right now what are auburn chances of making the sec and ncaa tournament

[Guest auburn warrior]

anyone know

[Jackson-Sullivan 0]

Basically we are gonna have to win, win, win and hope for some help.

[ausbest14 0]

Basically we are gonna have to win, win, win and hope for some help.

LOL, yep!!  We're 9th right now - one game behind USC and 2.5 behind Vandy...We either have to catch, pass and stay ahead of USC or catch Vandy and keep pace with them since we hold the tiebreaker...I really wish there was an easy scenario, but there isn't...There are so many ifs with this team that trying to map a route to the playoffs is almost impossible...I mean, if you follow this team, you know it's like hanging onto the side of a cliff every time we are pitching or batting in key situations.  The biggest IF, in my opinion, is can we put solid and/or decent pitching together with smart and timely hitting and base running, and can we maintain it?  That said, two other things are crucial to make the postseason: the heart of our players not to quit, and the grace of God...And, if we pull out a .500 record in our remaining games, and don't make the SEC tournament, we may have a shot at a regional like we did in '05.  May be wishful thinking, but we have had a very solid RPI all year according to, at least, one publication.

[Guest auburn warrior]

well just throwing this out there but i went on rival yesterday ad saw we were projected to make i to the georgia regional in the ncaa tournament and play georgia southern but of course that was posted before we lost to lsu and aubest14 just so i understand are you saying we'll have to hope either usc or vandy fall somewhere down amen corner if we even want a shot at the sec playoffs

[Jackson-Sullivan 0]

Basically we are gonna have to win, win, win and hope for some help.

LOL, yep!!  We're 9th right now - one game behind USC and 2.5 behind Vandy...We either have to catch, pass and stay ahead of USC or catch Vandy and keep pace with them since we hold the tiebreaker...I really wish there was an easy scenario, but there isn't...There are so many ifs with this team that trying to map a route to the playoffs is almost impossible...I mean, if you follow this team, you know it's like hanging onto the side of a cliff every time we are pitching or batting in key situations.  The biggest IF, in my opinion, is can we put solid and/or decent pitching together with smart and timely hitting and base running, and can we maintain it?  That said, two other things are crucial to make the postseason: the heart of our players not to quit, and the grace of God...And, if we pull out a .500 record in our remaining games, and don't make the SEC tournament, we may have a shot at a regional like we did in '05.  May be wishful thinking, but we have had a very solid RPI all year according to, at least, one publication.

Very well put.  I was giving my short version yesterday because I was in a hurry.

[ausbest14 0]

aubest14 just so i understand are you saying we'll have to hope either usc or vandy fall somewhere down amen corner if we even want a shot at the sec playoffs

Well, as always, the key is taking care of your own games first...There are 9 SEC games left, and AU has Ole Miss (13-8 -tied for 4th) at home, UK (7-14, 10th) on the road, and Bama (12-9, 6th) at home...Ole Miss (#7 in the nation) is 2nd in ERA in league play, but AU is 2nd in slugging %age.  UK is 8th in hitting and 8th in ERA (seem beatable, but AU is 11th and 12th, plus UK pitched very well against Bama last weekend).  Bama is the best hitting team in the league and the only team in the SEC to lead AU in slugging %age, but I believe AU will rise to the occasion.

USC and Vandy play each other this weekend in Columbia, so something has to give.  AU can gain, at least, one game on one of them depending on how it goes down, and it's hard to beat USC there.  For some reason, I feel good about our chances against Ole Miss, but I hope I'm not underestimating them.  USC finishes up with UT (tied for last in SEC, but playing much better now) on the road and UGA (tied for 1st in SEC) at home.  Vandy is at UGA and hosts UT to complete the regular season.

With 9 games left, given the crazy nature of baseball sometimes, many changes can happen with many SEC teams, so we'll just have to wait and see while praying that the Swine Flu deal doesn't hurt or kill any more people nor disrupt the remainder of the season.

[ausbest14 0]

South Carolina and Vanderbilt will play on SportSouth at 6pm. CT today, if anyone is interested.

[Guest auburn warrior]

sorry if i sound negative but unless are batting and pitching shape up sec chances are certainly out the window

[ausbest14 0]

You're not being negative, just realistic...I must admit that I'm feeling kind of sad that we're this bad...Two SEC wins in the last 10 is very disappointing.  I have a feeling that Coach Paw almost has to bite his tongue to keep from saying, "we suck", during post-game interviews.

[AUSportTalk 4]

Yeah, it is pretty bad!! We have no played very good all year IMO.....we have struggled even through all the home runs!! We just have to keep going and see if we can make a regional somewhere! Who knows?

[ausbest14 0]

Watched some of today's game on TV, and one of the lingering problems from recent years for this team is we are not very baseball smart...Lots of careless fielding, throwing, pitching and base running...Our pitchers really aren't as bad physically as their ERA, but they make multiple pitching mistakes by throwing the wrong pitch with the wrong count, and giving the batters too much to hit with 2 strikes and less than 3 balls.  I am happy Morris has made the USA team twice now, but I have to say he'll never make it at the next level unless it's as a DH - and he'll have to improve a lot as a hitter to do that.  I've seen him miss way too many balls at first...A good first baseman has to be excellent at scooping low throws and one-hoppers.  Plus, he has missed several pop fouls down the line that have to be caught...Today, he missed one that was very catchable, but he looked very afraid to go near the wall even though he had plenty of room...Even if the wind pushed the ball away from him a little, he has to make that catch.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Some asked what our chances are of making the sec and ncaa? after this weekend series, I'd say slim to zero.

[Jackson-Sullivan 0]

I don't know what to say.  This past weekend's showing was about as miserable as it gets!  I am just so beyond frustrated.  It has gotten to where they aren't doing anything good besides hitting the homers and they were even missing this weekend.  Let's just hope they can show some heart the rest of the season and try to make something of it here in these last few games.  Hope is not completely lost.  Let's not give up on 'em.

[ausbest14 0]

Yeah, there's still a slim chance of catching Vandy, but we pretty much have to sweep UK, and hope UGA sweeps VU in Athens.  No less than 2 out of 3 against Bama, and hope UT takes 2 of 3 from VU.  I'm just not getting a good vibe from the heart of this team right now, and that bothers me most...Losing Jenkins before game 1, then Sanders a couple of weeks ago, has really negatively impacted the leadership of this sophomore/freshman-laden team.  I'm still ticked that a midweek-game pitcher threw well enough to go 7 innings of 2-hit, 2 ER baseball, but just happened to let one get away to the face of our best hitter (in the first inning against the guy who had 2 HR and 6 RBI against them in B'ham)...Sanders may well have been the difference in the two, 1-run losses at LSU.  I know it happens in baseball, and I wasn't there to see the pitch, but, my gosh, what in the world?

[auburn4ever 1,266]

A sweep over UK will be hard. Have we gotten a sweep over any team this year?

[ausbest14 0]

LOL, nope, but, if the long-ball returns, I could see us doing it...UK is one game ahead of us and will have home-field advantage, so I'm probably dreaming - and BIG.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Nothing wring with that. That's the only way to fly.

[Jackson-Sullivan 0]

I've been thinking the same thing about that Sanders HBP.  It just seems that the kid had good enough control to keep the pitch away from Joseph's face.  It just seemed real fishy coming early in the game after he had just crushed them.