May 11, 2017
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Swimming Coach at Central High
With all due apologies to Dennis Green, this LSU baseball team is NOT what we thought they were.
We (especially me) thought Alex Lange was and Jared Poche would dominate Fridays and Saturdays in the SEC. Of course, both have been hit and miss.
We thought the pitching staff would be very deep and many of the pitchers would be hitting their peak right now. Veterans Russell Reynolds and Austin Bain have been used sparingly and have been more miss than hit in those appearances. Freshmen Hess and Walker have met and at times exceeded expectations. Yet other newcomers like Peterson, Beck, and Kiel have had great highs, but more lows. Frustratingly, from one batter to the next. Overpowering one hitter and then completely losing the strike zone on the next two.
All in all, the pitching staff has battled, but has been unable to lead. Walks are a big issue. They are momentum killers. They lead to long innings in the field and teams scoring runs without stringing hits together. Frustratingly, LSU will shut teams out for long stretches and then give up crooked numbers that lead to losses.
In the field, LSU has been stellar and that is the one area we suspected LSU would be elite. The defense has not disappointed, and that has been very important considering the free bases the pitchers have surrendered.
At the plate, the numbers are skewed. I don’t have time this week to do much research, but allow me to use some logical reasoning. Averages can easily be skewed by extremes. Take Antoine Duplantis for example. His batting average is close to his career batting average. He had a game with six hits and another recently with five hits. Basically 11 hits in 12 at bats. Those are awesome numbers. But he could go 0 for 21 in the 5 games surrounding those two games and still average.333. Two great games surrounded by five completely ineffective games are not a recipe for success. He is not the only one to follow this pattern either.
The juggling of the batting order says it all. Coach Mainieri is desperately trying to find ways to get consistent production out of the lineup. He is searching for a lineup that generates runs without stringing three hits together. I respect his willingness to experiment.
Yet, one sign that he is short on options is the reluctance to pinch hit late in games. Usually, Coach Mainieri in his tenure has a gut feeling that certain players will match up better against pitchers with a certain style. He pinch hits those guys late in games and LSU rallies for wins. This year, Mainieri has stuck with the starters no matter the matchup. He clearly does not have a good gut feeling about his hitters on the bench.
We thought the return of Freeman, Robertson, and Deichmann (Duplantis too) would put great pressure on the opposing pitching staffs. Those four were hit well early in the year, but have been very hot and cold for most of the year.
In recent years, LSU has hit their stride in April and May. Those months of great baseball have led to 5 straight national seeds. Unfortunately, it has not led to the same success in June. All of this leads to my new optimistic theory
LSU has peaked too soon in the recent past. Maybe this year, LSU gets hot in late May and stays hot in June.
After watching LSU struggle in another mid-week game, I would not bet the farm on that happening, but we are discussing baseball and LSU has the talent. Lange, Poche, Walker, Hess, Gilbert, and Newman have the ability to dominate opponents on the mound. The lineup can get hot enough to go on a streak. This team still has a chance… a chance, to be the team we thought they were.
HEY REF
O. K., I’m very unhappy that the Saints didn’t take my advice and draft Clemson QB Deshaun Watson. Only time will tell that I was correct when I wrote New Orleans needed to bring in this extremely talented player who’ll no doubt lead his team to a Super Bowl Championship. What grabbed my attention was his consistency on the field. In the three years he played at Clemson his completion percentage was never below 67%.
And we’re all very much aware at how important consistency is at the quarterback position. To me he’ll either be one of the best raw talents to ever come out of the collegiate game or he’ll be the biggest busts ever. But either way New Orleans did themselves and their fans a huge injustice by not getting a QB in the draft since there are none worth trading for and there’s not enough time to have one ready the 2017 season.
The Saints just announced starting center Max Unger’s foot injury will keep him out of the lineup anywhere from four to five months. So just for fun we’ll let Brees take Unger’s place with a foot injury or any for that matter that’ll make unable to suit up. Now let’s try and figure out what the team will do if Brees does go down with an injury and can’t play for at least four or five games. What will they do? They’ll call me for guidance on which player to bring in, right? Of course not but can anybody explain the reason(s) for not getting Brees’ successor on the roster, into training camp and learning the playbook. I guess if they feel confident their quarterback will go for another few years without a major injury then us uneducated people in the football world will just have to sit back and enjoy the ride.
One parting shot goes out to the friend who called me “dumb as a stump” when I wrote that the signing of running back Adrian Peterson was a great move. He suggested Peterson is washed up; the Saints are wasting money, time and some other things that I can’t write here on this space. Again, I’ll go on record as saying the Peterson deal is a win-win for the club. Let’s say he goes the entire season without another injury which he could very well do. If so then the best thing he’ll bring to the table is his running ability which mandates a defense concentrate on him every down.
Another thing he’ll help the offense with is giving incumbent Mark Ingram a rest between plays. Having two hard runners on a pass happy team will keep the pressure on defenses. But the biggest thing I believe Peterson will bring to the team is his knowledge on how to be successful in the NFL. If the Saints can make this trade work the entire season then they’ll have to be considered a strong playoff contender.
Now onto something very important to me and that is of course the upcoming high school football season. If you want to try your hand at working football games in the fall then now is the time you should begin to prepare for it. When I started working on the field I felt as though I never had enough time to get comfortable with all the rules and changes. So, I would start reading the rulebook in March and wouldn’t stop until Christmas. In other words to be ready to work on the field I had to stay in the rulebook. You’ve heard coaches say “We’re playing our best football now that the playoffs are right around the corner”. But officials have to be at their “BEST” even for spring scrimmages so getting into the rules early is a huge must for me.
With that said I’d like to invite everyone to call the LHSAA’s office in Baton Rouge and ask where and when will the local official’s association start their football meetings. Usually the Baton Rouge Association would begin formal meetings the first part of July. I hope I didn’t shock anyone with that date but as officials we’ve got to put in the book work long before we start the physical side of officiating. The past couple of years they’ve held meetings at the Goodwood Library but call to be sure where you need to be. And the biggest problems I find with many of these “new” wanna-be-officials are they’re constantly late for everything. So, if you can’t be “ON TIME” which in officials talk its 15 minutes before the start of a meeting.
So if you don’t get but one thing out of this week’s column let it be “I must be early to everything in the officials’ world”!!!
Till next week…
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