Tennessee series...

[JoJoforHeisman]

*The offensive explosion on Friday and Sunday was a welcome sight after a non-conference slate that was pretty much abysmal for the Tide’s hitters. The key will be sustaining this success and continuing to improve as the schedule gets considerably more difficult. What's tough is that everyone knows that Bama should have swept this series. Tennessee is terrible, yet managed to steal a win thanks largely to some sloppy Alabama defense and mental mistakes in the field and on the bases. Bad fundamental baseball pretty much sums up that game. Boneheaded baserunning mistakes, no one bothering to cover second on a steal attempt, multiple botched pickoff attempts, etc. The team responded quite well on Sunday (obviously), and one conference loss isn't the end of the world, but a 3-0 start would have been nice.

*Wass reportedly suffered a broken wrist and could miss the remainder of the season. Look for Moore to step in as the backup catcher; it’s unreasonable to ask Booth to catch every inning of every game. Regardless, Booth is likely going to have to handle an excessive workload, but at the same time, you don’t want one of your leading run producers worn out late in the season.

*Working seven frames and minimizing damage to one run represented what was by far Turnbull’s best start thus far. Does this necessarily mean that he’s finally turned a corner? The peripheral stats indicate otherwise. Opponents are hitting an unacceptably high .356/.407/.446 against him, and for some reason, he’s seemingly lost much of his ability to miss bats. Barring some additional improvements, he’s going to struggle against good hitting SEC teams. At this point, Hawley, who was sharp last week against Memphis, is the better option for the Sunday starter’s role. Turnbull still has plenty of time to get on track, but considering how hittable he's been, he'll be walking a tightrope every time he takes the hill.

*Series Superlatives:
Sullivan: By far the best start of his career. Three-hit complete game, allowing one run with a walk and seven strikeouts.

Moore: .455/.571/.727
-The sleeping giant appears to have awoken

Carlisle: .400/.615/.400
-Asserted himself well at the plate in first chance at real playing time; if he keeps this up, he won't see the bench again.

Salem: .462/.533/.538
-Looks like a legitimate tablesetter; pretty nice start to his career.

Booth: .533/.533/.600
-Does not even remotely resemble the Booth we saw from 2010-2012.

Roberts: .333/.400/.500
-That'll work.

 

[bamamick]

Andrew had a three-hit game Saturday and contributed in each game in some fashion.

I thought that Sully pitched the game of his life on Friday. Salem went nuts with the rbi on Sunday.

You know, I had not realized that Pilk was still on this team. Has he been hurt? He can really help us in some spots if he is feeling well.

rtr

 

[JoJoforHeisman]

Andrew had a three-hit game Saturday and contributed in each game in some fashion.

Forgot to mention that in Saturday's game, Miller ripped one of the best hits I've seen from him in a long time, turning on one and scorching a double into the corner in right.

Not sure if Pilkington has been hurt or what. Most reports seemed to suggest that his lack of action thus far was due mainly to struggling in the preseason and generally being out-pitched by the rest of the staff. Shaw worked a 1-2-3 inning, but still issued yet another walk. He's clearly got the stuff to be an effective late-inning weapon, with good velocity on the heater and a nasty slider; the problem continues to be throwing consistent strikes. Haack had a pretty rough outing on Saturday and is in a bit of a slump. Overthrowing and not repeating his delivery appeared to be the culprits, and he didn't do himself any favors with his defense. The entire staff could probably use some PFP. Kamplain wasn't particularly sharp, either. He was charged with a pair of runs, but you could make a pretty good argument that one of those could have been prevented were it not for the inexcusable failure to cover second on a 1st and 3rd steal attempt.

Hopefully this weekend the Tide can pick up its first SEC road win since 2011 against an altogether unimpressive Georgia team led by the SEC's worst coach, David Perno. Easily the most underachieving program in the nation, UGA looks pretty weak this season, and this is an eminently winnable series for Bama.

 

[bamamick]

On one hand, Georgia and Auburn are two series where we can compete, so maybe it's alright that they are both on the road before we come home to play the Pigs. On the other hand, a bird in the hand would be good and playing those guys in our place would most likely result in series wins.

Regardless I plan on making it to Auburn for the Saturday game, my first trip to Plainsman's Park.

rtr

 

[cuda.1973]

Since 10RC only managed one run, on 9 hits, was the rest of their offense that bad (hitting into DPs), or did our pitching seem to handle the pressure of runners on base?

In either case, 10RC must be really bad. They should have pushed across 4 or 5 runs, with that many hits.

 

[big jim]

Since 10RC only managed one run, on 9 hits, was the rest of their offense that bad (hitting into DPs), or did our pitching seem to handle the pressure of runners on base?

In either case, 10RC must be really bad. They should have pushed across 4 or 5 runs, with that many hits.

I was there Saturday and Sunday. Tennessee is not a good baseball team very little pitching of SEC caliber. But, this weekend our coaches went with experience along with the young guys in the middle and center. Give Gaspard credit to understand that baseball isn't all about hitting it is sometimes the chemistry and he used that to motivate the team. I still think we aren't a good hitting team as a whole but he played his best players all weekend. Sunday a lot of our late inning hits came off of a tired pitcher Tennessee left him in because he was the only kid that could throw strikes and by the 9th inning he was exhausted. All our boys produced in a game if we can get them to produce consistently in every game just a little we could win some series. Wass being out is no big deal as for as hitting as I said he will struggle against SEC pitching and booth is a better defensive catcher. Moore will have to catch some to give Booth a break. I assume Millers arm is healed he threw it well from left and he is the best outfielder we have not saying the others aren't good outfielders. I do like the middle infielders they continue to impress in the field they will be great players.