Tourney Central (It’s time for ball!)

[ucaned]

Hope Miss St wipes the floor with CMU today. Those guys are clowns.

This is what UM baseball is reduced to? Hoping another team wipes the floor with the clown team that just beat us. Clown team that just beat us. Let that sink in. Nice!

DiMare has his finger prints all over this. Bad play is not just this year, it is the last few. Trevor Lawrence takes ClemPson to a MNC, Tua comes in the year before to lead his team in football. Both were true freshman. People on the board say we have the players, so then what year they are should not matter. You can play fundamental baseball or you can't.

Miami needed to clean house when Morris left. We have a weak AD who took the easy road. I hope DiMare gets it, and gets it soon, because Blake is between a rock and a hard place trying to make a move on him. I just don't see DiMare being fired, he would need to step down, and I don't see that happening any time soon.

 

[Hurracanes]

No!!! It's the lack of hitting. You get a 5 run lead you have to put your foot on their throat by scoring more runs and putting the game out of reach. Outside of Del Castillo's 2nd home run, we did nothing after the 3rd inning.

What I was so irate about is that our hitters were taking first pitch fastballs right over the fat part of the plate for strikes. They made no adjustment except for Del Castillo who hit his 2nd homer on a first pitch fastball.

If you look back at most of our losses, this has been our MO. Perhaps they're taught to take a lot of pitchers. However, it was painfully obvious that CMU knew that and was throwing first pitch meatballs for strikes. That's a failure by Gino not having his hitter's adjust and be more aggressive. As a former cleanup hitter, I was screaming at the TV "SWING THE **** BAT!!!!" We need to be more aggressive and not be so concerned about taking pitches to drive up the opposing pitcher's pitch count.

I get your point about hitting but if you have a 4 run lead then your pitching needs to win this game. It’s baseball 101. Pitching wins championships in Baseball. We don’t have it.

 

[stoopid311]

This is what UM baseball is reduced to? Hoping another team wipes the floor with the clown team that just beat us. Clown team that just beat us. Let that sink in. Nice!

DiMare has his finger prints all over this. Bad play is not just this year, it is the last few. Trevor Lawrence takes ClemPson to a MNC, Tua comes in the year before to lead his team in football. Both were true freshman. People on the board say we have the players, so then what year they are should not matter. You can play fundamental baseball or you can't.

Miami needed to clean house when Morris left. We have a weak AD who took the easy road. I hope DiMare gets it, and gets it soon, because Blake is between a rock and a hard place trying to make a move on him. I just don't see DiMare being fired, he would need to step down, and I don't see that happening any time soon.

Don’t exactly get how me finding CMU’s antics to be lame and your rant about the state of Miami baseball are related in any way. There’s a couple baseball games today. In one of those games I’d like to see Miss St score more runs than the other team. End of story. But you do you

 

[ucaned]

Don’t exactly get how me finding CMU’s antics to be lame and your rant about the state of Miami baseball are related in any way. There’s a couple baseball games today. In one of those games I’d like to see Miss St score more runs than the other team. End of story. But you do you

You called them clowns, correct? I noted the state of the program if we were being beaten by clowns. Very related. Sad that we have to depend on other teams to beat "clown" teams that we apparently cannot beat. Very related to my "rant about the state of Miami baseball" Not sure what you don't get.

UM sports, at least football and baseball were as good as anyone in the country. We did not have to make excuses about being young, cupboards being bare, cost too much at UM... we just won games. Now we hope for other teams to do what we cannot do, win, or more importantly win when it counts. If you do not see any of this related to your post I cannot help you.

Oh, and by the way, when you win you can act as you will. Remember the bat flips by Michelangeli a few years ago? Bet you thought they were great. What about the dancing of the football team? Dog pile in baseball after we win? I'm sure opposing fans hated all of that, but to the victors go the spoils. Want to know how to fix teams doing that against us and your feelings? WIN!

 

[Number1CanesFan]

I get your point about hitting but if you have a 4 run lead then your pitching needs to win this game. It’s baseball 101. Pitching wins championships in Baseball. We don’t have it.

Yes, if your past say the 6th inning. Let's not forget the Toral error the helped generate a couple of runs for CMU.

It's like a football team that goes out and scores 28 in the 1st quarter and your team is up 28-0. The opposition scores a touchdown mid 2nd quarter and now it's 28-7. Your team does nothing on offense and turns the ball over (error) just before halftime and the opposition scores another touchdown and it's 28-14. Your opponent now has momentum and feeling good about itself. You continue to do nothing on offense while your opponent keeps chipping away. Now you find yourself all tied up 28-28 late in the 4th quarter. You can't turn the offense back on and your opponent is confident they can score again. Tyour opponent scores in the last 2 minutes to go up 35-28. You still have 2 minutes left, but your offense has done nothing since the 1st quarter. You don't score and lose the game.

The mentality can't be, "we've put up 28 in the 1st quarter so our defense should close things out the next 3 quarters." You have to put the other team away with your offense and we haven't done that all season.

Now, we are in an entirely different scenario. Our pitching will be depleted by Sunday night if we win today against Southern and tomorrow against more than likely CMU. We'd be facing MSU with VanBelle, but the bullpen will be taxed leaving our mid week starter for Monday and a bullpen on fumes.

We have to put up double digit scores to put as little of stress on the bullpen and that Monday game (should we make it that far) has to be a high scoring game to win.

If I'm Gino, I'm telling my guys to be aggressive "in the strike zone early." Stop letting good pitches go by early in the count. It's plain to see. Throw fastball for strike one because it's unchallenged. Throw a curveball for strike 2 because our hitters only swing at curveballs with 2 strike or when they're guessing fastball and look silly sniffing at a curve. Now were in pitcher's count and swinging at pitches not even close to the strike zone. DOESN'T MAKE SENSE!!! SWING THE **** BAT!!!

 

[stoopid311]

You called them clowns, correct? I noted the state of the program if we were being beaten by clowns. Very related. Sad that we have to depend on other teams to beat "clown" teams that we apparently cannot beat. Very related to my "rant about the state of Miami baseball" Not sure what you don't get.

UM sports, at least football and baseball were as good as anyone in the country. We did not have to make excuses about being young, cupboards being bare, cost too much at UM... we just won games. Now we hope for other teams to do what we cannot do, win, or more importantly win when it counts. If you do not see any of this related to your post I cannot help you.

Oh, and by the way, when you win you can act as you will. Remember the bat flips by Michelangeli a few years ago? Bet you thought they were great. What about the dancing of the football team? Dog pile in baseball after we win? I'm sure opposing fans hated all of that, but to the victors go the spoils. Want to know how to fix teams doing that against us and your feelings? WIN!

Correct. Again, I find their cheat sheet index cards, yoda masks, and sprints to first base after a HBP to be clownish. Had we won last night I’d be hoping Southern would beat the brakes off them today. My disdain for their style is my own personal opinion and has nothing to do with the result of last night’s game. Highly doubt they saved all that just for Miami in the regional opener. Assuming that’s their thing that they’ve probably been doing for much of the season. I don’t need a history lesson on Miami athletics. I’m very aware. I’m also aware that many things in life that once were are no longer. Miami is not there right now. If you want to debate the reasons why that’s the case in 2019 then that’s a whole other topic entirely. Clearly there’s a disconnect here so I’m going to go enjoy this beautiful South Florida day. Enjoy the games today. Go Canes!

 

[Number1CanesFan]

The key play of the season was Veliz giving up home run up 5-3 vs UNC.

No. The key play was Veliz hitting the batter prior to the homerun with a 1-2 count.

 

[Lance Roffers]

Either game from the 2012 Regional was far more embarrassing. I still have the Missouri State game (no offense Lance) baked into my memory by the June sun.

You know what’s funny, I asked Salas about his tourney experience off-air for the podcast and he said that Pierce Johnson (guy they faced that day) was best pitcher they faced that year and he wasn’t even Bears ace (had Louisville Slugger POY on that team). Johnson got a cup of coffee in big leagues.

What I remember about that Regional is Missouri State had a 7-2 lead on Stony Brook in the 7th that would’ve ended their season and given Missouri State a shot at CWS and they had a horrendous inning and choked it way.

 

[Lance Roffers]

Federeman gave up 1 run in 2 innings, on a softly hit liner, after 5 outs and 30+ pitches. Would've been nice to have gotten at least 1 more out, but he was fine, it wasn't an implosion. He pitched about as well as everyone else did.

To be clear, my point wasn’t that Federman was/is a bad pitcher. I love the kid.

My agreement was that taking out a reliever that quickly puts you in a bind because if Federman gets into trouble you’re stuck. You have to bring in your closer and if it goes to extras possibly burn a starter, or you have to extend Veliz past where he’s at.

I have some issues with actual substations at times but my issue was with game strategy rather than the player.

 

[Number1CanesFan]

This is what UM baseball is reduced to? Hoping another team wipes the floor with the clown team that just beat us. Clown team that just beat us. Let that sink in. Nice!

DiMare has his finger prints all over this. Bad play is not just this year, it is the last few. Trevor Lawrence takes ClemPson to a MNC, Tua comes in the year before to lead his team in football. Both were true freshman. People on the board say we have the players, so then what year they are should not matter. You can play fundamental baseball or you can't.

Miami needed to clean house when Morris left. We have a weak AD who took the easy road. I hope DiMare gets it, and gets it soon, because Blake is between a rock and a hard place trying to make a move on him. I just don't see DiMare being fired, he would need to step down, and I don't see that happening any time soon.

Dude. What the **** are you talking about? Our team has had a very good year under Gino. Especially given where we were the last 2 seasons. The o ly criticism I have is that our guys take too many good pitches. As a team, we don't swing at the 1st pitch. CMU knew that and we let them get away with throwing BP fastballs for strike 1. Makes me furious. We don't swing at strike one and we don't swing at the curveball unless the batter has 2 strikes. CMU knew that and that was their gameplan. We didn't adjust. We haven't all season. It works out great if the pitcher throws balls early in the count, but what if he's throwing strikes? Now your hitting behind in the count. That's what we did last night and in all the games where we had an early lead. Gino has to coach that out of them. Maybe he's not telling them at all which would be a mistake.

Our hitters need to be more aggressive. I wish they would learn to be zone hitters where it doesn't matter what the pitch is as long as it's in the zone I'm looking at. Maybe next year for that. I'd just be happy if we'd swing at the 1st pitch strikes. Your not going to get a better pitch to hit later in the count if that 1st pitch is a strike, so you might as well swing at it.

 

[pcitycane]

The theme of my adult life has become to tell myself not to get excited for the canes

I get excited for the canes. Canes **** the bed.

Repeat.

 

[IndayArtHauz]

Game 2 vs UF

Game 3 vs UL

Pool play vs UNC

Last night vs the Chip n Dales

I’m sure one of you has pointed this out, but these are the games that tell the story of this team and this year. Consequential, marquee matchups where we are in control early and coast, then lose. The most significant games this year have been marked by the same tendency to come out strong and then absolutely wilt. It’s a combination of offense and pitching, and it’s all I kept thinking about last night.

Secondarily we have hitters who become a black hole. Vs UNC it was Gil, last night it was Gates. They aren’t the reason we lost, but if they just have one at bat where they aren’t an out it would help tremendously in giving us the win.

Third, not having Mac and McK for multiple weeks hurt the team most not when they were gone, but when they returned.

Oh, and the errors.

I hope next year brings a new mindset to this team. I hope they learn no lead is safe in baseball, and look to dominate the league from start to finish.

 

[ucaned]

Dude. What the **** are you talking about? Our team has had a very good year under Gino. Especially given where we were the last 2 seasons. The o ly criticism I have is that our guys take too many good pitches. As a team, we don't swing at the 1st pitch. CMU knew that and we let them get away with throwing BP fastballs for strike 1. Makes me furious. We don't swing at strike one and we don't swing at the curveball unless the batter has 2 strikes. CMU knew that and that was their gameplan. We didn't adjust. We haven't all season. It works out great if the pitcher throws balls early in the count, but what if he's throwing strikes? Now your hitting behind in the count. That's what we did last night and in all the games where we had an early lead. Gino has to coach that out of them. Maybe he's not telling them at all which would be a mistake.

Our hitters need to be more aggressive. I wish they would learn to be zone hitters where it doesn't matter what the pitch is as long as it's in the zone I'm looking at. Maybe next year for that. I'd just be happy if we'd swing at the 1st pitch strikes. Your not going to get a better pitch to hit later in the count if that 1st pitch is a strike, so you might as well swing at it.

Perhaps read your own post after the first sentence. We have been a poor fundamental team for some time now. So, now we have talent that can mask the obvious, does that mean we are really a better team? Sure if you want to say we made a regional, but is this team ready to play big time baseball. Your take, "Our team has had a very good year under Gino. Especially given where we were the last 2 seasons". You're reaching a little here, it had been over forty years since we were that bad, let along two consecutive years. We really had nowhere but up to go.

Do you think a different staff could have produced better results, especially the last two games when it really counted? Queue up the excuse machine. If not for this error, if not for that error, if we made adjustments, "Gino has to coach that out of them". "We don't swing at the first strike".

Gino has been on staff how many years now? We have had the same issues for how long? But hey, "maybe next year", it's been our battle cry for too long.

Hope they prove me wrong and get of of Starkville and on to a super, I'll gladly take a plate of crow, but I don't think Gino is the man to lead it.

 

[ALLoverCANE]

Game 2 vs UF

Game 3 vs UL

Pool play vs UNC

Last night vs the Chip n Dales

I’m sure one of you has pointed this out, but these are the games that tell the story of this team and this year. Consequential, marquee matchups where we are in control early and coast, then lose. The most significant games this year have been marked by the same tendency to come out strong and then absolutely wilt. It’s a combination of offense and pitching, and it’s all I kept thinking about last night.

Secondarily we have hitters who become a black hole. Vs UNC it was Gil, last night it was Gates. They aren’t the reason we lost, but if they just have one at bat where they aren’t an out it would help tremendously in giving us the win.

Third, not having Mac and McK for multiple weeks hurt the team most not when they were gone, but when they returned.

Oh, and the errors.

I hope next year brings a new mindset to this team. I hope they learn no lead is safe in baseball, and look to dominate the league from start to finish.

That's only part of the story. How about games 1 and 2 vs FSU, 2 and 3 vs GT, etc.? We lost some games, as you pointed out, and we won some others.

The net effect is a good-but-not great team. It's silly to look at a few losses and say those are the most meaningful outcomes. They all count.

 

[BP Joe]

This team's biggest problem is that we haven't had a shut-down ace since Tom Farmer, and that was 18 years ago. McKendry hasn't had the opportunity until this year, and now it appears it isn't going to matter. Until one of these stud recruits lives up to the hype and assumes that role, we will struggle to contend again (especially w the CWS permanently at TD Ameritrade).

College baseball is basically double elimination tournaments when it matters most, and you simply cannot start 0 - 1 in such a format and expect to have success.

 

[TpaBayFlyFisher]

Gino sho do the honorable thing like Richt did. Resign and give the school some more money because it gave you a chance....

 

[CTCANE]

Perhaps read your own post after the first sentence. We have been a poor fundamental team for some time now. So, now we have talent that can mask the obvious, does that mean we are really a better team? Sure if you want to say we made a regional, but is this team ready to play big time baseball. Your take, "Our team has had a very good year under Gino. Especially given where we were the last 2 seasons". You're reaching a little here, it had been over forty years since we were that bad, let along two consecutive years. We really had nowhere but up to go.

Do you think a different staff could have produced better results, especially the last two games when it really counted? Queue up the excuse machine. If not for this error, if not for that error, if we made adjustments, "Gino has to coach that out of them". "We don't swing at the first strike".

Gino has been on staff how many years now? We have had the same issues for how long? But hey, "maybe next year", it's been our battle cry for too long.

Hope they prove me wrong and get of of Starkville and on to a super, I'll gladly take a plate of crow, but I don't think Gino is the man to lead it.

Doesnt matter if you think he isn't because he is going to be for many years.

 

[IndayArtHauz]

That's only part of the story. How about games 1 and 2 vs FSU, 2 and 3 vs GT, etc.? We lost some games, as you pointed out, and we won some others.

The net effect is a good-but-not great team. It's silly to look at a few losses and say those are the most meaningful outcomes. They all count.

I am not discounting any of the wins. I am highlighting the critical losses, any of which would have improved our position on the year. Perhaps dramatically.

I’m not one of the drive bys on here calling for Gino’s job or questioning his ability to lead the program. I am highlighting that we have at least four critical losses that followed a common pattern. That should not be a not a problem

 

[CTCANE]

This is a Jon Richt situation. Team clearly has the talent to make it deep in the CWS. Unfortunately, we have a bad coach who got his job because of nepotism. I said it before- defense is 99% execution. Talent can turn a good fielder into Ozzie Smith, but even the least talented player on the team should he capable of sound defense. Miami needs to admit it made a mistake and hire a quality HC.

Completely untrue. He has paid his dues unlike Richt. Have to love these message boards.

 

[gacaneaddict]

What a great year for Miami athletics.

-Football has terrible season
-Basketball has terrible season
-Baseball has decent season, but no where near where Miami baseball standards are, and then choke away a game to a garbage clown show.

Hope you’re proud Blake!