8/26/08 Brewers (Sheets) at Cardinals (Wellemeyer): 7:15 PM CDT

[logan82]

I still say Braun has been stealing RBI opportnities from Fielder.

 

Has the HP umpire been all over tonight? I see it is Wolf and I remember the name so he must be bad. The 1st strike to Braun was further inside than the 2nd ball on Gameday.

[Ennder]

Yeah I knew the stat guys would be all over me, thats why I said his numbers were good, just not the player I was hoping for and I would guess some would agree. At least he walks alot. I am disappointed and it is near september, that is all I am saying.

I'm not trying to harp on you here I really am not but what you are really seeing is a slow start that takes forever to fix. Fielder has an OPS of .917 since June 2nd and he has been pretty steady over that timeframe. He just had a pretty mediocre April/May and hasn't been able to make up for it quite yet. I agree he hasn't had the year I expected out of him but he has hardly been bad either.

[markedman5]

Clearly Larussa left Wellmeyer in 1 pitch too long..........or exactly the right number.....depending on your point of view.......

[wibadgers23]

I'm on radio and gameday. Did he "strut"?

Put his head down and ran to first.

[trwi7]

I'm on radio and gameday. Did he "strut"?

Nope.

 

logan3825 wrote:

---

Has the HP umpire been all over tonight?

Yes. He has been consistently awful tonight.

[crewcrazy]

I'm on radio and gameday. Did he "strut"?

Quite the opposite. He kept his head up long enough to finish the follow-through of his swing, then put his head down and literally sprinted towards first base. He probably could've afforded to look at it, though, since it nearly hit the back wall of the bullpen.

[BrewCrewForever]

Braun, MVP.

[sargennm]

I'm on radio and gameday. Did he "strut"?

Quite the opposite. He kept his head up long enough to finish the follow-through of his swing, then put his head down and literally sprinted towards first base. He probably could've afforded to look at it, though, since it nearly hit the back wall of the bullpen.

Yeah, he did that quick, snap of the head toward the ground that he seems to do most of the time, like he's clearly trying to squash his natural inclination to watch it. I am from the "who cares?" camp about watching HRs. But I do respect the fact that most of the time he tries not to watch it.

[sargennm]

Three hits for Counsell. Is that enough to start worrying about the end of the world?

[trwi7]

Let's get enough hits so we can pinch hit for Ben.

 

Very close!

[crewcrazy]

Even blind squirrels find nuts three times in a game every once and awhile, right?

[rluzinski]

That 10 pitch at bat by Counsel might have led to Braun's home run. Come on Rluz, I am not a Counsell fan at all but having a 10 pitch battle early in the game like that does indeed have some value. More value than a 2 out single with nobody in base.

A 10 pitch AB will get the starter out of the game about 2 AB earlier. A guy like Wellemeyer might be a 4.0-4.25 ERA pitcher by the 6th or 7th (starting pitchers lose a lot as the game goes on). That has a touch of value but not much. I certainly am not going to be singing the praises of such an AB when it ends the inning with the bases loaded.

[Bernman23]

Very poor AB by Corey Hart that last inning. It took a ball hit the other way along the ground to move Prince to third, and he would have scored on one of the two subsequent batters surely. Instead Corey's trying to pull balls off the outside corner. Picky, I know, but it's those mental errors that are harder to accept.

[Vgmastr]

What was the point of that double switch? Why downgrade our defense at 2nd?

[mls4]

This double-switch makes absolutely no sense.

[jeffh]

I am a little surprised that Ben is not out for the 7th.. Nice job Ben

[PeaveyFury]

Did Ned just waste a bench player? Holy moly.

[trwi7]

What was the point of that double switch? Why downgrade our defense at 2nd?

 

Weeks is an upgrade over Durham.

 

Maybe this will quiet the Sheets isn't a big game pitcher for a while.

[JohnA17]

Yeah I knew the stat guys would be all over me, thats why I said his numbers were good, just not the player I was hoping for and I would guess some would agree. At least he walks alot. I am disappointed and it is near september, that is all I am saying.

I'm not trying to harp on you here I really am not but what you are really seeing is a slow start that takes forever to fix. Fielder has an OPS of .917 since June 2nd and he has been pretty steady over that timeframe. He just had a pretty mediocre April/May and hasn't been able to make up for it quite yet. I agree he hasn't had the year I expected out of him but he has hardly been bad either.

But that OPS since June is still well below the 1.000 something he did last year. We hoped we had one of those special players and this year he has been another one of those just good ones. Again probably something for a regular thread not a game thread. He has actually done well tonight, the strikeout set me off is all. I never said he was bad, but coming out of the minors I expected a better contact hitter than he has become, maybe I was mislead.

[Ennder]

Weeks is a better defensive 2B than Durham so no problem with that~

 

The way he did the switch I can only imagine he thinks Weeks will get on and be bunted over to 2nd or maybe he'll PH Sabathia or something, dunno. Doesn't make a ton of sense to me.

[rluzinski]

What was the point of that double switch? Why downgrade our defense at 2nd?

 

Durham is easily as bad as Weeks defensively. Probably worse. That's what the fans say, at least:

 

http://www.tangotiger.net/scouting/pos2007_2B.html

 

I wouldn't have wasted a bench player for that possibly very small defensive upgrade, though. Maybe Durham tweaked something?

 

But that OPS since June is still well below the 1.000 something he did last year.

 

Fielder has fallen off more than I would have liked but hoping that Fielder would be a perenial 1.000+ OPS hitter wasn't very realistic. There are few players who've ever been able to do that. Good ol' regression to the mean.

[StearnsFTW]

Three hits for Counsell. Is that enough to start worrying about the end of the world?

 

I know I just moved all my canned goods to my basement.

[Harold Hutchison]

What was the point of that double switch? Why downgrade our defense at 2nd?

 

Weeks is an upgrade over Durham.

 

Maybe this will quiet the Sheets isn't a big game pitcher for a while.

My beef is pulling Sheets when he's got a shutout going.

[rluzinski]

Maybe this will quiet the Sheets isn't a big game pitcher for a while.

 

Hold your horses... Not if the bullpen blows this!

[dlk9s]

Jim Powell says Durham has a strained right shoulder.