The Official #1 Tennessee vs Notre Dame Super Regional Games Thread (Fri 6/10 6PM EST ESPN 2) ( Sat. 6/11 2PM EST ESPN ) (Sun. 6/12 1PM EST ESPN)

#3,626
#3,626
lvocd said:
As much as I love Vitello, I think it's fair to say that he -- or, rather, his player management style -- is partly to blame for what happened tonight.

Tony is on record saying he gives the guys a lot of freedom to express themselves ... that he knows they can get a little too emotional and jacked up because they are so competitive. Vitello appears to not want to risk taking away from their intensity by asking them to tone it down a bit.

I get that -- to a point. These are competitive young men who've grown a culture of winning through unbridled intensity and competitive drive. But, in hindsight, perhaps it might have been a good a idea if someone had said, "Guys, I want you all to stay fired up like you have been all year. But, let's keep in mind that we are coming down the stretch now, and the last thing any of us -- players or coaches -- need to do is risk hurting our team by ticking off the umpires. Do NOTHING that can hurt your team, and that means not interacting with umps or opposing players. They will be HOPING you screw up. Don't give them a reason to punish you."

The raw emotion was fun to watch all season, but today was the tipping point. Tony needs to do what he needs to do, IMO.
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The raw emotions got to them tonight. But to tell TV to have his guys tone it down. I would have to disagree with. These raw emotions and players playing freely has had them ranked #1 most of the season and is the only team that has over 50 wins. Tonight it is was magnified because of when it happened and who it was. That’s all.
 
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#3,627
#3,627
lvocd said:
As much as I love Vitello, I think it's fair to say that he -- or, rather, his player management style -- is partly to blame for what happened tonight.

Tony is on record saying he gives the guys a lot of freedom to express themselves ... that he knows they can get a little too emotional and jacked up because they are so competitive. Vitello appears to not want to risk taking away from their intensity by asking them to tone it down a bit.

I get that -- to a point. These are competitive young men who've grown a culture of winning through unbridled intensity and competitive drive. But, in hindsight, perhaps it might have been a good a idea if someone had said, "Guys, I want you all to stay fired up like you have been all year. But, let's keep in mind that we are coming down the stretch now, and the last thing any of us -- players or coaches -- need to do is risk hurting our team by ticking off the umpires. Do NOTHING that can hurt your team, and that means not interacting with umps or opposing players. They will be HOPING you screw up. Don't give them a reason to punish you."

The raw emotion was fun to watch all season, but today was the tipping point. Tony needs to do what he needs to do, IMO.
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You cracked the code there. If only TV knew to tell players not to get ejected…
VolPack22 said:
I’m not blaming the loss on the umps. Blade made a couple mistake pitches and ND capitalized early. I will blame the home plate ump for an atrocious strike zone that directly lead to one of our best players being removed from the game. You can give the other team credit while calling out poor umpiring at the same time. That home plate ump should never be allowed to call an NCAAT game if those are pitches he deems strikes. The guy is awful at his job and honestly should be calling high school games if that’s his strike zone.
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You can only ask an ump to call the zone the same both ways. They all have imperfections on strike zone reads. He called it the same both ways. Pitchers got an extra four inches off the plate in one direction. ND adjusted to it well. We didn’t. You can’t tell the ump, That was a terrible F**** call, and then F**** you, which apparently is what he said.
 
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#3,628
#3,628
Stoerner Fumbles said:
You cracked the code there. If only TV knew to tell players not to get ejected…

You can only ask an ump to call the zone the same both ways. They all have imperfections on strike zone reads. He called it the same both ways. Pitchers got an extra four inches off the plate in one direction. ND adjusted to it well. We didn’t. You can’t tell the ump, That was a terrible F**** call, and then F**** you, which apparently is what he said.
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Whenever umps are evaluated they get a 2 inch margin of error around each edge of the zone. That ump should never be allowed in a D-1 stadium again. Go umpire high school games.
 
#3,630
#3,630
VolPack22 said:
I’m not blaming the loss on the umps. Blade made a couple mistake pitches and ND capitalized early. I will blame the home plate ump for an atrocious strike zone that directly lead to one of our best players being removed from the game. You can give the other team credit while calling out poor umpiring at the same time. That home plate ump should never be allowed to call an NCAAT game if those are pitches he deems strikes. The guy is awful at his job and honestly should be calling high school games if that’s his strike zone.
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As awful as that home plate ump was last night, this has not been an isolated occurrence. There have been numerous cases of horrible umps in regionals play last weekend. Heck, one such case cost Michigan the win in its Regionals game against Louisville last weekend. Unfortunately, it happens. What Drew did crossed in the 5th inning crossed the line. He plays with his heart on his sleeve and it has a positive effect most of the time. Last night, it came back to bite him and proved very costly (Coach A’s ejection for stepping out of the dugout. I don’t fault him for wanting to calm Drew down. The coaches knew that Drew had blown his fuse.) These umps will test teams resolve and patience, but what else can the team and coaches do but work through it the best they can.
 
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#3,631
#3,631
TN_gal said:
As awful as that home plate ump was last night, this has not been an isolated occurrence. There have been numerous cases of horrible umps in regionals play last weekend. Heck, one such case cost Michigan the win in its Regionals game against Louisville last weekend. Unfortunately, it happens. What Drew did crossed in the 5th inning crossed the line. He plays with his heart in his sleeve and it has a positive effect most of the time. Last night, it came back to bite him and proved very costly (Coach A’s ejection for stepping out of the dugout. I don’t fault him for wanting to calm Drew down. The coaches knew that Drew had blown a his fuse.) These umps will test teams resolve and patience, but what else can the team and coaches do but work through it the best they can.
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His ejection actually had a positive effect on the team. We were down 8-2 and came all the way back with a chance to tie or win late. It lit a fire under our guys.
 
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#3,632
#3,632
VolPack22 said:
Whenever umps are evaluated they get a 2 inch margin of error around each edge of the zone. That ump should never be allowed in a D-1 stadium again. Go umpire high school games.
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I agree to a point but if the umps calling it the same for both teams our players have to adjust. We can't go up to the plate hoping the ump does a better job this at bat. These umps have there own strike zone and you have to adjust . Is that fair not really if he's calling strikes off the plate but if it's happening to both teams you have to adjust. GBO !
 
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#3,633
#3,633
CAVPUT said:
This team has been livin' on the edge for a while. Tonight they got caught, and it couldn't have come at a worse time. Really disappointed in Gilbert and Anderson. You just can't lose it like that and put your team at such a disadvantage. Might be what ends our season far earlier than anyone expected. Such a shame if it ends up that way.
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I almost feel like CFA sacrificed himself to keep CTV from getting tossed. CTV was headed to home plate before CFA ran past him.
 
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#3,634
#3,634
VolPack22 said:
His ejection actually had a positive effect on the team. We were down 8-2 and came all the way back with a chance to tie or win late. It lit a fire under our guys.
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That’s true. Good on our guys for rallying. I’m hopeful that the fire and rally remains today. His teammates still have an opportunity to bring him back tomorrow. We’ll see what happens.
 
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#3,635
#3,635
volsagain said:
I agree to a point but if the umps calling it the same for both teams our players have to adjust. We can't go up to the plate hoping the ump does a better job this at bat. These umps have there own strike zone and you have to adjust . Is that fair not really if he's calling strikes off the plate but if it's happening to both teams you have to adjust. GBO !
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You can’t really adjust whenever the ump is calling strikes on the chalk of the opposite batters box. Literally an unhittable pitch unless you step out of your own batters box to reach it.
 
#3,636
#3,636
kell7517 said:
The raw emotions got to them tonight. But to tell TV to have his guys tone it down. I would have to disagree with. These raw emotions and players playing freely has had them ranked #1 most of the season and is the only team that has over 50 wins. Tonight it is was magnified because of when it happened and who it was. That’s all.
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I can't think of any team sport where the play that got you to the postseason is sufficient to win you the championship.

"The team that makes the fewest mistakes..." almost always takes the trophy. "Raw emotion" and "smarter" cannot occupy the same brain simultaneously.
 
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#3,642
#3,642
VolPack22 said:
You can’t really adjust whenever the ump is calling strikes on the chalk of the opposite batters box. Literally an unhittable pitch unless you step out of your own batters box to reach it.
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I know they miss some that are totally unhittable, don't know if on purpose or just give up watching it through. I've coached a lot of ball had problems with way too many bad umps . You can't fix them all you can do is adjust.
 
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#3,643
#3,643
volsagain said:
I know they miss some that are totally unhittable, don't know if on purpose or just give up watching it through. I've coached a lot of ball had problems with way too many bad umps . You can't fix them all you can do is adjust.
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That’s why we need the K Zone to be the ball/strike decision maker. At least it’s something objective.
 
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#3,645
#3,645
VolPack22 said:
His ejection actually had a positive effect on the team. We were down 8-2 and came all the way back with a chance to tie or win late. It lit a fire under our guys.
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Not disagreeing, just something I've never understood:

How does "lighting a fire" under baseball players improve their play? Will players throw more accurately? Will batters see the ball better, or make better contact? How does emotion translate to better baseball--unless they're not playing all-out to begin with? About the only place I can see greater exertion or commitment effecting play would be in the field, specifically in laying out for a ball with maybe a split-second less hesitation than normal. But you still have to have correctly read the ball coming off the bat.

Baseball seems to have more in common with golf, where moment-to-moment focus is the key, and playing under control produces better results.

But if I'm mistaken, I really would love to hear someone who played baseball at a high level explain how it works differently.
 
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#3,647
#3,647
BruisedOrange said:
Not disagreeing, just something I've never understood:

How does "lighting a fire" under baseball players improve their play? Will players throw more accurately? Will batters see the ball better, or make better contact? How does emotion translate to better baseball--unless they're not playing all-out to begin with? About the only place I can see greater exertion or commitment effecting play would be in the field, specifically in laying out for a ball with maybe a split-second less hesitation than normal. But you still have to have correctly read the ball coming off the bat.

Baseball seems to have more in common with golf, where moment-to-moment focus is the key, and playing under control produces better results.

But if I'm mistaken, I really would love to hear someone who played baseball at a high level explain how it works differently.
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I didn’t play D-1 but players are already focused and in-tune with the game, but whenever you know an umpire is not doing their job and there is some animosity there afterwards, it just gets your adrenaline going even more so. You feel juiced up from that point on.
 
#3,649
#3,649
VolPack22 said:
That’s why we need the K Zone to be the ball/strike decision maker. At least it’s something objective.
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I know we have way too many bias umps just hate to see the human element taken out of the game. Maybe we should a review just as we have to include strike zone and check swing . But only like 3 a game right or wrong, games are long enough as is . As much as I enjoy watching over 3 hours for 9 innings starts to get restless.
 
#3,650
#3,650
TN_gal said:
That’s true. Good on our guys for rallying. I’m hopeful that the fire and rally remains today. His teammates still have an opportunity to bring him back tomorrow. We’ll see what happens.
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Also, that was the 1st time ND has hit 4 HR's in a game. I think we saw their best, Wilkerson said he didn't believe a player on ND's team would start on the Vols, so hopefully, that game was an aberration.
 
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