We Have to start hitting

[vandy86]

Or we won’t go much further. We can’t expect this much help to win another game from here on out. We have to get hits!
ANCHOR DOWN DORES!!!

[vandybl]

Vandy needs to alter its hitting approach, IMO. Trying for home runs, trying to pull the ball too much, not being able to handle curve balls - these contribute to outs and kill rallies. Too many men left on base. The boys should use the whole field. When the other team employs a shift, spray the ball. I was a big Braves fan in the early days and one of my favorite players was Rico Carty. Big guy who could smash the ball. When he had two strikes, he choked up and tried to make contact. Consistent .300+ hitter and with this approach he did not strike out much. Vandy should use this strategy and cut down on strikeouts. Hit the ball back up the middle. Doing the same thing as they have been doing will not likely yield good results. Earlier this season, I often saw players hitting to the off-field more. Not so much now. Time for some adjustments. Go Vandy!

[UltimateVUFan]

I know there are many, many posters here with more knowledge of baseball tactics and strategy than I possess from my meager little league days! However, I have to say that I trust Tim Corbin given his track record.

[Levon]

Vandy needs to alter its hitting approach, IMO. Trying for home runs, trying to pull the ball too much, not being able to handle curve balls - these contribute to outs and kill rallies. Too many men left on base. The boys should use the whole field. When the other team employs a shift, spray the ball. I was a big Braves fan in the early days and one of my favorite players was Rico Carty. Big guy who could smash the ball. When he had two strikes, he choked up and tried to make contact. Consistent .300+ hitter and with this approach he did not strike out much. Vandy should use this strategy and cut down on strikeouts. Hit the ball back up the middle. Doing the same thing as they have been doing will not likely yield good results. Earlier this season, I often saw players hitting to the off-field more. Not so much now. Time for some adjustments. Go Vandy!

The "Beeg Boy"! I loved Rico Carty, one of my all time favorite players.

[DivergentDore]

Too many great individual players and not enough "team" guys and I suspect that's why Coop got so much playing time while having a bad season at the plate; he at least advanced runners many times. There were a few instances last night that really put the spotlight on the lack of team play taking a backseat to individual batter exploits.

One of these was Laneve calling time when a steal of home is called. It was more about his at bat than the play called by Corbs. Another glaring example was Keegan arguing the outside strike well into the later innings. Had he been paying attention he would have noticed the umpire was very consistent with giving the pitches across the belt and "left shift" zone to both teams. Left shift is giving a little off the plate glove side for righty pitchers while squeezing the arm side. Instead of arguing every time Keegan should have asked Leiter if he's getting the same pitch and then adjust closer to the plate after confirmation. Luckily the umpire didn't have an ego and shut down the left side from our pitchers.

[MrMemorial]

I know there are many, many posters here with more knowledge of baseball tactics and strategy than I possess from my meager little league days! However, I have to say that I trust Tim Corbin given his track record.

I'm a Cardinals fan from way back and look at LaRussa. Hall of fame manager. At the ago of 76, has the White Sox firmly in first place with a +82 run differential this early in the season. But I disagreed with lots on his in-game decisions with St. Louis. Some of them were borderline infuriating. His small-ball call for a bunt yesterday in the 6th inning is catching some heat in the Chicago sports media.

People are allowed to not like every move a baseball coach or manager makes. No matter how good the track record is of that coach. And Corbin and LaRussa have proven to be pretty darn good. But they are human.

[OldDude]

I know squat about the complete game strategy of baseball - likely less than anyone on this board. However, I really enjoyed the more small ball approach of S Alabama spraying hits in the gaps as they dismantled FL. Tough to do I am sure, but fun to watch.

[commadore]

Carty was one of my all time favorites. The year he hit .396 and was left off the all star ballot, my friends and I did a write in campaign and mailed in about 75 ballots. I think he ended up being the top vote getter and wasn't even on the ballot. Of courser that was WAY before online voting...on line meant your clothes were on the line then. Ha.

[egbertsouse]

Our number 4 hitter was clueless last night. Something has to cahnge.

[vandy05]

Well, it changed. We hit, a lot.

[baseball1234]

We put up 14 runs. Opponents have pitchers trying to get us out. We don't have a team that strings a lot of hits together. Sometimes very frustrating with man on third and less than two outs and we strikeout. Unfortunately, that is modern day baseball for the most part. Keegan took a pitch that was way outside and got called out. He trained his whole life to swing at strikes. Not as easy to adjust as it looks especially when the ump is erratic. Had he swung and missed, he would be criticized for striking out on an outside pitch and no one would have known that the ump was going to call it a strike.

We have made the Supers. We are who we are. Hope we are good enough to advance and IMHO we will go as far as KR and JL take us.

[UltimateVUFan]

Speaking of small ball (slightly OT, here - forgive me).
For any big baseball fans, I highly recommend a recent picture book by Kadir Nelson titled We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball.
I read it with my fifth grade class this year and they loved it. I learned that the “bunt and run” strategy that was essentially the beginning of the small ball approach is attributed to Rube Foster, a truly pioneering Negro League player/owner/manager. Don’t be turned off by the fact that it’s a picture book. Nelson’s paintings depicting some of the historic Negro League players are outstanding and the book reads more like a historical text than a traditional picture book. It’s a wonderful read, especially if you have young kids who are into baseball that you can read it with/to and want to explore the legacy of the Negro Leagues.
(Again, sorry for the OT post, but just crossed my mind with this discussion about the changes in hitting strategy this season, and I figured many of you baseball fans would appreciate the book!)

[commadore]

We put up 14 runs. Opponents have pitchers trying to get us out. We don't have a team that strings a lot of hits together. Sometimes very frustrating with man on third and less than two outs and we strikeout. Unfortunately, that is modern day baseball for the most part. Keegan took a pitch that was way outside and got called out. He trained his whole life to swing at strikes. Not as easy to adjust as it looks especially when the ump is erratic. Had he swung and missed, he would be criticized for striking out on an outside pitch and no one would have known that the ump was going to call it a strike.

We have made the Supers. We are who we are. Hope we are good enough to advance and IMHO we will go as far as KR and JL take us.

Yeah, we thought getting away from the SEC umps would take care of the problem. Only positive I can say about them is they were fairly consistent with the crazy calls.