AU vs Texas A&M Game 3

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

Let's get the sweep!

[AU64 10,122]

AU down 3-1...couple scoring opportunities early on but our hitters are into pop-up mode.....maybe those homers yesterday made some of them think they could do that as regular thing.

[AU64 10,122]

Winning two out of 3 on the road is a good weekend but todays game is awful...looking like the old AU...walks, errors, stolen bases, etc....whatever it takes to make it easy for TAMU. Fortunately they did not cash in all the opportunities... TAMU 4-1 at top of 8th.

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

Hopefully this is just a little bump on the radar for the tigers; 2 out of 3 is good on the road in the sec; gone final in college station 4-1 TAMU; no errors for AU today but again we fail to get the big hit. Lets go get ASU on Wednesday and then get into attack mode on Georgia

[WarEagle10 77]

Two of three, on the road, is exactly what this team needed. I am happy for our bunch. We need to build off of this and finish this season strong. War Eagle!!!

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

I think we can win the series with GA.

[AU64 10,122]

The rest of the season is more manageable....LSU and Vandy in a league by themselves

[AUFightingSoldiers 685]

The rest of the season is more manageable....LSU and Vandy in a league by themselves

The absolute truth! Lsu and vandy both have 3 games leads in their respective divisions.

[PowerOfDixieland 3,226]

I think we can win the series with GA.

We should be gunning for all three. Georgia lost two out of three at home to a bad Mizzou team this weekend.

[ertrader 198]

I think we can win the series with GA.

We should be gunning for all three. Georgia lost two out of three at home to a bad Mizzou team this weekend.

Not to mention GA got swept by this very same A&M team.

[AUGoo 2,664]

Lost 4-1

[penguin149 391]

LSU and Vandy have 3 game leads in their divisions, in part, because they both swept AU. Hopefully these 2 wins on the road are the start of good things to come.

[AU64 10,122]

LSU and Vandy are both 11-1 in the conference....LSU lost to Miss State and Vandy a game to UF. LSU swept Ky and Vandy swept Ole Miss...both teams being ranked not so long ago. It's a tough league and the bottom half will continue to beat up on each other while the top guys will probably continue to dominate. SEC still has 6 of the top 17 in national rankings.

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

First time poster, long time lurker.

I was actually at the game yesterday as I live in Austin and made the drive over. (Side note: I used to travel with a minor league baseball team for a living, so this is a sport I know very well). I would call the characterization of being in pop-up mode to be overstated. At least 5-6 of the fly outs yesterday were very well struck balls, but they were hit directly at defenders. All you can really ask of a player is to hit the ball hard and Auburn did that for the most part.

The bigger keys in yesterday's loss were two-fold.

1) Pawloski ran us out of a potential big inning in the 4th. We had already scratched across one and had a runner at 1st (believe it was Wacker). JP sent Wacker, who has average speed at best, on a stolen base attempt. Easy out made it bases empty with two away. Next batter hits a sharp single, so if we play smart baseball, at worst we have runners at 1st and 2nd with one out and a run already home thanks to three hard hit balls in the inning.

2) JP pulled Will Kendall after only five innings. While I don't know his pitch count, it didn't seem to be out of the ordinary. A&M was struggling to hit Kendall's curve and he was keeping us in the game. In fact, he threw a beautiful 1-2-3 5th (K-K-P3). I immediately thought were going to the bullpen too early and that proved to be true. A&M scored the very next inning.

As a side note, I encourage you all to make the trip to College Station. The people were extremely friendly and their ballpark is quite stunning. You get a nice view of Kyle Field from the seats too.

[Mikey 16,603]

First time poster, long time lurker.

I was actually at the game yesterday as I live in Austin and made the drive over. (Side note: I used to travel with a minor league baseball team for a living, so this is a sport I know very well). I would call the characterization of being in pop-up mode to be overstated. At least 5-6 of the fly outs yesterday were very well struck balls, but they were hit directly at defenders. All you can really ask of a player is to hit the ball hard and Auburn did that for the most part.

The bigger keys in yesterday's loss were two-fold.

1) Pawloski ran us out of a potential big inning in the 4th. We had already scratched across one and had a runner at 1st (believe it was Wacker). JP sent Wacker, who has average speed at best, on a stolen base attempt. Easy out made it bases empty with two away. Next batter hits a sharp single, so if we play smart baseball, at worst we have runners at 1st and 2nd with one out and a run already home thanks to three hard hit balls in the inning.

2) JP pulled Will Kendall after only five innings. While I don't know his pitch count, it didn't seem to be out of the ordinary. A&M was struggling to hit Kendall's curve and he was keeping us in the game. In fact, he threw a beautiful 1-2-3 5th (K-K-P3). I immediately thought were going to the bullpen too early and that proved to be true. A&M scored the very next inning.

As a side note, I encourage you all to make the trip to College Station. The people were extremely friendly and their ballpark is quite stunning. You get a nice view of Kyle Field from the seats too.

Nice report! Post more often, now that you've broken the ice.

[mustache eagle 2,406]

First time poster, long time lurker.

I was actually at the game yesterday as I live in Austin and made the drive over. (Side note: I used to travel with a minor league baseball team for a living, so this is a sport I know very well). I would call the characterization of being in pop-up mode to be overstated. At least 5-6 of the fly outs yesterday were very well struck balls, but they were hit directly at defenders. All you can really ask of a player is to hit the ball hard and Auburn did that for the most part.

The bigger keys in yesterday's loss were two-fold.

1) Pawloski ran us out of a potential big inning in the 4th. We had already scratched across one and had a runner at 1st (believe it was Wacker). JP sent Wacker, who has average speed at best, on a stolen base attempt. Easy out made it bases empty with two away. Next batter hits a sharp single, so if we play smart baseball, at worst we have runners at 1st and 2nd with one out and a run already home thanks to three hard hit balls in the inning.

2) JP pulled Will Kendall after only five innings. While I don't know his pitch count, it didn't seem to be out of the ordinary. A&M was struggling to hit Kendall's curve and he was keeping us in the game. In fact, he threw a beautiful 1-2-3 5th (K-K-P3). I immediately thought were going to the bullpen too early and that proved to be true. A&M scored the very next inning.

As a side note, I encourage you all to make the trip to College Station. The people were extremely friendly and their ballpark is quite stunning. You get a nice view of Kyle Field from the seats too.

kendall, I assume, is still in recovery mode from his surgery. I believe the longest outing prior to these 5 innings was 3 ... I could very well be wrong. It seems they are baby stepping with him. Don't know typical recovery from his surgery.

Sounds like a bunch of folks wish he would be more judicious with steals attempts and bunting. I am not knowledgeable enough to have an opinion.

[AU64 10,122]

First time poster, long time lurker.

I was actually at the game yesterday as I live in Austin and made the drive over.  (Side note: I used to travel with a minor league baseball team for a living, so this is a sport I know very well).  I would call the characterization of being in pop-up mode to be overstated.  At least 5-6 of the fly outs yesterday were very well struck balls, but they were hit directly at defenders.  All you can really ask of a player is to hit the ball hard and Auburn did that for the most part.

The bigger keys in yesterday's loss were two-fold.

1) Pawloski ran us out of a potential big inning in the 4th.  We had already scratched across one and had a runner at 1st (believe it was Wacker).  JP sent Wacker, who has average speed at best, on a stolen base attempt.  Easy out made it bases empty with two away.  Next batter hits a sharp single, so if we play smart baseball, at worst we have runners at 1st and 2nd with one out and a run already home thanks to three hard hit balls in the inning.

2) JP pulled Will Kendall after only five innings.  While I don't know his pitch count, it didn't seem to be out of the ordinary.  A&M was struggling to hit Kendall's curve and he was keeping us in the game.  In fact, he threw a beautiful 1-2-3 5th (K-K-P3).  I immediately thought were going to the bullpen too early and that proved to be true.  A&M scored the very next inning.

As a side note, I encourage you all to make the trip to College Station.  The people were extremely friendly and their ballpark is quite stunning.  You get a nice view of Kyle Field from the seats too.

kendall, I assume, is still in recovery mode from his surgery.  I believe the longest outing prior to these 5 innings was 3 ... I could very well be wrong.  It seems they are baby stepping with him.  Don't know typical recovery from his surgery.  

Sounds like a bunch of folks wish he would be more judicious with steals attempts and bunting.  I am not knowledgeable enough to have an opinion.

As noted, Kendall is still in recovery from arm surgery and they are counting pitches carefully and gradually letting throw more each game....I think I heard his limit is now up to about 60.....with intent to get into tourney at end of season and have him full strength.   As for our base stealing...seems our guys aren't fast enough or are not getting good leads....and worse still, seems that we have been caught by pitchouts an unusual number of times.I indeed used the term "pop up mode".....whether we were hitting them at people or not,  the balls were not going like on Saturday...wind direction changed perhaps but we had a large number of fly balls in the later innings...as opposed to sharp singles or doubles.  They got us out of the innings without many base runners. ....but sometimes it just goes that way I guess.      Lastly, thanks for your commentary....glad you were able to see the game.....I'm in NC and get to see a few games when they play over this way and it's always fun.   I agree about their park...from the pix on this site, the field looked pretty good though during the broadcast it sounded like the trains were passing through the main concourse of the stadium.

[bitterclinger79 0]

First time poster, long time lurker.

I was actually at the game yesterday as I live in Austin and made the drive over. (Side note: I used to travel with a minor league baseball team for a living, so this is a sport I know very well). I would call the characterization of being in pop-up mode to be overstated. At least 5-6 of the fly outs yesterday were very well struck balls, but they were hit directly at defenders. All you can really ask of a player is to hit the ball hard and Auburn did that for the most part.

The bigger keys in yesterday's loss were two-fold.

1) Pawloski ran us out of a potential big inning in the 4th. We had already scratched across one and had a runner at 1st (believe it was Wacker). JP sent Wacker, who has average speed at best, on a stolen base attempt. Easy out made it bases empty with two away. Next batter hits a sharp single, so if we play smart baseball, at worst we have runners at 1st and 2nd with one out and a run already home thanks to three hard hit balls in the inning.

2) JP pulled Will Kendall after only five innings. While I don't know his pitch count, it didn't seem to be out of the ordinary. A&M was struggling to hit Kendall's curve and he was keeping us in the game. In fact, he threw a beautiful 1-2-3 5th (K-K-P3). I immediately thought were going to the bullpen too early and that proved to be true. A&M scored the very next inning.

As a side note, I encourage you all to make the trip to College Station. The people were extremely friendly and their ballpark is quite stunning. You get a nice view of Kyle Field from the seats too.

I was there all weekend too. You are correct that these guys hit the ball hard, especially Coop. However, on your first point, actually Wacker was thrown out because a hit and run was on and the batter swung and missed. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. On point 2, Kendall was in fact on a pitch count of about 60 and he was just about there. He was indeed pitching very well and that is encouraging. And third of all, the people at A&M were fantastic. Even at the restaurants. Every day we ran into people who stopped and made conversation with us. We were invited to tailgate parties prior to the game also. They are very happy to be part of the SEC. Hopefully we will show the same hospitality when they visit us! War Eagle!

[Brad_ATX 13,654]

Thanks for the info on Kendall. Didn't realize he was on a pitch count.

As for the hit and run, if that was JP's call, then I simply don't understand it from a basic baseball perspective. Especially not with Wacker on and the middle of the order at the plate. Let your hitters hit. A single to medium center or right likely gets runners at the corners anyway, which accomplishes exactly what the hit and run was designed for (barring extra bases). Hit and run with the 1-2 or 7-8-9 batters makes sense, but in that situation is a reach.

AU64 - Indeed there were train tracks just behind the right field wall. If you've been to Riverwalk Stadium in Montgomery, it's much like that.