Avoid tough luck with tough pitching
posted by David Cloninger, 6/02/2009 01:15:00 PM
What ever happened to sweat?”
--------------------- METALLICA
There needs to be a switch, right now, if not sooner.
Not in terms of coaches and players.
In terms of attitude.
South Carolina’s bullpen will find out in the next week, after season wrapup meetings and the Major League Baseball draft are completed, exactly who will be returning next season. The returnees need to band together and vow that their shoddy performance of 2009 will not be repeated.
The statistics from Monday’s 10-9 season-ending loss to East Carolina do not lie. The Gamecocks got what they wanted from Jay Brown, a wizened pitcher who shut down the Pirates’ bats while his teammates posted a 6-0 lead. Brown’s stuff isn’t electric and everybody in Clark-LeClair Stadium knew it, but Brown knew if he could just tough it out for four or five innings while he got some hits, he could at least set the table.
He did his job. Then the bullpen yanked the tablecloth away, spilling the super regional meal that was laid out upon it.
Brown gave up two runs, five hits, three walks and struck out three in 4 2-3 innings. In the remaining five innings, the bullpen gave up eight runs, nine hits, five walks, a hit batter and only struck out one.
No one can blame the decision to go to the bullpen because there was no other decision that could be made. USC’s starting pitching was shot after the first three games. Coach Ray Tanner knew he’d have to get to his relievers sooner or later and figured the odds were good – he had his seemingly best crew of Parker Bangs, Curtis Johnson and Alex Farotto ready.
None of the three were effective. Johnson was the one who had the great misfortune of being out there trying to get the last three outs – he got none before Devin Harris cranked the game-tying three-run home run in the ninth inning.
The Gamecocks stumbled into the offseason with a lot of questions, most of them dealing with pitching. Tanner said as much afterward, softening the blow with the prefix that college coaches always wish they had more, better pitching.
“Most college coaches will tell you they’d like to pitch a little bit better,” Tanner said. “We weren’t as good as we wanted to be, but we were good enough to be here.”
Here’s what I’m saying – USC’s bullpen is not tough. That is why it failed.
Brown is tough. Blake Cooper is tough. Nolan Belcher is tough. Those three are not blessed with the scorching fastball of Sam Dyson, so they make do with what they have – a will to make themselves better and keep getting outs, throwing pitches they know their defense can handle and staying out of trouble. Specifically, if there’s a three-ball count, they don’t throw as hard as they can trying to strike a guy out on one pitch. They pick a spot they know they can hit, throw softer and if the guy hits it, the guy hits it.
On Monday, there was none of that from the relief crew. There was no urgency in trying to get the outs. The Gamecocks seemed to think that they’d just keep getting lucky, right up until the moment that pitch sailed out of left field.
The question is, how has it gotten to this point? Anyone believing Tanner has slipped is ever further out in left than that home-run ball. Pitching coach Mark Calvi is not the problem (read that again) – he’s doing the best he can with what he has. Unfortunately, he’ll always be held up to Jerry Meyers, something he can’t do anything about.
The problem is the best pitchers haven’t been coming to USC for a while. There’s only so much to go around anyway, but despite the draft and other college programs bidding for their services, the Gamecocks always managed to pull in five or six stars-in-waiting.
A group that heavy hasn’t happened in a while. USC has gotten some good pitchers, just not enough of them.
That has caused the best guys to rise to the top and take their starting places. The Gamecocks’ starting pitching staff was fine this year – not one of the country’s best, but good enough to win 17 SEC games and 40 overall.
It was the rest that was the headache. The bullpen ran hot and cold all year.
Farotto claimed the closer’s role with five saves by March 28, the season’s 23rd game. He got two the rest of the season (40 games).
Johnson, coming off rotator cuff and labrum injuries, was effective, but only in small doses. That he was one of the top choices to go to despite the medical issues speaks to the bullpen’s lack of depth.
Bangs was close to perfect in three of his last four appearances. Before and after (10 before and one after), he was ripped.
Adam Westmoreland, a weekend starter in the early season, was demoted after he began issuing too many walks during his games. He pitched good enough to win in the late season but did not appear in the regional after tweaking his arm during the SEC tournament.
Michael Roth, a budding hitter, was asked to pitch more often during the end of the regular season and did well, but he also did not appear in the regional.
The rest had to pick their spots when they could, an opportunity that became greater when freshman Matt Price went down for the season halfway through. Some were good, some were bad, but the depth was so thin that the Gamecocks had to take Steven Neff (four appearances), Will Casey (six appearances, none since April 24) and James Rawls (one appearance, on March 6) to fill out the postseason roster.
The solution is for Tanner, Calvi, Chad Holbrook and whoever else helps out in recruiting to go out, wherever they have a thread of a connection, and find pitchers. Do not find guys they think they can pitch, find pitchers.
The pitchers that have defined this program were guys that had talent and toughness. There’s talent on this year’s staff, as well as toughness – it’s just rarely within the same player. Find guys who are mentally tough first, teach them how to pitch and bolster the bullpen.
Some of the Gamecocks’ starters will be back next year and that role seems to be in good shape. The bullpen will lose Johnson, Farotto and possibly Bangs, which leaves the Gamecocks behind Square One if not standing directly on it.
Whoever’s left has to take the stand now, though, that what happened in Greenville will not happen again. East Carolina is a great team, yes, but USC beat it once and should have beaten it two other times, when one win was all it needed. One pitch, one tough pitch, at the right time and USC is booking hotel rooms in Chapel Hill right now.
Toughness is what’s required. The Gamecocks get to decide who auditions.
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“Why cure the fever?
What ever happened to sweat?”
--------------------- METALLICA
There needs to be a switch, right now, if not sooner.
Not in terms of coaches and players.
In terms of attitude.
South Carolina’s bullpen will find out in the next week, after season wrapup meetings and the Major League Baseball draft are completed, exactly who will be returning next season. The returnees need to band together and vow that their shoddy performance of 2009 will not be repeated.
The statistics from Monday’s 10-9 season-ending loss to East Carolina do not lie. The Gamecocks got what they wanted from Jay Brown, a wizened pitcher who shut down the Pirates’ bats while his teammates posted a 6-0 lead. Brown’s stuff isn’t electric and everybody in Clark-LeClair Stadium knew it, but Brown knew if he could just tough it out for four or five innings while he got some hits, he could at least set the table.
He did his job. Then the bullpen yanked the tablecloth away, spilling the super regional meal that was laid out upon it.
Brown gave up two runs, five hits, three walks and struck out three in 4 2-3 innings. In the remaining five innings, the bullpen gave up eight runs, nine hits, five walks, a hit batter and only struck out one.
No one can blame the decision to go to the bullpen because there was no other decision that could be made. USC’s starting pitching was shot after the first three games. Coach Ray Tanner knew he’d have to get to his relievers sooner or later and figured the odds were good – he had his seemingly best crew of Parker Bangs, Curtis Johnson and Alex Farotto ready.
None of the three were effective. Johnson was the one who had the great misfortune of being out there trying to get the last three outs – he got none before Devin Harris cranked the game-tying three-run home run in the ninth inning.
The Gamecocks stumbled into the offseason with a lot of questions, most of them dealing with pitching. Tanner said as much afterward, softening the blow with the prefix that college coaches always wish they had more, better pitching.
“Most college coaches will tell you they’d like to pitch a little bit better,” Tanner said. “We weren’t as good as we wanted to be, but we were good enough to be here.”
Here’s what I’m saying – USC’s bullpen is not tough. That is why it failed.
Brown is tough. Blake Cooper is tough. Nolan Belcher is tough. Those three are not blessed with the scorching fastball of Sam Dyson, so they make do with what they have – a will to make themselves better and keep getting outs, throwing pitches they know their defense can handle and staying out of trouble. Specifically, if there’s a three-ball count, they don’t throw as hard as they can trying to strike a guy out on one pitch. They pick a spot they know they can hit, throw softer and if the guy hits it, the guy hits it.
On Monday, there was none of that from the relief crew. There was no urgency in trying to get the outs. The Gamecocks seemed to think that they’d just keep getting lucky, right up until the moment that pitch sailed out of left field.
The question is, how has it gotten to this point? Anyone believing Tanner has slipped is ever further out in left than that home-run ball. Pitching coach Mark Calvi is not the problem (read that again) – he’s doing the best he can with what he has. Unfortunately, he’ll always be held up to Jerry Meyers, something he can’t do anything about.
The problem is the best pitchers haven’t been coming to USC for a while. There’s only so much to go around anyway, but despite the draft and other college programs bidding for their services, the Gamecocks always managed to pull in five or six stars-in-waiting.
A group that heavy hasn’t happened in a while. USC has gotten some good pitchers, just not enough of them.
That has caused the best guys to rise to the top and take their starting places. The Gamecocks’ starting pitching staff was fine this year – not one of the country’s best, but good enough to win 17 SEC games and 40 overall.
It was the rest that was the headache. The bullpen ran hot and cold all year.
Farotto claimed the closer’s role with five saves by March 28, the season’s 23rd game. He got two the rest of the season (40 games).
Johnson, coming off rotator cuff and labrum injuries, was effective, but only in small doses. That he was one of the top choices to go to despite the medical issues speaks to the bullpen’s lack of depth.
Bangs was close to perfect in three of his last four appearances. Before and after (10 before and one after), he was ripped.
Adam Westmoreland, a weekend starter in the early season, was demoted after he began issuing too many walks during his games. He pitched good enough to win in the late season but did not appear in the regional after tweaking his arm during the SEC tournament.
Michael Roth, a budding hitter, was asked to pitch more often during the end of the regular season and did well, but he also did not appear in the regional.
The rest had to pick their spots when they could, an opportunity that became greater when freshman Matt Price went down for the season halfway through. Some were good, some were bad, but the depth was so thin that the Gamecocks had to take Steven Neff (four appearances), Will Casey (six appearances, none since April 24) and James Rawls (one appearance, on March 6) to fill out the postseason roster.
The solution is for Tanner, Calvi, Chad Holbrook and whoever else helps out in recruiting to go out, wherever they have a thread of a connection, and find pitchers. Do not find guys they think they can pitch, find pitchers.
The pitchers that have defined this program were guys that had talent and toughness. There’s talent on this year’s staff, as well as toughness – it’s just rarely within the same player. Find guys who are mentally tough first, teach them how to pitch and bolster the bullpen.
Some of the Gamecocks’ starters will be back next year and that role seems to be in good shape. The bullpen will lose Johnson, Farotto and possibly Bangs, which leaves the Gamecocks behind Square One if not standing directly on it.
Whoever’s left has to take the stand now, though, that what happened in Greenville will not happen again. East Carolina is a great team, yes, but USC beat it once and should have beaten it two other times, when one win was all it needed. One pitch, one tough pitch, at the right time and USC is booking hotel rooms in Chapel Hill right now.
Toughness is what’s required. The Gamecocks get to decide who auditions.
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David Cloninger. David is a full-time staff writer for GamecockCentral, and covers Gamecock football, men's basketball, baseball and recruiting. He may be reached by email at david(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.