LSU @ Kentucky - Game 2 (for the series)
- Thread starter Old_Red
- Start date
Pretty positive that he swung first and missed. Then he tried to lay down a bunt and missed it before faking the bunt and trying the slash hit and missing. I could be wrong, but that is how I thought it played out.
Made my 1st visit this season to the Cliff tonight, enjoyed the 12-5 thumping in game 1, got to see 4 innings of game 2 before heading home ( 3 hour drive ) very good crowd for game 1, outstanding crowd for game 2, packed house.
We really have to hope that Lewis has a good 7 innings on Sunday and that Pop can then pitch the final three, or hope that the offense does so well that we get a big time lead and we just roll over them without having to worry about the bullpen.
Pop and Machammer didn't throw many pitches in game 1, Schaenzer threw 40. Thompson also pitched in game 1, although to only 1 batter. Would rather not see Cleary, maybe Schaenzer could pitch an inning if necessary.
What is apparent is that TJ is not healthy enough to play. He labored to first base. Also three straight innings of bases loaded. Ugh. Then you decide to ride Salow to win the series yesterday to the point he is finished and won't pitch tomorrow. Just the worst of all circumstances heading to Sunday. On the flip side, how good is LSU's Sunday starter and how much relief pitching do they have left? I assume they have the advantage.
We'll we should have won game two. We left about 16 runners on base and had the bases loaded multiple times. We just couldn't execute when we needed it.
Walker is their Sunday starter. 2.48 ERA. Heck of a pitcher. Limits walks and throws plenty of strikes. Their bullpen is loaded and they still have some of their best arms available. They certainly have an advantage in the pitching department. We need to hit early and a lot.
Yeah, I figured the LSU pitching staff would have plenty of ammunition left for Sunday. I guess that is why they decided to go for broke to win the series with Salow yesterday. He did enough to win- the bats just let us down in key situations.
Still, I think UK should have used Salow for two innings and Pop for two. Maybe Machamer for an inning if needed. Keep the numbers down so Salow and Pop could be used again. Now the only bullpen pitchers we use regularly that may be available are Pop and Cleary. After that you're using guys that aren't that trustworthy.
Yep. Pop has had his moments but it seems like Cleary has really struggled in some key situations. Obviously UK needs him to work his way out of it. I wonder if UK has some really strong pitching coming in next year that could provide depth in long relief situations?
Could Thompson provide some long relief Sunday? I know that would prevent him from starting Tuesday, but tomorrow is infinitely more important.
Not sure. He threw 98 on Tuesday and then another 8 yesterday. I could maybe see him getting an inning, but might be too much for him to go a long outing. I wouldn't mind seeing us get Keen, Doerries, Maley, or Smith getting a start on Tuesday. So, it wouldn't hurt my feelings to see Thompson on Sunday.
Cleary is struggling. I'd like to see him open innings rather than trying to slam doors. I think he does better with no one on. Still, I'd have a short leash with him.
It sure would be nice to have that freshman long relief pitcher Missouri had. I know we got to him a little bit, but he has great stuff. Add him to our pitching staff with the batting lineup we have, and I like are chances of getting to Omaha. We could still do it but that would be one tough team in the playoffs.
Hopefully Lewis is sharp and efficient tomorrow and goes deep into the game so that UK does not have to go to many guys in the pen. And would obviously help if UK gets the bats going early and often as it did in game one.
Will be interesting to see if any of the relievers improve and emerge to give UK more bullpen depth coming down the stretch. May not be likely, but it should would make this good UK team even better and a bigger threat to go deeper in the post season. Am curious to see if the staff experiments with moving Thompson and/or Schaenzer (spelling?) to weekend relief roles or if he keeps them starting the remaining midweek games.
Will be interesting to see if any of the relievers improve and emerge to give UK more bullpen depth coming down the stretch. May not be likely, but it should would make this good UK team even better and a bigger threat to go deeper in the post season. Am curious to see if the staff experiments with moving Thompson and/or Schaenzer (spelling?) to weekend relief roles or if he keeps them starting the remaining midweek games.
Yep, I listened to the whole game on the radio, and the 'Cats just couldn't execute bunts or come up with timely hits as they have in game one and so often this year. UK had lead-off extra base hits, bases juiced with less than two outs on multiple occasions, etc., and just couldn't get the big inning or add runs when needed. To be fair, it sounds like LSU played very well defensively to rob UK of hits in some of those situations (particularly the 1B on a rope down the line that was nearly a game tying double in the eighth), and Lange is obviously no slouch, even if he wasn't his sharpest yesterday.
There likely isn't much reason to keep Thompson starting going forward. The competition on the midweek gets a bit easier and he's got some good experience starting now, so that helps him for next year. Now he can be more valuable as a second starter or as an inning eater. Then you can get some other youngsters some playing time and experience starting. We could need 2 new weekend starters next year if we lose Logue and Lewis. So, we need to find that next guy up plus we lose Salow and likely Pop as well. So, got to get some guys experience and begin to find trust in some of them.
well, the way I look at it is that even if we lose tomorrow, we played four games v. top ten teams this week and went 2-2. Hard not to be positive at this point.
True, but at this point we're competing for the top of the SEC and a chance to be a national seed. We're chasing two teams above us and every win is huge, especially at home. Tomorrow is big time. You can excuse losing a series to USC or Florida because they are on the road. Winning on the road is huge and hard, so we just need to do our best to take care of business tomorrow
Don't know if its really time to give up on midweek games as it has been a strong point this year not losing to teams we probably shouldn't be and has helped keep our #'s high.
I don't mean that we have to give up on them. Just mean that the competition in the next few games isn't overly amazing and they are opportunities to get some other guys experience starting and help Thompson and UK by growing the bullpen.
