How can you all think that Vandy has three "ace" pitchers? This is a team with a losing SEC record, yet their pitchers handcuffed the Tigers in two of the three games & LSU barely wins two, in extra innings at that, & they get waxed in #3. All of this is at home. What do you think will happen at Oxford next weekend? The coaches are supposed to coach running the bases, assessing pitching talent, hitting, & fielding. In all of those areas, the Tigers are coming up short, for a team that should be cruising against teams like Vandy. All season long everyone says they can or will turn it around, but they are not even winning 75% of their games; probably not good enough to get a super regional.
Thank you, Nostradamus..... you should be on the psychic speculation network. Give the team some credit, and a chance... the season isn't OVER. Jeez.
Better watch out. It's not P.C. to blame Smoke on this board. By the way folks, why did we fire DiNardo? I mean, it's not his fault if guys miss blocks, drop passes, fumble balls, right? But LSU fired him (and I think it was the right thing to do). Does Smoke get a free pass just because Skip picked him? Don't get me wrong, I WANT him to get the job done, but we have one series left and we haven't had a single sweep this year. I will be happy if we just take 2 from Ole Miss, but I'm not counting on it right now. A sweep seems all but impossible right now.
Smoke is not getting a free pass. We went to the CWS last year and lost. This season is NOT over. You can hardly compare Dinardo and Smoke. Would we have fired Dinardo a year after losing a BCS Bowl?
I'm not advocating the firing of Smoke. I just think that something's not working 100% right now. This team is good. They're just not what we're used to. I know the season isn't over. And if we manage to win the series next weekend and Auburn can take care of Arkansas, we still might win the west division.
agree 100% LSU is 4-1 versus Top 25 for a 3 game series with a chance to go 5-1 next weekend. There are 6 SEC teams ranked in the TOP 25. Enough said. I will hold back judgement until the end of the year.
No question you are right. We would not have fired Dinardo one bad season after losing a BCS bowl. That's why I know that Smoke will be around for at least 2 more seasons, no matter what happens.
I'll tell you exactly what is wrong with this team. Go to Fred's any night of the week and you will see 5 or 6 of the regular starters. This is on weeknights, and even thursdays before home games. They have no focus and want to rely on their talent. This is something that does come down to coaching. I should not see Blake Gill, J.C. Holt and Jon Zeranigue et al out drinking the night before a game. Smoke is doing a great job in the dugout, but I do have to question the amount of control he has over his team.
In football we expect there to be 5 or so top 25 teams throughout the season and LSU plays most of those teams only once. Winning 5 games against top 25 teams is a major accomplishment, definitely not something one would expect to be easy. In college baseball LSU plays a top 25 team seemingly every weekend. Some fans seemingly expect them to beat these teams 3 TIMES, every weekend! A previous poster mentioned LSU's record in series against top 25 teams. It is OUTSTANDING in my opinion. I am sure someone would say "well yeah but we shoudl not lose to Vandy, they suck!". Well, then I suppose thats a baseball issue because a good picture can dominate a baseball game on any given day and there is NOTHING a hitter can do about it. Most SEC teams have at least one such pitcher on their roster. The SEC is NOT what is was in the 90's folks. The other schools were not just gonna keep getting their butts handed to them every weekend. They have improved their teams, stadiums, and overall programs. There is now competition for LSU in SEC baseball, just as there is amongst all the other SEC sports. We are perhaps at the point where we can argue that the SEC is the strongest college baseball college. I heard recently that the SEC could have as many as 6 NUMBER 1 seeds during the first round of regional play. To me, I think LSU is doing very well this season. They are playing in one of the best, if not THE BEST, conferences in the nation and are gaining steady experience at playing against top notch competition. In my opinion this will only make LSU a stronger team come post-season.
Zeringue is hitting .422, Holt .394 and Gill .328 If I see them out drinking I'll be glad to buy them a drink. Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford and Billy Martin were alcoholics when they played for the 50's and 60's Yankees but it didn't keep the Yankees from winning a bunch of World Series. A 38-14 record playing in the SEC dosen't indicate that there is anything "wrong with this team." Do you want Smoke to hang around Fred's to make sure the player are drinking nothing stronger than milk?
