Well, it started off well with the two wins against Lamar. But then, Fullerton came in to continue their mastery over the Wave. Since home game wins only count 0.7 for RPI purposes and losses count 1.3, we needed to go 4-1 (2.8-1.3) to have a good week. Going 3-2, while not a disaster by any means, resulted, for RPI purposes, in a 2.1-2.7 for the week. While RPI is meaningless at this point of the season, that record will remain all year.
Hitting. For the week, we hit .309 (.344 against Lamar and .307 against Fullerton) which, of course, is very good and brings our season-long average up to .271. We’re still striking out too much (88 times in 94 1/3 innings), roughly 8.4 times per 9 innings, but that is about one strike out per game better than last year. And we’re still getting to a two strike count more than I’d like to see (54% for the week/53% for the year), but we’re guarding the plate better. For the week, we hit .212 with 2-strikes, bringing our season-long average up to .182, which is much better than we’ve done in recent years (best being .155 in 2015). We attacked the first strike a little better also, hitting .395 for the week putting the first strike into play (.363 for the year). I’ve followed both of these statistics closely over the years and think they can tell a great deal about a team’s approach at the plate. If you’re putting too many first strikes into play you’re probably swinging at too many “pitcher’s pitches;” too few, and you’re not taking advantage of the pitcher’s effort to get ahead in the count. 25% seems about right. We’re at 24.1% this year while last year, when we hit .413 on the first strike, we were at 25.1%. If you get to 2-strikes too often, you’re probably not being aggressive enough early in the count. Anyway…
For the year, the front end of our order, Artigues (.316), Witherspoon (.333) and Ty Johnson (.326) are really getting it done. Jensen, while hitting only .205, has been hitting the ball well and probably has had the worst luck on the team at bat. Rowland is up to .256 and Hoese (.333) and Gozzo (.286) are probably hitting better than expected; they need to keep it up. Mathews has also gotten additional playing time lately and is 5 for 15 (.333) with 5 RBI’s. Our biggest problem on offense is Acy Owen’s lack of hitting (.214), and going 0 for his last 17. With Kobi Owen out for the year, we need Ty Johnson to concentrate on the outfield and not become our every-day catcher. Right now, only Witherspoon is a “sure” starter in the outfield, though Mathews hitting of late has gotten him a look. Although he didn’t play poorly on Sunday, I still don’t feel comfortable with Rowland in left field. As a group, Heinrich, Glancy, Bedgood, and Sepcich are hitting .185 (5 for 27). If someone doesn’t step up, I wouldn’t be surprised if Artigues (our super utility man) doesn’t end up in left field with Galy taking over at 2nd base. Galy’s 2 for 5 at bat, so that’s not enough to make any judgement, but he’s excellent defensively.
Fielding. Speaking of defense, it’s hard to complain about a .983 fielding average, though our pitchers as a group are fielding .761 with 5 of our 7 errors on the season. Johnson’s wild throw on a base stealing attempt and Jenson’s fumble of a short toss from Massey at first base are our only other official miscues. We’ve certainly made a few “unscored errors” but also some terrific plays. Mathews’s “heads up” grab of the foul pop up muffed by Trent Johnson against Fullerton was only one of three similar plays (the others being in the outfield) that I’ve witnessed in over 60 years of playing and watching baseball. Both Gozzo and Hoese have also made some terrific plays and we’ve made the routine consistently.
Pitching. Our pitching, on the other hand, has been anything but consistent. This week, arguably two of our best pitchers (Roper and McAffer) had horrible outings that put us down big in the first game against Fullerton, and blew a 1 run lead in the 9th inning of the second game. Otherwise the pitching this week was quite good overall. We got good starts against Lamar from Bates and Solesky. Of course, Lamar is a weak hitting team (they did get “no-hit” and “1-hit” in back to back games) and are batting .211 as a team through their season thusfar. On Saturday, Massey had a so-so outing and Gillies was superb on Sunday. Bjorngjeld was excellent for the 7th straight appearance this year and White, Trent Johnson, Green, and Campbell threw a combined 12 innings for 2 earned runs over the week—really encouraging. Unfortunately, Pellerin, Celluci, and Price were roughed up rather badly by Fullerton, allowing 6 hits and 4 earned runs in 1 1/3 innings. But, other than Roper and McAffer’s performance against Fullerton, our staff allowed only 11 earned runs in 43 2/3 innings (2.28 ERA) this week. Again, I find that encouraging. We’ll see if that continues as we go into another five game week.
On a side note: I notice arguments on other Tulane sites regarding Sunday’s game in which seven Fullerton players were suspended. Some suggest this somehow diminishes our win on Sunday and I understand that argument. But, to take a closer look, the three “starters” who sat out the game had a combined .245 batting average for the year. Their three “replacements” went 3 for 10 (.300) in the game so I’m not exactly sure how much was lost by benching the starters. On the mound Sunday, with no midweek games this week, Fullerton threw three of their top seven pitchers based on innings pitched, including three of the five pitchers who have started games for them this year. The other two started Friday and Saturday against us. I’m not sure who exactly got benched who they would have used in place of the guys we hammered but, who knows? And, as for the claim that a bunch of pitchers had to take the field, it is true they ran some pitchers out late in the game but the only one who started the game out of position was Conine, their closer; and he got a base hit. Obviously, with the game out of hand, he was never going to pitch anyway. So, those are the facts as the game unfolded. Let anyone judge how “depleted’ the Fullerton line up actually was. Their web site acts like it was all the difference.
On to next week.
Roll Wave!!!
Hitting. For the week, we hit .309 (.344 against Lamar and .307 against Fullerton) which, of course, is very good and brings our season-long average up to .271. We’re still striking out too much (88 times in 94 1/3 innings), roughly 8.4 times per 9 innings, but that is about one strike out per game better than last year. And we’re still getting to a two strike count more than I’d like to see (54% for the week/53% for the year), but we’re guarding the plate better. For the week, we hit .212 with 2-strikes, bringing our season-long average up to .182, which is much better than we’ve done in recent years (best being .155 in 2015). We attacked the first strike a little better also, hitting .395 for the week putting the first strike into play (.363 for the year). I’ve followed both of these statistics closely over the years and think they can tell a great deal about a team’s approach at the plate. If you’re putting too many first strikes into play you’re probably swinging at too many “pitcher’s pitches;” too few, and you’re not taking advantage of the pitcher’s effort to get ahead in the count. 25% seems about right. We’re at 24.1% this year while last year, when we hit .413 on the first strike, we were at 25.1%. If you get to 2-strikes too often, you’re probably not being aggressive enough early in the count. Anyway…
For the year, the front end of our order, Artigues (.316), Witherspoon (.333) and Ty Johnson (.326) are really getting it done. Jensen, while hitting only .205, has been hitting the ball well and probably has had the worst luck on the team at bat. Rowland is up to .256 and Hoese (.333) and Gozzo (.286) are probably hitting better than expected; they need to keep it up. Mathews has also gotten additional playing time lately and is 5 for 15 (.333) with 5 RBI’s. Our biggest problem on offense is Acy Owen’s lack of hitting (.214), and going 0 for his last 17. With Kobi Owen out for the year, we need Ty Johnson to concentrate on the outfield and not become our every-day catcher. Right now, only Witherspoon is a “sure” starter in the outfield, though Mathews hitting of late has gotten him a look. Although he didn’t play poorly on Sunday, I still don’t feel comfortable with Rowland in left field. As a group, Heinrich, Glancy, Bedgood, and Sepcich are hitting .185 (5 for 27). If someone doesn’t step up, I wouldn’t be surprised if Artigues (our super utility man) doesn’t end up in left field with Galy taking over at 2nd base. Galy’s 2 for 5 at bat, so that’s not enough to make any judgement, but he’s excellent defensively.
Fielding. Speaking of defense, it’s hard to complain about a .983 fielding average, though our pitchers as a group are fielding .761 with 5 of our 7 errors on the season. Johnson’s wild throw on a base stealing attempt and Jenson’s fumble of a short toss from Massey at first base are our only other official miscues. We’ve certainly made a few “unscored errors” but also some terrific plays. Mathews’s “heads up” grab of the foul pop up muffed by Trent Johnson against Fullerton was only one of three similar plays (the others being in the outfield) that I’ve witnessed in over 60 years of playing and watching baseball. Both Gozzo and Hoese have also made some terrific plays and we’ve made the routine consistently.
Pitching. Our pitching, on the other hand, has been anything but consistent. This week, arguably two of our best pitchers (Roper and McAffer) had horrible outings that put us down big in the first game against Fullerton, and blew a 1 run lead in the 9th inning of the second game. Otherwise the pitching this week was quite good overall. We got good starts against Lamar from Bates and Solesky. Of course, Lamar is a weak hitting team (they did get “no-hit” and “1-hit” in back to back games) and are batting .211 as a team through their season thusfar. On Saturday, Massey had a so-so outing and Gillies was superb on Sunday. Bjorngjeld was excellent for the 7th straight appearance this year and White, Trent Johnson, Green, and Campbell threw a combined 12 innings for 2 earned runs over the week—really encouraging. Unfortunately, Pellerin, Celluci, and Price were roughed up rather badly by Fullerton, allowing 6 hits and 4 earned runs in 1 1/3 innings. But, other than Roper and McAffer’s performance against Fullerton, our staff allowed only 11 earned runs in 43 2/3 innings (2.28 ERA) this week. Again, I find that encouraging. We’ll see if that continues as we go into another five game week.
On a side note: I notice arguments on other Tulane sites regarding Sunday’s game in which seven Fullerton players were suspended. Some suggest this somehow diminishes our win on Sunday and I understand that argument. But, to take a closer look, the three “starters” who sat out the game had a combined .245 batting average for the year. Their three “replacements” went 3 for 10 (.300) in the game so I’m not exactly sure how much was lost by benching the starters. On the mound Sunday, with no midweek games this week, Fullerton threw three of their top seven pitchers based on innings pitched, including three of the five pitchers who have started games for them this year. The other two started Friday and Saturday against us. I’m not sure who exactly got benched who they would have used in place of the guys we hammered but, who knows? And, as for the claim that a bunch of pitchers had to take the field, it is true they ran some pitchers out late in the game but the only one who started the game out of position was Conine, their closer; and he got a base hit. Obviously, with the game out of hand, he was never going to pitch anyway. So, those are the facts as the game unfolded. Let anyone judge how “depleted’ the Fullerton line up actually was. Their web site acts like it was all the difference.
On to next week.
Roll Wave!!!
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