball, but he did have one of our 3 hits when Talley pinch hit for him). Talley did get the double, but then you made a tradeoff defensively too. In the 9th inning, we had two guys who were better suited to play 1B at 2B and in LF, while our best LF was still playing 1B. That was a bad error that Talley had tonight... it's not why we lost, it was already 3-0 then anyway, but LJ clearly isn't playing with a lot of confidence at 2B right now.... But these are decisions that Stricklin makes from the dugout and then after the game, it's "well we have to make plays." How about having infielders play in the infield and outfielders play in the outfield? That first ball early in the game doesn't drop if Mitchell Webb is playing at 1B. That last error (which, again, didn't mean much other than looking bad) doesn't show up in all probability if Will Procter is in the game.
-At 13-17 now, it goes without saying that we're going to need to string some together pretty soon if we're going to get above .500. We're already past the halfway of the regular season. It goes by that quickly.
-Great crowd tonight. Clemson sure brought a lot fans down with them. That's a really good baseball team and we hung right in there. I was chatting with someone on the drive over from Atlanta this afternoon about the game tonight and I said "you know, last weekend was good.. it was good to get the series, but nobody really saw that. The games weren't on TV, and I think Miss RedRain and I were about the only non-blood relatives there who were pulling for the Dawgs. It'll be a huge crowd tonight and it's on TV. Whatever goodwill last weekend generated could evaporate in a hurry." 4-0 is obviously a lot better than losing 12-0... and it's really a better showing than last year when Clemson came to Athens (wasn't that one 11-6 or something like that?)... still, it was a chance to show something on a big stage, and we just didn't do it. That's disappointing. Not to get ahead of ourselves, but there is going to be a lot of pressure to win that game Saturday over at SunTrust and to beat tech in Athens next week. We really need to play well, win, and have some people see it.
-We did pitch well tonight. Clemson doesn't hit for an overly high average, but they hit a lot of HRs and seem to be pretty balanced through their order. I think that we're finding some confidence on the mound. Honestly, I didn't think we'd hold them to 4 runs... After that 2 run HR in the first, I'm sitting there thinking "here we go..." Ryan Avidano really pitched well, Christian Ryder pitched around some adversity that he created and then Blakely Brown was terrific (imagine that....) I really didn't think that we were going to get into that kind of game with them. We did a terrific job with Seth Beer also.
-Offensively, it's just disappointing right now.... We had 4 hits against a very average pitching staff at Tennessee on Friday night. We scored 6 runs all weekend against Auburn.... 4 runs all weekend against UAB.... So it's not a new thing, although this was the first time we've gotten shutout this year.... I thought we'd be a little bit farther along than this, by this point. Even with the good work that Aaron Schunk and Cam Shepherd have done lately, we're still only hitting .264 as a team...
-To that end, Cam Shepherd needs to be your leadoff hitter. I'm convinced of that... He doesn't draw a ton of walks, but he also doesn't strike out much and he gives you a very good at bat each time up. I'd hit him 1, Schunk 2, Keegan 3, and Curry 4. I think Tucker Maxwell can help out offensively, but we probably need to look elsewhere at the top of the order right now.
-We've made 52 errors now in 30 games. We've thrown 38 wild pitches, allowed 7 passed balls, and have allowed 34 stolen bases in 38 attempts. Although we are pitching better right now, we aren't good enough to overcome that (no staff is, really). Stricklin can talk about how we need to make routine plays and I don't disagree with that. But I'd question why we have our LF playing 1B and why we pinch hit with LJ Talley for Will Procter (Will didn't scald his ball, but he did have one of our 3 hits when Talley pinch hit for him). Talley did get the double, but then you made a tradeoff defensively too. In the 9th inning, we had two guys who were better suited to play 1B at 2B and in LF, while our best LF was still playing 1B. That was a bad error that Talley had tonight... it's not why we lost, it was already 3-0 then anyway, but LJ clearly isn't playing with a lot of confidence at 2B right now.... But these are decisions that Stricklin makes from the dugout and then after the game, it's "well we have to make plays." How about having infielders play in the infield and outfielders play in the outfield? That first ball early in the game doesn't drop if Mitchell Webb is playing at 1B. That last error (which, again, didn't mean much other than looking bad) doesn't show up in all probability if Will Procter is in the game.
-At 13-17 now, it goes without saying that we're going to need to string some together pretty soon if we're going to get above .500. We're already past the halfway of the regular season. It goes by that quickly.
-Great crowd tonight. Clemson sure brought a lot fans down with them. That's a really good baseball team and we hung right in there. I was chatting with someone on the drive over from Atlanta this afternoon about the game tonight and I said "you know, last weekend was good.. it was good to get the series, but nobody really saw that. The games weren't on TV, and I think Miss RedRain and I were about the only non-blood relatives there who were pulling for the Dawgs. It'll be a huge crowd tonight and it's on TV. Whatever goodwill last weekend generated could evaporate in a hurry." 4-0 is obviously a lot better than losing 12-0... and it's really a better showing than last year when Clemson came to Athens (wasn't that one 11-6 or something like that?)... still, it was a chance to show something on a big stage, and we just didn't do it. That's disappointing. Not to get ahead of ourselves, but there is going to be a lot of pressure to win that game Saturday over at SunTrust and to beat tech in Athens next week. We really need to play well, win, and have some people see it.
