Texas vs Mississippi State: College World Series

[Fletch 5802]

45 minutes ago, Cajun said:

He did quit for a half second, but I don't think he gets to it even if he didn't.  Just a really bad luck deal.  It's baseball and it stings.

If we were to have a shot at winning a game like this it would of taken a coaching staff that understood the value of doing everything possible to get a pitcher out of his groove.  Apparently that never occured to our staff.  It's truly hard to wrap my mind around it.  There was zero effort at all from them on that extremely important aspect of the game.  They mailed it in coaching-wise.

No other way to put it.

Agreed though we ran a lot of counts to 3-2 which has kinda been what we do all year. Just normally we get a walk or 2 then like a bunt single from Kennedy then the lineup flips over and yeah you watched the season. Not at all am I saying the ump cost us the game, but it would’ve been nice to get him in the stretch and maybe throw him off a bit on some of those early 3-2 counts that we got rung up on. Hodo swinging at that 2-0 pitch to end the game was insane. Ok yeah sure if we’re doing a hit and run with Cam at first. But that shit to end the game? Ughhhh

[T’Boo Ted Marshall 2741]

Agreed though we ran a lot of counts to 3-2 which has kinda been what we do all year. Just normally we get a walk or 2 then like a bunt single from Kennedy then the lineup flips over and yeah you watched the season. Not at all am I saying the ump cost us the game, but it would’ve been nice to get him in the stretch and maybe throw him off a bit on some of those early 3-2 counts that we got rung up on. Hodo swinging at that 2-0 pitch to end the game was insane. Ok yeah sure if we’re doing a hit and run with Cam at first. But that shit to end the game? Ughhhh

Especially considering they almost always watch the first strike pitch. It’s rare they swing even when it’s a meatball/mistake pitch.

[GottaB 595]

Agreed though we ran a lot of counts to 3-2 which has kinda been what we do all year. Just normally we get a walk or 2 then like a bunt single from Kennedy then the lineup flips over and yeah you watched the season. Not at all am I saying the ump cost us the game, but it would’ve been nice to get him in the stretch and maybe throw him off a bit on some of those early 3-2 counts that we got rung up on. Hodo swinging at that 2-0 pitch to end the game was insane. Ok yeah sure if we’re doing a hit and run with Cam at first. But that shit to end the game? Ughhhh

Yeah. There were a handful of 3-2 counts where a pitch in the sequence was pivotal. If those were walks, we have a runner on and the starter gets to 100 pitches a little earlier. Or the relief gets rattled a little earlier. Even if we get half of those this game has a different feel.

It’s and buts….

Time to win em

[BurntOrange&White 40435]

10 hours ago, Firemans4Horn said:

 

bullshit. You make it sound like he dropped a pop up. That was a triple all the way that 99% of college players don’t make a play on. 

 

10 hours ago, troph said:

He played it like it was foul. He quit on it for a second. So much so I was convinced the replay would prove him right. 

 

10 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

He could have had it.  He got fooled by the wind, or the park or some combination.

It was a makeable catch if he played it right.  Shit, he almost made it but for lollygagging around.

 

10 hours ago, Firemans4Horn said:

There are maybe 3 right fielders in college baseball that make the catch on this with the crazy ass winds out there tonight. chickenshit to blame Hodo on that triple. 

 

He literally eased up because he got scared of hitting the wall. You can see it clearly on the replay. Hodo had a shit game all around, no other way to put it.

[Steamboat1874 4152]

8 hours ago, Biff Tannen said:

Pine tar helps hitters miss high fastballs?

Yeah there was really no movement on that fastball.

He just blew it by us. 

[Lat22 4051]

10 minutes ago, BurntOrange&White said:

Hodo had a shit game all around, no other way to put it.

He also leads the league in chucking his bat and running to first on strike calls.

[BurntOrange&White 40435]

10 hours ago, TexArcher said:

By the end, they'd only outhit us 5 to 4, and a couple of theirs were bloop bullshit.  Tough night at the plate for everyone, and the inconsistent ump didn't help.

If they just make contact on half the pitches that were fastballs down the center of the plate the ump is a moot point.

9 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Yeah, we kinda did.  Striking out 21 times on the same fucking pitch, from two different pitchers, that's kinda embarrassing.  

They were swinging the baseball bat like it was a fucking golf club.

9 hours ago, Ldogg53 said:

Eyes closed and swinging like mad. We were not composed. 

That and pulling their head through the at bat was shit.

9 hours ago, Redneck Mutha said:

Our "hitting" was embarrassing.  Inconsistent SZ didn't help, but our offense was absolute shit.  Fuck whoever was coaching that.

Hitting was embarrassing as fuck, no way around it. SZ doens't matter if you just make contact with 88-91mph fastballs over the plate.

[dieucla98 2942]

We weren't even close at the plate. Missing pitches by half a baseball with an upper cut swing on pitches with 0 curve. The team was not mentally prepared and was swinging for the fences all night long (at least one connected). It's like they came in way too jacked up and tried to play hero ball instead of Texas baseball. Or they came in over confident and didn't think they would have to grind out a W. 

Either way, wrong mindset. Coaching staff has work to do.

[B00M 6574]

8 hours ago, clapclapclap said:

FWIW:

 

Holy fuck. This is almost as embarrassing as our offense. That guy needs to delete his Twitter.

Our pitching was great. Our defense was good enough. Dwelling on the Hodo play is silly. It was a tough play in normal conditions but add the crazy wind and you can't expect that lucky shit to be an out. Maybe Kennedy makes that play but who else on the roster would?

Our offense might as well have gone to the plate without bats. The outcome would have been really fucking similar. It was clear by the 3rd inning we were going to set a record.

[Guest Lobo]

25 minutes ago, Steamboat1874 said:

Yeah there was really no movement on that fastball.

He just blew it by us. 

I didn't even flinch when i read "blew it by us"...it had some curious movement upwards at times, but it topped out at what...92?  And we saw 70-75 of 'em thrown at us?  We just gave early round hope to so many 2-pitch pitchers who never thought they'd make it outta AAA.  

[Js1 85744]

7 minutes ago, B00M said:

Holy fuck. This is almost as embarrassing as our offense. That guy needs to delete his Twitter.

 

Texas fans are very defensive about baseball. It was the umpire! It was foreign substance! 

No, we just got schooled by a guy throwing 2 pitches that we saw to open the season and made no adjustment on. Did we burn the tape from Arlington and therefore not watch our at-bats from when he struck us out 100 times then too? 

[troph 24923]

The fast ball rose quite a bit when he was on, sometimes it was just a high fast ball, other times it started high in the zone and moved up. 

[Rockethorn1978 6153]

Hopefully the Tennessee pitcher we face doesn’t throw mid 90’s fastballs down the pipe or we’re fucked.

[Guest Lobo]

Pretty damn impressive, 18 innings versus Miss. State this year.  39 strikeouts, 2 walks.  

I still think we can make it back to the bracket finals this weekend.  And in the off chance we do, I would think it appropriate to send tape of their pitching staff to Pierce and our team in the off chance they would like to learn more about the hitting aspect of the game of baseball.  Or at least make some contact, draw some walks, lean into an errant curveball (oh wait, that would require their pitches to have movement on them).  

Playing Virginia on Thursday night possibly?  I did not see that coming.  At all. 

[Helobious 9503]

3 minutes ago, troph said:

The fast ball rose quite a bit when he was on, sometimes it was just a high fast ball, other times it started high in the zone and moved up. 

 

13 minutes ago, Lobo said:

I didn't even flinch when i read "blew it by us"...it had some curious movement upwards at times, but it topped out at what...92?  And we saw 70-75 of 'em thrown at us?  We just gave early round hope to so many 2-pitch pitchers who never thought they'd make it outta AAA.  

Just so everyone’s clear… fastballs don’t rise. Like ever. Unless you’re throwing sidearm or underhand. You can make it not drop so much to give the illusion of rising but that’s it. 

[StruggleBus 3922]

11 hours ago, troph said:

Game ended up being that triple to RF not the strike outs. 

Uh no that was definitely the fucking strikeouts 

[Guest Lobo]

I call it "curious" not because it experimented in college, but because it appears to have that back-seam movement lifting a bit.  It fooled me on TV a few times, I imagine it completely dumbfounded our lineup.  But yes, I know physically the backspin force can't exceed the weight of the ball.  But the damn thing did look like it ticked up a bit on a few pitches.  But still no excuse for how it fooled our hitters.  We just settled into this crowd-sourced fooling and just watched one another get punched out in a tragic comedy of errors. 

[troph 24923]

4 minutes ago, Helobious said:

 

Just so everyone’s clear… fastballs don’t rise. Like ever. Unless you’re throwing sidearm or underhand. You can make it not drop so much to give the illusion of rising but that’s it. 

Learn something everyday. Apparent rise. Actually experienced apparent wind on a sailboat learning how to sail and it’s deceptively real, probably like apparent rise. 
 

https://tht.fangraphs.com/the-physics-of-a-rising-fastball/

[troph 24923]

2 minutes ago, StruggleBus said:

Uh no that was definitely the fucking strikeouts 

With the tie runner on 3rd in the 9th inning, 2 outs and the ball in play, it’s really just about any single moment.  No one disputes the ABs were the dominate issue but if for a second credit is give to the performance what else could have swung the game. Hodo’s approach to last AB was a part of it, the SZ was a part of it, anyone of those swing our way the game is tied. The affinity for false dichotomy, and inability to nuance on this board amazes me every single game. 

[troph 24923]

1 hour ago, GottaB said:

Yeah. There were a handful of 3-2 counts where a pitch in the sequence was pivotal. If those were walks, we have a runner on and the starter gets to 100 pitches a little earlier. Or the relief gets rattled a little earlier. Even if we get half of those this game has a different feel.

It’s and buts….

Time to win em

This. Anyone of those… I guess the point is an L is an L. But the storyline is strikeouts and an apparently rising fastball that fucked us up. Truth is this game was one play away from being a win. Shit Cam gets ahold of that pitch instead of a single or this one that and the domination we experienced was a gritty comeback.  
 

as a coach he HAS to reframe this to get the confidence back up. It was a nail bitter - one we coulda won even with the fucking SOs.

so see it for what it was and play every play with the level of concentration and execution it takes to win. 
 

go get em.

[jimmyjazz 46470]

18 minutes ago, Lobo said:

But yes, I know physically the backspin force can't exceed the weight of the ball.  

If by "physically" you mean "even the best pro pitchers can't do it", then you're correct.  If you mean "theoretically impossible", that's not true.  It's just beyond the realm of current fastball pitchers to reach the combination of velocity and backspin rate necessary for the pitch to actually rise.  I doubt anyone will ever get there, but with 10% more velocity it's likely that the lift force could exceed the force of gravity, given current spin rates.  Same for more backspin at current velocities.

[Guest Lobo]

I batted against a guy at Stetson in fall ball (he eventually got drafted in '96 or '97, not sure whatever happened to him).  He threw a kind of fastball seamer between sidearm and 3/4 style, like a Juan Marichal.  Fooled the fuck outta me, as did almost every other pitcher on that staff.  He went on to win a game at the Alabama NCAA regional a couple years later IIRC.  But I swore it had some upward lift on it.  I had never seen anything like it before, haven't since (probably because the only thing I've faced since tryouts was a batting cage).  He ended up mentoring a local townie who played in the local leagues...musta done something right---that kid was Jacob deGrom who would go on to play at Stetson as well.  /csb

Edited June 21, 2021 by Lobo

[Cairn Horn88 8434]

I sure have a bad taste in my mouth this morning.

[troph 24923]

3 minutes ago, Lobo said:

I batted against a guy at Stetson in fall ball (he eventually got drafted in '96 or '97, not sure whatever happened to him).  He threw a kind of fastball seamer between sidearm and 3/4 style, like a Juan Marichal.  Fooled the fuck outta me, as did almost every other pitcher on that staff.  He went on to win a game at the Alabama NCAA regional a couple years later IIRC.  But I swore it had some upward lift on it.  I had never seen anything like it before, haven't since (probably because the only thing I've faced since tryouts was a batting cage).  He ended up mentoring a local townie who played in the local leagues...musta done something right---that kid was Jacob deGrom who would go on to play at Stetson as well.  /csb

Sidearm and 3/4 arm can rise that’s the thing about physics apparently. Overhand you just can’t get the spin or throw fast enough (110mph+) to get the uplift. 

[troph 24923]

4 minutes ago, Cairn Horn88 said:

I sure have a bad taste in my mouth this morning.

In the heat of the moment when I told you to go choke on a dick I meant it metaphorically man. NTTAWWT. 

[troph 24923]

PS - I hate losing to SEC rat fucks too. 

[Steel Shank 9439]

48 minutes ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

Hopefully the Tennessee pitcher we face doesn’t throw mid 90’s fastballs down the pipe or we’re fucked.

Bet that mofo is working on it right now!!!

[Js1 85744]

2 minutes ago, troph said:

PS - I hate losing to SEC rat fucks too. 

If our season starts with getting swept by the SEC, losing to A&M in the middle and ends with going 2-and-Q against the SEC in Omaha, it will be so fucking embarrassing.  The banner is already being prepared by the aggys. 

[Guest Lobo]

2 minutes ago, troph said:

Sidearm and 3/4 arm can rise that’s the thing about physics apparently. Overhand you just can’t get the spin or throw fast enough (110mph+) to get the uplift. 

Look yo, I don't nuthin' 'bout no nerd-ass physics.  This here's baseball talk now, ya hear?  

I'm sure there's a scientific explanation for this guy I couldn't hit 25 years ago and this guy from Miss. State last night and arm angles and all that shit....But Kent Tekulve won't return my phone calls.  

[Brandywine 1320]

I feel like I've seen this story played out so many times over the years as a Texas fan. So much hope and then it blows up. Texas should have been the better team last night but instead they're going through the losers bracket, again. Hopefully, they'll dust off and realize they are a lot better team than what they showed last night. 

[Droopy 2634]

12 hours ago, alphahorn said:

well we have to beat little ut, can't wait to see them again

This is dumb, stahp it. 

12 hours ago, Rockethorn1978 said:

Texas vs the little ut it is.

This is dumb and you know it. 
 

1 minute ago, Brandywine said:

I feel like I've seen this story played out so many times over the years as a Texas fan. So much hope and then it blows up. Texas should have been the better team last night but instead they're going through the losers bracket, again. Hopefully, they'll dust off and realize they are a lot better team than what they showed last night. 

Kind of, but as fans we tend to remember the crushing defeat more than the wins. This team is better than they showed and it felt like they didn’t get comfortable until the 9th. Pierce’s job is to get them comfortable in the 4th to do some damage. 🤘🏼

[Cajun 11764]

8 hours ago, Fletch said:

Agreed though we ran a lot of counts to 3-2 which has kinda been what we do all year. Just normally we get a walk or 2 then like a bunt single from Kennedy then the lineup flips over and yeah you watched the season. Not at all am I saying the ump cost us the game, but it would’ve been nice to get him in the stretch and maybe throw him off a bit on some of those early 3-2 counts that we got rung up on. Hodo swinging at that 2-0 pitch to end the game was insane. Ok yeah sure if we’re doing a hit and run with Cam at first. But that shit to end the game? Ughhhh

You choke up on the bat.  You move up in the box.  You lay down a bunt.  You (Pierce) have your batter call time to "confer" over signs.  You do NOT let a guy like Bednar (sp?) just settle in and work on his terms like he did all fucking night.  What we witnessed last night Fletch was coaching malpractice.

I don't know how else to put it.

Our coaching staff never even gave so much as a glance at that bag of strategical tools and it was sitting right in front of them like an All-U-Can-Eat Chinese Buffet.  Infuriating.

[freyguy 4322]

1 hour ago, Lat22 said:

He also leads the league in chucking his bat and running to first on strike calls.

I hate that type of shit.  You're inviting the ump to call a strike every time you do that crap.

[Cajun 11764]

5 minutes ago, Droopy said:

Pierce’s job is to get them comfortable in the 4th to do some damage. 🤘🏼

His job is also to get the other team UNcomfortable and he didn't even phone that one in.

[Cajun 11764]

1 hour ago, Lat22 said:

He also leads the league in chucking his bat and running to first on strike calls.

Yep.  It's bush and someone should hook some jumper cables to his balls until he stops doing it.

Umps just itch to call you out on that.  You roll out the red carpet for them every time you do it.

[Steel Shank 9439]

I wonder what Bill in Sinton would tell us?

[jimmyjazz 46470]

47 minutes ago, Js1 said:

If our season starts with getting swept by the SEC, losing to A&M in the middle and ends with going 2-and-Q against the SEC in Omaha, it will be so fucking embarrassing.  The banner is already being prepared by the aggys. 

Hey, we swept USC-East!  Silver lining!

[Js1 85744]

5 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Hey, we swept USC-East!  Silver lining!

I called the printer, they said the banner will be ready in a few weeks. 

[utee94 15878]

44 minutes ago, Steel Shank said:

I wonder what Bill in Sinton would tell us?

I suspect he would suggest we engage in extreme focusness.

 

[Steel Shank 9439]

1 minute ago, utee94 said:

I suspect he would suggest we engage in extreme focusness.

 

Yes, I believe he would.

[Cajun 11764]

That's a gutsy prediction.

[Valmy77 13431]

2 hours ago, Js1 said:

Texas fans are very defensive about baseball. It was the umpire! It was foreign substance! 

No, we just got schooled by a guy throwing 2 pitches that we saw to open the season and made no adjustment on. Did we burn the tape from Arlington and therefore not watch our at-bats from when he struck us out 100 times then too? 

Unless all Mississippi State pitchers are clones of each other, we had never seen Bednar before. MacLeod started that game. 

Unless you are suggesting you can dominate an All-American sub-2.00 ERA pitcher like Landon Sims just by watching some tape, but that would be stupid. I am sure Mississippi State saw some Madden and Hansen tape as well but couldn't do much for most of the game.

[Js1 85744]

I didn't think we would "Dominate" him because elite pitching has been our problem all season long.

But you can't tell me you expected to do better than 4 hits, 1 walk, 1 HBP and 21 strikeouts from the #2 seed. 

[Valmy77 13431]

1 hour ago, Cajun said:

His job is also to get the other team UNcomfortable and he didn't even phone that one in.

I don't know man. Only a few guys like Augie can do that zen shit and it wasn't like he could do much to help a lot of the shitty lineups he sent out there.

[Tylerocks 2557]

Christ almighty.

Seeing it in black and white in the box score is just as vomit inducing as watching it live.

5-8 hitters

1-14, 12 K's and 4 LOB

*Intersting note...Cameron Rupp struck out 6 times in an extra inning game against BC in 2009

[Valmy77 13431]

11 minutes ago, Js1 said:

I didn't think we would "Dominate" him because elite pitching has been our problem all season long.

But you can't tell me you expected to do better than 4 hits, 1 walk, 1 HBP and 21 strikeouts from the #2 seed. 

Hey don't move the goal posts on me. You claimed we had seen Bednar before but somehow made no adjustments. That is just false. 

I disagree elite pitching has necessarily been a problem any more than it has been for most teams. When we suck we suck against everybody. We got dominated by some pretty mediocre guys in OKC. Bednar is a nice starting pitcher but not elite. And we were really good at winning Friday games all year, not something you would see by a club unusually inept against good pitching. I mean nobody just blasts good pitching, but you know.

And while I was really embarrassed and pissed off about our shitty strikeout game, I was hardly surprised. We did the exact same thing against very mediocre pitchers in OKC. I don't know how or why it happens but it seems to come on like a infectious disease. This season it only seems to happen in these big AAA and MLB parks, it makes no sense and it probably is psychological.

I mean our team takes lots of pitches, we have all year and when we are doing well we are working walks and getting into bullpens. But when it doesn't we are watching meatballs blow past us wiffing defensively in panic every time we have three strikes. It's maddening.

They will either break out of it and we win some games here or they don't.

Pierce had made improvement to our offense since he has been here. Whatever the fuck this crazy thing is that happens to this team this year will hopefully not carry over into the future.

Edited June 21, 2021 by Valmy77

[Valmy77 13431]

8 minutes ago, Tylerocks said:

Christ almighty.

Seeing it in black and white in the box score is just as vomit inducing as watching it live.

5-8 hitters

1-14, 12 K's and 4 LOB

*Intersting note...Cameron Rupp struck out 6 times in an extra inning game against BC in 2009

We had some batters go 1-11 and shit in the 2009 game. That team also had everybody wringing their hands at our offense as well.

[Helobious 9503]

1 hour ago, Cajun said:

You choke up on the bat.  You move up in the box.  You lay down a bunt.  You (Pierce) have your batter call time to "confer" over signs.  You do NOT let a guy like Bednar (sp?) just settle in and work on his terms like he did all fucking night.  

Analytics says those are all terrible ideas. You swing for the fences everytime, strikeouts be damned.

Strangling the life out of the game so much they might as well just simulate it on the computer.

[orangecat92 306]

Was lucky enough to not watch the game.  Just watched the highlights.

1.  Forget the umpire b.s.

2. even watching highlights, I could tell there was something different in our intensity in inning 9.  We finally woke up.  

3. That Melendez at bat needs to happen early and often in the next game.  We need someone who can stand up there and actually battle the pitcher, make contact, foul balls, etc.  Make him throw 10 pitches in several at bats early in the game.  Don't let him get comfortable.

4.  Pierce - Do your damn job! 

5.  That weasly little horns down was irritating, only because he wasn't brave enough to do it so everybody could see.  Wow! Young man, if you're going to do it, you need to own it.  

I hope we respond with an intensity that the Texas fans deserve.  I just had a flashback to Jose running to outside the center field fence with the state of Texas flag, waving it wildly to get the fans going as we were trying to get the team going against some regional team.  

  If the SEC is really better than us that is life, but let's go down with everything we've got.  

Tomorrow I predict we show up with focusness, and we win, about 3-1.

 

 

[Cajun 11764]

@Helobious

Yup.

That's why I don't watch MLB.  It's a steaming pile of shit.

Our staff looked like they were more than happy to add to that pile on the college level.

Edited June 21, 2021 by Cajun