UK vs. Hoosiers (5/9)

[Comebakatz3]

What do we think about Thompson taking Salow's spot in the rotation in the playoffs? He flat out has better stuff and better command.

Thompson will be extremely valuable when we are in the NCAA tournament. The tournament is double elimination, so at a minimum you have to play 3 games, but you could play up to 5 games if you get bumped into the loser's bracket. UK has been to the NCAA tournament 3 times since 2006 and each time they lost the first game and had to come out of the loser's bracket. We absolutely cannot allow that to happen this year. We must win the first game, and probably the second. We simply do not have the pitching depth to come out of the loser's bracket, especially if we don't get Pop back.

We might also need some Herculean effort either out of our bats or out of our pitching. Hjelle and Lewis are extremely trusty starters. Thompson is a very very good starter who is good for about 6-7 strikeouts a game and about 2-3 mistake runs a game. Logue is kind of a bit of a wild card because he seems to do pretty well against about 90 percent of the hitters, but 1-2 always seem to have his number. However, the pen is where things really get scary. Machamer is becoming very trustworthy and looked outstanding last night. Salow has been solid, but he needs to get a bit of his control back. Schaenzer is kind of strange in some respects because he didn't pitch at all this past weekend or week and hasn't pitched since game 1 against USC. Then you have the injured Pop. After that there is not a single real trustworthy pitcher in the pen. So, I think we need to get a big lead and allow one of those starters to go deep in one of the games, or we need one of those starters to be extremely efficient and get 8-9 innings by pitching so well. What we can't have is starters leaving games early, or multiple close games, and we definitely cannot lose in those situations. Still, this is all kind of putting the cart before the horse.

Question: In 2007 Louisville hosted a super regional. Arkansas was the national seed that year and they lost their regional to 3 seeded Oklahoma State. Louisville, also a 3 seed, took out Missouri in Columbia. How do they determine who is hosting the super regional in a situation like this?

 

[Chimaera717]

Did you mean to type "Logue" instead of Salow? There has been a lot of talk on here about having Thompson as the saturday starter.

Logue did look good last weekend, up until the end of his outing.

Yep, meant Logue, my bad.

 

[Big_Blue_1018]

Thompson will be extremely valuable when we are in the NCAA tournament. The tournament is double elimination, so at a minimum you have to play 3 games, but you could play up to 5 games if you get bumped into the loser's bracket. UK has been to the NCAA tournament 3 times since 2006 and each time they lost the first game and had to come out of the loser's bracket. We absolutely cannot allow that to happen this year. We must win the first game, and probably the second. We simply do not have the pitching depth to come out of the loser's bracket, especially if we don't get Pop back.

We might also need some Herculean effort either out of our bats or out of our pitching. Hjelle and Lewis are extremely trusty starters. Thompson is a very very good starter who is good for about 6-7 strikeouts a game and about 2-3 mistake runs a game. Logue is kind of a bit of a wild card because he seems to do pretty well against about 90 percent of the hitters, but 1-2 always seem to have his number. However, the pen is where things really get scary. Machamer is becoming very trustworthy and looked outstanding last night. Salow has been solid, but he needs to get a bit of his control back. Schaenzer is kind of strange in some respects because he didn't pitch at all this past weekend or week and hasn't pitched since game 1 against USC. Then you have the injured Pop. After that there is not a single real trustworthy pitcher in the pen. So, I think we need to get a big lead and allow one of those starters to go deep in one of the games, or we need one of those starters to be extremely efficient and get 8-9 innings by pitching so well. What we can't have is starters leaving games early, or multiple close games, and we definitely cannot lose in those situations. Still, this is all kind of putting the cart before the horse.

Question: In 2007 Louisville hosted a super regional. Arkansas was the national seed that year and they lost their regional to 3 seeded Oklahoma State. Louisville, also a 3 seed, took out Missouri in Columbia. How do they determine who is hosting the super regional in a situation like this?

To answer your question, and I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's based on the final rankings and RPI.

 

[Comebakatz3]

To answer your question, and I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's based on the final rankings and RPI.

That is kind of what I was thinking, but wasn't sure.

 

[sluggercatfan]

White-haired guy behind home-plate to the left looks exactly like Bob Knight.

Had to do double take...not quite as fat.

 

[sluggercatfan]

It's getting a little tiresome running ourselves out of inning multiple times each game. This time, Mahan gets called out trying to steal third. It was a horrible call, but seems like this is starting to bite us more often than not.

Man on second and one of your two best hitters at the plate...why take the bat out of his hands?

 

[sluggercatfan]

What do we think about Thompson taking Salow's spot in the rotation in the playoffs? He flat out has better stuff and better command.

Hope you are talking about Logue instead Salow.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Man on second and one of your two best hitters at the plate...why take the bat out of his hands?

I think that what it can help us do in the future is that teams are not going to sleep on us when we are on the bases. They know we are willing to steal third or try to at any time. So, it can make pitchers a bit more nervous when they get someone on second and they might end up paying more attention to the runners, which might lead to more mistake pitches. We might run out of some innings from time to time, but we may also be setting ourselves up to see some better pitches at the plate.

 

[sluggercatfan]

I think that what it can help us do in the future is that teams are not going to sleep on us when we are on the bases. They know we are willing to steal third or try to at any time. So, it can make pitchers a bit more nervous when they get someone on second and they might end up paying more attention to the runners, which might lead to more mistake pitches. We might run out of some innings from time to time, but we may also be setting ourselves up to see some better pitches at the plate.

Just don't like taking the bat out of a .375+ hitter...it was White swinging , right?

 

[ulismyman]

Thompson does not have good command at all....he threw 100 pitches in 6 innings...he is constantlt 2-2 on hitters...thats not command

 

[CatsFanGG24]

100 pitches over 6 innings for a strikeout pitcher isn't unreasonable. Swing and miss stuff will elevate pitch count...running counts to 2-2 isn't crazy or really a negative...getting behind and battling back would be, but he doesn't do a bad job getting ahead and then looking for a K.

He may learn to pitch to contact (or already know how), but his stuff is so good that strikeouts and elevated pitch counts can/will happen.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Just don't like taking the bat out of a .375+ hitter...it was White swinging , right?

I don't believe so. I think Mahan tried to steal third and it was Marshall hitting, who ended up striking out. There was an instance where White tried to press the issue and break for third when Indiana wasn't paying attention. I am personally a fan of the aggression, but I do agree that at times it appears to be that we force it a bit too much. I think this team lacks some power in some regards, but what we do have is about 6 or 7 out of 9 hitters that can steal bases. None of them are really automatic at it, but they are all pretty solid, and moving around on the bases like that can play big dividends by getting us out of double play situations, putting pressure on pitchers and defenses, helping our hitters see better pitches, etc.

 

[sluggercatfan]

I don't believe so. I think Mahan tried to steal third and it was Marshall hitting, who ended up striking out. There was an instance where White tried to press the issue and break for third when Indiana wasn't paying attention. I am personally a fan of the aggression, but I do agree that at times it appears to be that we force it a bit too much. I think this team lacks some power in some regards, but what we do have is about 6 or 7 out of 9 hitters that can steal bases. None of them are really automatic at it, but they are all pretty solid, and moving around on the bases like that can play big dividends by getting us out of double play situations, putting pressure on pitchers and defenses, helping our hitters see better pitches, etc.

Ok..I was in cincy was Yankees vs Reds and trying to keep up with the game watching it on my phone so I really wasn't paying that close attention.