Men UConn @ Long Beach State Dirtbags (3/16/22 @ 9p EDT on ESPN+/MIXLR)

[UConNick]

Cutting back from a commercial and some poor kid is getting hit in the balls - puncher made better contact than we have all night

 

[ATLDYKA]

Bobby McBride comes in for the B8 as the 7th UConn pitcher to see the mound tonight.

McBride proceeds to issue 2 BB w/ a single in the between and is replaced by Jack Sullivan as the 8th Husky pitcher w/ bases loaded - no outs.

Sullivan keeps them scoreless w/ a strike-out and a generous double play.

There's Sullivan, 8 pitchers later, there was my starter.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[UConNick]

Damn. They walked Stock. I at least wanted to see him keep the hit streak alive.

 

[huskymedic]

Was what it was (pretty fugly)… Back to back mid-week games bit them. Huskies are 12-3 heading into a winnable series vs. UC-San Diego starting Saturday.

Feel bad for the pitching staff who have to spend a bus ride down I-5 trapped w/ Josh MacDonald tomorrow.

 

[Bomber36]

Well, at least I got a couple of t shirts out of the deal.

 

[Pudge]

Well ... when Ian Cooke throws a gem, we all pump out our chests; this kid Voelker went 7 with zero hits. He looks like he has barely pitched since High School. 2 years of Covid. So I tip my hat.

Still we had a really concerning Offensive display at too too many walks.

 

[huskymedic]

 

[businesslawyer]

Well, at least we didn’t waste a good pitching day with bad hitting, or a good hitting day with bad pitching. We just chose last night to suck in every aspect of the game.

It’s baseball. Awful games happen, and this wasn’t against a bad team. USD isn’t at the level of the last five games. Let’s sweep the series and leave no doubt that this was a successful road trip.

That having been said, throwing balls must be contagious. How does a team that hasn’t been walking that many in two weekends have a night like that.

 

[Pudge]

Love Penders. He was direct and pointed out exactly what his expectations were and where that team fell short. Outlined kids that are on the rosters as Pitchers that got a mound appearance and did not come near performing to our standard. Yes Coach MacDonald is not gonna be fun to be around. We have three days - 2 days of new spring training - before our 6pm PST game at UCSD. Tritons. Let's see. Gonna need a far better approach by our hitters.

Still. That was 7 innings of No Hit ball by a kid - by my reading - has not played much (through Covid) since high school 3 years ago. Pretty awesome innings

 

[scotty0330]

How many coaches step up like that and own the loss. Clearly stated he didn't have the kids ready, the whole team didn't do anything well including the third base coach (him). Total accountability across the board. hey games like last night happen to even the greatest of baseball teams. they bounce back against UCSD this was just a blip then we will have forgotten about it and had a hell of a west coast swing. God I love Penders

 

[dbmill]

If David Smith is going to continue to start at 2nd over Fedko his defense has to be better than what he has given us through 15 games. His average tinkering around .200 isn't helping either. I do know he draws his share of walks, but I'm struggling with not seeing Fedko now for that.

David Smith had a slow offensive start, then started to hit, and now he is back into an offensive slump. He started out the season being among the team leaders in walks, but with this particular slump the walks went away as well.

I have always been someone who favors moving players up and down the batting order based on how they are doing on offense. As long as Smith persists in this slump, it would seem to me that if Smith is going to be in the lineup (he has only not played one game) he should be moved to the bottom of the batting order until his offense makes something of a comeback. They moved Huber down a few notches in the lineup when he was slumping, to me it would make sense to do the same with Smith.

 

[dbmill]

Well, it's baseball and I guess UConn was due for a bad game, and from what I gather they had it collectively in all phases of the game, that is for sure.

Some observations on the pitching to go along with the post game interview. It seems to me Hector Alejandro has pitched better in his relief appearances then in his two starts. UConn only has a need for a second weekday starter three more times in the regular season, it might be best to keep Alejandro coming out of the bullpen. and give those three spot starts to Garrett Coe. I'm inclined to think Sullivan is going to be a big fixture out of the bullpen, so I don't mind leaving him there, where no doubt he will get plenty of innings, especially since we might very probably be seeing less of Ian Cooke out of the bullpen if he gets the bulk of the midweek starts.

The one guy other than Sullivan who did really well in his bullpen stint was Cole Chudoba. Hopefully this appearance will get him back to how he was pitching when he was on the Cape last summer.

Coach Penders did not seem to think that Brendan O'Donnell did all that badly, and that he liked how O'Donnell competed. Based on those words, it would seem that O'Donnell will continue to get some chances to show what he can do.

 

[hardcorehusky]

David Smith had a slow offensive start, then started to hit, and now he is back into an offensive slump. He started out the season being among the team leaders in walks, but with this particular slump the walks went away as well.

I have always been someone who favors moving players up and down the batting order based on how they are doing on offense. As long as Smith persists in this slump, it would seem to me that if Smith is going to be in the lineup (he has only not played one game) he should be moved to the bottom of the batting order until his offense makes something of a comeback. They moved Huber down a few notches in the lineup when he was slumping, to me it would make sense to do the same with Smith.

Not only is he slumping at the bat, his fielding has not been good. I am not sure that he warrants starting ahead of Fedko right now.

 

[huskymedic]

UConn Fielding Stats through Thursday:

 

[huskymedic]

UConn Batting/Pitching Stats through Thursday:

 

[dbmill]

Not only is he slumping at the bat, his fielding has not been good. I am not sure that he warrants starting ahead of Fedko right now.

Always possible that Bushling may see more time at 2B as well. I would think that if Padilla keeps producing on offense, he will continue to get starts at shortstop. The emergence of Padilla moves Bushling to other spots in the infield.

 

[businesslawyer]

Not only is he slumping at the bat, his fielding has not been good. I am not sure that he warrants starting ahead of Fedko right now.

I understand practices count, but this is the point I’ve been making from the beginning. At no point this season has Smith proven that he’s a better player to have at Second than Fedko was the last three years. Maybe he’s proven it in practice. Maybe if we give Fedko enough ABs we find he isn’t as good as he was. I have no problem with 4 year starters being beaten out for playing time, but you would think they really have to be beaten out to be taken out o the lineup.

 

[businesslawyer]

The other question that has to be asked is whether Kevin Ferrer is hurt. Because while we have at least nine starters for the 8 non-Catcher positions, he’s playing far too well to not be in the lineup at least some of the time.

 

[dbmill]

I understand practices count, but this is the point I’ve been making from the beginning. At no point this season has Smith proven that he’s a better player to have at Second than Fedko was the last three years. Maybe he’s proven it in practice. Maybe if we give Fedko enough ABs we find he isn’t as good as he was. I have no problem with 4 year starters being beaten out for playing time, but you would think they really have to be beaten out to be taken out o the lineup.

By the same token, the coaches have had the opportunity to watch Christian Fedko and his defense at 2B during his time at UConn. It would seem that would factor into any decision to play Fedko in the field as well. I would think the coaching staff has a good idea of Fedko's strengths and weaknesses at this point.

I will note that In the preseason position player interview with Coach Hourigan, it was said that Fedko potentially could see time at either D.H. or 2B, so I would certainly never rule out the possibility of Christian playing in the field entirely.

One thing for certain, if you are a bench player at UConn and you get a chance to play, it really helps that you come out of the box producing right away. You do that, and it seems that you will be given additional chances. Bryan Padilla has certainly taken advantage of is chance to play this season, we will see how long he can run with it.