Ga Southern - Tuesday

[RoosterJacket]

I have actually been very impressed with the pen so far. It's obvious that the tier 1 guys are Datoc, Gibson, Carpenter (when he gets back), Winborne and Shirah. Then like you said a 1-2 punch of Curry and Thomas looks really good right now. I'm hoping that either Hurter or Chapman will get the Sunday spot as I would like to see what they can do.

Lee can be a solid weekend starter as he showed a few outings last year, but our defense has to make plays for him. He’s going to throw strikes which is what most of us have been wanting so badly to see, but since he isn’t overpowering, it’s an absolute must for him to live on the corners and down in the zone. He has the ability to do that.

Hughes just has to get his confidence back and trust his stuff again. He offers great potential, so I’d like to see him continue to get some starts but during the week instead of the weekends for the time being.

Agree that I’d like to see what Hurter and Chapman can do.

If Gibson can throw strikes, Datoc can do what he did last year, and Carpenter comes back with no ill effects, then I really like what we can throw out there to end games.

 

[THWG]

Lee can be a solid weekend starter as he showed a few outings last year, but our defense has to make plays for him. He’s going to throw strikes which is what most of us have been wanting so badly to see, but since he isn’t overpowering, it’s an absolute must for him to live on the corners and down in the zone. He has the ability to do that.

Hughes just has to get his confidence back and trust his stuff again. He offers great potential, so I’d like to see him continue to get some starts but during the week instead of the weekends for the time being.

Agree that I’d like to see what Hurter and Chapman can do.

If Gibson can throw strikes, Datoc can do what he did last year, and Carpenter comes back with no ill effects, then I really like what we can throw out there to end games.

Look at what we did with basically 2 relief pitchers in Isaacs and Clay a couple of years ago. If we could have 3 dominant relievers then that sets up well for the season.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I have actually been very impressed with the pen so far. It's obvious that the tier 1 guys are Datoc, Gibson, Carpenter (when he gets back), Winborne and Shirah. Then like you said a 1-2 punch of Curry and Thomas looks really good right now. I'm hoping that either Hurter or Chapman will get the Sunday spot as I would like to see what they can do.

Hmmmmm. After looking at stats, I agree that there have been bright spots in the bullpen:

Good -

• Connor Thomas already has been moved to starting.
• Datoc - other than two runs in UConn game in fourth inning pitched did very good. Even in the 10th inning, Datoc would have probably run the side except for Wilhite (SS) error. But went 3.2 innings with 2/3 strikes (44-68). (I didn't like Datoc's use in Bradley in 9th down 3 and then pitching so much the next day. But Hurter wasn't getting it done. Desperation move that didn't pay off.)
• Gibson - probably. Rough against UConn with <50% strikes (23 of 50). In 9 batters faced, induced 5 ground outs (thanks UConn) with two walks and a SO. Defense helped him out against UConn. But against Georgia Southern, great. 2/3 strikes (20-29) with 2 K and no walks. 3 ground outs and a fly out in 7 batters faced. Hope all of our pitchers show this type improvement!

Not ready to say good -

• English - Gave up 2 hits and HBP in 8 batters faced versus Bradley. But expected problems given the guy has never pitched for GT. He may be great by end of season.
• Shirah - rough start but threw strikes (40-74) after an inning or two. 6K and 4 walks but walks were early. Pretty good for a Fr start.
• Winborne - threw 3 pitches for strikes, unfortunately hitter hit one of them.
• Ben S - 2/3 strikes (22-35) but was hittable by Bradley with 3 hits and a walk in 8 batters faced. ACC hitters would have feasted more.
• Hurter - 3 batters faced, 1 walk and one HBP. (No strike stats for some reason late in Bradley ..... other than struck batter.)
• Serratos - 1 batter faced 2 strikes and a ball and a fly out. Like "Bugs Bunny" but need more run time.
• Archer - 1.0 IP and 70% strikes (7-10) against UConn. Gave up a hit but had 2 Fly outs.

BTW, I refound the mother of all stat providers - http://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statmonitr.php?gid=geot Just login as fan. I lost this link when my Windows 10 ate itself and I had to do a total reformat.

 

[FredJacket]

After the weekend, I wanted to stay level-headed and not "read too much" into a 1-2 start to the season. Basically.. too soon to jump to ANY conclusions. It's only fair then... that I do the same after the nice win last night over GSU. We're only 4 game in, right? I think it is fair to say we've already seen a pretty full spectrum regarding performance and execution.

Pitching: Thomas leading the pitching pack showing he seems ready to step up and produce as a (weekend?) starter. The bullpen (as others have pointed out) has also shown the ability to stop the bleeding (see UConn game). On the other hand, we've seen examples of the pain of 2017 with free passes handed out in bulk and leading directly to getting into holes we cannot crawl out of.

Offense: We've scored...but not as much as we probably could have. Even in last night's game, we left runs on the table... where we had our best hitters up with runners in scoring position and unable to move them along. I won't name names because he belted a nice 2-run HR to "make up for it" in a way. That is a compliment! He came through in his last at-bat after struggling. Good for a leader to do that.

Defense: Definitely seeing flashes of brilliance. Wilhite in CF has range and jump...robbing a few guys over the 1st 4 games of extra base hits in the outfield. Waddell at 3B has flashed too. Last night, he and C.Thomas both made great defensive plays in the same inning (7th). Those 2 plays were so important. If one or both of those turn into baserunners instead of outs, it could be a whole different deal. It was only a 4 run game at that point and Thomas's pitch count was up. They don't look like it in the box score... but HUGE plays in the big scheme of things. We've also seen the other end of the spectrum.... some awful plays that make you shake your head. Exhibit A was the dropped 3rd out in 2nd inning against UConn on a pop fly to the outfield. Who knows what Lee's (and the team's) day would have been like had that inning ended right there.

Coaching: Too hard for me to really assess the 'in game' stuff so far. I recall a decision (good one) to send a runner from 1st with a full count and less than 2 outs.. where Kel hit what would have been a DP ball... instead, Minnesota only got the 1 out and a run scored from 3rd. We failed to capitalize after that...but the move worked the way it was designed.

Over generalizing...
We have 2 wins from playing "solid" baseball in all phases over opponents we should beat the majority of the time.
We have 1 loss I attribute to pitching...mainly (Bradley).
We have 1 loss I attribute to bad defense...mainly (UConn).
We have 0 losses I attribute to losing to a better baseball team.
We have 0 wins I attribute to beating a better baseball team.

If it makes you feel any better, we're 2-2... just like UVA and UNC. It doesn't make me feel much better, really.... but both of them have lost to teams they should beat on the regular too.

 

[MWBATL]

Good stuff, Fred. And I agree. Last year we dumped Georgia Southern 10-3 (iirc) and it meant nothing as far as the season went.....so best not to get too enamored with last night's performance.

I will be curious to see how we play this weekend. The key for this team remains the same...just stop beating yourself. Make the other team beat you. When they have done that they are 2-0 and when they haven't. they are 0-2.

I will admit I will be disappointed with anything less than a sweep.