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MSU-UK (Sweep edition)

Don't like the run rule...as Yogi said: it ain't over till it's over.
I dont care for it being 10 runs. Doesn't take much to flip a game. 4 or 5 runs aren't likely after 7 but those innings happen. We saw UK get 4 without even getting a ball out of the infield today. I especially dont like it if you get to 10 in the bottom half. Offense should have a chance to respond.

But 17-3... you're not coming back from that after 7.
 
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Glad to get the sweep this week. We need as many of these SEC wins against the bottom feeders of the conference as we can get before we enter that BRUTAL stretch the last month or so of the season.
 
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Glad to get the sweep this week. We need as many of these SEC wins against the bottom feeders of the conference as we can get before we enter that BRUTAL stretch the last month or so of the season.

I’ll fully admit, I was really hard on Mingione. But it’s hard to argue with what this group has done the first five weeks of the season. And after watching a ton of baseball this weekend, there’s really no reason this team shouldn’t be in the top 3 at the very least in the East. State is terrible. I think they may be the worst team in the conference. It’ll be interesting to see how they play on the road this week against a good Alabama team.
 
I’ll fully admit, I was really hard on Mingione. But it’s hard to argue with what this group has done the first five weeks of the season. And after watching a ton of baseball this weekend, there’s really no reason this team shouldn’t be in the top 3 at the very least in the East. State is terrible. I think they may be the worst team in the conference. It’ll be interesting to see how they play on the road this week against a good Alabama team.
I've been hard on Ming too. I'm still skeptical of buying into this squad because we haven't hit the meat of the SEC schedule in earnest. The Bama series next week will be big. However, we are winning all the games we need to prior to that to give ourselves a fighting chase of an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. And that's a promising sign versus previous years.
 
I'm still not sold on Mingione long term. The way I see it is that this year is either the end or is merely buying him more time. How much time is dependent on how well we do. Make the tournament just barely and we buy another year where he, IMO, needs to do as good or better. Finish near the top of the league and easily make the tourny then the leash is longer and he's bought more time. I think this could be a pretty strong year what what they've shown so far. They just have an it factor. So, we will see.
 
I'm still not sold on Mingione long term. The way I see it is that this year is either the end or is merely buying him more time. How much time is dependent on how well we do. Make the tournament just barely and we buy another year where he, IMO, needs to do as good or better. Finish near the top of the league and easily make the tourny then the leash is longer and he's bought more time. I think this could be a pretty strong year what what they've shown so far. They just have an it factor. So, we will see.

My dad and I were talking about this today at dinner. I think this team was built to win now. I know it’s never known how a team will come together so it is a risk. But I told my dad I thought Minge knew his seat was hot. He knew he had to prove something this year so he built this team to win now. And next year, although recruiting looks to be a little better, will be another “rebuild” year and the cycle starts over again.
 
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My dad and I were talking about this today at dinner. I think this team was built to win now. I know it’s never known how a team will come together so it is a risk. But I told my dad I thought Minge knew his seat was hot. He knew he had to prove something this year so he built this team to win now. And next year, although recruiting looks to be a little better, will be another “rebuild” year and the cycle starts over again.

That is somewhat the case, but I think he did an OK job of getting pieces that can or will return. We have another year of Pitre and McCoy as returning starters recruited from HS. Then you have some transfers that are also sophomores thar could return next year like Waldschmidt. Then guys like Herrera could return. So there is a core there a bit, but still probably a lot to replace.

Pitching is where it gets worse I think. Conceivably Cotto, Hagenow, Lee, Williams, Strickland, Bosma, Giles, Hise, Logue and Martin are all draft eligible. I doubt we lose all those, but wouldn't surprise me to lose the majority. So, we'd be rebuilding the pitching staff to some degree, with building blocks like Moore and Smith still there.

But I think this new setup of transfers may work for Mingione better than the old system. They seem to have a decent eye for some collegiate talent and a bigger pool of that with the portal might help. We will see.
 
Make no mistake, MSU is bad. I was at two of the three games this weekend, and it's rare to see an SEC team self destruct like they did in each of the three games. But, UK showed some great play too. I was really excited to see the way we were swinging the bats.

THe next three weekends are critical. Alabama is a good team, but they're beatable. Mizzou absolutely beat the brakes off of UT but we get them at home. Then, we're at UGA who just got demolished by USCe.

If we emerge from that stretch with a series record of 3-1 on the season, then I'll be feeling good about our chances.
 
Make no mistake, MSU is bad. I was at two of the three games this weekend, and it's rare to see an SEC team self destruct like they did in each of the three games. But, UK showed some great play too. I was really excited to see the way we were swinging the bats.

THe next three weekends are critical. Alabama is a good team, but they're beatable. Mizzou absolutely beat the brakes off of UT but we get them at home. Then, we're at UGA who just got demolished by USCe.

If we emerge from that stretch with a series record of 3-1 on the season, then I'll be feeling good about our chances.

If we come out of that stretch 3-1 and assuming we don't get swept in the 1, then we'd have 8 conference wins. If we do that then we'd have 18 left and if we could just win 1 game per series the rest of the way then we'd get to 14 wins, which is usually enough to get you into the tournament.
 
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I’ll fully admit, I was really hard on Mingione. But it’s hard to argue with what this group has done the first five weeks of the season. And after watching a ton of baseball this weekend, there’s really no reason this team shouldn’t be in the top 3 at the very least in the East. State is terrible. I think they may be the worst team in the conference. It’ll be interesting to see how they play on the road this week against a good Alabama team.
It hasn’t been just you, we’ve all been hard on Mingione. I think for good reason.
 
I understand the trepidation, but I'm going to be optimistic and enjoy the hell out of this while it lasts. We've had season tickets for years now and have watched us lose series to a lot of the same level of programs we're beating up on so far this year. This team is going to be FUN to watch no matter what happens going forward. I think we went a bit over the top with the celebrations yesterday (although I of course don't know what instigated it), but love the confidence in general.
 
UK now is 25-5 over last 30 games and 12-6 in last 18 games vs. SEC teams. Not bad. State can really hit. Pitchers throw hard but can't throw strikes. UK is excellent at controlling the zone. Definitely a tough matchup for MSU pitchers.
Have you heard any timeframe on Logan Martin’s return?
 
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