I was asked in the comments of my last post if I had any thoughts on why the team was starting so slow this year. I have a number of thoughts on the subject, so I'll just list them below, in no particular order:
1) It's only three games...three road games, at that. I wouldn't worry yet.
2) South Bend is notorious for starting slow. Last year's club started 0-9 and then was 2-14 before putting it together and going all the way to the Midwest League Finals.
3) West Michigan is a good team and played well. Let's give some credit where credit is due.
4) Pitching is always ahead of hitting this time of year, and the Whitecaps threw two very good pitchers (Crosby on Thursday and Robles today).
5) All three games were relatively close (4-2 Thursday, 6-4 Friday, 3-0 today until the bottom of the 8th). It's not like this team wasn't competitive.
6) There is only one returning player from 2008 on this club. The other 24 are a mix of guys from Yakima and Missoula. This is very unique for this league. Typically a team will have anywhere from 4-10 guys returning, and West Michigan was no exception. Robles pitched the entire season in West Michigan, and had an ERA in the 2.6-range. He is back again this season. There is no substitute for that type of experience early in the season. By mid-season, pure talent will take over and the best team will win.
I'm not worried, the coaches aren't worried, and the players aren't worried. You shouldn't be either.
Although it is tough on both the players and the fans, sometimes a bad start leads to more emphasis on winning.
ReplyDeleteFor the players, keep patient and just work on your skills. For the fans, be patient and continue to root your team on.
Dave
I have a question on what happened in the second game when the pitcher throwing was tossed out of the game. What was he thrown out for and on a scale of one to ten how was the head coach Hailey's performance when he was thrown out as well
ReplyDeleteA warning had been issued to both dugouts after a batter was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the seventh. When Mace hit a batter in the 8th, the umpire ejected Mace and Haley based on a warning having been previously issued.
ReplyDeleteStepping back from the situation, clearly Mace was not throwing at the batter, since he represented the go-ahead run. But the umpire felt like he had to get control of the game, so he followed through with the ejections.
I'd give Haley a 8.5 out of 10. It was a pretty good show.