MtownRebel wrote:Random thoughts/comments on the game
-State fans can be pretentious *beep*
-Kyle Mills DHing?!?!?!
-Kyle Mills 2 doubles off the wall? get him more at bats...maybe?
-Cullen Kight PHing for Mills?!?!?
-Cullen Kight doesn't look stupid at the plate and gets a hit?!?!
-Anyone else confused with Bianco's pitching strategy? I mean, Buk getting the start was surprise number one, but he did admirably. His "bad inning" came off two bloop singles, one of which I thought Stuyverson would have gotten to if he read the ball off the bat well at all. Bianco did the right thing in putting Rory in, but Nathan Baker with runners on base? As my friends and I noted at teh game Baker is just not a strike out pitcher. He gets people out on contact so why put him in to work his was out of a jam? I'm just not a Baker fan, never have been.
-Where was Bittle?
-Michael Hubbard pinch hitting? I'd rather of seen Logan Williams out there.
-Also, I'd rather see Cody on the bench during a mid-week game because of his shin splints, or DH him. He was a liability out there in the field, one of State's doubles down the left field line a healthy Cody may have attempted a dive to stop it, but not this Cody. Also, his lack of mobility cost him when he got robbed of a base hit by the State shortstop.
-State fans behind me really believed Weatherford could be a first round draft pick and liken him to a god.
-Fergie over Stuyverson in my opinion
-Our defense sucks
-If Jordan was playing RF for us those two dropped balls by Travis on diving attempts would have been outs...we really miss him
I agree with pretty much everything you said.
Baker just doesn't have it this season. Period. He came in, ate up some outs, but got into trouble as he usually does. He's not going to surrender double-digit runs (normally), but he's going to fall just short almost every time he's out there. Next year he'll do better I feel, but this is his rough year. Almost every Rebel pitcher I've ever watched has had that one "rough year" when it seems it all just falls apart for them at times. Baker's in it.
I don't buy Weatherford as a first round pick. I don't buy him as a 5th round pick. He's good, but there are better shutdown closers out there. What you heard, as I'm sure you know, are State fans grasping for any measure of success they can get from this season. They're how many games behind .500? 6 games? Yeah. They're 9 games behind .500 in SEC play. I think State fans know there's not much chance of even making Hoover this year and with their AD off the selection committee there's no way they make the NCAAs this year. I'd be absolutely SHOCKED if they come back and somehow make Hoover.
I like Ferguson and Stuyverson both in their own way. I'd like to see them both starting in mid-week games, one at 2nd and one at SS. Give Miller a rest for the weekends. BTW, haven't heard an ETA on Button. Need him back.
Our defense goes in spurts. Sometimes it's just horrendous (like last night). Sometimes it's really on. Just strange for a Bianco coached team to be doing this poorly in fielding. I think it's just an anomaly.
I like Travis at the plate, but MUCH prefer Henry in the field. I hope Travis getting the starts lights a fire under Henry's butt to start producing in BP and work back into the starting lineup. We need him patrolling right field again!
I expected to see McKean. Never expected to see Baker in relief. Figured it would have been Bittle or Cryer all the way after McKean. How bout Morgan? One out and he's lifted for Cryer. Wish I had been paying more attention to the left-right match-up to see if that's why he was lifted, but I never expected Coach Bianco to pull the "face one batter and gone" move. I've seen plenty of other coaches do that, but I've never seen Coach Bianco do that before that I can recall.
I've been wondering where Mills has been and I've been calling for Kight to get more hits for a while now. Good to see both come in and get hits, especially Kight who managed to get it done COLD off the bench.
Cody O's injury really showed last night, but I wonder if the coaches saw it before then. If so and I were coach I think I would have put Stuyverson at 3rd and put Ferguson at SS for the start since Miller was starting anyway. Stuyverson seems to do better at 3rd than he does at SS in the few times he's played it and it would get Ferguson in the game and he's got a LOT of potential. I think both of them do. I think Ferguson will be a large part of this program's future. Stuyverson's got one more year with the program and I think he'll be one of the anchors next season.