#20 Auburn - 6 @ MSU - 7 FINAL......

[kbtiger151345162906 0]

Always tough to win a tie game on the road.

[TigerPaw1 0]

Gilmer strikes out... To the bottom 9th

[Aubie791 0]

lead off single... sac bunt... winning run at 2nd with 1 out... Blatt still in

[Aubie791 0]

5-3 put out... runner still at 2nd... 2 outs

[Aubie791 0]

we lose 7-6... line drive base hit

[TigerPaw1 0]

And we fall late again... Another tough Friday loss just can't seem to win these Friday night battles. Need a strong outing out of Irvin tomorrow

[kbtiger151345162906 0]

Only one 1 opening game in a series this year.  Luckie's gotta head to the pen.  Gonna be tough to get 2 after this, but this was our hardest pitching matchup.

[Cat4AU 0]

Bullpen!!!            

[AUAeroEngineer 0]

I still don't understand two things about the end of that game. Why did Blatt throw a ball right down the middle with the winning run on board, and an even bigger question, WHY WAS BLATT IN THERE AT ALL? Wallen or at least Hendrix or Ray should've been in there. Zach's been struggling lately. I wouldn't bet my life on this, but me thinks this'll be the last time we see Luckie starting on the weekend. Morris is gonna come in and lock down that Friday game. Losing this one puts a lot of unneeded pressure on Irvin and Varnadore. Gotta be able to take that first one

[kbtiger151345162906 0]

I agree on the Morris front, I think we will be a much better team with him starting on Fridays.  I'm ok with Blatt in there, Blatt had thrown 2 scoreless innings and looked really good in the 8th so I'm fine with sticking with him.  Hard to blame this one on the bullpen when your starter gives up 6 runs and you leave so many men on base.

[TigerPaw1 0]

Tough loss. Was really hoping we could pull out a sweep. It looked like Luckie had settled in but that late homer killed us and once again we struggled to get the key hit. I mean we had runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs at the top 9th. We shoulda bunted them over and then at least gotten one run in. Frustrating loss more because you can see we are so close to being an elite team we just haven't gotten over the hunt. Gotta win Saturday

[WarAmericanEagle 0]

I still don't understand two things about the end of that game. Why did Blatt throw a ball right down the middle with the winning run on board, and an even bigger question, WHY WAS BLATT IN THERE AT ALL? Wallen or at least Hendrix or Ray should've been in there. Zach's been struggling lately. I wouldn't bet my life on this, but me thinks this'll be the last time we see Luckie starting on the weekend. Morris is gonna come in and lock down that Friday game. Losing this one puts a lot of unneeded pressure on Irvin and Varnadore. Gotta be able to take that first one

We must not have been listening to the same game or watched the same games the last couple weeks. Blatt has been on fire of late and it was his game. If Luckie knew how to pitch at all, Zach wouldn't have to pitch three innings. The pitch obviously was down the middle cause thats where Caldwell wanted it.

Another fault I see in your argument is about Morris. I know Luckie has been terrible, but its because Morris that we lost Tuesday to Jacksonville State. I dont know that we've found the right guy for friday night and we may not this year at this rate.

[AUAeroEngineer 0]

I still don't understand two things about the end of that game. Why did Blatt throw a ball right down the middle with the winning run on board, and an even bigger question, WHY WAS BLATT IN THERE AT ALL? Wallen or at least Hendrix or Ray should've been in there. Zach's been struggling lately. I wouldn't bet my life on this, but me thinks this'll be the last time we see Luckie starting on the weekend. Morris is gonna come in and lock down that Friday game. Losing this one puts a lot of unneeded pressure on Irvin and Varnadore. Gotta be able to take that first one

We must not have been listening to the same game or watched the same games the last couple weeks. Blatt has been on fire of late and it was his game. If Luckie knew how to pitch at all, Zach wouldn't have to pitch three innings. The pitch obviously was down the middle cause thats where Caldwell wanted it.

Another fault I see in your argument is about Morris. I know Luckie has been terrible, but its because Morris that we lost Tuesday to Jacksonville State. I dont know that we've found the right guy for friday night and we may not this year at this rate.

Apparently you didn't watch Tuesday's game. Morris went 6 shutout innings before running out of gas, and then he only gave up 3 runs. Also, Blatt looked terrible in that game. He had some good showings, but he's inconsistent right now, and I woulda felt much safer with Hendrix of Ray out there

[WarAmericanEagle 0]

I did listen to the game, btu if Morris was tired, which he obviously was, he should have pulled himself before he went back out in the 7th.

[AUAeroEngineer 0]

Pitchers rarely do that. They only ever pull themselves if their hurt. He probably thought he could keep going and coach let him. You gotta remember that Tuesday was more or less an audition for Morris to see if he could take over that Friday spot, so obviously he's gonna try to go as far as he can. He didn't lose that game for us. He had us in a great position to win it

[waregl87 0]

We have to find another pitching option on Friday nights. Period. Luckie just isn't cutting it. We have to score 7-8 runs every Friday night just to have a chance, and that's not good. It's the same old story with him every week, and a change has to be made, IMO.

[28Auburn27 0]

Speaking from experience, a pitcher won't pull himself from a game from being tired. It's the coaches job to pull a pitcher if he sees that he's not as effective as he needs to be. Not to mention that our bullpen has been extremely overworked so I don't blame Coach P for trying to make a starter go deeper into the game. We have to have starters do that eventually, so we might endure some growing pains in the meantime.

But if Morris, Irvin, and Varnadore wind up being our weekend rotation, correct me if I'm wrong but won't that be 3 Juco transfers in the rotation. I just thought that was a little odd to see

[AUAeroEngineer 0]

Yeah, it'll be 3 juco's, an I've actually been thinking about that for a while. But honestly, with the talent we have right now, Dayton is the only pitcher who would probably start weekend this year from last year. Speaking of that, how about a Morris/Dayton/Varnadore. Can you say UNTOUCHABLE?

[kbtiger151345162906 0]

Morris has better stuff than Luckie.  2 of his 3 earned runs on Tuesday were runners the bullpen let score.  Luckie has had his chances and he just isn't getting the job done.

[28Auburn27 0]

Yeah, it'll be 3 juco's, an I've actually been thinking about that for a while. But honestly, with the talent we have right now, Dayton is the only pitcher who would probably start weekend this year from last year. Speaking of that, how about a Morris/Dayton/Varnadore. Can you say UNTOUCHABLE?

Yeah that would be pretty sick. Which to be honest, I haven't seen a ton of Will Irvin, but he looked as sharp as Dayton ever was in the Arkansas game I saw him throw last Saturday. He seems to get better every start which is a good quality to have

[Aubie791 0]

"On Paper," Fri was the worst of the pitching match-ups for AU as I understand it... the closest they have to an ace vs the weakest of our current, 3 weekend starters.  Let's hope Irvin today and Varnadore tomorrow have their good stuff and can lead us to a series win on the road.

[WarAmericanEagle 0]

Pitchers rarely do that. They only ever pull themselves if their hurt. He probably thought he could keep going and coach let him. You gotta remember that Tuesday was more or less an audition for Morris to see if he could take over that Friday spot, so obviously he's gonna try to go as far as he can. He didn't lose that game for us. He had us in a great position to win it

How did he not lose it if he gave up 3 runs in the 7th and left with runners on?

[AUAeroEngineer 0]

Because he went 6 innings and left with us in the lead. It was the bullpens fault. There is no way you can pin that game on morris.

[28Auburn27 0]

I'm not sure when 6 innings of shutout pitching meant that someone had a bad outing, and deserves to be blamed...Luckie gave up 4 last night in the second inning and Irvin gave up what, 8 runs in the first inning today? I'll take 6 innings out shutout pitching all day every day. And let the coach make the call for when to pull a pitcher. A tired Morris is probably better than some of our relievers fresh anyways

[WarAmericanEagle 0]

I'm not sure when 6 innings of shutout pitching meant that someone had a bad outing, and deserves to be blamed...Luckie gave up 4 last night in the second inning and Irvin gave up what, 8 runs in the first inning today? I'll take 6 innings out shutout pitching all day every day. And let the coach make the call for when to pull a pitcher. A tired Morris is probably better than some of our relievers fresh anyways

Because he went 6 innings and left with us in the lead. It was the bullpens fault. There is no way you can pin that game on morris.

If the starter has 6 shutout innings, but then gets tired and goes out in the seventh and leaves runners, that is his fault. The tying run went to Morris which means he got a ND or a loss essentially.