Thoughts....

[Bo]

Today's game really stung. We should have won. Unfortunately for us, Auburn's bats woke up at the wrong time, and Allen couldn't get an out. That left Brian in a big hole, and I thought he got out of it with no runs allowed. It was a call that could've gone either way, and I guess the ump viewed it as a tie, therefore the runner is safe. We had sloppy outfield play. Brent pitched well for the most part. Bobby Burns had a nice game. We really hit the ball well today, it was just right to AU players too many times. We leave this series 6-6 in the SEC. Thankfully, we have UK coming to town. A sweep is a MUST. UK got their first (fluke) win of the year against MSU yesterday. After UK, we travel to Oxford. The hardest part of the season is behind us. Arkansas hasn't impressed me much, and USC is a major disappointment thus far. MSU is the only series down the stretch that I see us not being the favorite. This is the time to make some noise. RTR!

 

[38 Special]

Bo,
You make some good points. However, I believe that the outfield play has been more than sloppy...it's downright embarrassing. It's a pet peeve of mine that I've been complaining about since the season opened. Unless we get a centerfielder, we will lose many more one run games. I'm all for giving Beagle a go. He is the best defensive outfielder on the team. This is not a knock on Travis, some guys are just more suited for the corners.


RTR
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[Bo]

38, I didn't even know that about Ryan. Did he play more OF at Shelton State? So you would put Ryan in center, and Garner and Redding at the corners? Move Beau to DH and rotate him in the outfield some? We really miss guys like McClanahan in the outfield this year. We've missed some balls that he made look routine. I'm confident we'll get it together though. RTR

 

[BamaSis]

This weekend was no doubt a huge disappoinment. But on the other hand we really stepped our game up sat and sun. They're ranked 6th so I guess that says something for our guys. Our defense was pretty impressive expect for the errors today..Evan did great on third..you could tell he was stepping it up. How 'bout that Seth...man was that some much needed pick us up stuff. I think our guys are on a mission now. They're on the plane from ATL to loo-zianna...Hopefully we'll get some big W's and come back to T-town pumped up. Ya know I've never been to Auburn...wasn't impressed at all...but their fans have got to be the most tacky class-lacking bunch of folks I've ever met. Some of their comments were just way to out of line. I'm pretty loud myself ..but they were just rude...them barners (a.k.a. BoogaEata's) were literally going off because the had to sit by us civilized folks from the "big city". Tacky just Tacky.Anyway I apologize for my rant and hope I never hear I-ey I-ey I-ey again.

 

[WarEagleBB]

I'm in total agreement with 38 on this one. In most scout's oppinion, you don't have any outfielders. The kid playing the other night was a joke (#1). Sorry, I don't mean to offend but this kid cannot play the game. His running in circles, bobbles and throws reminded me of a lower level high school outfielder and not a SEC player. Hearrod is a tremondous hitter, but no outfielder. Redding is a decent outfielder, but doesn't have the bat for SEC pitchers.

I've watched a couple of the kids in the past on the pine and Wells has better outfielders on his bench within his pitching staff than what he is putting on the field. They are better defensively and offensively than anyone he has on the field. If these were in his pitching rotation you might understand his keeping them off the field, but they aren't even pitching according to your stats online.

From a baseball person's viewpoint while watching the players (outfielders) for both teams this past weekend it was like night and day. Auburn's outfielders ran down several balls that could have been hits, while Alabama's outfielders let several balls fall for hits that should have been caught. Bad reads off the bat, poor positioning, poor mechanics, poor angles, poor throws to cutoffs will cost you in close games. Take this away from this past weekend and the 2-1 series winner would likely have been different.

Best of luck for the remainder of the season.

 

[Bo]

Avalos (#1) is usually an above average outfielder. I don't know what was wrong with him. He had an emergency appendectimy a week ago, and maybe he was still having some affects from that. Grant Redding hit .431 last year, so he can hit. In Gamble and Moran, Auburn has two of the rangiest outfielders in baseball. It'll be interesting to see what CJW does with the lineup. RTR

 

[BamaTiderFan]

Another thing I realized is that Auburn is overrated. They are the highest ranked SEC team and they will not even finish in the top 2 of the division. They could have just as easily lost their home series to Tennessee and Alabama and their luck wont last. That Auburn bunch picked up losses to Georgia, and also Tenn at home, those are losses you dont get and win this division.

Remember, Auburn still has to play at Miss State, at LSU, and Florida at home....i dont think Auburn has a sweep left in them this season unless they sweep ole miss at home

 

[WarEagleBB]

Bo,
Not wanting to be confrontational, but Avalos is not an outfielder or a baseball player. You can tell he has some athleticism, but his baserunning and outfield play in the series was almost comical. An appendectomy does justify poor reads off the bat, bad angles to the balls, poor throws to cutoffs, juggles, bobbles and the list could go on. He also had at least three baserunning blunders that could have been costly (pick at first, broke for home on a grounder to third and missed first base on a double). He came out smelling like a rose on all three because Auburn could not take exicute and the umpire didn't see him miss first base, but a SEC caliber player doesn't make these types of mistakes.

Also, Redding did have a high BA last season, but didn't seem to play a lot and I might ask if the games he played in were against top caliber teams. His mechanics at the plate and failure to hit in clutch situations is what prompted my statement. I have watched him more than just this series and IMHO he is not SEC caliber.

Understand that my comments are no reflections upon the character of these young men. They may be truly great young men, but as far as SEC caliber baseball players they are lacking. If this was all Coach Wells had you might question his recruiting, but as I said before, I have personally scouted some of his players who are on the bench. Two that come to mind are LHP/OF who are SEC caliber players. They can hit and run balls down in the outfield. I've watched them before and know what they are capable of doing. Maybe its a disciplinary problem I'm unaware of. I don't know, but from the outside looking in it makes you wonder why they are riding the pine and the current outfielders are out there running circles in the outfield, watching balls hit the ground and jogging to balls hit over their heads (by the way, Garner would never see another stint in the field on my team for his lack of effort and attitude).

When your outfielders cannot make plays it hurts your pitchers, cost you runs, and loses close games. A catch in RF in Game One could have made the difference in that game, rather it allowed AU's first two runs to score. A good read off the bat and a proper angle would have made this a catchable ball. A bad read and poor angle made it a 2 RBI double. I won't even go into the seven or more misplayed balls in Game Three by your outfielders. The juggling act of moving them from CF to RF to LF shows everyone there are problems out there. You can also expect the other SEC coaches to pick up on it soon, if they haven't already, and try to exploit it.

Again this is no slam. It is just my observations.

 

[Bo]

I know it is not a slam, and you make some good points, and I respect that. The loss of Scott McClanahan might prove to be the most costly. He could tail down just about any ball hit within the vicinity of centerfield. Avalos is a freshman, so I'm going to give him some time. I'm unaware of Garner's attitude problems, could you elaborate on that? Grant was 16-38 (.421) in SEC play last year. Beagle may very well become the starting centerfielder. Travis would probably move to right (he's a corner guy), and Redding in left. As bad as our outfield play has been of late, we still had the chance to, and probably should've taken the last two series against two of the SEC's top teams, and two of the best we'll see all year. RTR

 

[newbamabaseballfan]

whatever happened to hecklinski in the outfield? he played the first 10-12 games in left and hasn't been out there since. i didn't see all the early games, did he get the job done out there?

 

[BAMATRAML]

We lost too much talent from last year to not be struggling. We haven't had any consistent play from the catching position behind the plate or at the plate on offense. We do not have an antelope out in centerfield that can go out and chase down balls hit in the gap. There is no routine outs made in the outfield anymore and I hold my breath with every ball hit out there.

We all thought that the pitching staff would be our strength and would have to carry the team while the defense and the hitting came around.
Well, the offense has been a pleasant surprise in the early part of the season for the most part, but lately the key, two-out hit is about as rare as an honest man in Knoxville.
Our middle relief pitching is like a box of Forrest Gump's chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. The defense is a little better even though we are last in the SEC in DP's executed.
We have a weekend series coming up that we absolutely need to sweep, but the way things are going, it is not guaranteed.
It is easy to blame Coach Wells on some things, such as when and who to change as far as pitching. The one thing that we all know is that we can't be sure who comes out of the pen. It is either Cy Young or Loretta Young. Allen Ponder is the only pitcher in America to beat Rice, yet he couldn't get anybody out Sunday. He is not the only pitcher to have these kinds of ups and downs.
There have been a few pleasant surprises to keep me optimistic for post-season play.
Allen Rice has been more than adequate at second base and his hitting is coming on.
Adam Pavkovich has cut down on his errors. He may be in a bit of a slump right now, but, he will get out of it and be one of our better hitters.
My biggest surprise of the season so far has to be the play of Zach Welch. He is hitting the ball with confidence and his defense is not a liability. He has made plays this year that he did not make last year. I wish his power numbers would be better, but maybe they will climb as his confidence does. Oh well, I guess that is all I can come up with so far. Roll Tide and I will see you folks at the "Joe".

 

[38 Special]

Wow, BAMATRAML, If I would have sat down and thought about this season, I could not have summed it up any better. There is not a single point that you made that can be disputed. I told one of our pitchers (guess which one) after this weekend to look for the answer in the mirror. If you see the problem staring back at you, there is your answer. Quit complaining and just fix it. It's easy for everyone to look to Coach Wells. Coaches lose...players win, that's life. However, there is not one single answer to the problems that we are having. There are about 30.
With the schedule we have coming up and the East struggling, the problems can be fixed. But if we lay down and roll over, well, maybe we can win 40 next year.

RTR
38