-Not a lot to say about this one. I thought that Gist pitched better than his line score would indicate... He wasn't his best tonight, but was solid. He's done a really good job as our Friday night guy.
-We didn't make Patrick Raby work very hard.... I think he was at 16 pitches after 2 innings and 25 after 3 innings. I remember saying "this guy can throw 14 innings for them tonight at this rate".... I don't hate the aggressiveness on our part, but I wish we'd grind a little bit more, sometimes.
-Raby worked at a good tempo in part because Vanderbilt gets their pitches called quickly. That's a continual problem for us and I know that it affects our pitcher, and the defense behind him.
-Until his AB in the 9th, Jaren Kendall did not have a swing and miss all night. You can really see why he's projected so highly.... the guy has a ton of ability and makes a lot of it look effortless. His HR ball was absolutely belted too.... and he sure took the occasion to admire his work, to the point where the umpire told him to start running.... All of that drew no apparent reaction from our dugout. Stricklin mentioned body language on the post game show tonight. He wasn't wrong about that. We seemed very lifeless all night, to the point where a guy really pimps a HR in a blowout ball game, and nobody seemed to care. Maybe someone said something, maybe we're talking about it internally.... I don't know, but it did irritate me to see it play out that way. I'm not saying that you have to go out there and get in a fistfight or anything, but don't let someone show you up that way.
-We just don't do enough little things to win.... we had a couple of games earlier this season where we didn't play overly well and still won. I was encouraged by that because I thought it would alleviate some pressure on the young team, knowing that they can still get a W even if it isn't perfect. I think it's much easier to overcome adversity that way. But it seems that we're in the mode now that winning only happens when EVERYTHING is right, and you see the way the body language changes (although, again, it seemed pretty lifeless all evening) when that adversity hits. We do make too many mistakes to win, but we can overcome some of these. We could have overcome that first HR that made it 2-0. We could have even overcome that mis-play on the fly ball that made it 5-1. But you've got to lock in that point.... just because one bad thing happens or two bad things happen doesn't mean the game is a wash.
-Throwing over to 1st base about ten times in the 8th inning of a 7-1 ballgame.... that kind of sums up where we are right now. I'm not blaming Moody for that, I assume that's being called out of the dugout.... just another of those "why in the world are we doing?" type of moments.
-Cam Shepherd is a natural.... Kyle Farmer hit .340 as a true freshman. I don't think Shepherd will end up there, but he may.... Cam now has more HRs than Kyle did in 2010, though. I really respect how Cam goes about his business.... he seems extremely professional for a true freshman. That's a guy we can win with moving forward.
-Lastly, Stricklin's comments on the postgame show were interesting. Paraphrasing here, but he said he told the team "let's see what happens tomorrow when we are determined to make plays defensively, when we are determined to make the big pitch, when we are determined to get the big hit, when are determined to have better body language and not be so negative. Let's see what happens when we are determined to do all those little things because we do them in practice." So, I guess that was the problem tonight; lack of determination. Always someone else's fault, I guess... I mean, I understand that after awhile it's hard to explain away these losses when they start to stack up this way. And something probably should have been said about the body language. But still, at 15-24/ 4-12, do we really need to hear that it's an issue of determination? Is it that, really?
-This was the 10th weekend we've played this season and the 8th time we've lost the series opener. Four times, we've been beaten soundly. But both times that's happened in the conference (LSU and Arkansas), we've bounced back and hung right in there the next day. Hopefully we've got that in us tomorrow. Vanderbilt is a good team, but they aren't unbeatable and they certainly aren't on the level of some of the past Vanderbilt teams we've seen.
-We didn't make Patrick Raby work very hard.... I think he was at 16 pitches after 2 innings and 25 after 3 innings. I remember saying "this guy can throw 14 innings for them tonight at this rate".... I don't hate the aggressiveness on our part, but I wish we'd grind a little bit more, sometimes.
-Raby worked at a good tempo in part because Vanderbilt gets their pitches called quickly. That's a continual problem for us and I know that it affects our pitcher, and the defense behind him.
-Until his AB in the 9th, Jaren Kendall did not have a swing and miss all night. You can really see why he's projected so highly.... the guy has a ton of ability and makes a lot of it look effortless. His HR ball was absolutely belted too.... and he sure took the occasion to admire his work, to the point where the umpire told him to start running.... All of that drew no apparent reaction from our dugout. Stricklin mentioned body language on the post game show tonight. He wasn't wrong about that. We seemed very lifeless all night, to the point where a guy really pimps a HR in a blowout ball game, and nobody seemed to care. Maybe someone said something, maybe we're talking about it internally.... I don't know, but it did irritate me to see it play out that way. I'm not saying that you have to go out there and get in a fistfight or anything, but don't let someone show you up that way.
-We just don't do enough little things to win.... we had a couple of games earlier this season where we didn't play overly well and still won. I was encouraged by that because I thought it would alleviate some pressure on the young team, knowing that they can still get a W even if it isn't perfect. I think it's much easier to overcome adversity that way. But it seems that we're in the mode now that winning only happens when EVERYTHING is right, and you see the way the body language changes (although, again, it seemed pretty lifeless all evening) when that adversity hits. We do make too many mistakes to win, but we can overcome some of these. We could have overcome that first HR that made it 2-0. We could have even overcome that mis-play on the fly ball that made it 5-1. But you've got to lock in that point.... just because one bad thing happens or two bad things happen doesn't mean the game is a wash.
-Throwing over to 1st base about ten times in the 8th inning of a 7-1 ballgame.... that kind of sums up where we are right now. I'm not blaming Moody for that, I assume that's being called out of the dugout.... just another of those "why in the world are we doing?" type of moments.
-Cam Shepherd is a natural.... Kyle Farmer hit .340 as a true freshman. I don't think Shepherd will end up there, but he may.... Cam now has more HRs than Kyle did in 2010, though. I really respect how Cam goes about his business.... he seems extremely professional for a true freshman. That's a guy we can win with moving forward.
-Lastly, Stricklin's comments on the postgame show were interesting. Paraphrasing here, but he said he told the team "let's see what happens tomorrow when we are determined to make plays defensively, when we are determined to make the big pitch, when we are determined to get the big hit, when are determined to have better body language and not be so negative. Let's see what happens when we are determined to do all those little things because we do them in practice." So, I guess that was the problem tonight; lack of determination. Always someone else's fault, I guess... I mean, I understand that after awhile it's hard to explain away these losses when they start to stack up this way. And something probably should have been said about the body language. But still, at 15-24/ 4-12, do we really need to hear that it's an issue of determination? Is it that, really?
-This was the 10th weekend we've played this season and the 8th time we've lost the series opener. Four times, we've been beaten soundly. But both times that's happened in the conference (LSU and Arkansas), we've bounced back and hung right in there the next day. Hopefully we've got that in us tomorrow. Vanderbilt is a good team, but they aren't unbeatable and they certainly aren't on the level of some of the past Vanderbilt teams we've seen.
