How did Texas baseball get so bad?

[jblonghorn]

I mean, I thought we had recruited well up to this season, had some good transers, good pitching, etc. You think the later start to the season messed up everything? I've been watching Texas baseball for 33 years, and except for a bad team or two, this is the worst Texas baseball team that's taken the field in those years. What gives?

 

[warrior]

1997 thru 1999 were tough years also. In 1998 UT finished 23 - 32.

 

[texascoder]

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[Texas Wahoo]

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[Hobbes2702]

This team does not work well together. They don't seem to be a cohesive unit. Also I think Augie has really gotten away from West Coast Baseball because of the thinner pitching due to more clustered season.

 

[Bevo-Stevo]

Very weak up the middle. You can't have your ss and 2b play like these two have most of the season. 13 & 16 errors respectively. End of discussion.

 

[HuskerNKingwood]

I would say you're having the same two major problems we had last year. The mediocrity UT is going through this year is merely a symptom of these two problems.

1. Skip Johnson. I don't know much about the man, but this I do know: the staple of UT's championship teams was pitching. When Anderson and Holliday were holding that job, Texas was always in the running for Omaha because you could count on their pitchers having good outings. Look at the guys like Huston Street that went through Anderson's tutelage. When Dave Bingham was running the pitching coach duties for us, we went from very good to extremely mediocre in a hurry. Now, with Eric Newman, we look more like the Husker team we've come to expect.

2. No leadership. Leadership is something you can't often see because it goes on inside the team, but chances are if a team is one unit, 25 pistons firing as one, typically you've got some pretty good leadership there.

 

[notanative]

The fat lady is not yet singing.

 

[warrior]

UT use to be known for their great pitching and able to play defense as good if not better than anyone else.

 

[accuratehorn]

The reason for the decline is clear. After 30 years of imparting negative vibes on the visitors dugout, our team up and moves themselves into the cursed space. Now we are the visitors, and the fung shui is out of wack, and the harmony is lacking in the Longhorn universe, and the yin has not balanced the yang.
The only solution I can see is either move back into the winners' dugout, or bring in the Dahli Lama for a dugout blessing ceremony.

 

[kevwun]

Big hitter, the Lama.

 

[Spec 4 Groins]

Gunga Galunga

"Hey, Lama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice.

 

[Stormspencer]

And on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness.....so I got that going for me.

 

[texascoder]

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[Hobbes2702]

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[uberheadymagical]

It happens. The people calling for change are funny. Augie Garrido isn't going anywhere.

 

[Steel Shank]

Who said anything about Augie leaving?

 

[Denmark]

WOW that's news to me about the dugout!!! How do my old friends in the Wild Bunch give the visiting teams hell????? No wonder

I thought we had a saying in Texas that if it ain't broke don't fix it.

 

[texduncan]

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[GAS_Horn]

HuskerNKingwood & Bevo-Stevo are the winners! Those 3 weaknesses are as bad at Texas as it's been in a LONG time.

 

[laidbackhorn]

This year is definitely cosmic retribution from the baseball gods for moving the dugout.

 

[Thorp]

You could be right.

 

[marley]

Thorp, I sit on the 3rd base side, about even with the pitcher's mound. I've always watched baseball from the 3rd base side.

The major annoyance this year is that we're getting obnoxious opposing fans that come down and sit in our section. I would very much like them to go sit among the Wild Bunch again, but their team isn't over there anymore. One Okie State fan challenged a friend of mine to "Step outside" after a brief verbal tussle.

Numerous Longhorn fans warned about that change. It's come true. It wouldn't be so bad if this Longhorn team were winning. Those foreigners would be much quieter in that case.

BTW, I second the extra 100-foot walk. I think that's what should have been done in the first place.

A friend, who is sitting on the 1st base side this year, joined us Sunday, saying that too many Wild Bunch fans were hurling negative comments toward the Longhorn players. He said he didn't want to sit over there if that was going to continue. No clue if that is really going on. If it is, it needs to stop.

 

[Thorp]

Put the opposing fans way out on the 1st base side bleachers.

 

[texascoder]

But when the stadium is half empty, they can pretty much sit where they want.

 

[accuratehorn]

Well, Marley, welcome to our world. We had the opposing parents and fans in our laps for 30 years. Not so much fun, is it?
Nobody knows which side to sit on anymore, Nobody feels comfortable in their seats, or with their neighbors, who might not like what is said from the ones who stayed in the area the always sat in, or maybe they don't like the ones who just moved over in their area. Or just don't feel comfortable around them yet. It's an uneasy atmosphere, the baseball gods are uneasy. There's a bad moon rising.
But it's mainly the dugout. It is cursed, evil, the visitors dugout, reviled, hated, spat upon, spit cup tossed upon, not home for good guys.