Twins (Matthews) vs Brewers (Drohan): 08/07/26, 6:40 PM

[BruisedCrew]

This is one of the most disheartening losses of the season.

I’m attributing part of it to playing 17 games in 17 days with a 6 man SP rotation. It was easy to see that Drohan had no command tonight when he was giving up walks, home runs, and near home runs. But they obviously feel like they can’t afford to be going to  the bullpen after 4 innings or less, or even when he gives up 5;straight hits the next inning. 

The Brewers can’t afford to be losing games when the opponent gifts them 5;runs with shoddy defense. 

[TURBO]

2 minutes ago, rickh150 said:

I assume he was going to pitch 2 innings and gave up 2 runs instead…still think he is a valuable pick up.

But that doesn't explain the using him 3 out of 4 days, something he has never done in his career.

[Jim French Stepstool]

Unusually poor outing for Drohan. What I thought it boiled down to was his FB was being hit very hard, much of his secondary stuff was missing badly, and the breaking stuff that didn't miss badly would've been located well if the count was 0-2 or 1-2. Problem is, he was seldom at 0-2 or 1-2 & the Twins could be choosy. They had the proverbial hitting shoes on.

Even so, if the ball Bauers hit w/the bases loaded isn't caught we might be looking at a different outcome. That kinda short-circuited the inning & we STILL scored a couple runs, so...............

I'll make a prediction: Luis Lara is going to get more & more comfortable at the plate, feel more & more like he belongs (even more than he does now), and this board is going to get pissed every time Mitchell and/or Frelick takes PT away from him. And for the most part I won't blame them. As for Mitchell, his hustle down the line on ground balls---not just today, either---that's the stuff of winners. OTOH, you gotta take 3-1 in that last AB.

[TURBO]

Cubs won :(

[wiguy94]

5 minutes ago, rickh150 said:

I assume he was going to pitch 2 innings and gave up 2 runs instead…still think he is a valuable pick up.

I do not think the plan was for him to go 2 innings today when pitching for the 3rd time in 4 days for the first time in his career.

[ClearWaterWI]

Cubs have the momentum and appear to be all in for the second half. Scary with only 4.5 games separating them from a team with very little situational hitting bonafides. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

4 minutes ago, BruisedCrew said:

 But they obviously feel like they can’t afford to be going to  the bullpen after 4 innings or less 

They did exactly that with Sproat. The difference then was they most likely already knew they were swapping him for a fresh arm after the game. Now, Stallings & Anderson can't come back for a while, and they wanted Wilson to go an inning or two, tie or go ahead & go to the 'late pen'. Worst case, Wilson goes three which is what happened. I wasn't nuts about Drohan coming out for the 5th either but I reluctantly get it.

[Jim French Stepstool]

14 minutes ago, TURBO said:

Exactly!

When we got him, I thought it was with the purpose of multiple inning relief duties.

Just another odd situation with a RP at the deadline.  Add that to the JoJo being hurt, and not being able to pitch until the end of the month, and it just doesn't make a lot of sense.

That's a pretty good point. It would move Patrick to more of a 7th-and-later guy unless needed otherwise, and he's done OK in that role when asked. Yeah, 3 out of 4 days for Senzatela can certainly be questioned.

[wibadgers23]

6 runs is about the most you're gonna squeeze out of this offense right now. They had plenty of time to mount a comeback but couldn't come up with the big hit. Very unusual for the pitching staff to have a dud like tonight.

[Uwbadgers442]

Well - looks like we will have to scoreboard watch 3 teams to the wire. Obviously cubs are priority for a chance at the bye, but Braves about to win 9 straight. 
 

top 4 teams are gonna remain as so, but the order is wide open. 

[Opening Day]

Drohan was off all night.  In the 2nd (41 pitches hrough 2), they should have planned on someone new in the 5th.  Then had Wilson warmed up but didn't trust him for the the 6th.  Im a Murphy fan, but this wasn't his best night managing pitchers.  It happens.  They lost a game starting their 5th starter. It is what it is.  They will be fine.  Go out and take the next 2 and win the series.

[Bulldogboy]

Contreras hitting cleanup is not a great idea.

[yourout]

6 minutes ago, Bulldogboy said:

Contreras hitting cleanup is not a great idea.

He is the one guy in the lineup that we really can't replace. Sanchez can catch a game or 2 a week but if William doesn't come around I don't see us making any noise in the playoffs

[Jim French Stepstool]

1 hour ago, yourout said:

He is the one guy in the lineup that we really can't replace. Sanchez can catch a game or 2 a week but if William doesn't come around I don't see us making any noise in the playoffs

Yeah. There are a number of people who simply need to perform. Contreras is a good example. He needs to do what he's capable of, in a spot in the BO that's appropriate for his ability level if he's 'on'. You can dick around with the order, but as long as you do at least some alternating L-R-L-R there's no magic pill.

Like Mitchell. He was hot, finds himself at times hitting 3rd & is now not so hot. That might not have CAUSED it, but you need to be careful about that stuff with younger players & sometimes leave well enough alone. That's why I think it's really important for Lara to be comfortable & confident before he gets asked to hit higher up.

[greenlawler]

Vaughn sits......good gosh 

[rickh150]

4 hours ago, TURBO said:

But that doesn't explain the using him 3 out of 4 days, something he has never done in his career.

Threw 4 pitches on Wed….

[rickh150]

1 hour ago, greenlawler said:

Vaughn sits......good gosh 

Play him and Yelich needs to sit a bit….lets be real, Pat.

[Bulldogboy]

Murphy explanation on why he didn't go to Wilson when they had the lead was basically what if he didn't have it tonight. Get him out of here. Im tired of him.

[TURBO]

6 hours ago, rickh150 said:

Threw 4 pitches on Wed….

But still got up, warmed up and prepared for gametime pitches.

Again, he's NEVER done a stretch pitching 3 of 4 his entire career, it's not a time to start messing with what has worked for him.

[Brian]

Brewers pitchers gave up 13 hits and 4 walks.  That is just terrible and unacceptable. 

[Jim French Stepstool]

Totally understand Murphy's explanation. Stallings & Anderson are gone, Patrick had worked 3 out of 4 days. You're not getting DL Hall up for a 3rd day in a row. He wanted Senzatela for an inning, and I'm guessing it's the late-game trio after that assuming you're tied or leading. They weren't, so Wilson. The biggest issue is what was brought up by a couple folks earlier---Senzatela suddenly being in a different role from what he did in Colorado. Depending on how it works out, THAT is something Murphy could be questioned about.

This is also a byproduct of having 7 relievers instead of eight.

[TURBO]

That's another problem, Murphy doesn't get questioned by the Brewer owning media that has access to him in the post games.

Would just love to see and hear the tough questions being asked, even if only every now and then.

[wiguy94]

7 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Totally understand Murphy's explanation. Stallings & Anderson are gone, Patrick had worked 3 out of 4 days. You're not getting DL Hall up for a 3rd day in a row. He wanted Senzatela for an inning, and I'm guessing it's the late-game trio after that assuming you're tied or leading. They weren't, so Wilson. The biggest issue is what was brought up by a couple folks earlier---Senzatela suddenly being in a different role from what he did in Colorado. Depending on how it works out, THAT is something Murphy could be questioned about.

This is also a byproduct of having 7 relievers instead of eight.

It’s really more like 6.5 relievers than 7 because Murphy won’t use Wilson unless it’s a last resort

[Jim French Stepstool]

12 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

It’s really more like 6.5 relievers than 7 because Murphy won’t use Wilson unless it’s a last resort

Yep. Long man, extra-inning security blanket, whatever. If Patrick was fresh yesterday I'd guess we see him to start the 5th.

[wiguy94]

13 minutes ago, Jim French Stepstool said:

Yep. Long man, extra-inning security blanket, whatever. If Patrick was fresh yesterday I'd guess we see him to start the 5th.

It’s problematic. You can’t avoid using a guy like this when you have a 7 man bullpen. Sometimes you have to trust using a guy like Wilson in a situation where you don’t really want to use him and I think Murphy is really bad at that. I don’t know if that’s because of his win at all costs mantra or what but he has seemingly been reluctant to use the last guy in the bullpen basically his entire tenure as our manager.