Thank You, UNO
by Poseur on May 31, 2008 2:59 PM CDT
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PrintI'm not second guessing, I'm first guessing. UNO not pitching Cryer was a mistake. It was a stupid mistake. It was a mistake that was driven by the Privateers giant LSU inferiority complex. They came into this weekend not trying to win the regional, but to beat LSU. That was the driving force behind the use of the pitching staff, and completely ignored the fact that Southern Miss is a pretty good team in their own right.
But let's not look a gift horse in the mouth: thank you, Privateers.
UNO is now faced with this situation: if they beat Texas Southern they will have to beat the LSU-USM loser. Cryer will start that game, so there is no guarantee they even saved their top starter for LSU. If they win, they have to turn around and play another double header tomorrow.
By the way, their bullpen stinks. Playing four games in 48 hours, three of them against the top two seeds, is a bad strategy for advancing. So, thank you Privateers. We salute you for making things more difficult on yourselves.
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First guessing your first guess
Their mistake was not sitting Cryer, it was throwing Garcia (their No. 3) instead of Whalen (the No. 2) against USM. I agree with the decision to hold Cryer because you need him to beat LSU at least once if you’re going to win the regional, it’s your only chance. Your No. 2 or 3 has a much better chance of beating the Golden Eagles than the Tigers.
You hope you can win game one with your No. 2 and hold onto Cryer, knowing you get Texas State in the loser’s bracket. Then if LSU falters against USM, Cryer is waiting. If you have to win twice on Sunday against LSU, you’re already out of it no matter what you have left. If you win game one, Cryer is sitting there with a chance to beat LSU in the winners bracket and to advance to Championship Sunday needing to be beaten twice.
Now they sit and wait for their opponent tonight, who will also be playing its second game of the day. The Privateers only chance to make a super regional now is to face LSU with Cryer and then needing to beat USM twice on Sunday.
Loser's Mentality
They stood up and told USM they were looking past them and worried about LSU. And then proceeded to play like they were looking past USM.
What they have now done is saved Cryer for an elimination game against (hopefully) the same team they lost to on Day One. Oh, and you’ve now ensured that Cryer is not available for relief on Sunday. This was all about eyeing a mtachup with LSU without ever thinking about the game they had to win against USM. It spoke to their mentality.
Avoid the loser’s bracket. This result was emminently predictable.
Look at what LSU did to USM's No. 2
The same would have happened to UNO’s guy. Clearly, Southern Miss would have been well suited to throw someone other than Bowden in the first game because they proved they could beat UNO without him and then been able to put him against LSU.
Either way, when you’ve only got one pitcher worth anything, you’re facing an uphill climb. So, neither of these teams were going to get out of Baton Rouge without a little luck, and clearly neither got it.
It can be debated til the cows come home about when to throw your No. 1 or No. 2, but if you’re a 2-seed or a 3-seed, you aren’t advancing unless you’ve got a pitcher (or two)that can knock off the big dog and get that match up. Neither UNO or USM were able to do that this weekend and LSU cruised against their inferior pitchers.
by Purple Reign on Jun 1, 2008 10:38 PM CDT up reply actions
The only thing I can think
Is that they were giving away the first game. They figured that even with their ace pitching, they didn’t have a chance against USM’s ace, so they tanked the game. Believing they would lose regardless, they held their best pitchers back, saving them for the loser’s bracket.
Stupid, but it’s the only thing I can think of.
Richard Pittman
by Richard Pittman on May 31, 2008 6:42 PM CDT reply actions
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# - SEC Tournament Seeding
Team Name = Eliminated from SEC Tournament
| West | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
2 LSU Tigers  |
17 | 10 | 40 | 13 |
| 5 Mississippi Rebels |
14 | 13 | 34 | 19 |
| 7 Arkansas Razorbacks |
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| 8 Mississippi St. Bulldogs |
13 | 14 | 31 | 21 |
| 10 Auburn Tigers |
12 | 15 | 29 | 24 |
| |
7 | 20 | 19 | 33 |
| East | Conf | Overall | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | W | L | |
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18 | 9 | 41 | 12 |
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17 | 9 | 38 | 13 |
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16 | 11 | 38 | 15 |
| 6 Georgia Bulldogs |
13 | 13 | 30 | 22 |
| 9 Vanderbilt Commodores |
13 | 14 | 26 | 25 |
|
8 | 19 | 24 | 28 |
