I'm not normally one

[Todd04State]

to complain about losing a game because of officiating/umpiring, but that was atrocious.

And yes, we should beat AF by 10, so give us credit for not getting it done.

But still, the umpires totally took that game over. First of all, Raffo was tossed which should tell you something, since he is as emotional as a pine tree. Second of all the <17> home plate umpire must have thought that our bats 80 inches long. And then the <17> AF pitcher TRIPS in the middle of his windup and you could tell that the umpires didn't want to call the balk. And yes, Raffo had a good arguement. Not only does the tie go to the runner, but when you beat the throw at first the runner is safe as well. That call probably cost us the game. And then the umpire doesn't even give Raffo a chance to explain himself, he just tosses him out before he even got to the umpire.

How Ron Polk managed to stay in the game is beyond me, unless the Hattiesburg police were the umpires bodyguards.

 

[wpnetdawg]

and he got his wittle feelings hurt, but it was clear what he was doing.

 

[Phil Wenneck.sixpack]

if we don't get screwed over on that call at first, the game's tied and the bases are still loaded. The home plate ump has no business being anywhere near a baseball diamond. The plate was about as wide at times as I've ever seen. I know as a hitter, you have to adjust but hell, with that guy's zone, I'm not sure the bat would reach places he was calling strikes.

Now, the fact that we let this game be this close in late innings to begin with is another story. We have a leadoff hitter only 3-19 so far and those 3 hits more than likely never left the infield. The guy didn't exactly tear it up at the plate last year. T. Moore hasn't done anything yet to live up to his hitting rep. neither has Conner Powers. We're missing Turner very badly since we're getting nothing out of his replacements. Hopefully this is an early season slump that we'll snap out of soon but I can't say I'm impressed at all with anything I've seen so far and that includes those white hats we sported tonight....wtf? Never thought I'd see the day.

 

[Todd04State]

I actually thought the hats looked OK.

But, yeah. It's gonna be a LONG season. I really think a losing season is a distinct possibility. We could go something like 6-24 in the SEC with our pitching.

Looks like Byrne's first move is going to be pretty easy.

Maybe the sheep will wake up when Ole Miss sweeps us. That's the only thing they respond to. Of course, they'll just be in denial and talk about the LFL and bar-b-que.

 

[Phil Wenneck.sixpack]

what we've done against the worst competition we'll face all season. As a team our batting average is only .310. Now .310 may sound ok after a season but after who we've played? Not a good sign at all. For the even more depressing part, our team era hovers at the 6.40 mark, once again, after our worst competition. How's this for pitiful? DP's turned, we've turned only 3. Our opponents have turned 12. Unless things change fast, Ole Miss will sweep us on our field and the games won't even be close. Another scary thing? We've got Baylor before the Ole Miss series and a trip to South Carolina after.

 

[wpnetdawg]

[No message]

 

[Todd04State]

All good points. I don't know what to do about the pitching and hitting other than move some guys around to try to get them going, but as far as DP's turned, I think one reason for that is our lack of aggressiveness on the basepaths. We never do anything like bunt or hit and run, and doing that might help our hitters out a little bit to. Especially if you're struggling at the plate, you have to try to manufacture. Also, we left a lot of bases out there in the second game. For example, runners on first and second, one out. We get a base hit, and the throw goes to the plate and we end up with runners on first and second. The runners should have moved up on the throw because the OF totally missed the cut off man. I fault the runners- unless Polk told him to stay for some reason. But then again, Polk has to direct traffic out there and tell the runner to move up. I don't know if it was Polk or the runners fault, but it was one of the two.

 

[patdog]

Quote:_________________________________________________I don't know what to do about the pitching and hitting _________________________________________________

Unfortunately, the only real answer is to recruit better players. But a couple of things Polk can do is start Weatherford and sit Goforth and Rice the hell down. And why the hell isn't Lalor pitching any? Is he hurt? He's been a decent pitcher for us, but he's only pitched the 1 inning in the opener against North Florida. I'm afraid it's gonna be a long season no matter what Polk does, though.

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

The players are, once again, watching the first strike go by, swinging at whatever **** the pitcher throws up there, and then they're fighting the 0-2 count. No wonder we're hitting into double plays all the time.

I think this must be the way Polk and Raffo teach them to start the year- "work the count", don't try to lift anything. At the end of last year, the bats became more aggressive as the season wore on, but I'm not seeing it this year.

It shouldn't have come down to a bang-bang play in the 8th inning. However, it is good to see the empty bleacher seats....that means we fans aren't putting too much pressure on the kids.

 

[dawgoneyall]

for it but Polk doesn't bunt at times (many times) when he should. Good coaches work the base paths. Polk is station to station.

Just sayin'

 

[patdog]

Quote:_________________________________________________At the end of last year, the bats became more aggressive as the season wore on, but I'm not seeing it this year._________________________________________________

No Easley, no Moreland, and no Rea may have something to do with not seeing aggressive hitting this year. We lost a lot when we lost those three.