I have mixed feelings about what happened last night in Pearl. I had seats at the ground level, and I yelled so much I lost my voice. I heckled. I screamed. I yelled balk even when there wasn't one. That, my friends, is fun.
On the negative side, we lost. Again. I'm so sick of losing midweek games to vastly inferior opponent. We have four midweek games remaining: Murray State, Arkansas State, Memphis, and Jackson State. ALL of them are must wins.
I really do not want to talk about what happened last night. You will not get a recap. I'm sorry. Rather, I will spew great amounts of criticism against Mike Bianco and State Fans.
Let's start with Bianco:
MIKE! Come on, man.... Seriously? Nathan Baker? Seriously? When Rory McKean got into a tight spot last night, Mike pulled him in favor of NATHAN BAKER. In general, I do not have a problem with Nathan. The problem is that he is not a strikeout pitcher. When two people are on base with no outs, you need a strikeout pitcher. So, you can guess the rest of the story.
Next point of contention: Jake Morgan. He is a nice kid and supposedly has a closer mentality. So what? Do not put him in a game like this just yet. Worse, he only faced one batter! Then, Justin Cryer comes out of the pen. Does no one remember the home run he gave up to the Mustard Buzzards just a couple of weeks ago in a midweek game against an in-state foe in the same freakin' ballpark? (FYI: It made the Sportscenter Top Ten). Justin lets runs score as well.
Wait, wait, wait, wait. Let me calm down.
Ok. Why not "The Bittler"? Bittle is incredible! He could have silenced cow college, and gotten us out of the jam. I'm already mad enough, so let me change the subject.
State Fans:
There were many State Fans sitting behind me last night, and one in particular was just a plain out jerk. I was yelling at Tyler Whitney just saying, "Nice Pitch" (in a sarcastic tone I might add). This punk chimes in and says, "He's been doing pretty well so far." Good job Captain Obvious.
This guy would not give up all night. He was obviously wearing Moron and White glasses. Later, he got on a rant about how good Jamont Gordon and Varnado are. Then, Aaron Weatherford came in to relieve for State. He was wowed by his 90mph fastball. He would not shut up about Weatherford's speed. Ok, so you may argue that the gun was indicating slow, but it was indicating the exact same speed for Justin Cryer.
I now understand what the big deal is though because a friend explained it to me. State only has one pitcher that can consistently get into the mid-90s; therefore, it is exciting for them. We have a weekend rotation that averages mid-90s. Not a big deal for us.
I realize I could rant for days about how stupid state fans are.
Whenever I cool off, I will return and make a coherent blog post about Ole Miss Baseball.