Baseball makes a statement with Sunday win
Hey everyone. While many of you were watching The Masters -- OK, I may have sneaked a peek -- the Auburn baseball team was in the midst of its most important win in a long time.The Tigers beat LSU 6-5 on Sunday with a squeeze play, securing the first home series win against the Bayou Bengals since 1998.
Justin Fradejas was asked to make the key bunt, which bounced toward LSU's first baseman. The throw home was a bit off and allowed Casey McElroy to slide home safely under the tag.
``Before the pitch, Coach P told me that we were going to safety squeeze and I was just thinking about getting a bunt down in a good spot so that Casey could score,” Fradejas said. “This is a huge win for us. They are the defending national champion."
Auburn now is 22-11 overall and 7-5 in Southeastern Conference play. It plays at Vanderbilt next weekend.
Photo credit: Leffie Dailey/Auburn University
Questions? Comments? Post directly to the blog below or email me at jgtate@gannett.com.
posted by Jay G. Tate at
6:32 PM
176 Comments:
Mickelson Substance!
Good show, Edward.
Tough draw for United, by the way.
So it goes.
How about Portsmouth! Bankrupt ... but FA Cup finalists nonetheless.
Yeah, tough last 2 weeks.
I always enjoy seeing the Spuds lose! But after Wednesday, I'm rooting for them, need them to attempt to take points from United and Chelski.
Chelsea mainly.
On a positive note, my USA World Cup shirt came this weekend, or at least I noticed it this weekend on my doorstop.
This comment has been removed by the author.
The post is awesome!!! The comments thus far, not so much. So goes it.
Yeah Peter, thanks for adding all the great conversation.
Two errorless games is huge! I'm not getting my hopes up that the errors are done, though. We've seen a couple of series like that this year, then right back to error city the next. Hoover, however, is in sight after 40% of the SEC games.
Soccer is gay.
Yup, mainly Chelsea, I hope they don't win the double.
Hence the new avatar!
Then look away PF, because I spot a Gunner talking a little footy with my brother.
As for United, I'd they're probably done. We just have to hold up our hands and say we weren't good enough this year. Disappointing. Arsenal has a better shot at catching Chelski now...and they can with the Blues having games at Liverpool and Tottenham, but I think United is done. They had to win all their remaining games coming into this weekend. Didn't happen.
About time to switch all of my footy focus to this summer and South Africa, hoping that no US players get hurt in the coming weeks.
Peter- Your posts suck.
Well Arsenal are on the outside looking in as well, E-Bro. Not to mention it seems like all their best/most important players aren't training at the moment.
Arsenal need to win something...it's been awhile.
At least it's not gay...like soccer.
Peter, I know you don't like soccer ... but do you really need to be that crass about it here? Sheesh.
Now gay people are crass? Harvey Milk has taught us nothing.
Swing and a miss, Pete.
Even with the injuries, the Gooners have a better run-in to the end of the season, especially after Wednesday's game against Spurs, a Spurs team that will be dog tired after slogging around on a terrible Wembley pitch for 120 minutes today.
Don't get me wrong, Chelsea is in the driving seat, but they have some tricky matches. Why I thought if we could win today and at Man City next weekend, we still had a great shot. Now...not so much.
Peter has no class period. I get tired of posting here and having to have read his stupid remarks because he can't keep his trap shut sometimes. I'll keep extending my absence longer, because it's not worth posting here with him and his stupid remarks.
That sucks, Eddie.
FYI Peter, if it makes you feel any better, I was watching gametracker the whole time on the LSU game today.
I celebrated heartily when we hit the walk-off single.
Hey guys,
It's been a great Auburn weekend. Let's be happy. Who is going to A-Day? We'll be tailgating before and after the game if anyone wants to drop by.
It will be football season before we know it!
I AM ALIVE
Okay...somebody pass the olive branch.
Is there really any reason for this discussion to devolve into a little HABOTN tiff.
jhag,
Did your recruitment weekend in Auburn persuade you to the loveliest village?
Congratulations jhag, to survive the loveliest village on the plains with all those beauties around is simple amazing for a young single guy.
If you must discuss soccer, you could at least discuss American teams.
Do the DC United have a chance to come back after a horrible start? I thought they were supposed to be good this year.
I would discuss American soccer if I knew anything about or if anyone else talked about it...or if there was a team within 8 hours of Atlanta.
Here's the current SEC Baseball standings:
EASTERN DIVISION
South Carolina 9-3
Florida 8-4
Vanderbilt 6-6
Kentucky 4-8
Tennessee 3-9
Georgia 3-9
WESTERN DIVISION
Arkansas 9-3
LSU 8-4
Ole Miss 7-5
Auburn 7-5
Alabama 5-7
Miss. State 3-9
jhag, how'd you like KA and rodeo?
My roommate's obsessive liking of man u has me thoroughly excited about their results this weekend. Maybe he'll finally take the trash out.
Atlanta's getting a second division team again next year in the new NASL. USL-1 (second division) is probably going to end up folding after this season and just having D3 and PDL.
Tied for third and only 2 out of first, not bad considering where they're coming from.
y'all are all a bunch of idiots
(that's the half of Michael's brain he loaned me talking)
soccer is not gay. the europeans that play it are gay.
they do silly dances when they score and have silly hair.
the english, spanish, german and italian premiere leagues are da bomb. better than mlb or nba.
bammers!
15 seconds of al.com is over.
Chip Chip, you just entered onto a terrorist watch list for saying that some crazy un-American sport is better than America's pastime.
it is right now. blurnsball has slipped in my eyes lately. too much of a sox/yanks enema. it can come back. epl is nfl without the pads.
and for the record, i already can't go anywhere near belarus.
Did anyone see the horrible tackle on the Villa player? No red card?! And then the takedown in the box with no penalty was a travesty.
I'll take soccer over the NBA. But football and MLB precede that.
In fact, I'd rather watch any show that has even a potential to mention college football over the NBA. Unless I've been offered tickets to a game.
This comment has been removed by the author.
NHL and College Football are all the sports I need. Winter Olympics & skiing are gravy.
I'm sorta happy watching soccer. Not to the point of being gay, just sorta happy.
Speaking of NHL, Rangers and Flyers went into OT, then settled it with a shootout to see who got the final playoff spot. The Rangers hit the Links tomorrow.
PengWINS stumbled into the playoffs with a very mediocre final month of the season. They entered playoffs last year hot as fire. I don't expect a deep run into the playoffs for them this year :-(
NoVa...in response to your query about American soccer. Not sure DC United was really suppose to be that much better this year. Certainly better than what they've shown so far, but I'm not sure their new coach is up to the task of doing what he is doing.
I definitely prefer European soccer over MLS as a product, but I like to keep up with how the game is progressing over here and see what young talent we have. I went to Colorado Rapids games while living in Denver. It was always a fun time out there.
I'd rather watch bad movies about giant piranha on SyFy (hate the name change) than NBA. I can watch soccer if I have a reason to pull for one of the teams. I'll watch the American games in the World Cup. Once they're out I'm done.
Yes, "SyFy" is what happens when someone important comes up with a stupid idea and no subordinantes have the guts to come correct.
I couldn't even figure out what SyFy was at first. And then I realized the SciFi channel had disappeared and connected the dots.
That, and Hot Tub Time Machine.
I suppose it's appropriate since they show very little science fiction anymore. It's become the Ghost Hunter channel.
I liked Hot Tub Time Machine, for what it is, it is decent.
One of the finest golf tournaments ever played concluded today, and a soccer discussion broke out.
War Eagle to Coach Paws and the boys for getting it done against LSU.
Countdown to A-Day!
Okay, group hug in 10 minutes. Who's with me?!!!
Amen, Brother Jet!
I'll skip the hug, it's past bedtime.
I'm up for a hug.
what's bedtime?
It is hug someone time. Everyone, reach out and grab someone, preferrably, someone you know.
Lefty got it together down the stretch. He's my fav. In addition to being a fellow left-handed golfer, I spent a few hours with him on the practice green at the Scottsdale TPC just as he was getting started as a pro. He showed me the lob wedge back over the head.
Lovin' the baseball substance!
It's been a long time since we were able to beat LSU.
We may not be all the way 'there' yet with this baseball team... but we're getting there. This was a great weekend! Pitchers pitched well, hitters had timely hits, defense played pretty solid with the exception of the 9th inning on Saturday. That was a ballsy squeeze call today that resulted in the win. However, it was the right call.
I keep wanting to see an injury update on PPL, but I keep muturing under my breath: he's day by day, he's day by day, he's day by day....
I care less about soccer than I do about basketball. But, that's me. I suppose it's kind of like why Baskin & Robbin's has 31+ flavors.
What I like even less than soccer or basketball would be conference calls beginning at 12:45am which is what's in store for me in a few hours.
I do like golf and thoroughly enjoyed watching it today.
As for the Masters... this was one of the best/exciting Tournaments I've seen in years. With everything that has gone on in Mickelson's life with his mother in law and wife both diagnosed with breast cancer... I can't imagine how hard the past year has been on him and his family. This was an incredible win by Lefty. I'm glad he won. It was a special moment with him embracing his wife at the 18th after the win...
Miller,
Bitter said the squeeze was extremely poorly executed, but LSU 1B screwed up the throw. I guess it was the right call because it ended up working, but I'd feel a lot better about a sac fly there.
I normally take anything that PF says with a grain of salt. I always assume that he is poking just to get a response.
Not sure that's the case with the soccer comments.
I don't personally care about soccer... but I will not disparage it to those who do. I'm sure there are some who don't care about baseball or golf, and I would expect the same from them.
Well said Miller.
mickleson did put the ball in the hole with the fewest strokes.
who can come up with a more awkward sentence to describe his massa's win today?
You know what we need in this country more than anything else? More Droid commercials. I think I had to wait over five minutes to see one once today. That is just unacceptable.
Good things happen when you put the ball in play.
PF,
Matty Ott is one of the best stoppers in the college game... it's hard enough to get contact off of him...
If Fradejas had of k'd then a double play would have ended the chance. If you're looking to end it while you have the chance... if you're going to play the squeeze, there's not a better player to have bunting than Fradejas.
It may not have been perfectly executed, but a squeeze is tough to defend effectively.
I love the squeeze play. Bobby Cox used to use it alot early in the braves run in the 90s, he has gotten away with it.
The idea is to make the 1b field it, they don't usually throw well.
Again, good things happen when you put the ball in play.
BTW, I hate it when the Braves are in SF, they lose in weird and frustrating ways.
Good points, Miller.
Hoops, or am I? (See 6:55, 6:57, and most importantly, 7:18). I do hate Britania, though. Ferris Bueler's only flaw was his Union Jack.
This from the guy who once waxed lyrical about Boxing Day, a Union Jack kind of holiday if there ever was one. :)
stupup is right... you want to force the 1B to field it, they don't usually have to make many throws, and they don't usually have the most accurate arms... plus they are throwing from and angle that would force the catcher to make the tag across his body, so it gives the runner an extra split second to get in behind him...
A squeeze is one of those plays that you don't have to execute perfectly... you just have to execute well enough.
I'm a quasi-supporter of the Imperially Oppressed.
"How do you know he's a king?"
First 'home' series win since '98. I was at that one, I believe AU lost 9-7 on Friday and beat their eyeballs out Saturday and Sunday. I also think AU had like 6 or 8 home runs in one game. LSU had a kid named Eddie Furnace and he was really good.
Sweet hottie dreams! See you all in the morning.
Golf was awesome all weekend. The outcome was too good to hope for.
I'm no huge follower, but I find european soccer pretty interesting and will definitely follow the upcoming tourney.
Here's to hopes of Hoover.
My friend at LSU was in town this weekend, we went to yesterday's game.
He said that this was the toughest team they've played all season and that we have a legitimate chance to win a Regional, maybe more.
A few comments about Hoover on here today and tonight. What am I missing?
Just got fingers crossed on the baseball post season norm.
Talking soccer is cool by me. Making fun of it is likewise.
No problem, thanks for clearing it up. I'm working on very little sleep and am about to start a con-call in 30 minutes expected to last up to 6 hours. I was somehow thinking it was related to the high school. Sleep deprivation brain fart.
Wells,
I guess he missed the game when UGA scored 15 runs on them in Baton Rouge.
Norm,
Midnight to 6am conference calls? What the heck? What can possibly call for that kind of nonsense? Are you training a guy in Eastern Europe how to log into the system, while you both learn a foreign language? Are you expected to contribute the whole time?
PF - all participants are on Eastern time. We're doing some techy/geeky stuff which requires servers to be down. Unfriendly hours like this are what works best for hospitals since no "users" will need the systems and the downtime is always planned. I don't really have to participate at all thankfully but since I own the project I have to man the phones in case there are issues.
I see they only gave up 12, but ended up beating up Jawja the next day.
www.d1baseball.com
- Actually a great website. They've got links to all the games going on during the day as well as box scores, lineups, stats, etc.
They're a strong team that lost only a few people from last year to this.
My mistake. I had a different score floating in my head.
Aint no thang, what matters is that we're both cheering for the orange and blue. Not the bayeaux deuxches.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsWlYG06PAo
thats a clip of the end of the game. I was there, it was quite awesome. After C-Mac's double you could hear a pin drop everytime a pitch left the pitcher's hand. HUGE win for our tigers, Hubbard was amazing, the inning where he came in with runners on first and second and sat down the first three he faced was awesome.
That was a lot better than I executed from the write-up. Great slide.
Rats, 10 minutes too late to catch 2.0.
Where is she now?
London. I noticed a London hit 10 minutes before I got here and am going to assume that was her. So she's already downloaded the comments. I'll give her a call at her hotel now that I know she's up.
Did 2.0 read the email I sent her yesterday, containing important post-London travel plans to the Benelux countries?
No.
"You should have posted it on HABOTN", was her reply. "'Connecting families' should be HABOTN's new slogan."
2.0, check your email for new message
that should have read MESSAGES, as in more than one.
Sweet AU dreams, Hotties!
I dream of no longer being on this con-call.
Good morning, Hotties!
Wells,
Thanks for the clip of the game. Is it customary to wear our white uniforms the last game of a series? I don't know why I thought we always wore the blue at home.
Norm,
How's the conference call going? You still on? I think staying up all night would be easier for me than getting up at 5 am. :(
Yep, I'm still on the call. We should've been finished over an hour ago but the hospital is having internal network issues screwing with the stability of what we're trying to do. This means that whenever this call finally ends, we're still not done. We get to have another late night call on the calendar after they've fixed their issues.
Poor Norm. Do you get to sleep after this call or do you have a regular workday? I'm hoping for the sleep option.
Well, off to elliptical, where I swear I am gaining weight rather than losing. And don't anyone tell me I'm gaining muscle, and muscle weighs more than fat! Mr. Cincy already tried that - it didn't go over well.
And where is Luv??? I didn't see her all week, or have I just missed her posts?
I'm burning daylight.
I would have no trouble falling asleep during an overnight conference call. Hmmm.. maybe I should get some.
Cincy- I've also been concerned about Luv. I hope her neck isn't causing so much trouble that she can't HABOTN.
Here's Baseball Beat Writer Tate's write-up about the game between Les Tigres Bien et Les Tigres Mal in Today's MA
THT, you sleep less than me, thats an accomplishment.
Great win by Phil yesterday. Now just imagine how good he could be if he lined up on the correct side of the ball. Crazy lefties.
I'm watching Saved by the Bell, I think its the first season, they are little.
Note to self: Don't watch the first season of Saved by the Bell, its terrible.
In the interest of full disclosure, in case 2.0 comes along, I'm heading to Lowe's to get as many bags of mulch as will fit in the car. Would I rather have the shingles than do yard work.
pause for thought
No. But I did have to think about it.
Wakerider - PF is the king of sleep deprivation.
Good morning, Hotties!
So happy for the Tiger baseball team and for Lefty! I did't see much of the Master's, but what I saw was excellent.
It was a certainly a gorgeous weekend in Montgomery.
Jay G.,
How long before Auburn follows the ways of Tennessee and starts charging the media to watch practice?
UT Charges $50 for media to watch clinic/scrimmage
i got to watch a little bit of the sunday game. fantastic. WDE!
Saved By the Bell...that brings back the glory days of after school specials...
aaahhhh, Kelly Kapowski....
Yes, hometown "hero" Dennis Haskins (Mr. Belding) was a key note speaker at my UTC graduation.
Yes the show was covered in cheese. However, who didn't love them some Kelly Kapowski?
I know I did.
Elizabeth Berkley.
Nice name drop, She was always kind of annoying in the show.
I tell you what, go back and check out the summer specials when they're all working at the country club and you get a young Leah Remini, definitely worth watching.
Sensi: I don't think Auburn will go that route. Jay Jacobs, despite demonstrating what I consider an ambivalent attitude toward the media, probably wouldn't go to this length to squeeze people.
Then again, I never thought I'd see a day when Auburn's scrimmages would be closed and Alabama's open.
I figure 14-16 will get Auburn to Hoover.
Auburn already has seven SEC wins. Halfway there.
Cincy,
We do wear the all white on Sunday games, generally we go with another all white uniform that is more old school with the socks pulled knee high and a different white jersey on friday nights and then a blue jersey on saturday.
Lot's of good articles popping up today in the papers. itks good to see Auburn doing well, fans getting excited, and the beat paying attention.
Stupid typos.
Well, it's just as well I missed the vote for this year's "All Auburn All Orange" shirt, since I will never be more than a tiny bit orange.
Good weekend of sports for me. Lefty won the Masters, Auburn took the baseball series against the fake Tigers. ONly bad thing is the Braves lost to the Giants.
Looking forward to the A day game.
The Gadsden Times did not get the memo and wrote an article about an Auburn coach now residing in Lubback Texas. Pretty positive article at that, something they couldn't do when he lived in Auburn.
I got a new game..
Where is Dontae Aycock?
I think with PPL on sticks, our offensive production will be doomed.
In Gustav's pocket? Or is he just happy with the offense this spring?
Fannin will fumble too much. We need to have Dyer and Aycock in order to have a chance at competing in the SECW.
Dear Leader - he's headed for a redshirt
that's an inside joke between me and, apparently, no one else. But I'm almost certain it has as its origin some posts from last year.
Aycock already redshirted?
Yeah, THT I'm not on the inside of that joke.
By the way, my Fannin and PPL statements were jokes.
No, Seanzie. I don't think you were joking. PPL is the most awesome player ever, and we should be concerned.
Almost time for today's UPDATE.
Almost.
You're such a tease.
Well, this is certainly an interesting problem. I have a song stuck in my head, but I can't tell which song. It is either Vanilla Ice doing Ice Ice Baby, or David Bowie doing Pressure.
Yea, I am really hoping it turns out to be Pressure.
I think that unless Fannin gets his interception problem under control, he can kiss the starting safety position goodbye.
Don't get too excited about PPL. So far, he appears to be the best thing since Tristan Davis.
PPL won't get out of the doghouse unless he stops stealing the coaches' honey buns. They totally know it's him.
Why wasn't Tristan Davis available for interviews?
The coaches didn't want to risk an injury.
Connan O'Brien to TBS...seriously.
TBS already has George Lopez, who I consider to be very good.
George Lopez... HA!
I want a honey bun something fierce right now.
I have finally developed a QB depth chart that I am fairly confident in.
1) Cam Newton
2) Not Caudle
3) Not Caudle
You get that straight from Malzahn?
The ones with the white icing. Yeah.
Almost, PF. I retrieved in from dark nether regions.
ehyou... your avatar looks like Jacob from Lost as a soccer player.
I usually like the plain glazed Mrs. Freshley's from a vending machine, but the ones with the white icing that you get in the big boxes at Sam's or Costco are pretty awesome. The key is to eat them while the icing and bun are still really soft. Once the icing gets crusty or the bun gets hard, they are trayf.
The delay of voting a QB off the island is simple. How do you vote off the only guy that has taken a snap at Auburn first.
My guess is that Malzahn is down to choosing between Trotter and Moseley for the #2. The longer things drag out, the more I am thinking it is Trotter. Why? Because I said so.
THT2.0 - Eurail pass has shipped. Check your email.
JGT - thanks for Keeping Families Together via HABOTN. It's kinda funny that 2.0 is much more likely to read HABOTN comments than her email.
Never seen Lost. It's Boris from Germany as a tennis player.
I think the race for QB4 is going to be exciting. That's the guy that flips the cards on the left side of the post during the second half, right?
I have tried to watch Lost, but I never really could understand it. Perhaps that is why they call it Lost. Miss one episode and your Lost.
PF - I ate my share of those plastic icing coated vending machine honey buns back during school days. I never did go for the B&G Fried pies with leading ingredients of "beef tallow, beef lard..."
I wonder if they've "healthied up" the list of ingredients in the past 30 years.
I can't recall ever getting excited about a spring game, but this one is going to be very interesting. I like the positives we are hearing about the offense, particularly Benton and Blake stepping up.
The lack of praise for the defense isn't bothering me that much. Simply having more depth will make the defense better than last season.
PPL for Heisman?
PPL broke his toe going for the water cooler and is day to day.
Auburn dropped LSU from 3rd to 8th and moved into the rankings themselves at 23rd
http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/top-25/2010/269804.html
The Gadsden Times says:
= Tuberville hates the wind says it blows hard all the time and with no hills or trees there is nothing to slow it down
= Players say he is changing the defense quiet a bit
= Not so much on offense although he is adding a little more run
= The AD says they are impressed with the way practice is being run more like a CEO but with hands on.
= He has really hit the road saling TT football and has had totally open practices.
I will not break the rules again any time soon. Please forgive.
"selling" typo or just plain dummy.
Thanks digger. I like Tommy and hope he's successful.
New thread UPZ.
Way off nay sports talk but i got a question, maybe one of you knows. I got a speeding ticket and that cop has been fired. Can i get out of that ticket by pleading not guilty in court, or will they stick me anyway??
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home