Ole Miss vs TCU game #3

oxpatchreb · Sun Mar 09, 2008 9:51 am

Gonna be at a B-day party for our Godson today. Hoping someone can "hook a brotha' up" with some updates once the show starts....

LET'S GO REBELS!!!!!!!!!!!

Chucky_38 · Sun Mar 09, 2008 1:58 pm

We are stinking it up on offense again today. 1-0 TCU going into the bottom of the 3rd. We have the bases loaded and Matt Smith strikes out with his bat on his shoulders. Either TCU is much better than we thought or we are very overrated.

Chucky_38 · Sun Mar 09, 2008 2:56 pm

Make that 2-0 in the bottom of the 6th.

Redbluedude · Sun Mar 09, 2008 3:24 pm

2-1 TCU after 7.

Redbluedude · Sun Mar 09, 2008 3:39 pm

TCU wins 2-1.

felicianareb · Sun Mar 09, 2008 3:44 pm

Somebody drilled a hole in the bats this weekend. Our pitchers threw well enough to win, but they'd have to be near perfect with a run support of eight runs in three games. Let's get some new bats.

Chucky_38 · Sun Mar 09, 2008 4:14 pm

Nah we just faced real pitchers. Its a preview of what to expect when SEC play starts. We aren't as good as we thought.

oxfordrebel · Sun Mar 09, 2008 5:08 pm

Chucky_38 wrote:Nah we just faced real pitchers. Its a preview of what to expect when SEC play starts. We aren't as good as we thought.

I am afraid you are dead on. ISU I caught a glimpse but said it was just an adjustment weekend. A-State told me we'd have a rough time at TCU. Game 1 gave me hope. Game 2-3 told me my fears Wednesday night were true.

That said, this team will still win 40 games this season. They'll sweep a top 25 program (Vandy at home) and drop a series they should sweep (Bama on the road). At the end of the season we'll still be looking at a Regional host and possibly a SR host. This team will still go to Omaha, I really believe. But they're not a top 5 team. Not yet. Work left to do. Consistency will be the name of the game this season.

RebelBond · Sun Mar 09, 2008 6:22 pm

First road trip this year against a very good team. TCU would beat most SEC teams. If we learn from this trip and dig a little harder we might get a lot better in a hurry. It is a long season so we have plenty of time to get where we need to be.

RebelBond

oxfordrebel · Sun Mar 09, 2008 10:37 pm

TCU is a team we should have beat. Perhaps not sweep, but at least win the series over. I think we should have taken game 2. I think under normal circumstances we take that game. Something about the players getting tossed just doesn't sit well. Especially coming from veteran players on our team like Button and Basham. Young guys ok, but something had to have been seriously wrong for Evan and Brett to get tossed. Coach Bianco's comments after the game kinda confirm as much. Don't remember exactly but something to the effect of "no matter what happens there comes a point when you have to just keep your mouth shut about it and they know that." That's not an exact quote, but something like that.

Oh well. You live to fight another day. Western Kentucky coming up next for a Tuesday-Wednesday series. The first year we hosted a Regional (2004) we had WKU here in Oxford. They beat us in the first game that Friday night before, I think it was USM bounced us out in the second game. The Hilltoppers are not a team to laugh at. They're 6-4 coming into Tuesday's game. They swept Purdue at home and split a DH with conference rival UL-Monroe on the road this weekend. They lost the series though.

oxpatchreb · Sun Mar 09, 2008 10:53 pm

My confidence in this team is NOT shaken. There is NO team on our schedule that we cannot sweep. We have the resources to go undefeated the rest of the way. I'm not saying we will, not at all. I'm simply saying that if anyone wants to put money on any one game this year against any opponent, I'm game.

We are a *beep* fine baseball team, we have some issues to work through, but at any time, this team can get hot and put a 25-1 spanking on ANY TEAM IN THE NATION.

Let's take a few days to get our heads right, and get things rolling as we head into SEC play!!!!!!!!!!!!

COME ON DIAMOND REBS, GET THIS THING ON TRACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oxfordrebel · Mon Mar 10, 2008 8:01 am

oxpatchreb wrote:My confidence in this team is NOT shaken. There is NO team on our schedule that we cannot sweep. We have the resources to go undefeated the rest of the way. I'm not saying we will, not at all. I'm simply saying that if anyone wants to put money on any one game this year against any opponent, I'm game.

We are a *beep* fine baseball team, we have some issues to work through, but at any time, this team can get hot and put a 25-1 spanking on ANY TEAM IN THE NATION.

Let's take a few days to get our heads right, and get things rolling as we head into SEC play!!!!!!!!!!!!

COME ON DIAMOND REBS, GET THIS THING ON TRACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You're right, but you have to remember that baseball is a game of hills and valleys. Right now the guys are in a small "timely hit" slump. They're putting up good hit numbers for the most part, but they're not getting the timely hit. Or the clutch hit when you have 2 outs runner(s) in scoring position. Pitching has come around well. If the hammy wasn't bothering Cody on Saturday I think he would have been a lot more effective and not given up the two runs. But as the saying goes, "If Ifs and Buts were Candy and Nuts..." Right now the pitchers need to continue to play strong and the bats need some of the early season confidence back like they had against Minn. All it takes is for one or two guys to catch fire and the bats will explode. And I think you're going to see that happen from Jordan Henry and/or Zach Miller if I had to guess.

BTW, I surely haven't lost confidence in this team. The season is WAY too early and even if this happened during the last series of the regular season, it's baseball. It's the nature of the game. As I said a couple of posts ago, I still think this is the team that goes to Omaha. As you said, all the pieces are there. I don't think this is a top 5 team right now. Top 10 certainly, but not top 5. Not as good as I (and obviously others as well) thought, but still one of the best teams in the nation. But really, what is a top 5 baseball team but a top 10 team with some luck breaking their way? It's a marathon, not a sprint!

Heath · Mon Mar 10, 2008 4:18 pm

oxfordrebel wrote:
Oh well. You live to fight another day. Western Kentucky coming up next for a Tuesday-Wednesday series. The first year we hosted a Regional (2004) we had WKU here in Oxford. They beat us in the first game that Friday night before, I think it was USM bounced us out in the second game.

It was Washington that beat us out that year.

I was at the Saturday games and we just weren't hitting the ball will confidence and power

don't mean HR's, I mean hitting the ball hard). There didn't seem to be too many K's, we were just hitting typical pre-game fungo to the TCU fielders. You know, easy ground balls and can-o-corn fly balls. I think I saw somewhere that Henry went 1 for 9 on Saturday. That is NOT what you want out of a lead off man. I was actually excited when Basham was thrown out because he had not gotten a hit all day (or close to it). So I was thinking Rutland can't be much worse at the plate.

TCU was just a very sound team. Their pitchers weren't as good as Lynn or Baker, but they didn't give OM a chance to hit the ball hard many times. And when we did hit the ball, they didn't make errors and made the routine plays.

Hopefully Bianco will get this batting line-up in the right order and they can start stringing together some hits, and subsequently runs.