@Duke Baseball (poll)

[gtrower]

Hell of a win. 7-6 is too close for comfort. 1st & 3rd B9 0 outs and Dukies don't score. Criminal.

Burress 3-3 with HBP bodes well.

Plenty of pitchers left available Can't talk about stats since StatBroadcast crapped out T8.

I think all of us in the chat were doubting Hall's decision to put Patel back out there for the 9th. And it was close. But man was that a clutch ending.

1st and 3rd with no outs, and no runs we're scored. You love to see it.

Who starts tomorrow?

I’ve watched the replay a few times and I’m still surprised Duke’s 3BC held the runner at 3rd on the single to the outfield. He didnt look all that fast, but still, sure looked to me like it would’ve taken a perfect throw and even that might not have gotten him. Hell I’m not sure Lackey was even expecting a throw home. The guy was rounding 3rd about two hops before Burress even got to the ball.

Maybe hindsight is 20-20 with having your guy at 3rd with no outs and the guy looks like an idiot if the runner gets caught at home for the 1st out, but watching that play in real time I couldn’t believe he held him.

 

[305jacket]

Chicoli starting hopefully means that Jones starts Saturday and that Paden is available out of the pen to close out high leverage innings a la Patel.

All hands on deck to get 1 more win. Need that top 4 ACC seed.

 

[Bogey]

I agree 100% with Hall staying with Patel in the 9th. A struggling Patel is still our best option in relief. Our pitching staff has shown improvement but control is still a major problem and will be our down fall in post season play again this year. Allowing our starter to go 5 innings while giving up 9 free bases in 5 innings with 8 BB's and a HBP is a prime example of our shallow our pitching staff really is. If we can get a double-by for the ACC tournament, I do like our chances to win it. But I am not at all optimistic about achieving any better result on the road to Omaha than we have seen in the past several years. Just my opinion and I hope it proves to be wrong.

 

[GT33]

And, if anyone says we were lucky, just remember we’ve been unlucky this season too. It tends to even out in baseball.

Maybe a better word would have been fortunate? The odds were not on our side, statistically speaking this was a protypical second guessing scenario. Things could have gone better so you got that commentary because the win could have been less dramatic, we won so you got the flip side of the coin in that we should just be happy. You could say God was on our side, but it's unlikely God cares about GT beaing dook in baseball. Beating the mutt in football, yes facing off against the devil is probably on his radar, but spanking some dook baseball team I don't think makes the cut no matter how frustrated our fanbase is from a prolonged peiod of malaise.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

So why do we think Patel was so gassed? He's had outings this long 3 or 4 times this season (70 +/- pitches). I know he threw 25 pitches in the 8th, but that's not an egregiously high pitch count for a specific inning. I know the weather is getting warm, but its gonna get even warmer in June, most likely. Any thoughts?

Whenever StatBroadcast comes up with the stats after T8 I think it will be obvious by the pitch counts. We were getting live updates during the game on chat from @DecaturJacket and others. But I don't have the stats yet.

Ramsey most likely would not have handled the baserunners the same and we'd have won or gone to extra innings most likely. But Dukie lives and dies by getting walks over hits.

Who do we start for the ACCT, the tired McKee and then Patel?

A win is a win is a win. We have lost ones we shouldn't. Thank you Dukie.

Just win today.

 

[gtbeak]

Whenever StatBroadcast comes up with the stats after T8 I think it will be obvious by the pitch counts. We were getting live updates during the game on chat from @DecaturJacket and others. But I don't have the stats yet.

I know Statcast choked, but I found the pitch count and play-by-play last night on Duke's website. Patel threw 73 pitches, which matched a season high, with the highest inning being 25 pitches in the 8th. He was at 55 pitches at the end of that inning. That's why I asked why we think he was gassed...he shouldn't have been, I'll put it that way. I will note that the length of his appearances has dropped over the past month so maybe he needs to be stretched back out? Through the Stanford series he was going 60-70 pitches regularly, but since then it's been more in the 40-50 range. I went back and watched Patel's innings from last night and it looked to me that he is a "sweater" and that the sweat was causing grip issues.

 

[Beeski]

A couple of thoughts on last night
- it was hot and muggy. Tate had his jersey unbuttoned. That is why Mason was gassed in the 8th.
- Patel lost command of his pitches in the 8th. His change-up wasn't doing its drop at the plate thing (what a beauty he has).
- The guts, grit and determination he showed in the 9th was the performance of the year.
- the Dook 3rd base coach didn't send the runner due to Burress' arm reputation
- Lodise will shake off his slump soon
- that was a TEAM win
- we need to have a Schmidt vs Chandler Simpson base running contest in the off-season (JK)

 

[Home Park Jacket]

- we need to have a Schmidt vs Chandler Simpson base running contest in the off-season (JK)

And Schmidt should start on 2nd base

 

[GT33]

I have a couple other observations to add from all the above:

a. McKee really needed this game to turn out the way it did. He struggled early, could have lost us the game, but he kept us in it. When he got us out of inning 3, I suspected he’d make it thru 5 and he did yielding nothing despite a frustratingly tight strike zone. If he was whacked mentally, he should be clear now. He was a major part of winning this game. We do not win without him battling in innings 3-5. Saved our bullpen as well it turned out.

b. The Team needed this win. We just took the series from Louie, a solid opponent but we needed this game. To come from behind on a team that had not relinquished a lead after the 6th is huge. They threw their best out there in inning 7 and we lined up our best and took the win. They exhausted another solid arm when they thought they had a chance.

c. We won a game where we made a bunch of mistakes. Their first hit could have been caught, we had bobbled balls in infield, the weird play where Lodise jumped in front of 2nd and had no play, Lackey coming off the bag at 2nd not knowing he was safe, etc. We have not won many tight games where we were not flawless in our execution. I think we’ve lost all of them.

d. I think Lodise is not anywhere near healthy. In retrospect I think we moved him back into the line up too soon. He’s still a great player, but he’s gone from phenomenal to a liability at the plate. He just is not right and it looks physical to me. Irrespective of him not getting hits, he’s not swinging the bat like he did before getting hurt.

 

[MWBATL]

Gotta give Lodise credit for catching that foul pop up in the 9th and getting it back into the infield quickly and accurately. That was after a LONG run to get to it with his back to the infield (or close to that).
Whatever’s wrong with his hitting, he’s not letting it affect his fielding. That play may have won us the game…

 

[MWBATL]

Btw, Duke was 20-2 at home before last night’s game.

 

[DecaturJacket]

My gut tells me that the coaches went up to Patel after the inning and asked hime how he felt or if he had another inning in him. I can see him responding "I've got this coach". If so, as a coach, you have to let the guy who has been your horse all year finish it out. If you don't there is no telling what it would do to Patel's psyche at the most critical time of the year.

As a coach, you can't let players dictate big decisions like that. He was visibly gassed in the 8th. Even the announcers were all over it. If you're gonna make the decision to roll with him, you've gotta have guys getting lose just in case AND after the first two batters of that inning I don't care what the player told you it's time for a fresh arm. Patel's psyche aint gonna be messed up by pulling him in that spot. He wouldn't have made it this far if he was that fragile.

We won, so it's all good. Sometimes you win even though you didn't make the smartest move. I'm sure there's been idiots who hit on 19 and got 21, but that doesn't make that decision a good one.

 

[DecaturJacket]

Btw, Duke was 20-2 at home before last night’s game.

I believe the announcers said they were undefeated when leading after 6 too.

 

[Home Park Jacket]

Btw, Duke was 20-2 at home before last night’s game.

 

[bensaysitathome]

a. McKee really needed this game to turn out the way it did. He struggled early, could have lost us the game, but he kept us in it. When he got us out of inning 3, I suspected he’d make it thru 5 and he did yielding nothing despite a frustratingly tight strike zone. If he was whacked mentally, he should be clear now. He was a major part of winning this game. We do not win without him battling in innings 3-5. Saved our bullpen as well it turned out.
when they thought they had a chance.

Agreed on all your points, but this one in particular.

After the past three weeks or so I was wondering what the hell we're going to do in the postseason with this kind of Friday starter performance. But he settled down and got right, just in time, and against a tournament team.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Btw, Duke was 20-2 at home before last night’s game.

Missed that in looking at stats. Best in the ACC?

Also may explain the reported tight strike zone for us and not them. Are refs randomly selected or largely the same for stadiums?

Update: on road on phone. Looks like 20-2 is Rong. But questions remain.

 

[DecaturJacket]

I know Statcast choked, but I found the pitch count and play-by-play last night on Duke's website. Patel threw 73 pitches, which matched a season high, with the highest inning being 25 pitches in the 8th. He was at 55 pitches at the end of that inning. That's why I asked why we think he was gassed...he shouldn't have been, I'll put it that way. I will note that the length of his appearances has dropped over the past month so maybe he needs to be stretched back out? Through the Stanford series he was going 60-70 pitches regularly, but since then it's been more in the 40-50 range. I went back and watched Patel's innings from last night and it looked to me that he is a "sweater" and that the sweat was causing grip issues.

You seem to be making the assumption that all situations and pitches are created equal.

Last night was super hot and humid in Durham. The majority of his pitches were stressful. Then there's all the factors we don't know - he's been trying a new workout or his family has been in town for graduation or whatever.

A guy coming in to close out a game can get almost as gassed through a long stressful inning as a guy who threw a 4 hit complete game shut out. Throws are far from the only factor in the amount of energy out there on the mound.

We won, so I don't think we need get stuck on this, but that was questionable at best coaching keeping him in. Like I keep saying, you can make the wrong decision and get lucky but that doesn't make it the correct decision. Thank God it paid off last night. It's as if he blew that bunt foul himself.

 

[DecaturJacket]

Agreed on all your points, but this one in particular.

After the past three weeks or so I was wondering what the hell we're going to do in the postseason with this kind of Friday starter performance. But he settled down and got right, just in time, and against a tournament team.

Yeah, Tate's gotta figure something out. Maybe he somewhat figured it out in those last few innings. Crossing fingers.

He's lost his command - especially of the off speed stuff. He can't locate it, so guys are just keying in on fastballs and waiting. We've been saying it for a few weeks now and it's worrisome that he and the coach's haven't gotten it fixed.

 

[GT33]

We've been saying it for a few weeks now and it's worrisome that he and the coach's haven't gotten it fixed.

My company’s owner keeps trying to get me to perform better for years and I want to perform better. The only thing I’ve been able to offer up is hope and changing the metrics to match the desired outcome! Not sure changing the metrics helps here so let’s cling to the hope that somehow somebody figures some out or it just magically happens so he pitches like in Miami again.

Edit: Yet I’m f’ing off chatting about GT baseball instead of working!

 

[DecaturJacket]

My company’s owner keeps trying to get me to perform better for years and I want to perform better. The only thing I’ve been able to offer up is hope and changing the metrics to match the desired outcome! Not sure changing the metrics helps here so let’s cling to the hope that somehow somebody figures some out or it just magically happens so he pitches like in Miami again.

Edit: Yet I’m f’ing off chatting about GT baseball instead of working!

Arm slot and release point are easier to fix than your motivation and efficiency