[personal] Re: [Husker] Baseball

Sun Jun 3 20:29:08 CDT 2007

The pitching and fielding IMHO really killed us.  Let me clarify though.

1.  Yes, the Huskers were 2nd in the Big XII in pitching (ERA) for the Big
XII play.  If you include out of conference they were 5th in the Big XII.

2.  It wasn't the pitching as much as the bases loaded walks and HBPs.  Or
if you followed the team from day one, we lost probably 4 or 5 games early
from wild pitches and passed balls.

3.  YOU CAN'T BLAME THE HITTING, PERIOD.  We were 3rd in the Big XII in
batting average and 4th in runs scored.  The runs WERE NOT the problem.
Especially with AAs Watson and Dorn coming back this year, that should have
been plenty.  

4.  Fielding KILLED us early,  In Big XII play, we were 3rd with a .972
fielding percentage.  If you add in out of conference, we were 7th with a
.965 average.  We had 76 errors in 57 games and only 29 of those were during
Big XII play.  That improved GREATLY down the stretch and that is why we won
5 of the last 6 conference series.  Early on, we just plain sucked fielding
the ball.

5.  The easy answer is to blame the bullpen, but we were 1st in the Big XII
in saves (part of that because almost every game was a save opportunity).  

6.  The pitching is hard to figure out.  Good ERA in Big XII play, 2nd
highest K/9 in the Big XII (18th nationally), but I think the most telling
stat is 4.02 (BB/9) and that doesn't even add in HBPs which we've had quite
a few. 

7.  Intangibles.  One of the most frustrating things about this team is the
lack of aggressive play.  We're 6th in the Big XII for stolen bases.
EVERYTIME we get a runner on we sacrifice him over, giving away an out.  We
rarely went from 1st to 3rd on a base hit.  Outside of actual 'errors' there
were MANY mental mistakes all over the place.  Miscommunication, caught
stealing at the worst time, missing hit and runs (I can remember a handful
of those) and just overall sloppy play.

I don't think Anderson should be fired yet, but he's got to prove something
next year.  With the players that are leaving....well, it should be
interesting.

--
Skylar
mailto:sklarbodds at cox.net

-----Original Message-----
From: husker-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:husker-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of
jonlists at cbsol.com
Sent: Sunday, June 03, 2007 2:59 PM
To: Bob Beach
Cc: Husker List; husker-bounces at tssi.com
Subject: [personal] Re: [Husker] Baseball

1 - 'cleaning house' - baseball players can normally transfer without a 
year penalty, therefore it's not that hard although that rule will end in 
the coming year. 

2 - I don't think that pitching has slipped since Childress left. We 
finished second in the Big 12 in ERA only behind Texas, and being the only 
two teams under 4.50

3 - I disagree that pitching has been *the* problem. The bullpen has been 
a problem at times, but this year's team is suffering in offense - not 
getting the hits they need at the right times they need them. 

4 - given the schedule we played this year, the idea that this team both 
had a horrible season and didn't belong in a regional is absolute BS. This 
team played a darned tough schedule, and didn't go the route that a lot of 
other teams in big conferences did in feasting on smaller, weaker 
opponents to build a big, fluffy 40-win season record. 

so far, Minnesota has eliminated national seed San Diego, there have been 
a fair number of upsets of #1 seeds - we'll know which good ones get 
eliminated early in the next few hours. 

Jon Johnston
http://www.cornnation.com

husker-bounces at tssi.com wrote on 06/02/2007 02:14:58 PM:

> Tony Lambert wrote:
> >>
> >> I agree. so does Anderson clean house in the bullpen or does he keep 
> >> everyone intact ? Also i think the huskers need a couple of  monster 
> >> hitters. Not neccesarly homerun hitters but the alex gordon type who 
> >> can hit for avg. or power.
> >
> >
> 
> 
>      It is a lot harder to clean house in college baseball than in MLB. 
> You can clean house of course but who then do you replace them with?  It 

> is a lot tougher to go the Juco route in baseball than basketball and 
> football.  I think we have to go with who we've got and hopefully 
> recruit a good reliever or two.  I don't think it is any coincidence the 

> pitching slipped some with the departure of Childress.  Players like 
> Alex Gordon don't grow on trees although I know what you mean.  We could 

> use a couple of solid hitters in the middle of the order.
> 
> 
> Bob Beach
> 
> _______________________________________________
> husker site list
> husker at tssi.com
> http://romaine.tssi.com/mailman/listinfo/husker

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