After taking the time to decompress after another disappointing loss, I've got a few thoughts:
1. At this point in time, I have every confidence that Wallace could go toe-to-toe with just about any other starter in the B1G or at a Regional. Unfortunately, my confidence wavers significantly with Bauman (you never know what you are going to get) and I have zero confidence in Davitt. Overall, I've concluded that Iowa's starting pitching falls short of "Regional" quality. It may not be far off . . . but for Dreyer's injury . . . but I could see both Bauman and Davitt (and Irvine) getting absolutely torched by a Regional #1 team if Wallace led them to a game 1 win.
2. At this point in time, Iowa's offense does not appear to be anywhere close to "Regional" quality. While it has certainly been nice to get Williams back into the lineup after the tough Indiana series, let's face reality. With the opportunity to "make a statement" with a sweep against PSU, Iowa's offense was shut out for 8 innings by PSU's third starter. Hell, they were shut out for their final 6 ABs against PSU on Friday night. Iowa's hitters struck out in 11 of their first 15 ABs against Illinois' Saturday starter. They could only muster 1 run on Saturday against Illinois and 2 runs on Saturday against Illinois.
3. It appears that Heller knows that something was amiss in the lineup. On Friday against Illinois, Martin was batting 4th. On Saturday, Frazier was batting 4th. On Sunday, Martin was back to batting 4th. Against Northwestern, the clean-up hitters were Martin, Martin and Wallace. Here's some awfully sobering statistics from the last two weekends:
Norman 5-25 with one walk. (.200 BA; .230 OBP - not exactly the straw stirring the drink)
Fullard 6-22 with four walks (.272 BA; .385 OBP - pretty solid)
Williams 6-18 with seven walks (.333 BA; .520 OBP - very good numbers)
Martin 3-19 with four walks (.158 BA; .304 OBP)
Adreon 2-17 with two walks (.118 BA; .211 OBP - fell off cliff after winning B1G POW)
Sosa 5-21 with four walks (.238 BA; .360 OBP)
Nedved 3-14 with 2 walks (.214 BA; .313 OBP)
Conclusion: Norman is the guy who makes things happen. He was all but absent the past two weekends. Yes, his shot on Friday against Illinois and two doubles yesterday came in big situations but he failed to produce in two extremely key series. Fullard and Williams - hard to complain with those numbers from the #2 and #3 guys in the lineup. But, damn, after those two, there was about ZERO production from putting balls in play. Hard to win when the guys primarily hitting 4, 5, 6 and 7 are putting up those numbers.
4. So . . . sitting in the stands in IC against Illinois, I noticed several hitters who stepped into the batter's box with a 0-0 count and they are as close to home plate as the batter's box allows. After the first strike (regardless of swinging/looking), they back off the plate a few inches (best guess - about 3 to 4 inches. What in the holy hell is that plate strategy? First and foremost, it left me with the impression that they were trying to mess up Illinois pitching. However, Illinois pitching pounded the zone. You then change your view of the plate and pitch perspective by changing where you stand. Resulted in Iowa's hitters falling behind frequently and, as we painfully know, Illinois racked up the Ks all weekend long. Once I saw this live, I looked for it against NW. Same deal. Makes zero sense to me.
5. IMO, Iowa needs to freaking abandon the calling pitches from the dugout, having the pitcher check his pitch card and then throwing a pitch. I used the stopwatch on my phone to time the gap between pitches on Saturday. About 17-25 seconds between pitches for Davitt. For Lavendar it was rarely above 10. Even if the coaches want to call pitches (but Martin is a Senior!!!!), relay them to Martin and have him call the pitch. There is absolutely no chance for the pitcher to get in a rhythm the coach calling/check notecard approach. I cannot wonder if it drives Martin crazy. I saw him bark at the dugout during the Sunday Illini game when Iowa changed pitchers to Leonard. Martin yelled something at the bench, made a throat slashing gesture and pointed at himself. Leonard never once looked at a notecard and Martin was calling pitches himself.
Baseball is truly the sport for which I have the most passion. Sadly, I grew up a Pittsburgh Pirates fan and, consequently, I have little joy during MLB seasons. Iowa baseball keeps me going and am really thrilled that Heller has Iowa in "tournament" discussions on seemingly a yearly basis. Kills me that they are on the outside looking in again when I think of "what could have been" with Dreyer pitching on Friday, Wallace on Saturday and Bauman on Sunday . . . a healthy closer in Leonard . . . damn.
In any event, I'll hope for a miracle sweep over MSU, that Indiana tanks and that other bubble teams implode.
Sadly, I feel relegated to looking at the current roster and wondering "who's coming back" and what does next year look like?
