Brewers (Myers) vs Cubs (Assad): 7/22/24, 7:10pm

[Brian]

9 hours ago, Scooterfletcher said:

We really need to get Kikuchi and Bassit in our rotation from Toronto in a trade of Canadian and top prospect Tyler Black.  Bassit is controlled next year anyway and Kikuchi if he does well as I’d expect, should be resignable.  Whatever minor parts have to go both ways is fine but I’m cool giving up the potential all star bat of black for these two that make us incredibly more of a threat.

I agree with giving Tyler Balck another shot or trade him because he is hitting .280 in Nashville and I think Hoskins may be washed up or can not take the rigors of an MLB season anymore because of his knee. 

[LouisEly]

9 hours ago, adambr2 said:

The Cardinals made 10 games up on us just two years ago just after August 1st. We went into the trade deadline 3 games up and ended up losing the division by 7 games.

Far too much season left to suggest the Pirates are too far down to catch up. 

That Cardinals team was 6th in runs/game scored and 9th in runs given up per game.  They finished the season on an incredible 39-21 run (a 105 win pace).  That wasn't the Brewers giving it away, that was the Cardinals taking it.

This Pirates team is 21st in runs/game scored and 13th in runs given up per game.  That's why they've only made up one game in the last month and a half, and that game was yesterday.  They are going to need some acquisitions in the next week before I'm buying them as a serious threat.  Key word - "serious". 

[BruisedCrew]

13 hours ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

He's in a slump, definitely. I'm reminded of last year, when he hit a HR or two early on & stopped looking like the player he needs to be. I don't think that's the issue now, as he still seems to be trying to spray the ball, but his swing might be getting a little long.

One thing I reject is people constantly wanting to move people around in the batting order. He's a leadoff hitter, and IMO the best one on the team. He needs to figure it out. Bouncing people up & down in the order like it's a Chinese fire drill, I don't think that's the answer.

Maybe we should try the batting order that scored 25 runs the last three games?

I agree that frequent batting order shuffling isn't likely to be productive. When 6 or 7 of your regulars are slumping, it's going to be difficult to string together hits and score runs regardless of what order they hit in. There's no way to know which hitter is going to hit a home run in the middle of a 3 for 30 stretch or who's going to be at the plate when you get runners on base.

As for the order that scored 25 runs the last 3 games (now 17 runs in the 3 games after the break) I would note this. On Saturday, the batting order produced 1 run on something like 4 hits through 10 innings, including failing to advance the ghost runner in the 10th. They took advantage of the ghost runners, the bottom of the Twins bullpen, and a horrific misplay of a popped up  sacrifice bunt attempt to score 7 runs in the last two extra innings.

The Sunday order had Yelich on the bench while the runs were produced mainly by Chourio and Haase (hitting out of the 8th and 9th positions) and Hoskins hitting a HR (something he does once a week or so  even when he's slumping. Maybe that would be a good order on a regular basis, but I wouldn't bank on it.

Last night the order produced 1 run on only 5 hits.

Since June 2., over 41 games (about a quarter of a season) the Brewers offense has produced 179 runs. That rate of 4.31 per game is 10th among the 15 NL teams, so these scoring struggles have been going on for some time. 

It remains to be seen if this is just a blip (albeit a fairly long one) or a result of a lineup with several players wearing down or regressing to their norms.

[BruisedCrew]

4 hours ago, LouisEly said:

That Cardinals team was 6th in runs/game scored and 9th in runs given up per game.  They finished the season on an incredible 39-21 run (a 105 win pace).  That wasn't the Brewers giving it away, that was the Cardinals taking it.

 

The Brewers may not have entirely given it away, but they certainly opened the door and let the Cardinals walk in. On June 30 they had a record of 57-44 and had a 4 game lead in the division. Yes, the Cardinals got hot, but the Brewers lost 15 of 23 to fall 6 games behind. 

The Brewers record now is 57-43, almost identical to 2 years ago when it was thought that at least making the playoffs was a near certainty. Hopefully this team can avoid the fate of that one.