IMO these two statements contradict each other. LSU had as much talent or more than anyone else there. Why did other teams adjust better? As I complain, I realize that as an LSU fan reality is blurred by the unbelievable success of the past. #1 there will never be another Skip and comparing coaches since him is grossly unfair. #2 parity is definitely a more applicable term in today's college game than ever before. #3 the game has indeed changed with larger parks and dead bats. Some teams have adjusted while others cling to memories of the past. That being said, I think PM really dropped the ball. After playing in a park that plays similar(Hoover) he still didn't get it. He also didn't adjust to his go to batters struggling. LSU looked flat and uninspired. I think much of that comes from PM's lackadaisical, happy go lucky disposition. I'd like to see a little more fire and spit flying in big time situations. A little less Smoke Laval and a little more Bo Pellini when you're looking at two and through in the CWS seems appropriate to me. Enough complaining, what a great regular season that ended in Omaha. What spoiled baseball fans we are. When just making it to Omaha isn't enough, you must be an elite program. Let's hope this short trip to Nebraska motivates the returning players to step it up a notch in post season and that PM comes to Omaha with a much better gameplan next year. Geaux Tigers
In the loss to UCLA, two errors led to both Bruin runs. The downfall against North Carolina was the lack of timely hitting. I lost track of the number of runners left stranded. And it doesn't help that Bregman, the National Freshman of the year, went 0-9 in the series. It wasn't coaching.
I agree w/you. I was there, too, and agree. In hindsight, some better coaching decisions could have been made, but the players have to execute, and they didn't. Bottomline.
Although I do respect everyone's opinions on this forum, all of these opinions are inaccurate at best. This is clearly Les Miles' fault. Fire Les Miles! Effective immediately!
We hear this a lot, but how often does a pitcher actually get hit and seriously injured or killed? If it is 5% of pitches it would be a dangerous problem, but if it is 0.0005% of pitches, then maybe its something so rare that we can safely just play baseball. I bet outfielders smack their heads into the wall at a higher rate. Nothing keeping a pitcher from wearing a batters helmet if he feels unsafe.
i agree, for the most part. right strategy going with left hander. wrong strategy going with someone who hasn't pitched in a while. and that park is built for small (boring) ball. beautiful park, but shouldn't it resemble the average college park? imho, hell yes! good bunting is the key talent to have in that park.
It was part of the discussion in making the change. Whether or not it's a real problem is up for debate. Some close to the game believe it is. From a story in USA Today: Another element to the new restrictions was the safety of infielders and pitchers. "I do think the safety issue is a real one — some times the ball comes off the bat so hard it's self defense," said Auburn coach John Pawlowski, who had his arm broken by a line drive during his pitching career at Clemson. "This will give you a chance to make more plays, your corner guys especially."
Easier to bring back the 2010 bats. Not the 2003 gorilla ball bats, but todays bats make for a boring game.
Well, they made 2 changes to the bats. I'm not sure when the first change was made, but those bats were fine. These were the same bats we were using during our last championship in 2009. It improved safety, took the cheap HRs out of the game, and eliminated the football scores. For some unknown reason, the NCAA decided this wasn't good enough, so they implemented the bbcor bats in 2010 and that's when scoring plummeted and the game shifted to an unfair advantage for pitchers. (HRs are down 55%!!) I have no idea why they did this. Had they not made this change, the game would be fine. As you mention, they're probably going to have to start using baseballs that the pros use to balance out the game again. I posted this in a thread of it's own, but there's a really interesting Sports Science segment that ESPN did regarding the NCAA (dead) bats and balls. Check it out, if you're interested. http://espn.go.com/espn/sportscience/index (Look for the thumbnail called 'New Bats', which is under the main vid.)
