Cincinnati Series

[mets1090]

Time of first game on Saturday has been moved up to 1:00 PM in favor of the original 3:00 PM start. I was puzzled as to why they would have a double header start so late in the first place but the time change fixes that.

In general, anything less than 2 out of 3 would be a disaster against this team. A sweep would not be surprising in the slightest, even given our erratic fielding.

This post is brought to you from the Homer Babbidge Library during finals week at UConn. My productivity levels are clearly off the charts.

 

[uconnbaseball]

Cincy is 2-16 in Big East play. They make us look like the Yankees by comparison. I would honestly be disappointed with2 wins this weekend...we need a sweep. Our next two series in BE play will be quite difficult.

 

[mets1090]

I would also be disappointed with 2 wins. I am just hesitant to say we should or must sweep any team. Of course, if we want to have an outside shot at winning the regular season title, and for the sake of getting as good a seed as possible in the tournament, we need this sweep.

 

[rw005]

I'm going to come out and say it, we have to, I REPEAT we have to sweep Cincy. 2 (would be about 20 percent happy) but this a very imporant series and we can not F around.

 

[mets1090]

http://www.uconnhuskies.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/050412aaa.html

Interesting stat...

"Staff Struggles... Redshirt-freshman right-hander Jordan Tabakman was the last UConn starter to earn a win with a seven-inning effort at Pittsburgh (4/6). Since then, only senior righty David Fischer has pitched more than six inning, going 7.1 in a loss at St. John’s (4/13). In the last 14 games, starters are 0-6 with a 7.67 ERA. The bullpen is 7-1 with a 3.54 ERA over that stretch, tossing 61 innings to the starter’s 63.1."

If neither UConn starter records a win tomorrow it will have been one month since the last time a starter got a win. Yikes. 7.67 ERA? Boy are we lucky to be where we are in the standings. Hopefully a series against the cellar-dweller Bearcats will help our staff right the ship.

 

[Husky Harry]

Mazzilli one out 2 run double in bottom of ninth wins it 4-3

 

[Dann]

this team just pains me at times. marzi is having a career day here throwing 1 one hitter going into the 9th. unreal. were down 1-0. they have 1 hit and 1 run. we have 0 runs, 5 hits and made a error. kid pitched his ass off and we couldn't do anything to help.

 

[Dann]

1,2 and whoops what do u know. error2b. runner on 1st 2 outs now top 9. we get the 3rd. now can we get this kid a W.

 

[ATLDYKA]

And the one run is unearned. Cincy has a total of 4 hits on the day and could have swept the series. UConn was fortunate to win the first game. Couple of chance this game but same old story. Guy on third with no out in one inning and can't get him home, then 1st and 2nd no outs with Mazzilli up and he grounds into DP. I know he is their best hitter but when you are struggling to plate runs I don't see why you can't ask Mazzilli to bunt the runners over. Cincy has the worst ERA in the Big East. You would thing they are throwing 2 Cy Young Award winners at us. We have gotten hits just can't execute and play fundamental baseball and move them around. Well maybe they can pull another one out in the bottom of the ninth.

 

[Dann]

mazz and fuller both pop out to the right side of the infl. paul flies out to lf.

 

[johnhuskies95]

Did Paul swing through a take sign?

 

[Dann]

Did Paul swing through a take sign?

i was wondering the same dam thing. 3-0 count in that spot i dont swing until 2 strikes....

 

[ATLDYKA]

Lose 1-0 on a 1 hitter by Marzi and the run is unearned. Just terrible. This team is so frustrating. No excuse for losing a game to Cincy. I guess they don't have the worst team ERA in the Big East anymore?

 

[mets1090]

For those of you that were not there, UConn was scorching line drives quite a bit today. Unfortunate that they were just all right at people. In the 4th or 5th inning when JoePa made an out with the runner on third, the infield was in and he hit a screamer over the 2nd baseman's head and he somehow stabbed it out of the air. Martin hit what could have been a 2 run double if not for the outfield being shifted. There were a couple of others too. The score easily could have been 5-1 UConn if how well we actually hit showed through.

Marzi was absolutely dominant, obviously the best any UConn pitcher has looked this year. Cincinnati never had a chance at scoring more than that 1 unearned run.

 

[ATLDYKA]

Game 3 - Feehan comes in with a 4-1 lead in the 7th and gives it up. He has had a real disappointing year. UConn has out hit Cincy again but can't manufacture runs. My belief on what kills this team is the philosophy and I guess it is one of Jim Penders. This team seems to swing at so many first pitches and is not patient at the plate at all. In College Baseball you will find that most pitches tend to be wild and it obviously has been the downside of the UConn pitching staff. They walk and hit too many batters as evident of losing a game only giving up one hit and then almost losing game 1 in which they gave up only 3 hits but walked way too many. Going back to our offense we always seem to out hit teams but we don't take near enough walks and make pitchers work and tire them out. We need to take more pitches and work out more walks so when we get those hits they come with men on base.

 

[ATLDYKA]

In the 8th and 9th inning not one batter took more than 3 pitches and 2 made outs on the first pitch. The Cincy reliever has now pitched 7.1 innings and probably hasn't thrown more than 70 pitches. This philisophy of Penders is not working. You need to make these pitchers work more. The more pitches they make the more prone they are to making mistakes. I just don't get it.

 

[ATLDYKA]

Testani actually takes some pitches to start the bottom of the 10th gets a lead off walk. See what happens when you take some pitches. Pavone does a nice job sac him down to second with one out. But then we revert back to be overly aggressive as Yavarone grounds out on a 1-0 pitch and Ferriter flies out on the first pitch.

 

[ATLDYKA]

Good thing we have Oberg. 42/3 innings pitched and the guy has 9 strikeouts. Amazing effort. Now let's get a run in the bottom of the 11th.

 

[ATLDYKA]

Martin gets a leadoff single to start the 10th and 13th and does Mazzilli bunt him over either time. No and both times he makes outs. I know he is probably our best hitter but I am sorry, in a game like this I don't see why he can't bunt to get the winning run to 2nd with 1 out. What makes it worse is that he swung at the first pitch again in the 13th and flew out. Penders just doesn't seem to get it to me that sometimes it takes small ball to win. Sometimes it takes making the pitcher throw strikes as you can win with walks and wild pitches. Getting base hits is not the only way to win.

 

[uconnbaseball]

We win on a Fuller home run. How was this game close? Cincinnati struck out 21 times!!!

 

[mets1090]

Martin gets a leadoff single to start the 10th and 13th and does Mazzilli bunt him over either time. No and both times he makes outs. I know he is probably our best hitter but I am sorry, in a game like this I don't see why he can't bunt to get the winning run to 2nd with 1 out. What makes it worse is that he swung at the first pitch again in the 13th and flew out. Penders just doesn't seem to get it to me that sometimes it takes small ball to win. Sometimes it takes making the pitcher throw strikes as you can win with walks and wild pitches. Getting base hits is not the only way to win.

Penders bunts all the time. Excessively at times. The only people that don't bunt in that situation are Mazz and Fuller, our two best hitters. You can bet literally everything you own that anyone else would be given the bunt sign.

 

[21Huskies]

first time i've ever heard someone complain that Penders doesn't bunt enough.

'small ball' isn't winning baseball despite what you've listened to on TV for the past 20 years.

 

[mets1090]

first time i've ever heard someone complain that Penders doesn't bunt enough.

'small ball' isn't winning baseball despite what you've listened to on TV for the past 20 years.

+1. The sacrifice is almost never a smart play. You don't even need statistics and Sabermetrics to tell you that. You know how you know? Because when the other team does it you are relieved that they just gave you an out.

 

[ATLDYKA]

Gee I must be watching a different team than you this year, I don't know where you see them bunting too much. I know they don't do it well at times in fact they are terrible at it. Small ball does work if you can execute it. This team just struggles at it. Personally I don't think any player on this team should be immune from laying down a bunt. I think they all need to be a little less aggressive at the plate and take more pitches.

 

[mets1090]

Gee I must be watching a different team than you this year, I don't know where you see them bunting too much. I know they don't do it well at times in fact they are terrible at it. Small ball does work if you can execute it. This team just struggles at it. Personally I don't think any player on this team should be immune from laying down a bunt. I think they all need to be a little less aggressive at the plate and take more pitches.

Small ball has statistically shown to be a losing strategy for as long as we have had data on it. In order for it to have a shot at being a long term winning strategy you need to have lights out pitching and excellent fielding, two things we really don't have this year. And even then its only actually effective if your offense is so inept that you have very little chance of getting runs home giving multiple guys chances at getting hits as opposed to bunting one over and giving one guy a chance at a fly ball. This is true in the majors when average players hit .270. In college, average players hit .300 which dictates that small ball is even less of a sound strategy given that they have higher chances of getting hits and scoring in bunches.