Starting Pitching

[HognitiveDissonance]

Has tanked and that's why the tailspin.

Knight was money through five series, getting game 1 and each series off to a great start, which is huge. I would have bet the farm he would have bounced back strong after getting hammered at Auburn. He has been almost dominant in the SEC first half. But he gets rocked again. Very surprising.

Stephan also looked better early on than he has now. He is consistently getting rocked now. I think I put too much stock in him from the non-conf games. The SEC is tagging him.

Combine those two guys struggling---Friday and Saturday starters---and there's your problem.

Only question is if it's temporary or not.

I don't see this team tanking like last year, but I'm also not sure we'll get the mojo going again like we had.

But...really, just get in the NCAAs is all that matters. I believe the 2009 team went to Omaha after going 15-15 in the SEC.

[parallaxpig]

They still have velocity but have lost control. A lot of 0-2 or 1-2 pitches that are groved and driven for extra bases. Positive is peaks and valleys are part of baseball. Hopefully we will start back up the mountain and play best baseball during tournament time which is all that really matters. I would say chances of hosting are slim at best now.........

[bhogs05]

Knight only got rocked at Auburn..he pitched well against Ole Miss for the most part ,just had 2 bad pitches that they hit out of the park.  Stephan has really struggled lately though but he did pitch well after the 1st inning yesterday so hopefully he can get going again.  I agree these 2 are the key for us to be good b/c of our thin bullpen.  Looks like Reindl has proven he can handle the long relief innings at least.  I just hope Chadwick can start pitching without hitting every other batter.

[elksnort]

Does the fact that the starting pitching is not getting through innings quickly as before cause the bats to not hit as well?

This is a question, not a retort.

[BroyledNutts]

Does the fact that the starting pitching is not getting through innings quickly as before cause the bats to not hit as well?

This is a question, not a retort.

I think that's both halves of the problem.

Starting pitching is getting rocked early, giving up way to many early runs, and in turn this causes the offense to press to catch up with one swing...golfing swings, forcing the issue and causing weak contact being ahead of the pitch or incessant pop ups...instead of playing relaxed, maintaining a quality swing, and going with the pitch, and letting the offense happen within the flow of the game.

[tennesseehogwild]

I don't think Knight is a concern yet. They left him in one batter too long Thursday. Otherwise he pitched well enough to win.Alarming to me is the number of extra base hits and homers the staff is giving up. Hope Murphy gets another shot at a Sunday start. Hopefully that was an aberration. Alberius, Loseke, Kopps, Chadwick, Denton are all very iffy at best IMO.

[tennesseehogwild]

Another thing. Most of these guys are at or above career highs in innings pitched. Long season could be wearing on a bunch of them.

[hogginbama]

I also see a more aggressive approach from opposing hitters. Seems Auburn and Ole Miss were sitting on the gastball within the first couple of pitches. Color guy mentioned as much in game 1 yesterday. Said it seemed like it might be time to "pitch backwards in the count" to throw off the hitters.

[HognitiveDissonance]

They still have velocity but have lost control. A lot of 0-2 or 1-2 pitches that are groved and driven for extra bases. Positive is peaks and valleys are part of baseball. Hopefully we will start back up the mountain and play best baseball during tournament time which is all that really matters. I would say chances of hosting are slim at best now.........

It would be nice to have a regional in Fayetteville, yes, but to be honest, this program has done better lately coming off the road. They went to Omaha in 2009 from the Norman Regional. They went to Omaha in 2015 from the Stillwater Regional(or was that 2012?). They hosted a Regional once and got rocked by Ok State. Didn't they win the Super Regional at Florida State in 2012?

I would feel comfortable playing on the road, maybe as much as home. That's why I say, just get in. Barring a complete collapse down the stretch, we should get in.

[HognitiveDissonance]

I don't think Knight is a concern yet. They left him in one batter too long Thursday. Otherwise he pitched well enough to win.Alarming to me is the number of extra base hits and homers the staff is giving up. Hope Murphy gets another shot at a Sunday start. Hopefully that was an aberration. Alberius, Loseke, Kopps, Chadwick, Denton are all very iffy at best IMO.

You are right. I should retract part of what I said about Knight...he did give up some big hits Thursday, but generally pitched well. Nothing like the Auburn game.

With our bullpen, I can't blame Van Horn for leaving him in there.

[Kevin]

YES

[BroyledNutts]

Talking a bit more about the bullpen... is anyone else interested to see a bit more of Matt Cronin on the bump? 
Maybe they're bringing him along slowly... it's possible I missed a game or two where he struggled.

Would like to see Cronin, would like to know if Heiss has any stuff ...

[WilsonHog]

The only one of our bullpen guys I really feel confident about is Jake Reindl, and he was a non-factor just three weeks ago. I too would like to see Cronin get a little more work, and Evan Lee. We really need consistency (the good kind) from Cannon and Alberius. No more mid-week games to use for a inning or two of work, though. 

When you stop to think about it, given the injuries to Campbell, McKinney, Rodriguez, and Scroggins, and Taco's struggles (a 4.99 ERA and a WHIP of 1.435), it is flat amazing we've won 34 games.

[ricepig]

The only one of our bullpen guys I really feel confident about is Jake Reindl, and he was a non-factor just three weeks ago. I too would like to see Cronin get a little more work, and Evan Lee. We really need consistency (the good kind) from Cannon and Alberius. No more mid-week games to use for a inning or two of work, though. 

When you stop to think about it, given the injuries to Campbell, McKinney, Rodriguez, and Scroggins, and Taco's struggles, it is flat amazing we've won 34 games.

That's because we have some offense this year, unlike the past few. My son pitched, it takes a special mindset to come in with guys on and correct someone  else's mistakes. You're expected to be perfect, tough job.

[SPAL]

That's because we have some offense this year, unlike the past few. My son pitched, it takes a special mindset to come in with guys on and correct someone  else's mistakes. You're expected to be perfect, tough job.

And that issue is compounded drastically when you know the offense is struggling and you can't afford to give up even 1 more run.

[Big Nasty 34]

A few things go into the recent struggles. One, it's baseball, and it's hard to play at an extremely high level for a whole season. Honestly, we probably played above our heads for the first half of the SEC schedule and may have raised our expectations prematurely. Knight is a legit SEC starter, but Stephan should probably be our closer and Alberius be our long relief, Brandon Moore type, guy. If we had McKinney and Campbell, those expectations would be pretty realistic.

Also, teams are making adjustments. Auburn had a great game plan and simply outplayed us all weekend. Yet, we were in a decent position to still win the series.

Our offense was on a ridiculous tear for the first half of the season but has come down to earth recently. It happens, it's baseball. We may need to play more small ball/manufacture runs while the meat of our order struggles.

However the season finishes, Hog fans should be confident going forward. Just get to the post season, crazy things can happen!

[jry04]

Has tanked and that's why the tailspin.

Knight was money through five series, getting game 1 and each series off to a great start, which is huge. I would have bet the farm he would have bounced back strong after getting hammered at Auburn. He has been almost dominant in the SEC first half. But he gets rocked again. Very surprising.

Stephan also looked better early on than he has now. He is consistently getting rocked now. I think I put too much stock in him from the non-conf games. The SEC is tagging him.

Combine those two guys struggling---Friday and Saturday starters---and there's your problem.

Only question is if it's temporary or not.

I don't see this team tanking like last year, but I'm also not sure we'll get the mojo going again like we had.

But...really, just get in the NCAAs is all that matters. I believe the 2009 team went to Omaha after going 15-15 in the SEC.

Knight gave up 2 runs through 7 innings. We left him in too long, and he made a mistake on two pitches all game that resulted in 4 runs. Stephan gave up 4 runs in the first inning, which is terrible, but then settled in and went deep into the game not allowing another run. I think it is really unfair to blame starting pitching v ole Miss when they turned it over to our bullpen in the 7th or 8th inning with only 4 runs on the board and this offense supposed to be as potent as they are. We scored 2 runs combined in our first 2 games, and you want to sit here and blame our starting pitchers as the sole reason we lost?

[jbell96]

Has tanked and that's why the tailspin.

Knight was money through five series, getting game 1 and each series off to a great start, which is huge. I would have bet the farm he would have bounced back strong after getting hammered at Auburn. He has been almost dominant in the SEC first half. But he gets rocked again. Very surprising.

Stephan also looked better early on than he has now. He is consistently getting rocked now. I think I put too much stock in him from the non-conf games. The SEC is tagging him.

Combine those two guys struggling---Friday and Saturday starters---and there's your problem.

Only question is if it's temporary or not.

I don't see this team tanking like last year, but I'm also not sure we'll get the mojo going again like we had.

But...really, just get in the NCAAs is all that matters. I believe the 2009 team went to Omaha after going 15-15 in the SEC.

So scoring 2 runs on a combined 7 hits in the first two games had nothing to do with us losing? Good to know. DVH left Knight in a hitter too long in game 1 & Stephan was great after the first inning. With our offense, we should rarely lose games where our starters give up 4 runs.

I really think we'll finish strong, since we have no more midweek games, and guys will be refreshed. 

[WilsonHog]

Losing the opener to Ole Miss had very little to do with our starting pitching and much more to do with our offense managing only two hits and Alberius having a rough night out of the bullpen.

I know that DVH catches some heat from leaving starters in too long at times, but it's hard for me to second-guess him as inconsistent as the back end of our bullpen has been.

[jbell96]

Something else to consider, we just finished a stretch of 9 games in 11 days, and in 4 different cities. Everyone was absolutely gassed, I think DVH even touched on that during Swatter's Club today, saying everyone was glad to have the break after such a tough stretch.

[elksnort]

Losing the opener to Ole Miss had very little to do with our starting pitching and much more to do with our offense managing only two hits and Alberius having a rough night out of the bullpen.

I know that DVH catches some heat from leaving starters in too long at times, but it's hard for me to second-guess him as inconsistent as the back end of our bullpen has been.

I actually felt several times this season that he pulled the starter too soon. And let me admit, baseball was not something I grew up with and DVH is surely one of the best coaches in the business. With this being said, maybe my second guessing has some merit. The best of coaches make poor choices also.

[HognitiveDissonance]

My comments were phrased as 'lately'. Meaning, not just the Ole Miss series. Specifically was thinking of the Auburn/Ole Miss weekends combined.

Starting pitching has given up more runs 'lately' than they were early in the season. Particularly Knight. He set a very high standard thru the first five series. Hard to continue that, probably, but no doubt that has slipped a bit. Winning Game 1 in a series was a given for a while, and now it's not. That changes the complexion of these series quite a bit.

[ricepig]

I actually felt several times this season that he pulled the starter too soon. And let me admit, baseball was not something I grew up with and DVH is surely one of the best coaches in the business. With this being said, maybe my second guessing has some merit. The best of coaches make poor choices also.

It's always easy to correct DVH after his mistake, haha. There's a reason he's paid handsomely for his work, he has to live with his choices, we just type another one.

[swineology]

My comments were phrased as 'lately'. Meaning, not just the Ole Miss series. Specifically was thinking of the Auburn/Ole Miss weekends combined.

Starting pitching has given up more runs 'lately' than they were early in the season. Particularly Knight. He set a very high standard thru the first five series. Hard to continue that, probably, but no doubt that has slipped a bit. Winning Game 1 in a series was a given for a while, and now it's not. That changes the complexion of these series quite a bit.

We had a very easy first part of the season. Now we're facing better hitters with power. Leave one up in the zone, HR.

[HognitiveDissonance]

We had a very easy first part of the season. Now we're facing better hitters with power. Leave one up in the zone, HR.

I wouldn't argue with that, and I also know every season has ebbs and flows, ups and downs. 30 games is a lot. I've always been one to propose 'just see what it looks like at the end of the season', so I'm going to take that approach. Same logic in a football game; it doesn't matter what the halftime score is, or 1st quarter, or 3rd quarter...just tell me the score at the end of the game.

What are we, 13-8? I bet 90% of us would have taken that at this juncture right now.

[swineology]

I wouldn't argue with that, and I also know every season has ebbs and flows, ups and downs. 30 games is a lot. I've always been one to propose 'just see what it looks like at the end of the season', so I'm going to take that approach. Same logic in a football game; it doesn't matter what the halftime score is, or 1st quarter, or 3rd quarter...just tell me the score at the end of the game.

What are we, 13-8? I bet 90% of us would have taken that at this juncture right now.

I'm fine with where we are at this point in the season, barring a total collapse with 16 wins.

[elksnort]

It's always easy to correct DVH after his mistake, haha. There's a reason he's paid handsomely for his work, he has to live with his choices, we just type another one.

Actually Rice, I was first guessing him prior to pulling a starter in one of the games recently.

Again, Arkansas is very fortunate to have him as their head baseball coach. And apparently his staff is excellent too.

[ricepig]

Actually Rice, I was first guessing him prior to pulling a starter in one of the games recently.

Again, Arkansas is very fortunate to have him as their head baseball coach. And apparently his staff is excellent too.

Oh, I first guess, second guess, and even third guess, but that's what mine are, guesses.

[dotnet]

We had a very easy first part of the season. Now we're facing better hitters with power. Leave one up in the zone, HR.

This is really underappreciated it seems.  Arkansas has lost three real series all year.  Those happen to be the three best teams Arkansas has played (not counting midweek or Frisco). 

To look forward, every series left is against a team better than the best team Arkansas has beaten on a weekend (Rhode Island). 

Disclaimer - in this post "better" = "better RPI"

[factchecker]

This is really underappreciated it seems.  Arkansas has lost three real series all year.  Those happen to be the three best teams Arkansas has played (not counting midweek or Frisco). 

To look forward, every series left is against a team better than the best team Arkansas has beaten on a weekend (Rhode Island). 

Disclaimer - in this post "better" = "better RPI"

?

We swept Mississippi State.