Bama/UGA game three

Blindside13

All-SEC
Oct 22, 2011
1,846
1
0
Near the Barn
Leaving runners all over the place today. Just let the bulldogs get out of a bases loaded no out situation with no runs scored . Going to the eighth down 4-3. They really need this game for their confidence level starting conference play hopefully they can pull it out.
 
Yeah, I was watching the scroll and it looked like everyone else except Missouri is ranked. It is so tough to crawl off the bottom in this league.

Rtr
 
Any idea why we tried the middie magic trick with the pitchers today. Seemed like what we had been doing on Sunday's was working.

Rtr
 
I went to the game today and have a few observations:

Negatives:

1. Wild pitch/passed ball issue remain. Cost us another run today.

2. We don’t have SEC caliber arms.

3. I noticed parents of a kid critical of others, “my kid woulda done...”

Positives:

1. Outside the passed ball/wild pitch issue, D looks better. Jett at SS, Cobie at 3B and Chandler at 2B is solid.

2. The work the count, have good approaches at the plate.

3. They keep fighting, never quit.

4. The body language, positive energy is night and day compared to last year.

Absolutely disgusting:

A special needs child was at the game. He looked like he was in heaven in his BAMA shirt and WWE backpack. He was very excited and yelling. At first it sounded like he was grunting loudly but you could tell her was saying “Roll Tide”. (Kinda sounded like “Row Ride” He was very excited and the people looking/glaring at him should be ashamed. Mom and dad looked flustered and left with him. Not blaming mom and dad at all. I think they reacted to the folks looking at their child.

All in all, as I’ve said before, I just don’t see us being much improved record wise but, go support the kids, they look like they are having fun. Hope to see them in B-ham VS UAB Tues night if it isn’t rained out.
 
What could have been...................

Left the bases loaded, in the 7th.

Let UGA score 2 runs, in the 8th, when they were down to their last strike.

Oh well.................

Also, we probably should have loaded the bases, in the first, with only one out. Questionable call ruled Vance out.

What could have been.
 
I went to the game today and have a few observations:
Negatives:
1. Wild pitch/passed ball issue remain. Cost us another run today.
2. We don’t have SEC caliber arms.
3. I noticed parents of a kid critical of others, “my kid woulda done...”
Positives:
1. Outside the passed ball/wild pitch issue, D looks better. Jett at SS, Cobie at 3B and Chandler at 2B is solid.
2. The work the count, have good approaches at the plate.
3. They keep fighting, never quit.
4. The body language, positive energy is night and day compared to last year.
Overall, I agree with most of this.

However, being good at "working the count" is a good thing when the pitcher is a little wild, but yesterday, I thought they looked almost timid in how they were working the count, kind of like they weren't sure whether they should swing instead of actively looking for a good pitch. I didn't think yesterday was one of their better games in terms of plate-approach, but do agree that it's been better overall (minus the Sat/Sun games this weekend)

Now, we did work 5 walks, which is commendable, but how many times did our "working the count" put us behind the 8-ball in the count, forcing us to swing at not-ideal pitches? The play-by-play on rolltide.com doesn't list the pitch sequences so we can't tell if it started 0-2 and we took pitches outside the zone (a good "working the count") or if it was 1/2/3-0 and we worked it to a 2-strike count (IMO, a bad "working the count"), but we had 20 appearances where our hitters were in two-strike counts and that resulted in an out 13 times, a hit in 2 of those appearances, but also 4 of our 5 walks came with 2-strike count. So I guess it's kind of a trade-off, but personally, I think we were so focused on "working the count" yesterday that we weren't prepared to hit a good pitch when it came in if it wasn't deep in the count. And "working the count" for the sake of "working the count" is not a good strategy.

That said, giving what we have to work with on the mound, I didn't have the best expectations coming into this year, but it is very encouraging to see that this team has a ton of fight and you never really feel like they're truly out of the game at any point in time. So much more fun to watch this year as opposed to last year. Body language of the guys is night and day different from last year and you can tell they really enjoy the game a lot more this year.
 
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Overall, I agree with most of this.

However, being good at "working the count" is a good thing when the pitcher is a little wild, but yesterday, I thought they looked almost timid in how they were working the count, kind of like they weren't sure whether they should swing instead of actively looking for a good pitch. I didn't think yesterday was one of their better games in terms of plate-approach, but do agree that it's been better overall (minus the Sat/Sun games this weekend)

Now, we did work 5 walks, which is commendable, but how many times did our "working the count" put us behind the 8-ball in the count, forcing us to swing at not-ideal pitches? The play-by-play on rolltide.com doesn't list the pitch sequences so we can't tell if it started 0-2 and we took pitches outside the zone (a good "working the count") or if it was 1/2/3-0 and we worked it to a 2-strike count (IMO, a bad "working the count"), but we had 20 appearances where our hitters were in two-strike counts and that resulted in an out 13 times, a hit in 2 of those appearances, but also 4 of our 5 walks came with 2-strike count. So I guess it's kind of a trade-off, but personally, I think we were so focused on "working the count" yesterday that we weren't prepared to hit a good pitch when it came in if it wasn't deep in the count. And "working the count" for the sake of "working the count" is not a good strategy.

That said, giving what we have to work with on the mound, I didn't have the best expectations coming into this year, but it is very encouraging to see that this team has a ton of fight and you never really feel like they're truly out of the game at any point in time. So much more fun to watch this year as opposed to last year. Body language of the guys is night and day different from last year and you can tell they really enjoy the game a lot more this year.

I'm not a fan of this either. I tell my sons (who play Dixie Youth Baseball), they're only going to get one, maybe two hit-able pitches per at bat that they can "drive". Sitting there taking pitches significantly reduces their odds of success. I'm all for an automatic take on 3-0. But after that, unless the pitcher is REALLY struggling, the green light is on and if it's in their hitting zone. Hit the dang baseball.
 
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I'm not a fan of this either. I tell my sons (who play Dixie Youth Baseball), they're only going to get one, maybe two hit-able pitches per at bat that they can "drive". Sitting there taking pitches significantly reduces their odds of success. I'm all for an automatic take on 3-0. But after that, unless the pitcher is REALLY struggling, the green light is on and if it's in their hitting zone. Hit the dang baseball.
Ugh, this! Our hs coach handcuffs our kids so bad by not letting them swing at the first pitch...so the good teams drill a fb down the middle for strike 1. Then, they know the kids can't swing at a curve unless 2 strikes...so a curve is coming if 0 and 1. My son, who batted .360 his senior year, was always having to protect at 0-2/1-2. Would loved to have seen what he coulda done swinging under a different philosophy.
 
Ugh, this! Our hs coach handcuffs our kids so bad by not letting them swing at the first pitch...so the good teams drill a fb down the middle for strike 1. Then, they know the kids can't swing at a curve unless 2 strikes...so a curve is coming if 0 and 1. My son, who batted .360 his senior year, was always having to protect at 0-2/1-2. Would loved to have seen what he coulda done swinging under a different philosophy.

My HS coach (many moons ago!!! lol) did this same thing to us. He was hell bent on "take until he throws a strike". The problem with that is once you give the pitcher an 0-1 count (for free). His options on the next pitch are limitless. He can throw anything in his arsenal. It puts you the hitter in a defensive mindset. Which is never good to be in as a hitter. Now that I have kids of my own. I teach them to be aggressive and understand that the pitcher isn't just going to sit up there and throw batting practice balls pitch after pitch. He may give you one or two pitches then he's making you hit "his" pitch.
 
i coached high school ball for over 20 years. my hitting philosophy was very simple: if the ball is a strike, i want you pulling the trigger. when i give the hit sign, i expect a swing at a strike. nothing burned me more than a kid wanting to “look at one” before swinging!!! a batter that does his work in the on deck circle shouldn’t need to “look at one.”
 
Gotta give our big hitters a little more credit though because as we are in cinference play the at bats are gonna get more complicated. For example, CTs at bat with bases loaded no outs and he went down in 3 pitches to that l little righty sitting 90 mph. He pitched him backwards. Not many hitters are gonna swing at a first pitch curveball. Certainly not as good as the one that kid was throwing. Then came a good change up he threw for a strike. The lastly he threw a high fastball that CT like most kids can't lay off particulary in a 0-2 count. It's a lot harder than it looks fellas. Roll Tide
 
Gotta give our big hitters a little more credit though because as we are in cinference play the at bats are gonna get more complicated. For example, CTs at bat with bases loaded no outs and he went down in 3 pitches to that l little righty sitting 90 mph. He pitched him backwards. Not many hitters are gonna swing at a first pitch curveball. Certainly not as good as the one that kid was throwing. Then came a good change up he threw for a strike. The lastly he threw a high fastball that CT like most kids can't lay off particulary in a 0-2 count. It's a lot harder than it looks fellas. Roll Tide

I coach middle school ball down in South Ga, when we have some of the better players in crucial situations, I have a tendency to do the same thing. Everyone wants a fastball to hit. We are successful more than not with that strategy. It doesn't really change when you go from middle school to high school to college. A good pitcher will get a good hitter out when he throws his pitch where he wants it most of the time.
 
I coach middle school ball down in South Ga, when we have some of the better players in crucial situations, I have a tendency to do the same thing. Everyone wants a fastball to hit. We are successful more than not with that strategy. It doesn't really change when you go from middle school to high school to college. A good pitcher will get a good hitter out when he throws his pitch where he wants it most of the time.

You got that right. LOL! You take a big time hitting HS player and put him up against a big time pitching HS player. If the pitcher can throw both his curve and change up for strikes (consistently), or heck, if he can throw just his curve consistently for strikes. My money's on the pitcher every time.
 
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