Posted by NoleCC

By Bill Kristoph

Yesterday, the Seminole baseball team fell to the Florida Gators 5-4 at Dick Howser Stadium.  That Gator team, is now 21-19 and a bubble team for the NCAA tournament if they continue that record over the next couple of weeks against SEC opponents.  The Seminoles still only have 5 losses on the season, but are they headed for a stumble? Fans on a couple of message boards are starting to grumble, and perhaps, they have a reason.

Sure, FSU was starting Bo O’Dell, who hasn’t been bad, but hasn’t been great this season either.  He pitched ok, as did the FSU bullpen (hats off to Luke Tucker cleaning up a bases loaded jam that wasn’t his). But that dreaded FSU lineup that hits all day only put up 4 runs, even though they were in the double digits in hits.  That means there were a lot of Noles standing around on the bases when the 3rd out of the inning was made.  Runners left on base kills the best of teams. Not only that, but FSU had three opportunities for big hits last night, and couldn’t capitalize on any of them.
Maybe it’s because I’m a Mets fan.  Mets fans are cynical to the Nth degree, simply because we’ve watched plenty of potential go down the tube when it counted.  We still root just as hard as anyone, and I continue to pull for my Seminoles big time, but deep down I wonder if, yet again, this isn’t all for naught. When the tournament rolls around (ACC or NCAA take your pick) the bats can’t afford back-to-back bad days.  The starting pitching can’t afford back-to-back bad performances, nor can the bullpen. If you have any of those scenarios, your 2007 is over.

The next few weekends will tell a lot about the 2007 Seminoles.  UNC comes to town this weekend, and will be FSU’s toughest opponent, but Miami, Clemson and Georgia Tech are waiting in their dens waiting to dampen a, so far, fantastic effort by FSU. Then the ACC Tournament and the NCAA tournament follow.  Let’s hope that if FSU is going to string a couple of bad games together, and they are overdue, it happens sooner, rather than later.