Thursday, May 24, 2012
Finally
Now it's truly over. The Tigers lose to South Carolina 5 to 3. At least we weren't totally embarrassed. Some consolation. Say what you will about coaching. There is a big gap in talent level between Auburn and the top teams in league like Florida and South Carolina. I hope we have a new coach next year.
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
The End of Baseball Season (2)
I go out to Regions Park to see Auburn lose 6 to 1 to Florida. The Tigers manage just 3 hits. Our hitting wasn't there tonight. It wasn't there last weekend when we lost 2 of 3 to Florida. At least we didn't lose due to errors, walks, and dumb base running. Florida has better players. At least it seems that way to me. The Tigers will play the loser of Vanderbilt and Georgia and that will be it for another Auburn baseball season.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
The End of Baseball Season
When Auburn's baseball season ends, it's the end of baseball season for me. High school season is over and I suspect that Auburn's season will be over this week and I don't follow major league baseball anymore so yes, baseball season will likely end this week.
I say this week because the Tigers limp into the SEC baseball tournament in 10th place, the last qualifier. After losing 2 of 3 to Florida this weekend, we catch the Gators again on Tuesday. With a league record of 13 & 17 and a strength of schedule in the 60's, I can't see this team making the NCAA tournament. Our only hope Tuesday is if Florida has mercy on us and doesn't start one of the best pitchers. How seriously will Florida take this tournament? I assume they will host a regional regardless. Even if they don't start one of their weekend pitchers, we could lose.
This Tigers baseball team is unpredictable. What seems obvious is that this team has underperformed and is not well-coached. I'm looking for 2 and out in the SEC and a new coach next year.
I say this week because the Tigers limp into the SEC baseball tournament in 10th place, the last qualifier. After losing 2 of 3 to Florida this weekend, we catch the Gators again on Tuesday. With a league record of 13 & 17 and a strength of schedule in the 60's, I can't see this team making the NCAA tournament. Our only hope Tuesday is if Florida has mercy on us and doesn't start one of the best pitchers. How seriously will Florida take this tournament? I assume they will host a regional regardless. Even if they don't start one of their weekend pitchers, we could lose.
This Tigers baseball team is unpredictable. What seems obvious is that this team has underperformed and is not well-coached. I'm looking for 2 and out in the SEC and a new coach next year.
Monday, May 7, 2012
A Troubled Season
BY Phillip Marshall
AuburnUndercover
06 May 2012
After watching almost an entire season of Southeastern Conference baseball and talking to scouts and coaches who know far more than I know, I'm convinced Auburn's baseball team is not lacking for talent.
So why are the Tigers 10-14 in SEC play with two weekends to go? How can they be first in the league in batting average, sixth in earned run average and 10th in the standings?
The answers are clear to anyone who has watched. Auburn is last in the league in fielding, gets more runners picked off and thrown out for no reason than any team in the league, walks hitters at the most inopportune times and is not nearly as good at the plate when it matters most.
The answers that aren't clear is why those things are happening. It doesn't take great talent to play solid defense. It doesn't take any talent at all to know when to run and when not to run. It doesn't take talent to know you can't walk the No. 9 hitter to lead off a crucial inning or to know not to unleash a wild throw trying to make a play that can't be made and put the winning run in scoring position.
The season-killer has been three sweeps, one to a woeful Alabama team and one to an ordinary at best Georgia team. There are no bigger games for SEC teams than Sundays when they are down 0-2 in a series. If Auburn had won just one each from Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia, it would be 13-11 in the league, in second place in the West and regional-bound. Instead, though they are 4-4 in series, the Tigers sit at four games below .500.
This team has underachieved. Of that there is no question. Even fourth-year head coach John Pawlowski says as much when he says if they play like they are capable of playing they can beat anybody on their schedule.
To be fair, losing starting pitcher Will Kendall to an elbow injury was costly. It certainly didn't help Friday night when Cullen Wacker went down with a knee injury. But those things don't explain much.
As it stands today, Auburn would get into the SEC Tournament as the No. 10 seed. Honestly, that's no accomplishment at all. With the field expanded, the days when making the SEC Tournament was tantamount to making a regional are gone. Being the No. 10 seed just means you weren't one of the two worst teams in the league. That's not much of a goal.
Unless this team can win series from Arkansas on the road and Florida at home, it will face an uphill battle to play beyond the SEC Tournament. Part of the reason for that is a schedule that includes seven games against SWAC teams. When Auburn beat Alabama A&M a couple of weeks ago, it dropped 12 spots in the RPI. And RPI is what counts most when it comes regional time.
Pawlowski inherited a loaded roster when he arrived in 2009 to replace Tommy Slater. And in 2010, his team won 20 SEC games, the SEC West title and hosted a regional. Last season, his third Auburn team lost the West Division championship on the last day of the regular season. But it finished 29-29 and was not eligible for a regional.
Eleven players off the 2010 team were chosen in the draft and six off the 2009 team, but even after that, there were enough players to win last season, too. A total of 23 players off the previous three Auburn teams have been drafted.
Where does Auburn baseball stand today in the big picture? Is the future bright? Is it not?
I like John Pawlowski. He's a good man. His track record says he's a good coach. He put together one of the great seasons in Auburn history, though it ended earlier than it should have. I'm not here to call for anyone's job. I haven't done that and I won't. I don't know why this Auburn team plays so poorly so often. But I know it should be better than it has been.
Despite another weekend of woe, all is not lost. Arkansas is certainly not unbeatable. Neither is Florida, for that matter. But to make a run, these Tigers will have to once again find the mojo they had when they bolted out of the gate with three series wins.
Maybe it can happen. But there was sure no sign of it Sunday as Georgia celebrated its first SEC sweep of the season.
AuburnUndercover
06 May 2012
After watching almost an entire season of Southeastern Conference baseball and talking to scouts and coaches who know far more than I know, I'm convinced Auburn's baseball team is not lacking for talent.
So why are the Tigers 10-14 in SEC play with two weekends to go? How can they be first in the league in batting average, sixth in earned run average and 10th in the standings?
The answers are clear to anyone who has watched. Auburn is last in the league in fielding, gets more runners picked off and thrown out for no reason than any team in the league, walks hitters at the most inopportune times and is not nearly as good at the plate when it matters most.
The answers that aren't clear is why those things are happening. It doesn't take great talent to play solid defense. It doesn't take any talent at all to know when to run and when not to run. It doesn't take talent to know you can't walk the No. 9 hitter to lead off a crucial inning or to know not to unleash a wild throw trying to make a play that can't be made and put the winning run in scoring position.
The season-killer has been three sweeps, one to a woeful Alabama team and one to an ordinary at best Georgia team. There are no bigger games for SEC teams than Sundays when they are down 0-2 in a series. If Auburn had won just one each from Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia, it would be 13-11 in the league, in second place in the West and regional-bound. Instead, though they are 4-4 in series, the Tigers sit at four games below .500.
This team has underachieved. Of that there is no question. Even fourth-year head coach John Pawlowski says as much when he says if they play like they are capable of playing they can beat anybody on their schedule.
To be fair, losing starting pitcher Will Kendall to an elbow injury was costly. It certainly didn't help Friday night when Cullen Wacker went down with a knee injury. But those things don't explain much.
As it stands today, Auburn would get into the SEC Tournament as the No. 10 seed. Honestly, that's no accomplishment at all. With the field expanded, the days when making the SEC Tournament was tantamount to making a regional are gone. Being the No. 10 seed just means you weren't one of the two worst teams in the league. That's not much of a goal.
Unless this team can win series from Arkansas on the road and Florida at home, it will face an uphill battle to play beyond the SEC Tournament. Part of the reason for that is a schedule that includes seven games against SWAC teams. When Auburn beat Alabama A&M a couple of weeks ago, it dropped 12 spots in the RPI. And RPI is what counts most when it comes regional time.
Pawlowski inherited a loaded roster when he arrived in 2009 to replace Tommy Slater. And in 2010, his team won 20 SEC games, the SEC West title and hosted a regional. Last season, his third Auburn team lost the West Division championship on the last day of the regular season. But it finished 29-29 and was not eligible for a regional.
Eleven players off the 2010 team were chosen in the draft and six off the 2009 team, but even after that, there were enough players to win last season, too. A total of 23 players off the previous three Auburn teams have been drafted.
Where does Auburn baseball stand today in the big picture? Is the future bright? Is it not?
I like John Pawlowski. He's a good man. His track record says he's a good coach. He put together one of the great seasons in Auburn history, though it ended earlier than it should have. I'm not here to call for anyone's job. I haven't done that and I won't. I don't know why this Auburn team plays so poorly so often. But I know it should be better than it has been.
Despite another weekend of woe, all is not lost. Arkansas is certainly not unbeatable. Neither is Florida, for that matter. But to make a run, these Tigers will have to once again find the mojo they had when they bolted out of the gate with three series wins.
Maybe it can happen. But there was sure no sign of it Sunday as Georgia celebrated its first SEC sweep of the season.
Saturday, May 5, 2012
Baseball Team Stinks
I hope the Auburn baseballl team fails to reach Hoover. This team does not deserve postseason play.
We lose the series this weekend to Georgia. Today, we allow the tying run to reach second base on a bad throw to first. We could have won the game had we turned the double play. Overall, we had three errors in the game.
Yesterday, we walk two batters and hit another, giving Georgia three of its four runs in the sixth inning.
The team entered this series with the eighth highest batting average in the country. The problem is I don't think we can play a lick of defense.
Earlier in the game today, our first baseman snagged a liner and was poised to throw to second for the double play, but then somehow stumbled and fell. We don't have infielders that can throw or even stay on their two feet.
This team is pitiful.
We lose the series this weekend to Georgia. Today, we allow the tying run to reach second base on a bad throw to first. We could have won the game had we turned the double play. Overall, we had three errors in the game.
Yesterday, we walk two batters and hit another, giving Georgia three of its four runs in the sixth inning.
The team entered this series with the eighth highest batting average in the country. The problem is I don't think we can play a lick of defense.
Earlier in the game today, our first baseman snagged a liner and was poised to throw to second for the double play, but then somehow stumbled and fell. We don't have infielders that can throw or even stay on their two feet.
This team is pitiful.
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
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