Going forward, the KY series, & pitching

[taylorvol]

What many don’t realize is that baseballs travel further in hot and humid weather. That‘s a huge reason why homeruns go up dramatically later in the season (especially for schools located in cooler climates) like KY.

 

[NighthawkVol]

I really am sick of this narrative because we prove it over and over again we can hit them anywhere. We just sent a buttload out in what I believe is the biggest park in the SEC. It really makes announcers look dumb when they say this

And on top of that, they never discuss Tennessee’s ERA, which was 2nd nationally last year and 1st in 2022. If the park is the reason UT scores so many runs, why isn’t it working for other teams? And why don’t UT’s pitchers get extra credit mention for it?

 

[NighthawkVol]

If this game were last year, Kirby would have come in in the 5th, gotten the huge DP and that would have been that. A new pitcher would have come on for the 6th and we would all be talking about how great his outing was. Yesterday though, we were clearly out of arms, which forced Kirby to go well beyond what I think he should have been asked to do. Then you had the freaking wind and a Kentucky team that can clearly hit the ball hard. So yes, he gave up 4 HR's, but that's just the type of game it was yesterday. It was a don't worry about the stats; just win type game. And that's what we did. If nothing else, Kirby ate up innings and kept the numbers from being too curvy in a game where real curvy numbers were much easier to come by than usual.

You said what I was trying to say about Kirby in my original post, but better.

 

[Boomer78]

Speaking of pitching, whatever came of Wyatt Evans? Notice he’s not on the roster

 

[taylorvol]

Speaking of pitching, whatever came of Wyatt Evans? Notice he’s not on the roster

He got in CTV’s doghouse and didn’t make the cut. Stamos was last player added to the roster.

 

[minorvol]

If beating a top 5 team in their park isn’t a season highlight, then season highlights aren’t possible and you should watch nature shows instead. No one is dismissing what UT is. But UT was not favored to win that series by most.

That’s easily the biggest series of the season for Tennessee and there aren’t any bigger for the remainder of the season, outside of maybe Vanderbilt. Maybe.

This is a really good take. You’re right. If taking 2 from the number 3 team on the road is not impressive, what is? And I’ll go one step further. Play solid defense on Friday and it’s a sweep.

 

[Christian Lowe]

He got in CTV’s doghouse and didn’t make the cut. Stamos was last player added to the roster.

Yep. A younger kid I worked with from an old job went to high school with him at JL Mann. Apparently he’s back in town and just dropped out of UT after being cut. Idk if it’s true, but that was the rumor he told me

 

[livefaith]

Not to throw shade, but making that series out to be WOW because they are the #3 team in America seems to dismiss that we are the #4 team in America. If we were unranked or like 20th, then I think your statement would be more valid, but two top 5 teams were playing. We should be able to beat them, they should be able to beat us. We had a little more hitting and a little better pitching and won the series.

His main point was the relative success compared to the rest of this season. Not that it was an earth shaking series victory that shocked the world. If there has been bigger success this season than winning v #3 on the road, then what would that be?

 

[volz2wallz]

Taking the Kentucky series on the road is easily the most impressive thing Tennessee has done this year. Not that the Vols have struggled, but there hasn’t been that Wow series. Beating the #3 team in America in its home park, which is a large park, something critics claim is kryptonite for Tennessee, is a real Statement.

Furthermore, there are some pitching components coming together now at the right time. Aaron Combs’ Saturday performance was spectacular. If that’s the Combs we get down the stretch, we have 3 absolute stud relievers in Causey, Snead, and Combs who can give us long relief. Marcus Phillips coming in and closing the door was also huge. If he can embrace and thrive in that role, we’ve got another bullet we didn’t have in the chamber before. TV seems to think that light came on for both of those guys and that’s what we’ll get from them going forward.

It really wasn’t fair to Kirby to ask him to go as long as he did, but we were out of reliable arms. He gutted it out and kept Kentucky at bay. He won’t be asked to pitch that many innings going forward (I don’t think), so I don’t worry too much about the runs he gave up late. Like I said, he shouldn’t have still been pitching then and it wasn’t fair to him that he was. He can (and will) be outstanding for an inning or 2 when needed. Same for Behnke.

With the bullpen seemingly coming together and Zander solidifying the Sunday starter role, the last big piece will be Russell’s return. He’s supposed to be back in early May. That puts him back when UT goes to Gainesville. If he’s back and he’s the Russell he was before, that gives Tennessee 3 good starters, a Friday ace we haven’t had all year AND it adds Stamos back to that bullpen. Pitching becomes very good. Not on the level of this offense (no one is), but still the kind of staff that can pair with this offense to win big things in the postseason.

Things may just be trending up at the right time. And Russell’s injury forced some others to step up…so it may end up being a blessing in disguise when he returns.

Good stuff enjoy the write ups...good discussion points...enjoy it..GBO!!️

 

[malibuvol]

In conference is a different story, I see others have already provided the stats.

I just looked at conference stats and apparently, before the UT series, KY hit 32 home runs in SEC play...We gave up 9 home runs to KY this weekend, thus the wildcats hit roughly 28% of their total SEC home runs against us...You can come to whatever conclusions you want...

 

[taylorvol]

I just looked at conference stats and apparently, before the UT series, KY hit 32 home runs in SEC play...We gave up 9 home runs to KY this weekend, thus the wildcats hit roughly 28% of their total SEC home runs against us...You can come to whatever conclusions you want...

Wind was blowing out.

 

[spyfish007]

Wind was blowing out.

I think wind is blowing out of some of the posters around here....

 

[fryeguy93]

I just looked at conference stats and apparently, before the UT series, KY hit 32 home runs in SEC play...We gave up 9 home runs to KY this weekend, thus the wildcats hit roughly 28% of their total SEC home runs against us...You can come to whatever conclusions you want...

Theit “coach” in his postgame interview mentioned how rare it was to get such string winds blowing out like this. Prevailing winds were the exact opposite.

 

[Golfprovol]

His main point was the relative success compared to the rest of this season. Not that it was an earth shaking series victory that shocked the world. If there has been bigger success this season than winning v #3 on the road, then what would that be?

My point being, we are a top 5 team. We should expect to beat everyone we play, at home or on the road. If taking 2 of 3 at UK isnt something you thought we could do or even expect to do, then your BVS needs some more meds.

In order for a win to be "signature" or a WOW, it needs to be in a situation where you don't expect to win or need every break to go your way in order to win. We are too good of a team to fit into either of those.

 

[BruisedOrange]

Their “coach” in his postgame interview mentioned how rare it was to get such string winds blowing out like this. Prevailing winds were the exact opposite.

This.
Yes, it was a great couple of wins in Lexington, against a very good team. But we shouldn't fool ourselves as to what those wins were and weren't.

How many games have we won on a field where (and under conditions when) most runs have to be scored on base hits? Our guys have gained confidence that they can come from behind to win games. They now need confidence they can win a game when the fences can't be reached.

The more "complete" our team's record, the better prepared we are for the post-season.

 

[StarRaider]

By the way.

I noticed Friday night that the lights were more - shall I say, more "efficient" than they were in 2022.

You don't suppose they dimmed the lights 2 years ago to even the playing field and then made them brighter when they thought they had the better team?

I bet the wished the could've dimmed the lights in afternoon games this weekend.

Remember when the VOLS showed up at that old cow pasture football field that looked like it had not been mowed in a month to try and slow down Willie Gault & Co.

 

[taylorvol]

The SID needs to announce how many TN away games have attendance records when we play. It seems every venue sets a record when we play them on the road. It’s got to be some sort of record. The Vols are must see games.

 

[SoullessGinger32_]

I'm sorry but for the clowns that are in here trying to take away that BIG win needs to just quit watching this sport all together. Maybe all sports for that matter

 

[txbo]

I just looked at conference stats and apparently, before the UT series, KY hit 32 home runs in SEC play...We gave up 9 home runs to KY this weekend, thus the wildcats hit roughly 28% of their total SEC home runs against us...You can come to whatever conclusions you want...

So in prior SEC games they averaged 2.13 HR per game. Against us, they averaged 3.

 

[txbo]

My point being, we are a top 5 team. We should expect to beat everyone we play, at home or on the road. If taking 2 of 3 at UK isnt something you thought we could do or even expect to do, then your BVS needs some more meds.

In order for a win to be "signature" or a WOW, it needs to be in a situation where you don't expect to win or need every break to go your way in order to win. We are too good of a team to fit into either of those.

Road series wins should always be celebrated in the SEC. A road series win against a top ranked opponent is a wow. It's a bigger wow than a home series win against Arkansas or A&M would be.

 

[volplaya8]

My point being, we are a top 5 team. We should expect to beat everyone we play, at home or on the road. If taking 2 of 3 at UK isnt something you thought we could do or even expect to do, then your BVS needs some more meds.

In order for a win to be "signature" or a WOW, it needs to be in a situation where you don't expect to win or need every break to go your way in order to win. We are too good of a team to fit into either of those.

The only series left that could rival winning the Kentucky series is at Vanderbilt. I would even argue that it still wouldn’t be as important since Kentucky sits higher in ranking and standings than Vanderbilt. To go into a venue where they are playing their biggest regular season games of all time and setting attendance records and to get out with a series win is exceptional. They also had us on the ropes on Sunday and our boys responded in a big way. That response gave me even more hope as to what this team can accomplish. Time will tell but that may have also put doubt in the mind of Kentucky. The Sec race is far from over!

 

[txbo]

Good coverage of the series by D1 Baseball on the weekly podcast. Many have described it as "super regional" like. Rooney describes it as "Omaha" like. That's pretty big.

It's the first discussion point in the podcast.

 

[ThatVolGuy]

My point being, we are a top 5 team. We should expect to beat everyone we play, at home or on the road. If taking 2 of 3 at UK isnt something you thought we could do or even expect to do, then your BVS needs some more meds.

In order for a win to be "signature" or a WOW, it needs to be in a situation where you don't expect to win or need every break to go your way in order to win. We are too good of a team to fit into either of those.

Alright, just to be clear ...

While everybody who closely covers the sport has lavished praise on our team after the series and called it one of the most impressive performances of the season because Kentucky is such a formidable opponent, your position is that it was nothing to write home about? You'd rather downplay the result out of some lame/false sense of "I'm a better fan than you" bravado than acknowledge what a significant accomplishment it was?

This is honestly one of the weirdest takes I've seen in recent memory. To be clear, you are 100% incorrect. Acknowledging reality has nothing to do with BVS. It's never a given that you're going to win a series on the road against another top five team, especially when the only series your squad has lost this season was against—you guessed it—a good (but not nearly as good as Kentucky) Alabama team on the road.

 

[Golfprovol]

Alright, just to be clear ...

While everybody who closely covers the sport has lavished praise on our team after the series and called it one of the most impressive performances of the season because Kentucky is such a formidable opponent, your position is that it was nothing to write home about? You'd rather downplay the result out of some lame/false sense of "I'm a better fan than you" bravado than acknowledge what a significant accomplishment it was?

This is honestly one of the weirdest takes I've seen in recent memory. To be clear, you are 100% incorrect. Acknowledging reality has nothing to do with BVS. It's never a given that you're going to win a series on the road against another top five team, especially when the only series your squad has lost this season was against—you guessed it—a good (but not nearly as good as Kentucky) Alabama team on the road.

A WOW is an ego big enough to tell someone they are 100% incorrect on an opinion based discussion. I just think we are a better team than UK. You wanna make this a signature win right now, I am waiting until the end of the season to determine.....what if they lose the series to both Arkansas and Vandy? Is it a signature win then?

 

[ThatVolGuy]

A WOW is an ego big enough to tell someone they are 100% incorrect on an opinion based discussion. I just think we are a better team than UK. You wanna make this a signature win right now, I am waiting until the end of the season to determine.....what if they lose the series to both Arkansas and Vandy? Is it a signature win then?

I don't have an ego at all—I just know somebody who's using flawed logic to make a bad argument. It absolutely baffles me that someone who purports to be a Tennessee fan is trying to downplay a road series win against a top five opponent. I'll let you give Tony Vitello a call to tell him you're not very impressed.

And actually, let's take your (again, flawed) point even further. Maybe we should wait until the end of the season to determine if the Vols are any good. What if they win the SEC but don't make it out of the regional? Does that mean they weren't any good at all? Or what about the 2022 juggernaut that lost to Notre Dame in the super regional? Were they actually not that great?