Another series win for the Diamond Dogs, more Dogs drafted

Another exciting weekend for the baseball team, dropping the first game against Arkansas 10-4 before rebounding to win the series with wins on Saturday and Sunday-Saturday game a great job by starter Michael Palazzone and Tyler Maloof combined to shut out the Hogs, on Sunday Craig Gullickson pitched well but the offense rescued the day with 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th. The team now stands at 24-21 and 13-8 in the SEC, realizing that if they were in the west, they would be in 1st place. But, because we are in the east, we are in 4th place. Oh well, the bottom line continues to be for this team, keeping-winning record overall is what we need and now we are obvioulsy 3 games over 500. Next series comes up at Auburn, no games in mid week because of final exams. I think what we are seeing with this team is continued solid starting pitching and our closer leads the nation in saves with 15 I think it is. It also appears our middle relief guys are stepping up in most cases, and last year our pitching was so horrible we had really no shot. The team this year will only go as far as the pitching will take us. We are not a great offensive team but scrappy enough to win games if the pitching keeps us in it. Here is a current update on the SEC baseball standings with only 3 more weekend series remaining. Keep in mind, we play a good, bad and great team down the the stretch. I think 2 of 3 against AU and UK would have us sitting pretty. One win against Vandy would be just fine. Bottom line, we have 11 regular season games left, we have to win 5 or 6 of them to give ourselves a shot.

Eastern Standings
TEAM	SEC	PCT.	OVERALL	PCT.	HOME	AWAY	NEUTRAL	STREAK
Florida	17 - 4	.810	34 - 10 - 0	.773	25-4	8-4	1-2	W6
South Carolina	17 - 4	.810	35 - 8 - 0	.814	26-3	8-5	1-0	W5
Vanderbilt	17 - 4	.810	38 - 5 - 0	.884	27-2	11-3	0-0	W6
Georgia	13 - 8	.619	24 - 21 - 0	.533	13-10	8-10	3-1	W2
Tennessee	5 - 16	.238	22 - 20 - 0	.524	17-11	5-9	0-0	L5
Kentucky	4 - 17	.190	20 - 25 - 0	.444	17-7	2-14	1-4	L3

Western Standings
TEAM	SEC	PCT.	OVERALL	PCT.	HOME	AWAY	NEUTRAL	STREAK
Alabama	10 - 11	.476	28 - 19	.596	22-5	6-10	0-4	L1
Arkansas	10 - 11	.476	29 - 13	.690	18-4	10-9	1-0	L2
Auburn	9 - 12	.429	23 - 21	.523	14-12	6-9	3-0	L3
Ole Miss	9 - 12	.429	24 - 20	.545	18-7	6-11	0-2	L4
Mississippi St	8 - 13	.381	25 - 18	.581	20-10	3-8	2-0	W1
LSU	7 - 14	.333	28 - 17	.622	24-9	3-8	1-0	W4

I was thrilled to see the Falcons draft Akeem Dent in the third round. Of course if the were going to move so far in round 1 to get a WR, I would have prefered AJ being the homer I am, but Julio is VERY good. I just personally think they gave up too much-then again, IF they win big this year, the 1st they gave up for next year will not be as big a loss. Still, have to hope Julio really makes an impact of that pick will be second guessed constantly. I think Dent can easily make the Falcons roster and can hopefully get some PT early on special teams and maybe work his way into a starting role. The Falcons have some very young and talented LB's on the roster, Dent makes yet another one. Justin Houston lasted until the 3rd round because of his drug test no doubt but the Chiefs made him the first UGA player to be drafted by that organization-hard to believe but at least JH still can proudly wear his red and black. Clint Boling went to the Bengals, despite their UGLY colors and uniforms, no doubt I will follow that team-they have Geno up there and also Roland, not sure if Geathers is still there, then of course AJ and Boling. Notice they drafted Andy Dalton in the second round, very good pick and that will be a good one for AJ to work with if not Carson Palmer. Kris Durham not only got drafted but in the 4th round, going to Seattle-very excited for him. Finally, Shaun Chappas got selected by the Dallas Cowboys. All in all a good draft showing for UGA and I wish all the former players the best when/if they play this season. I know they will play but just a matter of when this situation will be resolved.

One last note, Mark Fox signed another big man, 6-11 240lb center John Cannon from North Carolina. Yes, I love having three 6-10 or bigger guys in the class, perhaps one or maybe two of the 3 will turn into great players for us-but will it be this upcoming year when we NEED it the most. All 3 sound more like projects, work in progress, than guys ready to come in and contribute but maybe I will be wrong. Course we still have a shot at Ryan Harrow the transfer from NCST, and Kevin Ware, the former UT commit, then said he was going to Central Florida, not appears to be wide open again. Not sure I want this kid to be honest but we need more guards that can play, after this upcoming year, we will have two guards with a TON of experience leaving the program. I just hope some of these less heralded recruits will pan out for Coach Fox and company.