Speaking of which, if Chad is on second, let him run home on any base hit and give him a go at the catcher. He can just pretend he's JP Wilson or somethin :grin:
My 2 cents... Yes, it got close in the 8th with Cain on the mound. But I was there, in seats behind home plate, and those 8 balls that Cain threw to walk in the first 2 runs were GOOD pitches. Nearly every one of his pitches were at the knee and on the corner of the plate - the "perfect" pitch that all pitchers are taught to throw. The plate ump was extremely inconsistent all day. I saw him call that same pitch a strike many times during the game, but it seemed like he was daring Cain to throw it again - and he did - over and over. And blue kept calling it a ball. (Ochinko even looked over to CPM several times and just shrugged - like "I don't know what's wrong with those pitches, coach".) The only pitches he called strikes for Cain (and there were only 2) were directly over the plate and belt high. The third one that he threw like that was knocked into the gap to drive in the 3rd and 4th runs. Now, don't get me wrong - I wasn't a big fan of Cain's last season either - but I think he got the raw end of the deal today. All of you negativists (is that a word?) - back off a little. We're 2-0, have won the first series of the season, and have a tremendously solid foundation to build upon. Face it - we will NOT go undefeated. As long as we continue to show solid play at all positions and improvement as the season progresses, we'll be OK. :geaux: :miles:
You're being a bit informal, aren't you? I was taught not to shorten people's names that I'm not friends with. Are you friends with John Mary Louise Parker Stevenson Carney Wilson? I think not...where are your manners? :wave:
I'm not sure who these "negativists" you are talking about. We are all for the tigers. One person mention "too close" as the game ended but it could have been a sigh of relief and others may have took it wrong. You are the one trying to expand the negativism. I'm sure you mean it in a good way because, again, we are all for the Tigers to succeed. :thumb:
Good start to the season... even though we all know teams above the Mason-Dixon line don't really play dominant baseball. I really like what I have seen from our starting pitching. Bullpen has been good so far also (even Cain's troubles). Seems like we have made the transition from Geauxrilla Ball, to small ball. I like all the rakers we have on the team. Even if you don't knock the ball 340 ft., you can still score runs putting that little sucker in play.
To support your point. I don't follow baseball as closely as football, so I have no idea how indicative these polls are of recent history. But here are two Top 25 polls. Only Oregon State and Michigan are what I would call "northern" schools. Old Dominion is in Norfolk, VA - which gets cool and stays cool through the spring, but it aint Oregon or Michigan, that's for sure. Sorry about the formatting. C'est la vie. It's late and I go nite-nite now. Baseball America 1.UCLA2.ARIZONA 3.VANDERBILT 4.OLE MISS 5.NORTH CAROLINA 6.MISSOURI 7.OREGON ST 8.MICHIGAN 9.ARIZONA ST 10.MIAMI FL 11.SAN DIEGO 12.SOUTH CAROLINA 13.LONG BEACH ST 14.RICE 15.BAYLOR 16.TEXAS 17.VIRGINIA 18.FRESNO ST 19.UL LAFAYETTE 20.WICHITA ST 21.TEXAS A&M 22.TULANE 23.CLEMSON 24.EAST CAROLINA 25.OLD DOMINION USA Today/ESPN 1.ARIZONA ST (12) 2.NORTH CAROLINA (2) 3.SOUTH CAROLINA 4.RICE (1) 5.ARIZONA (10) 6.VANDERBILT 7.TEXAS 8.OLE MISS (1) 9.SAN DIEGO (1) 10.WICHITA ST 11.OREGON ST (4) 12.FLORIDA ST 13.MISSOURI 14.MIAMI FL 15.CS FULLERTON 16.CLEMSON 17.UCLA 18.MICHIGAN 19.LONG BEACH ST 20.VIRGINIA 21.TEXAS A&M 22.UC IRVINE 23.MISSISSIPPI ST 24.BAYLOR 25.LOUISVILLE
Oregon State is a west coast school... not a Northern school. Old Dominion is Virginia, Virginia succeeded from the Union along with all the other confederate states, and while not deep south... southern enough. Michigan is more like it, and they are 18th but will likely fall down the ranking through the season, and end up 2 seed in some regional. Ohio State was the last "northern" team to win a National Championship in 1966, Minnesota won in 1964, Michigan in 1962, Minnesota in 1960, Minnesota in 1956, Michigan in 1953, Holy Cross in 1952. Thats it... the rest are West Coast, Mid West, Southern. http://www.ncaasports.com/baseball/mens/history
Disagree all you like, I doubt Oregon and Pennsylvannia, Ohio, Michigan et al... all come to mind when someone says northern states unless you are being a master of the super literal. Think Yankee... or maybe I'm a little to Southern for this discussion. Now if you want to further sub categorize as Upper Northwest or such, then by all means sub categorize. But as far as Oregon being a northern state... its not.
