Laf G7: Louisiana vs Arizona

[Just1More]

I think the Zona coach and Mike Lotief came from the same school. Delay after delay after delay. Its obviously more common in softball but Mike is still an outlier. Zona is definitely an outlier for baseball. I don't ever recall seeing any other team in 30 years do more to slow a game down than they did. Exact opposite of how Tony runs a game. I should have kept track of how many times their infield met at the mound, coach goes to the mound, catcher come out from behind the plate to change signs, 3rd base coach timeout to talk to batter, taking the field extremely slowly.

You are right. But Arizona's coach probably decided early on to help interrupt our fan advantage. Tony never had a reason to disrupt our pitching staff. It has worked pretty well just to let Thurman keep the pitchers on their rythmn. I really never saw a time that Tony should have interrupted the game. I doubt the Arizona coach would have done that had the regional been in Arizona.

[cajunhawk]

I don't think it was a lack of edge. Hindsight is 20/20. But there was no reason to believe Evan couldn't give us some good innings. And after watching Arizona grind it out, we should have felt confident that any combination of our staff would wear them down. The surprise was how much arm strength and control is on that Arizona staff. It was far more about how impressive they pitched from start to finish than anything else. You cannot expect to beat teams that hold you to 3 runs and 1 run in game 6 and game 7. It was not about our pitching. It was about their pitching. They gave us 1 meaty pitch in game 6 that resulted in 2 of our 3 runs. And they gave us one meaty pitch in game 7 that resulted in a single run. They silenced our bats with a tremendous pitching performance.

I agree. Arizona pitched themselves into the Supers, I'm not arguing that. It's was the lack of urgency that Tony had the better pitcher, Guillory's SBC tourney appearance not included, in Marks and chose to ride Guillory and hope for the best because he thought we could get into their pen and exhaust their arms. Way too conservative a strategy and putting Marks out there would have possibly yielded a better result, i.e., less than a 6 run deficit to overcome, which odds were very favorable to to. Now losing Game 6, losing the driver seat in the regional, and being flummoxed at the plate by a guy on two game's rest...all that had to get in their heads. All that came from being passive, and thinking we could outlast their pitching, instead of putting the best we had available to put a roadblock on game 6 and not even think about game 7. Pitching in game 6 thinking about game 7 lost us this regional.

[cajunhawk]

I've played and followed a lot of baseball... and "urgency" was never a term considered. "Urgency" is a fan feeling. "We had better start doing something, or we're going to lose.". The men in the trenches were doing what they could. It was Arizona's day. Hats off to them.

Baseball might not have a time limit...but 27 outs is 27 outs. If you aren't counting them in your head and feeling something burning under your ___...what the ____ are you doing?

[Cajunrunner]

It's amazing how Tony lost the edge from Sunday to Monday.

Probably time for him to hang them up, he clearly doesn't know what he's doing.

I bet Cajunhawk was a hell of a collegiate athlete in his day and would make a hell of a coach. He would put Robe in his place!

[cajunhawk]

I bet Cajunhawk was a hell of a collegiate athlete in his day and would make a hell of a coach. He would put Robe in his place!

[raoul]

Pecan Patrol!

[cajunhawk]

Pecan Patrol!

You say that like it's a bad thing...

[ManAboutTown]

I think the Zona coach and Mike Lotief came from the same school. Delay after delay after delay. Its obviously more common in softball but Mike is still an outlier. Zona is definitely an outlier for baseball. I don't ever recall seeing any other team in 30 years do more to slow a game down than they did. Exact opposite of how Tony runs a game. I should have kept track of how many times their infield met at the mound, coach goes to the mound, catcher come out from behind the plate to change signs, 3rd base coach timeout to talk to batter, taking the field extremely slowly.

Anytime a runner made it to scoring position, there was a meeting. Anytime a runner reached, Catcher stood up, first or third baseman would come in and change things up. It was a nightmare. Then, every frickin hitter would stand outside of the box forever. Constant meetings between coach and batter during at bats. Umpires had no control of pace of play. (I don't have much good to say about the crew they sent us this weekend.)

[raoul]

Depends on your perspective!

You say that like it's a bad thing...

[Just1More]

And even with all of that, if Kennon finds a way to poke that pitch into the outfield, we probably win that game. Also, If we don't kick the ball around in the first inning with Wyatt on the mound, it's 1-1 going into the 9th inning. Umpire squeezed both Guillory and Marks, but I'm not going to make it about that.

No one wants to hear this right now, but Arizona was better. They dug deep and battled. They got big hits and executed their gameplan to perfection.

The coach, Jay Johnson? I'd like to catch that guy in a back alley.

Exactly. Evan worked too hard to figure out that ump's zone. And he just couldn't find the edge. Wyatt wanted to find that drop ball he's a master with... and it was dropping 5 feet before it's time. One of the runs was on his wild pitch. I felt the ump's zone definitely got in both of their heads. But Arizona figured out how to work that to their advantage.

I know people were down on Kennon for that at-bat. But that was a great pitch. The ball was coming right down main street and ran up into Kennon's hands. It was a great pitch. The pitch caused the soft grounder... not the batter. I'd love to take some of the fans and place them at the plate. They have absolutely no idea what is actually going on.

Coach Johnson has an irritating way about him, no doubt.

[cajunhawk]

Depends on your perspective!

I'd do it all over again if I could.

[raoul]

No doubt.