Rippee Writes: Monday Scoop
Ole Miss drops a series to Florida, Final Four Madness, the title game we all wanted
Happy Monday. What a great weekend it was on the sports front. I’ve got a new podcast out with Collin Brister in which we chatted about Ole Miss Baseball for two hours. You could make an argument we should find better things to do with our time, but alas, humor us and check it out here or anywhere you get your podcasts. There’s a ton to dive into. Let’s go.
Rebels eaten by Alligators:
Above is what we in the biz call a cheesy headline. Real newspaper editors are much better at it than I am. Ole Miss dropped a series at Florida. I’ve got a lot of thoughts on some lineup stuff, but first let me offer one macro thought for the weekend. The Rebels simply didn’t play well enough to beat a ranked opponent on the road. It happens. They weren’t going to win all 10 of these things. Ole Miss kicked the ball around defensively Thursday and couldn’t overcome the dominance of Florida’s Tommy Mace, rebounded nicely Saturday and came up just short in the finale. So it goes. I really don’t believe there’s much more to read into it than that. They needed to play A- baseball to beat a good team at their place. They played B+ ball and nearly pulled it off anyway. They’re 7-2 after nine games. All of you would’ve taken that.
Of all the fuss that was made of Florida not using their two traditional starters in the first two games, it surprisingly had little to no effect on the series. As I mentioned on Friday, Ole Miss struggled so badly with Tommy Mace (the normal ace who came in in the fifth inning), he may have gone nine complete had he taken the ball in the first. The Rebels didn’t fare much better against closer Franco Aleman in the first four innings either. What did this move actually accomplish other than burning Aleman for the weekend in the first game? Mace was clearly going to go seven strong at minimum. Why not give him the baseball from the jump, let Aleman throw the ninth and have him ready for game two? Hell, you could argue this strategy worked better for Florida in game two because it kept normal Saturday guy Jack Leftwich away from the Rebels’ bats for five innings. Ole Miss shelled Leftwich in the middle and late innings in an 8-2 win and reliever-turned-starter Christian Scott was way better. Like I said on Friday, just because something works doesn’t make it revolutionary. The strategy “worked” Friday, I guess. Good for them. It had no effect on this series.
Ole Miss has now scored on run over 18 innings on opponents’ aces. It’s supposed to be hard to score on the best talent in this league, but that won’t cut it. Gunnar Hoglund has had all of two runs of support in three outings. Elite offenses find ways to gut out 3-4 on a tough night and give your man on the hill a cushion to preserve. The Rebels haven’t proven to be able to do that yet. It’s three weekends, but this needs to improve.
T.J. McCants was at the epicenter of the Rebels’ Bad News Bears loss on Thursday. He missed a diving ball in the first that led to a run and misplayed another ball in the gap in the 8th inning that all but ended the game as Florida took a 4-1 lead. I am not trying to beat up on McCants here. He’s in the lineup because he’s been great (by freshman standards) at the plate. My point is that he’s a natural infielder, so why not move him to third base and move Justin Bench — who played a solid center field for the first month of the season — back out there. McCants will be a good outfielder in time. The ball he missed in the first is one he’ll get with two months of starts under his belt, but you have a better option now and can put a young player in a position he’s more comfortable with. It’s a win-win. It’s also not a knock on McCants and honestly underscores just how impressive Bench’s seamless versatility is.
For two weeks, we’ve talked about the tremendous luxury Drew McDaniel is and forecasted how Mike Bianco could maximize the value of this asset. He didn’t do that this weekend. McDaniel pitched one inning as a bridge guy after a brilliant performance from Doug Nikhazy on Friday and then pitched 3.1 of long relief on Sunday down 6-2. Is throwing McDaniel one inning before Taylor Broadway getting the most out of him? Ole Miss needs to find a bridge man they trust or just let Broadway get nine outs. McDaniel’s services could be better used elsewhere. Same goes for Sunday. What’s his value pitching down 6-2? More on this later as McDaniel could have a new occupation in six days.
Doug Nikhazy was awesome and it got overshadowed by the sour end to the weekend. His velocity was up and his breaking ball was sharp. He struck out 11 over six innings at 100 pitches. He and Hoglund are dynamite 1-2 punch and are going to be a miserable time for opponents. All Hoglund needs is some run support. Good to see Doug back healthy and looking like his usual self.
Ole Miss has got to figure something out at designated hitter. Ben Van Cleve isn’t cutting it. He’s gone hitless in five of his last six games and the .341 slugging percentage and .327 on base clip isn’t cutting it. It happens, but we are now 27 games into this thing. The Rebels have got to make a move here, but I am not sure there is a great one available currently. You either with Calvin Harris and deal with the match up discrepancy and high strikeout rate, or perhaps you move Hayden Leatherwood to DH and let John Rhys Plumlee play right field. Leatherwood had a couple of hits this weekend, but I’d like to see more before declaring it a real thing. The team’s best bet here is to tread water until Cael Baker and Trey LaFleur get healthy and hope one of them realizes their potential at the plate. Until then, you’ve got to shake it up to get some sort of production at this spot.
The elephant in the room is what to do about Derek Diamond. He struggled again in Saturday’s finale loss. He allowed five runs on six hits. I get many were frustrated Bianco left him in there too long after the Rebels trimmed a 3-0 deficit to 3-2 in the third, but Bianco is also not unreasonable for asking his Sunday guy to get through four innings. Maybe Diamond gets one more chance, but I’d argue it is time to make a move and let Drew McDaniel be your third starter. He’s been more consistent all year and Diamond translates better that bridge role we spoke of earlier that the team is lacking. It’s tough. I get it. Diamond is going to be fine an an integral part of the 2022 rotation, but he is not cutting it now and that is okay. You have a replacement option. Make the move, use Diamond effectively out of the bullpen and have your three best guys out there in a series that may just determine the SEC West. This is the most fascinating storyline heading into the Arkansas series.
All of these things discussed are fixable issues and are more like tweaks to an already functional machine. This team will be fine.
I need to call Greg and see what he’s got in store for you this week, but the $10 prime strip special is still valid for all subscribers. Go check out his Grilling Corner on Friday’s pod. It’s worth you time. Go see the man. Best place in Mississippi to get meat.
The National Title is set:
Baylor obliterated Houston and Gonzaga survived a scare against UCLA in one of the all-time great NCAA Tournament games. Thank you to the Bruins for a titan-like performance that was a joy to watch. That’s a gutting way to lose a game but shouldn’t minimize their incredible run. Man, what a game that was. But in the end, we are all winners because we get the match up that has eluded us all year and the one we thought we’d be getting since November.
I like Gonzaga by eight points tonight, but it would not stun me at all if Baylor won this thing. This game is going to be awesome. Buckle up.
March Madness is winding down but SkyBox Sports Picks is not. Go see who they like tonight and make some money while you enjoy a great game. Much more coming from the guys at SkyBox with baseball and NASCAR. Go see them and use my promo code.
Spieth back in the winner’s circle
Jordan Spieth has played great golf for three months now and it finally paid off with a win at the Valero Texas Open over the weekend. It’s really unbelievable a man with three majors went nearly four years without winning an event. It goes to show what a cruelly humbling game this can be. Spieth is a likable super star and golf is more fun when he is playing well. It comes just in time for The Masters this week, a place that has both haunted him and been great to him at the same time. This is going to be a fun week and now another storyline to follow going into golf’s first major of the year. I like Spieth’s chances.
On the Horizon
More LBs deals. I’ve got to see what Greg has in store for our subscribers.
Four more newsletters with golf, hoops, spring football and baseball. This is an incredible time on the sports calendar and is going to make for awesome content
Wednesday podcast (guest currently TBA) and a Mailbag Friday with Collin.
Hope everyone had a safe and happy easter. Much more to come this week. Thanks for being a part of the team and tell your friends to join.