Opening Weeknd - UIC/Richmond/WVU

GTNavyNuke

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The analytics lineup didn’t last long ......... post game from Saturday CDH said it just felt right (might be paraphrasing) having mccanns power after English and muury’s On base avg at the top. Can’t say that I disagree I guess.

Problem with analytics and college ball is 1) so few games / stats and 2) players capabilities change so fast compared to MLB.

I think whatever makes people feel good and confident is the best. Tea leaf reading would be fine by me if we win.
 

FredJacket

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Problem with analytics and college ball is 1) so few games / stats and 2) players capabilities change so fast compared to MLB.

I think whatever makes people feel good and confident is the best. Tea leaf reading would be fine by me if we win.
I like what you say here... wish there was some analytics to prove it, though. :)

I tend to agree... plus, the REALLY good managers (imo) are the ones who recognize some intangibles within the matchups. Baseball players get "hot" (& cold). Some have experience (i.e. summer ball) in certain situations or matchups that we (as casual fans) simply can't know about. That stuff should be considered in how a game is managed.

I think Hall is below average in this department. Only because he's so predictable... even to me (a dummy). Last year, when he had a win after mockingly talking about "the computer spit out the lineup"... it only took one bad game with that lineup that he abandoned it. We'll see how this season plays out; but Coach Ramsey is on record as an "analytics" guy. Time will tell as we watch the trends & decisions.

It was interesting how WVU's coach decided to handle the final inning on Sat. Opted to walk Neuber who had not made a plate appearance all weekend to pitch to N.Wilhite who only needed to lift a ball to outfield or get one through a drawn in infield to win game. At that point for the weekend, Wilhite had been to plate 11 times & not struck out. So...the coach walking Neuber to get to Wilhite MUST have been based more on 2018 than Fri & Sat...under the circumstances. Add to that the fact Wilhite would be hard to double up.... I was happily scratching my head as to why they chose that route. All that to say... WVU coach messed up, I think. ...& credit Wilhite for making him pay. I'd like to think he took it a little personal as he stepped into the batter's box.
 

GTNavyNuke

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.......

It was interesting how WVU's coach decided to handle the final inning on Sat. Opted to walk Neuber who had not made a plate appearance all weekend to pitch to N.Wilhite who only needed to lift a ball to outfield or get one through a drawn in infield to win game. At that point for the weekend, Wilhite had been to plate 11 times & not struck out. So...the coach walking Neuber to get to Wilhite MUST have been based more on 2018 than Fri & Sat...under the circumstances. Add to that the fact Wilhite would be hard to double up.... I was happily scratching my head as to why they chose that route. All that to say... WVU coach messed up, I think. ...& credit Wilhite for making him pay. I'd like to think he took it a little personal as he stepped into the batter's box.

The WVU decision was tough either way for WVU. With one out and a runner at 1st and third, WVU elected to load the bases for a force out at home or a double play from more bases. All either Neuber or Wilhite had to do was get a long enough sac fly ball to make contact and score Hall from third. So they probably guessed that Neuber had a better chance to make that contact. My problem with the decision wasn't to walk Neuber to get to Nick, it was that in walking Neuber, the top of the order would come up who is a much bigger threat than either.

Bottom line: we don't give up 3 unearned runs and it's a 4-1 win in 8.5 innings. This in-field play better get better or we won't make the NCAAs IMHO.
 
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