Game Thread (8/30/2022): Pirates (Keller) at Brewers (Alexander) - 7:10 PM CDT

[Hopper]

53 minutes ago, The stache said:

If all this season accomplishes is Craig Counsell’s receiving a pink slip,,I’m good with that. We’re clearly going nowhere with him.

How many games have his boneheaded decisions cost us this season? 

Some would argue that the manager has no bearing on wins and losses.

I would not agree with such nonsense, but there are those here that would.

 

[bulldogboy0733]

1 minute ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

I would've been shocked if Peterson was left in to hit vs a lefty. Urias came in & picked up a hit, then in the ninth had pretty much the same approach as Hiura, just didn't barrel it up so it didn't have the steam to get through. I wish I knew why he's been struggling this year. People bring up his leaning-back thing, but he did that last year & was much better. As for PHing for Mitchell I think that was more a case of not liking his chances vs a lefty than any great confidence in Taylor.

His first career hit was against a lefty that drove in two runs. There is no reason to pinch hit him there. Zero.

[Hopper]

40 minutes ago, bulldogboy0733 said:

Who beside Adames Tellez and Hiura should be locks to return as position players?? You could make the case for Renfroe I guess but we got to go young and I would cash out on him now. Pretty sad state of affairs 

You think Hiura is a lock to return as a position player in 2023?

Don't count on it.  For whatever reason, management doesn't feel the same.

[Jim French Stepstool]

3 minutes ago, The stache said:

The Brewers were 32-18 on May 30th.

In the last three months, the Brewers have gone 36-42, and have been below .500 in that span losing a lot of games to some very bad teams.

.462 baseball the last three months….doesn’t really feel like a pennant race, to me. 

To me either, when you focus on them day-to-day. But the numbers say something else, thanks to MLB wanting to add more teams to the post season. I guess it would be like the NFL team that's 7-6 & still in the post season hunt. I think adding extra layers of playoffs was a bad idea, It just doesn't jibe with the essence of the game & length of the season IMO. 

Let me add it feels like, if anything, a wildcard race. Agree the pennant race aspect doesn't seem to be there.

[willie key]

10 minutes ago, The stache said:

The Brewers were 32-18 on May 30th.

In the last three months, the Brewers have gone 36-42, and have been below .500 in that span losing a lot of games to some very bad teams.

.462 baseball the last three months….doesn’t really feel like a pennant race, to me. 

They aren’t in a race.    It’s smoke and mirrors.     

[bulldogboy0733]

Just now, Hopper said:

You think Hiura is a lock to return as a position player in 2023?

Don't count on it.  For whatever reason, management doesn't feel the same.

I think he starts the year as the dh. Of course if he goes 0-8 he probably gets sent down.

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 minute ago, Hopper said:

You think Hiura is a lock to return as a position player in 2023?

Don't count on it.  For whatever reason, management doesn't feel the same.

As a position player as in playing defense, no. 

If you're including DH I think he's better than average money to return.

[Jim French Stepstool]

18 minutes ago, bulldogboy0733 said:

His first career hit was against a lefty that drove in two runs. There is no reason to pinch hit him there. Zero.

I'm not trying to justify it, just trying to understand why it was done. His hit on Sunday was relatively early in the game. If it was the same situation that day but in the eighth inning he probably would've been hit for. 

There's always a reason, us fans just don't always agree with it.

[bulldogboy0733]

6 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

I'm not trying to justify it, just trying to understand why it was done. His hit on Sunday was really early in the game. If it was the same situation that day but in the eighth inning he probably would've been hit for. 

There's always a reason, us fans just don't always agree with it.

Agreed. That said this kid is one of your building blocks. In my opinion you are taking the bat out of his hands in game 3. I hate it. Imagine if Braun or Fielder was being treated that way when they were coming up. It would have been silly. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

6 minutes ago, bulldogboy0733 said:

Agreed. That said this kid is one of your building blocks. In my opinion you are taking the bat out of his hands in game 3. I hate it. Imagine if Braun or Fielder was being treated that way when they were coming up. It would have been silly. 

Yeah, I guess I wouldn't put him in the category of those two in their first handful of games, but he is a building block for sure. Understand, if he had come out to hit instead of Taylor tonite, I would've raised my eyebrows a bit, but out of surprise, not disappointment. I just kinda expect it due to the fact that he's hitting in the nine hole; that tells me he's only going to be behind the wheel in certain situations.

I wouldn't quite say I hate it too, but I'm not a huge fan of it especially since Taylors' splits (I think) don't warrant it.

[SomewhereInTime]

1 hour ago, The stache said:

I’m a Brewers lifer. I’ve been a fan since 1979, and I’ll probably go to my grave still hoping to see my team in the Series once more.

Losing…I’m used to it.

But when when we were losing, and losing a lot…watching those games were far more enjoyable. We might go 70-92, but we knew that Geoff Jenkins, Jeromy Burnitz and Ritchie Sexon were going to deposit a lot of balls in the seats.

This team, there’s very little to cheer about. The Milwaukee Brewers in 2022 are baseball’s version of having our fingernails pulled out. 

I hate feeling down about this team, but does anybody see a bright light at the end of the tunnel? 

 

Well as a Brewer lifer I can tell you this team is way more fun than any of the late 90's/early to mid 00's teams.  You see this team wins more than those teams did and what you're actually experiencing is just nostalgia for the past.

[adambr2]

1 hour ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

I would've been shocked if Peterson was left in to hit vs a lefty. Urias came in & picked up a hit, then in the ninth had pretty much the same approach as Hiura, just didn't barrel it up so it didn't have the steam to get through. I wish I knew why he's been struggling this year. People bring up his leaning-back thing, but he did that last year & was much better. As for PHing for Mitchell I think that was more a case of not liking his chances vs a lefty than any great confidence in Taylor.

Except Mitchell has reverse splits, almost 150 OPS better against LHP. So if he didn't like Mitchell's chances against a LHP, he isn't doing his homework. 

[Axman59]

A mere 2.5 games out of the playoffs. This team is still very much in the Hunt for October.

Burnes-Woodruff-Peralta and anything can happen.

[mtrebs]

4 hours ago, SomewhereInTime said:

Well as a Brewer lifer I can tell you this team is way more fun than any of the late 90's/early to mid 00's teams.  You see this team wins more than those teams did and what you're actually experiencing is just nostalgia for the past.

I’m also a Brewers lifer (which I’m sure most of us here are), and I disagree. To me it all comes down to expectations, even if they may be unrealistic.

Yes, the teams of the late 1990s/early 2000s were not very good (even terrible) but we expected that to be the case. Going to a game then was still entertaining because any day the offense could put up 10 runs so even though they lost A LOT, the games themselves were much more exciting.

Because of the change in ownership and the moves that the FO made, we became better and had a few successful seasons.  We had some young players (primarily pitching) that gave us hope for some deep postseason runs going into the late 2010s/early 2020s. Obviously 2018 comes to mind when we had a really, really good team. This success raised expectations for the FO to improve the team to get us deep into the postseason a few more times while we had this young, talented pitching. To use the FO terminology, we expected them to make the moves to take BIG bites from the apple, but the FO did not make those moves and they seemed content to just hope things go well enough to be able to take a bite of the apple. They were partly right as the team has made the postseason four years in a row now, but outside of the 2019 season there was basically no realistic chance that they’d make a deep postseason run.

Even though the team has been winning games the last few seasons, they way they are built makes for very boring and disappointing games. Relying on the home run and not focusing on situational hitting has made them very hard to watch. Any given day they seem like they could be easily no-hit. Not being able to drive in runners causes the pitching to have to be perfect (and this isn’t the case this year) so our 2-1 leads quickly evaporate when we don’t get a hit for 5 innings.

All this being said, yes, the team is winning more now compared to 20 years ago, but they are playing a very boring style of baseball that is hard to watch, and they aren’t playing to the level that we’d have expected them to be playing at after the 2018 success. The window with the good pitching is essentially closed. 

[Jopal78]

1 hour ago, mtrebs said:

I’m also a Brewers lifer (which I’m sure most of us here are), and I disagree. To me it all comes down to expectations, even if they may be unrealistic.

Yes, the teams of the late 1990s/early 2000s were not very good (even terrible) but we expected that to be the case. Going to a game then was still entertaining because any day the offense could put up 10 runs so even though they lost A LOT, the games themselves were much more exciting.

Because of the change in ownership and the moves that the FO made, we became better and had a few successful seasons.  We had some young players (primarily pitching) that gave us hope for some deep postseason runs going into the late 2010s/early 2020s. Obviously 2018 comes to mind when we had a really, really good team. This success raised expectations for the FO to improve the team to get us deep into the postseason a few more times while we had this young, talented pitching. To use the FO terminology, we expected them to make the moves to take BIG bites from the apple, but the FO did not make those moves and they seemed content to just hope things go well enough to be able to take a bite of the apple. They were partly right as the team has made the postseason four years in a row now, but outside of the 2019 season there was basically no realistic chance that they’d make a deep postseason run.

Even though the team has been winning games the last few seasons, they way they are built makes for very boring and disappointing games. Relying on the home run and not focusing on situational hitting has made them very hard to watch. Any given day they seem like they could be easily no-hit. Not being able to drive in runners causes the pitching to have to be perfect (and this isn’t the case this year) so our 2-1 leads quickly evaporate when we don’t get a hit for 5 innings.

All this being said, yes, the team is winning more now compared to 20 years ago, but they are playing a very boring style of baseball that is hard to watch, and they aren’t playing to the level that we’d have expected them to be playing at after the 2018 success. The window with the good pitching is essentially closed. 

Yeah, there’s not much entertainment in watching a game where Milwaukee gets 9 baserunners the entire game against a team that’s not trying to compete, and then 40% of the Brewer outs are via the strike out. Night after night; It’s boring!

[Nola Beery]

Safe to say I am the newest of newbie Brewer fans around here.  After many years of inexplicable loyalty to the Montreal Expos, I wandered in the wilderness after they moved to DC.  I became a 3/4-hearted Dodger fan due to an earlier childhood affection dating back to Koufax & Drysadale & then the LaSorda teams.  But I couldn't love them. I finally decided, very deliberately, to be a Brewers fan after the 2018 NLCS against the Dodgers.  They showed so much fight, and a friend from Wisconsin is a die-hard fan.  Plus, they had become a National League team, which meant something at the time. AND their mascot makes beer! Yes!!  Yet I understand the disappointment of long-time fans  (ever heard of the New Orleans Aints?).    Yes, this team's relentless mediocrity, especially with the bat, is disheartening.  But I figure you just try to enjoy the wins and forget the losses (after a suitable period of lamentation and venting.)  It's still baseball you can care about, and it's a long time without baseball between the World Series and Opening Day.  Enjoy is for what it is..            

[NBBrewFan]

8 hours ago, adambr2 said:

Except Mitchell has reverse splits, almost 150 OPS better against LHP. So if he didn't like Mitchell's chances against a LHP, he isn't doing his homework. 

Brewer management has already decided that reverse splits make no sense so they can ignore them.

[SomewhereInTime]

16 hours ago, mtrebs said:

I’m also a Brewers lifer (which I’m sure most of us here are), and I disagree. To me it all comes down to expectations, even if they may be unrealistic.

Yes, the teams of the late 1990s/early 2000s were not very good (even terrible) but we expected that to be the case. Going to a game then was still entertaining because any day the offense could put up 10 runs so even though they lost A LOT, the games themselves were much more exciting.

Because of the change in ownership and the moves that the FO made, we became better and had a few successful seasons.  We had some young players (primarily pitching) that gave us hope for some deep postseason runs going into the late 2010s/early 2020s. Obviously 2018 comes to mind when we had a really, really good team. This success raised expectations for the FO to improve the team to get us deep into the postseason a few more times while we had this young, talented pitching. To use the FO terminology, we expected them to make the moves to take BIG bites from the apple, but the FO did not make those moves and they seemed content to just hope things go well enough to be able to take a bite of the apple. They were partly right as the team has made the postseason four years in a row now, but outside of the 2019 season there was basically no realistic chance that they’d make a deep postseason run.

Even though the team has been winning games the last few seasons, they way they are built makes for very boring and disappointing games. Relying on the home run and not focusing on situational hitting has made them very hard to watch. Any given day they seem like they could be easily no-hit. Not being able to drive in runners causes the pitching to have to be perfect (and this isn’t the case this year) so our 2-1 leads quickly evaporate when we don’t get a hit for 5 innings.

All this being said, yes, the team is winning more now compared to 20 years ago, but they are playing a very boring style of baseball that is hard to watch, and they aren’t playing to the level that we’d have expected them to be playing at after the 2018 success. The window with the good pitching is essentially closed. 

In 2002 I went to seven games.  The Brewers lead for half an inning total (and not the bottom of the 9th).  Things were so exciting!  In fact things were so exciting that about 9000 people would show up to games to watch the Brewers probably lose.