Post Gator thoughts

[backinky2018]

I intentionally waited until after the game to post. I was an idiot on Friday and posted something negative only to see us come back and win. Great game today.

1. What a game by Mason Moore. He was a monster, and he outplayed Cags from UF. His coach let him down by leaving him in too long (110 pitches and refuse to pull him???). Just an outstanding game by that young man.
2. Moore limited free bags today which makes him one of the best pitchers in the country. That's been his one bugaboo this year, and today he didn't do it (with the exception of the 7th inning where he issued two free passes).
3. Ming might be a god around here, especially if we go to Omaha, but man, that decision to leave Mason in after two free passes was DICEY.
4. We stole home against South Carolina, butttttt might want to shelf that play for this season.
5. Vols lost, arky came back and won, so we have a one game lead with 3 to play.
6. UT plays USC. Can cocks steal one or two in K town? Pigs play Aggies in college station. I like the Aggies to win that series.
7. Winning two games at home will ensure a share of the title. I like our chances.
8. This series win was huge. UK is still likely the number one overall seed, and we're getting to the point where UK might be locked in to a top 4 national seed barring a sweep of losses to vandy this week. Clemson got swept. FSU lost a series to lowly Pitt. A&M lost a series to ole miss. Basically, it's likely UK, UT, Arkansas jockeying for position and then you have UNC and Clemson behind the three SEC teams. I want UK on the other side of the national bracket from UT. That's my one wish at this juncture.

Great work by the cats this weekend. It was stressful, but a hard fought gritty series win.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Stealing home, or trying to, after doing it this weekend, with Lopez up seemed like a real weird move. Unlikely to work with Florida having just seen us do it last weekend and with Lopez being clutch this weekend it seemed like a better place to let him hit. But it worked out in the end

 

[vhcat70]

8. This series win was huge. UK is still likely the number one overall seed, and we're getting to the point where UK might be locked in to a top 4 national seed barring a sweep of losses to vandy this week. Clemson got swept. FSU lost a series to lowly Pitt. A&M lost a series to ole miss. Basically, it's likely UK, UT, Arkansas jockeying for position and then you have UNC and Clemson behind the three SEC teams.

Uga is now in the picture for a top national seed also. They could still be #3-#5.

 

[backinky2018]

Uga is now in the picture for a top national seed also. They could still be #3-#5.

Yes, UGA is definitely in the running for a top seed. They're on a huge run, and their RPI is just behind ours.

The good news is that we should be above them no matter what happens, given that A) we have more SEC wins and B ) we own the head to head sweep.

 

[RogerIndy]

Yes, UGA is definitely in the running for a top seed. They're on a huge run, and their RPI is just behind ours.

The good news is that we should be above them no matter what happens, given that A) we have more SEC wins and B ) we own the head to head sweep.

I saw where South Carolina was projected to be the #16 seed. If that is true, and we are #1 and we both win out, they will come to the Lexington super regional. I know we lost the series against them, but this is a completely different thing and it will be in our friendly confines.

 

[Comebakatz3]

I saw where South Carolina was projected to be the #16 seed. If that is true, and we are #1 and we both win out, they will come to the Lexington super regional. I know we lost the series against them, but this is a completely different thing and it will be in our friendly confines.

They are no longer in that consideration after this weekend. They got swept by Georgia. So, as it stands Georgia has 16 SEC wins to USC only having 13. 13 is barely enough to be in the tournament, much less to host.

We are going to see a really desperate Vandy team this weekend. They are at 12 SEC wins. That doesn't cut it. They really need 2 wins, probably 3, to feel safe about even making the tournament.

 

[maysvilleky]

I copied this from the other thread…

UK really needs to find an answer to a setup man and closer role guys. Hummel has been getting lit up recently.

I was impressed how Cleaver came in and threw strikes but only having 3 outings is scary!!! Are there any mid week guys that could step up into a more prominent role this post season?

 

[Comebakatz3]

I copied this from the other thread…

UK really needs to find an answer to a setup man and closer role guys. Hummel has been getting lit up recently.

I was impressed how Cleaver came in and threw strikes but only having 3 outings is scary!!! Are there any mid week guys that could step up into a more prominent role this post season?

I don't think many guys other than the starter really get classified as midweek pitchers. Basically, even during the midweek, you're going to use the bullpen arms that go on the weekend if you have to. If you're beating the brakes off a team, or getting the brakes beaten off of you, then you might use some guys that don't see innings in closer games.

Still, for the most part... if a guy hasn't stepped up at this point in the season then there are going to be questions about them moving forward. Of course, they can grow up a lot over the next number of months, but for the most part not many guys are lightly used and showing a ton of promise at the moment.

I think that is a big concern for UK moving forward. We know that UK loses Niman and Pooser after the year ends. So, that means UK has to replace at least two starters. We then may have to replace draft eligible Moore. Smith seems less likely to be lost as he has been kind of banged up, but he is also draft eligible. So, that means UK might have to find 3 new weekend starters. Lafferty has been a midweek starter, but has not exactly set the world on fire as a redshirt freshman with a 6.86 ERA. Cooper Robinson has one start, but the current junior is mostly a bullpen guy. Hise would be a senior, apparently, but he's been unreliable.

I think the fact of the matter is that UK has done a pretty solid job finding at least quality SEC guys out of the transfer portal and I wouldn't be surprised if come this summer they're looking to do that once again. One complaint on Mingione at the moment is that he hasn't really found that SEC ace pitcher out of high school. Henderson had a good chunk of them with Hjelle, Thompson, Meyer, Reed, and Paxton just off the top of my head. Moore is the closest to it, but not sure I'd quite call him that for sure ace type guy. Still, what has been really good for Mingione is that while his starters haven't been stud aces, his entire bullpen has just been solid from top to bottom... which was a fault Henderson had. He had some studs, but there was often a big drop off after that. So, what I imagine will happen again is that UK will turn to the transfer portal to find weekend starters. They will look for strike throwers. They might not have huge K numbers, and they might not be the hardest throwing guys, but they will be guys that fill up the strike zone. I think you'll see a very big transfer class from UK this offseason given that we're a bit of an older team this year.

 

[sluggercatfan]

Uga is now in the picture for a top national seed also. They could still be #3-#5.

UGA is not getting a seed that high

 

[Comebakatz3]

UGA is not getting a seed that high

Might not get that high, but they could have an argument. Right now they have 16 league wins. If they sweep Florida at home they get to 19 league wins. That puts them at possibly 4th in the SEC behind UK, UT, and the winner of the Arky/TAMU series. Arky is at 19 wins currently and TAMU at 17. So, the more wins Arky can get in that series, the better it is for Georgia to help them get to 4th. Not sure that Georgia would win a tiebreaker against Arkansas if they both got to 19 wins.

Georgia, as mentioned, has a current RPI of 3. You have an RPI of 3 and finish top 4 in the SEC and you have a really strong argument of being a top 8 seed. I doubt they get to 3-5, but I could see them being the 8th seed or something like that and pushing TAMU into the 9-11 range.

 

[backinky2018]

They are no longer in that consideration after this weekend. They got swept by Georgia. So, as it stands Georgia has 16 SEC wins to USC only having 13. 13 is barely enough to be in the tournament, much less to host.

We are going to see a really desperate Vandy team this weekend. They are at 12 SEC wins. That doesn't cut it. They really need 2 wins, probably 3, to feel safe about even making the tournament.

I agree with this, though if they win the series in Knoxville (unlikely), they'd be back in the hosting discussion with their RPI.

I also agree about candy. we're better than them, but they're desperate and dangerous right now.

 

[backinky2018]

UGA is not getting a seed that high

They have a top 8 resume. 16 sec wins (with three more against the hated gators at home this weekend), top 5 RPI, and high end series wins (@USC, Alabama, Vandy). I'd be really surprised if they're not a national seed, probably around 6 or 7.