Nice series win Diamond Dogs against bama!

[DamnitDog]

Good job guys, yes we should swept them (top of ninth home run debacle yesterday) but I will take the series win! Hail State!!!!!!

 

[bulldognation]

We struggled against the worst team in the league. Should have been a sweep, but we kept beaning them and making stupid decisions on the mound.

We might win against Troy, but we're about to get swept twice to end the season.

 

[OldFatDog]

We struggled against the worst team in the league. Should have been a sweep, but we kept beaning them and making stupid decisions on the mound.

We might win against Troy, but we're about to get swept twice to end the season.

We are 6-1 against top 5 teams and 9-6 in our last 15 SEC games. So, sure, we are getting swept in the last six.

 

[WrapItDog]

we're about to get swept twice to end the season.

KY isn't much if any better than us. Both are 11-13 in SEC play

 

[bulldogcountry1]

I'm going to go ahead and say we need to shuffle the rotation for the last two weekends. I'm not a big fan of this, usually, but the situation requires us to win 2-3 games out of the last two series to make a regional. Our best chance to accomplish this would be to pitch Pilk and Small in games 2 and 3. We go with Billingsley, Liebelt, and McQuary for game 1 and them give them both barrels the rest of the weekend.

 

[messageboardsuperhero]

I'm going to go ahead and say we need to shuffle the rotation for the last two weekends. I'm not a big fan of this, usually, but the situation requires us to win 2-3 games out of the last two series to make a regional. Our best chance to accomplish this would be to pitch Pilk and Small in games 2 and 3. We go with Billingsley, Liebelt, and McQuary for game 1 and them give them both barrels the rest of the weekend.

Here’s what I do if I’m Henderson...

Play UK straight up starting Pilk, Small, and Billingsley/TBA as usual. We have a chance to win that series as is. Then keep Pilk and Small in the Friday-Saturday spots against UF and pitch Billingsley/TBA on Thursday. We would basically be conceding the game against Singer (assuming O’Sullivan moves him up to Thursday) but it gives us the best chance in games 2 and 3.

 

[gymdawg.sixpack]

Ill take that bet

 

[gymdawg.sixpack]

I think we could be ok with 3 outta 6 plus the troy gm

 

[Shamoan]

I think if we take the series vs UK, we are in. If not, we are in a tough spot to say the least. We really needed that sweep.

 

[deadheaddawg]

We won't get swept both Series. Will 3-3 get us in post-season?

 

[tatedog]

We won't get swept both Series. Will 3-3 get us in post-season?

3-3 with a win over Troy might get us a 2 seed depending on SEC tournament. It's a long shot, but would def be in as a 3.

 

[Go Budaw]

Here’s what I do if I’m Henderson...

Play UK straight up starting Pilk, Small, and Billingsley/TBA as usual. We have a chance to win that series as is. Then keep Pilk and Small in the Friday-Saturday spots against UF and pitch Billingsley/TBA on Thursday. We would basically be conceding the game against Singer (assuming O’Sullivan moves him up to Thursday) but it gives us the best chance in games 2 and 3.

Good plan, but the one caveat is that whoever the Sunday guy is against UK is not going to be the Thursday guy against UF. Henderson ain’t starting anyone on 3 days rest. If Billingsley goes Sunday, it will have to be McQuary / Johnny Wholestaff on Thursday against UF, and vice versa.

 

[Leeshouldveflanked]

What about moving France to one of the starting spots?

 

[Go Budaw]

We won't get swept both Series. Will 3-3 get us in post-season?

Right now, MSU, LSU, Vandy, and Mizzou fighting for likely two remaining bids. UT and Bama are out, and the other 8 teams are locks. SEC has never gotten more than 10 teams into the NCAA field (and never more than 9 before expansion)....so that is where the best case scenario of two remaining bids comes from (may be only one bid if multiple teams tank down the stretch).

Of the “bubble” teams, LSU has a clear upper hand over the other 3. They are currently the only one at .500 in league play and they have a cake series against Bama coming up. Sweep, and they become a lock. Take 2 of 3, and they will just need one against Auburn to get into the lock category. Looking at the other teams, Mizzou has a crap SEC record at 9-15, but still a decent RPI and a managable home stretch against UT / USC. 4-2 gets them in for sure, and 3-3 might as well. MSU and Vandy are about even from a resume standpoint (overall record, SEC record, and RPI are all just about identical). However, they swept us at home, so that gives them a clear leg up on us if it comes down to them vs. us. Going back to your original question, we really need to finish better than Vandy. They also have a pretty easy home stretch with a series against UT followed by UK at home, so I think they will easily get to 3-3. We need to go 4-2 or better, I think.

The problem we have is that we have the 2nd lowest RPI of all the bubble teams (meaning we need wins more than anyone except Vandy), but also the most difficult remaining schedule which means the wins are going to be hardest to come by. All the other 3 teams play at least one series against one of the two crap teams (UT, Bama), whereas we get two RPI Top 20 teams including the best team in America. It’s going to be very difficult for us.

 

[bruiser.sixpack]

Slight thread highjack, but where the heck would we be without the two Grad transfers, Neff and France. I cringe to think about it.

But back to the tourney scenario, I get this wired vibe that Henderson hasn’t really gotten excited about taking this team into the a Tourney. Is it possible that he has(not sabotaged) but make some head-scratching decisions and let the chips fall where they may? He has to know he is not a candidate for the Top Job.

 

[tatedog]

Henderson ended up in a bad situation through no fault of his own. I don't think he'll shed any tears when this season ends, regardless of where and how, and neither will I. Throwing a monkey wrench into Ole Miss' goals was kind of nice, but that was just a matter of it being our turn more than anything else probably.

 

[Philly Dawg]

Cohen made as many or more head scratching decisions. OM fans complain about Bianco’s decisions. Henderson is absolutely positively making the decisions he believes give us the best chance to win.

 

[wsjmsu75]

Henderson ended up in a bad situation through no fault of his own. I don't think he'll shed any tears when this season ends, regardless of where and how, and neither will I. Throwing a monkey wrench into Ole Miss' goals was kind of nice, but that was just a matter of it being our turn more than anything else probably.

Must have been "our turn" 8 of the last 9 games we have played against them.

 

[tatedog]

Must have been "our turn" 8 of the last 9 games we have played against them.

This year's games hurt them, last year not so much. They were a nobody going nowhere last season. They actually could've done something this season--still can I guess but their national seed hopes weren't helped by those 3 losses.