He did give up a few of them, but I also think he gets a tremendous amount of cheap outs because he stays close enough to the plate with 2 strikes. College pitchers waste way to many 0-2 pitches instead of using that count to their advantage. Leo Mazzone teaches the Braves pitchers to stay agressive and throw pitchers pitches on those counts. Pitches that are too close to the strike zone to take, thereby getting the hitter to swing at a pitch either a little down in the zone or a little outside, etc. Dirks does a pretty darn good job of getting them to swing at his pitch but his location was off on a few of those and he grooved them, especially the bomb that iorg hit. But I like his mentality, that's why he can go the full 9 innings and throw only 110 pitches or so.
Not sure what the pitcher had to do with our fielding. It was so poor Friday night, it was almost comical. But you are right about their pitcher. He's one of the best I've ever seen at The Box. Today is a must win for the Tigers to stay in the SEC race...
Isn't Dirks eligible for the draft? I think he redshirted his first year. I think he'll be drafted high enough to where he won't be back next year.
The dreaded travel rule is in effect for today's game, but with a new twist. From The Advocate: TIME LIMIT: The SEC office agreed to let Tennessee and LSU set a 3 p.m. curfew for today's 11:30 a.m. series finale. The normal Sunday curfew, after which no inning may start, is 3 hours after the first pitch and is used in the SEC only when the visiting team travels by airplane and has a flight schedule that could halt play. SEC Executive Associate Commissioner Mark Womack gave the Vols and Tigers a 30-minute extension on the curfew to try to ensure they play nine innings. A new NCAA rule, passed in midseason, prohibits playing seven-inning games or counting as official any game of fewer than nine innings unless weather halts play. If an inning is under way today at 3 p.m. and there is no winner after the completion of that inning, the game will not count in the standings or on either team's won-lost record. Now that would suck if the game is not completed and LSU is in the lead. Of course, it's a great rule if we are behind! :yelwink2:
