Weekend 2 - Stony Brook

[DecaturJacket]

Any thoughts on McKelvey? On a rewatch he had at least a couple pitches where he was wincing.

Hoping that was just extreme caution on his part and the coaches.

I noticed McKelvey was showing discomfort the pitch before he called the staff over. Thats when you come out and check on him in a perfect world, problem was that he was absolutely dealing. He probably convinced himself he was fine, then ultimately felt something harsher the next pitch.

Looked like shoulder, which itself is not good. Hope just precautionary, but i had a bad feeling live.

Yeah, you could see the discomfort, BUT it didn't look too bad (knock on wood). When the staff came out he grabbed the back of his shoulder, but he didn't seem to be in much pain. Hopefully it was just a pull. If he tore something I think he would've been showing a lot more pain. Probably shelf him for a while regardless just to make sure he's fine though.

 

[Eli]

My only gripe so far is base running. There is zero excuse to get picked off of 3rd base with the bases loaded and your lead off hitter up. Then in game one getting picked off three times (Burress being two of those) was disappointing.

 

[DecaturJacket]

My only gripe so far is base running. There is zero excuse to get picked off of 3rd base with the bases loaded and your lead off hitter up. Then in game one getting picked off three times (Burress being two of those) was disappointing.

I'll excuse Lackey a little bit because that was pretty clearly a balk, BUT he needs to be a little more aware over there. He didn't even react. I think everybody (umpire included) was caught off guard. The replay view showed pretty clearly that the pitcher broke the plane of the rubber with his drive leg which would make that a balk move.

Drew's base running has been atrocious.

 

[Eli]

I'll excuse Lackey a little bit because that was pretty clearly a balk, BUT he needs to be a little more aware over there. He didn't even react. I think everybody (umpire included) was caught off guard. The replay view showed pretty clearly that the pitcher broke the plane of the rubber with his drive leg which would make that a balk move.

Drew's base running has been atrocious.

I couldn’t tell in real time if the pitcher did break the plane , but regardless with this lineup I almost tell Lackey to stand on 3rd base but do not get picked off in this situation.

 

[DecaturJacket]

"l. From the set position, if the entire free foot or any part of the stride leg breaks the plane of the back edge of the pitcher’s rubber and the pitcher does not throw or feint a motion to second base or pitch to home plate (see 9-1-b-3);"

His toe points back in his motion and is definitely breaking the plane of the back edge of the rubber. I guess by definition it has to be the whole free foot though. Whether or not part of the leg breaks the plane is the question I guess. It's really close in that case. The angle of the drive leg and where the knee at is very questionable. I was always taught that you need to go straight up and step towards third on that play. He's definitely shifting weight and seemingly breaking the plane with that knee maybe even. I think it's a balk (it may even break one of the other rules, but I already closed the tab), BUT it's a good move because it's not super obvious. Much like how lefties typically actually balk on most of their throws to first.

 

[billga99]

I'll excuse Lackey a little bit because that was pretty clearly a balk, BUT he needs to be a little more aware over there. He didn't even react. I think everybody (umpire included) was caught off guard. The replay view showed pretty clearly that the pitcher broke the plane of the rubber with his drive leg which would make that a balk move.

Drew's base running has been atrocious.

I think Drew is pressing big time. It shows up at both the plate and his base running. Of the players who have started all 6 games, he is hitting over 70 points below the player who is number 6 (.308 vs. .375) Obviously he has historically been so good you keep running him out there. But hopefully he relaxes more and gets back to his previous successes.

 

[DecaturJacket]

I think Drew is pressing big time. It shows up at both the plate and his base running. Of the players who have started all 6 games, he is hitting over 70 points below the player who is number 6 (.308 vs. .375) Obviously he has historically been so good you keep running him out there. But hopefully he relaxes more and gets back to his previous successes.

Yeah, I said it in the chat last night, it looks like he's trying to hit every ball 500 feet. He needs to relax and just let the power come instead of trying to force it. I'm better at breaking down pitching mechanics than swing mechanics, but something is going on with his swing right now. He obviously has kind of a whacky open stance and approach anyway, but it seems like something is off during his actual swing. Might just be that he doesn't have his timing down yet.

 

[MWBATL]

Ramsey was playing games with runners on 3rd all night. He would have them charge down the line as if they were trying to steal home…then abruptly stop. At least he was trying to distract the pitcher and maybe trying to draw a balk. It was almost obnoxious how often they were dancing down the line and were WAY off 3rd.

 

[JacketFanForLife]

Any thoughts on McKelvey? On a rewatch he had at least a couple pitches where he was wincing.

Hoping that was just extreme caution on his part and the coaches.

I believe McKelvey was injured for part of last year, which limited his appearances. Schmidt was also subbed out of Game 1 and didn't play in Game 2. I assume (and hope) that was to get others reps and not due to injury. We need to stay healthy!

Separately, Lackey is playing himself into a top 10 draft pick.

 

[orientalnc]

I think we underestimated Stony Brook. They are a scrapy team with some decent athletes. The top of their order is solid.

 

[FredJacket]

I do wish there was just more media attention/access with baseball. As far as I can tell, there was no press conference/huddle after last night's game. I'd like to hear Ramsey respond to the baserunning stuff.

 

[Eli]

Yeah, I said it in the chat last night, it looks like he's trying to hit every ball 500 feet. He needs to relax and just let the power come instead of trying to force it. I'm better at breaking down pitching mechanics than swing mechanics, but something is going on with his swing right now. He obviously has kind of a whacky open stance and approach anyway, but it seems like something is off during his actual swing. Might just be that he doesn't have his timing down yet.

Burress is not letting the ball travel. You can tell a lot by how a guy takes a pitch. When he has been taking that first pitch breaking ball his stride is causing his hands to drop. His hands are dropping and popping everything up. This is coming from him trying to pull the ball, he did a nice job in his first at bat hitting the ball to the right side, but then reverted back to backside dropping and either rolling over or popping up the remainder of the day.

This is why I love Hernandez at the plate so much, he lets that outside pitch travel and can drive it to all parts of the field.

 

[TheStolenT]

To me this has been a good early season series for the team, have them realize they aren’t invincible while still pulling away and winning comfortably and giving Ramsey some good stuff to yell about this week in practice to keep everybody sharp and improving. Burress will be fine, I’d rather him slump now and peak later.

 

[TechPhi97]

Yeah, I said it in the chat last night, it looks like he's trying to hit every ball 500 feet. He needs to relax and just let the power come instead of trying to force it. I'm better at breaking down pitching mechanics than swing mechanics, but something is going on with his swing right now. He obviously has kind of a whacky open stance and approach anyway, but it seems like something is off during his actual swing. Might just be that he doesn't have his timing down yet.

This. He’s trying to hit a home run every at bat, that’s why he’s popping everything up. I watched the second game and his At-bats were all the same. I’m sure he’ll snap out of it, baseball is played as much in your head as on the field.

It’s a bit ironic, because across the board I’m impressed with how the team is using the whole field. Lackey’s HRs are a good example - that homer to right was a perfect example of driving an outside pitch. Schmidt does it well, Kerse, a lot of guys in the lineup are getting strong contact to the opposite field. We’re going to get a lot of doubles this year if we keep it up.

 

[JacketMom]

I believe McKelvey was injured for part of last year, which limited his appearances. Schmidt was also subbed out of Game 1 and didn't play in Game 2. I assume (and hope) that was to get others reps and not due to injury. We need to stay healthy!

Separately, Lackey is playing himself into a top 10 draft pick.

Regarding Kent ~It appeared a ball hit Kent's foot during an at bat. Later found out it was a knee issue (not sure if ball bounced up and hit knee). He was taken out due to precaution. Saw him after game and he appeared ok.

 

[Eli]

Regarding Kent ~It appeared a ball hit Kent's foot during an at bat. Later found out it was a knee issue (not sure if ball bounced up and hit knee). He was taken out due to precaution. Saw him after game and he appeared ok.

He seemed hobbled when he scored on the pass ball and was replaced the next inning. Kent is a hitting machine and probably the most underrated guy in our lineup.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

My only gripe so far is base running. There is zero excuse to get picked off of 3rd base with the bases loaded and your lead off hitter up. Then in game one getting picked off three times (Burress being two of those) was disappointing.

My list of things going good is far longer than things going bad.

• Hitting A+. We have one of the best lineups we have ever had, Burress slump is more than being taken up by others. Burress is over 300 but against weak opposition.
• Pitching B+. Depth and working out of jambs. We seen to be pitching more people and pulling quicker, but that could just be due to our leads and need to identify who is a gamer for later in the season. We started off pitching better early in the season than we ended up last year. I don't know if we are better than last year, we are certainly deeper. I won't know till we see better opposition.
• Defense. Overall C. F to A depending on play. We are sharp sometimes but there were several innings last night where we were very sloppy. I watched maybe 1/2 the second game and it looked like Ramsey was giving the entire team a come to Jesus talk before B6. We played better after that.
• Baserunning. C. Very aggressive and has had spectacular brain farts.
• Catching A+. Vahn Lackey is amazing at what he stops and his throws. Drew Rogers is amazing too. How we get and develop such good catchers is uncanny.

 

[78pike]

What has impressed me most about our pitching this year is the fact that our pitchers have shown much better control of their breaking pitches. We are seeing a lot of strikeouts with the breaking stuff than I remember seeing in the past. Also, the guys appear to have much better control of them. No longer can opposing batters sit back and wait for the fastball when our pitchers fall behind in counts which, I feel, has led to a lot of our pitching problems in the past. I have been really impressed with Loy in this regard. I came into the season expecting him to be a guy who throws heat primarily. What I have seen is a guy who has nasty movement on all of his breaking stuff.

 

[Bogey]

Drew's base running has been atrocious.

Drew has certainly not played well so far. A routine thow yesterday to 2nd base was way off allowing the runner an easy base. My main man needs to get things going soon or we will not have the kind of season we all are hopling for.

 

[GT33]

I think Drew is pressing big time. It shows up at both the plate and his base running. Of the players who have started all 6 games, he is hitting over 70 points below the player who is number 6 (.308 vs. .375) Obviously he has historically been so good you keep running him out there. But hopefully he relaxes more and gets back to his previous successes.

Usually when you're a player of the year candidate, you're "The Man" on your team. Very different scenario here. He's got competition from Hernandez, Lackey, Advincula and there's Kerce, Baker, Schmidt. Just trying to be the best out of those 6 guys is a difficult task.