OK, the decision has been made. Barring a last minute change of plans Russell Reynolds, with all his flaws will be the game 1 starter. I don't agree with it and neither do most of the fans. To me, it seems like saying, "We can't beat Florida with Poche on 4 days rest so we will just hope for a miracle." It's been said that a coach who listens to the fans will soon find himself on the unemployment line. Of course the opposite can also be true. If Leslie Edwin Miles had listened to the fans he would still have a job. But he was too damn stubborn. He refused to change his approach even when it was obvious that everybody, and not just the fans but the media and especially the opposing coaches knew exactly what he was doing wrong. Paul Mainieri is a stubborn man too. But unlike his football counterpart he has shown he is adaptable to the changing of the nature of the way college baseball has to be played in light of rule changes on the bats and limitations on scholarships. After losing to Stony Brook in the 2012 Super Regional and going 2 and barbecue in the 2013 CWS he began to revamp his approach from the Skip Bertman Geauxrilla Ball wait for the 3 run homer approach to today's small ball, hit and run, steal, bunt approach. After seeing Stony Brook's speedy outfielders rob the Tiger hitters out of extra base hit after extra base hit he started recruiting faster outfielders even if they lacked in long ball power. He was smart enough to realize that nobody was ever going to hit 182 home runs again. So for now I'll at least tacitly go along with his decision to start Reynolds but if we lose the CWS because of it I won't be the only keyboard cowboy blasting his judgement like a Greg Deichmann long ball.
I can agree with that. But minus a few hiccups this season, PM has coached this team to SEC Co-Champions, SEC Tourney Champions, unblemished through the Regionals and Super Regionals, a 4-1 CWS record thus far, beat the #1 team in the Country in 2 straight days, and has LSU in the CWS Finals. I'll trust his judgement and hope for the best.
