Diamondbacks at Brewers; Thursday, August 28 @ 1:10 p.m.: Jose Quintana (3.32 ERA, 4.77 FIP) vs. Nabil Crismatt (1.00 ERA, 2.45 FIP)

[treego14]

[treego14]

Crismatt's no match for our Whizz-bats!

Quintana > Arizana!

 

[Jake McKibbin]

This may be one of the more fascinating TJStats profiles I've seen. Stuff grades out horribly, but the changeup has had some solid whiff rates while the other parts of his arsenal do a solid job limiting hard contact

 

[Brian]

Nabil Crismatt seems to lose it after about 3-4 innings so we should be able to get to him second time threw the order. 

[willie key]

The cubs loss late last night was a very welcome sight 

[liveforoctober]

New strategy. 

Top of the order: Lockridge, Perkins, Collins.

Pitcher will be at a minimum of 30 pitches after the 1st and somewhere around 90 after the 4th.

We might not score for 4 innings but we will be into every team's bullpen by the 5th.

[RobertCrawley]

Did we somehow elude Zak Gallen?

[Outlander]

Gallen has been pretty bad this year but yes he pitched on Sunday.

[Frisbee Slider]

Prediction: Danny Jansen improves his slugging percentage today.

[BruisedCrew]

Today brings back fond memories of August 28, 1982. 

For those who weren't around then, in 1982 the Brewers got off to a sluggish start, changed managers, and on June 14 were just a game over .500 at 30-29 and 7.5 games out of first place. From there the team went on  tear for the next 2 1/2 months, winning 45 of 67 games. At 75-51 they were 6.5 games ahead of the Red Sox and 7 games ahead of the Orioles, and it looked like they were in great shape to claim the franchise's first full season division title. A similar path to this year with the addition of the midseason managerial change.

Someone then might have said that all the Brewers had to do was win half of their remaining games to get to 93-69 and one of their pursuers would have to win more than 2/3 of their remaining games just to tie for the division crown.

What actually happened was that the Orioles. who had a winning percentage of .540 on August 28, won 13 of their next 16 games to cut the Brewers once comfortable lead to just 2 games with 18 games to play..The Orioles extended their hot streak to 20 of 24 but the Brewers maintained their slim lead through the final weeks and led by 4 games with 5 to play before losing 4 and then claiming the title in the winner take all final game.

One lesson I took away from the experience of living through that last month is that you can never assume that a trailing team won't put together an unexpected run in the final weeks. So just playing .500 in the last month might not be good enough. If the Brewers had just played .500 ball from August 28 on, their final record of 93-69 would not have been good enough to hold off the Orioles, who won 26 of their last 36.

Similar "out of the blue" hot streaks propelled the Cardinals of 2021 (who won 17 in a row) and Tigers last year (who won 30 of their last 43 after being 8 games under .500 in mid August) to playoff berths.

If the Brewers play .500 the rest of the way they will probably win the division. But it would be preferable not to leave that path open.

BTW, August 28, 1982 is a memorable day for me because it happened to be my wedding day.

[Underachiever]

I remember it well. That game 162 on the road was nerve-wracking and wonderful. Yount had two homers and a triple, and MKE had a 5-run ninth to make it Chafin-proof.

The point about playing .500 is very rational. But I just have to think back to 2018, when the Brewers finished the season 8-0, the Cubs finished 6-3, so it is not as if they handed the division to the Brewers. CHC went 15-12 in September, very respectable, and a .556 winning percentage, and lost a 5 game lead. Brewers went 19-6.

[liveforoctober]

.. and we are off! Quick work in the 1st for JQ. Taking 3 of 4 would be a great series. Let's make it happen...

Turang hitting clean up at any point this season was not on my 2025 bingo card...

[liveforoctober]

I guess Sal is feeling ok..

[torts]

Sal is freeling it right now

[Brian]

Vaughn in a rut last few weeks though. 

[adambr2]

Pretty terrible spot for a walk, Q.

[adambr2]

Q absolutely melting down. An ill-timed walk and now an RBI HBP.

[yourout]

The best part about this series is the fact that after today it's over. 

These guys have a very tough lineup to get through.

[Bulldogboy]

Bro. Q meltdown is not what we need today. Dbacks are offense machine. 

[adambr2]

2 minutes ago, yourout said:

The best part about this series is the fact that after today it's over. 

These guys have a very tough lineup to get through.

Everybody is tough to get through when you put runners on for free via walk and HBP back to back. If we think this is a tough series, it is not about to get easier.

[BruisedCrew]

1 minute ago, yourout said:

The best part about this series is the fact that after today it's over. 

These guys have a very tough lineup to get through.

The worst part is that the next two opponents are just as tough and today isn’t going to do anything to reduce the strain on the staff. 

[adambr2]

Could have been worse, I guess.

[ReverendBrewmeister]

Going to need a major turnaround from Quintana or it's going to end up being yet another 5IP or less start. Starting to burnout the bullpen during this stretch.

[BruisedCrew]

We’ll see if the Brewers offense can shake off last night and compete in a slugfest. 
 

I think Quintana is going to be left in for a couple more innings even if it means 6 or 7 runs. It’s “take one for the team”” day for him. 

[Patrick425]

Did Rock comment that he likes the infield fly rule? Really Rock? I wasn't aware that there was any controversy surrounding that rule.