Brewers (Harrison) vs Cardinals (McGreevy): 7/8/26, 6:45pm

[Brock Beauchamp]

I didn't watch yesterday's nightcap, which is too bad. Chourio almost hitting one out from the left side while the Brewers are blowing out the Cardinals is basically peak baseball.

	FRI	SAT	SUN	MON	TUE	TOT
Trevor Megill	12	0	16	15	0	43
Jared Koenig	0	26	0	0	0	26
Grant Anderson	20	0	16	0	0	36
Garrett Stallings	0	0	0	0	0	0
Drew Rom	0	0	7	0	0	7
Craig Yoho	0	27	0	0	10	37
Chad Patrick	34	0	0	20	0	54
Abner Uribe	17	0	23	0	19	59
Aaron Ashby	17	0	16	0	18	51

 

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

Hopefully we can get “elite” Harrison back tonight 

[TURBO]

Chourio did NOT almost hit a homer from the left side...  It was a fly ball.

[RobertCrawley]

We seem to excel at spurts of offensive production in one inning late in the game . I vote we move it up a little tonight. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

Yeah, I think it was the play-by-play guy who said Chourio 'almost hit it out'. Considering he never hits from that side it was hit really well, but not close to being out.

It's very impressive how good of shape the BP is in now that they're over 2/3 of the way through this 18-game stretch. Maybe Anderson first out of the chute tonite? Another offensive explosion would be nice, followed by Rom and/or Stallings.

There was a real contrast I noticed last night, made obvious by it being in back-to-back ABs. In the 5th inning w/the bases loaded, Yelich works a 1-1 count then swings at one over the plate but at his feet. So he's behind 1-2 & eventually Ks. Lara then gets to the same 1-1 count, sees what appeared to be the exact same pitch in the exact same location & laid off. The difference between 1-2 & 2-1 there can be huge. Of course Lara gets it to 3-1 & bangs one into the hole & through for 2 RBI. Even when he's been more productive, Yelich has gone through chasing episodes and now that he also swings through hittable pitches these days, it's just a killer. Seeing Lara lay off the same pitch, with the bags juiced & in his first big league game was very, very impressive.

 

[TrackCoach]

That bullpen chart after a double header is a thing of beauty!

[long ball]

Coming into this final week before the break I was hoping for 4-4. 
 

well now that we’ve started 3-0, im feeling greedy. I hope we get a bounce back performance from Harrison tonight and he goes 6-7 strong. Would be nice to get another day of rest for most of the leverage bullpen arms. 

[GreatNWwi]

41 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

 

There was a real contrast I noticed last night, made obvious by it being in back-to-back ABs. In the 5th inning w/the bases loaded, Yelich works a 1-1 count then swings at one over the plate but at his feet. So he's behind 1-2 & eventually Ks. Lara then gets to the same 1-1 count, sees what appeared to be the exact same pitch in the exact same location & laid off. The difference between 1-2 & 2-1 there can be huge. Of course Lara gets it to 3-1 & bangs one into the hole & through for 2 RBI. Even when he's been more productive, Yelich has gone through chasing episodes and now that he also swings through hittable pitches these days, it's just a killer. Seeing Lara lay off the same pitch, with the bags juiced & in his first big league game was very, very impressive.

 

I suspect it's all about scouting.  I believe it is somewhat clear batters are trying to predict the next pitch.  Further I think the scouting is so good that better pitchers are able to keep the batters guessing.  There is likely a huge book on Yelich and he doesn't seem to adjust well to pitches he does not expect.  Good scouting would identify this.

There is no book so to speak on Lara and he might be better at adjusting to unexpected pitches.  

So, when batters look foolish on a pitch that nobody in their right mind would swing at I suspect that they guessed wrong.  When people complain "what is he swinging at?" (any batter), I think it is clear they are swinging at a different pitch than was delivered.

I think the Rays scouted the heck out of the Yankees for their current series as the Yanks have struck out 17 times in each of the last two games.  

Maybe I am stating the obvious but I don't think some people see it this way.

[owbc]

1 minute ago, GreatNWwi said:

I suspect it's all about scouting.  I believe it is somewhat clear batters are trying to predict the next pitch.  Further I think the scouting is so good that better pitchers are able to keep the batters guessing.  There is likely a huge book on Yelich and he doesn't seem to adjust well to pitches he does not expect.  Good scouting would identify this.

There is no book so to speak on Lara and he might be better at adjusting to unexpected pitches.  

So, when batters look foolish on a pitch that nobody in their right mind would swing at I suspect that they guessed wrong.  When people complain "what is he swinging at?" (any batter), I think it is clear they are swinging at a different pitch than was delivered.

I think the Rays scouted the heck out of the Yankees for their current series as the Yanks have struck out 17 times in each of the last two games.  

Maybe I am stating the obvious but I don't think some people see it this way.

I agree that batters are almost always sitting on one pitch. 

In the AB that got Lara his first hit, he looked like he was initially sitting breaking pitch so it was seeing them well and confidently tracking the misses. To me he looked like Juan Soto in the way he confidently let those pitches go. Then on the actual hit I think he was guessing fastball and was out in front/over it, but managed to adapt enough to get it through the hole on the right side. 

Yelich is older and has lost bat speed so I don't think he can adapt as well as he used to. 

[Samurai Bucky]

3 hours ago, TURBO said:

Chourio did NOT almost hit a homer from the left side...  It was a fly ball.

The fact that he hit it with an EV of 98 and 360 feet from the left side really had no bearing on it.   Pull it a little more and it is out.

[owbc]

2 hours ago, long ball said:

Coming into this final week before the break I was hoping for 4-4. 
 

well now that we’ve started 3-0, im feeling greedy. I hope we get a bounce back performance from Harrison tonight and he goes 6-7 strong. Would be nice to get another day of rest for most of the leverage bullpen arms. 

I'm feeling greedy and want a "ball don't lie" 5-0 sweep. Make them pay for moving that game to July. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

2 hours ago, GreatNWwi said:

I suspect it's all about scouting.  I believe it is somewhat clear batters are trying to predict the next pitch.  Further I think the scouting is so good that better pitchers are able to keep the batters guessing.  There is likely a huge book on Yelich and he doesn't seem to adjust well to pitches he does not expect.  Good scouting would identify this.

There is no book so to speak on Lara and he might be better at adjusting to unexpected pitches.  

So, when batters look foolish on a pitch that nobody in their right mind would swing at I suspect that they guessed wrong.  When people complain "what is he swinging at?" (any batter), I think it is clear they are swinging at a different pitch than was delivered.

I think the Rays scouted the heck out of the Yankees for their current series as the Yanks have struck out 17 times in each of the last two games.  

Maybe I am stating the obvious but I don't think some people see it this way.

Interesting that you brought up the Rays, who are often compared to the Brewers AFA how they make personnel decisions & go about their business. I didn't see any of their series vs the NYY but yeah, I'm sure their game plan was very solid.

I think Yelich does an awful lot of anticipating/guessing. And I agree that Lara is probably much better at adjusting to the unexpected.

[Frisbee Slider]

Are Koenig and Anderson our leverage guys tonight? I’m sure Megill and Uribe could throw but one more day for each seems great.

[long ball]

1 hour ago, owbc said:

I'm feeling greedy and want a "ball don't lie" 5-0 sweep. Make them pay for moving that game to July. 

What’s funny is at the time the original game was rained out and scheduled for yesterday I thought to myself “the cards are hit right now and playing much better than we are… by the time this game gets made up we are going to be playing better and they’re going to be playing closer to their pre season expectations.”

 

played out just like that. 

[hoosier]

Oh no, oh no, oh no, please tell me it's a gigantic misunderstanding that Murphy has Greg Jones playing second base tonight with Turang (and Vaughn again) on bench. 

[hoosier]

[markedman5]

2 minutes ago, hoosier said:

Oh no, oh no, oh no, please tell me it's a gigantic misunderstanding that Murphy has Greg Jones playing second base tonight with Turang (and Vaughn again) on bench. 

Turang has had so few days off I’m not surprised they decided to give him one.

Jones is the only other infielder we have.

Not surprised Vaughn is down either vs a good righty.

Nice to see Lara in there again.

[hoosier]

I guess there really isn't room for Vaughn if Chourio or Yelich are not sitting and you're committed to Mitchell because of platoon advantage and Lara because he's Lara. Seeing Jones is still a shock to the system. But I suppose they are unlikely to face a LHP starter before the ASB so if Turang needs a break it might as well be now. 

[adambr2]

Seeing Greg Jones start another game as a Brewer after his DFA earlier this year was not on my bingo card.

[folly412]

Turang could use a day off.  Would have preferred Leonard, but thinking they still have 40-man flexibility concerns and a Jones DFA is an easier way to get a spot short-term than a Jett or Leonard addition.

[willie key]

The best thing about that Lara video wasn’t just how fast he was but how perfect his route was running the bases.    That should be an instructional video for young kids

 

those are the little things that win games.   Plus being really fast.  

[edfunderburk]

43 minutes ago, hoosier said:

Oh no, oh no, oh no, please tell me it's a gigantic misunderstanding that Murphy has Greg Jones playing second base tonight with Turang (and Vaughn again) on bench. 

We definitely have a strong bench tonight - Turang, Vaughn, Frelick, Sanchez

Unfortunately, Yelich is back in the leadoff spot

[JoeyWiemerTruther]

15 minutes ago, folly412 said:

Turang could use a day off.  Would have preferred Leonard, but thinking they still have 40-man flexibility concerns and a Jones DFA is an easier way to get a spot short-term than a Jett or Leonard addition.

There’s a big # of other guys in AAA that were options to fill Hamilton’s 3B/INF spot while he’s out, Jett Williams, Luke Adams, Eddys Leonard, Brock Wilken, Freddy Zamora, and Ethan Murray. However, these are all right handed batters so I figured they’d replace a LHB with a LHB. Jones also more expendable to quickly boot off the 40 man when needed than any of those guys other than maybe Zamora and Murray. Tyler Black was the only other LHB option and he played some 2B with Team Canada this Spring but not really a 3B option. Still personally would’ve rather had him recalled for the week. Not sure if Jones can play 3B but I assume he’s just starting at 2B today to give Turang 1 day off after starting both games yesterday. Probably don’t see him start another game.

[edfunderburk]

I would gladly exchange Tyler Black for Christian Yelich as a DH through the end of the season … even & the next two years 

[JoeyWiemerTruther]

Just now, edfunderburk said:

I would gladly exchange Tyler Black for Christian Yelich as a DH through the end of the season … even & the next two years 

Black’s my guy but I fear the only chance he has at staying on the team next year is if Bauers leaves in FA and he fills his 1B LHB platoon spot, and that would probably only be til Fischer or Burke is ready to be called up