If there is a way to screw over LSU, the baseball tournament committee will find it. Yes, I am still bitter about LSU being the highest rated team in the RPI in history to miss the field of 64 last season. The committee has not been kind to LSU recently, and there's no reason to think they will start now.
Which is why this weekend's series against Ole Miss was so important. We knew exactly how the committee was going to justify this year's hose job -- LSU's road record. LSU was 6-5 on the road this season headed to Oxford, and LSU couldn't afford to drop to 500. That would give the committee all the cover they need to deny a top 8 RPI team who might win the regular season title of the toughest conference in America. Sometimes you can feel the screw job coming.
So as much fun as it was to beat Ole Miss, and it was fun, this was a critical series win because it virtually assured LSU of a national seed, so long as the team can split its last two series, and not get swept. 3-3 in the next six gets LSU to 19-11 in SEC play and probably the SEC West title at the very least.
This team is right on the cusp of being set up for a good postseason run. The regular season is nice, but let's face it, LSU teams are judged by how they perform in May and June, not April and March.
What will be judged in the regular season is Raph Rhymes. Rhymes went 5 for 11 this weekend and saw his average go down, which is just mind-boggling. He is hitting .500 right now and I honestly can't imagine a player hitting .500 over an entire season. I can't even believe we're discussing the possibility of a guy hitting .500 in May.
Is he going to do it? My head says no. Look above, Rhymes went 5 for 11 and lost ground on hitting 500. Hitting .400 is incredibly hard, hitting .500 is downright impossible. It's like asking if Rhymes is going to learn to fly. It just doesn't seem possible.
But who cares about logic? Logic says he shouldn't be hitting .500 NOW, so how unlikely is it that he'll hit .500 for another month? IT's certainly more likely he will hit .500 over the next several games than it was for him to hit .500 in his first 170 at bats.
There's not much at stake these last two weeks. Just a national seed, a conference title, and a seemingly impossible statistical accomplishment. I mean, other than that, not a whole lot at stake. God, I love May.