I would actually come up with a plan to build a team instead of trying to ride the hot hands to victory and hope I get enough of those to recruit better players who will immediately make the team better. This is incredibly foolish logic if you're not a team like Fullerton that can actually do it.

Ever since 2008 I've seen this team basically fly by the seat of its collective pants. Spurts of winning and smart play dashed by a couple injuries. Or sometimes the play isn't that great but it gets really bad after said injuries. Let's take a look at a couple examples:

2012: Freshman Tino Lipson's injured a good chunk of the year and the offense takes a nosedive. Dayne Quist also misses a few starts, and suddenly the team can't win on Sundays at all (Quist pitched on Fridays)..That's all it took- one position player and 1 pitcher's injuries to make a promising season into a losing one. Neither player was even having a tremendous year.

2016: The rotation seems to be developing after 2 wins in the Gifford Classic but Zach Stone hurts himself warming up in the bullpen against Michigan. After a nailbiting win and a pair of merciful rainouts the rotation's progress comes to a halt until Robert Garcia wins against Air Force in his 1st start. Just one tiny problem though- the weakened bullpen can't protect any leads, so it really doesn't seem to matter how well Garcia's starts go. . Oh, and don't forget the offensive dip after Ryan Anderson's injury.

So what was the point ? That losing a couple of good but not superstar players made such a huge difference. That's the mark of not being a good team. A good team can come together and collectively overcome setbacks though no one may replace the injured player's contributions on their own. UC Davis has many very good players, but it is not a good team, and it hasn't been since 2008. The players they've had drafted, even in terrible years like 2009 (Andy Suiter, Ryan Scoma, Ty Kelly), are a testament to that.

So how do you formulate a plan ? I think you start by thinking beyond the current year. You're UCD Your best players are probably mostly seniors in your opinion so you play them all the time, but how does that bode for the future ? Not well. It means you're rebuilding year after year because you were so obsessed w/trying to win now that you didn't give your younger players a chance to develop and gain experience for when it's their time to shine.

Let's look at 2 positions where this stung them from the 2015 team. Kevin Barker and John Williams took all the playing time in center. Izaak Silva started every single game at catcher. Oops ! Well, we'll just hand the C.F. job to a HS player who hasn't even started his senior season of baseball yet and not bother getting our reserve catcher any playing time because we'll just randomly get a freshman and a couple junior college guys to work w/our developing staff. Pitchers and catchers don't need to have chemistry or know each other very well anyway !!!!

The results of that logic ? The new center fielder didn't hit his weight in 2016 and now gathers dust on the bench until they need someone to pinch- run. One of the juco catchers doesn't hit and the other is injured all year. The freshman catcher hits and gives everyone hope for a brighter future but now he gathers more dust than the other guy, probably due to injury

And isn't this same logic being applied this year at 1B, C, and SS? Hmm...

And the other part of this is not playing favorites with the pitching staff. Pitchers need a chance to get stronger + grow into their frames just like position players. For Pete's sake they're teenagers when they arrive at UCD most of them. However, this regime shelves pitchers who don't produce right away and forgets about them until they get frustrated +quit or simply are passed by.

One thing Vaughn might want to consider doing is bringing back Coach Swimley's practice of playing reserves and throwing little- used pitchers on Tuesdays (mostly D- I opponents) until such time as this team establishes itself. Used to frustrate the heck out of the fans but it had some very important purposes as I came to learn. It gave the regulars a rest and gave him a chance to evaluate reserve players/less- used pitchers without hurting the team in conf. play. He found some really good players that way. John Holtkamp for example had double digit wins as a sophomore. Now the D- I Aggies don't differentiate between conf and non- conference because the Big West kicks their behinds on a regular basis, but maybe they should. There's some potential good in getting some of these guys some rest in preparation for conf. games. Others need experience for when it is their turn.

And if you're going to lose 11- 2 to Stanford it doesn't hurt as much if you got some unexpected contributions from some new guys, especially if you're not going to the playoffs that year. What inevitably happens each year is you have injuries and the replacement players are thrown into Big West games w/little preparation

So I'm going to make the bold suggestion that Vaughn start the following lineup against the next Tuesday opponent other than SAC State:

SS: Pluschkell
3B: Lara
1B: Van Blake
LF: Anderson
DH: Salazar
2B: Ouellette
C: Roberts
RF: Evans
CF: Kelly

Pitchers to use (a subset of these): Blais, Hannah, the other Lara, Barraza, possibly even Briggs. And if they somehow have a lead late, Stone or Loar can close it out.

That's right, a no seniors- allowed starting lineup (but the seniors may enter as reserves). I don't see a pretty result on the scoreboard but the experience for these players would be valuable

We'll, I believe the program wasn't ready for D- I when they made the change. It was basically a middling team in the CCAA that had a few good years consecutively. As UCD goes so do all the sports teams, and I don't see the university changing anytime soon

Speaking of the movie Beer League I saw CSUN employ the Davanzo shift- successfully- yesterday where they left a gaping hole on the left side.

At least the Aggies won today to take the series so CSUN only managed to win a game the umpires gifted to them. We'll take it.

Turns out I'll be attending a little sooner than 20172. I forgot the next opponent is SAC State, and regardless of which team wins I win , so I was a bit hasty, sorry, ߘꮠGiven, however, that Durham and co. probably also drive across the Causeway to work SAC State games are probably not safe either from their meddling. Have to only attend games where the Aggies and Hornets play each other I guess.

I wonder if they were involved with a blown game there this year against WSU and the blown calls against Seattle in 2014. I'll look it up.

Nope, Eric Martinez was the home plate umpire who blew those games..haha.

He definitely should have. It would have fired up the crowd + players. I don't think I've ever seen him ever get in a heated argument w/an umpire. I remember Coach Swimley would. Don't really remember Coach Peters.

Umpires:

3B Scott Letendre: actually was doing ok until the 9th inning when he and the other two stooges conspired to mess with the Aggies.

1B Ruben Candelaria: missed a pick- off call late in the game. Also rung up Ryan Anderson on an appeal. The only way that would've been a strike is if his bat were a limbo pole because that pitch was as low as you can go.

HP Ken Durham: how much time do you have ? He's been messing up unchecked for decades.

First he decided to show what a prima donna he is. A fan (not I) standing behind the back row was giving him grief about his strike zone. He said nothing offensive, and used no profanity. He was just kind of relentless. This fool calls time and yells, "I want that fan removed !" Aww, poor baby can't take criticism of his work! The guy left on his own. Funny thing though. I laid into him After that with zingers twice as nasty as anything that guy said (and was sitting closer to boot) and he didn't do anything. He doesn't have the cajones to deal with someone like me, picking on a young student like that.

I had never seen a fan ejected from Dobbins Stadium before. This goes back to when the Red shirts would sit in the stands and heckle just like the other fans, and they were MEAN. It just goes to show how much of a crybaby he is. I would've liked to see him throw me out. I'd have given him a bigger earful before the polo- shirted nincompoops showed up (bet they'd send 2 walkie- talkies) to protect him. Then I would write as many nasty letters as it took to get him canned. He's lucky I settled for venting on a message board. I was primed to write the governing board of NCAA umpires and file a formal complaint about his lack of competence. More on that shortly.

Funny thing is I don't think they could ever enforce a ban on anyone like UCSB did with the Superfan. Sac State staffs the same guys for each home game, but UCD's staff is an ever- changing mix of bored students who don't recognize anyone.

Durham began messing with the Aggies w/one out in the 9th. Stone had strike 3 three separate times in exactly the same spots Matador pitchers were getting the call. That guy walked and scored the tying run. Then there was the colossal mess- up that took all 3 of them. They initially called a batter out to end the inning on a grounder. Olson just got the tag on with a wild throw from Thomas. Then Northridge's crybaby coach had to throw a fit with his said player in tow. Neither were ejected. Then Durham goes up to the visitor dugout and stands there conversing with the CSUN coach at length and the Nothridge fans start screaming all of a sudden. Then all 3 stopped gather around and walk over to Vaughn. They spend maybe 1 min explaining it to him, then they overturn the call. I would love to have seen Vaughn get angry and kick some dirt right then but he's too Harvard- professor- like for that.

So here's the kicker. They awarded CSUN the 2nd run, for the runner going from 2nd to 3rd. Olson caught the ball. You can't assume the 2nd run would've scored since he could've just whipped the ball to Diaz after not getting the call.

That changed the outcome of the game. Down by one maybe Diaz is bunting instead of swinging away and hitting into a double play. There's more umpire meddling.

Very unprofessional, also having a private meeting at the dugout. What kind of umpire worth his salt let's a coach bully him into changing his call ? I wouldn't be at all surprised to hear some money had changed hands, although I didn't see it. I've long suspected a couple umpires might be taking bribes over the years, particularly from bigger programs, not Northridge.

And so, if someone else would like to take the lead on baseball I would welcome it. Not going to disappear from here just not going to baseball games so I won't have anything to talk about