ok, i knew we would drop in bba, but to #7? really? its official. i just dont get bba's reasoning. i mean, they point out ks was playing without an injured all-american, but seem to not realize we have been playing for a few weeks without our #1 pitcher. BaseballAmerica.com: College: Top 25 Rankings: College Top 25: March 15 in collegiate baseball, we are now #3. NCAA DIV I POLL - Current - Collegiate Baseball Newspaper in the usa today/espn coaches poll, same as collegiate baseball. down to #3 from #1. USATODAY.com
Isn't it BBA that get's all pissy when you lose a series. I think if the two losses had been split across two series we would be higher up.
texas was ranked preseason #1 by bba and lost their first series at home to new mexico. and dropped to third, so they only dropped two spots. i expected 3 spots by bba, maybe 4 at the most. but 5? seems a bit much. maybe its my purple and gold glasses, but i just dont see consistency. which i dont understand, because even when were werent so good, i always considered bba to be about the best in college baseball analysis.
To omit this leaves me with two thoughts...1) they didn't do their homework; or 2) they didn't want to provide the info. I can't imagine they had the info but failed to recognize the importance.
I don't think LSU has the pitching depth, right now, to be ranked much higher. Kansas is a good team with good players, but a Top 5 team should've won that series. And if pitching doesn't improve, we're going to find that out in spades during SEC play - there are some good teams on the schedule, starting this weekend with Arky. Missing Ranaudo is a big deal. IMO.
I was kinda shocked at first, but then started to think of our pitching depth. If you consider where we are right now, not having Ranaudo, and having only really good starting pitching behind him, with adequate middle relievers, being ranked 7th is about right. Now if Ranaudo makes it back, and CPM makes the same type of rotation changes like he did last season, about this time, then things could change for the better. :geaux: :tigbas: :LSU231:
its not whatcha got, its whatcha do with it. (and yes, i can hear a lot of wheels turning on how that sounds!) this was our first real stumble without ranaudo, tho he's been out for a couple of weeks now. so this is the first show of what lack of depth could do to us. that i agree with. unless others step up, i dont think we have the depth to go without him and get back to omaha.
yep. the other pitchers haven't stepped it up in ranaudo's absence. bourgeois was atrocious friday night. the hits were also too far spread apart throughout the weekend -- left way too many runners on base. CPM did a good thing moving mahtook up in the lineup, but it was a bit too late IMO. LSU will regroup. rankings don't mean much this early in the season. but i will say one thing: LSU pitching needs to get a lot more consistent for next weekend, or we may lose another series and drop even further down. that could be devastating for our young pitchers' confidence. we're starting TWO underclassmen on the weekend. joey bourgeois is a good pitcher, he just had terrible control friday night. a lot of that was probably butterflies from being moved into the friday night spot. remember that the dude's only a sophomore and played at LSU-E last season. he didn't pitch much late in the season (during their playoff and world series run,) either so he doesn't have many "pressure" situations under his belt. if LSU drops this weekend's series we may have to think about moving ott to friday night starter. not sure if the guy can go more than four or five innings, but we need better starts from the pitchers. if not, we need to start thinking about resurrecting those bats from the 90s.
Manieri is pitching all of his pitchers to see who can do what. Pre SEC is like NFL exhibition. Rankings are fun but let's see who has their ducks in a row in May and June. Assuming Ranaudo is not permanently affected, this is a good thing for us.
