Whenever thngs go awry like they did today, I take some time prior to posting. I went to J O today but left in the 5th inning of game 1 because I was getting too frustrated. I thought back to the first time I saw the Huskies in person in 1981 and how far the program has come. (I used to follow in the 70's but on radio.)
For perspective, I started thinking about who we had last year at each position versus this year and the drop is precipitous at just about each position. Only Toppa in left has had a better year than last year. (I keep Woody at 2nd base for ease). Stefanski had a great year in CF last year, Nucerino has been ok. Isaac Feldstein had a great couple of years- Kyler is just starting to scratch the surface. C Winkel hit better last year(although I thought I saw some good signs today). Woody and Prato are similar year to year without delving into the numbers. C Mo gave us more last year than whatever has happened at 3rd this year and Zac Susi was a hit machine but P Winkel has had some great stretches.
Overall, the team is in a prolonged hitting slump and every error is compounded. The starting pitching hasn't had the length as in previous years but I think the bullpen is deeper. Penders needs to help these guys offensively by using more hit and runs(although it seems we don't get anyone on until 2 outs!!).
Bottom line, I am not sure we are offensively good enough to be an NCAA team and I am not sure we were supposed to be good enough with all the player losses from last year. Some years a team can have great hitting, some years, great d, some years great starting pitching and some years a great bullpen. The more you can put together, the better you are and deeper a run you can have. This years team just doesn't have enough components(they do have a good deep bullpen but other than Mason and Jeff, no deep run starters). The D is ok(not great) and the Offense is what holds it back. Sad because the depth of the bullpen could keep us deep in a tournament.
