-First, I was really proud of Heath Holder. That guy single-handily kept us in the game last night. He overcame some horrible defense behind to him, as well, including some that didn't show up as errors. The fact that he got us through it and took us to the 9th down 2 runs was phenomenal. He didn't deserve to have his head hit the pillow with a loss last night, that's for sure.
-To that end, maybe we've got the wrong guy going on Friday night. This is twice now that Holder has come on early in relief of Tyler, and really pitched better. I don't know what's going on with Tyler.... We are now 2-3 in league games that he's started.... He's averaging a little over 5 innings per start in the conference and averaging close to 5 walks per start also. It's ramping up his pitch count. Last night, it took 54 pitches to get through the order one time. It's not like he's getting squared up or anything.... He's allowed 2 extra base hits in 5 league starts and the conference is only hitting .132 against him. You just can't pitch that way on Friday night and win, and we're fortunate that we didn't have to burn any bullpen last night. I'm afraid that Alabama start is the outlier right now for Tyler. And like I say, I don't know how you fix it. We've got a bullpen coach with a World Series ring, a pitching coach with a long resume, and a head coach making $600k this year.... That's enough expertise, I would think.
-I've found myself saying often here lately that "we're the only team in America that ______" I think you could make a fairly long list. I'm not trying to single anyone out.... you can't ask a player to be something that he isn't, but you also don't have to keep putting him in positions where he's going to struggle.
-South Carolina going back to Clark Schmidt in the 9th, and allowing him to pitch to Daniel Nichols, who hit a monster shot off of him earlier, may say something about their bullpen. And it may be a reason to fade South Carolina come June. Maybe. But I don't mind the old school mindset. That was Schmidt's game, he's pitching against his in-state team, and he controlled it the whole way. I didn't think he looked overly tired either. It was surprising, but I'm sure he appreciated the opportunity to finish it up.
-Gotta bounce back today. Last night wasn't all that dissimilar to last Friday night. Saturday last weekend was a disaster. Regardless of what this is or what this looks like, we are 4-9 right now. The 2004 team was 5-9 when they went on their run. There is a precedent for making a run after 9 losses at the half way point. The fact that we managed to keep the thing close last night, as poorly as we played defensively and with all those empty at bats, CAN serve to give us some confidence for today and tomorrow. I don't know if it will be allowed to do that, but it can.
-To that end, maybe we've got the wrong guy going on Friday night. This is twice now that Holder has come on early in relief of Tyler, and really pitched better. I don't know what's going on with Tyler.... We are now 2-3 in league games that he's started.... He's averaging a little over 5 innings per start in the conference and averaging close to 5 walks per start also. It's ramping up his pitch count. Last night, it took 54 pitches to get through the order one time. It's not like he's getting squared up or anything.... He's allowed 2 extra base hits in 5 league starts and the conference is only hitting .132 against him. You just can't pitch that way on Friday night and win, and we're fortunate that we didn't have to burn any bullpen last night. I'm afraid that Alabama start is the outlier right now for Tyler. And like I say, I don't know how you fix it. We've got a bullpen coach with a World Series ring, a pitching coach with a long resume, and a head coach making $600k this year.... That's enough expertise, I would think.
-I've found myself saying often here lately that "we're the only team in America that ______" I think you could make a fairly long list. I'm not trying to single anyone out.... you can't ask a player to be something that he isn't, but you also don't have to keep putting him in positions where he's going to struggle.
-South Carolina going back to Clark Schmidt in the 9th, and allowing him to pitch to Daniel Nichols, who hit a monster shot off of him earlier, may say something about their bullpen. And it may be a reason to fade South Carolina come June. Maybe. But I don't mind the old school mindset. That was Schmidt's game, he's pitching against his in-state team, and he controlled it the whole way. I didn't think he looked overly tired either. It was surprising, but I'm sure he appreciated the opportunity to finish it up.
-Gotta bounce back today. Last night wasn't all that dissimilar to last Friday night. Saturday last weekend was a disaster. Regardless of what this is or what this looks like, we are 4-9 right now. The 2004 team was 5-9 when they went on their run. There is a precedent for making a run after 9 losses at the half way point. The fact that we managed to keep the thing close last night, as poorly as we played defensively and with all those empty at bats, CAN serve to give us some confidence for today and tomorrow. I don't know if it will be allowed to do that, but it can.
