-As frustrating as tonight was, it was a very good baseball game. It stinks being on the wrong end of it, obviously, but I think if you take a step back you realize that tonight was what a lot of SEC Friday night games will be like... We pitched well and defended well and didn't really do anything to beat ourselves.... It was just a very good game that someone had to win, I guess. That doesn't make it any easier, but again, I do think that there are a lot of positives to take away from how hard we battled.
-I noticed Michael Curry standing up on the throws back to the pitcher tonight. I'm sure he doesn't like doing that, it has to get tiring, but it really helps him make a more accurate throw. It bugs me a little bit that we had to get in-season to make that adjustment, but I'm glad we did.
-How about LJ Talley's first career hit breaking up a perfect game in the 7th inning.
-South Alabama was A LOT more patient at the plate than Ga Southern. Last weekend, Ga Southern almost seemed like a northern team who hadn't been able to do anything since the fall except hit in the cage... those guys REALLY wanted to swing the bat. South Alabama was a different animal tonight. They took their time and they made Tyler throw strikes.... They had a good plan for him in that regard.... And I think that they treated it like a battle of attrition right from the start.... almost like "we're going to get your guy out of the game before you get our guy." (Ironically though, they seemed to get a little eager up there when they had a chance to really pop things open late).
-The squeeze for their second run? What can you say? I thought it was a great call and was executed perfectly. I remember South Carolina doing that to us on Friday night in 2012, Ray Tanner's last year, for a big insurance run late. Knowing that Mark Calvi coached under Tanner (though not in '12), I was reminded of how well South Carolina executed it that night, and how South Alabama did the same this evening. Nothing quite gets your heart going like hearing someone from the dugout yell "SQUEEZE" in that situation.
-The story was obviously Kevin Hill and the job he did. That guy really knows how to pitch. I mean, he changed speeds ALL NIGHT.... He'd go heavy with his fastball for an inning, then wouldn't throw it more than once or twice for the next two innings. He located and then he induced a lot of swings on balls out of the zone too. Just total command. My heart sank during warmups when I saw that he was in the low 80s as we never seem to hit guys like that, for as long as I can remember. I don't think he broke 83 during his warmup tosses, then his first pitch of the game was 90. Just little stuff like that.
-Of course, I was wondering how a guy with such good numbers last year was back for a 5th year in college. I respectfully disagree that he's a top pro prospect. It's really hard to advance through professional baseball doing that, throwing 90 tops and winning with location, even as good as he was tonight. He's an outstanding college pitcher, though, that much is evident. It's great to see a guy like that leading up the SEC slate.
-I understand that there was a lot of talk tonight to our hitters about the need to "make an adjustment." I guess I have two thoughts on that. One, what kind of adjustment are you really supposed to make? Our hitters knew, I think, how they'd pitched for the most part. If you tell a hitter "he can throw four pitches for strikes, he can throw his fastball for a strike on either side of the plate, he's got a really good curve that he can get over the outer third, and he has a slider that you'll really want to chase, and he's going to vary all this inning by inning...." what kind of adjustments can you really make? But secondly, I think that the adjustment that we needed to make was just to take some more pitches. We had a lot of early count outs, especially early in the game.... Where South Alabama wanted to take pitches, step out of the box, and force Tyler to throw it over the plate (which he did), we took a lot of swings on the first pitch, had a lot of awkward contact, and also let Hill control the tempo. I don't know, maybe I'm underthinking it, but instead of "make an adjustment" I think I'd just say "take some pitches"... What was his final pitch count? 101? That's not many to get 27 outs....
-Regardless of the competition, it goes without saying that you can't go into the 6th or 7th inning with no hits and expect to win very often... and that's what happened last Saturday with Ga Southern too. We are what we are offensively, but we've got to find a way to avoid those long stretches with no hits and no base runners.... It just didn't seem like we had any type of response after the 1st inning or first time through the order. Take some pitches, get up on the plate, try to drag bunt (though that's not a great guy to try to bunt off of, obviously), just do something different. I said last Friday that this was the type of game we were going to wind up playing in the SEC, a lot. We've got to figure out how to "manufacture" a run here and there.
-All that said, one thing is clear.... We can really pitch. We haven't even seen the full depth of the bullpen yet, but our pitching staff is going to keep us in games.... And they did tonight. We made some big pitches late with men on base that limited the damage... Keegan McGovern's HR wasn't nearly as meaningful if things had gotten away from us the inning earlier.
-Another thing is clear too. We are a good defensive team. That 5-2-3 DP tonight was a thing of beauty, but it's not just plays like that.... we just play very clean defensively. I do think that Talley is out of position at 2nd base, though we can live with that. I know we're "only" five games in and it's a long season, but I just have a hard time imagining that we're are going to do anything to beat ourselves this season... and that wasn't really the case in any of the last three years, you could see some holes and problem areas out in the field pretty easily... So that's progress. We've got to get better offensively and there's no magic bullet that's going to make that happen, but I like this team's mentality this year and I like Stricklin's demeanor so far this year too.
-Finally, I wish we were playing South Alabama again tomorrow and Sunday. That's a good baseball team and I think we'd get a lot more out of playing them than we would Cincinnati or Western Kentucky. But it is what it is. Gotta bounce back and take care of business tomorrow and Sunday. If we can get 2/3 at home each weekend and not get swept on the road, we'll play in June. Easier said than done, though that's the reality of it.
-I noticed Michael Curry standing up on the throws back to the pitcher tonight. I'm sure he doesn't like doing that, it has to get tiring, but it really helps him make a more accurate throw. It bugs me a little bit that we had to get in-season to make that adjustment, but I'm glad we did.
-How about LJ Talley's first career hit breaking up a perfect game in the 7th inning.
-South Alabama was A LOT more patient at the plate than Ga Southern. Last weekend, Ga Southern almost seemed like a northern team who hadn't been able to do anything since the fall except hit in the cage... those guys REALLY wanted to swing the bat. South Alabama was a different animal tonight. They took their time and they made Tyler throw strikes.... They had a good plan for him in that regard.... And I think that they treated it like a battle of attrition right from the start.... almost like "we're going to get your guy out of the game before you get our guy." (Ironically though, they seemed to get a little eager up there when they had a chance to really pop things open late).
-The squeeze for their second run? What can you say? I thought it was a great call and was executed perfectly. I remember South Carolina doing that to us on Friday night in 2012, Ray Tanner's last year, for a big insurance run late. Knowing that Mark Calvi coached under Tanner (though not in '12), I was reminded of how well South Carolina executed it that night, and how South Alabama did the same this evening. Nothing quite gets your heart going like hearing someone from the dugout yell "SQUEEZE" in that situation.
-The story was obviously Kevin Hill and the job he did. That guy really knows how to pitch. I mean, he changed speeds ALL NIGHT.... He'd go heavy with his fastball for an inning, then wouldn't throw it more than once or twice for the next two innings. He located and then he induced a lot of swings on balls out of the zone too. Just total command. My heart sank during warmups when I saw that he was in the low 80s as we never seem to hit guys like that, for as long as I can remember. I don't think he broke 83 during his warmup tosses, then his first pitch of the game was 90. Just little stuff like that.
-Of course, I was wondering how a guy with such good numbers last year was back for a 5th year in college. I respectfully disagree that he's a top pro prospect. It's really hard to advance through professional baseball doing that, throwing 90 tops and winning with location, even as good as he was tonight. He's an outstanding college pitcher, though, that much is evident. It's great to see a guy like that leading up the SEC slate.
-I understand that there was a lot of talk tonight to our hitters about the need to "make an adjustment." I guess I have two thoughts on that. One, what kind of adjustment are you really supposed to make? Our hitters knew, I think, how they'd pitched for the most part. If you tell a hitter "he can throw four pitches for strikes, he can throw his fastball for a strike on either side of the plate, he's got a really good curve that he can get over the outer third, and he has a slider that you'll really want to chase, and he's going to vary all this inning by inning...." what kind of adjustments can you really make? But secondly, I think that the adjustment that we needed to make was just to take some more pitches. We had a lot of early count outs, especially early in the game.... Where South Alabama wanted to take pitches, step out of the box, and force Tyler to throw it over the plate (which he did), we took a lot of swings on the first pitch, had a lot of awkward contact, and also let Hill control the tempo. I don't know, maybe I'm underthinking it, but instead of "make an adjustment" I think I'd just say "take some pitches"... What was his final pitch count? 101? That's not many to get 27 outs....
-Regardless of the competition, it goes without saying that you can't go into the 6th or 7th inning with no hits and expect to win very often... and that's what happened last Saturday with Ga Southern too. We are what we are offensively, but we've got to find a way to avoid those long stretches with no hits and no base runners.... It just didn't seem like we had any type of response after the 1st inning or first time through the order. Take some pitches, get up on the plate, try to drag bunt (though that's not a great guy to try to bunt off of, obviously), just do something different. I said last Friday that this was the type of game we were going to wind up playing in the SEC, a lot. We've got to figure out how to "manufacture" a run here and there.
-All that said, one thing is clear.... We can really pitch. We haven't even seen the full depth of the bullpen yet, but our pitching staff is going to keep us in games.... And they did tonight. We made some big pitches late with men on base that limited the damage... Keegan McGovern's HR wasn't nearly as meaningful if things had gotten away from us the inning earlier.
-Another thing is clear too. We are a good defensive team. That 5-2-3 DP tonight was a thing of beauty, but it's not just plays like that.... we just play very clean defensively. I do think that Talley is out of position at 2nd base, though we can live with that. I know we're "only" five games in and it's a long season, but I just have a hard time imagining that we're are going to do anything to beat ourselves this season... and that wasn't really the case in any of the last three years, you could see some holes and problem areas out in the field pretty easily... So that's progress. We've got to get better offensively and there's no magic bullet that's going to make that happen, but I like this team's mentality this year and I like Stricklin's demeanor so far this year too.
-Finally, I wish we were playing South Alabama again tomorrow and Sunday. That's a good baseball team and I think we'd get a lot more out of playing them than we would Cincinnati or Western Kentucky. But it is what it is. Gotta bounce back and take care of business tomorrow and Sunday. If we can get 2/3 at home each weekend and not get swept on the road, we'll play in June. Easier said than done, though that's the reality of it.
