Sat. 9/7 - Evening Action

[Joseph Zarr]

Woessner with a filthy K for the second out. That may be the best pitch I've seen from him all season. Zesty!

[Joseph Zarr]

O'Rae follow up his 0-for ongoing woes by getting absolutely eaten by a routine one-hop liner right to him at 2B. Have no idea what he was thinking in that misplay error but it was not a good look. Can't give free base runners, young man. No way not in these scenarios with a pitcher who has struggled all season. Give him confidence. Sigh.

[Joseph Zarr]

Woessner buckles down. Falls behind 2-0. Gets a K looking and a K foul back to the netting. Gets the weak liner hit directly into a deep shift by O'Rae shadowing 1B (lefty bat). Easy flare line out. We are on to Extras.

[Joseph Zarr]

Fittingly, I have to go read my 6-year-old to sleep. Here's hoping the Shuckers pull this one out. Come on, men. You can do this.

[biedergb]

I’ll keep tabs on the shuckers. See you after the book Joseph

[biedergb]

After a walk to Martin. ORae sac bunt. But throwing error by the 3B and it’s two runs in and ORae at second

Wow. 

[biedergb]

Miller uncompetitive strike out

And Wilken up. Let’s see which version of him we get here.

[biedergb]

Pinch running comes back to haunt.  After Wilken with a pop out to foul territory- not a great swing but a very nice catch by the SS

its Hall up now - instead of EMJ with ORae on second.  Bummer

[biedergb]

ORae swipes third. But it’s all moot as Hall Ks. Some bad looking at bats there. But we will take the 2-run error and a 3-1 lead.

[biedergb]

Holub on to close out. But he walks the first man. Not good

Then goes 2-0 on the next batter. Settle down Blake. 

[Joseph Zarr]

1 minute ago, biedergb said:

Holub on to close out. But he walks the first man. Not good

Then goes 2-0 on the next batter. Settle down Blake. 

I'm back. Nothing he can do on that weak contact dribbler. Got back in the count. Got a swing on a low heater. Just a weak chopper that died and EBJ tried to make that bang-bang play. EBJ then sails a DP high to the diminutive O'Rae (who hesitated in his cover to boot - not playing solid D late). Runners on the corners. One down. Sheeesh. These Shuckers.

[Joseph Zarr]

I should add a run crossed. 3-2 Shuckers. One down. Execution matters in big moments gentlemen. 

[Stealofhome]

Ooh boy, that was a rough 10th inning for the Shuckers' defense

[Joseph Zarr]

OMG these Shuckers. Unbelievable botch job to lose this. UNBELIEVABLE. What is this a high school game? You can't make that loss up. Truly indefensible (pun intended). 

[biedergb]

Words cannot describe it

I mean they can but it will hurt to write them

Rocket City walks it off. An absolutely crushing loss.  
Just awful awful fielding/fundamentals

[Joseph Zarr]

RF Lamar Sparks with his absolute cannon of an arm has to own that pop fly. He has the beat on the ball. He has the throwing angle. Just an unbelievable classic Shuckers loss. Here's the picture of the season for you:

[biedergb]

Caption this-

“you got it, you got it, no I don’t got it, oh crap”

[Joseph Zarr]

Not only did Hall and Sparks just let that ball fall between them with not a single one of them taking initiative to own that play, Wilken and EBJ are just ball watching the misplay happen. SO, Wilken hasn't covered 3B. The runner took off, predictably, and Sparks panic throws a one hop rocket to 3B and Wilken can't get to it due to the runner. Ball sails into 3B foul territory. Walk-off.

You literally couldn't write a more metaphoric and emblematic ending for this team. So much to digest from that unbelievable inning.  

[Joseph Zarr]

Fundamentals. Fundamentals. Fundamentals. You have to make the easy plays routine. You have to make the difficult ones look easy. This is why you are a professional. Big moments showcase big time players. The shuckers only big time player was pinch run for (inexplicably, I might add) in the 9th inning. Ugh.

[Joseph Zarr]

Well, gents, have great rests of your nights! That one was, I don't even know. @biedergb nailed it spot on. There are no words for what I just witnessed. I've seen truly inept Shuckers baseball this season. That ending took the Blue Ribbon. It was...just...I would expect that in the DSL. In Double-A? In a playoff push? Just no. Absolutely no. 

 

[Joseph Zarr]

The best part of tonight's debacle? BOTH Mississippi and Pensacola lost. 😂 SO, the Shuckers just go about their business as if they're actually trying to win baseball games and get into a post-season. Business as usual. Nothing to see here. 3.0 G lead over Mississippi and 3.5 G lead over Pensacola.

Javik, bless his professional heart, will put lipstick on this pig. But, for those of us who watched that late-inning failed execution across the board? We know what's really going on in that Southern League South division playoff 'hunt'. It's OK to speak that truth. We're all adults here. These men are professionals. It just isn't pretty in any fashion. IF these Shuckers get into the playoffs they are going to have to find a magical potion to help them play fundamentally sound baseball. Because, we just haven't seen it but for a two-to-three week stretch to start the second half. It is what it is at this point.

[biedergb]

15 minutes ago, Joseph Zarr said:

BOTH Mississippi and Pensacola lost

MBraves lost both - game and make up game. So Shuckers magic # is 5. 9f they can eke out a win, then they can go 2-4 vs MBraves to win - assuming Pensacola doesn’t win all their remaining games.

[wiguy94]

Listen to the sound off Payne’s bat. Kind of just throwing the bat out there and making that noise and contact…there might be some very real power upside with him.

 

[Jake McKibbin]

2 hours ago, wiguy94 said:

Listen to the sound off Payne’s bat. Kind of just throwing the bat out there and making that noise and contact…there might be some very real power upside with him.

 

Was thinking exactly the same, love the adjustability around the barrel to get it on the ball as well

[Jim Goulart]

15 hours ago, Joseph Zarr said:

The real loss in the Shuckers line-up in this do-or-die stretch is they lost OF Connor Scott this past Sunday. We haven't heard anything since and we haven't seen him this entire Rocket City series. Hopefully, it's just a nagging something like O'Rae dealt with but his loss in the middle of their line-up is significant. He's been a real plus since coming aboard. His absence is very much felt. It has led me to go back to Sunday's 10-0 shellacking at the hands of the Biscuits to see if I can't deduce what may have happened.

OK, I went back and watched the Scott AB this past Sunday vs Montgomery. I would gather something may have happened in a left CF gap drive to open the 3rd frame. Scott sprinted in pursuit and definitely looked to pull up and jog it off well into CF territory. In true fashion, the ball found him a few more times that inning and he looked to be running with a discernible hiccup in an overly deliberate and ginger stride. He didn't see another AB. He didn't see another ball in his direction. He was pulled for Hall to start the fifth frame.

Reminder from the Transaction Thread -

• OF Connor Scott placed on AA Biloxi's 7-day injured list, effective September 4