(02-25-2018 09:21 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(02-25-2018 09:20 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  

(02-25-2018 09:11 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  

(02-25-2018 09:05 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(02-25-2018 08:58 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote:  Ant, I love you man, but you put your 2nd best defensive OFer in RF...ALWAYS. Especially one with the strongest arm. I still think Cox is our best bet for LF, unless The OG is prepared to do something dramatic such as moving Sarchet to LF and either Collins or DiCaprio to 1B. I want Andrew in the lineup, especially against left-handed pitching, but I cannot believe he's a better defensive option in LF than Cox...and from what I've seen, Cox is far superior all-around to Weyler, Duluc or Aviles.

Ordinarily I agree. But right now I don't think Cox's issue is his arm. It is his confidence and his decision making as a result.. Saturday he got caught in no man's land on a ball into LF and instead of backing up or diving just got stuck there). This way we may have a diminished RF but and improved LF for a period. His arm has looked fine so far, once he fields the ball.
If you feel that his arm is a problem for RF then maybe he needs a few days off. The longer we leave him in the more we wreck his confidence and that does both him and the team a disservice.
This isn't a permanent thing, just a reset.

My solution is having him flag fly ball after fly ball, tomorrow through Thursday. I agree it's a confidence thing, and practice is the only way to get over it.

Would it make sense to DH him for a few games?

1. Who would play LF?
2. Dunlap or DiCaprio/Collins are far better options for DH

That's why I posed it as a question. With DiCaprio out, maybe slide some people around. I'm not familiar enough wit the personnel to know, but I would not keep doing the same thing over and over and watching it fail over and over. And it's probably getting close to a mental block now.

Meanwhile, Houston won 2 of 3 at Cal State Fullerton.

I hope OG made these guys hitchhike their way back to Texas after that performance. A plane ticket seems like an easy way out.

(02-26-2018 02:38 AM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  Meanwhile, Houston won 2 of 3 at Cal State Fullerton.

Not sure if that tells us anything given that CSF also was swept @Stanford and also lost their midweek game. UH also dropped a game home vs. Holy Cross.

That said, I share your general concerns.

Looking at our schedule, our next 19 games are pretty soft (a couple tough midweeks in there but also some easy ones). We need to go no less than 14-5 in those games.

Don’t worry. We will win the Conf USA tournament and all will be good.

(02-26-2018 09:25 AM)ExcitedOwl18 Wrote:  

(02-26-2018 02:38 AM)WRCisforgotten79 Wrote:  Meanwhile, Houston won 2 of 3 at Cal State Fullerton.

Not sure if that tells us anything given that CSF also was swept @Stanford and also lost their midweek game. UH also dropped a game home vs. Holy Cross.

That said, I share your general concerns.

Looking at our schedule, our next 19 games are pretty soft (a couple tough midweeks in there but also some easy ones). We need to go no less than 14-5 in those games.

Getting swept in 4 games sucks. Errors and bullpen depth remain concerns, as well as the failure to capitalize on some good scoring opportunities in games 3 & 4. But it is a long season and I tend to not overreact to 2 weeks of baseball, especially with two top returning hitters out. But I really want to see Rice win 40 games again and I really want to see Rice at least in a super regional, and this weekend is an ominous sign that the team is good, but not good enough.