Shockers vs Salukis... Game III

[shock10]

Bullpen other than GM and LH today would have been Mitch Caster, Justin Kemp, Remington Johnson, and Chance Sossamon. They used Chance and Remington but it was to LATE. Getting old watching GM and LH coming in and combining to pitch ONE inning and giving up 3 runs and the lead.

[kstarheel]

The folks in our section pretty much moaned when GM came in. I feel for the guy. Logan as well. Things just are not clicking for them. Shox left a lot of guys on base in the late innings. Shane said, 'a small village'.

[SPEShockAlum]

This needed to be a sweep. This makes the whole weekend useless.

Not necessarily - CU was swept by Illinois State. Always a good day when that happens.

[shocking]

Could be worse...we could be the Royals.

[lostshocker]

I agree to a certain extent, but I know for a fact that we had runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs, our 3hole and 4hole hitter up and Gene (#10, with 1700+ wins under his belt granted) had these guys on a 1st strike take. Other words, see the first strike and take it. Jones had a 2-0 94 mph fastball down the middle and had to TAKE? Sorry, but the way thes guys are swinging it, you don't have these guys o a take, imho. He fouled off a 98 mph fastball and looked at a questionable outside strike that set him down. You can't take the confidence these guys have built up and strip it from them. Thoughts? There were other opportunities to get the job done I realize, but our pen has to step up somewhere along the line. It isn't difficult to pitch when it is 9-2 or 9-2, like the last couple of days, but we had a 5-4 lead into the 7th and gave it up, someone has to take responsibility.

how did the two runners get to first and second? was there a pitching change between them getting on first and second and the 3 hole hitter? if this guy just threw 8 straight balls to walk those two guys on base that 3 hole hitter would be looking at the first two strikes. also what was the scouting report on the guy pitching? that might have told the staff to put the take on. and lastly it is sound baseball strategy to take until the pitcher throws a strike late in the game.

[WSUwatcher]

Nebraska

Well Shirley, I'd say a win against Nebraska will look better to the NCAA tournament selectors than a sweep over SIU would -- but at this point I'm not sure why you'd be all that much more confident in McGreevey and Mateychick anyway.

If Achilles had been vulnerable in as many places as the Shocker bullpen is these days, the Iliad would have had a different outcome.

[Ashockalypse]

Muncrief has got to be over. Where are the some 7 to 10 other pitchers we have on the staff? They can't be worse than Muncrief. Terrible loss today. No ___ _____ reason for it.

[SB Shock]

I agree to a certain extent, but I know for a fact that we had runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs, our 3hole and 4hole hitter up and Gene (#10, with 1700+ wins under his belt granted) had these guys on a 1st strike take. Other words, see the first strike and take it. Jones had a 2-0 94 mph fastball down the middle and had to TAKE? Sorry, but the way thes guys are swinging it, you don't have these guys o a take, imho. He fouled off a 98 mph fastball and looked at a questionable outside strike that set him down. You can't take the confidence these guys have built up and strip it from them. Thoughts? There were other opportunities to get the job done I realize, but our pen has to step up somewhere along the line. It isn't difficult to pitch when it is 9-2 or 9-2, like the last couple of days, but we had a 5-4 lead into the 7th and gave it up, someone has to take responsibility.

how did the two runners get to first and second? was there a pitching change between them getting on first and second and the 3 hole hitter? if this guy just threw 8 straight balls to walk those two guys on base that 3 hole hitter would be looking at the first two strikes. also what was the scouting report on the guy pitching? that might have told the staff to put the take on. and lastly it is sound baseball strategy to take until the pitcher throws a strike late in the game.

That wasn't the situation and whatever strategy gene has was defective. The pitcher had hit two batters trying to pitch aggressive and to pitch inside.

It was good luck for WSU, instead of this team showing confidence and taking advantage of these two mistakes this team lost their composure and became a team of "yapping puppies" complaining that SIU pitchers were mean and then their #3 and #4 hitter put their bats on the shoulder and watched 3rd strikes.

This is another example of the difference between this team (and state of the program) and past WSU teams - past WSU would have made teams pay for what happened in 7th, 8th and 9th. Not this program, they are no longer have the confidence to be the aggressor.

[SB Shock]

Re: Nebraska

Well Shirley, I'd say a win against Nebraska will look better to the NCAA tournament selectors than a sweep over SIU would --

1) If WSU doesn't win the conference the NCAA selection committee will not care what WSU does during mid-week.

2) With WSU RPI at 62 they are not even on the bubble.

[SB Shock]

This needed to be a sweep. This makes the whole weekend useless.

Not necessarily - CU was swept by Illinois State. Always a good day when that happens.

Maybe if your just a CU hater. The fact is CU program pretty much sucks this year and are not a threat.

Right now ISU (Red) looks like the early threat (with EU and ISU (B) just one bad WSU weekend away), so it would have been better to hang a loss on them.

[Shirley Schmidt]

Well Shirley, I'd say a win against Nebraska will look better to the NCAA tournament selectors than a sweep over SIU would --

The Shockers have to take care of business at home and sweeping SIU would have set a great tone.

They have to win every Valley home game because they suck on the road.

Look for one win maybe at ISU Blue this weekend.

This is a one big league now just like basketball, the NCAA tournament selectors will not be looking at anyone beyond the automatic.

but at this point I'm not sure why you'd be all that much more confident in McGreevey and Mateychick anyway.

I would take them in a heartbeat over what Gene got yesterday. GM and LH need to stay on the sidelines.

[SPEShockAlum]

This needed to be a sweep. This makes the whole weekend useless.

Not necessarily - CU was swept by Illinois State. Always a good day when that happens.

Maybe if your just a CU hater. The fact is CU program pretty much sucks this year and are not a threat.

Right now ISU (Red) looks like the early threat (with EU and ISU (B) just one bad WSU weekend away), so it would have been better to hang a loss on them.

Yes, admittedly I am a CU hater. I believe that is a shared sentiment among many on this board. However this is the same CU team that is also dealing with some injuries among a couple players thought to be key contributors this year, and the same one that also beat KSU in Manhattan.

This is not a CU thread, so I digress. A sweep would've been nice, but to say it was a "useless" weekend may be a touch overboard - that's just my opinion, and certainly no one has to agree with it. Let's deliver a beating in Lincoln tomorrow.

[SB Shock]

This needed to be a sweep. This makes the whole weekend useless.

Not necessarily - CU was swept by Illinois State. Always a good day when that happens.

Maybe if your just a CU hater. The fact is CU program pretty much sucks this year and are not a threat.

Right now ISU (Red) looks like the early threat (with EU and ISU (B) just one bad WSU weekend away), so it would have been better to hang a loss on them.

Yes, admittedly I am a CU hater. I believe that is a shared sentiment among many on this board. However this is the same CU team that is also dealing with some injuries among a couple players thought to be key contributors this year, and the same one that also beat KSU in Manhattan.

This is not a CU thread, so I digress. A sweep would've been nice, but to say it was a "useless" weekend may be a touch overboard - that's just my opinion, and certainly no one has to agree with it. Let's deliver a beating in Lincoln tomorrow.

I agree. I would characterize sunday as a "missed opportunity".

[lostshocker]

That wasn't the situation and whatever strategy gene has was defective. The pitcher had hit two batters trying to pitch aggressive and to pitch inside.

2 walks = 2 HBP not much difference in the 2 scenarios. both say the pitcher has some control issues.

yep, gene's strategy was flawed. should have put the bats on their shoulders until the second strike was thrown.

[KC Shox]

Well Shirley, I'd say a win against Nebraska will look better to the NCAA tournament selectors than a sweep over SIU would --

The Shockers have to take care of business at home and sweeping SIU would have set a great tone.

They have to win every Valley home game because they suck on the road.

Look for one win maybe at ISU Blue this weekend.

This is a one big league now just like basketball, the NCAA tournament selectors will not be looking at anyone beyond the automatic.

but at this point I'm not sure why you'd be all that much more confident in McGreevey and Mateychick anyway.

I would take them in a heartbeat over what Gene got yesterday. GM and LH need to stay on the sidelines.

ISU blue should be swept by us. Yeah, they are 20-9 but their SOS is 242 (11 of their wins coming against teams with sub .500 records).

It's a sad state of affairs that we have to worry about this series, but this team sucks on the road and has a lot of holes in their gameplay, so 2 out of 3 would be great.