Pigs @ Texas Series

[troph 24,906]

I like Tuesdays with Rice, A&M, and the regional badass teams like DBU, etc. and play rice three times or A&M twice etc just only on Tuesdays

[Valmy77 13,273]

12 hours ago, troph said:

And we only won by 1 run with those stats.

Do you get extra wins for margin of victory?

Edited March 21, 2019 by Valmy77

[Valmy77 13,273]

36 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Play good programs on weekends, middling or small programs during the week unless it’s just one game against a rice or aggy or dbu/oru type team. 

We just beat a top 10 program using essentially our spare pitchers. I think we are find doing what we are doing.

[Valmy77 13,273]

1 hour ago, EZ$ said:

It would be fine if it was against Abilene Christian or Hardin Simmons

Oh God, I am not excited at all about going back to the Gus days of scheduling. But granted that was back when we would start mid-January and have 20 games in before March.

I am a little confused by all the doom and gloom and pronouncements of how our schedule is a certain death sentence for our horrible terrible no good baseball team. Are we not 16-8? Have I been hallucinating this season?

Edited March 21, 2019 by Valmy77

[TwiceHorn 31,536]

4 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

We just beat a top 10 program using essentially our spare pitchers. I think we are find doing what we are doing.

A counter to this might be, when we used completely spare pichers, they kicked the shit out of us by seven runs.  When the roles were reversed, we won by one run.

 

Given our youth and the holes in the roster from coaching transition, I'm not complaining.

[troph 24,906]

Do you get extra wins for margin of victory?

We were talking about the quality of the win.

[Pato del Muerto 52,600]

13 minutes ago, Valmy77 said:

We just beat a top 10 program using essentially our spare pitchers. I think we are find doing what we are doing.

With a complete throwaway game the day before. Like I said, one game midweek if it’s against a good program, only play 2 midweek if it’s lower tier programs. 

Or, why not Tuesday vs uta and then arky on Wednesday?  Let Neely and O’Donnell go after the mavs lineup instead of the hogs. 

 

Edited March 21, 2019 by Pato del Muerto

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,921]

Last year's early season OOC is essentially the same as this year's.  Last year we went 9-9 and made the CWS.  This year we went 14-7.

[Valmy77 13,273]

2 minutes ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Last year's early season OOC is essentially the same as this year's.  Last year we went 9-9 and made the CWS.  This year we went 14-7.

Yep. I don't get the hand wringing. Our schedule is essentially the same as it was every year under Augie and Pierce.

If he wants to make our Arkie two game series become a single midweek game then alright but that doesn't significantly change things much.

[Valmy77 13,273]

5 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

With a complete throwaway game the day before. Like I said, one game midweek if it’s against a good program, only play 2 midweek if it’s lower tier programs. 

Or, why not Tuesday vs uta and then arky on Wednesday?  Let Neely and O’Donnell go after the mavs lineup instead of the hogs. 

 

We intentionally burned our pitchers to beat Tech. We strategically sacrificed that game. It is not going to be the case every single season that we have burned our midweek guys during the weekend as a strategic move. And we still split against a top 10 team.

[Pato del Muerto 52,600]

I’m well aware, and I was good with it even when I assumed it would cost us both games. I’m just not a fan of taxing the staff so much. I’m sure coach would also have preferred Cobb throw 7 on Sunday. 

Splitting essentially makes the bitching moot, so that’s good but playing 5 games vs top 10 level teams in 6 days is bold but silly scheduling. 

[Pato del Muerto 52,600]

I’m also a little surprised that we scheduled arky and LSU to be home and away the same seasons.  Maybe that’s how it had to be to best fit all 3 teams’ scheduling. 

[NorthLoop 14,248]

Move the double midweek series to before conference play starts. Problem solved. 

[FORTY NINE TO ZERO 2,652]

I’m loving the schedule. Have some great wins and early season tough game experience 

[petscii 1,189]

Ya'll know where we play a stretch of tough teams on very little rest?   A little place  called Omaha.

Ya'll can go back to sweating a win against UT-Mowhawk on Tuesdays where if they win it's their season.  I dig the messed with Texas shirts that UT:Corpus made a few  years back..

We are 16-8. Now think about our record if we had David Hamilton and DJ healthy right now.  Or someone else  that could rake.

The Thursday win in Palo Alto was outstanding.


 

Edited March 21, 2019 by petscii

[ruitxn 298]

We pay Pierce to make these decisions.  If he continues to make program improvements and on field performance then I’m not second guessing his opinions on adjusting schedules. He is going to do what he wants anyway, and I support that.

[NorthLoop 14,248]

14 minutes ago, petscii said:

 

We are 16-8. Now think about our record if we had David Hamilton and DJ healthy right now.  Or someone else  that could rake.

 

David and DJ were .291 and .257 last year. Their defense might have us 2 or 3 more wins. 

[LTtxfan 49,356]

Playing a couple midweek during spring break is ok by me.....

[Cajun 11,740]

4 minutes ago, NorthLoop said:

David and DJ were .291 and .257 last year. Their defense might have us 2 or 3 more wins. 

It's not just their defense, it's the other side of the coin and the "defense" exhibited by their replacements.  Not bagging on the kid, but Reagan alone in there might have cost us 2 or 3 wins.

[NorthLoop 14,248]

2 minutes ago, Cajun said:

It's not just their defense, it's the other side of the coin and the "defense" exhibited by their replacements.  Not bagging on the kid, but Reagan alone in there might have cost us 2 or 3 wins.

Well yeah I kinda meant that too. 

[Cajun 11,740]

Maybe you were going this way, but I think without the injuries it's not far fetched to say that we're at worst 20-4 right now.

That shit at SS and C we've endured is that much of a difference maker.

[jdhorn92 1,558]

2 hours ago, EZ$ said:

It would be fine if it was against Abilene Christian or Hardin Simmons, but a top 10 team in between what are usually the B12s toughest teams wasn’t smart.  

Would also help when Pierce has his team/roster fully in place and has better pitching depth. 

Yeah that was my point 4-5 pages ago during the game thread.  I agree, very taxing on a staff to have a mid-week series vs a P5 opponent like Ark. Compounding the dilemma is TTU last weekend and TCU (on the road) this weekend. 

[Cairn Horn88 8,283]

2 hours ago, Don Johnson said:

Most of them likely committed well before Pierce was hired. 

Thx

[jdhorn92 1,558]

39 minutes ago, petscii said:

Ya'll know where we play a stretch of tough teams on very little rest?   A little place  called Omaha.

Ya'll can go back to sweating a win against UT-Mowhawk on Tuesdays where if they win it's their season.  I dig the messed with Texas shirts that UT:Corpus made a few  years back..

We are 16-8. Now think about our record if we had David Hamilton and DJ healthy right now.  Or someone else  that could rake.

 

Can't argue with your points there.  My only beef is I have no confidence the committee will give us credit for  by far the toughest schedule in the country.   I could easily see them shipping us to Oxford or Tallahassee or Chapel Hill come CWS regional time, due to our record.  I just hate to see us get hosed again and have to go on the road once the playoffs start b/c we chose to play so many tough teams.  I like Stanford-LSU series, single game VS Rice, but past that, it would be nice to stack W's and get a National top 8 seed.

Edited March 21, 2019 by jdhorn92

[txhorns 2,413]

2 minutes ago, jdhorn92 said:

Can't argue with your points there.  My only beef is I have no confidence the committee will give us credit for  by far the toughest schedule in the country.   I could easily see them shipping us to Oxford or Tallahassee or Chapel Hill come CWS regional time, due to our record.  I just hate to see us get hosed again and have to go on the road once the playoffs start b/c we chose to play so many tough teams.  I like Stanford-LSU series, single game VS Rice, but past that, it would be nice to stack W's and get a National top 8 seed.

We hosted a regional last year despite doing worse in non conference thsn this year.  We are right on tract to hosting a regional this year.  If we win the series against TCU we are in the conversation for being a top 8 seed.

[petscii 1,189]

7 minutes ago, jdhorn92 said:

Can't argue with your points there.  My only beef is I have no confidence the committee will give us credit for  by far the toughest schedule in the country.   I could easily see them shipping us to Oxford or Tallahassee or Chapel Hill come CWS regional time, due to our record.  I just hate to see us get hosed again and have to go on the road once the playoffs start b/c we chose to play so many tough teams.  I like Stanford-LSU series, single game VS Rice, but past that, it would be nice to stack W's and get a National top 8 seed.

I'd prefer they ship us out west to ASU     But I'm pretty sure any regional that gets us as a two will shit their pants.

(under your  scenario of course, I'm not about angering the baseball gods)

 

Edited March 21, 2019 by petscii

[chase25 2,048]

1 hour ago, petscii said:

Ya'll know where we play a stretch of tough teams on very little rest?   A little place  called Omaha.

Ya'll can go back to sweating a win against UT-Mowhawk on Tuesdays where if they win it's their season.  I dig the messed with Texas shirts that UT:Corpus made a few  years back..

We are 16-8. Now think about our record if we had David Hamilton and DJ healthy right now.  Or someone else  that could rake.

The Thursday win in Palo Alto was outstanding.


 

Go look at the 2005 and 2002 schedules, nothing special at all. Essentially scheduled Stanford, always had the Tuesday night gritty game against Rice (sometimes weekend series), and in '05 Arizona was a pretty solid club. In '02 we had Stanford and a game apiece against ULL and Houston in the minute maid classic and that was it. The 2009 schedule would make you puke. People have said it on here before, there is scheduling tough and then there is just being insane, this year we just decided to be insane. Those teams under Augie and Gus didn't make it to Omaha and win national titles because they were put through some non conference meat grinder, they were just flat out good. The '04 schedule was pretty salty but that is the only one off the top of my head that sticks out as overly difficult.

The only thing Augie did every year was schedule Stanford and Rice because in the first decade of the 2000s (Stanford sort of fell off in the mid 2000s) those were essentially our barometers in the non conference.

Also if you weren't aware you get days off in Omaha, in 2005 Texas played 5 games in 9 days, in 2009 Texas played 6 in 11 days in Omaha, this week we are playing 5 in 6 days against ranked opponents.

Instead of beating the straw man assuming everyone who thinks the schedule is over the top wants to play a bunch of little sisters of the poor, how about we play one mid week game against Arkansas instead of two that way both schools can throw good arms while still saving arms for the weekend without the game turning into some cluster fuck war of attrition like we got on Wednesday night.

[Burt Macklin 19,053]

3 hours ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Last year's early season OOC is essentially the same as this year's.  Last year we went 9-9 and made the CWS.  This year we went 14-7.

Yeah. Pierce has done an incredible job to get this team to where it's at. Having said that, I think our ceiling is lower than the ceiling for last year's team's ceiling. We have significantly less talent than last year, where we were talented but under performing to start the year.

[petscii 1,189]

Working off the warren nolan rpi page, I believe only one other team has played as many games as we have: #290 Alabama AtM who art 6-18. 

[jimmyjazz 46,130]

25 minutes ago, Burt Macklin said:

Yeah. Pierce has done an incredible job to get this team to where it's at. Having said that, I think our ceiling is lower than the ceiling for last year's team's ceiling. We have significantly less talent than last year, where we were talented but under performing to start the year.

This team seems to have a little mojo, though.  I'm all in.

[Cairn Horn88 8,283]

I'm not even sure that Kate rubbing up against these guys would get them to step up to the plate.

[Fletch 5,800]

4 hours ago, Burt Macklin said:

Yeah. Pierce has done an incredible job to get this team to where it's at. Having said that, I think our ceiling is lower than the ceiling for last year's team's ceiling. We have significantly less talent than last year, where we were talented but under performing to start the year.

This years pitching blows last years out of the water. Nolan and Shugart were solid I guess but I feel a lot more comfortable with our pitching this year. Yeah we don’t have Kody this year, but this time last year Kody wasn’t, well, the T-1000 at the plate yet. Hibbeler has been turning it on his last 15 or whatever ab’s, Todd has been solid all year, same with Deadpool. We need Zubia to turn it on and Ellis to get out of this weird little slump he’s in. Take 2 of 3 from the cockroaches this weekend and we’re in good shape to win the conference for the 2nd straight year and host another regional. 

[WBT 20,669]

I agree, if our young pitching continues to develop we should be able to hit enough to get to around the level we were last year.  With our nonconference performance and with taking 2 of 3 from Tech already, we have the opportunity to also put ourselves in the discussion for a Top 8 seed.  Historically we've been a tough out at the Disch.

[WBT 20,669]

10 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

Yeah, we've done that one plenty. I was more referring to running a so-called tournament with multiple teams at home instead of double game mid-week setups. I guess it doesn't make that much sense though, as you could always just schedule a non-con 4-game weekend series at home against the same level of team.

Tech actually has a strange setup going on this weekend and into next week.  Michigan is in Lubbock for a 3 game series starting tonight.  After Michigan plays Tech Saturday afternoon, Michigan then plays Stetson in Lubbock on Saturday night.  Stetson and Tech then play a 2 game series on Sunday and Monday.  That mainly seems beneficial to Michigan and Stetson though as they pick up an extra game against each other.  Tech is playing 5 straight days which should strain their pitching even worse than our 5 games in 6 days.

[texasstrong12 4,668]

3.4 earned run average this year (39th). Last year it was 4.24 (90th). 

Pitching is better. It's still early but I think there's a chance our ERA ends up even lower since we've already played most of the brutal part of our schedule. 

Edited March 22, 2019 by texasstrong12

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,921]

I do think our tough schedule last year had something to do with the team being well prepared for the post season. Compare that to the post season performance of a certain team 100 miles to the east that spent the OOC feasting on crappy teams at home.

 

I also think we got credited for that by the committee putting together the brackets

[Cairn Horn88 8,283]

Tech beat Michigan tonight 11-2.

[Cajun 11,740]

17 hours ago, Burt Macklin said:

Yeah. Pierce has done an incredible job to get this team to where it's at. Having said that, I think our ceiling is lower than the ceiling for last year's team's ceiling. We have significantly less talent than last year, where we were talented but under performing to start the year.

Just removing KC makes that part of your statement true.

[Burt Macklin 19,053]

14 hours ago, Fletch said:

This years pitching blows last years out of the water. Nolan and Shugart were solid I guess but I feel a lot more comfortable with our pitching this year. Yeah we don’t have Kody this year, but this time last year Kody wasn’t, well, the T-1000 at the plate yet. Hibbeler has been turning it on his last 15 or whatever ab’s, Todd has been solid all year, same with Deadpool. We need Zubia to turn it on and Ellis to get out of this weird little slump he’s in. Take 2 of 3 from the cockroaches this weekend and we’re in good shape to win the conference for the 2nd straight year and host another regional. 

Ehh. Our bullpen is definitely better, but I'm still skeptical about our starting arms after Elder and our overall starting depth we would need in the postseason. I like Madden a lot and think he could be our second best starter by the end of the year if his should heals well. I'm still not sold on Henley, but if he keeps pitching like his last couple outings, then that will definitely change my outlook on the season.

I agree we're in great shape to win or be at the top of the conference and host a regional, but I think our hitting and fielding talent is just not there to have a higher ceiling than last year's team's ceiling, which is all I was saying with my first post. If anything, I think it just shines more light on what an incredible job Pierce is doing. 

Edited March 22, 2019 by Burt Macklin

[zlavydra 2,123]

Henley provides a good match up against other teams' Sunday starter, but you would hope we could do better on Saturdays. Maybe Madden will recover soon(ish).