Fate of the season upcoming?

[TumbleweedDoom]

Just how important are the next four games?


Consider that we logically need to be in the top three in the conference to gain a hosting bid. We can pretty much wave the white flag on winning the conference, and unless someone actually thinks we're going to Austin and winning a series down there (something that hasn't been done in more than a decade), then our best shot is to overcome OSU ... and they have a 1.5 game lead on us as it is. So dropping the series this weekend would put us in a terrible situation.

Consider that, geographically-speaking, the selection committee is going to be wary of giving host bids to OSU, OU, Arkansas and TCU. If we lose at home to TCU on Tuesday and the series to OSU over the weekend, where does that place us in that particular pecking order? (that's a rhetorical question).

Consider that we've played four conference series so far this season, and have won one of them. 1-2-1 in conference series isn't the making of a team trying to host a regional -- it's really the resume of a three-seed. What if we started 1-3-1 in conference series after this weekend? Remember that last season, OU was 7-2 in conference series.

Consider that Missouri and Kansas State have a combined five wins in conference -- three of them have come from the Sooners. If the conference tournament started today, neither of those teams would make it. Now, I personally believe that K-State is better than their record right now and could finish with a solid final standing, but as the old saying goes, "you are what you are" and right now, we're a team that doesn't have a series win against the two current last place teams in the conference.

None of this is meant to be negative, so please refrain from flaming me. These are all facts meant to highlight the importance of the next four games. I think this team is just a hair from getting on a roll ... but that's what separates the special teams from the just OK-to-good teams: spanning that hair's breadth. The Sooners did it last year during the A&M series, this would be a good time to start now.

[BoomerJack]

No flame from me. I pretty much agree with everything you're saying.

Sweeping Bedlam would be a huge boost for this team with Neb. coming to Norman the following week then a trip to Austin.

[bcolston15]

Just how important are the next four games?


Consider that we logically need to be in the top three in the conference to gain a hosting bid. We can pretty much wave the white flag on winning the conference, and unless someone actually thinks we're going to Austin and winning a series down there (something that hasn't been done in more than a decade), then our best shot is to overcome OSU ... and they have a 1.5 game lead on us as it is. So dropping the series this weekend would put us in a terrible situation.

Consider that, geographically-speaking, the selection committee is going to be wary of giving host bids to OSU, OU, Arkansas and TCU. If we lose at home to TCU on Tuesday and the series to OSU over the weekend, where does that place us in that particular pecking order? (that's a rhetorical question).

Consider that we've played four conference series so far this season, and have won one of them. 1-2-1 in conference series isn't the making of a team trying to host a regional -- it's really the resume of a three-seed. What if we started 1-3-1 in conference series after this weekend? Remember that last season, OU was 7-2 in conference series.

Consider that Missouri and Kansas State have a combined five wins in conference -- three of them have come from the Sooners. If the conference tournament started today, neither of those teams would make it. Now, I personally believe that K-State is better than their record right now and could finish with a solid final standing, but as the old saying goes, "you are what you are" and right now, we're a team that doesn't have a series win against the two current last place teams in the conference.

None of this is meant to be negative, so please refrain from flaming me. These are all facts meant to highlight the importance of the next four games. I think this team is just a hair from getting on a roll ... but that's what separates the special teams from the just OK-to-good teams: spanning that hair's breadth. The Sooners did it last year during the A&M series, this would be a good time to start now.

Yes. Absolutely correct. I'd place the KU and Nebraska series' in Norman in the 'critical' category as well. They'll give us a chance to make up some serious ground. We could go 6-0 in those series, and at worst should go 5-1.

5-1 against those two brings our record to 11-6.
1-2 against UT-- 12-8.
2-1 (I HOPE) against the sheep humpers-- 14-9
2-1 against Baylor-- 16-10

That's good enough to host, I think. It'll be close. We'd need to beat TCU at least once.

We're down to 25 in the RPI, which now puts us behind Texas, Texas A&M and Arkansas. We're still ahead of TCU, who, to this point, has been a much bigger disappointment than OU.

And we're ahead of OSU--for now-- if they win the series this weekend they'll probably rise above us.

We're 6-2 against the RPI top 50, with series left to play against Texas, (22 RPI) OSU, (35 RPI) TCU and (32 RPI) Baylor. (33 RPI)

Nothing is decided yet. Hell, even if we lost three of four this week we'd still have the games left to make a move. Clearly though, it's time to lower the sails and get going.

I think the wildcard in the whole thing is a series win in Austin. I know, I know, it probably isn't going to happen, but, if it did, we'd have a feather in our cap no other team is likely to have.

[C&CDean]

Pretty solid assessment of our situation to date.

This year's team is perplexing/frustrating the hell out of me. Proven talent from last year, some pretty solid pitching overall, but no killer instinct/fire in the belly type of chemistry happening yet. If the boys can find it, we'll be OK. If not, we're kinda ****ed.

[rysooner]

Pretty solid assessment of our situation to date.

This year's team is perplexing/frustrating the hell out of me. Proven talent from last year, some pretty solid pitching overall, but no killer instinct/fire in the belly type of chemistry happening yet. If the boys can find it, we'll be OK. If not, we're kinda ****ed.

Sunny mentioned that yesterday on the radio. Said that on Sunday, for the first time that he could remember, he looked in the dugout and didn't see any fight in their eyes at all. If that's the case, and if it dosen't change, it doesn't speak well for the rest of the season.

[Sooner95]

Pretty good. I mentioned in another thread that 16-10 is where we are heading based on just winning our remaining conf series. I didn't break each one down, just an overall.

16-10 sucks, imo. that would be 34-13 overall, not including the 11 on-Conf games we have left too. Say 7-2, so 39-15. Yes, that probably hosts a regional, but based on what we had returning, I had my sites on a National seed.

[bcolston15]

Pretty good. I mentioned in another thread that 16-10 is where we are heading based on just winning our remaining conf series. I didn't break each one down, just an overall.

16-10 sucks, imo. that would be 34-13 overall, not including the 11 on-Conf games we have left too. Say 7-2, so 39-15. Yes, that probably hosts a regional, but based on what we had returning, I had my sites on a National seed.

Max White, Cody Reine, Bobby Shore, and Eric Ross have basically been non-factors. That's the difference between good and great right now.

Cody and Max haven't known what a strike is all year, Shore is back to playing peek-a-boo with the strike zone, and Ross is hurt. If I had told you those facts before the year you probably would've lowered your expectations.

[TumbleweedDoom]

Cody and Max haven't known what a strike is all year, Shore is back to playing peek-a-boo with the strike zone, and Ross is hurt.

True dat. All three outfield positions, DH and second base are in total flux right now -- that's not a recipe for greatness.

[Sooner95]

Yea, will agree.

[colinreturn]

Can someone explain what happens if we do not get to host? Sorry, I just still haven't grasped the ncaa baseball playoffs before the world series.

[TumbleweedDoom]

Can someone explain what happens if we do not get to host? Sorry, I just still haven't grasped the ncaa baseball playoffs before the world series.

Each regional is made up of four teams, seeded one through four, with (usually) the 1-seed hosting at their field. (Sometimes, there are rare occasions where a 2-seed gets to host).

If we DON'T get to host, it simply means we'll have to figure a way to win three or four games away from home -- including against the likely top-seeded host team. It's far from an impossible situation, but trying to run the gamut to the CWS without hosting is similar to making the Super Bowl without having a playoff game on your home field: it's doable, but it's definitely a rare, tough occasion.

[C&CDean]

It's far from an impossible situation, but trying to run the gamut to the CWS without hosting is similar to making the Super Bowl without having a playoff game on your home field: it's doable, but it's definitely a rare, tough occasion.

My Packers say "**** yeah!"

[northspeter]

so we may not host a super regional... we won a super last year at the nations top ranked team... if we are good enough to get to omaha, it wont matter where we play... we need to hit better and field better on the weekends... but our pitching is good enough to win it all, for sure...

[rysooner]

so we may not host a super regional... we won a super last year at the nations top ranked team... if we are good enough to get to omaha, it wont matter where we play... we need to hit better and field better on the weekends... but our pitching is good enough to win it all, for sure...

The talent is there, for sure, but the pen is still struggling to bridge that gap between the starter and Duke. Last night against TCU it looked like an open casting call for anyone who wanted to step up and show Sunny that he could be that guy, and I'm not sure he found him yet. Same with the bats....the talent is there, it just hasn't produced to it's fullest potential yet.

[bcolston15]

[/B]

The talent is there, for sure, but the pen is still struggling to bridge that gap between the starter and Duke. Last night against TCU it looked like an open casting call for anyone who wanted to step up and show Sunny that he could be that guy, and I'm not sure he found him yet. Same with the bats....the talent is there, it just hasn't produced to it's fullest potential yet.

I think that's all true. And we're still 25-8. This team hasn't come close to hitting its stride yet.

[TumbleweedDoom]

[/B]

The talent is there, for sure, but the pen is still struggling to bridge that gap between the starter and Duke. Last night against TCU it looked like an open casting call for anyone who wanted to step up and show Sunny that he could be that guy, and I'm not sure he found him yet. Same with the bats....the talent is there, it just hasn't produced to it's fullest potential yet.

Bobby Shore looked really good out of the pen last night. I'm not convinced that he or Overton (whichever doesn't end up being a weekend starter) isn't the answer out of the bullpen.

[rysooner]

Bobby Shore looked really good out of the pen last night. I'm not convinced that he or Overton (whichever doesn't end up being a weekend starter) isn't the answer out of the bullpen.

Shore did look good against TCU. The only thing that bothers me about him out of the pen is that you usually need a stop right then and there, and we all know that Bobby has been known to play hide and seek with the plate and try to be too perfect. Can't afford to do that out of the pen.

[TumbleweedDoom]

... and we all know that Bobby has been known to play hide and seek with the plate and try to be too perfect.

Ugh, very true, very true.

[bufsa]

Shore has looked pretty good for a while. I thought they are limiting his time due to injury. He has pretty much been untouched his last several outings.

[Ardmore_Sooner]

We split, could have gone 4-0, could have gone 1-3.

This team is just bad. Don't get me wrong they have all the talent in the world, but they are just flat out bad. No moxie. No motivation. Nothin'. This team is headed to an early exit in either Arkansas of Texas in June. Carry on.

[bcolston15]

We split, could have gone 4-0, could have gone 1-3.

This team is just bad. Don't get me wrong they have all the talent in the world, but they are just flat out bad. No moxie. No motivation. Nothin'. This team is headed to an early exit in either Arkansas of Texas in June. Carry on.

Dumb, dumb, dumb. If CJ's ball falls in the 9th and we go on to win, to cap a 3-1 week, are we still "bad?"

I'll go along with the no moxie part, though. We found ways to lose games this weekend. In the past SG's teams have been money in one run games, that hasn't been the case this year.

[Ardmore_Sooner]

Dumb, dumb, dumb. If CJ's ball falls in the 9th and we go on to win, to cap a 3-1 week, are we still "bad?"

I'll go along with the no moxie part, though. We found ways to lose games this weekend. In the past SG's teams have been money in one run games, that hasn't been the case this year.

7-7 in conference with a loss to Mizzou (awful), 2 to KSU, and 2 games that we literally crapped down our legs to OSU is pretty bad. Like I said we are very talented, extremely talented even. But for anyone to say this team is "good" is kidding themselves. They play like they have earned something, like last year somehow still matters. We have won 2 games against a really good teams (A&M and TCU), and 6 games against pretty good teams (3 to Tech, 2 to OSU, and California). Outside of that we have not beaten any teams with a decent RPI or that I would consider tournament teams.

[TumbleweedDoom]

Ahh, pffttt. I refuse to get all worked up over this team anymore.

[northspeter]

this team isnt bad by any means... but it does seem to be fragile mentally for some reason... which is concerning since its such a veteran team...

[ouboomer1]

I can understand the bat changes have cut down on the power, i can except the pitching woes at times because of the new arms and Duke has been helter skelter as a closer, but what is most dissapointing are the fielding errors this year. Like others have said right now some things are becoming routine and thats what will doom this team in the end.

[Ardmore_Sooner]

Ahh, pffttt. I refuse to get all worked up over this team anymore.

Oh I'm not worked up, I've accepted the fact that the whole year at this point has been a farce (16-0) and underwhelming. ;)

[bcolston15]

7-7 in conference with a loss to Mizzou (awful), 2 to KSU, and 2 games that we literally crapped down our legs to OSU is pretty bad. Like I said we are very talented, extremely talented even. But for anyone to say this team is "good" is kidding themselves. They play like they have earned something, like last year somehow still matters. We have won 2 games against a really good teams (A&M and TCU), and 6 games against pretty good teams (3 to Tech, 2 to OSU, and California). Outside of that we have not beaten any teams with a decent RPI or that I would consider tournament teams.

Exactly one year ago today we had just lost the second game of a double header in Lubbock to drop the series and lower our record to 26-10 overall and 6-7 in Big 12 play.

Sound familiar?

[Ardmore_Sooner]

Exactly one year ago today we had just lost the second game of a double header in Lubbock to drop the series and lower our record to 26-10 overall and 6-7 in Big 12 play.

Sound familiar?

Where did three of those 7 losses come from? Texas? So if we played Texas this weekend we'd be anywhere from 7-10 and 8-9.

[bcolston15]

Where did three of those 7 losses come from? Texas? So if we played Texas this weekend we'd be anywhere from 7-10 and 8-9.

But since we don't, do you have a point?

I get it, you don't think we're playing well right now, I agree. My point is that there is lots of ball left to play with a team we know can turn it on down the stretch.

[Ardmore_Sooner]

But since we don't, do you have a point?

I get it, you don't think we're playing well right now, I agree. My point is that there is lots of ball left to play with a team we know can turn it on down the stretch.

Yeah my point is that you comparing records from this time last season has absolutely nothing to do with this season.

Look I never said that this team can't turn it around. The way they are playing it doesn't seem like they can or will and are headed to an early exit in the tournament. I never said that this team isn't talented. All I meant is that this team is bad at this point in time. We can win every midweek game but when you lose against teams when they are throwing their weekend guys, I get concerned. We have won only one weekend series since March 13 (Arkansas Little Rock), how do you spin that?

[TumbleweedDoom]

We have won only one weekend series since March 13 (Arkansas Little Rock), how do you spin that?

This.

[Gaius_Longinus]

This.

That.

[NMSooner'80]

Nice quote about complacency from one Bob Stoops in this story:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=maisel_ivan&id=6381224

I hope some baseball players will pay heed to it, but maybe it's too late for this season, if my hunch is at least party on target. But that must have been a gutsy rally yesterday to force extra innings at least.

[Sooner95]

Short term? We HAVE to win the next 5 games.

[hvhurricane]

I never thought I would see a team of SG's be so bad at the fundamentals. It is just baffling for this team to make the mistakes they make on a consistent basis. To me, this is the weekend that we either turn it around or go into the tank. Either we man up and play smart baseball, or we go down this same path in which we will be lucky to get a two seed.

[Ardmore_Sooner]

This.

I somehow forgot about the Tech series. Brain fart on my part. But still...

[IndySooner]

I never thought I would see a team of SG's be so bad at the fundamentals. It is just baffling for this team to make the mistakes they make on a consistent basis. To me, this is the weekend that we either turn it around or go into the tank. Either we man up and play smart baseball, or we go down this same path in which we will be lucky to get a two seed.

I agree with this 100 percent. Either we turn it on right now or we fold. After some things I witnessed after Sunday's game (which I will not post here by the way) I am afraid we might be closer to folding.

[Ardmore_Sooner]

I agree with this 100 percent. Either we turn it on right now or we fold. After some things I witnessed after Sunday's game (which I will not post here by the way) I am afraid we might be closer to folding.

We just took another step toward folding. haha

[Gaius_Longinus]

We just took another step toward folding. haha

what was it the Neil Armstrong said when he stepped onto the moon?

[rekamrettuB]

what was it the Neil Armstrong said when he stepped onto the moon?

This schit is squishy?

It's hard to believe this same team had a 2 next to their name. Hopefully they turn it around when tourney time gets here. Some teams do that. They went so far last year maybe the regular season is just boring to them.