hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Mar 25, 2010 20:48:16 GMT -5
As usual, I expect my fair share and then some criticisms from any who are so openly inclinded to offer it. I can take it.
That being said, college baseball is a "beloved" sport to some. The restrictions/regulations on the bats which limit the compression/rebound ratios have brought some of the "purists" back to the game. In any case, I open this thread for discussions on such topics.
Virginia is the consensus #1 team in the land. Unlike football and basketball, there are about 7 polls, each of which is viewed similarly, although the "Baseball America" poll is generally the most-highly regarded.
Without any further ado ... I open what I hope will be at least somewhat interesting for some of us.
TigerHoya ... where are you???
Austin ... you too???
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hoyarooter
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Post by hoyarooter on Mar 26, 2010 12:03:15 GMT -5
Last I heard, UCLA's team was 16-0.
Not that I follow college baseball closely until playoff time, but that sounds pretty impressive.
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hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Mar 26, 2010 13:07:47 GMT -5
You may be right rooter. I don't remember which teams in particular, but there were a couple of teams that were undefeated at around 16-0 in the top 15 or so. That's one of the differences between football and baseball. A couple of losses "kill" you in football. Now granted, a Boise St. or a Utah being undefeated will often be ranked behind a once beaten Pac 10 or SEC team, but in baseball that is the norm. In fact, I think one team -- maybe Rice? -- was ranked this past week "in spite" of a 12-8 record. Differences in the difficulty in schedules in baseball are simply amazing. The SEC and the ACC are by far the strongest conferences in the Land. Certainly there are some great teams in the Big 12 and the Pac 10 as well. In any case, the point is that gaudy records with rankings that don't seem comensurate with them are the norm in baseball, as are relatively unimpressive records for a ranked team. Either last year or the year before, Georgia was ranked something like 16th, even though they were actually under .500 -- I think they were 6-7 or so. But they had played Arizona, Arizona St and FSU.
Last week, there were 7 SEC teams in the top 22 and 6 ACC teams in the top 24. Additionally, Louisville, Coastal Carolina and East Carolina were in the rankings as well. That put a whopping 16 of the top 25 teams in the southeast. (Ok, not technically, since that included a ranked Arkansas team, but since they are in the SEC, I will count them as well.)
Lastly, for anyone who might be interested, this is the last year for the famous Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha. I am really, really hoping my Gators make it, because I am really looking forward to going. But for any fans of the sport, it might be worth planning a summer vacation. I have never been, but I have heard so many great things about it.
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SFHoya99
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Post by SFHoya99 on Mar 26, 2010 15:01:37 GMT -5
College Baseball polls are more important than most, because college baseball is not really a revenue sport.
That means schedules are often based almost entirely around travel and conference. The result is that strength of schedule is a HUGE issue in college baseball in terms of evaluation. Teams will go a whole season playing only a few games against another quality team if they are in a lesser conference. Even major conference teams don't really play a ton of quality opponents.
I guess that's somewhat true of most college sports. But in baseball it is also exasperated because of the necessity of pitching depth.
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CAHoya07
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Post by CAHoya07 on Mar 26, 2010 15:21:48 GMT -5
My prediction: Georgetown will advance to the College World Series for the first time, and win the god damn thing. ;D Might want to start with being competitive in the Big East, which appears to not be a very good baseball conference (I can't imagine many schools in the Northeast are, with the weather and the emphasis on lacrosse). Especially for a sport that put our entire athletic department on probation. FYI, the team is currently 12-8 and about to start Big East play vs. Rutgers.
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hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Mar 26, 2010 16:12:27 GMT -5
SF, I wouldn't argue with your point, but my point was that baseball polls aren't "as important" as football or basketball because of the sheer number of them. There are basically 2 polls that matter in football and basketball. They used to be the AP and the UPI. Then the UPI became the Coaches poll. Then, of course, the AP decided they didn't want to be associated with the BCS for a number of reasons. In any case, my point was that there are really 2 main polls for those sports, but with college baseball there are literally 6 or 7 polls that are at least somewhat relevant. Baseball America is almost certainly the most prestigious of them, but even so, it isn't the universally accepted poll. For what it's worth, Virginia is #1 and Florida is #2 in that poll.
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hoyarooter
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Post by hoyarooter on Mar 26, 2010 19:05:03 GMT -5
I have no clue who UCLA has played in their first 16 games, but I can tell you that historically, many of their non-conference games are against schools like Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge, Cal State Long Beach and Pepperdine, and all of those schools have been very strong from time to time.
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DanMcQ
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Post by DanMcQ on Mar 26, 2010 22:10:24 GMT -5
When are we starting a "NAIA College Baseball 2010" thread?
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Post by HometownHoya on Mar 27, 2010 16:36:08 GMT -5
Anyone know how the Air Force Academy is looking this year? I heard from a friend who goes there that they are going to be damn good this year.
Hows G-town looking too? As bad as usual?
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hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Mar 30, 2010 10:55:47 GMT -5
Hometown, I don't know anything about Air Force -- and I'm not sure you are being serious in the first place. But in all honesty, they added a game against Army and I was pretty impressed with them. The Gators won -- I want to say something like 7-2, but they were a solid team for sure. That's not surprising though. They made a regional last year, and actually took Texas to the limit forcing a season-ending game for one of them. The Horns pulled it out though and advanced.
Also, for the handful who might actually care, Ole Miss has a great 1-2 punch on the mound. They are going to be very tough to take a series from. The Friday guy -- Drew Pomeranz -- is an outstanding lefty. I honestly thought he was a junior last season, and would be gone, but he is a junior this season. If you get a chance to watch him -- live or on the tube -- I would highly suggest it. He has Andrew Miller type stuff and will be a high pick in next year's draft and likely to make it to the show within 3 years or so. Unfortunately he led his rebels to a narrow 3-2 victory over Florida last Friday, but it was the kind of game you really don't "mind" losing -- if there is such a thing.
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hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Apr 2, 2010 22:38:29 GMT -5
Here's a question for any who might be college baseball fans:
The "knock" on the game that I have heard so many hundreds of times from an endless list of people about college baseball and "why" they don't like the game is the use of the aluminum bat. I understand the criticism in a general sense and understand the impact it has by routinely turning broken bat outs into seeing eye flare hits. The NCAA has addressed this issue numerous times, most specifically changing the ratio of length to weight restrictions as well as limiting the compression ration of the compound bat. The length/weight was simply a matter of physics. With wood, the limits take care of themselves for the most part. If you want to be able to generate the velocity and momentum then there's a tradeoff as the bat will break all that more frequently when you miss. With aluminum however, that wasn't the case. As for the other, and I think even more influencing change, the compression ratio of a bat and ball hitting is very similar to a golf club and golf ball. Most of us have seen frame by frame footage of this and it's very impressive the first time. A golf ball looks like an egg for a "split second" and then rebounds, actually creating ... or more accurately transferring the energy into momentum. The point in this is that the same thing happens in baseball. But colleges and more specifically high schools simply can't afford wooden bats. So these limitations help even the playing field difference between wooden bats and artificial. The effect is obvious. When UF went to the college world series in '96 amd '98, scores would routinely be in the double digits, and a "pitcher's duel" would be a 5-4 contest between top 10 draft picks. But now, at least in the "power conferences" a typical Friday night matchup of #1 starters is often more akin to National League scores. Tonight the Gators won 3-2 in a tight, well fought and contested game. Last week the Gators lost 3-2 in a very similar game. Against Miami, I think the Gators lost a 2-1 contest in similar fashion. My point is the game has changed and at least when you are lining up your top one or two guys, then I don't think it's all that different from what "we" are used to. With these changes, I would think there would be more interest in college ball.
Has anyone noticed such an effect? I haven't.
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hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Apr 3, 2010 12:00:42 GMT -5
rooter, I just checked out the most recent RPI for baseball -- updated at 8:30 this morning. Your're right about UCLA. They are second, behind only Arizona St. My Gators are sitting in the 3 spot. Again, look how many southeastern schools -- SEC, ACC etc... -- are represented in the top 40:
9 SEC in the top 38 6 ACC in the top 27 Louisville #4 The Citadel #6 Coastal Carolina #13 College of Charleston #18 Western Kentucky #23 Western Carolina #29 Southeastern Louisiana #40
22 out of the top 40 are in the "southeast" -- including Arkanasas which is cheating a bit.
If you take it a bit further,
Florida Atlantic #41 Kentucky #47 Appalachian St. #49 Florida International #50 Louisiana-Lafeyette #58 South Alabama #49 Virginiah Military #60
One that I thought that was a bit of a surprise, and probably of slight interest to some of you, Rutgers comes in at #32
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hoyaalf
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Post by hoyaalf on Apr 5, 2010 20:31:12 GMT -5
My feeling is that scholastic baseball in all age groups is so variable anywhere north of Little League, one of the great American experiences which I had only by going to all my son's games, that it's difficult to measure, to compare regions, leagues/conferences, teams.
Where do the players come from? Where do they go? I don't know much about it. I do know that one of my son's closest friends, s/w college, is teaching out 'there', still in a D-League, 'working on his "stuff"' He's 26.
What other sport offers so much ephemeral promise, so effectively seduces its adherents?
The only answer I have been able to come up with is the unique and peculiar set of athletic skills, including self-control, necessary to perform at a high as opposed to near-high level. Similar to golf if you will.
Tennis is somewhat different. It's an individually played attack/defend game on a mirror image 'pitch.'
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hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Apr 6, 2010 11:22:49 GMT -5
I think that certainly has some effect. Let's face it: the days of neighborhoods, where the kids get home from school and then go down to the playground and play whatever sport is in season, is pretty much over. Back "in the day," almost every neighborhood had a gathering spot playground. During football season, you played football. During basketball season, you shot hoops and once the summerish times roled around, you played baseball ... or the urbanized makeshift version -- stickball. For many reasons, those days are no longer. Football is mostly played at official boys club leagues or through the local schools. "Pick up" baseball games are entirely a thing of the past in 99% of the Country. Baseball, similarly now comes only from the boys clubs, schools and American Legion at the higher age groups. I think this does play in heavily in the declining interest of many potential athletes. But what I think more creates the situations you describe are the minor leagues. Sure, there are lesser hoops leagues like the CBA or even the Developmental league. And yes, there is Canadian football, Arena football, and very year or two some short-lived fledgling attempt for another pro football option. But the bottom line is that baseball is the only sport with a "real" and viable minor league. While this creates options "between" college and the "bigs," and therefore significantly dilutes the talent pool for Universities, I still think there is a lot more to it than that. But either way, while I see your point about the sport in general, I don't think that the sport is inherently so exclusive as you suggest. But in effect, I don't know if it really matters "why" it's gotten to this point. It's undeniable that it is at this point.
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hoyaalf
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Post by hoyaalf on Apr 6, 2010 18:49:35 GMT -5
Yes, I grew up in the type of neighborhood you described. Our Pop Warner was a league we created ourselves consisting of two teams, one from 5th grade, the other from 6th, It lasted two years. We wore old, old stuff much too big. I swear that there was a leather helmet in there somewhere.
We didn't stretch, but no one ever got hurt. It's tough to run fast and hit hard when you're holding up your pants with one hand.
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hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Apr 7, 2010 12:19:29 GMT -5
alf, thanks for the levity. That's pretty true though. Honestly, I wonder if kids will ever again grow up experiencing that "neighborhood" experience. Don't get me wrong, and it certainly wasn't a utopia by any stretch. But it was a part of growing up and, sadly, a part of life that I don't think will ever be a routine part of life again. Incidentally, this rpi site is updated daily. Again, a whopping 10 of the 12 SEC teams are in the top 37 RPI. Georgetown is coming in at 140th. That is above average. www.boydsworld.com/baseball/rpi/currentrpi.html
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kchoya
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Post by kchoya on Apr 7, 2010 17:25:29 GMT -5
I dislike Florida baseball. They injure opposing pitchers.
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hoyaalf
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Post by hoyaalf on Apr 7, 2010 20:11:22 GMT -5
My principal criticism of this shadow of an RPI, and I agree that it's an aesthetic judgement, is that there are too many teams from South Carolina.
There are less important considerations not worth discussion here.
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hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Apr 8, 2010 11:18:47 GMT -5
I dislike Florida baseball. They injure opposing pitchers. I was there. That was ugly, but not the worst of the season. For those who don't know -- virtually everyone else -- last Saturday a line drive back up the middle shattered a Vandy pitcher's kneecap. It's officially broken and he is out for the season. But the worst this year was a rocket off the bat of a Charleston Southern bat hit Tommy Toledo squarely in the face. It broke his nose as well as fracturing his cheekbone in a couple of places. They had to wait a whopping 10 days for the swelling to go down so they could do surgery. Ouch ...
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TigerHoya
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Post by TigerHoya on Apr 8, 2010 14:38:06 GMT -5
If you ever get a chance go to some summer league games for College. Cape Cod League is the original but there is now the Coastal Plain League in the Southeast, and the Ripken Senior League and one other one in the Mid Atlantic. My boss is involved with the Rockville team in the Ripken League and there was a Clemson pitcher playing for one of the Baltimore teams in that league.
They are wooden bat leagues with college players.
I have only followed the weekend games consistently for Clemson this year, and the starting QB for the football team is having another great year at the plate. They used him a lot as DH last year when he was learning offense at spring football practice - and he may be doing that again this year.
Rumor is now he may even end up going so high in the draft that Clemson might lose him for football in the fall. The last time that happened I think was a starting punter for the football team by the name of Bill Spiers that played for the Brewers.
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