Q&A with baseball head coach Casey O'Connor
Dan Murphy
Issue date: 5/6/09 Section: Sports
Q: What's been the biggest factor for this year's turnaround in success?
A: We've grown up a little bit over the course of the season. We've got some guys playing defense. We feel a little bit more comfortable at the plate. We're really battling when we get behind in the count.
The other thing that we've realized is that we can come from behind if we get behind. We've had a lot of late-inning comebacks. Being down 5-1 doesn't mean that the game is over anymore.
Q: Why is this team so much better on the road this year than they were last year?
A: We're going up against teams, regardless of who it is, and we're getting good starting performances out of our pitchers, and our hitters are gritty. They just go in there and they battle and put some runs up on the board.
Q: This year's team batting average is about 27 points higher than last year. Who has been the key to that turnaround?
A: We've got some freshmen that are coming along and hitting the ball pretty well. Michael Carbone has really put up some good numbers for us. Ryan Price has put up some good numbers for us. Batting out of our nine-hole, which I didn't expect, Ryan Burke is putting up some huge numbers for us and getting some big hits down the stretch. That, together with guys that had been hitting like Smith and Marshall, that's what is bringing our average up.
Q: Starting pitchers Brendon Malkowski, Jeremiah St. Louis and Nick DeMidio have ERA's under 4.0. How vital is having that kind of production from the front-end of the rotatation?
A: I expected that from those guys and they've given it to us. Their win-loss records haven't really shown that well, because they started off tough when they weren't getting the run support that they needed. Them keeping us in every game has been vital, because we have been battling back at the end in a very strong league.
Q: What are your expectations going forward for the rest of the year?
A: I'm hoping that we can keep (their post-season chances) in our own hands rather than put them in somebody elses hands and sit around here waiting for other teams to lose. Right now we control our own fate, and that's
A: We've grown up a little bit over the course of the season. We've got some guys playing defense. We feel a little bit more comfortable at the plate. We're really battling when we get behind in the count.
The other thing that we've realized is that we can come from behind if we get behind. We've had a lot of late-inning comebacks. Being down 5-1 doesn't mean that the game is over anymore.
Q: Why is this team so much better on the road this year than they were last year?
A: We're going up against teams, regardless of who it is, and we're getting good starting performances out of our pitchers, and our hitters are gritty. They just go in there and they battle and put some runs up on the board.
Q: This year's team batting average is about 27 points higher than last year. Who has been the key to that turnaround?
A: We've got some freshmen that are coming along and hitting the ball pretty well. Michael Carbone has really put up some good numbers for us. Ryan Price has put up some good numbers for us. Batting out of our nine-hole, which I didn't expect, Ryan Burke is putting up some huge numbers for us and getting some big hits down the stretch. That, together with guys that had been hitting like Smith and Marshall, that's what is bringing our average up.
Q: Starting pitchers Brendon Malkowski, Jeremiah St. Louis and Nick DeMidio have ERA's under 4.0. How vital is having that kind of production from the front-end of the rotatation?
A: I expected that from those guys and they've given it to us. Their win-loss records haven't really shown that well, because they started off tough when they weren't getting the run support that they needed. Them keeping us in every game has been vital, because we have been battling back at the end in a very strong league.
Q: What are your expectations going forward for the rest of the year?
A: I'm hoping that we can keep (their post-season chances) in our own hands rather than put them in somebody elses hands and sit around here waiting for other teams to lose. Right now we control our own fate, and that's
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