Brought in to do the LOOGY thing even though there’s little evidence that this is the best way to use him and last year he couldn’t get anyone out no matter how they hit. Sherrill’s career splits are much, much better against lefties (.500 OPS) than righties (.800) but he did his best work when used as a closer.
Sherrill wasn’t drafted out of Austin Peay and wound up spending four and a half years in independent ball before his contract was sold to the Mariners. He made his debut with them in 2004, just a year after joining the organization. He did okay as a utility reliever that year, then spent two seasons as a lefty specialist that didn’t go too well, then had an excellent year in the role in 2007. After that season, he was traded to the Orioles in the disastrous Erik Bedard deal.
Sherrill somehow wound up the Orioles’ closer, and saved 31 games and bad the All-Star team in 2008, even though he wasn’t actually very good, posting a 4.70 ERA. He was great in 2009, with a 2.70 ERA when he was traded to the Dodgers. In LA he was used mostly as a setup man, not exclusively against lefties, and put up an astonishing 0.65 ERA. Nobody’s that good, but Sherrill was a catastrophe in 2010, posting an ERA of 6.69 and being widely bashed. Some criticism has come Joe Torre’s way for not spotting him more against lefties, but I just don’t see it; the stats indicate that Torre was trying to pitch Sherrill mostly against lefties, but even then you’re going to get righies about half the time because of pinch-hitters and how managers arrange their lineups, and righties destroyed him, hitting .427/.516/.707 against him. The Braves signed him as a free agent and will presumably make him the secondary LOOGY.
George Sherrill Statistics
I read somewhere that Roger has already gotten him working on changing his arm angle. Said it was much lower than a few years ago and they were trying to get it higher again. Im holding out hope.
I really, really like McDowell. I have complete confidence in his ability to “fix” most pitchers who is willing to work with him. Obviously you can’t turn everyone into Cy Young, but it seems when pitchers have gone to him when they are struggling he’s been able to give specific advice that has helped them out of the funk.
“… saved 31 games and bad the All-Star team in 2008 … ,” I assume means “made” the All-Star team. Silly that every team must have at least one player on the AS team.
re: Bonds from the last thread.
For me, whatever kind of supplements he took that may have had some effect and may have been against some interpretations of the rules at the time take a backseat to his space-age armor that let him fearlessly stand on top of the plate. It’s really easy to crowd the plate and think only about the spin on a 100 mph fastball when you have a wall of polymer between you and the projectile.
Even if you’re grandfathered into a competitive advantage, you should at least have to use the same materials.
Contrast with Tim Raines, who was grandfathered into being able to use a more dangerous helmet than the rest of baseball and did so for his entire career.
I’m surprised how even the whipping boy tournament championship is so far. Gonzalez sucks at getting on base but he did hit for good power last year and played solid defense. McLouth did nothing well or even adequately except be thinner than Melky.
Sherrill’s season last year was a catastrophe, only because he was misused. Look at the slash lines for last year’s “disaster”
vs RHB .427/.516/.707 in 95(!) PA
vs LHB .192/.286/.288 in 85 PA
There is no reason he should face a right-handed batter all season. Absolutely none. O’Flaherty can handle all the other lefty’s and Moylan should only be used against right handers. We have another LOOGY and a ROOGY. A .573 OPS against is too good of a weapon to waste by having him get pounded by right handers.
Its tough on the pen when you have two guys with such extreme splits as Moyland and Sherrill.
Doesn’t a relief pitcher have to face one batter? There’s a good chance that a PH will bat right handed.
Here is that article.
http://blogs.ajc.com/atlanta-braves-blog/2011/01/31/sherrill-looking-for-big-improvement-in-2011/?cxntfid=blogs_atlanta_braves_blog
@5, AAG’s Slg% was .386 with Atlanta last year. Whatever “good power” he had got left in Rogers Centre along with the PF105 that helped make it, and a lot closer to his career .402. Being 34 this year ain’t going to help things either.
I bet we don’t see a lot of PH against him. He will be coming in 6th inning or so. So if the Phillies want to hit for Howard there, I am fine with that.
Sherrill’s number against the Phillies:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/bvsp?playerId=6031&teamId=22
Mac, his numbers against LH were great last year. why do you consider it “little evidence”?
We have a former mediocre closer as the third lefty in our pen. I’m very happy with this.
Fredi is worrying me a bit with his early line-up talk. Mostly because it involves Louth hitting 2nd and Heyward 6th. Don’t think I need to go into detail about why this is a bad idea.
Sherrill is on the razor’s edge of uselessness. DOB has written evergreen spring training stories about several Braves having lost weight in the off-season, but I haven’t seen Sherrill’s name among them, and he really needed to drop some pounds. He looked fat last year, and a dropping arm angle is a sign of poor physical conditioning.
As has been said, you can’t hide a LOOGY from RHBs all season. Game situations, pinch-hitters, bullpen fatigue — most LOOGYs face almost as many RHBs as LHBs, and they’ll probably decide whether he’s still a viable pitcher. Much like Ray King, he can probably remain effective against lefties, but declining physical gifts will be increasingly exposed against righties, to the point where there are fewer and fewer situations that a manager is willing to even use him. And then what’s the point of having him around?
In 2008 and 2009, Sherrill struck out about 16% of RHBs faced, which translates to about 6 K/9. Last year he struck out only 6 of 95 RHBs, or about 2.5 K/9. So even if they don’t repeat the .433 BABIP from ’10, it can still get ugly. This jibes with McDowell’s arm angle theory — RHBs are seeing the ball very well against him. Hopefully he can stir something within this fat, aging LOOGY, because a crust has begun to form.
spike,
what is PF105?
Thanks.
It’s Andre Kirilenko’s birthday.
Lucky bastard.
Current notable odds to win the NCAA Men’s Basketball tourney:
OSU 9/5
Tex 5/1
Kan 5/1
Duke 5/1
Ky 28/1
Van 60/1
TN 65/1
Fla 65/1
Bama 150/1
Ga 200/1
The Vandy and Kentucky lines actually look pretty good to me. Don’t think either have a great chance, but if Vandy gets healthy they could be dangerous.
Why is Mark Buehrle talking about Mike Vick?
Does anyone outside of Alabama even believe that they’ll get in the tournament? I think Bama has to finish 4-1 (21-9 overall) reg season and have a strong tourney showing just to get in. Im impressed with them though and I think they are deserving.
@20 – Apparently because he is a self-annointed crusader on behalf of the animals he chooses not to kill. While I despise Vick and everything he (once?, it is unclear) represents, I choose to reserve my bile for a relatively anonymous blogosphere.
“something bad needs to happen to these guys” — How about prison, Mr. Buehrle?
@21
I think Bama gets in. They are a good team
They’re going to have 12 or 13 league wins. They’ll be in.
@17, “Park Factor 105”, or an exceptionally good sunscreen.
@20, because people who sneak up on a bear and shoot it with a bow and arrow feel the need to draw a moral distinction between themselves and a guy who has two dogs fight each other to the death. I have no problem with hunting, and am perfectly aware of where my filet mignon comes from, and I find what Vick did horrifying, but I am perfectly willing to own the fact that we as a species are not very nice to other ones, and that is just how it is.
#26
And some folks just love dogs. Of course, the stories of Vick personally conducting dog torture were obviously a bit much.
That said, as Sam mentions in #23, Vick certainly got punished & it’s pretty obvious that it wasn’t enough for some folks. One can debate the extent of his punishment, but he went to jail, lost money, got humiliated & was pretty much marked as a villain for life.
Hate to say it, but as storylines go, I did find his past season pretty compelling. Part of it was probably some naive notion of redemption on my part, but it’s not even a conversation if he’s not one of our most entertaining athletes. He still is.
I’m not sure if I was rooting for him or not, but I was damn-sure watching.
#12
Is it just me, or does George Sherrill look like a Civil-War participant there?
Maybe I’m watching too much History Channel these days.
Baseball, please!
@27, Mark Buerhle, dog-lover and bear-hater just doesn’t work out for me logically, but I am an odd fish.
And yes, baseball please
//although I am reminded of my favorite fark headline of all time – “Man killed while bear hunting had tender heart, say family, friends, bear”.
Just don’t use him against LH batters who will be pinch hit for. There will be pitchers in minors who be ready by mid season.
@27, too much History Channel? Uh-oh, are you seeing a lot of UFOs and ghosts, too? Maybe a UFO driven by the ghost of a Civil War participant?
I’m an Eagles fan, and this season my wife, a dog lover, rooted against the Eagles whenever Vick was playing.
If NFL games, where I’m not particularly invested, can cause that level of discomfort, I can’t even fathom living in a mixed Auburn/Alabama household during the Iron Bowl. That game has to be unpleasant every year.
Strangely, however, when the Braves play the Cardinals (her team), it’s not particularly bad, even though I’m far more a Braves fan than Eagles fan. Maybe it’s the nature of the sport.
I am an absolute dog-lover. My border collie/dalmatian mix is part of the family. Sure, I completely despised Vick for a long time, but like other people who have wronged society in the past, he deserves a second chance.
Since my experience with border collies is limited to watching them ridden by monkeys at the rodeo, I just got a mental image of a border collie/dalmatian (bodatian?) being ridden by an albino monkey in a dirt floored arena.
Hilarious.
#28
Did Ted Nugent ever weigh in on the Vick story?
#30
For the most part, that channel certainly seems to be running out of ideas.
They’ve pretty much run out of Nazi shows, but other WW2 stuff & Civil War usually works, if I’m bored (hey, it’s February). As an example, I did watch much of that John Wilkes Booth show the other night. Now there’s a villain!
I’m a bit of JFK assassination buff, so I used to eat up those shows. However, I get annoyed when they try to tell me what I’m clearly seeing in the Zapruder Film didn’t really happen. I begin to crazily entertain consipiracy theories about the History Channel itself, so I quit those shows, too.
I don’t really do the UFO/ghost stuff. If Orson Welles isn’t narrating, I’m out.
Let’s face it, if Lindsay Lohan wants to catch Booth for “Teen Actor Gone Bad”, she has to step up her game.
@34, JFK buff, _Libra_ has been on my to-read list for a few years now, but it keeps being leapfrogged by other works. Should it shoot to the top?
The f&%king Twins are giving away a f&%king bobblehead of Kent f&%king Hrbek lifting Ron Gant’s foot off the bag.
Next up: Giants giving away a bobblehead of Bonds with a syringe in his buttcheek.
Or the Braves giving away a bobblehead of Lew Burdette spitting on the ball.
Or the Phillies giving away a bobblehead of their bullpen coach with binoculars.
Gaylord Perry with an emery board would be nice.
I said the Indians could give away Albert Belle signature corked bats.
a mark mcgwire talking puppet that says “damn proud” over and over again.
The Reds could give away Pete Rose betting slips.
Oh wait, they can’t use anything with Rose.
They could give away a bobblehead of Schottsie urinating on the field.
Nolan Ryan with Ventura in a headlock.
I’d like an Otis Nixon pitching mound karate kick, myself.
I’d like a muffaletta.
#46
Or maybe a bobblehead of Bob Horner (in wristcast) standing up to Champ Summers.
#36
Entertaining & thought-provoking, sure, but it came out ages ago & the Internet—not to mention the JFK flick, to the extent that it’s always on TV—eventually seemed to take that subject over.
The theories got so consumed with craziness that it eventually became a contrarian’s paradise. But, I mean, if you’re going to go along with the Warren Commission, what’s the point?
#35
Lol. Poor girl.
@47 – me too. And it’s hard to get one in Atlanta. Jason’s Deli have good ones, but there isn’t one near me.
“I am an absolute dog-lover. My border collie/dalmatian mix is part of the family. Sure, I completely despised Vick for a long time, but like other people who have wronged society in the past, he deserves a second chance.”
Agreed. And in fact, I even kind of rooted for him this season. I don’t think the winning absolves him, of course, like so many idiot pundits; but I do think that he did his time, deserved a second chance, and is a really nice story for having succeeded (so far) once he got it.
“I’d like a muffaletta…”
If we are actually talking about sandwiches, Ill take a Philly Cheese Steak over any other.
For sandwiches I prefer a good Cuban.
@JoeyT:
This thread is now yours for “bodatian.” Congratulations.
@53, maybe if you’re in Miami. In Atlanta, all of the good help is Guatemalan.
@35 – ya know, sometimes you’re like watching Maddux pitch.
OK, ububba, I’ll bite:
What do you think happened in Dallas?
Two shooters. That should be obvious.
The who & the why? Can’t really know, but that’s the interesting part to waste your time on.
If JFK assasssination isn’t political.
1. “triangulation”, the so called “preferred method” for assisinaton is ABSOLUTELY STUPID with a moving target. With a moving target you want “zero deflection” meaning the 2 spots to shoot from are directly behind and directly in front. NO evidence (pictures, eye witnesses, etc.) points to ANY shot directly in front.
2. No sharpshooter can make a shot on a 70 square inch target (a head) at 70 yards with the head moving almost left to right where the shooter would have reason to believe that the targets speed would not be constant but increasing at an exactly unknown time (and, in fact, the speed had gradually changed all down the hill from the depository).
3. An exit wound is at least as big as any entry wound, but no rifle entry wound (and do you think the “front shot” was with buckshot with a 3 inch pattern? The shooter would have had to be within 15 yards) can be larger than the exit wound. Thus the apparent explosion above President Kennedy’s right eye is evidence of being shot from the REAR, not the front.
4. Two theories (a) the “two gunmen” and “grassy knoll gunman” theories and (b) the Jim Garrison attempt to divert attention to his payor mob boss Carlos Marcello have done more damage to real concerns about the assassination by diverting attentin from the “real issues”.
5. The real issues are if Oswald was really the rear shooter in the school book depository (probably)and (2) the “vertical conspiracy” which ran from Santos Trafficanti and Carlos Marcello throgh Ruby to Oswald.
If the CIA would have wanted to kill Kennedy wouldn’t it have been a whole lot easier to slip him oral endocrine hormones and set his Addison’s disease off? He nearly died twice in the late 50’s from that and even though the press didn’t let the severity get out you don’t really think that the big dogs in Washington didn’t know about it, do you?
I refuse to believe Oswald acted alone, NO ONE, and I mean NO ONE is that good of a shot with a single bolt action rifle at that distance with a moving target. I have no theory as to who really did it, but I have alot of fire arms training and it all seems bunk to me!
better extension?
Bautista 5/65
Uggla 5/62
Ill take Uggla
Fla Braves Fan at 60,
Would you possibly agree;
1. in light of the difficulty that you ascribe to a shot from the depository, then likelihood of a “grassy knoll shooter” hitting Kennedy would have to be substantially (maybe 20 times) less likely?
2. If Oswald (or somebody in the depository) actually fired 3 shots, then the shooter probably missed at least fairly bad on one shot, was 8 to 10 inches low and a couple of inches right on the second shot, and was substantially on target on the third shot. Thus, the shooter didn’t quite have “legendary accuracy”.
I absolutely agree that there was a vertical conspiracy. That is, that Oswald didn’t just show up and shoot. It was orchestrated by someone. I just disagree that there had to be or was likely a gunman positioned other than somewhere to the rear of the car, close to the 6th floor of the school book depository. Possibly there were even 2 gunmen there. Not likely any successful shots were fired from the “grassy knoll”.
Debunking another “no way Oswald did it” theory. The so called “mis-sighted rifle” theory. On testing, the Manliker-Carcano (spelling?) delivered to Oswald and alleged to have been used, when fired from a vise in law enforcement testing fired (at 100 yards?) something like 4 inches high and 2 inches right of where the crosshairs crossed. This has been cited as proof that the gun was not maintained properly for the shooting and couldn’t have been successfully used. But, assuming the shooter was in the corner window of the 6th floor of the depository, the vehicle’s “plane of movement” would have “appeared to be” slightly up (the street at that location is downhill, but not enough to offset the 6th floor elevation) and slightly right. In other words, the target would be moving up and to the right (shooter’s line of sight) between the time the trigger was pulled and the bullet exited the gun and traveled the 150 or so yards. So, IF a shooter was trying that shot, those adjustments are in the proper direction and relatively appropriate to make the shot.
My main issue with the conspiratorialists is if they adopt the “Oliver Stone” view. Robert Blakey’s theory revision in roughly 1995 (after the “officer Delahanty open microphone 4 shot theory” previously espoused by Blakey had been debunked by matching Delahanty’s sound tape to other time frames) that there probably was only 1 shooter, that the shooter that fired shots 2 and three was at substantially the position of the 6th floor of the depository, that Oswald was a likely shooter based on his opportunity and actions, that Oswald had connections to the most likely “hit directors”, that Ruby also had connections to those same “hit directors” and that functionally, the hit was the result of anger in the mob for (1) losing the casinos in Cuba (Trafficanti) (2) Bobby Kennedy’s actions against the mob, in general, (3) Bobby’s specific action in forcibly yanking Carlos Marcello in the middle of the night and delivering him to Central America and trying to deny him access to return by saying he was not born in U. S. nor ever naturalized properly and (4) the particular distaste that the mob had for feeling that they got Jack elected as a favor to Papa Joe Kennedy and that they were being crapped on and that somebody had to put it in Joe’s face that he violated the code.
The more I read about Chipper’s knee, the more worried I get, even when the headline is “Chipper encouraged by how knee is holding up.” This could be an ugly year for him.
NO ONE is that good of a shot with a single bolt action rifle
I am not sure I disagree, but a single bolt action rifle is what you’d try it with. They are the most accurate tool for the job – there is a reason the .50 cal sniper rifle is still made this way.
http://world.guns.ru/sniper/large-caliber-sniper-rifles/usa/barrett-m90-and-m95-e.html
Go Dawgs!
Indeed. Nice win!
I beg to differ with Cliff on the point about the shot from the front.
In addition to the witnesses who heard shots from the building, there are people who were there who said a shot came from the direction of the fence or between the fence & the overpass, to JFK’s front & right. That always seems to be the crucial disagreement among people who pay attention to this stuff.
Some people believe that shot came from behind the fence, others believe it came from a gutter or a manhole.
BTW, when you stand behind that fence in Dealy Plaza & see how close it is to the killshot spot, you just say, “Oh…”
I tend to believe my own eyes when watching the Zapruder Film.
Warning: Zapruder Film closeup
http://tinyurl.com/4g27teg
Oliver Stone’s view is some assemblage of theories that gets your mind racing, but it doesn’t exactly have a tidy bow on top. It asks more questions than it answers, but ultimately it just makes you more interested to dive in yourself.
The mob angle has always been a curious one (Cliff mentions their “issues” with the Kennedys, which were certainly real) & I often wondered if they were simply allowed to execute the mission. It also struck me as quite a coincidence that the thing happened in Dallas, considering who the VP was at the time. There were several outfits who had beef with JFK, several who stood to benefit from his death.
UGA/UT
Huge win for the hoop Dogs today, possibly a season-saver. When Jeremy Price has a big game, you always wonder why it doesn’t happen more often.
So, can they pick up another road win?
On the Kennedy stuff, I think the Warren commission report is as good as we’ll ever get. If it was a conspiracy like Stone wants you to believe, why wouldn’t Kennedy’s family try to fully refute the Warren report? Only explanation to me would be that either there was so much dirt on Kennedy that they agreed to keep silent. This is not an impossibility, but I would think after close to 50 years that someone would be speaking out.
Good win for the Dawgs. My Vols really need better production from the point.
#68
Well, there was, apparently, a deathbed confession in ’07 by E. Howard Hunt, who was more famous for something else.
Smitty,
Can the Vols still make the tournament?
My Vols really need better production from the point.
That’s been the case for Pearl’s entire tenure, other than his first year, when he had a senior CJ Watson.
Can the Vols still make the tournament?
That #1 strength of schedule really helps.
So true Stu. For some reason, Pearl can’t get a solid point guard.
I think the Vols need two more wins to be a lock for the tournament. We still have Miss St at home and Carolina on the road. A 7-0 start and 9-11 since then. Strange season.
Hopson is playing the best ball of his life right now. I just wish Tatum and Goins could step it up. It is really Hopson and Harris no one else. Harris had hit a bit of a hall, but played better today.
Vandy is going to beat our asses like a drum Tuesday night.
I am not very studied as to the various conspiracy theories, but I will say it’s a lot easier for me to believe that a trained marksman pulled off a spectacular grouping of shots well within range and accuracy tolerances of the weapon used than a multilevel conspiracy remaining beyond the reach of provability for 50 years. Now how Oswald came to be there of course, is open to speculation.
I’m watching Sgt. York on TCM, he could have hit JFK with three head shots from the book depository, no problem. But let’s face it, Oswald was no Alvin York.
That movie has several unintentionally hilarious moments – despite that, it’s a pretty good flick.
Didn’t Carlos Hathcock, considered by many to be the greatest sniper in US Military history, try to recreate the shot?
From Hathcock:
‘Let me tell you what we did at Quantico,’ Hathcock recalls. ‘We reconstructed the whole thing: the angle, the range, the moving target, the time limit, the obstacles, everything. I don’t know how many times we tried it, but we couldn’t duplicate what the Warren Commission said Oswald did. Now if I can’t do it, how in the world could a guy who was a non-qual on the rifle range and later only qualified ‘marksman’ do it?’
Sure, absent the details, it sounds like a million to one shot(s). But Bob Beamon was able to make that long jump. It’s well within the physical capabilities of this weapon in the hands of someone with some training. Again, to a lay person, that sounds like the most likely scenario, given the comparable improbability of a successful conspiracy remaining provably outside the realm of knowledge.
I really only believe in two conspiracy theories, and the Kennedy Assassination is one of them. I think it’s extremely interesting to speculate about a second shooter and who may have (if anyone) hired him (or them). Dunno, just one of those things I love reading about.
The other one isn’t exactly something I truly believe in, but I really, really want to. I think it would be awesome if there really was an alien landing at Roswell and not just an ‘experimental balloon’ and that the Area 51 we all know of is just a cover up for the ‘real’ Area 51.
UT won’t win at Vandy, but they’ll pick up wins over Miss. State and South Carolina. At that point, they’ll be 18-12 (8-7) with Kentucky looming as the regular season finale.
Tennessee’s RPI and SOS will likely get them into the NCAAs even with a loss there, but it’ll be a close shave.
That game may have been lost with the dumb T for hanging on the rim. Georgia was about to wilt off the court at that point, and the freebies from the line put them back in it.
I guess that’s what passes for a championship in Atlanta these days. Stupid Falcons.
Ozzie Guillen verbatim tweet of the day: “Why meeeeeeee ?” Ozzie is unusually coherent today.
Bama looking better and better these days. Tony Mitchell went off tonight.
Cee-Lo can’t curse on cable at a basketball game? Forget that.
Verbatim Ozzie Tweet 2:
“Iam at the dog house poor me”
That’s more like it.
Oswald was shooting at Connally.
Brent Berry is one of the slam dunk contest judges. Of course, he is a past winner. That was the year that…well…I don’t know why in the hell he won.
So far this dunk contest is great
@86
In honor of Tuesday’s big game, how about some footage of Skylar McBee getting pwned, last year.
Tennessee dropped trou in that game, got blown off the court in Athens, and nearly made the Final Four. Odd team.
The same Skylar McBee that drained two big threes and sparked the come back against Vandy this year?
Tennessee losing today may be the worst thing to happen to Vandy.
In years past, I would put money on it, but not this year. Tatum and Goins have vanished.
Tennessee losing today may be the worst thing to happen to Vandy.
Yeah, that two-game lead we have in the standings is awful!
I would pay to hear Charles Barkley announce any sport.
You don’t want to lose to the Vols at home
I just hope that Kentucky doesn’t wind up the fourth seed in the East. I really really really don’t want to play them on a “neutral” floor. (SEC tournament stands are half Kentucky blue, at worst.)
95—Correct. That was true before today’s results, too, and today’s results did nothing to make losing to them more likely. UT losing to UGA, over which VU already holds the tournament-seeding tie-breaker, was nothing but good for VU.
96—I really don’t think there’s any way they finish any worse than 3rd.
Now Ozzie wants to do a show with Charles Barkley. I would totally watch that.
@98 Best idea ever! Barkley would have someone who makes him look mildly normal.
Cool Story Bro moment – during college, Barkley used to yell “Yo, West Side Story!” at me because I had a black mohawk.
It was the 80’s, man.
So here’s how I see the SEC NCAA situation:
– Florida: In, easily. Could possibly play themselves into a 3 seed. Donovan up until this year had been absolute shi*t post-Horford/Noah/etc., but he’s earned his keep once again. So good for him.
– Kentucky: In, easily. But that’ll be it, I’m guessing; this team is immature and smells of first-weekend TKO. Good thing for Calipari that his team made the Final Four last year. Oh wait.
– Vandy: In, easily. Stallings keeps on trucking. If the Dores could ever be healthy, they could make a second-weekend run in the NCAAs.
– So I think we have to put Georgia here. If the Dawgs beat LSU and USC at home, which they really really should, they’ll be assured of 9 conference wins, a decent enough RPI, no bad losses, and that’ll probably be enough. Given this team’s almost violent rejection of prosperity, though…
– Tennessee: Unless they completely tank, they’ll be in the field. The Vols have too many solid wins and peripheral rankings to ignore.
(gap)
– Bama. The Tide has to do the following- and absolutely nothing less- to make the NCAAs: Finish 13-3 in conference. This means not dropping a WTF loss to West dregs Barn and Ole Miss, and at least splitting the @ Florida/UGA set. @ U. of Chris Rainey will be a tall order, and Georgia figured out Bama’s press last year with demonstratively lesser players. That said, Bama looks really really good on the screen, at least.
Good summary, D.N. but you left out the part where Fat Renaldo and the Bulldawgs of the Lesser Pedigree win the Tournament and bump someone named Bama, Tennessee or Georgia.
Oh, and I don’t care what anyone says – Tony Mitchell won the dunk contest last night.
@102: I think I’m precisely accurate when I say that this Miss. State team is dogsh*t, and absurd tournament runs like the one Georgia did in 2008 come once in a generation. Chances are better that Sidney fights some teammates in the Georgia Dome stands than the Bizarro Bulldogs cutting down the nets.
I’m not so sure Bama needs all of that. They had some bad non-conference losses, but that was with their best player injured and out — and the committee does pay attention to that sort of thing. Personally, I think they’re ahead of both UGA and UT in the pecking order, as of this minute.
so, i was talking to an STL fan today and he mentioned that there were 3 teams to come with a trade proposal for albert pujols, one being the phillies. however, he also heard that the braves are going “all-in” for pujols. has anyone heard any such thing? i didnt want to tell him he was wrong, but i havent even heard this whispered. he said it was on foxsports’ xm radio.
Braves are not going after Pujols. Plus, Pujols said he would block any trades.
So the Cardinals would be willing to pay Ryan Howard MORE than they offered to Albert Pujols? Or are the Phillies holding onto both first basemen in this “scenario”?
@105: UT I can see, but Georgia has the same big SEC wins (Kentucky at home, @ Tennessee) Bama does without a loss to Arkansas and a better RPI/SOS. Difference between the two boils down to Bama getting every crummy SEC West team twice, while Georgia only gets them once.
Profile-wise, you’re right, but it’s worth noting that Pomeroy has Bama as clearly better than UGA, even including those games without Green. Like I said, if I were picking, I’d have Bama fourth.
FWIW, UGA is 4-0 vs. the SEC West, incl. 2 road wins.
BTW, UGA visits Tuscaloosa in the last regular-season game. Could have some bubble implications.
I think the SEC is going to have 6 teams in.
Bama is ahead of Georgia and Tennessee, but don’t forget that the latter two will have a chance to up their win totals by one with favorable pairings against West opponents in the opening round of the SEC tourney.
Up the win total, but lower the RPI. Don’t think one win in the conference tourney will help either, if they need help at that point.
Why do I think the Good Vols show up in Nashville? Will it be enough?
If the Good Commodores show up, no.
I went by Toomer’s today and was shocked at how emotional I felt about everything that’s happened. It’s been a part of my life since childhood and soon it’s going to be gone. I’m sure that as time passes and new trees are put in the sting will subside, but damn, it really sucks right now.
If the good Vols show up, which is doubtful, Vandy loses.
I pulled hard for Schafer in 2009, and was impressed, first hand, with his approach during that year’s Spring Training.
However since his injury, I’ve found myself, in a round about way, rooting against the guy. I dont know if it’s his snubnose attitude, or that I actually like rooting for Matt Uoung much more. Maybe it’s a bit of both, but it’s crap like this that keeps me out of Schafer’s corner…
From DOB…
When asked about how he was feeling thus far in Spring, Jordan replied, “How do I feel? Like fucking success. Unbelievably good.”
I mean, who says that?
The Condredge Holloway story is on ESPN at 8:00, good story.
@118 I’m kind of in your boat, Ryan. I obviously want him to succeed because the Braves need some good outfielders, but he is SO hard to root for.
If the good Vols show up, which is doubtful, Vandy loses.
LOL. This VU team totally out-classes this UT team, talent-wise. (Seriously — Harris is the only UT player who would start for VU.) And, of course, the game’s in Memorial. If VU shows up, they win by 10+, no matter how well UT plays.
I’m sure that as time passes and new trees are put in the sting will subside, but damn, it really sucks right now.
I feel for you, Bethany.
Question: Are they going to be able to put new trees in anytime soon? I would think the ground is pretty dang contaminated, and they’ll need to test soil samples for quite a while before it’s safe…
Memorial is a tough place to play. But if this Vandy team is head and shoulders above Tennessee, how come the Vols came from 17 points back? The talent level isn’t that much different.
Vandy wins by 10.
Stu, I imagine that they will have to replace a lot of soil to replant the trees. U. Alabama fans should pony up the money if they have any sense. My brother has 3 graduate degress from Auburn and is a big fan. He lives in Opelika but has not gone to see damage as he has been out of town.
“Horrible defense? No problem!”
Wren’s right about the “errors”, of course. The complete lack of range in the infield is another matter.
But if this Vandy team is head and shoulders above Tennessee, how come the Vols came from 17 points back?
Largely because VU choked it away. And, of course, it was in Knoxville.
I don’t know what “that much different” means, but VU is clearly, demonstrably better, and Good UT isn’t good enough to beat Good VU — and certainly not in Nashville.
Would it help tp grow infield grass high?
@122, 124 It’s my understanding that if they can’t get the poison out of the soil, nothing will be able to grow there for 3 to 5 years, and it’s going to cost major bucks to clear it all out. I know some Alabama fans have started a fund to help replace the trees, which is a great gesture. They have been growing seedlings from the Toomer’s trees for a few years, but they are still very young. The question will be that if they decide to spend the money and clean out the soil, do you put in a new large oak or a baby toomer’s oak.
Mac, I am comforted with the paragraph underneath that where Fredi says he’s going to make the team do defensive practice before each game. Even if it’s only 15 minutes, it’s got to help.
I actually know of some trees which are the progeny of the TC oaks and are much older than “very young.”
Good UT is a top five team (ask Villanova and Pitt) Good Vandy is #19.
So much fail; not worth discussing further.
Ill give you that. They really have laid an egg. So much promise coming off that Pitt win.
The “fail” was re: your reasoning. One anomaly in Pittsburgh does not a good team make. (I watched in person as Arkansas looked like world-beaters for one game, too.) There really wasn’t ever a lot of promise. You know, they’re pretty much exactly what I expected them to be. 😉
But I’m seriously going to stop talking about the Pearlettes, now!
@129 Really? That’s good to hear. I heard a suggestion today that they make statues of the trees instead of putting down new ones, which, if done well, could actually be pretty cool. If you made it out of brass or something, that would be a very cool memorial.
Bethany, is the making of artistic representation of the trees within your skill set. It could be used to raise money/reward givers.
Auburn is notoriously controlling of who can and can’t create imagery related to the university… Even if I attempted it and offered it to them as a fundraiser I’m not sure they’d want it. I think they will commission some great artists to create works for it, and they will do the job better than I could.
Alabama, of course, is much worse (and more tone-deaf) about its relationships with artists…
Something I actually wrote once: “Where would the Braves be without Chris Reitsma?”
At the time, he was still on the Reds.
“At the end of the day, I don’t think errors contribute a great deal to losses.” — Frank Wren
This might be Conrad’s mantra this season.
How much has Conrad played 3rd? I hope he gets plenty of practice there and at second during ST plus infield practice during season.
If he’s playing third any, it will be in Gwinnett. There’s no place for him on the team.
One point to consider with Tenn/Alabama and the NCAA’s is that there are four more teams in the tourney this year. I think that a lot of people have a mental bar for what it takes to get into the field, but aren’t remembering they need to lower it a little this year.
If anyone is interested in helping me get the Eephus League scorebooks printed, I’ve got a kickstarter page started as a way of taking pre-orders. I need to print 5,000 books to make them cost effective, so the fundraising goal is steep (If the prices look high it’s because I have to build shipping costs into the price beforehand).
The site has sort of enveloped my life lately, I’ll be curious to see if I can drum up enough interest to make this happen!
If Chipper suffers a setback in spring training and has to retire (I think a real possibility), would Lowe for Michael Young make sense?
New post.