Texas Baseball: 20 In A Row

Went out to the Disch yesterday. Couple of questions and I’ll hang up and listen. How did we start out 18-7 with this staff? Also, I know it has been hashed and rehashed, but for the love of God let the kids swing away. All we do is keep games closer than they should be. Especially when you pull back on the bunt and get ahead 2-0, 2-1 or 3-1 in the count. Those are hitters counts. At least take a hack when you have the pitcher in a hole. Drives me insane. But, I know, 20 in a row. O.k. I’ll hang up now.

Re: Rowe. How good is Walla in center? Good enough to play him there and put Montalbano in left?

On Saturday I saw Rowe swing and miss at a pitch over his head, and then take strike three right down the middle. He seems to be stuck in his own head.

That’s my only nitpick. Oooh wait, no it’s not. Where is Dicharry? Not that we even need him really, but he hasn’t pitched in like six weeks.

Walla is a balla. He is going to be great if he can beat the anorexia. I, too, wonder about Dicharry. This pitching staff is sick, btw. I think that goes without saying. It’s going to take a hell off an effort to beat us in a series. So, I guess I really like our chances in the Super and in the finals if we can just get to them.

Barton -
 
We’ve opined on Augie’s approach to run maximization pretty heavily here and the stats are pretty straightforward. However, the guy clearly maximizes in every other aspect of the game, so what are you gonna do? Besides, he really does believe that the sacrifice is a key tool for sublimating 20 year old egos to the service of the team. I’d love to sit down with him sometime and hear out his perspective, as I’m sure he knows that outs are incredibly valuable.
 
nordberg –
 
That’s the $100 question. I’ve never been a big Rowe fan, but he’s an above average defensive center fielder and Augie has a ton of confidence in him in that regard.
 
I honestly feel uncomfortable when he comes up to bat. It’s excruciating. He has even lost what pop his bat used to have with his softball company picnic swings from last year. A .301 OB % takes real doing at the college level.
 
All I need to know about Dicharry was evidenced by our use of Hoby Milner and Stayton Thomas this weekend. Someone who understands baseball better than me will need to document his decline. I thought he was our #1 middle reliever all the way, at least coming in to the year.

Also, IMO we need to see more of Weymouth at 3rd. Lusson’s errors are concerning!

Dicharry is hurt.

The book on Rowe is that he is a hacker who will chase high fastballs and breaking balls off the plate.

Here’s my theory on Augie’s offensive philosophy:

Yes, mashing the ball off the fences all the time is much sexier than playing station to station, but even offensive juggernauts are going to wind up in a few key games where the bats just aren’t there – whether its a dominant opposing pitcher or just not getting the bounces on a certain day. In those games you have to manufacture runs. But being good at manufacturing runs takes A LOT of practice.

Augie would rather use the entire season to get his players confident and used to bunting, drawing walks, hit & runs, etc. even if it means winning a lot of games 3-1 instead of 7-1. That way, when that game in Omaha rolls around where we absolutely need a run and its not going to come from a big fly, we stand a much better chance of making it happen.

It only took Sailor 4 minutes to post is sasquatch photo.

Is there some sort of alarm in your dungeon/office that goes off when HJ breaches the perimeter?

Texas-KSU is next week…. Horns are off this weekend.

Thanks, Bob. I only glanced at the schedule

I think our offense is beginning to cool. Our pitching is a constant, it’s always going to be excellent, it’s just a question of at what level with they dominate. If we have the same kind of offensive performance against KSU, I wouldn’t be surprised if we dropped the series. However, their pitching sucks so we should do better – especially in a smaller park.

We need to let more freshman crack the lineup with the strugles of the veterans. It cant hurt and will give them valuable experience. I dont want to have the feeling next year of looking back wondering why some of our supporting cast is so green. On average maybe there should be 2-3 freshman in an everyday lineup. It just sets up well for the following years to come. Just my opinion and I certainly dont get paid to coach any sport on any level other than coed kickball

Nice write-up Scip.

Connor was not charged with an error on that play. It was a curving, line drive that touched his glove, but a difficult catch. He would make the catch 7 of 10 times, but it was very difficult.

Connor can’t be replaced. He is the best defensive outfielder. I am a member of the Walla fan club also, but he misplayed a ball Friday night in Waco. It was a sinking liner that he catches 7 of 10 times, but like Rowe he was not given an error.

Rowe and Walla also have the most speed on the bases. Rowe and Etier are struggling at the plate right now, but Augie has to keep them in the lineup and pinch hit for them if needed. As we all know, Augie expects everyone, all 25, to have a role on the team. Montalbano, even though equal in talent, has the role to be a pinch hitter in key situations.

Rowe and Etier will start to hit. In Augie we trust.

What does a coed kickball coaching gig pay?

“In Augie we trust.”

In Barnes we trust…oh wait. Why do people say stuff like this? One, not everybody trusts the same people, i.e. Barnes. Two, it’s so pro-Big Brother. Are we not supposed to have our own thoughts and opinions? Sorry, but it’s so Hornfans-ish with the blind-faith, hopeless optimism thing. Personally, I think Garrido is excellent…at everything except letting his hitters play to their strengths. The guy’s results speak for themselves, but that doesn’t mean he’s flawless…or stuff.

FWIW – I watched both games this weekend from on top of a bus in RF – the wind looked like it was keeping some shots inside Disch Falk. It definitely had an effect on the overall offensive output.

Also, Keyes > Etier > Rupp was a thing of beauty. Rupp had time to clean the plate off before the runner even got there.

Finally, I’m pretty sure the Baylor RF’er will beat my ass if there’s ever not a 10 ft wall separating us.

great write up.
texastough – i was thinking the same thing. its mind numbing making the kids manufacture runs and keep it close, but that creates a lot of team spirit and faith. augie is yoda. yeah he overdid it and screwed up game 1 last year vs. LSU, but he’s got it right so many times in his life that it’s difficult to second guess him. although sometimes i still do.

“What does a coed kickball coaching gig pay?”

A sorority hookup, if you have at least minor league talent at playfully heckling third basewomen…

Gus and Augie coach(ed) the same way. They were convinced (and have shown to be correct) that most college teams can’t hit well enough to beat teams that can pitch and field. They make teams make plays in the field, and throw strikes. You can’t do it quite that way in the big leagues, but you can do it in college.

They’d take mashers, but they want fundamentally sound mashers. Not as easy to find.

Bob in Houston, the schedule on www.texassports.com says Texas-KSU is this weekend, May 7-9.

Blake Borron, first Augie != Barnes. Their resumes are not remotely comparable. Second, you don’t win as much as Augie without letting your players play to their strengths. What you are probably misperceiving is what their strengths actually are.

At this point, I am more concerned with which teams are in the Texas side of the CWS bracket than I am about the outcomes in the KSU series. Even a Wildcat sweep won’t keep the Horns
from winning the regular season conference title (and in baseball, regular season title >>> conference tournament title).

Having ASU, UNC & Texas all in the same bracket in Omaha last year was a huge advantage for LSU. At this point, Coach Garrido and the team are just biding their time.

Apologies by moi to all. I’m the one that misread the schedule.

Bob, your deceit will not go unpunished.

I’ve been married for a long time. I’m used to it.

where’s Chooky?

chooky likes fe-e-eet!

There is an article posted at BON that talks about Dicharry that specifically indicates he has tendinitis in his shoulder, as per HJ. I’m no Doctor, but had it in my elbow once (tennis), and it only got well with rest. It took awhile. Forunately, I can drink, eat and fondle myself left handed, so it could have been worse.

AugieBall:

All sound points (or opinions). Would you like to address my actual post though, instead of talking around it?

Big Foot? What Industry better embraces the unknown than the Sports Industry. More so than gambling (i.e.Wall Street).

Well lookit. My online avatar.

I +1 texastough’s take on practicing sacrifice bunts. Weymouth almost wasted his at bat in game 2 trying to stroke his bunt futilely using his arms instead on his legs, as the announcer pointed out, until Augie allowed him to swing away after 2 strikes. It was obvious where his comfort zone is.

OK, Blake. Look at the major leagues. How many former Longhorns are there and hitting well? I cannot think of one. Hopefully Stubbs and Teagarden can turn things around. Most of our best position players over the past decade never even make it to the big leagues for a cup of coffee – this from THE best college team over the past decade by a pretty decent amount. Do you still think our players have been major league-style mashers?

Even our best power-hitting teams (like this year’s group) do not compare at all to similar teams at other schools. We still beat them, but we can’t match their power numbers, even accounting for ballpark effects.

We have had some really talented guys here, to be sure, but we have not had elite hitting talent. We value and recruit for other skill sets, such as speed and defense, and teach them to adopt a team mentality on offense.

The Astros call “Dibs” on Brandon Workman…….and possibly Cole Green as well.

Tant Shepard has REALLY STEPPED his game up……..REALLY! I mean big time.

Walla is boss man at the plate.

AugieBall:

Please re-read my post…again. You are arguing with the wrong person. My point wasn’t that UT’s hitting sux, blah, blah, blah. I was pointing out my pet peeve about people using the “in X we trust.” My example of Garrido was merely to state the one thing that people could find exception with in regards to him (other than his drinking and driving decisions), and that it’s okay for people to state that opinion ON THE INTERNET.

While I do believe our hitting could easily be better without sacrificing much of, well, anything, that had nothing to do with my original point…does that make sense yet?

Make that 21 in a row.
 
6-0 winners tonight over Prairie View.