-Disappointed.... just really, really disappointed. Going to the stadium today, I felt great.... really thought that we'd hit Poche' and I thought that Robert Tyler was going to have a great outing as well. I was half right. But the fact that we got no hit into the 6th inning was extremely disappointing. I remember going out to UCLA back in 2011 and seeing Gerrit Cole. He was perfect against us in the 6th. But that was different. Cole was several weeks away from being the number one overall pick (we still beat him, as I'm sure you remember)... Poche' is a good pitcher and appears to be advanced for a freshman, but he's not on that level. We made him look better than he is. We're going to see a lot of guys in this league who are better this season that Poche'.
-I never thought that LSU would play far more "small ball" than we would this weekend, but that's exactly what's happened it's part of the reason they've been able to grind out runs, even single spots.
-I didn't agree with taking Jess Posey out.... He did have the two defensive miscues, but to some level you need to be able to live with that. Right now, Jess Posey is our leading hitter in SEC play. You can say it's a small sample, but that's the reality. Posey has the best batting average, the best slugging percentage, and the best on base percentage of anyone through 5 SEC games. In a perfect world, you could just DH the guy, but our roster is what it is. This is the roster we have in part because a couple of guys decided to act like knuckleheads last season and couldn't manage to keep themselves on what was a losing team. This is the roster we have in part because a key guy decided to take peanuts to play pro baseball at the 11th hour last summer. So this is what we have, and on a night when it clearly wasn't going to rain runs for either team, it didn't make much sense to take one of our few present viable options out of the game. Jess isn't the first guy to make an error this year and he isn't the first guy to make a mental mistake. Some guys get taken out for those reasons and some guys don't. I said this about Perno a few times last year and a few more times the year before, but we lost tonight's game from the dugout. We'd made a lot of improvement since week 1... there's no question about that. But we've taken a step back over the past seven days and what we saw tonight, if we're being honest, wasn't any different than what we've seen the past two years, offensively. We're a better team than that and we're a better coaching staff than that.
-How bad is it offensively? We've hit in 44 innings in the conference and have 44 K's. We're batting .188 and getting on base at a .288 clip. Those numbers will get better, obviously, but you can't beat anyone hitting like that. Bowers is fighting it so bad right now that it might be best if you give him tomorrow off. Jared Walsh is fighting it too, but he's at least putting the ball in play and is actually getting on base at a really good clip (.350) relative to his average. You probably need to look at Daniel Nichols tomorrow and give him a chance to swing it against a lefty. Nelson Ward isn't the long term answer at #3, but I'd think about him there tomorrow and for the next few days. I'd put Conor Welton at the top and Stephen Wrenn in the #2 spot, with Cole #4 and Nichols #5. That's how I'd slot it tomorrow, regardless of whether we see a lefty or not.
-What a night by Robert Tyler. My goodness. That guy taking the baseball here, in front of this crowd, and pitching that way... I mean, I've got a bad taste in my mouth, but it's nothing to do with him. He's an example of why pitcher W/L is such a meaningless stat. His stuff aside, I love the way he pitches around adversity. NOBODY bears down like Robert Tyler... This guy is 18 years old, pitching in front of 8,000 people on television, first time he's thrown a pitch for UGA outside of Foley Field, and he's not rattled a bit. He's not rattled by defensive miscues. He's not done in walks... nothing. He got a little frustrated with the strike zone last weekend (like everyone else in America), but he pitched around that... tonight... boy, that was good stuff. I still haven't seen a pitch count on him.... whatever it was, though, it was a lot like the tech game where we did his best work after he'd already thrown A LOT of pitches.
-On a different level, what you saw tonight was two guys who are going to make a lot of Friday night starts in this conference. I didn't mean to knock Poche' above. Like I said, he's advanced... The LSU people have got to be as excited about him as we our about our guy. When was the last time you saw two true freshman pitch that well against each other? I can't come up with any game even close to what we saw tonight.
-Man, our outfield play is good.... That helps the pitching staff too, of course... We cover A LOT of ground out there and Stephen Wrenn and Conor Welton are as good defensively as anyone in the country. You think about the CFs that we've had here and Wrenn may really be the best when it's all said and done. Welton would play center for anyone else. It's fun watching those guys (and where the put us at LSU, you get a great view of the LF and CF).
-Overall, it's just been too long since we've won a road series. Easter weekend, 2011... I don't really count Tennessee last year as we only won the 1 game before the rest was washed out... It's a lot of losing... and that part isn't any fun.... We'll get a winning weekend this year, I'm sure. This was a very winnable series for us too and that's one of the reasons I'm so frustrated now. I felt a lot better at 0-2 in Tallahassee than I do tonight.
-Lastly, I think that we're a little tired. That part bothers me, because the "grind" hasn't truly started yet.... April is going to be a bear with all the road games. But we look tired as a team.... like we don't have the same energy or intensity and almost like just aren't as quick. I wouldn't say we look flat footed, but it seems to be in that neighborhood. This thing isn't getting any easier as far as the travel (the next two series certainly appear to be winnable) and I hope that we'll have a true off day on Monday before Clemson comes to town. Let's just get that W tomorrow and go from there... winning picks up everyone's spirits and a W on Sunday, along with an off day Monday, may pay some huge dividends for us.
-I never thought that LSU would play far more "small ball" than we would this weekend, but that's exactly what's happened it's part of the reason they've been able to grind out runs, even single spots.
-I didn't agree with taking Jess Posey out.... He did have the two defensive miscues, but to some level you need to be able to live with that. Right now, Jess Posey is our leading hitter in SEC play. You can say it's a small sample, but that's the reality. Posey has the best batting average, the best slugging percentage, and the best on base percentage of anyone through 5 SEC games. In a perfect world, you could just DH the guy, but our roster is what it is. This is the roster we have in part because a couple of guys decided to act like knuckleheads last season and couldn't manage to keep themselves on what was a losing team. This is the roster we have in part because a key guy decided to take peanuts to play pro baseball at the 11th hour last summer. So this is what we have, and on a night when it clearly wasn't going to rain runs for either team, it didn't make much sense to take one of our few present viable options out of the game. Jess isn't the first guy to make an error this year and he isn't the first guy to make a mental mistake. Some guys get taken out for those reasons and some guys don't. I said this about Perno a few times last year and a few more times the year before, but we lost tonight's game from the dugout. We'd made a lot of improvement since week 1... there's no question about that. But we've taken a step back over the past seven days and what we saw tonight, if we're being honest, wasn't any different than what we've seen the past two years, offensively. We're a better team than that and we're a better coaching staff than that.
-How bad is it offensively? We've hit in 44 innings in the conference and have 44 K's. We're batting .188 and getting on base at a .288 clip. Those numbers will get better, obviously, but you can't beat anyone hitting like that. Bowers is fighting it so bad right now that it might be best if you give him tomorrow off. Jared Walsh is fighting it too, but he's at least putting the ball in play and is actually getting on base at a really good clip (.350) relative to his average. You probably need to look at Daniel Nichols tomorrow and give him a chance to swing it against a lefty. Nelson Ward isn't the long term answer at #3, but I'd think about him there tomorrow and for the next few days. I'd put Conor Welton at the top and Stephen Wrenn in the #2 spot, with Cole #4 and Nichols #5. That's how I'd slot it tomorrow, regardless of whether we see a lefty or not.
-What a night by Robert Tyler. My goodness. That guy taking the baseball here, in front of this crowd, and pitching that way... I mean, I've got a bad taste in my mouth, but it's nothing to do with him. He's an example of why pitcher W/L is such a meaningless stat. His stuff aside, I love the way he pitches around adversity. NOBODY bears down like Robert Tyler... This guy is 18 years old, pitching in front of 8,000 people on television, first time he's thrown a pitch for UGA outside of Foley Field, and he's not rattled a bit. He's not rattled by defensive miscues. He's not done in walks... nothing. He got a little frustrated with the strike zone last weekend (like everyone else in America), but he pitched around that... tonight... boy, that was good stuff. I still haven't seen a pitch count on him.... whatever it was, though, it was a lot like the tech game where we did his best work after he'd already thrown A LOT of pitches.
-On a different level, what you saw tonight was two guys who are going to make a lot of Friday night starts in this conference. I didn't mean to knock Poche' above. Like I said, he's advanced... The LSU people have got to be as excited about him as we our about our guy. When was the last time you saw two true freshman pitch that well against each other? I can't come up with any game even close to what we saw tonight.
-Man, our outfield play is good.... That helps the pitching staff too, of course... We cover A LOT of ground out there and Stephen Wrenn and Conor Welton are as good defensively as anyone in the country. You think about the CFs that we've had here and Wrenn may really be the best when it's all said and done. Welton would play center for anyone else. It's fun watching those guys (and where the put us at LSU, you get a great view of the LF and CF).
-Overall, it's just been too long since we've won a road series. Easter weekend, 2011... I don't really count Tennessee last year as we only won the 1 game before the rest was washed out... It's a lot of losing... and that part isn't any fun.... We'll get a winning weekend this year, I'm sure. This was a very winnable series for us too and that's one of the reasons I'm so frustrated now. I felt a lot better at 0-2 in Tallahassee than I do tonight.
-Lastly, I think that we're a little tired. That part bothers me, because the "grind" hasn't truly started yet.... April is going to be a bear with all the road games. But we look tired as a team.... like we don't have the same energy or intensity and almost like just aren't as quick. I wouldn't say we look flat footed, but it seems to be in that neighborhood. This thing isn't getting any easier as far as the travel (the next two series certainly appear to be winnable) and I hope that we'll have a true off day on Monday before Clemson comes to town. Let's just get that W tomorrow and go from there... winning picks up everyone's spirits and a W on Sunday, along with an off day Monday, may pay some huge dividends for us.
