Brewers (Gasser) vs Twins (Ober): 5/17/26, 1:10pm

[Underachiever]

Cubs lose!!!!

[wntrtxn21]

2 minutes ago, MilwaukeeBeers said:

I think its time for some changes. This is a huge series coming up and will expose a lot. Rengifo is at the end of his rope. Ortiz is getting there. And Sal honestly deserves to be optioned. He has been that bad this year. 

Frelick's bat has been one of the biggest disappointments so far this year. Two huge chokes in cosecutive ABs. Failing to get Bauers over by hitting the ball to the left side with and no outs and then the choke in the 9th. Yelich didn't help matters either by whiffing with the two runners on. The good news is Bauers came through to get one back and Milwaukee won two of three from the lowly Twins despite going 4 for 32 w/RISP.  Hopfully they'll start hitting again against the cubs. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

23 minutes ago, TURBO said:

There's that patented bent back leg swing.

DO OUR HITTING COACHES EVEN CONSIDER WORKING ON THIS WITH FRELICK?

It is constant.

Among all the overblown comments, something thoughtful. Very good.

It's almost as if Frelick got the thought in his head that he needs to 'take it to the next level' this year, hit .280-.300 but now hit 15-18 HRs too. Which if that's what he's thinking, is dumb. For his size, he's more than strong enough to run into one from time to time while still being a much tougher out than he's been. Hopefully he figures it out.

[markedman5]

White Sox just walked off the Cubs

[Brian]

32 minutes ago, trwi7 said:

We could literally play 3 games against the Cubs that may not be within 5 runs.  Play for the game today.  If tomorrow's game is like 8-3 either way it's going to look pretty stupid holding our top relievers back today.

You do realize the Cubs lost today also by doing the exact same thing. Rolison was the Cubs loser. Also In Division games count as a full game not 1/2.

[wiguy94]

For those pining for Bauers getting OF reps that 8th inning is a good example of why you're not going to see it super often. The bad throw home on the sac fly but also on the near catch by Chourio, that would have been caught by Chourio if he was playing LF. Based on the OF alignment that should have been the LF ball. Chourio really had no business making that catch based on where he started on the play.

I don't think Murphy had a good game today. Pinch hitting Rengifo against a LHP was very questionable. Against LHP this season he's looked like Perkins has against RHP which is pitcher esque. Uncompetitive 3 pitch AB. The other moment I didn't like from Murphy was letting Frelick hit against Rogers then pinch hitting Vaughn for Mitchell. Frelick was Roger's third hitter so Rogers had to face him. You could have set up Vaughn against a LHP with the tying run on 2B. Instead you got Frelick against a LHP and Vaughn against a RHP. 

Another major story is the Brewers batters being horrific at challenging. 2 outs in the 8th with the tying run on 3rd base and Rengifo takes a high strike to go down 0-1 in the count and doesn't challenge. 2 outs in the 9th with the tying run on 3rd base and Frelick takes a high strike to go down 0-1 in the count and doesn't challenge. Massive swings on the likelihood to score in those situations when you go from 1-0 to 0-1.

[markedman5]

 

[trwi7]

3 minutes ago, Brian said:

You do realize the Cubs lost today also. 

Oh, well in that case that changes absolutely nothing.

[Jim French Stepstool]

22 minutes ago, Underachiever said:

Woodford was good! Chourio coulda/shoulda caught the triple, Bauers looks like he never watched a Tom Emansky video with a terrible throw on a very medium fly ball, then two outs on a groundout and a K. Not like Woodford blew up out there. Tough crowd.

When we got back to full strength, there was talk of Bauers maybe playing an OF corner to keep his bat in the lineup. It makes sense on paper. But if it's RF, you're asking a guy who primarily plays 1B to play a very challenging OF spot and people can rail on Frelicks' hitting all they want but Bauers in RF is a pretty big dropoff. That leaves LF, which means Chourio is in CF and we saw how that looked.

[homer]

6 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Among all the overblown comments, something thoughtful. Very good.

It's almost as if Frelick got the thought in his head that he needs to 'take it to the next level' this year, hit .280-.300 but now hit 15-18 HRs too. Which if that's what he's thinking, is dumb. For his size, he's more than strong enough to run into one from time to time while still being a much tougher out than he's been. Hopefully he figures it out.

He has a .233 average on balls in play. Last year it was .313. He's had some bad luck that will even out.

Per your comment above, his bat speed is identical to last year so he's not swinging harder. He ha da nice double today. Hopefully that is the start of a hot stretch.

[Bulldogboy]

16 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

I won't bother scrolling back into the thread, but I assume there's some ranting about Woodford pitching the 8th instead of Uribe or Megill (if not, apologies). If there is........yeah, sometimes you see an "A list" reliever late with a one-run deficit. But usually not, unless someone has been sitting for awhile. That's pretty much standard with most teams. The bigger problem IMO was illustrated by Perkins running for Bauers in the top of the 9th. Why not run for Contreras when he reached? Because after the previous half-inning, Murphy saw all he wanted to see of Bauers in LF & Chourio in CF & was changing that right quick if we tied or took the lead, so you might as well pull Bauers for a faster man.. MAYBE one or the other depending on who else is out there, but both was not a good combination.

After the Bauers double in his next-to-last AB you need something pulled, and Taylor Rogers vs Sal Frelick was a bad matchup for getting that done. Sal needed to bunt, and if he wasn't told to he should've done it on his own.

It'll be interesting moving forward to watch the Yelich-Vaughn-Bauers dynamic re playing time.

I said it at the time Frelick not bunting was a bonehead decision. He's hitting 207 not 307.

[willie key]

Everyone lost in central.   Is that the first time?

[Jim French Stepstool]

7 minutes ago, Brian said:

You do realize the Cubs lost today also doing the exact same thing. Rolison was the Cubs loser. Also In Division games count as a full game not 1/2.

I can only imagine if some folks here were Cubs fans after losing 2/3 to the Sox. 

The losing team in Chicago today using a back-back-back of the BP guy in the last inning is a great point. It's almost as if a lot of these managers manage, you know, kinda the same.

[Brian]

Just now, willie key said:

Everyone lost in central.   Is that the first time?

No its not. 

[trwi7]

3 minutes ago, homer said:

He has a .233 average on balls in play. Last year it was .313. He's had some bad luck that will even out.

Per your comment above, his bat speed is identical to last year so he's not swinging harder. He ha da nice double today. Hopefully that is the start of a hot stretch.

His current wOBA is .275 and his xwOBA is .285.  Last year his wOBA was .332 and his xwOBA was .299.  He might improve a little bit but he's a poor hitter and we should be looking to upgrade and should have been looking to upgrade since his rookie year when it was clear he wasn't going to have a good bat, especially if he was going to be put in a corner outfield spot.

[wiguy94]

1 minute ago, willie key said:

Everyone lost in central.   Is that the first time?

Happened the last time we lost 

[wiguy94]

7 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

When we got back to full strength, there was talk of Bauers maybe playing an OF corner to keep his bat in the lineup. It makes sense on paper. But if it's RF, you're asking a guy who primarily plays 1B to play a very challenging OF spot and people can rail on Frelicks' hitting all they want but Bauers in RF is a pretty big dropoff. That leaves LF, which means Chourio is in CF and we saw how that looked.

Feel like that's a bit of a cheap shot at Chourio. Mitchell maybe makes that catch but you said he has been bad at finishing catches yesterday. Perkins doesn't get to that one the way he's running these days. The issue on that play is that it was the LF ball all day. Chourio was playing shaded to right and that ball was hit deep to the gap in left center. If Chourio was in LF he would have made that catch look relatively simple. He caught a ball in a similar spot yesterday in the 3rd inning that had a 35% catch probability.

[Jim French Stepstool]

6 minutes ago, homer said:

He has a .233 average on balls in play. Last year it was .313. He's had some bad luck that will even out.

Per your comment above, his bat speed is identical to last year so he's not swinging harder. He ha da nice double today. Hopefully that is the start of a hot stretch.

You don't think he's jumping out & trying to pull the ball more this year? Seems to me like he is...not constantly but too often.

I agree that chances are he'll be fine. I just don't know if he's having as much of a 'use the whole field' mentality. Doing that in the past seemed to get him pitches he could pull, more organically.

[Jim French Stepstool]

10 minutes ago, Bulldogboy said:

I said it at the time Frelick not bunting was a bonehead decision. He's hitting 207 not 307.

I think he should've bunted, but primarily because he was facing a LHP that comes from an angle where it's going to be tough for him to pull. Vs Rogers, I'd have Frelick bunting there regardless of his BA.

[Jim French Stepstool]

5 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

 If Chourio was in LF he would have made that catch look relatively simple.

Except he wasn't in LF because Bauers was there, so he had to be in CF. Not a cheap shot on Chourio.......although IMO he looks more comfortable in left. Bauers in LF & Chourio in CF is the alignment we'll see if Bauers is sent out there to get his bat in the lineup, and I think it's a bad combo. That's my main point.

[wiguy94]

1 minute ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Except he wasn't in LF because Bauers was there, so he had to be in CF. Not a cheap shot on Chourio.......although IMO he looks more comfortable in left. Bauers in LF & Chourio in CF is the alignment we'll see if Bauers is sent out there to get his bat in the lineup, and I think it's a bad combo. That's my main point.

I'm saying the cheap shot was you taking a shot at how Chourio's CF defense looked in the 8th inning when he didn't pull in a difficult catch. Chourio has looked really good defensively to start the season. Easily the best OF play overall so far since he came off the IL.

[Underachiever]

17 minutes ago, willie key said:

Everyone lost in central.   Is that the first time?

First time since Wednesday of this week.

[Jim French Stepstool]

4 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

I'm saying the cheap shot was you taking a shot at how Chourio's CF defense looked in the 8th inning when he didn't pull in a difficult catch. Chourio has looked really good defensively to start the season. Easily the best OF play overall so far since he came off the IL.

I looked back at what I typed. I referred to "Bauers in LF & Chourio in CF". What I was saying was that it's a bad combination. If it's compartmentalized into saying they both suck equally, that wasn't my intention, although I can see where it reads that way.

Do I think Chourio, at this stage of his career, is a better LF than a CF? Sure. But of course Bauers in an OF corner is the much bigger issue, if it comes to that.

[wiguy94]

3 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

I looked back at what I typed. I referred to "Bauers in LF & Chourio in CF". What I was saying was that it's a bad combination. If it's compartmentalized into saying they both suck equally, that wasn't my intention, although I can see where it reads that way.

Do I think Chourio, at this stage of his career, is a better LF than a CF? Sure. But of course Bauers in an OF corner is the much bigger issue, if it comes to that.

If that's what you meant then I apologize but it definitely read like you were talking about Chourio's play in CF based on "That leaves LF, which means Chourio is in CF and we saw how that looked."

[Jim French Stepstool]

5 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

If that's what you meant then I apologize but it definitely read like you were talking about Chourio's play in CF based on "That leaves LF, which means Chourio is in CF and we saw how that looked."

Nah, I meant the combo. 

Apologies back at ya.