2011-08-11 Brewers (Gallardo) at Cardinals (Carpenter) - 7:15 PM CDT [Brewers lose, 5-2]

[greeg35]

I'm with logan. There is nothing that excuses bad decisions. Even if we win The world series, we could have done better if more logical decisions were made. Hairston is a better hitter and fielder than kotsay as someone pointed out. Someone else can bat third.

[Glennron]

Don't you think there was some sort of communication between Melvin and Roenicke when they traded for Hairston? Like, "hey, it's okay to start this guy more than once or twice a week."

[TerraceReserved]

The bottom line is: Who gives us a better chance at winning, Hairston or Kotsay? I understand playing Hairston and switching the order to have a competent hitter in the 3 hole might only increase our chances of winning by, say, 1% (completely made up number). But I want a manager who maximizes our chance at winning every single night, and RR doesn't do that consistently enough. That extra 1% per game still has the chance to be the difference between winning the division and missing out on October baseball.

[DocLuna7]

Loving the leadoff hits. Let's romp STL today, bad lineup or no.

[topper09er]

Berkman almost misplayed that one, keep pounding it to right and many hits will fall

[natronek8780]

Alright, now onto real baseball. Good start on a Texas Leaguer by Corey. When you're going good... you know the rest.

[Funketown]

FWIW, the guys on the MLB Network just said Roenicke should be considered for Manager of the Year. I'm not sure they are aware of how good the Brewers are.

 

I've lightened up on Roenicke, although I still think he's a bad manager. His decisions are often pretty silly, and it's painful to watch Hairston on the bench. He did do a good job of staying out of the crap that LaRussa was trying to bait him into though, and he does seem to understand his players.

[dlk9s]

We don't need no stinkin' Braun.

[topper09er]

I knew leaving Kotsay in the 3 hole was genius

[DocLuna7]

Kotsay!!

[bucks2281]

Very professional AB from Kotsay.

[natronek8780]

Had a feeling that might happen! Way to come through Kots. I don't know what it is, because most of these decisions seem crazy to me too, but maybe there really is something to "playing for your manager."

[logan82]

he does seem to understand his players.

He does understand his players. He fails to understand their abilities or lack thereof.

[Glennron]

Atta boy Mark.

 

And for the love of god Morgan, you don't have to bunt literally every single time you're up with men on and no outs. It's the first inning.

[markedman5]

The brewers are one loose bunch right now. They know they are playing with house money in this game. Great approaches by Kotsay Hart and Prince!

[NeedMoreFans]

I know the Brewers scored a run in the first every game during the Houston series, and again last night and tonight...did they do so on Tuesday? Even if they didn't, that's pretty impressive.

[Mr QL]

lol Kotsay after getting hated on pregame, by myself I might add

 

great call by the 3rd base umpire btw, i've really come to appreciate the work these guys do, they rarely get calls wrong

[YoGasKpose]

he does seem to understand his players.

He does understand his players. He fails to understand their abilities or lack thereof.

Look, I totally understand this. Every advanced statistical metric out there says that Mark Kotsay in the 3-spot is insane. But, as someone pointed out earlier, it's also a little bit insane to assume the manager of this team, the guy who is around all of these players every single day, can't accurately gauge who is ready to succeed. We have an unprecedented amount of information available to us as baseball fans, and it's easy to get lulled into the idea that we have access to EVERYTHING that we could possibly need to know. Unfortunately, that is just not the case.

I get that lots of folks disagree with RR. I do too on occasion. But to pretend he's clueless or out of his mind just strikes me as a little bit unfair.

 

[dlk9s]

I know the Brewers scored a run in the first every game during the Houston series, and again last night and tonight...did they do so on Tuesday? Even if they didn't, that's pretty impressive.

They didn't score until the 3rd on Tuesday. Glad they're finally stepping it up.

[Mr QL]

of course Furcal is a world beater now as a Cardinal

 

god, I hate them

[DatHoser]

Why again did we not trade for Furcal?

[topper09er]

Furcal was definitely looking for an inside pitch there, they are obviously stealing signs

[Mr QL]

hate hate HATE

[DocLuna7]

Hopefully Pujols doesn't get hot.

[pebadger]

Why did Roenicke start Gallardo?