re: Baseball Game Recap: LSU 8, Lamar 1

quote:

---

Play of the Game: Mason Katz went the other way on a 3-2 pitch to drive home Raph Rhymes with an RBI double to break a 1-1 with 2 outs in the bottom of the 6th innings. It was the first extra base hit on the young season for Katz.

Pitching:

Winning Pitcher: Hunter Devall
Save: Chris Cotton

Cody Glenn: Wow he looked sharp tonight. I don't want to get too over excited after one start, but he looked great. The opponent isn't relevant. His stuff looked great. He showed the ability to pound his fastball in on hitters and had the ability to get a lot of swings and misses with this pitch. He seemed to be going inside a lot more on the left handed hitters. I would have liked to have seen some more inside fastballs to right handers, but being able to pitch inside consistenly shows a lot. He showed the ability to consistenly get his breaking ball over for strikes when he was behind, ahead, or even in the count. If he can develop his changeup in his next few starts and continues to consistently throw strikes the way he did tonight, I would look for him to seriously contend for Sunday starts later down the stretch in the SEC.

Cotton: Solid as always. He looks like he is really settling into the closer role. Not everyone has the makeup to be a closer and not everyone has the makeup to be a starter. He has proven early in the season he can close as he is 2/2 in the save department. I wouldn't change that to put him in an unfamiliar starting role.

The pitching staff is showing why LSU is widely considered Omaha bound this season as there is plenty of depth on this staff, even with a couple of early season injuries.

Hitting:
Jacoby Jones: Very nice swing on the homerun tonight. This dude is going to break out. I would look for him to move up to the 4 hole at some point this season. It wouldn't surprise me if Rhymes got bumped up to the 2 hole with his ability to handle the bat and Jones took his spot in the 4 hole. He is going to produce a lot of runs this season.

Very nice to see Katz battle in the sixth inning and knock an outside fastball over the right fielder's head. That is exactly what the veterans are supposed to. Break through in a critical moment late in the game. This at-bat will be forgotten or overlooked by many as LSU went on to win by 7, but this was the turning point in this game.

Sciambra reached base 3 more times and scored a run. I think he is really going to thrive in the leadoff role, and for the first time in what seems like forever, LSU has a legit leadoff man.

Overall, glad to see LSU get a W. The starting pitching continues to DOMINATE for LSU as starting pitching has now allowed a total of 1 earned run in 22 innings this season to go along with 23 strikeouts and only 5 walks.

---

Great breakdown! I was watching basketball so Im glad I got to read this!

Love the baseball discussion.

Disclaimer: I have argued on here about Mainieri's batting lineup, but I do keep it in perspective. I am not saying, "Fire Mainieri", I am not calling him an idiot. I think Mainieri does a lot of great things, "arguing" on the internet is basically just having some good discussion.


I still would like to see Rhymes in the top 3 of the lineup. Batting him 4th will cost him several at bats over the year, and why would we give more at bats (2 hole) to a player who is just looking to bunt runners over as opposed to a player that may lead the SEC, or nation, in base hits by the end of the season? We have had several times this year alread where the 2 hole has had to bat with a runner in scoring position. Nobody says that your 2 hole "has to" bunt the lead off over to second base.

quote:

---

Good. I like hearing this. I think facing quality pitchers even one week before SEC play is extremely beneficial for practice leading up to the first week of play.

---

From the Baseball America Preview

quote:

---

Washington has made strides in three years under coach Lindsay Meggs, winning 13 league games to finish in seventh place in 2012—its highest finish since 2008. The Huskies welcome back four seniors in the everyday lineup and a pair of sophomores who looks poised to emerge as stars in powerful 1B Trevor Mitsui (.308/.372/.376) and gap machine 2B Robert Pehl (.293/.344/.389). Both players are coming off standout summers in the Cape Cod League, where Jr. RHP Austin Voth (7-1, 4.14) has also flashed plenty of talent in the last two summers, bumping 93 with his fastball and missing bats with his slider. Voth could team with Jr. RHP Nick Palewicz (1-2, 5.34) to form a quality one-two punch atop the rotation; Palewicz showed a heavy 91-94 mph fastball and a good 82-84 slider as a starter last summer in the Cal Collegiate League, where he ranked as the No. 5 prospect. Another summer league star, Jr. RHP Tyler Kane (7-2, 2.19), will be counted on to anchor the bullpen after racking up 14 saves in the West Coast League.

---

quote:

---

What about Stevenson.. any chance he can break into the lineup?

---

It has seemed as if he gets a hit everytime he has had an opportunity. If that continues he will have to be inserted somewhere. At this point you can't take Laird out from a defensive perspective. Also, Paul has stressed speed in the outfield this entire off season. Stevenson has to really continue to shine to force moving Rhymes to DH and he take over LF. Doubt that happens at this point.

quote:

---

I still would like to see Rhymes in the top 3 of the lineup.

---

1. Schiambra
2. Rhymes
3. Bregman
4. Katz
5. Jones
6. Ross
7. Ibarra
8. McMullen
9. Laird

That's my lineup

quote:

---

We've covered this before.

---

Yes, we have.

quote:

---

We ranked bottom half in hitting while looking at SEC games only.

---

I'm not sure why you insist on making statements that are so easily proven wrong. What is your agenda for doing that?

LSU was also fourth in batting average in SEC games only last season.

Auburn .291
Ole Miss .285
Georgia .282
LSU .280
Arkansas .273
Kentucky .272

SEC Only Stats

I bet if the centerfielder doesn't make that play on Laird and he went 1-3 last night with an rbi walk no one wants him benched today.

quote:

---

I bet if the centerfielder doesn't make that play on Laird and he went 1-3 last night with an rbi walk no one wants him benched today.

---

Bench our best defensive outfielder?