Shox vs. Aces Game 3

[SFL]

Board is a lot quieter when we're winning big. Wish that wasn't the case...

Easter Sunday.



Salvaged the series but this will likely be an aberration by Tuesday. Until something changes, that's what I will expect.

Wooohooo. We beat Evansville. We're saved! :yahoo:

I'll take ANY road win at this point. Maybe I'm missing something in this thread, but I don't see a lot of 'celebrating' over the last 2 wins... more likely relief and a glimer of hope.

[shock10]

Be well Charlie.

[ShockerFever]

Board is a lot quieter when we're winning big. Wish that wasn't the case...

Easter Sunday.



Salvaged the series but this will likely be an aberration by Tuesday. Until something changes, that's what I will expect.

Wooohooo. We beat Evansville. We're saved! :yahoo:

I'll take ANY road win at this point. Maybe I'm missing something in this thread, but I don't see a lot of 'celebrating' over the last 2 wins... more likely relief and a glimer of hope.

I'll take any road win as well. Hell, I'll take ANY win.

I just didn't like the original author's nature of post, acting like today wasn't a holiday or something.

[lostshocker]

actually perusing the previous 2 threads the win only has more pages due to all the whining about the poor play with the lead. this thread would barely be on page 2 if you remove my posts. so it isnt him acting as if today wasnt a holiday or something but a near accurate observation.

[shockfan89_]

One thing I find interesting is many posters (me included) have beat up the coaches for putting so much emphasis on defense and not getting players that can hit the long ball. This year we have 31 HRs in 26 games as opposed to 33 HRs in 57 games last year. We have also already doubled the amount of triples from last season (10 in 26 games in 2010 to 5 in 57 games in 2009) and we are also scoring nearly 2.4 more runs per game this year. All of those numbers are HUGE offensive improvements!!!!

So now we are complaining about lack of defense and the number of errors we are committing??? Obviously our pitching staff has been a weakness this year which is unforntunate because it seems like this team is capable of scoring a lot of runs. As KC pointed out, our team batting average needs to still improve, but we also have done pretty well against the upper tier pitchers we have faced. We still struggle against guys with 7.57 ERAs that haven't gone more than 3 innings all year. This is one thing I just can't ever figure out about WSU teams.

[SB Shock]

actually perusing the previous 2 threads the win only has more pages due to all the whining about the poor play with the lead. this thread would barely be on page 2 if you remove my posts. so it isnt him acting as if today wasnt a holiday or something but a near accurate observation.

Boy are you a SUPERFAN. You posted a lot on Easter. Good for you. Maybe the mods will give you Shockernet commendation medal. :whistle:

[lostshocker]

actually perusing the previous 2 threads the win only has more pages due to all the whining about the poor play with the lead. this thread would barely be on page 2 if you remove my posts. so it isnt him acting as if today wasnt a holiday or something but a near accurate observation.

Boy are you a SUPERFAN. You posted a lot on Easter. Good for you. Maybe the mods will give you Shockernet commendation medal. :whistle:

sorry. wont happen again. i'll just shove my head up my ass so i can see things from the right point of view.

[ShockTalk]

One thing I find interesting is many posters (me included) have beat up the coaches for putting so much emphasis on defense and not getting players that can hit the long ball. This year we have 31 HRs in 26 games as opposed to 33 HRs in 57 games last year. We have also already doubled the amount of triples from last season (10 in 26 games in 2010 to 5 in 57 games in 2009) and we are also scoring nearly 2.4 more runs per game this year. All of those numbers are HUGE offensive improvements!!!!

So now we are complaining about lack of defense and the number of errors we are committing??? Obviously our pitching staff has been a weakness this year which is unforntunate because it seems like this team is capable of scoring a lot of runs. As KC pointed out, our team batting average needs to still improve, but we also have done pretty well against the upper tier pitchers we have faced. We still struggle against guys with 7.57 ERAs that haven't gone more than 3 innings all year. This is one thing I just can't ever figure out about WSU teams.

Before you get to carried away with our HUGH improvement, please keep in mind that you're comparing this year's hitting to the Shocker's offensive abyss.

WSU tracks 18 categories for Shocker hitting lows. The 2009 offense has the dubious honor of holding 10 of those records and, at the least, almost another 3. Next was 2005 with 3 records.

[spinner]

I was reading our defense is the worst in the valley. When your infield is one of the worst in the valley the pitching can't take all the blame. I read where the starting infielders have made 40 plus errors in 25 games, maybe we should let up on the pitching!! They have a tough job.

[shockfan89_]

Before you get to carried away with our HUGH improvement, please keep in mind that you're comparing this year's hitting to the Shocker's offensive abyss.

WSU tracks 18 categories for Shocker hitting lows. The 2009 offense has the dubious honor of holding 10 of those records and, at the least, almost another 3. Next was 2005 with 3 records.

I am well aware the 2009 team was one of the worst in Shocker history. Merely pointing out that many posters felt we should sacrifice defense to improve our power numbers. It appears we have made HUGE improvements over last year in our power #'s but our defense has suffered.

[shockfan89_]

I was reading our defense is the worst in the valley. When your infield is one of the worst in the valley the pitching can't take all the blame. I read where the starting infielders have made 40 plus errors in 25 games, maybe we should let up on the pitching!! They have a tough job.

Good point, but over our last 13 games we have given up an average of 10.7 hits per game. That isn't just poor defense, that is our pitching getting knocked around. Sure, part of that is the defense has given them extra outs and prolonged innings, but you also have to admit that is not what we are used to seeing.

[ShockTalk]

Before you get to carried away with our HUGH improvement, please keep in mind that you're comparing this year's hitting to the Shocker's offensive abyss.

WSU tracks 18 categories for Shocker hitting lows. The 2009 offense has the dubious honor of holding 10 of those records and, at the least, almost another 3. Next was 2005 with 3 records.

I am well aware the 2009 team was one of the worst in Shocker history. Merely pointing out that many posters felt we should sacrifice defense to improve our power numbers. It appears we have made HUGE improvements over last year in our power #'s but our defense has suffered.

1) 2009 offensive was THE worst in Shocker history.

2) What sacrifice in defense? This is basically the same cast as last year. Check to see how many of the same players are fielding worse this year than last. This team has, I believe, 5 red-shirt Seniors, 5 Seniors, 1 red-shirt Junior, and 4 Juniors. New additions junior Springer and senior Bennett have been a good part of our offensive improvement and have not hurt our defense.

[shockfan89_]

Point is our offensive numbers have improved quite a bit over last year (whether 2009 was the best or the worst is really irrelevant because I am only comparing 2009 and 2010). We are committing more errors (same personnel or different is irrelevant). Has the end result improved?

Point being that it is a balance between pitching, fielding and offense. Just scoring more runs (which we are doing this year) has not fixed the problem because our defense and pitching is worse (or more inconsistent) than last year. Maybe all phases of the game just sucked for a 7 or 8 game stretch at once and we will be fine as long as two of them are going well at a time?

I think your #2 above is where I was trying to go with this. Pretty much the same cast, better offensive numbers (thus far), denfense not as good. Did the coaches/players focus on hitting during the off-season at the expense of defense?

[SB Shock]

There is formula called baseball pythag theorem that predicts wins and losses based on runs scored and runs allowed. From this forumula the following can be hypothesised:

Actual wins: 17
Predicted Wins: 18 (WSU has underachieve by 1 game to this point)

Runs allowed are +0.42 per game ahead of last year (only +0.14 is due to defense)

Decrease in pitching/defense is costing WSU to this point almost 1 win.

WSU is better in the offensive category by +2.51 runs per game. This has improved WSU record from last by +3 games.

WSU is on pace to win 38 games (56 game schedule). The reality for this to improve will require the pitching staff to get better. Getting back to 2008 pitching levels would yield +4 game inctrease (38 to 42 wins) if offense and D stay the same.

conclusions

2010 team is being saved by it's hitting improvement over 2009

2010 team is being hurt by a struggling pitching staff that has got worse not better from last year performance

2010 team defense - is less of factor in this team losing as some might think.

[shockfan89_]

There you have it. LOL Good stuff SB!!!