re: At what point is it OK to lay blame at the feet of the players?

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I think a rational discussion that identifies the cause of a loss makes sense.

Blaming and being emotional about a player's performance as if you are injured by the loss is ridiculous and pathetic.

People who won't allow the former to happen are emotional people who get on the defensive because they are having trouble coping with the loss.

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Very well said, and combine that with the fact that we're dealing with kids, it just makes it that much worse as far as I'm concerned. Perhaps it's more difficult for younger fans to understand, but when I survey that field, I see a bunch of very young kids who do what kids do. They aren't seasoned veterans of MLB. They're still just a bunch of kids a few years removed from high school and trying their very best to live up to the expectations people place upon them, many times very unrealistic ones at that. They're going to make mistakes. They going to not have their head in the game at times, and they're going to learn how to overcome the mental aspects of the game. They are growing up, same as the rest of their peers. Perhaps some of our fans can do likewise.

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They aren't seasoned veterans of MLB.

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There are, I believe, 10 first round picks playing in the College World Series. There are like 50 Top 10 Round picks. Those numbers are astounding when you factor in that there are only 8 teams in the CWS. These aren't "kids". They are men, many of which are about to get paid millions of dollars to play this game.

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They going to not have their head in the game at times

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A 19-21 year old D1 college baseball player should be able to keep their head in the game. This is the most pathetic thing I have ever seen posted on the Rant.

This loss yesterday was on the players. They are grown men. They can handle it. That doesn't mean they are bad people or that they aren't good baseball players, but this loss is on them.

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Mainieri then went to the pen too late for it to matter. Mainieri has always had a slow hook, and it has been especially pronounced this postseason as he has lost all faith in the bullpen to make key outs. This is why he sat on his hands, with Hunter Newman already warm in the pen, during Poche's slow motion meltdown. At this point, Mainieri is what he is when it comes to bullpen usage, so there's really no point getting too upset over him following his standard script.

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Good post

Every game an LSU team loses, is the coach's fault. In every sport. We should be undefeated in all sports. No one has more talent than Louisiana in all sports. Every bumpkin anywhere can coach better than the fools we have coaching our teams.

This is the mentality of too many people on the rant.

PM didn't get the hook out earlier because PM doesn't have enough faith in our bullpen to go 4 plus innings. A stuggling Poche > our bullpen in PM's eyes. That's why Poche stayed in as long as he did.

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On this board, NEVER EVER blame the players Instead of the coaches.

ESPECIALLY in football.

That's a TD deadly sin.

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:rofl: Exactly my point

Why does it have to be an either/or? I mean, Poche' completely melted down, and that's clearly on him. He still maybe gets out of that mess if Hale fields his position cleanly. The worst part of that was these were mental errors, not physical ones. So yeah, the players making dumb arse mistakes is clearly on them.

But the team being so tight they could turn coal into diamonds is on the coach. This is a team that played mentally soft, and yeah, that's on the individuals, but when its the whole team, its clearly the coaching staff failing to set the right tone.

Also, Poche's meltdown was slow. Mainieri had ample opportunity to take him out of the game and he did not. He even had a reliever warmed in the pen in Newman, who could have come in during that bases loaded jam, but he didn't call on Newman until the horse was out of the barn. It was Poche's second consecutive bad inning, and it was marred by a whole host of mental errors, yet Mainieri made no move.

Sure, Poche' is on the hook for absolutely melting down, but Mainieri is also on the hook for not going to his bullpen while the meltdown occurred. He made the decision that Poche' was going to work his way out of the jam, and that decision was wrong. Now, it doesn't mean going to Newman would have worked either, but coaches get paid to make tactical decisions like this one, and he made one that failed spectacularly.

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I 100% agree with that. In general, I think people forget that sometimes the opponent just makes a great play and that it doesn't have to be a player or coach's fault.

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That's the exact opposite of what happened yesterday.

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Buck stops at the top. Mainieri gets payed a million dollars a year to take the blame for not having his team prepared for the biggest stage in college baseball

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I'm sure he told Poche to airmail those two tosses and then lose it mentally

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A 19-21 year old D1 college baseball player should be able to keep their head in the game. This is the most pathetic thing I have ever seen posted on the Rant.

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We've all seen players at every level and every sport have this happen to them; yet, you expect players in college to play perfect 100% of the time and not have a lapse in judgment. It happens all the time, and it'll happen again in the next game. We just don't know if that lapse will affect the game.