(04-13-2016 03:55 PM)temchugh Wrote: (04-13-2016 02:41 PM)RiceOwl Wrote: (04-13-2016 01:10 PM)dirtybirds Wrote: Have you considered who we face in our night games. We face the opposing team's ace every Friday night. One would think our numbers would be a little lower because of that alone.
Dirtybirds brings up a great point and I definitely agree with this conclusion.
Trying to find a cause of the teams struggles is futile, as there are so many factors throughout any given game. That being said...
over 70% of our losses have come on.......
(drumroll)........
ODD NUMBERED DAYS (I hope I counted correctly)
Games on even numbered days: 13-3 (.813 Win %)
Games on odd numbered days: 8-8 (.500 Win %)
This is clearly the root of our problem. We can only pray that our crucial games going forward fall on even numbered days.
I complete agree with your point. Whenever someone claims that this specific factor is our "kryptonite", we should be skeptical. Any fool can make an absurd claim and support with a few games or half a season of results. But which of these artifacts persists over years?
2015:
Day games: 24-12
Night games: 13-10
2014:
Day games: 25-10
Night games: 17-10
(Nope, no reason why I only went back two years. Move along, move along.)
Despite being the (alleged) fool that I am and moving on like you would hope, dirtybirds' point stands out to me and I would like to stay here.
Night games can generally be associated with Friday nights, midweeks, and other "prime-time" matchups. And though these are very general conclusions, it would seem that:
1) Friday night pitchers are a usually staff's best arm
2) We play a fairly strong midweek schedule (and for the weaker teams we generally get one of their better pitcher {see HBU game last year}) and also sometimes face an entire pitching staff if they need work (I believe TCU did this last year or the year before).
3) Prime-time match-ups include but are not exclusive to games like Minute Maid and post-season and usually involve better competition and higher stakes.
It is clear that we have a worse record at night (and odd numbered days) but I would argue that the problem is not hitting. We seem to have a solid habit of being ready to go for earlier games (credit to the coaches and staff?) and less ready for late games, which likely carries overs to all aspects, not just hitting.