It would be a horrible move by the ncaa to make a team play (finish) three games in one day. Let's not forget, having someone pitch one night/late afternoon and then come back and pitch quality innings the next morn is a little difficult, arms arent made like that. Odds are they will finish the game tomorrow then the winner play Rice. And if the tigers do go on to finish the game and win... you play game 6 to get to game 7, meaning you leave everything and everybody (pitchers) on the field, worry after the game who will pitch game 7
well it would be a brilliant move.... detty pitches up to 5 IP tomorrow...then english, faircloth, whoever else would pitch in relief..... DETERMANN CAN PITCH 5 INNINGS A DAY IF HE HAS TO...AND HE KNOWS IT...he's a rare breed dirks starts, determann in relief...no problem....:tigbas: :lsup: :geauxtige LSU!
Determan only has a 3-4 inning arm... really should be kept under 3 IP... he will step up, but I doubt he goes past the 4th... anyone thought about what happens if Rice hits him hard in the 2 Inning and we have to go to bullpen to early...I could even see pitching Dirks.. the Determan in relief, then starting Determan in Game 7 and bring Smith in if needed for some middle relief.
If worst comes to worst, I wouldn't be suprised to see Clay Harris pitch a little. He was mainly a pitcher as a freshman (and a pretty good one at that, 3-0 record), and i remember hearing something getting alot of work in at pitcher before this season got started. Plus Justin Meirer should be ready to go if we have a game Tuesday, even tomorrow.
It seems very odd not to go with Dirks in Game 6 tommorow. In fact, it is the wrong move. IF Ramirez finishes the NWSt game (or Nall/English are involved), I think you start Dirks expecting 6-9 innings. If you have a big lead, yet Dirks cannot finsh, you go with bullpen guys not named Determan. If Game 6 is close when Dirks runs out of gas, it's Determan first out of the pen and to the end. Make it to Tuesday, and you start Meier for as long as he can go followed by Determan and even Smith in short relief. But, if Smoke starts Determan in Game 6, he must expect 4-5 innings followed by whatever pitchers are the best matchup and/or get into a good rhythm. Then, Dirks goes as far as he can Tuesday with Meier and Smith in short relief. My Opinion: I like the idea of Determan being there for both Rice games in relief considering he had Sunday off and has not had a heavy workload this weekend. I'd start Dirks in game 6 and hope not to use Determan at all so that I could really stretch him out on Tuesday either as a starter or as the first releiver for Meier (who would be on a very short leash).
Determan said in a interview that his arm dosent get tired easy, he said he could pitch day after day if smoke wanted him to. I believe this was in saturdays paper.
It's hard to imagine that our 2nd best pitcher may not pitch in the regional. That's one helluva gamble by Smoke to start Determann over Dirks in game 6. Hope it works...
I would have to have access to all of the information that Smoke does before questioning any decision he eventually makes. Whatever he does, I'm sure there will be hell to pay if LSU loses either game. But, if I had to decide based upon the meager amount of information available to TigerForums members, I would go for the win today (assuming we finish off NSU) then deal with tomorrow tomorrow. I would start Dirks.
Gradin - I would normally tend to agree with your assumption that Smoke just said Determan would get the start while he's likely to start Dirks instead, but baseball is a little different when compared to the other sports. By that I mean, it is pretty much considered bad baseball etiquette to "dupe" the other team into thinking you are going to start one pitcher and then actually start another. Having said that, considering the situation we are in, I'm hoping your assumption is correct. I just don't know if Smoke has the balls to pull off this sort of move.
