7/23 Astros (Oswalt) at Brewers (Rusch)

[MassBrew]

Bill Hall your starting SS...

[thebruce44]

With Bill in for Hollywood, and Glendon pitching, we have a pretty decent batting lineup tonight.

[Al the Thinking Man]

Oh, if we only could have got Ensberg instead of Ginter for Loretta...he'd be stuck behind Helms right now.

 

That said, I'm certain Morgan has played some SS. Can you imagine that bat in an offensive hole like SS? I have to believe he'd be 2nd to ARod.

[Dollarbill13]

Bill Hall with a nice hard hit RBI groundout.... Royce strikes out on that pitch.

[rluzinski]

Great to see Hall in there, too bad we can't see Ginter in there too.

 

If I see Ey in there August 1st, I will officially HATE Yost.

[pogokat]

if they dont trade ey, they dnt trade him...hes been a good ball player in mke...and i guess i can live with it...i mean, it would be great to find out what else we got..but the team hasnt given up on winning games yet

 

so they probably lan on keeping some of the talent

[mls4]

Is that really Rusch out there? Outdueling Oswalt... unbelievable.

[rluzinski]

Playing only sporadically, Ginter has similar offensive numbers to EY. EY is AWEFULL defensively, Ginter is mediocre. EY steals some bases, yipee. Most importantly, EY has NO future with the Brewers, Ginter might.

 

I don't get it.

[mls4]

And now he strikes out the side!

The bullpen better hold it for him.

[deeswan]

Okay, who is the guy pitching and what did he do with Glendon Rusch? I mean, is Glendon's family worried at all that he's missing? Why hasn't ESPN reported anything on this?

[Al the Thinking Man]

One more start like this, we can get a couple middling prospects for Rusch.

[danzig6677]

One more start like this, we can get a couple middling prospects for Rusch.

 

Am i mistaken or isnt Rusch under contract for around 5 million next year??

 

By the way AL i saw your dad is ill,best wishes to him.

 

My grandpa was very ill recently and i know its rough.

[pogokat]

isnt this exactly what jamey wright did last year???

 

terrible until the very last moment..and then boom..chris morris and mike matthews..

ha!

[Ralph Wiggum]

Too bad for Rusch.....but free baseball anyway.

I was thinking this was going to be a blow out, so I'm very happy with the performance.

 

I think that Rusch may have a club option for next year, but don't quote me on that.

[JaNelson52]

It's good to see Glendon pitching a bit better, but I think it's crazy to think that we can even get a couple of middling prospects for him.

 

While Jamey Wright was not exactly lighting it up (5-13 with a 5-ish ERA) when he was traded last year, he was clearly better than his record indicated, as his numbers added up to being just a shade under replacement level for the season in MIL - and considering how streaky Wright was and how good he was when his stuff was right, Im sure in the Cardinals minds it was worth a LH middle reliever from a cramped bullpen (Matthews) and a couple of low-level at-best prospects to find out. However, even with today's good start, Glendon is still probably a good 25 or so runs under replacement level - and if I were a scout, two decent starts after a season's worth of getting shelled certainly wouldn't make me recommend to my GM do give away even a couple of minor leaguers for him.

 

In addition, Glendon still has about $1.3 million left on his contract this season, and that figure jumps to $1.8 million if you include the $500K buyout after this year. I wouldn't mind paying the rest of his salary to get rid of him, but I highly doubt any contender would give up any prospect of value - which can be the only rationale for paying nearly $2 million to trade a guy - for two months of Glendon Rusch. You can easily buy a couple of mid-level prospects for a couple of million when the guy you are trading has actually been performing well all season, ala Curtis Leskanic. Hard to think that can happen with Rusch.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Yeah, you have to give Rusch credit for shutting down a tough lineup in a hitters park tonight. I'm sure some prospective playoff teams are taking note of it too.

[BrewDude]

I have to vent a bit, which is something I really haven't done here yet. I guess it is time. Well I am sick and tired of this carousel of closers. VDLS just blew a save for glendon. I am just sick to death of it. Yost just put Kolb in there and let him throw the heat!!! Put Kolb in tonight the game is already over. The bullpen by committee just doesn't work and it cost people wins. Get it straight Yost!! Quit screwing around and just stick with Kolb!! Ok I am done!!

[deeswan]

Jason, you are probably right, but you don't know what might happen if Rusch pitches well in his next start and someone is desperate to add another starter, especially LH. Also, given Rusch's performance to date I would think Milwaukee would be able to get him through waivers and trade him in August if he strings together a good 4 or 5 start stretch.

[batman]

It's hard for me to believe that Rusch will be able to net us any prospects, at least until he puts together 2-to-3 more solid starts in a row. He might be a candidate for an August trade because he'd probably pass through waivers given his salary... and if he didn't, oh well - not a big loss, to be honest.

 

I still can't believe how bad he's been. He's never been a "good" pitcher, but he's always been decent. He's about as far from decent as it gets this year.

 

~Bill

[Ralph Wiggum]

Totally Agree Brewdude......Kolb should have been the man. He's the hot pitcher right now. Yost was trying for the matchup with turning Berkman around to bat righty, but obviously that didn't work. He needs to pick a guy and stick with him.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Well, I eat my words........Berkman just answered why VDLS was pitching to him in the ninth

[mothershipconnection]

Doesn't look good for the Brewers. Unless we come back we'll be 5-9 in extra innings. Ughh.

[guy2058]

Wes Helms has to take some of the blame in this one.

[BrewDude]

Even though Kolb surrendered the HR there it doesn't matter to the fact that he should have been closing it out. The first inning he was in tonight they went down, and he nailed the first two batters the next inning before the oops to Berkman. Regardless don't take it back Ralph because the point is still valid!!

[BrewDude]

Also what in the name of all that is holy does Osik pinch-hit in that situation!!?!!