When [It] Strikes Me

I’m a bit torn on whether or not I should be looking forward to “Falling Skies” on TNT. I got all jazzed up to relive one of my favorite childhood series in “V” on ABC, which series has been a damning failure in its efforts to recapture that cult series’ feel — even after bringing back the actress who played Diana and the Beastmaster himself, Marc Singer. Then again, “Battlestar Galactica” far exceeded everyone’s expectations with, perhaps, the most intelligent show not named “The Wire” to air in the last decade (sorry my fellow “LOST” comrades, BSG actually was better).

In any respect, “Falling Skies” seems to be a second effort at getting “V” right. Perhaps inspired by Stephen Hawking and his statements regarding the wisdom of attempting to contact alien species (which statements were made on the good, but not great “Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking” documentary series on Discovery Channel), Executive Producer Steven Spielberg adds his considerable heft to this project, making one think that it will at least have a higher production quality than the sometimes lacking ABC venture. The basic premise appears to be jumping from a quick invasion to the development of a resistance, several months after the alien invaders have shock-and-awed the world into relative submission.

It also marks Spielberg’s second Executive Producer jaunt into the alien-horror landscape in 2011. He’s also teamed up with JJ Abrams (of Cloverfield and Star Trek) for Super 8, an unrelated follow-up to Cloverfield. The movie is largely under wraps, but I believe it is shot, like Cloverfield or The Blair Witch Project as a “found footage” movie, involving the escape of an alien being transported through the heartland on a train that derails in rural Ohio.

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Vanderbilt went into Fayetteville and stole 2 of 3 from the Razorbacks. Photo: Wesley Hitt / Arkansas.

Another week and Vanderbilt is likely headed to another #1 ranking, as the Commodores took care of business with a 3-1 week, while Florida faltered against South Carolina, after spanking Winthrop by a total score of 32-5 in two midweek games. The Florida series loss should push Vanderbilt into the top spot, unless they are leapfrogged by Virginia, who was impressive in sweeping a 5-game week and holds a 1.5-game advantage over Vanderbilt for the best record in NCAA baseball.

The Immediate Progression: Beasts of the East

Two weekends into the SEC season, and it does appear that there has been some shakeout to separate the elite three from the rest of the conference pack. Although the Crimson Tide currently hold the conference’s best record at 5-1, they’ve only played Ole Miss and Kentucky. The real power source is atop the Eastern Division, where three top 5 ranked teams dwell.

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This short film by Ruairi Robinson may not be perfect (in particular, the final 3 minutes or so are just a bit immature relative to the potential storyline flashed in the first 8), but it is entertaining and Max Records puts in a performance on par with his successful debut in Where the Wild Things Are. Definitely worth a view.

[Edit: It looks like they made the video private on their Vimeo site.  I'll leave it embedded after the jump, but it doesn't appear to be freely available anymore.]

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Jason Esposito enjoyed another fine week at the plate, as the Commodore bats came to life and upped their team batting average to .316. Photo: Mike Rapp, VandySports.com.

It was the best of times and the worst of times for Vanderbilt this week. Riding high after being named the #1 team in the nation by the National Baseball Writers Association, Vandy started off the week going gangbusters while continuing a scoreless innings pitched streak to 32 innings, fueled by three consecutive shutouts on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. They were also on cruise control with an 8-4 lead heading to the 8th inning on Sunday, but a bullpen that entered the day with a 1.77 ERA full-on collapsed in that inning, yielding 5 earned runs on 5 hits and 2 walks. The high experienced from a truly dominant start to the week week, outscoring opponents 31-4 to that point, ended with a very demoralizing loss.

Despite the poor taste left by that failure, Tony Kemp in the post game interview seemed to keep somewhat upbeat about a series win being a series win. That was the case, despite falling to the dreaded To Be Announced bullpen day for Mississippi State. All told, Vanderbilt still enjoyed a fine week, going 3-1 and should stay in the 2nd to 3rd ranked position in all major polls, though they will likely cede their NCBWA top ranking back to Florida, who swept LSU in Baton Rouge.

The Immediate Progression – Pitching Depth

This year’s Vanderbilt squad features a depth of quality arms unlike any seen in the Coaches Tim Corbin and Derek Johnson era. While there have been many stellar staffs, including the 2004 squad that earned Johnson the National Pitching Coach of the Year award and the 2007 squad that featured first team All-Americans David Price and Casey Weathers, I’m not sure any can compete with the extraordinary embarrassment of riches the 2011 team features.

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Curt Casali led the Dores at the plate this weekend. Photo: Mike Rapp, VandySports.com

Well, we’re another week in and have another perfect streak. Vanderbilt is now riding a nine game winning streak as we prepare to head into Southeastern Conference play. Although there were some low-lights during the week, the team really bounced back and showed gumption in pulling out two tough games over the weekend. While they don’t quite have the “team of destiny” feel that the 2007 squad featured, they sure do appear to be a juggernaut. Let’s jump right in by taking a look, however, at where the rest of the SEC stands through four weeks.

The Immediate Progression – SEC Opponents

The SEC currently stands first among all conferences in Warren Nolan’s RPI replicator. While single team RPIs are not yet useful in any regard due to small sample sizes, the conferences have started to shake out and have meaningful data sets. Overall, the SEC has won 146 games and lost only 43, for a conference high .7725 winning percentage, with Vanderbilt (16-1) and LSU (15-1) leading the way. So far, the out-of-conference play has mirrored my preseason predictions, with Tennessee and Mississippi State overachieving and Kentucky disappointing. Let’s look at the current standing, with my preseason predictions in parens.

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Aaron Westlake provided the power throughout the week, upping his batting average to .429. Photo Steve Green, Vanderbilt.

In this, the third Week Behind, Week Ahead, we’re going to temporarily sneak away from celebrating another victorious week for the Dores and simply delve into that great debate which rattles VandySports.com and the Twitter-sphere each time Vandy plays: why on earth do the Dores bunt so darn much? That will lead off before we get into a true review of the weekend, on which Vanderbilt went 4-0, taking Western Kentucky on Tuesday and sweeping three from Brown over the weekend, including a double-header on Sunday.

The Immediate Progression: Bunting

While there are plenty of highlights to talk about in starting a season 11-1 — not the least of which is a pitching staff that has been downright overpowering — the one area of real concern is the continued slumber of a good number of Commodore bats. This has been exacerbated by the 90 foot by 90 foot reality of a ground ball hitting team and the BBCOR era of bats.

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