OTF Premium Baseball Game Thread: No. 2 Texas vs. No. 5 Auburn (Friday)

[UTexas]

8 hours ago, Paul L said:

I quit reading after all the over reactions.   The team is growing and has room to improve. If you believe in Schloss let him work his magic. 

That’s why I tend to stay out of game threads during games. Too many freak outs. We’re 18-3 and ranked in the top 5 and dropped a heartbreaker on an error. Not a big deal to me. It happens. 

[Buck Travis]

Silver lining. This was a character building loss that mirrors the CWS pressure. Had the game in the bag, lost focus, and lost in a humiliating way. They will remember that feeling when they get into the late innings in the playoffs. It ain't over till it's over.

[Lock n Horns]

Long season. Three bad games in the last 8 days should be a wake up call. Cant expect them to be perfect but they do need to develop that killer instinct and close these things out.  In Schloss we should trust!

[CoachBobbyFinstock]

1 hour ago, Buck Travis said:

Silver lining. This was a character building loss that mirrors the CWS pressure. Had the game in the bag, lost focus, and lost in a humiliating way. They will remember that feeling when they get into the late innings in the playoffs. It ain't over till it's over.

Eh. I didn’t see a lack of focus. I see a very possible weakness and it’s the bullpen. My recollection is Burns has had one bad outing and he was to be the closer. Well, we didn’t roll with him and went with a situational guy in a high leverage situation to be a shut down closer. It was a gamble that backfired. That’s a problem. Texas is going to have to do something. Either trust Burns or shake up the lineup. This is two losses on consecutive Fridays where we have blown a lead and we shouldn’t have. Instead of being 4-0 we are 2-2. Starting pitching has been outstanding. 

Edited 2 hours ago by CoachBobbyFinstock

[DLev]

You’ve got Grubbs, too. This was a case of trying to steal a win by stretching pitching instead of taking the opportunity to win when it presented itself. If Schloss truly thought that was his best chance of winning, then Cozart or Volantis has to move from starter to close out games. What was rolled out last night not only didn’t work in that one instance, it’s not sustainable.

[Assistant Regional Manager]

21 minutes ago, DLev said:

If Schloss truly thought that was his best chance of winning, then Cozart or Volantis has to move from starter to close out games. What was rolled out last night not only didn’t work in that one instance, it’s not sustainable.

I’d be very careful about jerking guys around to different roles. We saw what it did to Ruger last year.

There is zero guarantee Cozart is a good Sunday starter. We know Volantis is a great one. I’d much rather work with the pieces we got in the bullpen and iron it out vs wholesale changes to the entire staff.