THE SEC REPORT
Mississippi State lost a close game, Tennessee finally won and Florida looked vulnerable
Sep 17, 2019, 6:57 am
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Born with a comic book in one hand and a remote control in the other, Cory DLG is the talent of Conroe's very own Nerd Thug Radio and Sports. Check out the podcast replay of the FM radio show at www.nerdthugradio.com!
LAST WEEKEND...
This weekend in college football was a surprisingly tame one. The SEC saw only great days on the field with the exception of Mississippi State having to go to their Freshman back up in the second half and losing to Kansas State. Tennessee finally found someone they can beat and Florida may want to start celebrating their run in the top ten in days and not weeks.
THE THREE STARS OF LAST WEEKEND
Isaiah Spiller, running back, A&M, ran for116 yards on only 14 carries and made two housecalls against Lamar. A monster of a game.
Cale Garrett, inside linebacker, Missouri, had a pick 6 very early on in their dominant win against The Redhawks and finished the game with a shut out.
The SEC as a whole; which after 3 full weeks has 5 teams in the top 10. Alabama, Georgia and LSU in the top 5 and Florida and Auburn towards the bottom and while I don't think Florida will stay up there and one of Alabama, Georgia and LSU will eventually come out of that top 5, it is impressive right now.
GAMES TO WATCH
This weekend, there are exactly three games that need to be watched in the SEC. Florida hosting Tennessee, simply because I feel like this is where the upset could happen; Florida has been a shaky high rank and Tennessee has actually started to feel good about itself. In the afternoon slot, Auburn comes to Texas A&M in a powerhouse matchup that will be worth the watch as the true Freshman quarterback of Auburn, Nix, continues his dream season. Saturday night, Notre Dame comes to Georgia and we'll see if they brought a golden fiddle.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
The Three Players to Watch this week:
Jarrett Guarantano, quarterback, Tennessee had three touchdowns on 7 completions and 142 yards of offense. That's the kind of efficiency and killer instinct he'll need to stay in this game against Florida.
Bo Nix, quarterback, Auburn, this kid is too young to know how impressive he's playing and hopefully he isn't listening to any of the praise and staying levelheaded. He's proven he doesn't get rattled by the moment, so can he win on the road in one of the loudest stadiums in college football, Kyle Field?
The Georgia defense. They are going to be playing a potent, hard to stop, mobile quarterback-based offense. Every time there isn't a great pass open, he's going to run, so they have to cover everyone including him, it's going to be a true test.
Feel free to check out my brand new comic book Another Day at the Office or buy a shirt from Side Hustle Ts where some proceeds help people struggling with cancer or listen to Nerd Thug Radio. Thoughts, complaints, events and comments can be sent to corydlg@gmail.com.
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Left-hander Mitchell Parker threw seven shutout innings, and Luis Garcia Jr. had three singles and two RBIs and the Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros 6-0 on Sunday.
The Nationals have won three of their past four series after starting the season 2-6.
After allowing two runs over five innings last Monday in his major league debut, a 6-4 win over the L.A. Dodgers, Parker (2-0) was even more effective in his second major league start, allowing three hits, striking out eight and walking none, throwing 57 of his 73 pitches for strikes.
“He has so much poise," Nationals manager Dave Martinez said. "He’s ready. He gets the ball, ready to get back on the mound. I watched him today. He threw a ground ball. The play was made and he got right on the mound and was holding his glove up as if, ‘hey, come on, give me the ball, like I’m ready to get back on there’. It was cool to watch. He understands what he wants to do.”
Parker mixed his 85-87 mph splitter, 81-82 mph curveball and 92 mph four-seam fastball. He struck out Jose Altuve and Jeremy Peña a combined four times. Dylan Floro and Matt Barnes each added a scoreless inning for Washington.
Parker was thrilled to be able to throw the splitter for strikes, something that did not come as easy against the Dodgers.
“100 percent, yeah," Parker said. "We were able to get in there for more swings and misses. They were more competitive pitches. Going to keep working on it, seeing if we can keep it where it is at.”
Astros right-hander Hunter Brown replaced scheduled starter Cristian Javier, who was scratched from Sunday’s series finale with neck discomfort. Javier was placed on the 15-day injured list retroactive to April 14, and right-hander Spencer Arrighetti was called up from Triple-A Sugar Land.
Manager Joe Espada said they have not decided yet on an MRI for Javier.
“Neck discomfort, started a few days ago,” Espada said. “He tried to work through it but just couldn’t happen. This kind of just came out of nowhere. So, we are going to see what happens here.”
Brown allowed three runs and three hits and a walk in the first but then settled down, lasting four innings when his pitch count reached 84.
“Even in the first I felt like made some good pitches," Brown said. "Came to the outing prepared. Kind of did what I wanted to and it just didn’t fall our way there.”
García Jr.’s two-run single to center field highlighted the three-run first inning for the Nationals.
“We try to score every inning,' Garcia Jr. said through a translator. "But definitely when we score the first inning it gives you a different kind of sense of confidence throughout the game and it carries on through the games a different feeling.”
Joey Meneses had a bases-loaded two-run single to right field off Shawn Dubin in the fifth to make it 5-0. Nick Senzel hit his first home run of the season in the sixth to close out the scoring.
The Astros' tailspin continues, having lost five of their past six and nine of their past 12.
“It is not ideal in the situation that we are in but we are in this situation,” Espada said. “And we got to fight through this. We have guys in there who are capable of giving us innings and some of them are doing that. We are going back to playing the style of baseball that everyone sees the Astros play. We feel pretty good about the guys that we have in there to get us some good innings."
TRAINER’S ROOM
Astros left-hander Framber Valdez threw again Sunday and has a chance of starting one of the games in Chicago his week. “We will see how he feels,” Astros manager Joe Espada said. “Once we see how he feels, we will start talking about the possibilities if he can pitch in Chicago or not.”
Nationals catcher Keibert Ruiz said he is about “90 percent” recovered from the flu that placed him on the 10-day injured list on April 12. Nationals manager Dave Martinez said Ruiz will go on a rehab assignment this week to play a couple of games before returning to the club.
UP NEXT
Houston travels to Chicago to begin a three-game series against the Cubs on Tuesday. Espada confirmed JP France and Justin Verlander will start two of the games, but did not specify the order. Spencer Arrighetti, who was called up for Javier, is an option for the opener.
Washington has a day off before hosting the L.A. Dodgers on Tuesday night. Left-hander Patrick Corbin (0-3, 8.06 ERA) faces the Dodgers for the second consecutive start.