Game Thread (8/12/2022): Brewers (Lauer) at Cardinals (Montgomery) - 7:15 PM CDT

[Brewcrew82]

6 minutes ago, BruisedCrew said:

The Rays and Twins were two of the teams I mentioned that are barely over .500; they are not currently in a playoff position.

The series the Brewers won against the Braves, Phillies, and Padres were in May, before those teams got going and before they improved themselves at the deadline. 
 

I’m pretty sure that the Jays series is the only series that the Brewers have won since May against a team that is currently in a playoff position. 

Yes, when you want to make the argument just like that, you're right. On the other hand, we haven't lost a series to a team above .500 since June when we played the Mets....

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, folly412 said:

If they're not going to play Davis, might as well bring up Frelick or Turang.

Frelick needs to wait a few days to preserve rookie eligibility next season though, cause I'm calling it that he's winning 2023 NL ROY. 

IMO, at some point they may decide Frelick is going to play basically every day vs RHP. That's when you'll see him in Milwaukee. They aren't going to bring him up & have him fill the Davis role (nor should they). 

The kid's certainly making it hard to ignore what he's doing right now.

[mtrebs]

7 minutes ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Not exactly. We have four more games against the Cardinals after this series. 

My bad. I thought I read/saw somewhere that this was the last series against the Cardinals.

[BruisedCrew]

I wouldn’t assume that Helsley is done for the series. In fact, I would bet that if the Cardinals have a save situation on Sunday you’ll be seeing him. 
 

The Cardinals aren’t afraid to use their relievers for more than an inning. This was Helsey’s 15th multiple inning outing of the season, but he hadn’t pitched since Sunday. He threw 29 pitches tonight and should be ready again on Sunday. It wouldn’t be the first time he would pitch 2 innings and come back 2 days later. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, Brewcrew82 said:

The season series against St. Louis is tied as of right now. And the Brewers have a winning record against teams above .500. Our problem has been that we've been crapping the bed against teams like the Pirates, Cubs, and Reds lately when we should be dominating them. 

Yeah, the "bad teams" that some think it means very little when you beat them.

If they fall short of the post-season (still a big if) they can point to the week when they had to get over being ********* & emotionally devastated because "our friend Josh isn't here anymore".

[Jim French Stepstool]

55 minutes ago, Underachiever said:

11 Brewers hitters have started 0-2 tonight. 5 have started 1-2

That's a great nugget. Credit to Montgomery.

[BruisedCrew]

5 minutes ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Yes, when you want to make the argument just like that, you're right. On the other hand, we haven't lost a series to a team above .500 since June when we played the Mets....

You’re trying to make a point by lumping all teams over .500 together. 

I’m putting teams like the Dodgers, Mets, and Yankees in a different category than the Rays and Twins, and even the Jays, who have the same record as the Brewers. 

[Brewcrew82]

1 minute ago, BruisedCrew said:

You’re trying to make a point by lumping all teams over .500 together. 

I’m putting teams like the Dodgers, Mets, and Yankees in a different category than the Rays and Twins, and even the Jays, who have the same record as the Brewers. 

Yes, and when is the last time we played a team like the Dodgers, Mets, and Yankees? Jays are one of those teams above .500 that are in a playoff spot, but now they don't count either? You can only play who's on your schedule and the fact remains that the Brewers have done well against good teams so far, but have faltered lately against teams below .500 when they should be cleaning up against them. 

[willie key]

To be honest.    This season probably ended in games we weren’t involved in.    The brewers making the playoffs depended on the cardinals being bad

once the cardinals swept the Yankees.    We were going to be in trouble because it’s quite clear that we struggle to beat St. Louis 

[Brewcrew82]

3 minutes ago, willie key said:

To be honest.    This season probably ended in games we weren’t involved in.    The brewers making the playoffs depended on the cardinals being bad

once the cardinals swept the Yankees.    We were going to be in trouble because it’s quite clear that we struggle to beat St. Louis 

Season "ended"? It's August and we're a game and a half back with two more games this weekend. Not to mention that we're in striking distance for two wild card spots, too. We may not make the playoffs in the end, but nothing is close to being over. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 minute ago, willie key said:

To be honest.    This season probably ended in games we weren’t involved in.    The brewers making the playoffs depended on the cardinals being bad

once the cardinals swept the Yankees.    We were going to be in trouble because it’s quite clear that we struggle to beat St. Louis 

We were .500 vs them coming into tonight. Which means they were .500 against us. One could argue they're better now after the acquisitions, but that hasn't played out yet.

[willie key]

Just now, Brewcrew82 said:

Season "ended"? It's August and we're a game and a half back with two more games this weekend? Not to mention that we're in striking distance for two wild card spots, too. We may not make the playoffs in the end, but nothing is close to being over. 

Normally I would say that also.    But the numbers don’t add up.   the brewers are in massive trouble.  
 

the brewers could easily or even likely be 4-5 games back after we get done with the dodgers over these next two weeks

 

they aren’t coming back from that.    Heck.    We might get swept by St. Louis this weekend

 

[Brewcrew82]

3 minutes ago, willie key said:

Normally I would say that also.    But the numbers don’t add up.   the brewers are in massive trouble.  
 

the brewers could easily or even likely be 4-5 games back after we get done with the dodgers over these next two weeks

 

they aren’t coming back from that.    Heck.    We might get swept by St. Louis this weekend

 

Or we might win these next two games and split with the Dodgers in MKE...Nothing is "over". First thing is win tomorrow and we're in good position to do so with Burnes starting. 

[UpandIn]

16 minutes ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Or we might win these next two games and split with the Dodgers in MKE...Nothing is "over". First thing is win tomorrow and we're in good position to do so with Burnes starting. 

I really don't care if we are 4-5 games back after the Dodgers series, even then saying the season is "over" is...silly. 

A 90 MPH slider that didn't move and was probably in the reddest part of Goldschmidt's zone was the difference tonight. I don't think we're dropping 4-5 games back, but hypothetically, that'd be with 45 games left. And...this team does tend to play the best in Sept. 

Things suck right now, we're not playing well. We're still got a VERY good team and our #4 pitcher just got beat.

I think things are fine with Burnes and Ashby going, the later going against a pitcher we've done pretty well against. 

The fatalism is a bit over the top...but it's also a Game Thread. But it's spilling over quite a bit more. 

[BruisedCrew]

You are really going out of your way to create an argument.

I certainly know that teams can only play the teams on their schedule, and that the Brewers have lost more games against bottom feeders lately than a playoff contending team should.

I never said that beating the Blue Jays doesn’t count as a win over a team over .500. I’m just referring to what should be obvious, and that is that teams that are 30 games over .500 are probably better than teams that are 5-10 games over .500. 

To put it simply, the fact that the Brewers have won series against the Jays, Twins, and Rays while losing series to the Cubs, Pirates, and Reds does not give me confidence that the Brewers will win more than they lose against the Dodgers, Mets, and Yankees. The Brewers have been marking time for over 3 months, and to make the playoffs at some point they have to start winning more than they lose or hope the Cardinals go into a slide. I wouldn’t count on the latter given their favorable schedule.

[Harold Hutchison]

After four straight playoff appearances and the 2017 near-miss... expectations are higher among fans. They should be.

Since the All-Star Break, the Brewers aren't playing - or looking like - the team that was so exciting back then, and a lot of Brewers fans want answers and improvement.

We've already lost game one of what I felt was a must-sweep series after the debacle of the 1-5 record against the Pirates and Reds. If they don't pull it together this season, maybe it is time for the team to take a step back to get a more competitive team in 2025 and beyond,

[Jim French Stepstool]

5 hours ago, clancyphile said:

 

We've already lost game one of what I felt was a must-sweep series after the debacle of the 1-5 record against the Pirates and Reds. If they don't pull it together this season, maybe it is time for the team to take a step back to get a more competitive team in 2025 and beyond,

Serious question--why did you think this was a must-sweep series? We all would've loved that of course, but if they win 2 out of 3 they're done? Being a half game up? 

And I'm not predicting they win the next two either. It's just that must-sweep, at this time of the year, is reserved for a situation where you come into it something like 5-6 games behind. And even then........

[Harold Hutchison]

On 8/13/2022 at 1:08 PM, Jim French Stepstool said:

Serious question--why did you think this was a must-sweep series? We all would've loved that of course, but if they win 2 out of 3 they're done? Being a half game up? 

And I'm not predicting they win the next two either. It's just that must-sweep, at this time of the year, is reserved for a situation where you come into it something like 5-6 games behind. And even then........

The Crew needs to be able to beat other playoff teams, for one. Second, the best shot at getting into the playoffs is to win the division, ideally avoiding having to play a wild card round.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Fair enough. So we aren't winning the division since we didn't sweep?