(#120)
Would the answer to the onslaught of home runs be to pitch hard inside more and make the hitters a little more uncomfortable? Or have the hard throwers elevate the fastball more? I think the days of just keeping it low are over. Perhaps everybody needs a true sinker in their repertoire or a split finger fastball. I guess that would involve recruiting pitchers with good arms and long fingers. Radar gun and tape measure needed.
How about the eephus like the Spaceman? (Except the one to Perez in the 1975 World Series. Bill went to the well once too often for a professional hitter).
I did see a pitcher go up-and-in to a right-hander right after the previous hitter hit a long home run and danced in front of the dugout. The hitter moved quickly. Old school stuff. But probably not intentional. Maybe.
Why do pitchers hesitate to pitch inside? The fear of hitting somebody? The most likely answer is yes. Because most of the hitters stand right on top of the plate. The only part of the plate left is the middle or the outside corner or up. If we could master the inside part of the plate or a regular basis, how would they adjust to it? How many balls would be hooked foul? How many handle shots would be hit? How could they get the barrel to the right place at the right time? How often would they take it for a strike? Good questions. But a well placed hit batsman is better than a walk in the long run. To effectively pitch inside, the walks have to be eliminated.
Can’t let them keep leaning over the plate and diving for pitches. Got to make them a little uncomfortable; make them move their feet. Get them off the plate. The great Stewart Cliburn told me once that he threw at their batting gloves at least to let them know he was there. No head hunting. Just make them move back.
“Show me a guy who can’t pitch inside and I’ll show you a loser.”
Sandy Koufax
Imagine Sandy Koufax busting you inside.
Today I saw an old man howling like a lion from the grandstand. Seriously. He did it on and off for about 5 hours. Great impression of a lion. He was popular on the Netflix series “Last Chance U.” He really was.
The baseball facilities at Scooba looked a lot different than they did in the 1980’s and 90’s.
I remember the gigantic oak tree behind the right field fence which made a home run to right about 265 feet. EMCC loaded up on left-handed hitters to pull. My guys were mostly right-handers who pulled the ball to Death Valley in left field. Years later, they chopped the tree down and backed up the fences. Then they moved the whole stadium to aid in recruiting and the player experience.
Their baseball dormitories were about 20 tiny houses behind the baseball complex.
I saw a hitter strike out twice and single to left in the same at bat. Seriously. “Call a strike!”
I never argued balls and strikes unless I sincerely believed the called ball was a strike or the called strike was a ball. It happened quite often. Then I would turn on my hitter for whining at the umpire for a bad call on strike 2 and then strike out on a pitch in the dirt or over his head or a pitcher who would whine on a missed strike three and miss badly on the very next pitch.
The coach can yell and scream, but the hitter and pitcher have to hit the reset button and move on to the next pitch.
The pitcher should focus on the hitter with runners on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs. The runners are not going to run. The shortstop is out of position when holding the runner that is not going to run. And if we are not going to mix in an occasional pickoff play, he might was well just move and close up that gigantic hole between short and third. That’s all on video and in the opponent’s scouting report.
Great run support in the opener. 2 runs homers. 2 out hits. Big inning.
When you split a doubleheader, you leave no better or worse than you were when you got there. If you can’t sweep, then a split is the next best thing.
My advice to my 7 year old coach pitch player. You don’t have to strike out. And the best way not to strike out is to not get two strikes. Hit the first good pitch you see. Hunt a fastball and don’t miss it. Get to work on the swing while the pitchers are trying to hit your bat. The pitcher/coach is trying his best to do it. I think the release point creates a tough angle for the small hitter though. It breeds the dreaded upper cut. When they reach 9 years of age, the pitchers will try to get them out for the rest of their baseball life. They’ll throw everything at you but the kitchen sink.
Today I was thinking about the time I was stealing home when I was in high school. I used to be very fast. I got to home plate just before the pitch did. When I slid, the pitch passed right over me. I saw it while I was laying there. The hitter, who missed the steal sign, swung and singled to right. I saw it all from down below. No stolen base for me, but a cheap RBI single for the hitter.
After a vigorous 28 game conference schedule the MS JUCO playoffs are set. We are the four seed and will host Mississippi Gulf Coast for a best of three series beginning next Thursday at 4 pm. All nine inning games. One game a day. Just like the big boys. The doubleheaders are over. Meridian will host Northwest. East Mississippi will host East Central. Hinds will host Gulf Coast. Northeast will host Jones.
9 out of 15 teams make the playoffs. 28 games to qualify for a spot in the tournament and a six team double elimination tournament for a chance to play in the World Series. Somebody will do it. In the old days when we were pretty good but finished third in a tough south division, we didn’t even make the state playoffs. I wish we had this format back in then. We tried, but the presidents would never approve it.
Now the Region 23 champion jumps straight to the World Series. Before you had to win a district playoff or tournament to make it. That’s how good Mississippi JUCO baseball has become. A legitimate chance to compete for a national championship.
You can’t win a playoff series if you ain’t in it. We are in it. The four winners of these series will join the Mississippi State Champions from Pearl River and LSU-Eunice in a 6 team double elimination tournament at Poplarville. The winner advances to the Division II World Series in Enid, Oklahoma. LSUE is the defending Region 23 and National Champion. The only Mississippi National Champion ever is Jones.
Hinds has played in the World Series and Enid twice, in Grand Junction, Colorado once, and in Millington, Tennessee three times. 6 total for the Eagles. The 1989 team at Hinds was the first Mississippi team to play in a World Series; the JUCO World Series, in Grand Junction.
This was a memory on my Facebook page this morning: “I love how baseball reminds me that you get to start over at zero every day. As in baseball and in life, play hard and have fun.”
I was comparing the stats of two of the greatest Hinds baseball teams from 1989 and 2015, 26 years apart. Wins- 43 in 2015. 40 in 1989. Runs scored- 418 in 1989. 387 in 2015. Hits- 548 in 1989. 505 in 2015. RBI- 345 in 1989. 309 in 2015. Batting Average- .334 in 2015. .320 in 1989. Doubles- 107 in 2015. 89 in 1989. Triples- 20 in 1989. 10 in 2015. Stolen bases- 146 in 1989. 56 in 2015. Record- 43-7 in 2015. 40-14 in 1989. Division II World Series in Enid, Oklahoma in 2015. JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado in 1989 (before there were JUCO divisions; which began in 1993).
Games played- 54 in 1989. 50 in 2015. Innings pitched- 404 in 1989. 380 in 2015. Hits allowed- 348 in 2015. 426 in 1989. Earned runs allowed- 150 in 2015. 197 in 1989. Walks- 112 in 2015. 210 in 1989. Strikeouts- 323 in 2015. 242 in 1989. ERA- 3.41 inn 1989. 3.56 in 2015.
The 2015 team won the state championship and the Region 23 championship. The 1989 team won the south division championship, the state championship, the Region 23 championship, the Eastern District championship.
I saw a third baseman field a high hopping ground ball and turn it into a 5-3 out only because he was playing deep with two outs. Otherwise, it’s bounces over his head for a long single, possible double.
There were a dozen home runs today by both teams. The jet stream was blowing briskly out to left field all day. Multiple blasts by both teams to right center field were held up by the wind. I reminded myself that ground balls never leave the park no matter how hard the wind is blowing.
I would not let Gene Landry (1999) break Noah James’ 1989 single season strikeout record of 47. He tied it in the Division II World Series in Millington. After #47 he sat down. And although Noah struck out 47 times in 199 at bats over 54 games, he hit .357 with 12 doubles, 19 home runs and drove in 75 runs. He got clutch hit after clutch hit after clutch hit in the state tournament, in the Region 23 tournament and in the Eastern District tournament. I’ve never seen anything like it in big meaningful tournament games.
While I’m thinking about the 1989 World Series, I am reminded that my murder’s row of hitters went silent in the light air of Colorado…. because at the tournament for the first time, the NJCAA imposed a ban on smokeless tobacco…snuff and chewing tobacco; in practices and in games. We didn’t get the memo until we arrived. I think nicotine withdrawal played a pivotal role in our participation in the series, although we performed quite well in both games we played, we didn’t have quite the consistency at the plate which we had become accustomed to especially those who were already addicted to nicotine, probably since Little League.
While everybody else buses to the World Series, our first appearance was such a big deal that Dr. Muse flew us to Denver and then bused us to Grand Junction. Van Reed, Vantrel’s dad (current Hinds player, 33 years later), missed the flight and the team picture because he was afraid to fly. His punishment? He had to fly out on a small private jet. 🙂
We’ll have to super-impose his picture in the team photo display.
I’m awarding these to the team’s most consistent mentally tough competitor after the season.
Until Volume 12.
Rick Clarke's Diary of a Mad Baseball Coach 