The House of Blue

The team has gotten worse in each year he has been coach. Sorry but its time to make a move for another coach. We need another Cohen, or maybe do what it takes to get Cohen back home (not like he is dominating at Miss St).

I've covered six or seven games this season and have paid pretty good attention to the team. I'm with Matt; I think he gets one more year because he is a well-liked guy and his players look up to him.

The weird thing about this team is, other than some spotty bullpen work, the problems every game are different. The bullpen may not even give up an earned run (technically, that happened last night but what really happened was Kaczmarek gave up runs to a few inherited runners from Meyer) but then the bats go silent. In one game against Auburn last weekend, the usually reliable defense had four errors in three innings, including two from Taylor Black, one of the better defensive shortstops in the league, on the same play. Things like that are hard to blame on in-game coaching decisions, if nothing else.

I don't know what that says. It could say a number of things. Consistency is a problem, but what causes that? Is it coaching? Is it players? Is it dumb luck? That's a lot of dumb luck to be 2-11 in league play.

As of right now, I think Henderson will be back — his contract runs through June 30, 2013 although the buyout isn't too big as to make him invincible — but if things keep getting worse this season, that's different.

Hmmm, I thought the weather excuse died with the replacement of Madison... Funny how it comes back when the team starts sucking wind again. As someone noted below, the weather in Lexington is not significantly different than the weather in Knoxville and Nashville. Hell, I live in Georgia and usually there isn't even that big of a difference between the weather in Lexington and that in Atlanta. Weather is a crutch (used for years by Madision), IMO...

Also, the opposition has to play in the same temperatures when they come to play. Most of early baseball is conditioning, running, tossing, etc...anyway.

Matt I would not argue that weather is a factor but I also remember that 3 years ago Michigan went to the college World series. I know the best baseball is played in warmer climates but I still can't figure out how Corbin at Vandy has turned them into a national power with limited scholarships and a not so great climate.

EXACTLY!!!!

James, I was at that Auburn game where we committed 4 errors in 3 innings and the thing that struck me the most was the errors occurred because the team quit. If they have too many more games like that then Henderson is done for.

I agree with you — they gave up in that game after the Auburn runner was called safe at first and Henderson came out to argue. They totally folded mentally. For argument's sake, I just don't know how much of that to place on coaching and how much of that to place on the players, especially since most of the shenanigans (the worst play being Black's double-error play at short) happened before the players made it back to the dugout.

Weather hasn't stopped UL from winning.

You do recall correctly. WKU scored 17 runs in the second inning before UK recorded an out.

Embarrassing as it was, I think blowing a lead and losing a conference game by one run is worse than losing a midweek game in an unprecedented freak blowout like that.

The great thing about baseball is the relative unimportance of one game's result in the grand scheme of an entire season. But when you can't recover the next day after blowing a late lead in any number of ways (or being blown out from the first pitch), issues build. That's what has happened.

It speaks to the mental toughness of the players, if you ask me. That's something I know both John Calipari and Matthew Mitchell work on tirelessly (especially Mitchell), and their results speak for themselves. It may not be totally fair to compare Calipari, Mitchell and Henderson but I think it's appropriate in this instance.

You are off your rocker.

Go look up an average daily temp between the two places, rainfall amounts and -- as noted earlier -- the wind factor in Lexington. There may not be a windier location in this part of the country than this city, and in the spring, that can make things absolutely miserable.

The local weather tonight noted that this has been the 5th heaviest rainfall spring on record to date.

When you're trying to recruit and, perhaps more importantly, develop talent, those are HUGE factors for baseball.

Should they be better than they are? Yes. No debate there. But the weather is no excuse. It's a very real hurdle for the Cats to overcome.