Shox vs. Kitties v. 2.0

[GoShockers89]

Thank goodness, it's great to have that wretched streak over with.

Micah Green continues to be absolutely en fuego. I am too lazy to look it up, but he has to be hitting around .400 over the last four weeks.

I have him going 26-65 from the Evansville series through this game if I counted right. That's exactly .400.

Gracias. I certainly hope he keeps it up, he is a very nice kid.

[Shocker85]

Thank goodness, it's great to have that wretched streak over with.

Micah Green continues to be absolutely en fuego. I am too lazy to look it up, but he has to be hitting around .400 over the last four weeks.

I have him going 26-65 from the Evansville series through this game if I counted right. That's exactly .400.

Gracias. I certainly hope he keeps it up, he is a very nice kid.

And has become a good baseball player. I'd love to see Micah figure out the base-stealing thing. What a weapon he can become once he learns to read pitchers' moves and steal some bases.

I'm really happy for him. I hear he's a hard worker and a sponge when it comes to learning the game.

--'85.

[shocker3]

Big ups to Bob Arens for the way he played tonight. Him gunning that guy in the top of the 11th turns out to be big and the final out on the Cats. Walker was awesome at 2nd tonight as well. Happy for Tyler Grimes starting it and ending it in style.

Great night at the yard. Great crowd and atmosphere. I can't believe it was really the last home game of the year. Man this season went fast.

Grimes had a great game. He opened the game with a HR and finished it with a big 2 run hit. In between he played stellar defense.

Bob Arens also did great tonight. For a freshman getting a rare start in front of a big crowd he played with a lot of poise.

Zach pitched really well. Probably his best game of the year. Grant and Cale also pitched well.

As has been pointed out, Micah Green continues his hot hitting streak and Walker continues to play great defense. Every starter except two got a hit (Preston hit a homer). In the 11th, Donnie Lambert came thru with a great at bat that ended in a walk and a stolen base.

I really don't want to leave anyone out. It was a great team effort tonight. Everyone played well and there were NO Shocker errors. The team never gave up and came through with some big defensive plays and timely hits when needed.

:wsu_posters:

[shockerofandover0943]

I don't know how to say this with out sounding like a jerk but having Hall sandwiched between Grimes and O'Brien (I know he isn't playing tonight) just sucks.

Who else would you stick there? It's not like we have any other world beaters just standing around.

Micah or Tyler C.

Kevin Hall has the third best OBP% on the team. That's what you want out of the guys in the top 2 spots in your order. Also, when he gets on base, he is a threat to steal 2nd so the teams better hitters can drive him in.

I see nothing wrong with having Grimes and his .470 OBP leading off, with Kevin and his .380 OBP following him. (Best OBP is COB, who we have in the 3 hole) Basically, we have the three guys on our team that get on base the most at the top of the order. The problem is, other than Preston and his .306 AVG, no one else has consistently got a bunch of hits in the lower half of our order.

Johnny, Tyler, and Micah are all sitting in the .280 range in AVG and that just isn't going to result in enough runs to win at this level. Especially since the overwhelming majority of those hits have been singles (the best SLG% out of that group of 3 is JC at .408), and that just isn't what you are looking for in a guy that has been hitting in the 3,4,5 hole all year.

If guys like Micah and Tyler C can keep trending up, JC can play up to the level we know he can, Grimes and KH can keep getting on base, COB can keep hitting like he has been and we can string together some good starts, like our pitchers are capable of (even if they haven't showed it), I don't see any reason why this team can't sweep this weekend and an MVC tournament championship.

Obviously, they haven't showed it all year, but I don't know. Call me a sunshine pumper or whatever but I still think that our crappy MVC team can beat other crappy MVC teams (because I think we have more quality pitching depth). It's just a matter of being able to string together a couple wins at the right time and I hope they can do it. :wsu_posters:

[shox1989]

Nice Win. The Shox played well tonight. No errors, 11 hits, generally good pitching, and some very nice defensive plays.

We keep playing like this and we have a very good shot at sweeping this weekend and winning the Valley tournament.

[Born2Shock]

Also enjoyed watching the KSU players chase the umps down the third base line and out of the stadium. Im guessing they were mad about Lamberts stolen base. You stay classy.

[Ta town]

Good thing the Bradley series starts on Thursday and not Friday. Looks like some storms are expected Saturday and Sunday.

http://www.wunderground.com/US/IL/Peoria.html

Hopefully they get all three games in this weekend. WSU hasn't had a rain out all year, which in itself is really amazing.

[Shocker85]

Also enjoyed watching the KSU players chase the umps down the third base line and out of the stadium. Im guessing they were mad about Lamberts stolen base. You stay classy.

Neither team was happy at all with the umps last night. The home plate umpire looked to be REALLY inconsistent. The WSU balk, the safe call at 1B with the KSU runner, and the Lambert probably-caught-stealing-but-called-safe had both dugouts pissy at the base umpires. Both teams wanted to win that game badly.

--'85.

[1972Shocker]

If guys like Micah and Tyler C can keep trending up, JC can play up to the level we know he can, Grimes and KH can keep getting on base, COB can keep hitting like he has been and we can string together some good starts, like our pitchers are capable of (even if they haven't showed it), I don't see any reason why this team can't sweep this weekend and an MVC tournament championship.

This team is capable of winning the MVC Tournament but I think you actually have, perhaps inadvertanly, pointed out the issues we have to overcome. If, if, if, if, if, if, and if.

[Shocker85]

Kevin Hall has the third best OBP% on the team. That's what you want out of the guys in the top 2 spots in your order. Also, when he gets on base, he is a threat to steal 2nd so the teams better hitters can drive him in.

I see nothing wrong with having Grimes and his .470 OBP leading off, with Kevin and his .380 OBP following him. (Best OBP is COB, who we have in the 3 hole) Basically, we have the three guys on our team that get on base the most at the top of the order. The problem is, other than Preston and his .306 AVG, no one else has consistently got a bunch of hits in the lower half of our order.

Johnny, Tyler, and Micah are all sitting in the .280 range in AVG and that just isn't going to result in enough runs to win at this level. Especially since the overwhelming majority of those hits have been singles (the best SLG% out of that group of 3 is JC at .408), and that just isn't what you are looking for in a guy that has been hitting in the 3,4,5 hole all year.

If guys like Micah and Tyler C can keep trending up, JC can play up to the level we know he can, Grimes and KH can keep getting on base, COB can keep hitting like he has been and we can string together some good starts, like our pitchers are capable of (even if they haven't showed it), I don't see any reason why this team can't sweep this weekend and an MVC tournament championship.

Looking at the stat sheet for the entire season is VERY misleading. If you have attended recent games or look at the MVC-only stats, you will see why the sentiment is to shuffle the batting order. Info below is taken from Conference-Only Stats

COB leads everything. There's no debate he should hit #3 or #4. His conference-only BA is .486, Slg% .757, OB% .541. Damn.

Green ranks #6 overall in BA for qualifying hitters in BA at .372. His OBP is .429, which is 2nd on the team.

Springer (12), Coy (13), Grimes (15) and Coughnour (16) are bunched together in BA and Grimes still has a good .427 OBP.

Who is next in conference-only BA? If you guessed Davidson, then you're correct. He checks in at .280 (#27 rank). His downfall is he doesn't walk much, but a .280 BA 2B with his mad defensive skills is muy bueno.

Lambert is #33 (.269). Here's another stat you won't guess ... Lambert is leading all Shox in conference-only SB with 8. Grimes and Coughnour are 2nd with 5 each.

KHall has struggled since mid-season. He is the lowest Shox regular and ranks #56 in the league out of 68 qualifiers in BA at .222. His OBP is next to last on the team.

Here are the conference only stats. I hope they format decently (if you make your browser really wide, it looks sorta OK). Draw your own conclusions. The problem is guys are used to the demands of their respective position in the batting order. Changing now could mess with some brains.

Rank	Player	Team	AVG	GP	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SLG%	BB	HBP	SO	OB%	SB	ATT
 1	O'Brien,	WSU	0.486	18	74	16	36	11	0	3	18	0.757	9	1	3	0.541	0	0
 6	Green,M.,	WSU	0.372	15	43	6	16	3	1	1	15	0.558	3	2	10	0.429	0	2
12	Springer,	WSU	0.338	18	77	13	26	4	0	4	22	0.545	5	0	14	0.373	0	1
13	Coy,			WSU	0.333	18	69	15	23	3	0	2	14	0.464	8	1	13	0.405	0	0
15	Grimes,		WSU	0.329	18	76	15	25	4	0	2	8	0.461	7	6	23	0.427	5	6
16	Coughenour, WSU	0.322	17	59	13	19	3	1	0	5	0.407	4	2	14	0.385	5	5
27	Davidson,	WSU	0.280	17	50	7	14	2	0	0	8	0.320	2	0	8	0.308	2	2
33	Lambert,	WSU	0.269	18	67	15	18	4	2	1	10	0.433	9	1	16	0.364	8	11
56	Hall,K.,	WSU	0.222	18	72	13	16	2	0	0	6	0.250	9	6	15	0.356	4	6

--'85.

[DaShox]

Very well done by Bob Arens. Today's Eagle mentioned that Hege, after learning he would not be in last night's staring lineup, picked up his bag and left. It is likely Hege would have pinch hit in the 11th instead of Dayne Parker.

Cya, Ryan. It isn't about you. It's about winning. We won't miss your .237 average. Which gets back to the "player problem" Wimmer talked about. But, I digress.

[shocker22]

That's too bad about Ryan. I thought he had a chance to be a good player. It has to be frustrating to not get PT though and I was surprised they started Arens over him.

[popman3]

What isn't mentioned in the Eagle about Hege is that he was told by JT and Christy to be ready to spell OB for last nites game on Monday. He was prepared to take the start and was told last minute by Kemnetz that Aren's was catching( props to Bob for a great effort). Hege questioned Kemnetz about the change and in typical fashion Brent blew a fuse. Hege was told by Kemnetz that he personaly cost the shox 6 games. Pretty stupid statement as I m sure they play as team don't they? I didn't see Hege lose the 3rd game in the Missouri State series with his 2 run Bomb but saw Brent's pitcher give up a 3 run Jack on an 0-2 count to lose the game (very common story for Brents staff). Weren't we behind till Hege homered vs Arizona? In his blow-up Brent said things to Hege that we as working folk's wouldn't take from our bosses! As for his .237 average we all loved him when he was stroking but in a slump we want to bury him. Wasn't Micah hitting .168 but was given a second chance and he is taking advantage, same with Lambert on the second chance--where is his Avg now--yeah only 9 points higher than Hege's. So belive what you read or maybe this is one player that couldn't take the crap anymore. And by the way you could see Hege in the pen with Arens working with the pitchers--must be some kind of teammate. If Gene had control of his team's and their respect the gap between him and Auggie would be closer. Just sayin these are very Good Young Men and need the staff to be leaders and not dictators to be very Good Ball Players. If we expect the best out of the Players shouldn't that be as true of the Coaches?

[Downtown Shocker Brown]

If we expect the best out of the Players shouldn't that be as true of the Coaches?

:good:

[shocker22]

What isn't mentioned in the Eagle about Hege is that he was told by JT and Christy to be ready to spell OB for last nites game on Monday. He was prepared to take the start and was told last minute by Kemnetz that Aren's was catching( props to Bob for a great effort). Hege questioned Kemnetz about the change and in typical fashion Brent blew a fuse. Hege was told by Kemnetz that he personaly cost the shox 6 games. Pretty stupid statement as I m sure they play as team don't they? I didn't see Hege lose the 3rd game in the Missouri State series with his 2 run Bomb but saw Brent's pitcher give up a 3 run Jack on an 0-2 count to lose the game (very common story for Brents staff). Weren't we behind till Hege homered vs Arizona? In his blow-up Brent said things to Hege that we as working folk's wouldn't take from our bosses! As for his .237 average we all loved him when he was stroking but in a slump we want to bury him. Wasn't Micah hitting .168 but was given a second chance and he is taking advantage, same with Lambert on the second chance--where is his Avg now--yeah only 9 points higher than Hege's. So belive what you read or maybe this is one player that couldn't take the crap anymore. And by the way you could see Hege in the pen with Arens working with the pitchers--must be some kind of teammate. If Gene had control of his team's and their respect the gap between him and Auggie would be closer. Just sayin these are very Good Young Men and need the staff to be leaders and not dictators to be very Good Ball Players. If we expect the best out of the Players shouldn't that be as true of the Coaches?

If this is how it went down then I am very disapointed. That would not be a good way to handle that situation if Brent did blow up like that. Hege can hit, I hope he is back with the program. It seems like once someone is in the doghousse though they don't get out. I never understood why Engrav didn't get more of a chance last year.