World Series: Someone to Root For

I know we are in the middle of football season and you probably don't care much about baseball, but the World Series begins in St. Louis tonight. If you are looking for a team to root for, I recommend pulling for the Texas Rangers. The Texas Rangers not only drafted Georgia outfielder Zach Cone in the first round of the draft this year, but they also used a 33rd round pick on injured outfielder Jonathan Taylor. Besides, the Cardinals stole the Braves playoff spot.


Go RANGERS!!!

Texas Rangers: Pure Class

The Texas Rangers drafted Georgia outfielder Jonathan Taylor in the 33rd round of the MLB draft today. I applaud Nolan Ryan and everyone at the Texas Rangers for this amazing move. I am glad there is still a place in sports for classy moves such as this.

It's Opening Day!

Let me take a quick timeout from our Georgia coverage to remind everyone that today is Opening Day in Major League Baseball. The Braves take on the Nationals today at 1:05, the first time in 20 years without Bobby Cox in the dugout. Baseball season still holds a special place in America, but if don't believe me, believe James Earl Jones:



Let's go Braves!

In other news, G-Day is just two weeks away.

Our Thoughts are with Jonathan Taylor

During yesterday's contest with Florida State, Georgia outfielders Zach Cone and Jonathan Taylor collided on a fly ball. Taylor suffered a major spinal injury and will most likely be transferred to the Shepard Center in Atlanta later this week. AJC has the full story here.

Please keep Jonathan Taylor and his family in your prayers.

***UPDATE - The Taylor family has set up a website where you can leave messages for Jonathan.

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/Johnathantaylor

It's Opening Day!

"Baseball is a pure game, an orderly game. The reason the uneducated think it's a dull, slow game is they don't realize the intricacies involved on every pitch." - Lewis Grizzard

This is a Georgia blog first, but today is one of my favorite days of the year. The Braves take on the Cubs to open the 2010 season and unfortunately I am stuck in the office. Let's hope Bobby Cox's final year brings winning championships back to Atlanta.

I'll be back later this week for my G-Day preview.

GO BRAVES!

Everyone Pray for Chance Veazey

For those of you have not heard, Georgia freshman baseball player Chance Veazey was injured in an accident last week. You can find the full story in the AJC.

Chance is in the thoughts and prayers of all of us here at Bubba N' Earl.

Congrats Southern Miss!

Congratulations to the Southern Miss Golden Eagles baseball team for defeating the Nats at Russ Chandler Stadium on the Flats. Danny Hall's teams continue to have the market cornered on shattered dreams.

Southern Miss will now face the Gators in Gainesville in the Super Regionals best-of-three series this weekend.

Here's to Southern Miss knocking off Greggy and Georgey and the rest of the other Hitler youth in Gatorland.

For a school with a rich history of upsetting SEC football teams, let's hope it translates to baseball. The Golden Eagles are a team I could pull for in Omaha.

A Great Weekend in Dawg Sports

It's hard to say the University of Georgia athletic program could have done better in one weekend than it did this past weekend.

Over the weekend, UGA teams accomplished the following:

-Gymdawgs won the national championship (5th in a row and 10th overall)

-Equestrian team won the national championship (2nd in a row)

-Diamond Dawgs won the series against Arkansas to retain the lead in SEC baseball

-No. 1 ranked Men's Golf team won the SEC Championship (1st since 2006, 27th overall)

-No. 4 ranked Men's Tennis team defeated Tennessee to claim the SEC Eastern Division title

No. 2 ranked Women's Tennis team won the SEC Championship (8th overall regular season title)

-Marta Silva Zamora won the Women's Golf Indiviual SEC Championship (8th overall for UGA)

-Georgia Track and Field managed 20 wins and 16 NCAA regional qualifying marks


I personally was able to see the Saturday baseball game against Arkansas and the men's tennis team beat Tennessee. Later, I found out the largest crowd of the season turned out for the tennis match. It doesn't get much better than that for a Saturday afternoon.

I want to give a shout out to my friends Keith and Annaka for inviting me to their friends tailgate that was hosted by Tom Stovall and had some great chefs, Gant and Chris. The food they cooked for it was unbelieveably good, came in monstrous amount, and rivaled any tailgate at a football game.

It's great to be a Georgia Bulldawg!

No News..is Good News?

We are now one week removed from G-Day and 3 months away from summer practice. The best we can hope for over those next three months is to hear very little out of Athens. Last year, most of the news was concerning player arrests or great expectations. This year, I will welcome a little silence as we prepare for the 2009 season.

Here is a glimpse of some other stories that are taking place in the Georgia athletic world right now:

- The Georgia gymnastics team won its fifth consecutive national championship. I repeat, 5 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS in a row. Can you imagine the excitement level of the Dawg nation if the football team won 1 NC, let alone 5?

- The Diamond Dawgs took 2 of 3 from Arkansas to remain atop the SEC standings. At 2-2 for the week, I expect the team to fall out of the #1 ranking in the Coaches' Poll.

- The NFL draft is this Saturday and it looks like Stafford will indeed go #1 to the Lions. The real steal of the draft will be whoever picks up Knowshon in the 20-30 range.

- Speaking of Knowshon and Stafford, both are candidates to appear on the cover of this year's version of EA Sports NCAA Football. They begin announcing the cover athletes today on ESPN College Football Live and will do a different system's version of the game each day. I expect Stafford to grace the cover of either the XBOX360 of PS3 version.

Streit's Quick Thoughts

Here's some things going on in the world:

BOOM! - John Madden has announced his retirement from broadcasting. I would suspect they will continue to make the Madden football games, but I assume this means no more John Madden ads for Vagisil:

Going big time - Matt Stafford makes his late night television debut tonight appearing as a guest on the Jimmy Fallon show. Also appearing tonight, the gorgeous Rachel Mc Adams and the guy who plays the best villain on television, Michael Emerson of "Lost". It would be nice if Stafford gave a shout out to the Dawg Nation, but I highly doubt it.

First place on the line - Georgia baseball hosts the Arkansas Razorbacks in a weekend series in Athens with the overall lead in the SEC on the line. Georgia is ranked #1 in the coaches poll, but they did fall to rival Georgia Tech on Tuesday night. This should be a great battle between the two best teams in the SEC.

Foley Field should see big crowds this weekend

A Family Thing - After being on campus for only a few months, Aaron Murray has already brought the enrollment of the University Georgia up by one. Murray's older brother, Josh, will come to Georgia in the fall and try to walk-on the football team. Josh has spent the past few years playing baseball in the minors for the Brewers. Welcome to the Dawg nation, Josh!

Welcome to the Highlight Factory - Not that I really care about the NBA, but the Hawks begin the 2009 NBA playoffs this weekend by hosting the Miami Heat. You heard that right, the Hawks are HOSTING a playoff series! With Braves off to a good start (until the last 2 nights anyways), the Thrashers playing well down the stretch, and the Falcons coming off a great season, professional sports in Atlanta are finally starting to look good again.

Now Ohio State Fans can hate him too - Former Duke point guard Greg Paulus will be given a shot to win the starting quarterback job at Michigan. Four years away from the gridiron is a long time, but I guess coming off a 3-9 season, Michigan has nothing to lose.

Those Buckeye linebackers are going to hit a little harder than Danny Green.

GO DAWGS!!!

Could this be the best sports week of 2009?

Spring is in the air (despite the temperature outside today) and that means we are in the middle of the best sports week of the year. It doesn't get much better than this:

Major League Baseball Opening Day

The Braves helped usher in the 2009 season by beating the Phillies on Sunday night. New ace Derek Lowe was masterful and homeruns by Brian McCann, Jeff Francoeur, and Jordan Schafer helped the Braves to a 4-1 victory. I look forward to some games at Turner Field soon.

The Final Four Championship Game

The end of March Madness culminated in the National Championship game last night. The upstart Spartans of Michigan State were no match for the star-laden North Carolina Tar Heels. The Heels victory cost me the pool I was in (stupid Louisville!).

The Masters

For one week each spring, the state of Georgia welcomes the world to the finest golf course on the planet. There will be plenty of drama this weekend, as we will see if Tiger Woods is truly back from injury or if Padrig Harrington or Phil Mickelson can continue their recent success.

G Day

While the regular football season is still four months away, we get a chance to head back to Athens, set up a tailgate, and watch a little spring football. An added bonus this year: If it rains, we can stay home and watch the whole thing on ESPN.

Whether you love basketball, football, baseball, or golf, the first week of April 2009 is a great one. Enjoy it!

A Bulldog Weekend

Just a quick, unneeded reminder that there is a huge weekend of SEC baseball taking place at Foley Field. I will be in Athens Saturday and Sunday watching the games along with some of the other B'NE guys and will likely have my butt planted in left field next to the gate and the bullpen:

Knowshon is looking to Dial up a Dawg domination on the Diamond.

If you happen to see an portly guy in a red UGA Sea Island visor with a Styrofoam cooler full of Bud Light, come over, say hello and slap me in the face (Yes, this is a very vague description of guy in Athens. I will have Yuengling as well, which doesn't help at all).

Oh, we haven't given an 80's Music video to you in a couple of weeks so here is After The Fire with the 1983 cover of a Falco song, Der Kommisser:

Go Dawgs!

Diamond Dawgs Complete the Sweep of Mississippi State

The Bulldogs from Starkville came to Athens this past weekend to take on the #4 ranked Diamond Dawgs and Georgia sent them back home with their tails between their legs. Georgia swept the series from Miss. State in front of the largest three game crowd ever at Foley Field.

Friday night's game saw Trvor Holder improve his record to 4-1 on the season, as the Dawgs held on to win 5-3. Matt Cerione had a homerun and Dean Weaver closed the game out for Georgia. Lyle Allen and Joey Lewis had homeruns, and Alex McCree returned to make his first start since Feb. 28, as the Dawgs shut out Mississippi State in game 2, 4-0. The final game of the series saw the Dawgs rally to score 7 runs in 8th inning and secure the sweep. Jeff Walters picked up his second win of the season in relief of starter Justin Grimm, who had a career high of 9 strikeouts.

Georgia's record now stands at 19-2 after taking all three from Mississippi State, who came into the series ranked 25th in the nation. This includes an amazing 14-0 record inside the friendly walls of Foley Field. The Dawgs take on Wright State on Tuesday before traveling to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech on Wednesday. This weekend, they will face Tennessee up in Knoxville.

Georgia Baseball moves to 12-0 and perhaps #1 ranking

The Dawgs handled Quinnipiac this weekend, winning 7-0, 19-6, and 7-2, to move their record for the 2009 season to 12-0. Friday night's game was highlighted by Trevor Holder's 7 innings of hitless ball. Saturday's game saw the bats come alive and put a hurting on the visiting team. The blowout victory including this bowb from Rich Poythress:



Sunday saw the Dawgs finish off the sweep with a workman like victory. Already ranked #2 in the Collegiate American poll coming into the weekend, the Dawgs appear to be poised to take over #1 this week as LSU lost its weekend series. The Dawgs have two more throw away games this week against LeMoyne before the real season begins this weekend against Alabama.

The 2008 Georgia team was simply amazing, with All-American Gordon Beckham leading the way to a national runner-up, but the 2009 team may be that much better. This is by far the most complete Georgia team I have seen. The pitching is fantastic and the hitting is solid throug out. The best part is, the team is filled with freshman who will be with the team for a few more years. I would be very surprised if the Dawgs are not back in Ohama come the end of this season.

GO DAWGS!!!

Diamond Dogs go for 10-0 Start

The Georgia baseball team will be looking for its first 10-0 start in school history as it takes on Quinnipiac tonight. The team tied the school best start at 9-0 with a victory over Wofford earlier this week. Trevor Holder is on the mound tonight for the Dawgs, looking to start the year 3-0. The team did receive some bad news, as #2 starter Alex McCree will miss his scheduled start on Saturday due to a case of Mono. For the love of God, no one drink after him or else the whole team will be sick.The weather is supposed to be gorgeous this weekend. I will be heading to the game on Saturday. If you have nothing better to do, get up to Athens and support the team who has recently moved up to #2 in the Collegiate Baseball rankings.

Go Dawgs!

Great Weekend for Georgia Baseball

Just as the football team traveled out west to the desert to take on Arizona State this past fall, the Diamond Dogs packed their bags and headed to Tucson to take on Arizona this weekend. Georgia was out to a fast 5-0 start after back-to-back series sweeps of Youngstown State and Presbyterian. However, being this far from Athens and facing a Wildcats team that traditionally competes for the Pac 10 championship, the prospects of another sweep were not that high.

Game 1 - Georgia 11, Arizona 5
The Dawgs got another solid outing from #1 starter Trevor Holder and the offense took care of the rest as they opened the series with a victory on Friday night. Nine different batters had a hit, including Rich Poythress (2-5, 3 RBI and 2 runs scored) and Lyle Allen (2-4, HR, 2 RBI).

Game 2 - Georgia 12, Arizona 5
Georgia jumped out to a lead early by scoring 8 runs in the first 4 innings of the game. Joey Lewis had 5 hits including a solo homerun to lead the Bulldogs offense. Saturday's game also saw the return of CF Matt Cerione from suspension. Cerione had four hits including a two singles, a double, a triple, and 4 RBIs. Alex McCree improved his record to 2-0, giving up only 3 hits in 5 innings of work.

Game 3 - Georgia 10, Arizona 5
Freshman LF Jonathan Taylor continued his solid play with 3 hits and 3 runs scored. Through 8 games, Taylor is hitting an amazing .583 with 13 runs scored and 6 stolen bases. Matt Cerione and Pich Poythress also chipped in 3 hit days for the Dawgs. Michael Palazzone picked up his first career win with three innings of scoreless relief pitching.

Just how impressive was the Bulldogs' offense this weekend? Said Arizona head coach Andy Lopez, "I haven't seen (an offense) like that in a long, long time." And this is coming from a coach whose team was preseason #1 in 2008.

With the three-game sweep of Arizona, the Bulldogs improved their record to 8-0. This is their best start since beginning 8-0 during the 2000 season and second best start ever (they won 9 in a row to start the 1911 season). The Dawgs next take on Wofford and then Quinnipiac in a series in Athens this weekend.

This weekend was also good for former Georgia shortstop Gordon Beckham. When I turned on the Dodgers-White Sox spring training game that was on MLB network yesterday, none other than Gordon Beckham was up to bat. The announcers were saying a lot of good things about Beckham, wearing the "rookie special" number 80. Beckham hit a solo homerun to left field, the first in Camelback Ranch history (the spring training home of the White Sox). Read more about the homerun here.

GO DAWGS!!!

Dawgs Start the Season Off Right

The Georgia Bulldogs baseball team opened the season Friday night before an opening day record crowd of 3,044. The crowd, the bats of Georgia, and their own errors on defense proved to be too much for the Penguins of Youngstown State as the Dawgs won easily, 15-2. The pitching was solid for Georgia, as starter Trevor Holder went 5 innings giving up 2 runs and picking up the victory. The combination Cecil Tanner, Justin Earls, and Dean Weaver held the Penguins scoreless over the last four innings.

Holder's Line: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, o BB, 6 K

Equally up to the challenge were the Diamond Dawgs bats as they pounded out 17 hits. Every starter in the Bulldog lineup had at least 1 hit. Senior catcher Bryce Massanari had 3 hits and scored 3 runs, but the real story was the Georgia freshmen. Georgia started 5 freshmen in their lineup and the newcomers lived up to their billing. LF Jonathan Taylor reached base 4 times including 2 hits, a run scored, and 2 RBIs; 3B Colby May had 2 hits including a 2 run homer in the third inning; 2B Levi Hyams had a hit and scored two runs; and CF Zach Cone had 2 hits, scored a run, and had 2 RBIs.

Cone also made this fantastic play in center

Overall, it was a great way for the Dawgs to kick off the 2009 season. The series continues with two more games against Youngstown State this weekend. Next week, the Dawgs will travel to Arizona to take on the highly ranked Wildcats.

GO DAWGS!!!

***Images courtesy of Georgiadogs.com

Baseball Season Opener Online for Free

Georgiadogs.com is going to be broadcasting today's season opener vs. Youngstown State for free today. Since the game is too early for most to make it to Athens, you can catch the game online.

Watch the game here!

GO DAWGS!!!

BulldawgJosh & Bubba's 80's Music Video Of The Week

BASEBALL SEASON HAS ARRIVED!!!

In honor of the amazing season our 2008 Diamond Dawgs had, in best hopes for 2009, and to give a shout out to our boy Gordon Beckham, here is The Outfield's "Your Love."

Bubba and I will listen to this song 748 times in a row if Earl and Streit let us.

The Outfield Your Love

Georgia Baseball 2009

Your College World Series runners-up and defending SEC Champion Georgia Bulldogs baseball team will hit the field to open the 2009 season in just 10 days. Georgiadogs.com has the full preview for the 2009 squad here. The offense will be lead by pre-season All-Americans Bryce Massanari and Rich Poythress. The real strength of this team will be the pitching, with returning starter Trevor Holder and Alex McCree expected to provide a strong 1-2 punch in the pitching rotation.

Of course this is an odd numbered year, and if you have followed Georgia baseball in the David Perno era, you know that in even numbered years we go to the CWS while in odd numbered years we suck. Replacing All-American shortstop Gordon Beckham will be one of the toughest challenges for this '09 club.

For good memories, here are two videos that will remind us how great the 2008 season was for Georgia baseball.

The first is Gordon Beckham's homerun in his final at-bat at Foley Field


The second is The Outfield's hit song "Your Love", which was the music Gordon Beckham came to bat to and provided the background for Georgia's run in the College World Series:

GO DAWGS!!!