Game Thread (8/07/2022): Reds (Ashcraft) at Brewers (Burnes) - 1:10 PM CDT

[willie key]

I would put this season down as the most disappointing of my brewers fandom.    To not make the playoffs with these pitchers and this division is an all time failure for Milwaukee 

 

I can’t think of another team that I had pre season expectations for that failed this spectacularly 

 

 

[Hopper]

I'm not sure we had that high of pre-season expectations.  (we sure shouldn't have if that was the case)

What did we do to improve the offense really?  Added Renfroe, what else?  Other than him, the entire offense remained the same, which couldn't get the job done last year either.

I think as a realist, I didn't have high pre-season expectations, I just hoped we'd get better offensively, either by making a pre-season move, or at the very least, a deadline move.  We didn't do either, so here we are.

[magnoliacrew]

I'm sure I don't need to be the person who brings to everyone's attention that before we traded Hader we were 3 games up in the division and less than a week later we're to 2 down. How the mighty have fallen.

[mtrebs]

For all the good things that Stearns has done for this franchise, not making enough/any supplemental moves to push the team to the next level after the 2018 season will go down as one of the biggest blunders and missed opportunities in franchise history. 

[willie key]

1 minute ago, mtrebs said:

For all the good things that Stearns has done for this franchise, not making enough/any supplemental moves to push the team to the next level after the 2018 season will go down as one of the biggest blunders and missed opportunities in franchise history. 

To be fair.    I thought last years team was good enough.    He made some good moves and we had an awesome pitching staff from top to bottom.   But of course we fell apart when it mattered

 

Maybe they aren’t that strong when the going gets tough

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 minute ago, willie key said:

To be fair.    I thought last years team was good enough.    He made some good moves and we had an awesome pitching staff from top to bottom.   But of course we fell apart when it mattered

 

Maybe they aren’t that strong when the going gets tough

He actually made some terrific moves last season. And the Yelich trade, despite his power outage, was a terrific trade.

At the deadline, when the wheels are spinning faster & there's a lot of teams trying to do a lot of things at once, not nearly as impactful this year or last as far as immediate help is concerned. Coincidence? I don't know.

[Jim French Stepstool]

17 minutes ago, Hopper said:

I'm not sure we had that high of pre-season expectations.  (we sure shouldn't have if that was the case)

What did we do to improve the offense really?  Added Renfroe, what else?  Other than him, the entire offense remained the same, which couldn't get the job done last year either.

I think as a realist, I didn't have high pre-season expectations, I just hoped we'd get better offensively, either by making a pre-season move, or at the very least, a deadline move.  We didn't do either, so here we are.

I think he put stock in Tellez & Adames being here all season & Yelich rebounding power-wise. Also Urias continuing to get better, which I won't fault him for since I expected the same thing.

While a supporting-cast bat, Narvaez has been a lot quieter this year too.

[treego14]

35 minutes ago, willie key said:

I would put this season down as the most disappointing of my brewers fandom.    To not make the playoffs with these pitchers and this division is an all time failure for Milwaukee 

 

I can’t think of another team that I had pre season expectations for that failed this spectacularly 

 

 

Is this season over?  There is still 54 games to go.  1/3rd of the season still to go!

The Brewers will get going beginning Tuesday!

Book it! 

[mtrebs]

19 minutes ago, willie key said:

To be fair.    I thought last years team was good enough.    He made some good moves and we had an awesome pitching staff from top to bottom.   But of course we fell apart when it mattered

 

Maybe they aren’t that strong when the going gets tough

The Adames and Tellez acquisitions were good, but again there could have been some more offensive acquisitions done at the trade deadline. I don’t recall where our offense ended up, but I remember it being near the bottom of MLB for most of the season.

The lackluster performance in the last month of the season and postseason highlighted our offensive shortcomings. 

[Pugger]

3 hours ago, Jopal78 said:

The old adage is if your bullpen sucks you suck, the brewer bullpen sucks.

Unfortunately with these lousy hitters our pitchers have to be almost perfect and that is just asking too much.

[patrickgpe]

I think it’s obvious that tomorrow’s off day couldn’t come at a better time. I hope the entire team is given a day away from AFF and baseball activities. 

[rondoman]

Mark A has a European soccer team to buy. It's not rocket science tbh. 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/theathletic.com/3456391/2022/07/29/norwich-city-mark-attanasio-potential-investment/%3famp=1

Confidentiality agreements on all sides mean there is nothing on the record anywhere from either party detailing who is involved. Nor is there likely to be until the matter is completed, and it should be noted that is still some weeks away.

Norwich have been keen to suggest they have interviewed “a number of potential purchasers”.

However, the only party known to have visited Norwich is Attanasio, along with an entourage of seven that included his longstanding business associate, Richard Ressler, Attanasio’s two sons, Brewers officials and those tasked with brokering a deal.

That took place during Norwich’s final Premier League game of last season — the 5-0 home loss to Tottenham.

The only reason it became public knowledge was due to a canny photographer and a leaked guest list during their stay in Norfolk.

Attanasio, a 64-year-old New Yorker, founded Crescent Capital Group in 1991.

An asset management firm that specialises in higher-risk investments, it has its headquarters in Los Angeles, other offices in Boston, London and New York, and has £30billion ($36.3bn) of assets under management. Attanasio has owned the Brewers, based in Wisconsin in the United States’ Midwest, since 2005.

The Athletic understands Attanasio’s party is the only one currently in dialogue with Norwich regarding Foulger’s shares."

[brewmann04]

This team will not win the division book it 

[willie key]

Norwich sucks.   They aren’t even in the premier league

[Devinep]

I haven’t gone to Am Fam in a couple years and went with my family today. Golf in person just reinforced how incredibly boring the current MLB game is becoming.  It’s killing the Brewers, not helping, to be leaning into their love of 3TO too.  All game, it was a foul ball, Take like an hour between pitches, another foul ball, and strikeout swinging for the fences with 2 strikes. That did yield them 2 home runs, but of course they were solo because nobody can get on base.  Even Wong and Urias were swinging so hard and striking out, even later in the game when they needed guys to get on base.

plus, this lack of balls in play and 30 seconds between pitches made my young daughter not want to watch much of her first ever Brewer game 

 

[rondoman]

1 hour ago, Devinep said:

I haven’t gone to Am Fam in a couple years and went with my family today. Golf in person just reinforced how incredibly boring the current MLB game is becoming.  It’s killing the Brewers, not helping, to be leaning into their love of 3TO too.  All game, it was a foul ball, Take like an hour between pitches, another foul ball, and strikeout swinging for the fences with 2 strikes. That did yield them 2 home runs, but of course they were solo because nobody can get on base.  Even Wong and Urias were swinging so hard and striking out, even later in the game when they needed guys to get on base.

plus, this lack of balls in play and 30 seconds between pitches made my young daughter not want to watch much of her first ever Brewer game 

 

Pitch clock and shift elimination should make the game faster with more action.  Hopefully.

I don't know if it's my attention span changing but MLB regular season games are a chore to get thru.  I mean today the Yanks and Cards had like a 4.5 hour 9 inning game. The game is always background noise for me these days. Just something to have on while doing other things. Kinda sad tbh.

.

[Robocaller]

It's baseball. The Brewers are 1-5 in their last two series against bad teams. The Cards are 6-0, playing a bad team and one of the best teams in baseball.

Now, you could jump to the conclusion that this is a foreshadowing of what is to come, but the reality is that things could turn around quickly.

[Robocaller]

8 hours ago, mtrebs said:

The Adames and Tellez acquisitions were good, but again there could have been some more offensive acquisitions done at the trade deadline. I don’t recall where our offense ended up, but I remember it being near the bottom of MLB for most of the season.

The lackluster performance in the last month of the season and postseason highlighted our offensive shortcomings. 

OPS was 11th out of 15 NL teams in 2021. Nearer the bottom than the top.

[Robocaller]

8 hours ago, Hopper said:

I'm not sure we had that high of pre-season expectations.  (we sure shouldn't have if that was the case)

What did we do to improve the offense really?  Added Renfroe, what else?  Other than him, the entire offense remained the same, which couldn't get the job done last year either.

I think as a realist, I didn't have high pre-season expectations, I just hoped we'd get better offensively, either by making a pre-season move, or at the very least, a deadline move.  We didn't do either, so here we are.

We rightfully were considered the favorite to win the division. Injuries in the Brewers' rotation and over performance by some of STL players changed the dynamic. I still think we're the better team if Peralta comes back 100% and we fix the dumpster fire of the 5th starter.

[NBBrewFan]

I think it's been a rollercoaster ride since the all-star break.  We had the great week+ against the Rockies, Twins and Red Sox where they went 7-2.  Follow that by a bad week against the Pirates and Reds of 1-6.  The optimist were energized after the first week that this team was the playoff contender they hoped would have a decent chance to make it to the World Series while the pessimists looked at the 2nd week as evidence this wasn't a good team.  Throw in between these 2 "weeks" a trade deadline that even the most optimistic optimist didn't find a WIN there's been a lot of up and down for everyone.  If you look at the total it is an 8-8 team which is consistent with the teams play since the best start of all-time (actually a little better as they are several games under 500 since then).  As suggested by others, the team could go on a hot streak like 2019, but we may have seen that hot streak already at the beginning of the year. Is it surprising with 2/3 SP on the IL for a good part of the last few months and a bullpen that was underperforming from the middle relievers that they've been below 500 for so long. I'm sure they will start playing better than 1-6, but it's beginning to look like the current roster and options are more like an 85 win team than the projected 94/95 team at the beginning of the year.  The trade deadline has passed so options are limited.  Maybe bringing up Turang (like BrewCrew82 suggested in a separate topic) will provide some needed improvement, but given the historical data that those types of promotions take time to be a positive move.  It's entirely possible it will help the teams defense/run prevention, but it's not clear that will have more than a 1-2 game impact.  Maybe the bullpen will fix their performance issues and we can approach 90 wins. I don't think it's as bad as we look at after a 1-6 run against 2 horrible teams, but I also don't think we were as good as that 7-2 run against a slightly better opposition. Maybe a little bit here and there and a return of most of the SP will be enough to get them over the line. The most Brewer ending of the season would be to miss the playoffs by one game and have the worst draft position of any team that didn't make the playoffs.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

13 hours ago, willie key said:

Norwich sucks.   They aren’t even in the premier league

While I mostly agree, Norwich is a good buy for anyone looking to "buy low" on a team with real prospects. Smart move by Mark A, and it may actually help the Brewers long-term if it works out.

[NBBrewFan]

1 minute ago, Cool Hand Lucroy said:

While I mostly agree, Norwich is a good buy for anyone looking to "buy low" on a team with real prospects. Smart move by Mark A, and it may actually help the Brewers long-term if it works out.

If you can look past the webbed toe issue (not the players the fans).

[BruisedCrew]

12 hours ago, Devinep said:

I haven’t gone to Am Fam in a couple years and went with my family today. Golf in person just reinforced how incredibly boring the current MLB game is becoming.  It’s killing the Brewers, not helping, to be leaning into their love of 3TO too.  All game, it was a foul ball, Take like an hour between pitches, another foul ball, and strikeout swinging for the fences with 2 strikes. That did yield them 2 home runs, but of course they were solo because nobody can get on base.  Even Wong and Urias were swinging so hard and striking out, even later in the game when they needed guys to get on base.

plus, this lack of balls in play and 30 seconds between pitches made my young daughter not want to watch much of her first ever Brewer game 

 

I think you have to attend a few games in person to appreciate how boring this team is to watch. I have always loved attending games, going all the way back to the Braves days when my Dad getting his company’s tickets for a Sunday afternoon game or doubleheader was a  source of excitement. I went to 30-35 Brewers games a year from 1978-1982 after I got out of school, moved back to the area, and had money of my own. There were a lot fewer games once the kids came along in the 80’s but once they got old enough we went to a few every year, and when the team got competitive in 2007 we got the 10 pack that we still hold today. 
 

Thjs might be the last year for that. For all of the reasons you gave, the entertainment value of the games has plummeted. Yesterday’s was a prime example. It took an hour to complete two scoreless innings. Some people might point to being able to see a Cy Young award winning pitcher in action, but watching him labor through 40 pitches against a lineup made up largely of AAA caliber hitters was no treat. 
 

When you watch on TV the time in between pitches and between innings is less noticeable because you can be doing something else while you wait for something to happen. 

[Hopper]

8 hours ago, Robocaller said:

We rightfully were considered the favorite to win the division. Injuries in the Brewers' rotation and over performance by some of STL players changed the dynamic. I still think we're the better team if Peralta comes back 100% and we fix the dumpster fire of the 5th starter.

Those are great things to fix, but we are still left with an anemic offense, that if we do make the playoffs, will only see top ranked pitching.

*sigh*

[Samurai Bucky]

We went to the game yesterday, too, so I apologize if much of this was covered in this thread.  It is clear that the offense is the main problem.  Before Hiura's home run, I think the Brewers had 4 hits... maybe 5.  Yelich had a bad game, but he has been hitting well lately.  Everybody can have a bad game.  However, the rest of the team can't take the day off.

Fast forward to Hiura's homer -- the next batter, Urias, walks.  Now, we have the #8 batter, Caratini, up.  Bunt.  Period.  Yes, the third baseman was up on the grass, but sacrifice the batter and move Urias to third.  Taylor hits a fly ball to center which may or may not got the runner to third.  Then that clears the bottom of the lineup to get one of your hottest hitters, Yelich, up with two outs.  Instead, Caratini hits a taylor-made, can of corn double play ball.

One of the arguments will probably be, "Caratini can't bunt."  Why not?  They probably don't work on it, right?  An exit velocity of 45MPH off the bat sucks, right?  Sorry, that is not an excuse.

Another argument may be, "Yeah, but what if Caratini gets a base hit."  Yeah... "what if."  If the bunt is worked on and if players bunt well, then the odds of moving the runner over would be better than "if Caratini gets a base hit."

Maybe my frustration is that I don't think Counsel even considers bunting.  Is it something that should be used every time?  No.  But the atmosphere at the game was:  1.  We weren't hitting water if we fell out of a boat, and, 2. the pressure was on the Reds and the momentum was with the Brewers!  Put pressure on the defense.

Yes... the last week or so is a small sample size, but the 3PO philosophy is so frustrating.