The Good You could argue that the Gators shouldn't have even been in last nights game. The 20 strikeouts was a lot to overcome. Fortunately, LSU left 17 on base. It probably shouldn't have been a close game. Neither team was especially stellar with RISP. Just flush it and move on to todays game. Play loose. The Bad As mentioned above, 20 strikeouts, even in an 11 inning game was a killer. In the post game presser, 7 said they had a good offensive plan coming into the game. But, they had too many big swings, especially in two strike counts. So in what inning did they make adjustments to the plan? The answer is they/he didn't. It's my only knock on 7. Last night wasn't an apparition. We've seen it throughout the years. And I don't understand why that view is off limits with a few people on this board. He makes almost $1.4MM dollars a year. That sets the expectations bar awfully high. The Ugly (Part I) Some might say it's the prospects of facing Skenes on Monday night if the Gators win todays game. I actually think the UF bats match up well. Hopefully, they'll get that chance. The Ugly (Part II) Cags is a mess. Someone I'm not supposed to mention, said he has been overwhelmed by the attention leading up to the CWS. As multiple people on this board have mentioned. Cags is an incredible talent, but known to be less mature than say BT or Rivera. Shouldn't that same someone be aware of that? So why make Cags available to the press? He decides that. It's a head scratcher. As always. It's Great To Be A Florida Gator
I’m concerned pitching Cags when we get to tomorrow’s game (note the positivity). His control or lack there of could put us in a hole early. LSU has shown the discipline at the plate to wait him out. I don’t know who to throw instead. I guess it will depend on how long HW goes today. Hopefully it’s a complete game
The strike zone needs to stay in one place... that makes for a better, fair game. But we were also golf swinging at perfect strikes... that is to say when we actually swung at those perfect balls. Two inexplicable habits that never really showed up before this game were swinging at chin-high balls and golf-swinging at perfect strikes. Are they easy fixes? I hope so. We need to let our players loose.... let them play ball... Go Gators!
Short leash... prevent damage in the worst case, and let him shine in the best case. That's easy enough.
I'm here and went to the game last night and I'll go today. My question is: Where are are our fans? We are outnumbered by LSU fans 30 :1. THIS IS JUST LIKE AN LSU HOME GAME! It has the appearance Florida fans don't care.
LSU fan base has always traveled to the maximum extent possible. ALWAYS. I don’t think anyone outside of the SEC travels like probably the top three travel fan bases in the SEC. Myself, I would rate them in the mass they represent as: LSU, MSU, and ARKANSAS. But that’s just me.
I was actually proud to see that we were still in the game for 11 innings after all the strikeouts and all the LSU baserunner traffic. I think LSU has a deeper roster, though. After burning up so much pitching in the loss, things look tough, but, not impossible. I was disappointed in ESPN's coverage of the game. Every side image, back story, and game discussion was about LSU, ad nauseum. Most of the game they acted like Florida wasn't even at the CWS national championship finals, even after the Gators had pulled into a late lead. I usually like those particular announcers, but, not last night.
We never made the adjustment on the high strike 3 swings. And it was frustrating to watch. We made Ty Floyd look like Cy Young.
Agree about strike zone. Sully’s very respected by umpires and May need to get vocal. Some say that’s a no no. I say there is a time and a place and it’s part of coaching. If it continues to impact your team negatively you’ve got to do something to help your team.
I think the way the game played out attributed to it. If we had 3 homers and were putting guys on base every inning and Sproat struck out 17 and our bullpen had a 16 inning scoreless streak then I believe we would have seen a different broadcast
I gather these same complaints would apply if Wyatt's late line drive had slipped over the fielders reach. While the ESPN crew's points resonated among some Gator fans, I was cheering over Gator pitching getting 16 Ks, often at critical moments, and stranding 17 mighty LSU warriors.
I doubt it. It started in the pregame and continued right through us catching up and taking the lead.
It seems to me, and maybe its part of not being fully mature, that when something goes bad like a hit batter, walk, or defense error, he allows that to get to him and throws out of anger/frustration. I think the same is happening as a hitter, you can tell he is frustrated and swings to kill the ball and swings at high pitches. Right now he doesn't seem to handle pressure well but I think in time he will. Just my take.
If Cags is not on, wild pitches, you can bet LSU will take the walks and will T off on the 2 balls no strike counts. Cags is capable of waking in runs. So yes, a very very short leash.
It’s not just Cags, Kurland hasn’t had a decent game either and Ty Evans looked really uncomfortable at the plate along with Rivera. Rivera had RISP a couple of times and couldn’t get the bat on the ball. Hopefully that changes today! I like our chances with Waldrep on the mound.
I will say this, LSU batters didn’t chase anything that Sproat usually gets batters to chase. They were very patient at the plate which was impressive.
Agree. Same with Waldrep. His main pitch is the split finger fastball that drops out of the zone at the last second, almost never a strike. Tiger batters seldom swung at that pitch and that got him in trouble continually.
