Gator Baseball ***OFFICIAL NC SERIES THREAD: UF vs LSU***

[Silverback Gator]

I'm glad I tuned out bottom of 9th. I imagine it was a joy fest for lsu faithful. Did they enshrine Skenes? Did the announcers gobble his goop? Won't turn on ESPN for a few days to avoid seeing the postmortem.

 

[Sec14Gator]

Cags seems emotionally immature still, both at the plate and the mound. It is like watching the best little league pitcher walk two guys early and see their faces completely go blank as they get lost in their thoughts and self doubt. He almost had an AR versus USF look on his face, where the focus on performance was gone because of the focus on the event of failure. You see it on his face still in the dugout and when not pitching, you see it at bat to at bat if he is striking out or popping out.

He needs to mature emotionally more than he needs to fix his mechanics. If he does, his pitch to pitch focus will improve along with control.

 

[deuce]

The espn fluff article about Jac was the kiss of death!

 

[Scott512]

So sorry for all the guys and the entire staff for getting whipped like that in the decisive championship game. Just a staggeringly horrible performance coming off a 24 to 4 win.

But it was a good season for Gator baseball and the big Gator sports like baseball football and basketball have slipped in recent years and it's great that baseball had a really good season because it seems like the only Gator sport that's on top every season or at the top is track and field.

I don't know what to say about LSU congrats I guess. I just wish they didn't even make the finals. they almost lost in the semis and it was fatal that Florida lost that tough first game of the championship series. That changed everything for them.

 

[LoyalGatorFan]

Next year we need to have better starting pitching to make another deep run because we lose some firepower…..I would think Cag and Heyman would continue alternating DH with Cag at 1B otherwise, Kurland at 2nd, that Bama transfer at SS, Halter 3rd, Shelnut LF, Robertson if he doesn’t transfer in CF, Evans in RF….catcher either Heyman or the Coastal Carolina transfer

Weekend rotation I would say the UCLA transfer Allen, Cag, and either Fisher, Neely or a freshman recruit

 

[Spurdog98]

LSU just looked at that forkball as it dove down across the plate to the dirt. BALL!
That nice sweeping fast ball at the knees to the lefties? LSU stroked that into the right field stands.
It sure seems like our Pitching thrived on un disciplined hitters all year, swinging at that 2-2 pitch in the dirt or off the plate.

This I want to address because if drives me fuqing CRAZY. Those sweeping fastballs at the knees to lefties happens when you don't understand the type of hitter you are dealing with. Most HR hitters and power hitters in baseball are upper cut-dead pull hitters..the one place the ball doesn't need to be is inside part of the plate knee to mid upper thigh ht. That **** is gone. up and in, low away or up away is where you have to pitch those guy. And of course NEVER down the dick..period. Every RHP should have a good change up that falls down and away IF they can develop it or at least a sinking 2 seamer because LH hitters hate that spot. Great hitters can hit any pitch where it's thrown but the days of Tony Gwynn and Rod Carew are pretty much gone. Everything now is about HR's and Velo. RHP throwing a breaking ball into the swing of a dead pull lefty is a tank waiting to happen unless you can bury it on the back foot but if you miss...bye.

 

[Joegator96]

This I want to address because if drives me fuqing CRAZY. Those sweeping fastballs at the knees to lefties happens when you don't understand the type of hitter you are dealing with. Most HR hitters and power hitters in baseball are upper cut-dead pull hitters..the one place the ball doesn't need to be is inside part of the plate knee to mid upper thigh ht. That **** is gone. up and in, low away or up away is where you have to pitch those guy. And of course NEVER down the dick..period. Every RHP should have a good change up that falls down and away IF they can develop it or at least a sinking 2 seamer because LH hitters hate that spot. Great hitters can hit any pitch where it's thrown but the days of Tony Gwynn and Rod Carew are pretty much gone. Everything now is about HR's and Velo. RHP throwing a breaking ball into the swing of a dead pull lefty is a tank waiting to happen unless you can bury it on the back foot but if you miss...bye.

Well this past season we had two completely different SP's and they represented about as good as fans could reasonably expect. Both could be dominant and both could get into trouble with good hitting/ disciplined teams. Sproat created leverage off of a high 98+ fastball that tailed in to R batters and away from L hitters. His change was very good and his curve was adequate. He had a ton of 3rd strike looking this past season. Waldrep was what is generally called a "swing and miss" pitcher. Even though he could throw a 96+ fastball his strikeout pitch was the unhittable splitter. It was unhittable because it was never in the strike zone when it crossed the plate. A plate discipline team like LSU watched his best pitch hit the dirt and called a ball so he had trouble.

One of my issues with Sully was his apparent unwillingness to change our the pitch selection when plan A wasn't working. I do not remember a game this season where he had Waldrep use the fastball as an out pitch when the splitter wasn't getting it done. I can make the same complaint about all of our core pitchers except Fisher who I felt used everything effectively almost always (second inning vs LSU excepted). I do believe Sully has a great reputation with the parents and handlers of top prospects and he gets the best ones a lot of money and keeps them away from overuse injuries. That is a big deal in this day and age.

 

[fischerwood]

What's the story ESPN alluded to when referencing Sully's Wife and a personal tragedy? We don't get straight answers up here in leg humper land...

 

[Detroitgator]

What's the story ESPN alluded to when referencing Sully's Wife and a personal tragedy? We don't get straight answers up here in leg humper land...

The "rumor" is that Sully was having an affair with the woman he is now married to. I'm not going to get the rest of this 100% right (someone else may know)... She was married with two sons. Apparently had/having affair with Sully. Her husband was having financial issues with his company. Whether because of the affair, the financial issues, a combination, or whatever... the husband killed the two sons and himself and burned them up in a vacation house (this part was big news at the time). He also supposedly texted the wife that she would never get the kids prior to doing this. Afterwards, she and Sully got married. Maybe there was no affair between them before the murder-suicide, I don't know, but it's messy as fuk.

 

[cover2]

Sunday and Monday were about as far apart for a fan as two games could be. After getting over the disappointment I’m able to appreciate the season. I believe we had two good starters on the mound and though Caglianone had a pretty good season, his inconsistencies, to include his mental fortitude, were kinda on display in the post season. Still had too much talent not to keep trying him on the mound. I sorta thought he could’ve played first and relieved, but Sully obviously had more confidence in him as a starter than a couple of the others.

I felt like 2-5 batters were as formidable as there was in college baseball, but after that we were inconsistent. It was nice to see Evans break out, but our other OFs, besides Langford, left quite a bit to be desired. Robertson seems like the best natural CF, but he’s got a lot of work to do in the cage.

It’ll be interesting to see what the team looks like as next season approaches. Job one will be the starting rotation. The transfers coming in should definitely help.

 

[bradgator2]

The "rumor" is that Sully was having an affair with the woman he is now married to. I'm not going to get the rest of this 100% right (someone else may know)... She was married with two sons. Apparently had/having affair with Sully. Her husband was having financial issues with his company. Whether because of the affair, the financial issues, a combination, or whatever... the husband killed the two sons and himself and burned them up in a vacation house (this part was big news at the time). He also supposedly texted the wife that she would never get the kids prior to doing this. Afterwards, she and Sully got married. Maybe there was no affair between them before the murder-suicide, I don't know, but it's messy as fuk.

Holy shiit

 

[Detroitgator]

Holy shiit

Yeah, it was awkward during one of the games as well when the onfield reporter during the telecast asked one of the players (can't remember who) what the names were written on his arm band... it was the two sons.

 

[Joegator96]

Yeah, it was awkward during one of the games as well when the onfield reporter during the telecast asked one of the players (can't remember who) what the names were written on his arm band... it was the two sons.

One of the sons was the team batboy

 

[bradgator2]

Yeah, it was awkward during one of the games as well when the onfield reporter during the telecast asked one of the players (can't remember who) what the names were written on his arm band... it was the two sons.

They crazy thing is that my brother in law had previously worked very closely with the dad in the story. So I know it well. Somehow, I never heard the Sully connection.

 

[Durty South Swamp]

One of the sons was the team batboy

Wait a minute. I thought the young boy who did that was Sully's son. You're telling me the boy who used to be on the field with sully and walk with him at the end of games was murdered???

 

[Joegator96]

Wait a minute. I thought the young boy who did that was Sully's son. You're telling me the boy who used to be on the field with sully and walk with him at the end of games was murdered???

Don't know about all that! I was told that one of the murdered boys was a batboy that season.

 

[Detroitgator]

Wait a minute. I thought the young boy who did that was Sully's son. You're telling me the boy who used to be on the field with sully and walk with him at the end of games was murdered???

One of the sons was definitely a batboy for the Gators at some point.