Ole Miss loses 2 of 3 to the Wildcats and goes 1-3 on the week, also losing to Memphis this past Tuesday. The Rebels have the school day game at 11 a.m. Tuesday against Arkansas Little Rock and then host Mississippi State Thursday to Saturday in Oxford.
David's column will again run on Tuesday morning.
These are a bit scattershot, but they are what I'm thinking.
This remains about the offense. I've seen some discussing about losing pitchers in too long and having to use Dallas Woolfolk on Thursday night and how certain things didn't pan out at certain times, but that's all secondary to Ole Miss' inability to score runs. Any perceived pitching issues are magnified and put into more focus than necessary because of the lack of runs scored. It also puts the pitchers in difficult situations because any one pitch could be the ballgame.
Brady Feigl is better than he's showing, and that third starter spot remains unsettled, but the pitching is good enough. Certainly not the issue.
Here's my one caveat as far as what the UK series meant: It was just one weekend, and Ole Miss took two of three from Vandy a week ago. Let's see what happens in these home games against MSU and Bama before any sweeping assertions. Big picture: the nonconference losses piling up -- even though against an incredibly tough schedule -- is a bit worrisome. It potentially creates a lower ceiling for the resume because this isn't a 20-win SEC team. It won't have an impact on getting in or anything, but it could create a bad side of any perception tiebreaker if the Rebels stumble much more out of league.
I'm going to ask David to talk about this in his column, but Ole Miss is missing so many fastballs at the plate. In critical situations, I've seen the Rebels come up empty against hittable fastballs over the plate. That has to improve. I'm going to talk to Clement about it this week because I don't know the cause. Maybe they are just missing them. Maybe because they've had to look offspeed so much because of changeup issues that they are getting jammed by high 80s fastballs. I don't know, but whatever it is that's a huge issue for an offense.
In the three losses this week, Ole Miss was 4-for-30 (.133) with runners on base. The Rebels entered the week hitting .250 in that area which isn't great, but three or four more hits may have been the difference in a win or two.
A couple weeks ago Mike talked about the need to stop looking at batting averages and just put up quality at-bats. Do something productive, whatever it is. That remains my biggest issue with the offense. In the two losses to the Wildcats, Ole Miss scored just three runs on 14 -- seven in each game. Seven hits should equal more than one run.
There aren't enough good at-bats. Ole Miss didn't walk a single time in either loss to UK (struck out 21 times) and only walked once in 11 innings against Memphis. Lengthen at-bats, earn some free bases, move runners and try to pressure defenses in other ways. That's the only way this offense is successful. It's not equipped to live off bloops and blasts. In 29 innings during the three losses this week, Ole Miss got the leadoff hitter on 7 times. The Rebels scored runs on 2 of those 7 occasions.
Kentucky starters Friday and Saturday -- Zach Logue and Justin Lewis -- were fine. One lefty and one righty and both talented but pretty typical of the average SEC arm. It wasn't Lange and Faedo out there. Three runs over six innings or so should be the average against starters like that.
It's not panic time. Ole Miss is 15-9 and a No. 17 RPI -- which I still think is too early to consider but we're getting closer -- but it's more about how the games are playing out and what the Rebels look like. Credit to Ole Miss on Thursday for slugging a win, but that all happened with two outs in one inning. The other innings were pretty pedestrian.
Ole Miss has good pitching. The lack of a shutdown starter keeps it from being elite, but it's very good and plenty deep. Woolfolk is an All-American. But the pitching isn't good enough to consistently bail out an offense in SEC play. Ole Miss needs single runs in as many innings as possible. If more come, then great, but this is about good at-bats and chaining things together.
Four of the next six league games is the baseline before the schedule toughens.
David's column will again run on Tuesday morning.
These are a bit scattershot, but they are what I'm thinking.
This remains about the offense. I've seen some discussing about losing pitchers in too long and having to use Dallas Woolfolk on Thursday night and how certain things didn't pan out at certain times, but that's all secondary to Ole Miss' inability to score runs. Any perceived pitching issues are magnified and put into more focus than necessary because of the lack of runs scored. It also puts the pitchers in difficult situations because any one pitch could be the ballgame.
Brady Feigl is better than he's showing, and that third starter spot remains unsettled, but the pitching is good enough. Certainly not the issue.
Here's my one caveat as far as what the UK series meant: It was just one weekend, and Ole Miss took two of three from Vandy a week ago. Let's see what happens in these home games against MSU and Bama before any sweeping assertions. Big picture: the nonconference losses piling up -- even though against an incredibly tough schedule -- is a bit worrisome. It potentially creates a lower ceiling for the resume because this isn't a 20-win SEC team. It won't have an impact on getting in or anything, but it could create a bad side of any perception tiebreaker if the Rebels stumble much more out of league.
I'm going to ask David to talk about this in his column, but Ole Miss is missing so many fastballs at the plate. In critical situations, I've seen the Rebels come up empty against hittable fastballs over the plate. That has to improve. I'm going to talk to Clement about it this week because I don't know the cause. Maybe they are just missing them. Maybe because they've had to look offspeed so much because of changeup issues that they are getting jammed by high 80s fastballs. I don't know, but whatever it is that's a huge issue for an offense.
In the three losses this week, Ole Miss was 4-for-30 (.133) with runners on base. The Rebels entered the week hitting .250 in that area which isn't great, but three or four more hits may have been the difference in a win or two.
A couple weeks ago Mike talked about the need to stop looking at batting averages and just put up quality at-bats. Do something productive, whatever it is. That remains my biggest issue with the offense. In the two losses to the Wildcats, Ole Miss scored just three runs on 14 -- seven in each game. Seven hits should equal more than one run.
There aren't enough good at-bats. Ole Miss didn't walk a single time in either loss to UK (struck out 21 times) and only walked once in 11 innings against Memphis. Lengthen at-bats, earn some free bases, move runners and try to pressure defenses in other ways. That's the only way this offense is successful. It's not equipped to live off bloops and blasts. In 29 innings during the three losses this week, Ole Miss got the leadoff hitter on 7 times. The Rebels scored runs on 2 of those 7 occasions.
Kentucky starters Friday and Saturday -- Zach Logue and Justin Lewis -- were fine. One lefty and one righty and both talented but pretty typical of the average SEC arm. It wasn't Lange and Faedo out there. Three runs over six innings or so should be the average against starters like that.
It's not panic time. Ole Miss is 15-9 and a No. 17 RPI -- which I still think is too early to consider but we're getting closer -- but it's more about how the games are playing out and what the Rebels look like. Credit to Ole Miss on Thursday for slugging a win, but that all happened with two outs in one inning. The other innings were pretty pedestrian.
Ole Miss has good pitching. The lack of a shutdown starter keeps it from being elite, but it's very good and plenty deep. Woolfolk is an All-American. But the pitching isn't good enough to consistently bail out an offense in SEC play. Ole Miss needs single runs in as many innings as possible. If more come, then great, but this is about good at-bats and chaining things together.
Four of the next six league games is the baseline before the schedule toughens.
