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Lucky takes a thinly disguised swipe at Yeskie, bout time somebody seriously addresses our pathetic pitching coaching since Spence left for Texas.

It has been the difference between us going to Omaha and not getting out of a regional or worse yet not even making it to one.

Both Yeskie and for one season Wong let some great talent go through OSU wihtout development.

There may be something to the claim. But I see a lot of talent falling off the board due to injury and poor run support.

Last year was tough to watch during the losing streak because it seemed the defense just found a way at critical moments to boot the ball. Sometimes it was baserunning that cost us, but you get the point.

Pitching is not just one guy standing on the mound. It's the infield containing slow rollers up the middle. It's the outfield being in the correct position. And it's the offense scoring enough to beat the opposition when the other two work correctly.

Spence may have had the ability to diminish the losing streak and give our pitchers some confidence. But I really think that lack of confidence came from the realization that they weren't lock down pitchers, and the team wasn't an athletic, defensive swarm who could back up placement pitchers.

That should all change this year. We have some good pitching returning from injury (Osich). We have some decent pitching returning from mixed experiences last year (Gaviglio, Hayes, Gorton, Smith and Boyd). And we have some outstanding talent coming in (Duke, Zarosinski and especially Wetzler). Mix those guys in with a much more athletic defense and an offense which should be more bat happy in Casey's system. Then add another year's experience to Andrew Susac, who will be calling most games from behind the plate. Also add an expected increase in offensive output from a previously anemic Carter Bell. This could and should be a really good two year run for the Beavs coming up.

So while coaching might have increased the performance of the team overall, I would say the talent may have failed to step forward on their own. They can't rely on one guy to help them develop. There's a whole staff and team behind them. That mentality set s them up to fail from the outset. And it's less than responsible to think that Casey doesn't have the werewithal to replace one member of the staff with competence.

That being said, Spencer was good enough to leave a large hole. And filling the hole takes some transition time. No matter how good the replacement is, players just respond to coaches differently. He was in Corvallis for 11 years and wielded a lot of power on the team. His absence created a large vacuum. Anyone who thought that void would be filled in a matter of moments is deluded. The only way Dan Spencer stays in Corvallis is if Pat Casey had gone to Notre Dame. Then how much whining would we get out of that crowd?

Eggers had a note about Casey chasing an infielder with some good to great offense. Does anyone know who he's talking about?

Haven't heard about the infielder Casey is chasing, but some bat would be nice. Have never figured out how a program on the national level is always void of a big power guy. I know, I know that isn't Casey ball, but still a 20 home run guy would nice, once the regionals get going, when we face teams who have twice as many home runs as we do, and guys with more by themselves.

Spence only coached pithcing the last few years he was here, and I beleive his strength was giving the pitchers confidence to pitch, granted having Barney and Canham didn't hurt, but haven't seen the same moxie from pitchers since he left. Reyes was the perfect example, he never was able to put together a solid streak of innings once Spencer left. And many of our guys have been top notch guys recruited and drafted, only to be sub-par at OSU. And to me alot of it has to do with their mental approach. K-Rod never cam close to realizing his potential here, nor did Peavy.

It has been interesting that alot of our best innings lately have been by two way players, something I don't remember Casey allowing before.

Think they were talking about this guy #80 on the JC prospect list.

80 Brian Stamps OF/SS So. B-R 6-1 175 Sacramento CA Fair Oaks, Calif. .30 hitter in JC.

We've known about Stamps for some time. I think he's a good bat and a better glove who will fit in somewhere this year. He played opposite Bell in the Orange/Black game.

Btw, how about Zarosinski? But I digress.

I get the sense that Casey is either chasing someone who will graduate from HS early and enroll for winter term, or he's got a JUCO kid on the hook to leave after his frosh year... and enroll in the winter. But that's just the Spidey sense tingling.

I personally like Yeskie. He's still young, but he has some good technique to teach. Rhoderick had a good frosh year due to his heat, and he thought that could carry him with one year of proven success. It didn't. Yelskie tried to get him to put some good movement on it, and he promised confidence would be derived from the success that followed. But KRhod read his own press, and he fell back on the heat rather than the technique. That failure could be attributed to Yelskie not having enough clout with Spencer's last recruiting class.

Peavey was good enough to be considered a success. Honestly, he'll be the only guy I'll miss next year... well... I liked Santos too. He spent his last two years suffering from really poor run support. I don't think I've seen as many no-decisions from one guy ever.

The problem with having no real power is that the team needs to be aggressive everywhere else (aka playing real baseball). Casey has taken the time to address the lax play, and he's shifted priorities and staff assignments this year to do so. I expect to see a lot more small ball this year. With that aggression will come opposing defenses caught in shifts. With those shifts will come some more timely hitting. And on and on.

I think last year can be summed up in one play... the one against UCLA when we were too timid to round third for home.