2-0 DB bottom 8. Why do these small schools always whoop our ***? I know DBU is good, but dang these guys are frustrating.
They must have forgot to load their bats on the bus yesterday. Unfortunate about Choplick but really. He hasn't been that effective for about a month or so. I think he had that one good start earlier in the season, his first since comiing to Norman, and that's been it. The immediate concern is: Who are the starting pitchers after Gray? Who can this team count on to hold Big 12 opponents to 3 runs or less for 6-7 innings for two games now that Overton is unavailable for 2-4 weeks?
As we still sit in first place and have lost only one weekend series all year. Not saying we're definitely going to win it, but "go down in flames" is a terrible overreaction.
Go down with flames was a bad choice of words and I apologize for that. But losing 2 pitchers in about a week's time is not a recipe for success, especially when 1 is Overton. Hopefully, he will be back in time for tourney and return to previous form but our play from now on will also dictate our seeding and thus who we play and where we play. Choplick has proven to be good at times and we would need all we can get to make a strong run in the tourney. Seems like we take 2 steps forward and 1 step back. Just very disappointed to lose to DBU and losing pitchers.
I haven't seen anything from Choplick that suggests he has a great future at OU. He's got a nice frame, but his stuff is pretty average. Hopefully that's because he's still not fully recovered from the arm issues he's had. I've heard the prognosis on Overton is good, he'll probably make his Saturday start against OSU. As for where this season goes from here, I'll be the sunshine pumper and remind everyone this is pretty standard for SG's teams. Start hot, slump, then get hot down the stretch. And when you consider what we have at the top end of the rotation this season, we have a real shot to make a run in the postseason, I think.
colston: What we have RIGHT NOW at the top end of the rotation is Johathan Gray, period. Fisher, Garza, Karnes and Krittenbrink have all shown flashes of being able to come in and give 6-7 good innings but they are still question marks. We'll have to see what happens this weekend. If nobody steps up in the games that Gray doesn't start then we can start to really panic.
I hope you're right! I'm not saying Choplick is the savior, but he's shown at times he's effective and he may be the arm that survives that inning(s) to allow us to go to regional, super-regional or CWS.
Fisher was lights out against Tech and has been basically season. Carnes didn't pitch badly against Tech either. Those guys probably hold down the fort until Overton is back then battle for the Sunday spot. One guy to watch: Kyle Hayes. He's got really good stuff, before the season I heard lots of good things about him, but he's yet to show out in Big 12 play. Panic if you'd like, I'm not going to. Now, if it turns out Dillon can't return this season, then I'll hit the panic button.
James Hale reported that MRI for Choplick came back that his forearm was strained and therefore not as serious as originally thought and had nothing to do with elbow that he's previously had surgery on twice. Said he probably would be back to full speed for a week to ten days. That's good news!
Yes, this how a typical SG team plays out. At this point they hit the wall, like they do at some point in time every year under SG. Sometimes they come out of it and sometimes they don't. Unfortunately, I don't think this team is going to turn it around. I am concerned about the pitching, but not near as much as I am about the hitting. Clutch hitting is huge in conference play and the tournament. I think this team is too fragile to deal with SG's style. We just don't have the ability to hit with 2 outs and I don't see that getting any better.
SG is a teddy bear compared to what he used to be. He's taken it pretty easy on the guys this season. Maybe they'll get the hits, maybe they won't, but it won't be because they've hit a wall.
RE: "SG is a teddy bear compared...." One of the most surprising things this year is that SG hasn't been thrown of too many games; at least so far. I believe he's been ejected from two. Last year, in one game, Sooners behing 2-3 runs in bottom of ninth and he gets tossed for arguing balls and strikes.
SG has been totally cool this season and we should be happy to have him. The sustained success we've had under him is only rivaled by Cochell's early years and the 70s under Enos Semore.
One of very few, (five or ten, I think), teams in the nation that have won 40 games for the last 4 seasons. Nothing wrong with that at all.
I wasn't implying that SG was doing a bad job this year. I was just simply stating how his teams typically play out over the years. If he hasn't been hard on this team, like he has in the past, then he needs to start. The only time I have seen him jump somebody's *** has been during the KU series when he wore out Walltrip on the mound. There are a number of seniors on this team that are not performing up to their talent level at the plate and in the field. This team is too talented to continue to get their asses kicked on the weekday and Sunday games. That is when leadership comes into play. I believe SG has done a very good job over his tenure. I am not sure where he falls when comparing him to the coaches of different eras because the NCAA tournament is so different now.
