baseball

[devilirium]

You can certainly make a case for rain (I've gone through the walls of rain that hit your car on the Durham Freeway that come out of nowhere )), but I was outside during that time and you can view the "offing" nearly all the way to Raleigh or Hillsborough with regard to lightning. I've been here nearly 5 years, and that's been a pretty sound theory. Unless you have something that really obstructs your view, then I don't think that you have an argument with regard to lightning.

I'll agree with you about the pre McNally lack of success. I'm just stating that let's not get crazy. UNC Greensboro/Richmond are usually pretty solid and we beat them, but there weren't a host of tough games in that OOC schedule.

[hughgs]

You can certainly make a case for rain (I've gone through the walls of rain that hit your car on the Durham Freeway that come out of nowhere )), but I was outside during that time and you can view the "offing" nearly all the way to Raleigh or Hillsborough with regard to lightning. I've been here nearly 5 years, and that's been a pretty sound theory. Unless you have something that really obstructs your view, then I don't think that you have an argument with regard to lightning.

I'll agree with you about the pre McNally lack of success. I'm just stating that let's not get crazy. UNC Greensboro/Richmond are usually pretty solid and we beat them, but there weren't a host of tough games in that OOC schedule.

Since you admit that the weather can be pretty localized then I'll take that to mean that you accept the fact that there could have been lightning on West Campus without lightning on East. And since you didn't see lightning on West, then I think you need to acquiesce those who claimed there was lightning.

And while I agree that we should temper our enthusiasm with respect to McNally, I also think you need to give him some credit for how he's changed the direction of Duke baseball. Regardless of how strong the OOC schedule was this season you can't say that it isn't improving unless you can show that the OOC schedule was much weaker than previous years. Maybe this year was an anomaly (and by extension so was last year) but you haven't shown that.

[gvtucker]

Non-conference schedules are primarily a function of geography. If you are, for example, Cal State Fullerton, you can play a killer non-conference schedule if you choose to do so, because USC, UCLA, Pepperdine, Stanford, Cal, USD, San Diego State, Arizona, and Arizona State are all within easy travel distance (so, for that matter, are Loyola Marymount and UNLV). If you're Duke, the only good non-ACC team within easy travel distance is Coastal Carolina. In order for Duke to beef up its non-conference schedule, it's going to have to go on the road in February to play weekend series at SEC schools. Where's the revenue to cover those costs?

It is not that difficult a drive to go to South Carolina or Georgia. And East Carolina is also a solid program and easy driving distance.

I'm happy that this season has showed some progress, to be sure, but it wouldn't cost that much money to present our team with at least some sort of non conference challenge.

[roywhite]

It is not that difficult a drive to go to South Carolina or Georgia. And East Carolina is also a solid program and easy driving distance.

I'm happy that this season has showed some progress, to be sure, but it wouldn't cost that much money to present our team with at least some sort of non conference challenge.

UNC-Wilmington and Charlotte are also good programs that are nearby and might add to our non-conference scheduling.

[dkbaseball]

Yes, there are plenty of solid non-conference baseball programs within an easy drive of Duke. Back in the day, when far less funding was available, we played them, as well as making a Florida trip during spring break. This year's non-conference schedule was a joke, put together strictly for the purpose of accumulating W's to offset all the expected conference L's. Three years into the McNally regime it's time for that approach to change. You don't develop good habits of concentration and competiveness playing 27 laughers in a season.

[Inonehand]

The rain came during the lightning delay and it continued to rain. If Clemson was pissed it is simply because they had a subpar year and were at risk of losing out on the conference tourney because they stunk it up AND lost to a Duke team that they were ranked way higher than at the beginning of the year. The gamesmanship was Clemson's by trying to steal a win by protest of a game that was handled appropriately.

As for the schedule, it should be toughened up but I don't blame McNally for the softness this year. The team is getting better and better. Don't discount the fact that even marginal teams tend to have a good pitcher or two on their staffs and WILL throw them against Duke, providing a pretty decent midweek test. Signs are that Duke will have an established lineup next season and I hope to see some better regional competition. However, even though the budget is better these days than when dkbaseball and myself played, expenses are way higher. We used to play two conference series of two games each on road trips (like Clemson and GT or Maryland and Virginia). Now they are 3-game series each weekend. And, we never had to make a plane flight trip to BC or Miami either. The conference expansion created a large budget jump.

[jimsumner]

I was at the game in question. It started raining at Coombs Field 28 minutes after play was suspended, it rained very, very hard, and lightning was abundant and very close by.

It should be noted that once play is begun, the home plate umpire controls whether a game is suspended and whether and when it is resumed with the proviso that any lightning delay is an automatic 30 minutes.

I've yet to have anyone explain to me why it would have been safe for the players to be on the field putting on the tarp in conditions where it had been deemed unsafe to be on the field playing.

[devilish]

You can certainly make a case for rain (I've gone through the walls of rain that hit your car on the Durham Freeway that come out of nowhere )), but I was outside during that time and you can view the "offing" nearly all the way to Raleigh or Hillsborough with regard to lightning. I've been here nearly 5 years, and that's been a pretty sound theory. Unless you have something that really obstructs your view, then I don't think that you have an argument with regard to lightning.

Living in the Triangle for 5 years does not make you Greg Fishel. I'll take Bill Brill word and Jim Sumner's first hand account over someone who was accross campus.

[Inonehand]

I was at the game in question. It started raining at Coombs Field 28 minutes after play was suspended, it rained very, very hard, and lightning was abundant and very close by.

It should be noted that once play is begun, the home plate umpire controls whether a game is suspended and whether and when it is resumed with the proviso that any lightning delay is an automatic 30 minutes.

I've yet to have anyone explain to me why it would have been safe for the players to be on the field putting on the tarp in conditions where it had been deemed unsafe to be on the field playing.

What he said...

[devilirium]

Living in the Triangle for 5 years does not make you Greg Fishel. I'll take Bill Brill word and Jim Sumner's first hand account over someone who was across campus.



Difference of opinion. Moot point as it turned out. I've actually lived in the Triangle for 11 years, but I didn't make that clear, so whatever. We had to sweep VT and it didn't happen. It was a valiant effort. Duke may want to invest in paying a ground crew. I see Jim from time to time with Watzone so I'll get the full scoop. Greg Fishel does a solid job, by the way, but even he has been wrong on occasion. I vividly remember him doing a forecast under a fountain one February after one of our typical snowless winters.