I think that after 15 games Smoke should have some idea of who is to be playing where. I've heard that he still isn't happy with his outfielders and is not sure what to do about the left side of the infield. There is definately something lacking in the coaching staff this year. But it's not only the coaches, what has happened to LSU's bats. The players that usually kill the ball are hitting like they haven't played in years. The lack of practice in game situations may have a little something to do with some errors though.
1. I think we all know who is going to be at SS when he gets healthy, until then we just have to deal and hope for the best. 2. We need a 3rd baseman who can hit the ball. 3. We need a consistant lead off hitter. On the bright side, 2 of the three losses were one runners and the third was a sub par performance by guys who didn't really want to be there and by some pitchers who don't get a lot of time. Not to mention their pitcher had a career night. All this aside, there is a reason for pitching being better than the bats in the early season, it happens every year and at every level, they report to camp before anyone else. Also, I would rather lose the games in the early season, while still trying to figure out some things in the lineup and pitching staff than lose them late season when we know everything is pretty much set. No worries, we can start worrying if we can't sweep an SEC series this year.
LSU dropped from #3 to #5 in the Baseball America rankings. I'm not surprised, but still disappointed. http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/top25.html
He'd be ducking sometimes with those old, lighter and more powerful bats and his era would be a lot higher. Gorrilla ball is gone forever, thank God. I'm surprised no pitchers were killed during that era. Why should Smoke be settled on a lineup already? Why should he not be using the early games to see who will play the best against other teams? I really get a kick out of all the supposed experts we have on this site. Something lacking in the coaching this year???? :hihi: :dis:
That was an assumption on my part since they even do it at the highschool level, If someone could verify either way that would be great!
Because the mentality that we can afford to lose at home to teams like UAB and take the midweek games lightly is obsolete in this new era of the Super Regional. Not saying that the nonconference and midweek games shouldn't be used to work out the kinks in the lineup and rotation...but if you let the attitude settle in that these games aren't important, then before you know it, it's June and we're on the outside looking in as far as a top 8 seed (and thus, Super Regional hosting bid) goes...and that's crucial to even getting to Omaha. Nowadays, they're ALL important games.
Well, it's been 6 years now with the SR format ... 3 with Skip and 3 with Smoke. Skip was 1-2 and Smoke is 2-1 in the SR format. All of our SR losses came on the road. I agree it's important to win enough games to get a top 8 seed, but that hasn't been Smoke's problem thus far. Not winning in Omaha is the problem he needs to figure out.
The ONLY real coaching problem I see is that Smoke trends to be pretty stuborn and/or arrogant. He tries to coach idealistically rather than realistically. This is LSU. We recruit guys to HIT THE LONG BALL. What is with all of this fancy small ball? Sure it's vital for an optimum baseball team, but LSU has gotten by without this before, and we can, and will do it again. Stick with what your team does best. Another thing is that Smoke seems to play it a little too cool at the wrong times. When a player has a truly terrible game, he plays it off and says that he'll do better next time. When the same player has a decent, or average game, he makes it seem like it's the end of the world. I'm not sure if reverse psych works in college baseball, but if the players are as confused with his signals as I sometimes am, who knows? :hihi: Back to the point, I don't think Smoke's problem is with his teaching ability or his mechanics, but rather in the way he handles things... He just needs to remember that he's NOT Skip, and he needs to show a little "urgency" sometimes. Other than that I think he does a good job. Now about the assistants? I won't go there! :grin:
