[Dawg@heart]

Whether anybody on the mound gets rattled or not, it was just the way it was, so I dont know why you might take it personal. It had nothing to do with age. It's just what happened. Nobody has done anything but praise Shephard , so I dont really understand where you are coming from. If you want him to be praised and touted as being just as good or better than most upperclassman, that is fine. Just dont pull the "age card "when things dont go 100% the other way. Stat sheets and so forth dont show age astericks. Nobody was critisizing him at all, in fact everyone has acknowleged how remarkably well he did in the game for his age. Everyone has been impressed. In my opinion if Randy would have left him in the district game at Sheldon Clark the year before when he was a 7th grader, Lawrence would have probably come out on top in that game . Nobody has done anything but wish him well. You have to learn to accept that sometimes tiny bits of negatives sometimes comes with all the glorys of the positives. It comes with the territory.

You guys want to compare everyone and for the most part, thats what gets mentioned-he fell apart, he was rattled, his velocity went down. It has alot to do with age-he was (and still is) just a kid. That added to the hype of the situation, ANYONE would get rattled. Don't be so paranoid-you usually give about 50/50 praise and critisicm and that's what this is for-opinions. I have no reason to take anything said on here PERSONAL-I didn't put him on this comparison pedestal in the first place. Just stating my thoughts.