Game Thread (8/29/2022): Pirates (Wilson) at Brewers (Burnes) - 7:10 PM CDT

[Fear The Chorizo]

2 minutes ago, Robocaller said:

I was sure Mat Gamel was going to have a career in the majors. Didn't turn out that way.

That had alot to do with two ACL injuries right when he should have been establihsing himself as an everyday player

 

I do see the swing similarities between Gamel and Mitchell - Mitchell is just so damn athletic on top of it

[yourout]

2 minutes ago, Robocaller said:

I was sure Mat Gamel was going to have a career in the majors. Didn't turn out that way.

Technically.....he is in the majors but I get your point. Didn't end up making much of a splash.

[bulldogboy0733]

Just now, owbc said:

The moral of the story with Keston is that when your tool is your bat you gotta hit. The dude had a 51 OPS+ for a full season. That’s not going to win you many believers. 
 

And yet… he’s only 2 years older than Garrett Mitchell. Keston basically has his whole career ahead of him if he keeps hitting the ball. And we already know he’s capable of doing it. 

Agreed. I wish he could find a position but with the DH in play he should be the answer for the next few seasons.

[willie key]

Also you have to like hiura.  That guy has gone through a bunch of crap already in his young career and is still being yo yo around despite being arguably the best hitter in an inferior offense. 
 

he’s just a good guy and someone that deserves another chance in this team 

[Robocaller]

One thing is clear: someone need to "gillooly" Oneil Cruz''s kneecap.

 

[AKCheesehead]

I decided not to watch tonight, took care of some other things instead. Just read the IGT instead. Wow. And it’s still smoldering. 
 

loved the 3-0 Mitchell era post. Spot on. Craigtember is just around the corner. Let’s go!

[Brewcrew82]

2 minutes ago, AKCheesehead said:

I decided not to watch tonight, took care of some other things instead. Just read the IGT instead. Wow. And it’s still smoldering. 
 

loved the 3-0 Mitchell era post. Spot on. Craigtember is just around the corner. Let’s go!

Careful. I literally just said the same thing about being away doing personal stuff for awhile and got excoriated for it. 

But, yes, Craigtember is upon us!

[Robocaller]

2 minutes ago, yourout said:

Technically.....he is in the majors but I get your point. Didn't end up making much of a splash.

Not sure what you mean. He hasn't been in the majors for 10 years. Are you thinking of Ben Gamel?

[Fear The Chorizo]

1 minute ago, owbc said:

The moral of the story with Keston is that when your tool is your bat you gotta hit. The dude had a 51 OPS+ for a full season. That’s not going to win you many believers. 
 

And yet… he’s only 2 years older than Garrett Mitchell. Keston basically has his whole career ahead of him if he keeps hitting the ball. And we already know he’s capable of doing it. 

That 51+ OPS was over 197 plate appearances, so basically 1/3 of a season.  Hiura was indeed terrible in 2021, but this is his 4th MLB season and the 348 plate appearances he got his rookie season as a midseason callup are STILL by far the most he got in a year.  

Keston just needs to be in the lineup

 

[Jim French Stepstool]

8 minutes ago, brewcrewdue80 said:

Burnes pitched okay. 2 light hitting singles below 80mph exit velo followed by a nearly below bottom of strike zone 2strike pitch that a behemoth of a SS happened to slug out. Harp on Cruz being a poor hitter except vs us. Dude is 6-7 and in his 1st 162 games played. How's Aaron Judge this year? Unlucky inning that also had poor strike zone calls often today.

 

IMO Burnes needs to be better. He has staff ace type stuff, and has had staff ace type success, guys like that get leaned on for big outs. He got ahead of the #9 hitter 1-2 in an important AB then gave him a very hittable pitch. Then fell behind Cruz 3-0. 

Certainly hasn't been bad, but has to make better pitches there.

[yourout]

7 minutes ago, Robocaller said:

Not sure what you mean. He hasn't been in the majors for 10 years. Are you thinking of Ben Gamel?

Oops.....i thought he you were talking about Ben 

[Robocaller]

3 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

IMO Burnes needs to be better. He has staff ace type stuff, and has had staff ace type success, guys like that get leaned on for big outs. He got ahead of the #9 hitter 1-2 in an important AB then gave him a very hittable pitch. Then fell behind Cruz 3-0. 

Certainly hasn't been bad, but has to make better pitches there.

he's been pretty bad lately.

It's good to win when he doesn't dominate. Because our only hope to get anywhere is if our starters dominate. Good to know we can win when they don't.

[Brewcrew82]

After struggling for a while there, Willy Adames has been really good in the last week or so. Taking the ball the other way, too. Seems like as he goes the Brewers go sometimes. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

38 minutes ago, Fear The Chorizo said:

It shouldn't be an either-or, particularly because McCutcheon has been decent a good chunk of this year when other parts of the lineup weren't....McCutcheon hasn't had an OPS over 0.700 against RHP since 2019 and mashes LHP.  Hiura, despite small sample size alerts, hits much better against RHP compared to lefties.  It's a natural DH platoon situation that hasn't been allowed to happen consistently and it's really frustrating.

No, it shouldn't be. But the straight platoon, which on paper makes a lot of sense, probably wouldn't satisfy the play-him-every-day crowd.

[willie key]

When I read about all the posts about the call ups on the game threads I kind of roll my eyes.    It’s like the backup qb syndrome

 

but people might be onto something here    Our regulars are not cutting it      Start playing some others

maybe we have a young core like the Braun fielder, days

 

[UpandIn]

17 minutes ago, yourout said:

Technically.....he is in the majors but I get your point. Didn't end up making much of a splash.

I remember that HR vs the Cards where the announcers said something like, "ANOTHER young power hitter from this Brewers farm system."

I really thought he was going to be a stud...and perfect with the Brewers because he balanced out that heavy-heavy RHed lineup.

But those knee injuries really zapped it from him. 

[brewcrewdue80]

5 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

IMO Burnes needs to be better. He has staff ace type stuff, and has had staff ace type success, guys like that get leaned on for big outs. He got ahead of the #9 hitter 1-2 in an important AB then gave him a very hittable pitch. Then fell behind Cruz 3-0. 

Certainly hasn't been bad, but has to make better pitches there.

You're right about giving up the hit to #9 batter.

Cruz's 3rd pitch was a strike called a ball. Burnes HR given up pitch was just barely above on bottom of plate. Cruz took that location 2 pitches before. Bottom of the zone pitches shouldn't be hit 117+MPH.  (A reason to suggest Cruz's future with the bat to be Aaron Judge like at 6'7".)

The missed strike and being 3-1 led up to the HR.  2-2 and Burnes could throw something different. Or Cruz isn't hacking but swinging to contact protecting the plate. I imagine the OPS on 3-1 vs 2-2 is nearly double. The batter has a free swing to waste vs the pitcher having a free pitch to waste.

It's the same idea with Devin Williams who wastes pitches ahead in the count trying to take advantage of in impatient batter.  Just in a stretch where these guys are taking the pitches. Williams will need to adjust attacking the zone tighter or just stick with 20+ pitch innings the KRod way.  I'd hope we see him start striking out a few looking to regain the lead patience or batters lacking it again.

 

[Brewcrew82]

1 hour ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Wow....Hiura is pretty good when you bring him off the bench.?

Seriously, his comment in the post game interview, wanting to direct the attention to Mitchell, says a lot about the kid. Well done.

He is a great kid. Although, not sure why I'm calling him a kid when he's my age lol. 

[nate82]

1 hour ago, Sixtolezcano said:

This comment sure aged well. Remind me to listen to your take more often.

Maybe Hiura checked it and was like awwwww heck nah.  Though I did say it looks like it is the beginning of a long cold streak not that it was or will be a cold streak.  

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 minutes ago, brewcrewdue80 said:

You're right about giving up the hit to #9 batter.

Cruz's 3rd pitch was a strike called a ball. Burnes HR given up pitch was just barely above on bottom of plate. Cruz took that location 2 pitches before. Bottom of the zone pitches shouldn't be hit 117+MPH.  (A reason to suggest Cruz's future with the bat to be Aaron Judge like at 6'7".)

The missed strike and being 3-1 led up to the HR.  2-2 and Burnes could throw something different. Or Cruz isn't hacking but swinging to contact protecting the plate. I imagine the OPS on 3-1 vs 2-2 is nearly double. The batter has a free swing to waste vs the pitcher having a free pitch to waste.

It's the same idea with Devin Williams who wastes pitches ahead in the count trying to take advantage of in impatient batter.  Just in a stretch where these guys are taking the pitches. Williams will need to adjust attacking the zone tighter or just stick with 20+ pitch innings the KRod way.  I'd hope we see him start striking out a few looking to regain the lead patience or batters lacking it again.

 

He didn't get much help from blue, that's true. But Cruz likes the ball down. And even if the third pitch was a strike, he still fell behind 2-0.  I realize I'm holding him to a pretty high standard. But that's the standard that's been set the last couple years, and what they need from him. 

It seems to me Williams is cruising at about 93-94 right now instead of 96. Makes a difference in adjusting to the change & I think that's part of the reason why he's getting so many balls fouled off, hence the marathon innings. You're right about the called third strikes, those have become pretty rare.

[Jim French Stepstool]

13 minutes ago, Brewcrew82 said:

He is a great kid. Although, not sure why I'm calling him a kid when he's my age lol. 

Trust me.....roll with that for as long as you can.?

[Ro Mueller]

Well that was a fun box score to wake up to! Tied it in the 8th. Walked it off. Hiura! Mitchell! WHAT!?! Nice work by Suter to keep us in the game.

Keep it up, men!

I hope Tellez recovers quickly.

[Robocaller]

3 hours ago, Brewcrew82 said:

He is a great kid. Although, not sure why I'm calling him a kid when he's my age lol. 

I assumed by your name that you were around in 1982.

[BruisedCrew]

7 hours ago, Brewcrew82 said:

Had to take a break from the game thread for a couple of hours as I was out to dinner. Having now read through what I missed, I really miss the game-threads of a couple years ago or even a year ago. Actual level-headed analysis, then. Not so much now....

I don’t think the game threads have changed significantly in the last couple of years.

Do they just seem different to you because you didn’t participate in them until this year?

[Outlander]

I have never really been big into the in game threads but they have always been emotional and reactionary. The difference appears to be a lot of negative interaction directed toward posters.