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Auburn / baseball / iPhone / photo / Samford / Tuesday — Comments Off
10
Apr 12

Thing I saw today

Driving in today, I passed the largest bathtub in the world:

It won’t fit our master bathroom, yet, but I can knock out a wall. I will also need to knock out a wall in the neighbor’s place, but I’m sure he won’t mind if I pitch him the idea just right.

The key is in the delivery.

Speaking of deliveries, I discovered tonight that my phone won’t take a picture fast enough to catch Trey Cochran-Gill’s baseball in flight:

It is in there somewhere, as Auburn pitches to Samford late in this evening’s game. If you find it, do let me know.

Auburn won 7-5, by the way.

Had a big media meeting on campus today, which will set up another big meeting in a few weeks. And now I have to pack. We’re taking a conference trip this week. I have to figure out how to get four days worth of clothes, including a suit, in a carryon.

The good news is there will be pudding for all of our Alabama expat friends. Stopped by Dreamland this evening to get just enough to make me the most popular boy at the conference.

Auburn / baseball / Friday / iPhone / video — Comments Off
30
Mar 12

Rainy day baseball

Auburn hosts Mississippi State for a three game series this weekend. The first pitch was delayed for an hour by rain. Between the fifth and sixth inning there was another 23 minute rain delay. Auburn starter Derek Varnadore went six innings, collecting five strikeouts while walking three and giving up three runs, one of them unearned.

In the bottom of the seventh inning Auburn trailed Miss State 3-2. With a runner on third Dan Glevenyak was punched out by the first base umpire to end the inning:

In the bottom of the eighth inning Auburn trailed Miss State 4-2. Ryan Tella is at bat here, he singled to right, scoring Jay Gonzalez and moving Creede Simpson to second base:

The heavily accented guy in the background is not me.

Also in the bottom of the eighth inning, with Auburn now trailing 4-3, the tying run was standing on third base in the form of Creede Simpson. Garrett Cooper hit a fly ball into right field.

State’s Brent Brownlee had a fine throw home to get Simpson in the double play. It was aggressive base running and a great tag by catcher Mitch Slauter.

It ended Auburn’s rally. Mississippi State scored again in the top of the ninth and would go on to win the game 5-3.

Auburn / baseball / Samford / Tuesday / video — Comments Off
27
Mar 12

“Hit hard! Left field!”

On the occasions that Auburn and Samford play each other in some sport — as they did in football last year, as they occasionally meet in the non-revenue sports and as they do in every year in baseball — my loyalties are not torn. There’s my alma mater and there’s my employer. I’d like for both of them to win.

But since everyone doesn’t get a trophy in collegiate sports, I hold out for a good finish.

Auburn was at Samford tonight. They’d trailed for most of the game, but took a 5-4 lead in the eighth inning. In the bottom of the ninth the Tigers’ Justin Bryant was on in relief. He hit a batter. Then he allowed two singles, so the bases were loaded.

Sophomore Phillip Ervin walked to the plate for Samford:

Samford wins 8-5. The Bulldogs are now 17-8, the Tigers 15-10.

More here.

Auburn / baseball / hobby / photo / weekend — Comments Off
25
Mar 12

Catching up

Another beautiful day here, how has your weekend turned out? Hope the weather is lovely, hope you got a dose of this. I hope you don’t mind if we hang on to it for, roughly, ever.

This is the day on the site where I throw a bunch of pictures on here that haven’t otherwise been featured from this week. Sometimes there is context, sometimes there is a theme. Often they are just pictures I thought were worth uploading. Enjoy!

The bird feeder has attracted a couple of sets of cardinals. And now we’ll find out how territorial they are:

Fans at a baseball game. The little one needs a bit of directional practice, but she’ll get there.

They thought it was beach night at the park and so a dozen or so college kids blamed her for talking them into wearing their floral prints. Turns out she was unjustly accused. It was beach night. No one else knew it:

The guy that made our cable and Internet problems all better. For now, at least:

I do a lot of pictures of the cat, so I thought I’d show her off as a watercolor. I was pecking away at something in the library and she was fascinated by the dramatic bird chatter going on just beyond her reach:

You want fries with that? At Publix:

A sliver of the moon. Jupiter and Venus were shining brightly over it, but the photographs didn’t do it justice. Mine never do:

Freshman Daniel Koger threw three perfect innings today against LSU. He had three unearned runs given up behind him, but he had another solid outing today:

Aubie is looking for a series sweep:

But he would not find it. For the third game in a row LSU-Auburn was in doubt until the last pitch, this one. Kody Ortman had the unenviable task of being put in as a pinch hitter. With the tying run on first Auburn took out a guy that was 2-3 on the day and batting in the .330s for a cold player with about half his average. Ortman hit it well, driving the ball crisply into centerfield:

… but the ball was caught, the game was over. LSU avoided being swept by Auburn for the first time since the Reagan administration with the final, 4-3.

Auburn / baseball / cycling / iPhone / photo / video / weekend — 1 Comment
24
Mar 12

Gorgeous day

It was the kind of day that should last forever and not change at all. Only you’d get bored of it. Sunny, breezy and 79? Again?

Maybe you’d get bored of it. Not me.

And if you don’t believe me, here:

Look at that sky, check out those clouds, ignore the guy pretending he knows how to ride a bike.

Rode 30 miles today, my first time on the bike since Tuesday. I was just beginning to convince myself that I was figuring something out about my bike or my legs or … something … earlier in the week because everything felt great. And then I got sick, and then it rained and now here we are. I’m on some precipice where three days off feels like a long time for whatever I have that passes for conditioning. I thought that today might be feel like I’d taking a slide backward.

But it felt a lot better than I thought it might. My legs were fairly strong. On the particular route I took today, one third was familiar and the rest was new. It didn’t include the most daunting hills around, but I was moving up rollers and slight hills with ease. I’d look down and realize I hadn’t even changed from my smallest gear.

Not sure what to make of that.

Baseball: Auburn beat LSU 3-2 in another game where the outcome was in doubt until the last pitch.

Here are the highlights:

That’s eighth ranked LSU. Auburn has won five in a row and is tied for the division lead in the young season. And this is a young team, picked to finished closed to last, still learning to put it all together, still stranding almost 10 runners on base per game.

The future looks bright. Maybe all of the days will be as pleasant as this one.