I ran into John Taylor last night. Very nice young man and he seemed very confident Louisiana will take the series against Coastal. I’m paraphrasing here, but he said the team is extremely locked in and ready to roll.
That is great to hear. Taylor has been one that it has become easy to love. If we could get a couple of “charmin’s” on board, pretty much everybody will be locked in.
I actually applaud what the staff is doing with the pitching.
It’s been said over and over (and rightfully so) that this team lacks starting pitching. So if you have a full staff of relievers, why not use them in that way?
Deggs laid out the pitching “lineup” prior to both games this week. And that’s exactly what happened.
We’ve complained about guys not having roles. I don’t know how much more of a role you need to have when you are told, you have the 3rd and 4th inning on X day. So again, addressing another issue.
Deggs said that he wants his best guys to pitch more often. In this approach, I’m guessing most of what he considers his best guys will throw tonight. And then again on Sunday. Relievers can throw a couple of innings on Friday and come back Sunday. It happens all across the country every weekend. In college baseball and professional baseball.
To the criticism of it being unorthodox, or reading between the lines of a few comments, almost embarrassing, I say kudos to the staff for recognizing that what has been being done all year clearly isn’t working…and making changes in an effort to fix it.
Who knows if the results will be better. But I think we can all agree that throwing the same guys out there to start, and hoping and praying to get 5 innings out of them, probably would lead to getting swept this weekend.
I will be interested to see how and where Hammond and McGehee fit in to the equation. With both having injury issues at some point, my guess is that they were given the mid week off, and that one or both may be asked to go as long as effective in the Saturday game. We shall see.
Either way, the offense is going to have to score some runs for this to be a competitive weekend.
If I can piggy back on a few comments. Cooper certainly knew he was starting on Tuesday. I know this because I knew he was starting on Tuesday and I'm not getting that info without the player knowing. I got that info on Monday. I'm sure he did as well.
It is not uncommon for a coach to use a pitcher for an inning or two on Friday and then come back with the same pitcher on Sunday. BUT we are used to seeing that with bullpen guys. The fact we may do it with a starter may seem strange, but it's the same thing.
Since we saw it on Tuesday, my guess is Cooper is going to go two. A guess, but an educated one. The number of pitches he throws in those two innings will dictate whether he starts Sunday or not. And, it should be noted that number is different from pitcher to pitcher. (I don't know what Coop's number is, but I do know he recovers quickly.)
And, although it's unorthodox, I agree it probably gives us the best chance to win.
Now....I will agree that this decision highlights some issues we have. I have my own opinion what those issues are and I have my own opinion on the solution. I choose to keep those opinions and solutions to myself (well, myself and Coach.)
Just wanted to clarify a couple of things prior to the start of the series. See you at the ball park and GEAUX CAJUNS!!!
At that point it is really no different than any other game. As indicated earlier, each pitcher will pitch to the earlier of needing to be replaced for ineffective pitching under regular circumstances or going through the lineup once.
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