Dawgs and Bama, PING!

Gwinnett Baseball Classic Preview

As of this posting, the weather doesn't look like it will cooperate much Wednesday evening. Hopefully the rain blows through before first pitch. And of course there's also some heavy hearts in and around Athens this week as we all send thoughts and prayers to Jonathan. Sounds like the surgery went well and he will be moved to the Shepherd Center in Atlanta later this week. 


And it wouldn't be very hospitable of me to not have some sort of preview to this game. So here it is. Hope you make it out if you are able to. It's a great place to watch a game and there's never a bad time to bark like a Dawg!


First, the teams:

Georgia Update

Overall the 2011 season has been disappointing at best. Perno’s squad has limped to a 3-8 mark with inexplicable losses to some smaller programs. However, the weekend series against FSU showed some promise. It may have only produced one win, but it displayed some signs of life in the team after getting blanked by Furman last Wednesday 3-0. The Diamond Dawgs kept each game against the Seminoles close against one of the nation’s top ranked teams.

Chase Davidson leads all Georgia batters with a .350 average, followed closely by Levi Hyams and Zach Cone. Not entirely sure who will start on the mound, but Chase Hawkins started last week's mid week game against the Paladins and did well until getting roughed up in the 5th. We may know more after tonight's game against Mercer. As a whole, the pitching staff should feel pretty good after holding the Seminoles to 15 total runs in the weekend series.

Player	avg	gp-gs	ab	r	h	2b	3b	hr	rbi	tb	slg%	bb	hbp	so	gdp	ob%	sf	sh	sb-att	po	a	e	fld%
Chase Davidson	.350	11-11	40	9	14	6	0	1	7	23	.575	3	2	11	0	.422	0	0	1-1	0	0	0	.000
Levi Hyams	.326	11-10	43	4	14	3	0	1	6	20	.465	4	0	9	0	.383	0	0	1-2	16	28	4	.917
Zach Cone	.316	11-11	38	3	12	1	0	0	2	13	.342	3	0	7	0	.366	0	0	2-2	32	0	0	1.000
Curt Powell	.294	11-10	34	4	10	0	0	0	1	10	.294	1	2	8	0	.351	0	1	0-0	8	21	0	1.000
Jonathan Hester	.275	11-11	40	4	11	2	0	1	4	16	.400	1	0	6	3	.293	0	0	0-0	96	6	1	.990
Kyle Farmer	.263	11-11	38	7	10	1	0	1	8	14	.368	2	3	4	1	.333	2	0	0-0	13	31	5	.898
Johnathan Taylor	.182	11-10	33	4	6	0	0	0	2	6	.182	4	0	4	1	.263	1	0	1-1	18	0	0	1.000
Peter Verdin	.172	11-9	29	2	5	1	1	0	3	8	.276	1	2	6	1	.250	0	2	1-1	17	0	0	1.000
----------
Joey Delmonico	.333	9-7	21	0	7	1	0	0	1	8	.381	0	0	2	0	.318	1	0	0-0	32	2	2	.944
Austin Wheeler	.333	2-0	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	.333	0	0	2	0	.333	0	0	0-0	0	0	0	.000
Conor Welton	.250	5-0	8	2	2	0	0	0	0	2	.250	2	0	0	0	.400	0	0	0-0	4	0	0	1.000
Brandon Stephens	.214	11-4	14	2	3	1	0	0	2	4	.286	1	0	1	2	.250	1	0	0-0	39	5	1	.978
Lance Martin	.200	6-0	5	0	1	0	0	0	2	1	.200	0	1	1	0	.333	0	0	0-0	2	1	0	1.000
Colby May	.176	6-4	17	3	3	1	0	0	1	4	.235	2	1	3	0	.300	0	0	0-0	0	6	0	1.000
Kevin Ruiz	.000	2-1	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0	2	0	.000	0	0	0-0	2	1	0	1.000
Carson Schilling	.000	2-0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0	0	.000	0	0	0-0	1	1	0	1.000
Totals	.269	11-11	368	45	99	17	1	4	39	130	.353	24	11	66	8	.328	5	3	6-7	285	115	15	.964
Opponents	.291	11-11	378	68	110	15	0	5	59	140	.370	47	7	73	8	.376	4	4	22-26	288	115	11	.97

Alabama Update

Bama has a game at home today against Troy before travelling to Gwinnett. They're 7-4 heading into today's matchup after sweeping Northwestern State over the weekend. The good news is we aren't likely to see ace Tucker Hawley after he pitched a complete game shutout Sunday. My guess is we'll see Adam Morgan or Taylor Wolfe, whichever doesn't start tonight's game.


Offensively the Crimson Tide is led by junior Jared Reaves who has a .447 batting average and already has 16 RBIs on the young season. But if you can get around the top of the order the Tide as a whole are only batting marginally better than the Dawg thus far.


Coolray Field
Parking is plentiful, especially for this event. Unless this game is different, the cost to park is usually just a few bucks. Don't go cheap and park at Publix and walk down the highway, unless you're wearing a scripted A on your cap.


Tailgating is permitted, but don't expect to do anything similar to a Saturday in the Fall with your grill.


The dimensions are larger than Foley of course. It's 400 feet to dead center and 350 to right. However, it's only 335 to left here so that is a bit shorter than Foley.


All of the tickets are general admission that I've seen, but don't feel like there's a rush to get there real early. There's not a bad seat in the stadium. So just make sure you're there for first pitch.

Local Fare

When you get to Gwinnett, please spend money. Here’s some ways to do so:

Dining

If you’re not planning to chow down on food at the park (where there are plenty of options btw), there’s plenty of dining options for you. You have the standard mall locations just on the other side of I-85 at the Mall of GA (Chili’s, Longhorn’s, Chick-Fil-A, On the Border, etc..). But if you’re looking for something different than those cookie cutter places try Monterrey’s Mexican Restaurant just past Coolray Field in the Publix shopping center. Good food, family friendly and very close to the park. Extra bonus in that you don’t have to deal with mall traffic.

If you are in the mood for Italian, I highly recommend Parma. It’s just past the Mall of GA on the left. It’s small (so look for Five Guys and you’ll be close) and the food is excellent. The parmesan fries are sinful and the menu has everything from delicious entrees to pizza and sandwiches. Another bonus, good selection of beers for a small Italian restaurant.


Unfortunately, our Tilted Kilt doesn't open until St. Patty's Day.

If you’re a Bama fan, there’s a decent Burger King across from the mall. When you’re done with your value meal, head north towards Buford until you hot I-985 then take that to Gainesville. The ball park is somewhere around there.


Shopping
If the lady isn't interested in sitting in a soggy seat, leave her...at the Mall of GA that is. Plenty of stores inside and outside to keep her busy while you watch some baseball. And the mall parking lot is about 4.67 roided up Barry Bonds deep shots from the third base dugout.


Gas
I doubt it's much cheaper around these parts, but there's a Quik Trip and a RaceTrac just off the interstate. Why risk an empty tank?


Hope it's a good (dry) game. And I hope everyone, especially Dawg fans, have a great time. Remember to choose a designated driver if necessary. And if you see a guy in a Chance Veazey cap and wearing red....say Hey! You're the guy with the crappy blog!


Go Dawgs!

Monday's Meatloaf - Socializing with Winners

I remember when the only social network was the one that ended at the back of the neighborhood. And if you went back that far, it was only because your friends dared you to go touch Ol' Man Crazy's mailbox.

Socially...awkward.

Nowadays socializing has a much different meaning in many contexts. Case in point, I finally watched The Social Network the other night. If you're unfamiliar, it's the movie about how Facebook was created and the oh so many tangled webs it caused. It seems Mark Zuckerberg is quite the a-hole. Surprise! He enlists help from others then slowly cuts bait with them as they get less and less important in his life's endeavour.


Don't get me wrong, Zuckerberg is the driving force behind the website's creation. But intellectual property is a tremendously gray area. But as a show of respect, I decided to reach out to the little twerp; perhaps even invite him on my little blog here to help him gain some credibility in the online world. I figured the best and most appropriate way to do this would be to Friend him on BookFace. So I logged on, typed in his name and instantly his page link pulled up.


But I guess the BookFace owners get special privileges on their little social site there. You can only Like Zuckerprick's page as opposed to counting him among your actual cyber friends. How is he ever gonna get that thing off the ground that way? I mean, he's not even one of the official BDB BookFace page's Likers. Talk about putting the cart before the horse. If I can be friendly with Eminem or Lady Gaga...why can't I click steady with the guy who once blogged about his girlfriend's inferior genealogy and bra size?


But it may be for the best that Zuckerdouche and I don't cross paths. The whole time I was watching the movie I just kept thinking "this is the dude that introduced AJ to Chris Hawkins...what fantastic bag of fail".


I'd bet all of my friends' farm animals that Zuckersmuck ends up in the old dark house down at the end of the road in a couple of decades. Guess we'll know for sure when he updates his profile pic to include all those cats that come and go from his yard.

Today's Ingredients

• And no, that movie was no where near as good as Inception (and The King's Speech from what I hear). It was interesting, kinda cool to see how it all started and the trainwreck it has become legally (assuming it sticks closely to the actual story). But as far as a movie experience, I'll take Nolan's film every day of the week.
• Coach Perno spoke about his outfielder's injury. Continue to raise up your prayers and thoughts for Jonathan Taylor. When his status is updated I'll be sure to post. (UPDATE: Taylor had will have surgery to realign his spine this morning.)
• In the mean time, be sure and come by tomorrow for the official BDB Gwinnett Baseball Classic preview. If you still need tickets, you can still obtain them...HERE.
• Exile's SEC Power Ballot is out and he thinks a loss to Abuurn Thursday would leave us teetering. But perhaps that's just NIT picking.
• And hoopdawg also thinks 10 would be a number to dance to.
• Bubba 'n Earl are hosting a bracket challenge.
• Looking forward, Carvell looks at two future Dawgs who squared off against each other in the Class A playoffs.
• Felton's hounds ran that hardwood, and now the Thrillerdome may be an omen for Hewitt's fate...?? NNNNOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
• the Senator wonders if the new eating regimen is having a secondary beneficial impact. The Lady Sportswriter also weighs in.
• ecdawg has the 2011 helmet schedule.
• The AJC had a nice spring preview for CMRs squad. I went back later to grab it as an ingredient and can't find it. Their site needs less Zuckerberg Fail. (UPDATE: here it is.)
• In case you missed it, Noops is back on the blogroll and wants to know if you would tryout for a spot on Coach Richt's roster.
• In the wake of the BYU pre-marital sex scandal, both the school and Brandon Davies continue to get support. Click here to find out which side Timmy Tebow falls on.
• Last week Pittsburgh became the poster program for pugilism, and not in a good way. Now the former coach is defending the Panthers. 
• But Wannstedt's currently in Buffalo, so I think he's contractually obligated.

My distaste towards Zuckerberg is probably seasoned too heavily with my aversion to his little site. My wife and I have an agreement, she can have all the BookFace she wants as long as I get the Twittah. It's a far superior network and if there's any mafias hunting down livestock, it's evidently very low key. If these social networks were in high school, FB would be the popular kid at the table surrounded by hundreds of future soccer moms and college bound standouts.

If you've ever lost custody of your kids,
you're more "wild" than "winning".

Meanwhile, Twitter is chilling at the corner table spreading awesomeness like a cool breeze through a forrest of tree limbs. Catch it, breathe it in. Or simply let it pass by, a casual glance requires no commitment. Like when a former young gun goes public with his tiger blood, coked out habits and very non-BYU lifestyle...then decides to bring all that losing to Twitter, you can filter it out about as easily as his brother Emilio does. There's no reason log off or check your privacy settings' fine print.


But I wish those Harvard dropouts plus the Napster freeloader the best in their future endeavours. If it ever gets off the ground completely maybe we can all be friends. Until then I'll stick to a little saying that's popular within the boundaries of 140 characters:

BookFace is where you go to find out you don't like the people you know. Twitter is where you go to find out you like the people you don't know.

Before my mom and some others get their self all in a tizzy, it's not a hard and steadfast rule. But it's an accurate description for the most part. As for you, don't let Monday clog up your timeline Reader. Here's an extra napkin in case Sheen drips any winning on the buffet line ahead of you. Zuckerwhore will be around with the mop shortly.

Bernie

Diamond Dawg Taylor injured, awaits more tests

Jonathan Taylor injured his neck in today's 7-5 loss to FSU at Foley. In the third inning Taylor collided with Zach Cone in the outfield. He was eventually carted off the field after being stabilized, now awaits more tests at St. Marys.


This is especially hard for Perno's squad after suffering through Chance Veazey's scooter accident in 2009.

“I don’t know what to say. I really don’t,” Perno said. “It’s very unusual to have to go through this (stuff) again. I’m not a doctor and I don’t have the answers right now. I don’t know how we’ll hold it together. JT’s a pretty special kid. There are not too many like JT. It’s gonna be hard.”

On how the team reacted after the game, Perno said: “They’re devastated. It’s as bad as it gets.”

When you bend a knee tonight, send a special one up for Taylor.

SEC Tourney Bracket

Plan accordingly.

Little Fight, Bad Loss

The biggest difference between Fox's previous Georgia team and this one has been the play on the road. Saturday it seemed like we went back to our old selves and really stunk up the joint. The HoopDawgs 65-57 loss to Alabama is its worst of the season. Instead of pressing into the off season riding high, the team seemed to be content with the body of work thus far.

"The last game of the regular season, I wish we would have gone out with a bang," said Travis Leslie, who scored 15 points. "It just didn't go our way."

Said Gerald Robinson, who endured a 2-for-12 shooting day: "We were just a little offbeat. I don't know what to attribute that to, but we just weren't on the right page. ... It's definitely disappointing, especially with the scenarios we had at hand."

A victory would have kept alive the possibility of a No. 2 seed and, significantly, a first-round bye in the SEC tournament, which begins Thursday at the Georgia Dome. But the loss reduced Georgia's seeding scenarios: The Bulldogs will be the East's No. 4 seed if Tennessee loses at home to Kentucky on Sunday afternoon and the No. 5 seed if the Vols win.

As a No. 4 seed, Georgia would open against the winner of Saturday night's Auburn-LSU game; as a No. 5 seed, the Dogs would open against Arkansas.

"The next game, we have just got to do better than what we did [Saturday]," Leslie said. "We had a lot of mental mistakes, a lot of turnovers. ... They just played harder than we did."

Georgia is now either a 4 or 5 seed in the SEC tourney, which begins Thursday in Atlanta. With 4 days off, I hope to see a team emerge that is eager for the post season, and not content. There's little doubt that this team has yet to play its best basketball. At least from what I can tell. The only question is will we get to see dance with a purpose before it ends.