Skip

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Anyone else notice an eerie similarity?

Seriously though, We had a very good pitching staff with Skip last year (IIRC First in Big12 and top ten nationally). I agree he's made some poor decisions on pitching changes this year, but is he also responsible for the starters rarely getting past 4-5 innings and relievers unable to get anyone out? I don't know so I'd like the opinions of others; are his teaching skills also bad? If so how did the pitching do so well last year? I'm not trying to argue for or against him so please don't flame; I'm honestly confused about what to think.
 
Not the exact same pitchers or players as last year. In baseball hard to say why this team hasn't improved throughout the year? Probably pretty mind boggling to Augie and his staff also. 55 errors already and their ERA is over 5, Ouch.
 
Our pitching was not that good last year. We dominated against bad teams but when we played the good teams we got lit up. We were also very inconsistent and didn't have a bullpen other than Krebs. He knows how to coach pitchers but he does not know when to take pitchers out (always leaves Kasparek and Wood in too long) and when to leave them in. He also does not seem to know which pitchers to bring in (Ruffin yesterday). He needs to get a better feel for when a pitcher is done and take them out before they give up a bunch of runs.
 
Unless Ruffin has rubber for an arm,he shouldn't have seen the mound for a few days.

Starters don't have to go past 5 innings unless necessary. We need a strong bullpen with some relievers that can come in and do their job. Our pitchers are getting alot of use,maybe too much for their arms. We also need to get a pitcher warmed up,not bring them in cold. When Huston Street played 3rd base and he was going to come in to close,he would throw on the sideline to another player during breaks to warm up. Never bring a pitcher in cold.
 
This condensed schedule is putting additional pressure on our pitching staff, and to top it off, most of our guys are either green or coming off injuries. Throw in some bizarre strategy, and you have the Perfect Storm of pitching staff meltdowns.

(Yes, I know every team plays to the same calendar. I'm comparing this year's staff to last year's, which as has been stated, wasn't all that great to begin with.)
 
Skip looks like Barry Corbin, that character actor who was in Urban Cowboy, Lonesome Dove & Northern Exposure.

As always, Greg looks like Blaster, of MasterBlaster fame, in Beyond Thunderdome.
 
There is a reason that all of the pitchers but one that were commited to come to campus for the 06-07 year opted to go elsewhere or go juco. His name is Skip.....and his reputation preceded him. And the one that did come to campus found greener grass in Oregon with Horton. Go figure.....
 
You bring up some very interesting comments. I, too, am curious to the responses. Don't forget, a very important factor, last year & many previous years Texas had a very good defensive team. Even though many plays are not considered errors, they are plays that are not being made & therefore considered base hits, which puts undue pressure on the pitchers. Consider all of the plays that Suttle or Maroul made at 3rd base. Those are now base hits & most likely runs scored.
 
Have you ever watched the UT dugout before Skip goes out to make a pitching change? Who do you think is really calling the shots? Seems to me that we don't leave our starting pitchers in long enough. How are they ever going to learn to work themselves out of a crisis? Did Missouri pull Crow when he gave up 8 runs in the 1st inning? Is it our pitching staff that we don't have faith in OR is it really our offense? It takes a complete team to win a game. I know that Ruffin pitched a great game on Fri nite BUT we did have quite a few breaks that went our way too. Things could have gotten pretty scary (ball in left field that really wasn't caught, baserunning errors by OK, runner called out at 1st but looked safe) The way our season has been going these breaks don't usually go our way & our starting pitcher is already in the dugout by the 4th inning & then we don't have any runs scored. Is this all Skip's fault & the pitching staff?
 
I heard that the pitchers he coached while he was a JC coach spoke very highly of how Skip developed their skills. I don't know if he is the answer to why UT is struggling or not, but I question a couple of the posts on here-where do you get this divine knowledge?
 
My point is this, do any of us see the current pitching staff as a whole getting better? You are correct in that last year's staff was older, more D1 game experience, etc., but when do we ask why our boys are not getting stronger with each outing?
 
Answer to what pitcher left Texas for Oregon: read this info. on another site fyi...

Blake Williams (RHP/INF Sweeny, TX) is now at Oregon. Had shoulder surgery after redshirting with injury freshman year at Texas (last year '06-07). Oregon is re-starting their program under CS Fullerton's former head coach George Horton & will begin play next year in 2009. Phil Knight (Nike) is an Oregon alumnus & giving lots of $$ to build new stadium, hire Horton, compete in Pac-10 w/ rival Oregon State, etc. Williams left on his own in January to get a fresh start elsewhere. Tom Holliday recruited him too before Skip Johnson took over as pitching coach. Wish him well, highly recruited & Texas Top 25 kid coming out of high school.
 
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