Six questions for Michigan blog, Varsity Blue

After two home weekends against Big Ten teams, Illinois goes on the road.  More specifically, to Ray Fisher Stadium in Ann Arbor to play 2008 Big Ten champs University of Michigan. 

We decided that the Q&A with the Indiana baseball blog Behind the Plate went so well, we decided to do it again.  This time we interviewed FormerlyAnonymous, who blogs for Varsity Blue, a University of Michigan sports blog. 

I asked him a few questions about the Michigan baseball team who are currently 18-10 and 3-3 in Big Ten.

 

	Games #27, 28, 30	Record: 19-7 (4-2 Big Ten)
	vs University of Michigan Wolverines	at Ray Fisher Stadium, Ann Arbor, MI
April 10	6:05pm CT	Big Ten Network
April 11	2:05pm CT
April 12	12:05pm CT

 

Illinois Baseball Report:  Michigan is 18-10 so far this season, putting together a five game win streak and two four-game win streaks.  However, in the Big Ten, you are 3-3 so far.  I know it’s early but shouldn’t we expect more from powerhouse Michigan?

Varsity Blue:  Its safe to say Michigan is definitely in a down year despite the 18-10  season.  Most Michigan fans have become used to the recent string of 40+ win seasons, but those have been with a drastically different team.  Last year’s team might be the greatest Michigan team since the World Series appearances in the 80s.   The team lost its top slugger in Nate Recknagel, its top pitcher (supposedly) in Zach Putnam, its closer in Michael Powers.  On top of that it lost team leader Jason Christian and his partner in the infield Leif Mahler, AND Adam Abraham.  That’s some mighty big shoes to fill right there, and it just hasn’t clicked yet.

Add in that we’ve struck out 65 more times this year than at the same point last year, and you’ve got some troubles… not to mention the double plays.  This season has been rough to cover, but I think our future looks bright.

IBR:  Nine homeruns for Ryan LaMarre and nine for Mike Dufek.  Pretty impressive.  If I wanted to look past that, who else is really contributing in the Wolverines’ lineup?

VB:  While homeruns are flashy, some of the top hitters for Michigan are actually in the 9/1/2 spots of the lineup.  Kevin Cislo is the key catalyst for Michigan.  He started the season somewhat slow, but the first half of March saw his average climb rapidly.  Center fielder Kenny Fellows follows in the two spot.  He and shortstop Anthony Toth (now in the 9 hole) switched during the Jacksonville tournament in the second weekend of the season with great results.  Fellows has seen both his run and RBI numbers increase mightily since the switch.  His 20 RBI is third on the team behind LaMarre (40) and Dufek (30).  Toth has seen his average raise from .250 to .323, and his strikeouts have become less of a problem.

After those four, things start to get rather hazy.  Designated hitter Jake McLouth started the season in a frenzy but has cooled off a little since his bout with "flu-like symptoms."  Alan Oaks missed the first half of the season due to illness, but has been flexing his muscles with 4 home runs.  However, he does have a high strikeout rate, as does much of the team.  John Lorenz, the freshman third basemen from Illinois, and Mike Dufek are our strikeout leaders currently with 26 on the year.  if there’s one thing that’s been consistent this season, its strikeouts.

 

IBR:  Chris Fetter seems to be pitching lights out for you (4-1, 2.42).  I assume the Illini will probably see him this weekend.  Who else might we see on the mound?  Can you tell us a little about them?

VB:  Fetter has been pretty dominating, but he has had one rough inning per outing the last few times out.  Unfortunately for him, the offense hasn’t helped. He’s still pitching very well though, and he’ll bring a lot of arm angles to the Illini lineup.  He mixes everything from over the top to pure side arm action.  Behind him is lefty Eric Katzman.  Katzman has been a little sporadic in his first year as a starter.  He’s pitched a couple of 7+ inning gems, but he’s also had some 3 inning duds this season.  He has some nasty off speed pitches in his curve and change up.  His fastball isn’t overpowering, but it does induce plenty of ground balls when it is spotted right.

The Sunday starter has been bouncing between sophomore Travis Smith and senior Mike Wilson.  Smith has your typical starter build (tall and thin) and can blow the fastball right past batters.  His slider and change up are also decent, but he’s had trouble locating them.  Wilson has been disappointing the last two seasons.  After such a strong 2007, he’s fallen to the wayside the last two years, giving up a ton of runs.  You never know what you’ll get from these two starters week to week, but they seem to be the only two in the equation to start right now.

The bullpen for Michigan is in a bit of a scramble after losing part time closer Tyler Burgoon to a shoulder injury.  Matt Miller has been impressive with a fastball/slider combination, and so has Mike Dufek who shares closer duties this season.  Dufek has a cannon, reaching the mid 90s on his fastball.  After that, things get sketchy.  Matt Gerbe has been less than stellar lately, as has Jeff DeCarlo.  We were desperate enough last weekend to even throw Alan Oaks for the first time since 2007.

IBR:  Illinois leads the conference in stolen bases..  However, Michigan catchers seem to have done pretty well throwing baserunners out so far this season and probably more importantly, teams just aren’t attempting to steal on them in the first place.

     How do you see this dynamic playing out this weekend?

VB:  To start the season, Chris Berset was pretty solid behind the plate.  He’s not the best defensive catcher around, but he got the job done.  The problem is he was lost to a thumb injury (I believe he broke it).  Since then senior captain Tim Kalczynski has taken over most of the catching duties.  He’s only thrown out 6 of the 15 stolen base attempts on the year.  Illinois may test him early, but Fetter has a good slide step and pickoff move, so it may come after the relief corps comes in.  Coley Crank is another freshman that will see time behind the plate this weekend.  He hasn’t thrown out a runner yet, and I expect Illinois to try and exploit him often.

Other than Fetter, not many pitchers have that good of record with stolen base attempts.  Only Burgoon was able to keep opposing teams at 50% success rates

IBR:  I should know better than to ask a Michigan fan for a season prediction for their team.  But I’ll go ahead anyway.  What will Michigan do in 2009?

VB:  We win every game the rest of the season, sweep the Big Ten Tourney, go to Omaha just to lose to Southern Cal!  No, but seriously… I think we scrape out a fourth place finish, win our first game of the tourney, make a run through the losers bracket, but come short of making it to the finals.  No NCAA tournament bid this year.  We should be much much better next year.

IBR:  Finally, take a few sentences and tell us something about Varsity Blue I wouldn’t find out by going to your website. 

VB:  Paul owns both Tim and myself (Paul and Tim being our non-baseball writers) in our NCAA Football ’09 online dynasty, but I broke his regular season 150+ game win streak this weekend.  I’m on top of the world.  Yeah, we’re fairly transparent minus my pen name.

I also answered some questions from FormerlyAnonymous about the Illini.  If you’re interested in the results, they’re posted on Varsity Blue. 

Thanks to FormerlyAnonymous and Varsity Blue! 

Let go Illini!