We're rounding third and heading for home with respect to the SEC baseball regular season.
Which teams score? Which teams strand a runner at 3rd? Which teams run through a stop sign and are thrown out at the plate? Which teams stumble and fall and get tagged out?
The possibilities are endless as only 2 SEC positions in the standings are "locked up" -- the two worst teams, South Carolina at #15, Missouri at #16.
Everything else is TBD, although Texas is in good shape to take 1st or at least a top 4 slot thereby earning a double bye in the SECT.
That's why finishing 1-4 is so important as they all get double byes.
5-8 get a single bye, so that's also important, as well
#9 gets to play Mizzou in game 1 so that's important as it will be a likely win. Lucky to draw Missouri, or likely to beat Missouri? Who knows, but maybe both.
We can discuss that later since it doesn't really matter.
A lot is yet TBD, including starting rotations this weekend. They've yet to be released by the SEC Office so coaches are being coy with what they plan to do, likely trying to spring a surprise on the opposing coach, which the opposing coach is also trying to do.
Such a clever bunch these SEC coaches are (except for Butch Thompson, he doesn't seem clever at all, but his team just keeps winning.) In the end, it'll likely be exactly what they've been doing the last few weekends.
This is especially true in Knoxville where weather wreaked havoc last weekend with UT starting pitching. Doyle started Friday but only went 1 inning, throwing 28 pitches and yielding a 2 run HR, before the game was suspended to Saturday; upon resumption Tony V started with his freshman Kuhns, the regular Sunday guy. Game 2 he went with Phillips, the regular Saturday guy. That game was also suspended. On Sunday, he went back to Doyle for the first 2 extra innings. In game 3, also on Sunday, he started often-injured AJ Russell who only went 2 innings and was pretty bad and gave up 3 runs.
So what's Tony do this weekend? Other than being a clown in the dugout and then storming the field of play, I'm guessing he'll go back to Doyle/Phillips/Kuhns.
The only question being, how does Doyle, after throwing 28 pitches on Friday and 34 pitches on Sunday, perform with that odd situation last weekend? It's probably never happened to him before.
Time will tell. Let's hope it blows up in Tony's face and, in an often-thrown temper tantrum, he gets tossed on Friday and we don't have to look at him the rest of the weekend. Wouldn't that be pretty?
Thursday series:
There's only 1 this week, #15 South Carolina at #7 Auburn.
Auburn, just 1 game behind Vandy, is definitely favored to take the series, but can they sweep it?
For Vandy fans, we actually have to pull for Paul Mainieri this weekend, as much as that makes my stomach turn.
Geaux Gamecocks! Take the series 2-1, but preferably sweep.
Friday series:
All of these series are big, big, big.
#2 Arkansas is @ #3 LSU.
Series winner either takes or ties for 2nd. But, should Texas falter, the series winner could take over 1st, or at least a tie.
My only question is, what will Cam Kozeal do?
Grrrrrr.
LSU gets the edge playing at home but I foresee, oddly enough, several pitching duels in games 1 and 2.
For Vandy fans, we need LSU to win the series 2-1 to improve our chances of overtaking 1 or both of them in the standings at the end of the season. That's big because it could be the last top 4 slot.
The second big series is #5 Vandy @ #5 Tennessee.
These teams hate each other; these teams fans hate each other; Vitello hates Corbs; Crobs feels sorry for Vitello due to his poor childhood and being raised to be an obnoxious jerk. But even obnoxious jerks can coach baseball, as demonstrated by Leo Durocher many years ago, and you have no control over who your parents are.
Once again, Vandy's fate rests with
1)getting a quality start,
2)playing good defense,
3)solid bullpen work, and
4)score just enough runs to win.
As we saw Tuesday, if just 1 of those is missing the Dores have trouble winning. Can you say "3 errors?"
Obviously, Vandy fans should pull for a sweep, but definitely a series win, but, in the end, one win will be enough.
Just don't get swept.
The third big series is #7 Florida @ #1 Texas
Texas was swept last weekend, their first SEC series loss. Florida continues to surge despite a Tuesday loss to South Florida where they only scored 1 run on 3 hits.
But mid-games rarely matter in the big picture of things. It's weekends that really count.
Vandy swept Florida so we should obviously pull for Florida, 1 game behind us in the standings, to sweep Texas, 5 games ahead of us.
Of course, a 2-1 or 1-2 series isn't bad either since it's highly unlikely we could catch Texas with only 6 games to go -- 1 Vandy loss and 1 Texas win eliminates Vandy from winning the SEC regular season.
But it's very important to remain ahead of Florida, or at least tied, since we'd have the tie-breaker in a head-to-head tie. But that's not likely either given how bunched up #3-14 are. So, once again, nobody knows what's best for Vandy in this series. Anything will do.
Yes another big series is #3 Georgia @ #7 Alabama.
Since Vandy is 1 game behind Georgia but 1 game ahead of Bama, and we've won series against both of them, we should pull for Bama to win the series 2-1.
But that only works out with a sweep or series win in Knoxville and that won't be easy. We'll have to wait until next week to sort all that out.
Summary--pull for Bama to win the series 2-1.
Two semi-big series come next.
#7 Oklahoma is @ #12 Kentucky.
Oklahoma is 1 game behind Vandy and Kentucky is 2 games behind. We need them both to remain behind us. So that means we want Kentucky to win the series. But we don't want them to sweep because that gives them momentum before coming to The Hawk next weekend.
So, pull for KY to beat OK 2-1 in the series. That, and nothing else.
The next semi-big series is #7 Ole Miss @ #12 State.
This is only semi-big because of Ole Miss. They are 1 game behind Vandy and we want them to stay there. State is 2 games behind Vandy. They can stay there and give us what we want with respect to Ole Miss by winning the series 2-1. They are playing well with their new interim coach so I say let them keep it rolling. Just how badly did the players hate Chris Lemonis? A lot, I think.
The last series in seemingly unimportant -- #16 Missouri @ #12 Texas A&M.
But it is important.
A&M continues to surge, but not enough yet where they won't be a regional #3 seed. No one, however, would want to host them. But no SEC team would, so that's OK. Send them to Clemson and let them, once again, knock Clemson out as so many SEC teams have done in recent years -- Vandy, Tennessee, Florida.
Of course, Mizzou never wins and likely won't win any games this weekend (or year, for that matter,) so look for A&M to sweep and then possibly leap to #5 in the SEC standings with the winner of our series with UTjr.
BTW, A&M finishes the season at Georgia, a chance for them to climb even higher in the SEC standings.
Watch out for the Aggies.
Aren't you glad now we swept them in week 2? I know I am.
Get ready for another wild and wacky edition of That Was the Week That Was** in the SEC.
**For all the youngsters in the room, this was a satirical TV show hosted by David Frost that parodied politics, religion and society in the 1960s, the best time ever in which to grow up --ride your bike all over town, play in an un-polluted creek, play whiffle ball in the back yard, get popsicles from the popsicle man who cruised the streets continuously without every assaulting a child, and, best of all, your parents didn't have to worry about you unless you didn't come home for supper, because that was their only rule and you better not break it. Otherwise, anything went.
As a young lad growing up in the 60's this was also my introduction to and training ground for satire, along with National Lampoon, Spy Magazine, with a dose of Playboy which had some wickedly satirical cartoons.
The cartoons were all I looked at, my two older brothers had already torn out all the picture pages.
Which teams score? Which teams strand a runner at 3rd? Which teams run through a stop sign and are thrown out at the plate? Which teams stumble and fall and get tagged out?
The possibilities are endless as only 2 SEC positions in the standings are "locked up" -- the two worst teams, South Carolina at #15, Missouri at #16.
Everything else is TBD, although Texas is in good shape to take 1st or at least a top 4 slot thereby earning a double bye in the SECT.
That's why finishing 1-4 is so important as they all get double byes.
5-8 get a single bye, so that's also important, as well
#9 gets to play Mizzou in game 1 so that's important as it will be a likely win. Lucky to draw Missouri, or likely to beat Missouri? Who knows, but maybe both.
We can discuss that later since it doesn't really matter.
A lot is yet TBD, including starting rotations this weekend. They've yet to be released by the SEC Office so coaches are being coy with what they plan to do, likely trying to spring a surprise on the opposing coach, which the opposing coach is also trying to do.
Such a clever bunch these SEC coaches are (except for Butch Thompson, he doesn't seem clever at all, but his team just keeps winning.) In the end, it'll likely be exactly what they've been doing the last few weekends.
This is especially true in Knoxville where weather wreaked havoc last weekend with UT starting pitching. Doyle started Friday but only went 1 inning, throwing 28 pitches and yielding a 2 run HR, before the game was suspended to Saturday; upon resumption Tony V started with his freshman Kuhns, the regular Sunday guy. Game 2 he went with Phillips, the regular Saturday guy. That game was also suspended. On Sunday, he went back to Doyle for the first 2 extra innings. In game 3, also on Sunday, he started often-injured AJ Russell who only went 2 innings and was pretty bad and gave up 3 runs.
So what's Tony do this weekend? Other than being a clown in the dugout and then storming the field of play, I'm guessing he'll go back to Doyle/Phillips/Kuhns.
The only question being, how does Doyle, after throwing 28 pitches on Friday and 34 pitches on Sunday, perform with that odd situation last weekend? It's probably never happened to him before.
Time will tell. Let's hope it blows up in Tony's face and, in an often-thrown temper tantrum, he gets tossed on Friday and we don't have to look at him the rest of the weekend. Wouldn't that be pretty?
Thursday series:
There's only 1 this week, #15 South Carolina at #7 Auburn.
Auburn, just 1 game behind Vandy, is definitely favored to take the series, but can they sweep it?
For Vandy fans, we actually have to pull for Paul Mainieri this weekend, as much as that makes my stomach turn.
Geaux Gamecocks! Take the series 2-1, but preferably sweep.
Friday series:
All of these series are big, big, big.
#2 Arkansas is @ #3 LSU.
Series winner either takes or ties for 2nd. But, should Texas falter, the series winner could take over 1st, or at least a tie.
My only question is, what will Cam Kozeal do?
Grrrrrr.
LSU gets the edge playing at home but I foresee, oddly enough, several pitching duels in games 1 and 2.
For Vandy fans, we need LSU to win the series 2-1 to improve our chances of overtaking 1 or both of them in the standings at the end of the season. That's big because it could be the last top 4 slot.
The second big series is #5 Vandy @ #5 Tennessee.
These teams hate each other; these teams fans hate each other; Vitello hates Corbs; Crobs feels sorry for Vitello due to his poor childhood and being raised to be an obnoxious jerk. But even obnoxious jerks can coach baseball, as demonstrated by Leo Durocher many years ago, and you have no control over who your parents are.
Once again, Vandy's fate rests with
1)getting a quality start,
2)playing good defense,
3)solid bullpen work, and
4)score just enough runs to win.
As we saw Tuesday, if just 1 of those is missing the Dores have trouble winning. Can you say "3 errors?"
Obviously, Vandy fans should pull for a sweep, but definitely a series win, but, in the end, one win will be enough.
Just don't get swept.
The third big series is #7 Florida @ #1 Texas
Texas was swept last weekend, their first SEC series loss. Florida continues to surge despite a Tuesday loss to South Florida where they only scored 1 run on 3 hits.
But mid-games rarely matter in the big picture of things. It's weekends that really count.
Vandy swept Florida so we should obviously pull for Florida, 1 game behind us in the standings, to sweep Texas, 5 games ahead of us.
Of course, a 2-1 or 1-2 series isn't bad either since it's highly unlikely we could catch Texas with only 6 games to go -- 1 Vandy loss and 1 Texas win eliminates Vandy from winning the SEC regular season.
But it's very important to remain ahead of Florida, or at least tied, since we'd have the tie-breaker in a head-to-head tie. But that's not likely either given how bunched up #3-14 are. So, once again, nobody knows what's best for Vandy in this series. Anything will do.
Yes another big series is #3 Georgia @ #7 Alabama.
Since Vandy is 1 game behind Georgia but 1 game ahead of Bama, and we've won series against both of them, we should pull for Bama to win the series 2-1.
But that only works out with a sweep or series win in Knoxville and that won't be easy. We'll have to wait until next week to sort all that out.
Summary--pull for Bama to win the series 2-1.
Two semi-big series come next.
#7 Oklahoma is @ #12 Kentucky.
Oklahoma is 1 game behind Vandy and Kentucky is 2 games behind. We need them both to remain behind us. So that means we want Kentucky to win the series. But we don't want them to sweep because that gives them momentum before coming to The Hawk next weekend.
So, pull for KY to beat OK 2-1 in the series. That, and nothing else.
The next semi-big series is #7 Ole Miss @ #12 State.
This is only semi-big because of Ole Miss. They are 1 game behind Vandy and we want them to stay there. State is 2 games behind Vandy. They can stay there and give us what we want with respect to Ole Miss by winning the series 2-1. They are playing well with their new interim coach so I say let them keep it rolling. Just how badly did the players hate Chris Lemonis? A lot, I think.
The last series in seemingly unimportant -- #16 Missouri @ #12 Texas A&M.
But it is important.
A&M continues to surge, but not enough yet where they won't be a regional #3 seed. No one, however, would want to host them. But no SEC team would, so that's OK. Send them to Clemson and let them, once again, knock Clemson out as so many SEC teams have done in recent years -- Vandy, Tennessee, Florida.
Of course, Mizzou never wins and likely won't win any games this weekend (or year, for that matter,) so look for A&M to sweep and then possibly leap to #5 in the SEC standings with the winner of our series with UTjr.
BTW, A&M finishes the season at Georgia, a chance for them to climb even higher in the SEC standings.
Watch out for the Aggies.
Aren't you glad now we swept them in week 2? I know I am.
Get ready for another wild and wacky edition of That Was the Week That Was** in the SEC.
**For all the youngsters in the room, this was a satirical TV show hosted by David Frost that parodied politics, religion and society in the 1960s, the best time ever in which to grow up --ride your bike all over town, play in an un-polluted creek, play whiffle ball in the back yard, get popsicles from the popsicle man who cruised the streets continuously without every assaulting a child, and, best of all, your parents didn't have to worry about you unless you didn't come home for supper, because that was their only rule and you better not break it. Otherwise, anything went.
As a young lad growing up in the 60's this was also my introduction to and training ground for satire, along with National Lampoon, Spy Magazine, with a dose of Playboy which had some wickedly satirical cartoons.
The cartoons were all I looked at, my two older brothers had already torn out all the picture pages.
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