Right now, I would think so (when we are hitting)... Tech hasn't played anyone except the sisters of the poor so we really don't know how good they are.

I believe we have the best pitching staff in the conference though.

We're still a work in progress. The pitching looks promising, but I want to see some more consistency at the plate before I really take this team's measure.

I would say you are a solid 3rd right now with a good argument for 2nd. Very impressive weekend.

Yes, the Ags are no worse than #2 in the big 12 right now. A&M's strong play (9-2) away from Olsen is really encouraging, especially considering that this year the Ags get the 15 conference road games.

I'm not so sure we've played enough of the season to think that A&M isn't the TOP team in the Big 12. With Meyer on the hill, I think A&M can beat anyone. The sticks will come around eventually.

Texas can be beaten, we saw that this weekend. They have won every single close game they've been in this season. That can't continue -- and it won't. Their arms will wear down, the way Augie has been using them -- especially Stewart and Cox. Nebraska's Joba Chamberlain is an exceptional pitcher. He is capable of beating any team on any day as well. Baylor looks like they are tanking like last year.

Before we start declaring the pecking order of the conference, let's play the games.

I think the Ags, tu and NU will be the teams dualing it out in the end... Baylor could jump in their.

Tech will be there like they always seem to be. But we've got to figure out the weekend starters soon. Right now I'd rank the Big 12 as

1. Texas- Clear #1
2. A&M- If the bats stick around all year

Nebraska/Tech/Baylor in some order

Mizzou/OSU in some order

Kansas/KSU/OU in some order

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Texas can be beaten, we saw that this weekend.

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One game on two fielding errors on the road at the #10 team in the country, who touts(or touted until this weekend) a .355 batting average and 11 runs per game, and is laden with veterans who were in Omaha last year.

There aren't a ton of teams in the Big 12 that resemble that profile.

I'll give A&M there due, but Texas is clearly the #1 team(and most tested to date) in the conference.

Yes the horns are looking the best so far but remember we started out the season somthing like 21-2 last year and had a pretty tough sched

our beginning schedule last year was not 'tough'...definitely no 3 game sets with arizona and stanford

Anyone who argues that Texas isn't #1 right now is incredibly biased.

Can we beat them?? Hell yes.

but as of right now...before conference play...they ARE the best team.

They swept a great stanford team and won the series ON THE ROAD against another really great arizona team.

Biased? Well, I will admit that I do not care much for Texas. They are easily the most corrupt team in college baseball and have a classless leader who is unafraid to both cheat (Tripp Couch) and display poor sportsmanship (refusing 2nd place trophy) on a national level. The fact that he recruits players who can't make the grades in class (or even go to class in LeCure's case) and does not give the proper academic oversight is even more reason to not cozy up to their program.

That said, let's objectively look at UT's performance this year. They have won 7 1-run games and lost 0 1-run games. This is a trend that simply can not hold over the course of a season. One could justify this if the team had a bullpen that was unhittable. With the loss of Street, this is clearly not the case. Cox has not looked as good as last year even. The only quality teams they have beaten are Stanford and Arizona. Stanford is having a down year, and UT barely sqeaked past them at home in all three games. All three could have gone either way. Arizona actually outscored UT in this weekend's series. They left the tying run on 3rd base last night and hit a batter to force in the winning run on Friday night. Dominant? No. Indicative of the best team in the nation? Hardly. With a thin bullpen and an overworked setup man and closer, let's see how they stand the test of time. McCulloch and Cody are already showing signs of slowing down.

It's too early to predict the pecking order of the Big 12 at this point. I think A&M has as good of a chance to win it as anyone. Frankly, I hope they do win it.

Trader_Jorge...I can`t even put into words your "homerism"...unfreaking believable...as much as I hate OU I still give them credit when they deserve it...Hook`em


[This message has been edited by ColdHardTruth (edited 3/7/2005 11:54a).]

[This message has been edited by ColdHardTruth (edited 3/7/2005 11:55a).]

Stanford has not had a down year. Stanford has just played a hell of a tough schedule. I cannot understand how people can diss Stanford after the way they have played so far. They've lost games to some really tough teams, but they have played well.

Arizona outscored Texas because they got 7 runs in one fluke inning. I call it a fluke inning because only three of their runs were earned, and they never threatened to score after that, even against a freshman pitcher. Hell, they only got 2 or 3 runners on base for the rest of the game after they exploded in the second inning against McCulloch.

Arizona is a very good team, in all aspects. They have great fielders, and they've got outstanding hitters, but they only hit something like .250 against Texas in the series. Were the Horns dominant in the series? No. But do they have to be dominant against a top 10 team with 4 hitters averaging better than .400? Is it not enough that they took 2 of 3 from them?

One could argue that Texas is not going to face a better team than Stanford or Arizona for the rest of the year, and they came out of both of those series with only 1 loss. They've got their problems, but A&M had problems too that seem to be working themselves out. I think you're completely understating what Texas has accomplished.

Trader Jorge, always throws his bias out there for the world to see. If Texas were easily the most corrupt (was there some nationwide survey that I missed), wouldn't they have found a way to keep their ace playing? Sucks to have facts get in the way.

Well they certianly LOOKED for a way. Heck, Sam took the school to court! They found a way for Tim Moss and Omar Quintanilla to play, didn't they?

Longhorn fans never seem to like the truth.

Hey, Trader Jorge, the last "great" A&M team - 1999 - you may want to look at the grades of the stars of that team. Their's a reason Steven Truitt didn't come back to A&M despite not getting drafted highly. If I am not mistaken, at least 5 other players fell into the same category that Truitt did and thus, A&M had a huge fall from grace in 2000.

Let's get back to the core of Trader's argument...playing the percentages with respect to all the 1-run games. That will even out over the course of the year. It takes skill, but also some good breaks to keep winning 1-run games.

Getting back to the core of the argument, bullpens and timely hitting win 1-run ball games and while they may "even out" the last three years we've gone to Omaha - I realize this is a dreaded word for Aggies, but a welcomed one in Austin - with the same qualities.

Once in Omaha, we have a 1st, 3rd and 2nd finish.

Not bad for a team that lives and dies with 1-run ballgames.

You tied for 3rd with Fullerton in 2003. That was after Rice beat you twice. Oh how ironic, the second time was a one-run game.

Jorge, Rice was a better team than we were in '03. Not by much, but enough to warrant their championship.

Let's get one thing straight...

Trader_Jorge is a Rice fan, not an Aggie...not that there's anything wrong with that.




Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 3:5-6 - NIV

Sorry Luke...I jumped to the wrong conclusion...my bad...Hook`em

we aren't an upper division Big 12 team until we prove we can hit the ball like we did this weekend, consistently. I am still not convinced we are a good hitting ballclub so I would say the answer to your question is "no."

"Sometimes a guy will go down, and I'll let him scream a bit to destroy the morale of his buddies," said the Marine corporal. "Then I'll use a second shot."
-Sniper in Iraq

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That said, let's objectively look at UT's performance this year.

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We're still waiting for you to.

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You tied for 3rd with Fullerton in 2003. That was after Rice beat you twice. Oh how ironic, the second time was a one-run game.

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Equally ironic that 2 of the 4 games in which Texas beat Rice last season were also 1-run games. The other two were slightly more convincing.

Your argument has really gotten sad when you start throwing out "law of averages" comments. The Texas bats are what has gotten the Horns through those close games so far. The team had several 2-out RBI base hits (at least three of them were doubles) yesterday, and Taylor Teagarden was the only player in the lineup who didn't have a base hit in the game. Are you telling me that they're all suddenly going to become crappy hitters?

Fullerton won it all last year in a 1 run game. That is what it takes to win a baseball game one run. If you get it you are the better team that day. If you get it in 56 games you are the better team in 56 games. Don't say otherwise.

BTW, Street went 5 innings from the pen against a team hitting .355 and only gave up one run.

Jordan Street that is. Gotta love that bloodline...

Actually, he only gave up one hit. He didn't give up any runs. And retired 9 straight batters at one point. He threw a good number of strikes for a freshman in his first significant playing time of the year.

Street's time was garbage time in a mop-up role with the game out of hand. Not the same as pitching when it counts. There is a reason Augie has thrown Stewart and Cox three consecutive days instead of putting him in.

Based on the very limited sampling of data that we have on Big 12 teams so far this season, it is impossible to determine who is the best team. That's why they play the games. To declare UT the best team is premature, especially given the breaks that they've seen this year. Let's see how their staff holds up -- as we know, they have a much thinner pitching staff than last season. The Big 12 will test it.

I hate it when Owl fans talk trash to sip fans on A&M boards. It leaves me feeling discombobulated.

He wasn't pitching when it counted? Memo to you: this is baseball. Everything counts, from the first pitch to the last.

Or do you not recall Texas taking an 8-1 lead into the top of the 9th in the second game of the Stanford series? J. Brent Cox was rocked for 6 runs in that half-inning, and Texas won by (gasp) 1 run.

Was Jordon Street put into the game because Augie just knew his team would mount a comeback? Probably not. But he did the job he was supposed to do, just the same. Don't discount it just because it weakens your argument about Texas having a thin pitching staff. Weaker than last year? Of course. But thin? No.

Not so fast ... I think we have the talent as it but we are not yet playing like it.

Garbage time? Hardly.

Here's UA's lineup for the game in question. I took out all of the AB/hits/sb's etc. to make it more readable. The lineup never changed. No ph's, no pr's...nada. Street was retiring the same batters that put up 8 runs in the first two innings.


Crowe, Trevor lf
Boyer, Brad 3b
Van Houten, Jeff rf
Brown, Jordan 1b
Hundley, Nick c
Rhinehart, Bill dh
Donald, Jason ss
Frey, Chris cf
Scyphers, Brett 2b
Guyette, Kevin p
Jarrett, Sean p

I didn't know that Rice had so much tu ***** envy.