2010-04-16 Brewers (Gallardo) at Nationals (Lannan), 6:05 PM CDT [Brewers lose, 5-3]

[trwi7]

Wow. A manager actually making a smart move. Riggleman brings in a lefty knowing that we have to pinch hit and our bench is all lefties instead of just bringing in his closer to start the inning.

[Weeks4MVP]

Is it that hard to find a competent manager?

[logan82]

Counsell pinch hitting? Why not Edmonds or Gerut?

Got to save 'em for the 11th

Do you have ESP or something. That is the 2nd time I have come across a post in this thread you responded to before it was posted.

[benji]

I think the pitching is more the problem.

[bklynbrewcrew]

Is it that hard to find a competent manager?

Its actually very easy and his name is Bobby Valentine.

[Marc Newfield of Dreams]

We having fun yet?

[pebadger]

Starting to get the feeling that unless this team gets itself to over .500 by the end of this rad trip they likely won't be seeing .500 at all any time soon. Like maybe end of May if at all. Yes, it's early, but the Brewers are looking like a three-legged stool with two broken legs.

[rluzinski]

That's what drives me crazy about baseball. You suffer through a pretty boring game just to watch your team blow it after 160 minutes.

[jhart05]

That's 3 games I directly blame Macha for loosing.

[BrewCrewForever]

Well, can't wait to come back tomorrow to watch more of this hog wash.

[logan82]

Is it that hard to find a competent manager?

Probably not but teams always insist on a "baseball guy" when they are hiring. Then there is the whole baseball dogma thing to overcome.

 

Nice to see we spent $7M on our closer and the Nats got one for $3.5M.

[jhart05]

"Counsell pinch hitting? Why not Edmonds or Gerut?"

 

 

Probably saving the power for later. Counsell is a good on-base guy, down by two, you need to get someone on base. I didn't mind that move.

[DHonks]

Bring back Ned! Yost always had one of the best records in MLB in 1-run games. Under Macha, we've seen more lackluster performances than any other seasons in my life than perhaps the Lopes/Royster years. We know Macha is not very well organized, while Ned was anal. We know Ned used a few stats in his decisions while Ken uses them more. But this guy cannot manage a team to save his life. It's god awful. Last year was the least fun year I've had as a Brewers fan (I started following in 1992) and this season is looking to go that way as well

[Mr QL]

*sigh*

 

another brewers loss another blown lead

 

seems like every game we've lost this year has been blown late

[brewmann04]

what a sorry team to watch this team except for Braun and Weeks and Casey have really struggled and the Pen has been a joke especially Hawkins ,but alot of this fall on the Manager inability to make changes in the pen set up

[SeriesFinale]

I'm not going to get totally down on the team or the pen or Macha at this juncture, but man oh man has it not been fun--at all--watching this team cough up late leads.

[razzzorsharp]

We just need to skip the first game of every series.

[cnycerveceros]

It's no fun being a Brewer fan right now.

[logan82]

We know Ned misused a few stats in his decisions while Ken misuses them more.

There, I fixed it for you.

[bucks2281]

If I didn't have Bucks playoff games to look forward to, I'd be taking these losses much harder.

[dlk9s]

I'm frustrated with these late inning losses, too, but can someone honestly explain to me how blaming Macha for the bad 8th inning is anything but results oriented thinking? As I stated earlier, what exactly did Hawkins do poorly that inning other than hitting a batter? Aside from that, he allowed four crappy grounders and a sac bunt (I did not see the infield hit and Zimmerman's GIDP, so I guess the GIDP may have been a well struck ball).

 

It's unrealistic to expect a 1-2-3 inning every time a reliever comes in, so I'm not going to get all up in arms about a HBP. Hawkins did his job well enough to get out of that inning with no runs scored, but it didn't work out that way.

 

I question some of Macha's pitching decisions lately, but I have no problem with Hawkins going in for the 8th tonight, nor do I have a problem with how he pitched.

[bobskube]

Hawkins is your setup guy. He didn't pitch bad. Counsell batting leadoff there was right move.

 

The bad move was not pinch hitting Edmunds for Hart. Hart is a bad baseball player. So he had a few hits...big deal. When has he EVER done anything in the 9th inning when it counted? Bill Hall II.

[wOOgiE22]

That is now the 4th blown save and lead lost by the Brewers in the 8th and 9th inning. You cannot keep giving up games like these when this team's margin of error is already small to begin with. You can't expect your offense to put up 8 runs a night to win a game, the pitching staff needs to get their butt in gear.

[brewmann04]

I think it was that Coffey was so solid last year in the 8th and now they signed Hawkins Macha decided to put him in the set up role. There is no way tonight should have been Hawkins Inning after throwing 39 pitches in Chicago.

[Eddiehitsthefoulpole]

I told myself this season that I would not get get carried away. I would not overreact to bad stretches of baseball. It is a long season. I am not going to call for firings. I am not going to post my normal "this is what happens when pitching roles are decided by salaries" comment. Ummm, this is getting tough to watch. Mental mistakes, physical mistakes, poor execution. I am not sure how this turns around. I believe that we have talent. I have to remember not to overreact. One legitimate complaint. We will really struggle in close games with an all left-handed bench and without a LOOGY. That roster make-up needs to change.