Pitch Sam Stafford against FL

[utguy444]

I believe FL has a lot of left-handed batters, from watching the MS ST series. Why not pitch lefty Sam Stafford first? I have no idea what the deal is, but Jungmann just isn't Mr. Automatic any longer. But I'm not the coach, and whoever pitches first, I just hope we win. FL is beatable with good pitching. Their first pitcher against MS ST was awesome. He has a slider on the outside for a strike that I can see Tant Shepherd swinging over right now. Tant has so much trouble with the breaking ball. Hope he gets it over the plate.

 

[Chest Rockwell]

1) I'd rather have Jungmann pitch as many times as possible.
2) Winning game 1 is critical. It's the difference between having to win 2 to get to the finals and 4 (in a row).
3) Jungmann hasn't had a late-season slump (unless you're looking at it from a pure W/L point of view). He's had 1 bad inning vs. Kent State and was the victim of a cluster-f*ck of a fielding gaffe on a "Taylor" made DP ball.

I'd be shocked if you see anyone other than #26 on the bump in game 1.

 

[utguy444]

Rockwell you make some good points. Ya, our defense did mess up that game, for sure. Nevertheless, Jungmann has not lasted long in his past few starts. But, I suspect you know this, he has been there, on the mound (against LSU, game 2), under the lights and pressure, and has won. And FL is tough. But if anyone can pitch 7-9 dominating innings, it's Taylor J. Hope he gets it done. But I also think Green and Stafford could do just as well. By the way, I haven't seen Texas much until these past few playoff games, and I was wondering why they don't pitch Knebel more, instead of just one inning at the end of the game; that boy throws some heat.

 

[petscii]

I'm going to let Augie coach the team..

 

[hornpharmd]

boo......you never visited a chat board or something?

 

[utguy444]

"boo......you never visited a chat board or something?"
What are you saying, asking? I just haven't been here in some time, and re-registered (don't recall my old password or user name)

As for the other guys comment, obviously, all boards are very opinionated places. I'm expressing my opinion and wondering if it wouldn't be a good idea to start out with Sam Shepherd because of FL's predominately left-handed line-up. Do you really think Augie is not going to coach, but come here and look for popular or unpopular suggestions to base his decisions on (like I needed you to say you're going to let Augie coach, and he's not going to listen to me)? Consider this, FL is pretty tough, and it may not matter who we throw at them. Someone is going to go "two and a BBQ" ... always happens. I have no idea what's going to happen, but I know this, always expect the unexpected in the CWS. I recall not thinking the 2002 and 2005 teams were that strong, but they got it done. We were one pitch and out away (in game 1 against LSU) from winning the 2009 title - will never forget how close we were. Game 2 T. Jungmann shut LSU down. It can be that close. We shoulda, coulda, won that 2009 title. Ran out of pitching in game 3. Regardless of who we pitch, it will probably be close, either way - always is, when our pitching is stronger than our hitting.

 

[Booyakasha!]

I think he meant that for Joe, not you.

 

[utguy444]

"I think he meant that for Joe, not you." Oh, for Joe, gotcha - I think you're right.

 

[longtex]

I like the idea of having a lefty with a heater on the mound pretty much anytime, but Young Man is the Ace, so we bring him first, yeah?

The path to the next bracket is sooooo much shorter with a W in game 1, and even shorter with a game 2 W as well. Depends on who we see, although I do like the idea of Stafford in game 2, simply because it makes him that much more available later.

Gonna be some fun, fer sher.

 

[utguy444]

Yes, everyone keeps mentioning how important it is to win game 1, but Jungmann hasn't been that automatic lately. I have no idea what it is, but he just hasn't gotten it done. I'm basing my suggestion totally on the fact that FL has a lot of lefty batters, and Sam seems good enough to take them on. If Jungmann mans up to the pressure (he's done it before in Omaha) then great. Either way, we're probably going to need to beat FL once, if not two times. I could go with 3 or 4 different pitchers starting for us tomorrow. It's definitely going to take good pitching to subdue FL, they can hit. But, I've seen our good pitching stiffle so-called good hitting teams before; hope they carry us in this CWS, and we get enough timely hits as we did the last two games against ASU. We only need 7 or 8 a game, along with good pitching, to win (as long as we don't give it to them with errors as we did in game 1 vs ASU).

 

[vball]

Jungmann has carried you this far, as the ace of the staff. Golden Spikes finalist. You gotta go with him for game 1. Its too critical to start with a W.

 

[georgecostanza]

Jungmann was pretty automatic in game 2. His 1B couldn't handle a ground ball, and his mid-infielders didn't cover 2nd. What do you want him to do? It's pretty darn hard to strike every hitter out.

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[accuratehorn]

Jungmann is the man, he will start tonight. He is cool, calm, and unflappable under pressure. The paper said in his one bad game, against Kent State, they were stealing the signs. He had one bad inning in that game.
We lost the second game when Jungmann threw a three-hitter, 2-1. Not his fault.
He will go tonight, and he will be good.

 

[longtex]

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[JMarq05]

Sam is a great pitcher, but let's tap the brakes here. Taylor is our ace and was drafted much earlier for a reason. Taylor also has a leg-up given that he's got experience in Omaha on the biggest stage. Plus, if you're really concerned with recent #'s, I submit to you the stats from their ASU starts:

Taylor's last start:

7.1 IP 3 H 3 R (1 ER) 3 BB 3 K's

Sam's last start:

4 IP 4 H 2 R 2 ER 2 K's

Yes, Sam had a better outing againt Kent St. and yes he got a quick hook against ASU, b/c it was an elimination game, but T26 has been our horse all year (last 2 yrs for that matter). He was very sharp against ASU and deserved a much better outcome as he was let down early by his defense.

I love Sam, but one of his vices is that he sometimes gets a bit wild (9 more BB's on the year than T26 despite throwing 58 less innings), and that's potentially a problem against good, patient offenses like the ones we'll be facing in Omaha.

I assume T26's name was penciled in on the lineup card for this game immediately after we punched our ticket to Omaha, and rightfully so.

Hook 'em!