2014 Texas Team Is Marginally Better, Maybe

[NBHorn7]

The hitting may have improved a little, but the main reason the record is better is the quality of the competition has declined.

Look no further than games against Stanford, OU, Baylor, and KSU for example.

Last season against those teams we were 2-10 with wins against OU and KSU.

This season we were 10-2 against those same teams with losses to Stanford and KSU because all were worse this year. In fact except for Baylor, they were much worse than last season.

Texas finished 27-24 last season and this season 36-16.
The turn around in those series alone means eight more wins and eight less losses.

That would make last season's record 35-16 which is almost identical to this season.

The media and pollsters got all hyped up during that stretch where we were winning seven conference games in a row and moved into first place in the Big 12. Problem was six of those wins were against Baylor and OU who are terrible. They want us to be good beause it's good for them and college baseball. They overated us even saying we could be the number 1 overall seed at one point.

Its like they do for Notre Dame in football. If either can show some good signs they are ready to jump on the bandwagon and stay on as long as possible.

The hitting is still just not there. Even in these bad times for the offense we have had at least one or two big time hitters in the line-up. Now with the graduation of Payton we won't have that next season. Hopefully Barrera can continue to improve.

The more lively ball next season that I posted that thread about will help some. Of course it's going to help every team and hurt pitching.

I wish I could say I see improvement, but if there is, it's not very much if at all.


In other news I see that Dish is televising all the games leading up to the Tournament Championship Game on channel 445 in HD no less.

Since all games are on FCS according to the Big 12 I thought I was out of luck since they were no longer streaming all those games as they had in the past.

I don't know how Dish is doing the games, but they show to be doing so. Good for them and Dish customers.

 

[WorsterMan]

Good post. So, for the 2015 team your saying there is a chance!? What would I00p say?

 

[salonghorn-70]

I agree that there is marginal improvement. But are we satisfied with marginal improvement? I think that some hard post season evaluations need to be done. When you look at the history of our program, I think that our current status is unacceptable and changes need to be made.

I also hope that our Horns storm into the CWS and win the darn thing.

 

[UT Horn Fan]

Unrealistic expectations. It will take more than one year for Texas to return to where it should be. We saw improvement from 2013 to 2014 in every major category:

Overall record
36-16 > 27-24

Conference record
13-11 > 7-17

Batting average
.265 > .260

ERA
2.40 > 2.53

Fielding percentage
.975 > .974

Big 12 Tourney
#5 seed > No seed

NCAA Tourney
#1 or 2 seed in a Regional > Watching on tv

While you may disagree with Perfect Game's prediction of a #1 National seed, there was an argument that could be made for it. In 2012 and 2013 - not so much.

There were times this season when Texas looked like a legit CWS team, but they couldn't do it consistently. I didn't think that at any point in 2012 or 2013.

I, for one, am proud of the 2014 team for getting this turned around and I fully anticipate the 2015 team to improve on this year.

Oh and on another note:
Rosenblatt >>>>> TD Ameritrade

That is all.

 

[Brad Austin]

Takes more than 1 year to return where it should be? Seems to me this wasn't the first year in that process. We haven't been competitive in our conference since 2011. Since then we haven't won more than 13 games, nor lost less than 10 in conference.

This year was our 3rd try to get back to 2011 performance and being competitive in our own damn conference. It's only the first time we eclipsed 30 wins in 3 tries. There's no such 1-year rebuild going on here. The wheels fell off in 2012 and that's fact. Performing this marginally since 2011 is absolutely not good enough. It's not much different than the slight progress the football team finally achieved in their last year under Mack, and that wasn't near good enough.

The excuses for mediocrity gotta stop. We've been bad so long in the major sports (minus 2014 basketball) that many fans already forgot our target and place is excellence, not slight, sluggish improvement over multiple years.

 

[NBHorn7]

I explained why the record and thus the better stats happened.

They couldn't do it consistently because when they faced the top three teams in the conference all in Austin the record was 2-7. This team doesn't hit against the better teams and pitching. As in scoring one run in a series at home against TCU.

The competition this year was worse than last year and it helped us become average instead of bad.

 

[Orangeblood]

And yet, instead of watching all this on tv, our RPI is now 7 or 8.

Even if we lose two on Saturday, probably still a regional host.

I'll take that "marginal" improvement from not in the Big12 tournament to hosting a regional.

 

[zork]

Texas needs continued clutch hitting, fielding, pitching as exhibited last night by baby Clemons in the hitting dept.

Let's hope it is contagious with all the Horns starting to mash with RISP.

 

[Hornia]

Don't post much, but I just have to wonder NB if you have finally rethought your stance on the 2014 Horns only being marginally better??? Believe me, I am not dog piling. I respect your baseball insight. Unless you just think college baseball as a whole was much weaker, then the "weaker competition" theory no longer holds water either. With that said, it was a gutsy post.

 

[NBHorn7]

Nobody is happier about the success we have had.
It's still one of the strangest season's and playoff runs I have seen in Texas baseball history and my first game at the Disch was in my first year at Texas in 1977.

We keep playing the same teams over and over that we played in the season. If OSU wins their Super, we will play them first in the CWS.

TCU and Tech could well be there to play also. There is no doubt that a lot of parity in college baseball exists. Look how many national seeds have gone down already including the #1 seed. The depth and quality of the Horn pitching staff keeps us in games we have no busines really being in it seems sometimes. The pitching was here even last year.

Even today we were outhit 10-8, but managed to make key plays defensively and turn double plays when we had to have them. How many 10 hit shutouts do you see? Houston stranded multiple runners nearly each inning.

It reminds me sometimes of the great Dodger teams of the sixties when Maury Wills would walk, steal second, and maybe third and score on a SF or ground ball. They would hang around with great pitching and defense,then pull out a win, often on the other team's mistakes. Our base running mistakes have at times hurt the offense too and can really be frustrating as we try to scratch out runs.

The dead bat era has probably helped Texas more than other teams. With our pitching and defense, we stay in games and wait for the opposition to make a mistake.
It happened again today on the misplayed fly ball in left that led to all our runs in the fourth.

Then as usual we turn it over to the pitching staff and hang on for dear life and since the Conference Tourney that has worked for us. Last season those mistakes never came or we made them on defense to lose. This year we eke out enough runs somehow to win and that is the difference. Even just a run here and there is the difference between this season and last when you play this style and have all the close low scoring games we play in. Last season we lost most of them and now we are winning them. It's a fine line to walk.

Carter at DH and Curtis finally getting his movement back on his pitches have been the biggest reason for the turn around to me. When Carter got hurt we went into a tailspin, because we have nobody to step in for him or really at any other position. We play the same nine and hope they stay healthy. Curtis has given us a closer again after he had trouble earlier, because his pitches were just straight as an arrow and batters were teeing off on them. Before his TJ surgery he had the best stuff on the staff and it's coming back.

If this forumula can keep us in the winner's bracket in Omaha we have a real chance. If we get in the loser's bracket we could run out of of pitching like we almost did at the Rice Regional.

Remember with the now 25 man roster we only have eight pitchers and I believe that includes Peters, who was hurt after the limit was finalized.

There was a coach at UT that once said "if it aint broke don't fix it," during this playoff run, the Texas team aint broke and it's too late to fix it even it was. So hopefully we just keep scratching our collective heads and wondering how did we win that game all the way to a National Championship.

P.S. Where would this team be without Mark Payton? He
can carry the offense on his shoulders sometimes.

 

[Hornia]

Thanks, NB. I agree about Payton. Told my brother how good he was even as a true Freshman. But still unbelievable how the Horns couldn't even reach a regional the last two years.

 

[FWHORN]

This team has had CWS level pitching the last three years but the bats have not been around. This year the bats have shown up a little more often but frankly this post season run is still all about the pitching. when you hold your opponents to 1, 2, 3, 1, 2 and 0 runs it is ok to have just a little offense but that is usually not a recipe for consistent success. Texas got pitching standing on its head (to use a hockey term) these past two weeks and that had been the difference. Otherwise, everything NB wrote in his original post still stands true.

 

[BevoBeef]

I agree with NBH7 in that this is one of the most unusual post season runs. I have also paid attention to Longhorn
baseball since the 70's. However, I think that this Horn team looks different to me than it did earlier in the year.
It is not just a matter of scoring a few more runs because there are a few more hits.

If you listened to Augie's post game comments yesterday, you heard his typical ZEN-like comments about
the team having "bonded" together now, and that has made the difference. That is the head man's interpretation
of how they are different. They are connected together better, and each player's confidence is feeding off each other.

This team feels different in the 6 games before NBH7's first comment and the last 6 games before his second
comment in this thread. Also, consider the quality of the teams that were played --- the bottom of the Big 12
conference teams versus regional playoff quality teams. Prior to the conference tournament, the Horns were
playing 500 ball. In the 6-game comparison, the opponents scored 30 runs vs 9 runs in the regional playoffs.
The Horns also averaged 2 errors per game versus 1 error per game in the last 6 games. When I watch the Horns play
now, I just "feel" like they are going to get that hit to drive in that key run.

SOMETHING IS DEFINITELY DIFFERENT NOW. If they can continue to have that confidence feed off each other,
then there is a decent chance to reach the NC finals.