Remaining season outlook

[KC Shox]

Well, today's loss has driven me mad. We can only score 4 runs against a guy with an ERA over 5 and opponent batting average of .322? Shawn Joy, who shut us out last week can only go 1/3 of an inning and give up 9 runs? OSU's Gardner who has an ERA over 4 and NU's Erik Bird who has an ERA of 4.40 gives up two runs combined against us?

Folks I'm sorry, this is a trend. Why in the world are we losing to guys who are not very good pitchers? However, today's loss was on the pitching and defense. Capra was off, but that was a fluke as far as I'm concerned. I'm tired of the inconsistency of our bullpen and please Gene, don't put Womack in the game anymore. His 5.16 ERA and .316 opponent batting average can sit the pine. Has Kohl gone back to his usual self (underachiever)?

Since starting the season 25-4, you would think at the midway point of the schedule this team was bound to show gradual improvement and by this time, would be in mid-season form...........not! The Shox have gone 8 - 5 since and have been shut-out twice. This team is acutally playing worse IMO at mid-season - how's that possible?

Oh, the schedule's gotten tougher. So what some of you are saying since we started playing more difficult teams the Shox have shown their true colors - being a slightly above average team? I don't want to believe that.

By going 3-2 this week, we have all but eliminated ourselves from hosting a Regional. We only have one game left on the schedule against a ranked team, and even if we beat them, it probably still won't be enough. IMO, the Shox are going to have to go 14-0 or 13-1 the rest of the way, and go undeafeted or lose one game in the MVC tourney in order for us to have a chance of hosting.

Some people may laugh about how can I be angry at a team who is 30-9. Simple, we are a National Powerhouse in baseball and our schedule this year is not very difficult. I firmly believe this team has talent to go to the Super Regionals but they have blown every limited opportunity presented to them to make themselves stand out among the crowd.

Next year, I won't have the same arguement, we are losing a lot of players and I predict next year will resemble what Texas is going through this year but that is for another discussion.

Yea, yea, Top 25 teams do lose to bad teams - ie, AZ State to Northern Colorado, Mizzou to Western Illinois, us to Indy State, but a bad loss toward the end of the season and given our SOS, couldn't have come at a worse time. Unless of course, Evansville beats us.

Sorry, I'm just mad as hell and need to cool down.

[Ta town]

Re: Remaining season outlook

Well, today's loss has driven me mad. We can only score 4 runs against a guy with an ERA over 5 and opponent batting average of .322? Shawn Joy, who shut us out last week can only go 1/3 of an inning and give up 9 runs? OSU's Gardner who has an ERA over 4 and NU's Erik Bird who has an ERA of 4.40 gives up two runs combined against us?

Folks I'm sorry, this is a trend. Why in the world are we losing to guys who are not very good pitchers? However, today's loss was on the pitching and defense. Capra was off, but that was a fluke as far as I'm concerned. I'm tired of the inconsistency of our bullpen and please Gene, don't put Womack in the game anymore. His 5.16 ERA and .316 opponent batting average can sit the pine. Has Kohl gone back to his usual self (underachiever)?

Since starting the season 25-4, you would think at the midway point of the schedule this team was bound to show gradual improvement and by this time, would be in mid-season form...........not! The Shox have gone 8 - 5 since and have been shut-out twice. This team is acutally playing worse IMO at mid-season - how's that possible?

Oh, the schedule's gotten tougher. So what some of you are saying since we started playing more difficult teams the Shox have shown their true colors - being a slightly above average team? I don't want to believe that.

By going 3-2 this week, we have all but eliminated ourselves from hosting a Regional. We only have one game left on the schedule against a ranked team, and even if we beat them, it probably still won't be enough. IMO, the Shox are going to have to go 14-0 or 13-1 the rest of the way, and go undeafeted or lose one game in the MVC tourney in order for us to have a chance of hosting.

Some people may laugh about how can I be angry at a team who is 30-9. Simple, we are a National Powerhouse in baseball and our schedule this year is not very difficult. I firmly believe this team has talent to go to the Super Regionals but they have blown every limited opportunity presented to them to make themselves stand out among the crowd.

Next year, I won't have the same arguement, we are losing a lot of players and I predict next year will resemble what Texas is going through this year but that is for another discussion.

Yea, yea, Top 25 teams do lose to bad teams - ie, AZ State to Northern Colorado, Mizzou to Western Illinois, us to Indy State, but a bad loss toward the end of the season and given our SOS, couldn't have come at a worse time. Unless of course, Evansville beats us.

Sorry, I'm just mad as hell and need to cool down.

No worries, WSU will not host a regional so you don't even have to consider now. Also wheres the beef? Can we get one guy that can hit 20bombs a year? WSU will lose in the regional championship game once again. Last year they finally broke thru but that was at home.

[WuDrWu]

All good points KC. I tend to look at the attitude the team carries as well. In many of the past years, this has been a team that acted like they expected something bad to happen.

At the very start of this year, this seemed to be an entirely different mindset the guys had.....they expected to succeed.

That mindset has dissappeared, imho.


They look beaten, tired, frustrated and back to the "what's next" attitude.


God knows, I hope I am wrong. I looked at the schedule and even with the average play of late, expected the team to win out. Outside of ASU at home, we should be the prohibitive favorite in every game.

When you lose to ISU something is seriously wrong.

I hope the kids and coaches can get it figured out because it is increasingly unlikely we are going to host anything at home beyond the MVC.


:wsu_posters: :goshocks: :posterwu: :posterwsu:

[SB Shock]

All good points KC. I tend to look at the attitude the team carries as well. In many of the past years, this has been a team that acted like they expected something bad to happen.

At the very start of this year, this seemed to be an entirely different mindset the guys had.....they expected to succeed.

That mindset has dissappeared, imho.


They look beaten, tired, frustrated and back to the "what's next" attitude.


God knows, I hope I am wrong. I looked at the schedule and even with the average play of late, expected the team to win out. Outside of ASU at home, we should be the prohibitive favorite in every game.

When you lose to ISU something is seriously wrong.

I hope the kids and coaches can get it figured out because it is increasingly unlikely we are going to host anything at home beyond the MVC.

I'm glad somebody else is seeing it also.

[Denny Crane]

Getting beat physically is one thing, it is the way we fell apart mentally Friday night and today that is so uncharacteristic. Maybe this Gene thing has upset the chemistry.

[1972Shocker]

Getting beat physically is one thing, it is the way we fell apart mentally Friday night and today that is so uncharacteristic. Maybe this Gene thing has upset the chemistry.

Not sure whether the Gene thing is having an impact but we played the bottom of the 9th today like a poorly coached high school team.

That was an extremely painful and dissappointing loss today.

Not really sure at all what that says about this team or where we are as a team.

Perhaps we are simply not as good as we thought we were.

I still think we are a pretty good team. However, we are not a great team.

[tripleshock]

So what some of you are saying since we started playing more difficult teams the Shox have shown their true colors - being a slightly above average team? I don't want to believe that.

Believe it.

[ShockRef]

Well, since none of you were there today and I was, here's the real deal.
You can pin this loss on your boy Mean Gene.
Firstly, his sending Tyler Weber in the top of the ninth was one of the worst judgment calls I have ever seen.
InSU's cut off man already had the ball, cocked and ready to throw before Weber had even hit third base. But there was Mean Gene doing his version of the dutch windmill sending him home. It's one thing to send a speed runner, but Weber runs like he is carrying a piano on his back. It was so bad that InSu's catcher was waiting on Weber to finally arrive and be tagged. Even I could have pegged him out.
Secondly, lifting Hoch was a huge mistake. He had command of his pitches and as the results showed, was far better than anyone Gene-O could summon.
Third, the decision to go to Coleman was asinine. He hasn't been in that position all year long and got 8 pitches to get loose. It was 55 degrees and I can assure you it takes longer than 8 pitches to get anywhere near loose. It also caused Gene-O to move Gillespie to second and put Muncrief at third, who had been sitting on the bench for three hours.
You know what happened next.
Quite simply, our esteemed manager did a first class job of demonstrating how to lose a game to a much inferior team.
And trust me, InSU is a much inferior team that is basically a bunch of California JuCo transfers. They try hard but there isn't much talent. There is absolutely no excuse losing to them.
I watched Gene trudge back out to the bus almost in a daze. He had a nice 10 hour bus ride back to ponder his blunders. 8)

[KC Shox]

Well, since none of you were there today and I was, here's the real deal.
You can pin this loss on your boy Mean Gene.
Firstly, his sending Tyler Weber in the top of the ninth was one of the worst judgment calls I have ever seen.
InSU's cut off man already had the ball, cocked and ready to throw before Weber had even hit third base. But there was Mean Gene doing his version of the dutch windmill sending him home. It's one thing to send a speed runner, but Weber runs like he is carrying a piano on his back. It was so bad that InSu's catcher was waiting on Weber to finally arrive and be tagged. Even I could have pegged him out.
Secondly, lifting Hoch was a huge mistake. He had command of his pitches and as the results showed, was far better than anyone Gene-O could summon.
Third, the decision to go to Coleman was asinine. He hasn't been in that position all year long and got 8 pitches to get loose. It was 55 degrees and I can assure you it takes longer than 8 pitches to get anywhere near loose. It also caused Gene-O to move Gillespie to second and put Muncrief at third, who had been sitting on the bench for three hours.
You know what happened next.
Quite simply, our esteemed manager did a first class job of demonstrating how to lose a game to a much inferior team.
And trust me, InSU is a much inferior team that is basically a bunch of California JuCo transfers. They try hard but there isn't much talent. There is absolutely no excuse losing to them.
I watched Gene trudge back out to the bus almost in a daze. He had a nice 10 hour bus ride back to ponder his blunders. 8)

All good points, my post had become long winded and I didn't want to write what you just did. When listening to the radio and I heard Mike say Gene was sending him home, I said to myself, "WTF!"

I totally agree with Logan as well. Although he screwed the double play opportunity, he should have remained in the game. Was there really a better option to go to? I'm no coach, but common sense says you leave him in to finish out the game.

As soon as I heard Dusty was going in, I said, "game over". And when Womack entered, I said, "why am I torturing myself, you know he'll choke it off".

Poor relief pitching memories of late. Lasty year's MVC Championship game; Shox up 9-6 in the 9th and blow it and lose. Super Regional game against UC Irvine - lost. Today's game against an 11 win team.

My only ray of hope is that this team is going through its season slump now. They get it turned around next week with a 5-0 week and then we are on our way.

[tru2thaduce]

Ive been down on Gene since he let Banick pitch in the Fayetteville regional.Thats another story.The boys were playing bad before the stalking story broke.I think this team got way too cocky with the win streak.Im just hoping this is a lull and we will peak at the right time.Crunch time is here.

[ISASO]

You really have to be concerned about the team's ability to rise to a challenge. So many missed opportunities, even seemingly small things like getting shut out at home against SIU on a beautiful Saturday afternoon with the biggest crowd of the season (at the time) on hand.

0-5 against Top 25 teams.

Wasted opportunity to assert yourself in the standings today with a win against Indiana State.

It's been right there for the taking. Now we've piddled around and time is running out quickly with very little to show for our season so far.

Unfortunately, finishing up the regular season and MVC Tourney with 2 or 3 more losses won't be too impressive. Winning the ASU game is 'too little, too late".

The sun is setting and we haven't made much hay. It would be wise to adjust expectations downward and go to the games simply to avoid yardwork.

[WSUwatcher]

Pitching?

I was busy with family things and didn't listen to taday's game, which was probably for the best as it turned out -- what a terrible loss to a bad team -- so I have a couple of questions about pitching choices:

1. Clearly Capra was off his game, but just looking at the box score I'm surprised he was pulled after five. Had he reached a reasonable pitch count at that point; was he not feeling well; what was the problem -- why was he lifted in light of the way, for example, the coaches stuck with Musgrave Friday night, who was no better in that game than Capra was Sunday?

2. Where was Tyler Fleming? He pitched 1 1/3 innings all weekend -- and of course the inning Saturday was totally unnecessary; could Kemp, Womack, or even Coleman or McKeever not have been asked to hold a seven-run lead once the Shocks broke open game one? Was that amount of pitching Friday and Saturday enough to render Fleming unavailable once Hoch had his mishap?

Just based on history, I can understand lifting Hoch, because we've seen him lose his edge a bit when something goes wrong (in fact, it happened earlier this week when the foul pop by Jordy Mercer was unreachable in OSU's bandbox, and forced to try again, Hoch grooved one to spoil an otherwise brilliant outing). The walk following his error could have generated concern that it was happening again. Still, why anyone would give the ball to dangerous Dusty over Fleming in that spot with two outs to go is beyond me. (And yes, I know there's a game Tuesday -- but assuming Fleming is the intended Tuesday starter, surely trying to get two outs Sunday doesn't use him up for Tuesday, does it? And if it does, we see again that maybe using him to close out what had become a 14-7 game wasn't such a great idea.)

[ShockerFever]

Where are all the people who bashed me earlier in the year for laying it on Womack?

The guy just doesn't have it. Whether he did or not in the past is debatable, but as it is now, he's got nothing.

I agree with pretty much everyone's sentiments surrounding this one. Muncrief at 3rd? Wtf? This isn't garbage inning time. This is a game that was on the line and still in the balance.

What a horrible way to end a series. We haven't swept anybody since our lone one of Illinois State back in March. It's absolutely pathetic and inexcusable.

At least the pressure of hosting a regional will be off our backs since we're not hosting.

We had the perfect chance to be a game up of UNI in sole place of the Valley lead.. but no.

Where's Mr. Sunshine Rosewood at? I'd like to know the answer to all the problems. Or maybe these aren't problems, but just minor hiccups in the road.

I was mad about Nebraska. I was pissed about OSU. Now I'm just disgusted about this one. Good night.

[KC Shox]

Re: Pitching?

I was busy with family things and didn't listen to taday's game, which was probably for the best as it turned out -- what a terrible loss to a bad team -- so I have a couple of questions about pitching choices:

1. Clearly Capra was off his game, but just looking at the box score I'm surprised he was pulled after five. Had he reached a reasonable pitch count at that point; was he not feeling well; what was the problem -- why was he lifted in light of the way, for example, the coaches stuck with Musgrave Friday night, who was no better in that game than Capra was Sunday?

2. Where was Tyler Fleming? He pitched 1 1/3 innings all weekend -- and of course the inning Saturday was totally unnecessary; could Kemp, Womack, or even Coleman or McKeever not have been asked to hold a seven-run lead once the Shocks broke open game one? Was that amount of pitching Friday and Saturday enough to render Fleming unavailable once Hoch had his mishap?

Just based on history, I can understand lifting Hoch, because we've seen him lose his edge a bit when something goes wrong (in fact, it happened earlier this week when the foul pop by Jordy Mercer was unreachable in OSU's bandbox, and forced to try again, Hoch grooved one to spoil an otherwise brilliant outing). The walk following his error could have generated concern that it was happening again. Still, why anyone would give the ball to dangerous Dusty over Fleming in that spot with two outs to go is beyond me. (And yes, I know there's a game Tuesday -- but assuming Fleming is the intended Tuesday starter, surely trying to get two outs Sunday doesn't use him up for Tuesday, does it? And if it does, we see again that maybe using him to close out what had become a 14-7 game wasn't such a great idea.)

I think you are right, Fleming is being saved for Tuesday's start. He only lasted 4 innings against KU last Tuesday so I'm thinking by resting him, maybe we can squeeze 5 or 6 out of him against KSU.

[Rosewood]

I love getting called out because it gives me an excuse to smack idiots down, one of the few things I get joy out of.

You know the idiots I am talking about. The ones that were so sure that we wouldn't even be in post season play two years ago, but there we were in Oklahoma, a few inches from going to the super regional.

The ones that only judge a team by long balls when the wind blows in all early season.

The people that don't understand the concept of good-bad-good because they like to focus on the bad-bad-bad.

You know, those idiots that harp on the stuff that is so blatantly obvious to everyone that it really should have been filed in the "goes without saying" category.

EVERYONE knows Gene blew it by having Tyler Weber come home. Everyone knows he blew it earlier when he had the runner going that got the strike out/throw out double play. These were obvious coaching errors.

Wake up folks. We won the series, like so many that we have won in the Valley in a row. We are tied for first, which was better than what we were on Friday morning.

The answer to the problems are so simple a child could understand them. First, you focus on the next game and don't worry about things you never had control of. Tuesday is a new game and Sunday won't matter when the first pitch is thrown vs K-State. Then you hit the road and go to Oklahoma and then you put the ball in the hand of AS and go to town. One step at a time.

You are nuts if you don't think Tyler Weber is going to straighten out. KWJ had a slump, and broke out of it. These things happen at all levels in baseball. It is part of the game and the best managers are those that don't over react. You people are like the old Steinbrenner. Look at what happened to the NYY when a level headed manager took over and stopped his madness.

When you have a guy doing what Andy Dirks is doing this year and you are still whining about 0-5 vs top 25, you need to pull your head out of your own self inflated fandom ego's butt.

Did you people just assume that winning streak would continue and they would lay out the rose petals for us in Omaha and they could throw out a ceremonial first pitch and then go ahead and crown the Shox champions? Yes, you idiots, there are going to be hiccups. The Red Sox lost games to the Royals last year. Oregon State went back to back and yet both years had some real head scratching losses. You learn from this.

Next time Hoch is on the mound and he gets come backer, he will make the play. Next time the game is on the line, Womack won't come in. You live, you learn. But you people melting down are just being stupid.