TooLiveBrew

Roenicke said in the postgame presser tonight that 'we didn't have anyone else who could stop them' (not 100% sure that's exact) meaning after he pulled Thornburg. I thought that was about as harsh as I've ever heard him publicly about players.

I know he's actually a big leaguer, but I wanted to see what MiLB forum readers thought of Thornburg's debut. He really hit the wall after 5 or so, and if that's where some people don't see him as a SP then I get the doubts. For his first five innings, I thought he just looked so comfortable that it was hard to believe.

Yeah, this game is super-exciting. I can only imagine how much adrenaline is pumping through Tyler's veins right now. Go get 'em, TT!

Congrats to the Axford clan!

It could also be GM-speak for "bring a legit offer or don't even bother" I find it insanely hard to believe that, if the Brewers wind up selling, that they'd have some moronic & arbitrary rule about not dealing their most valuable realistically-tradeable chip. But I do have to say, my first reaction on reading that quip was basically summed up in your post. I've just taken some more time to try & digest that snippet... and perhaps am talking nonsense to calm down my panic

That's what I'm thinking too. If this was just going to be 1 start or so, it wouldn't follow normal Brewer protocol to call up someone like Thornburg to make it. That's a good point. That's why I said earlier that it would likely be Parra. It surprises me that it could be Thornburg. Makes me think that Marcum is headed for the DL. Yeah, same here. I think this is the best guess at this point, specifically due to how it wouldn't be normal Brewers procedure. Shaun Marcum is probably one nervous dude right now. If this injury is anything serious, it will cost him literally millions of dollars. Hoping for the best for him.

Tagging a runner before he gets to first is a force out. I think tagging any runner who is forced to advance is considered a force out. Interesting.

So what should have happened? If the batter is out, it is a force out and neither run would have scored. But because the umpire messed up, does the batter get first base? The ump definitely 'messed up' in calling "time" before the play had come to a live natural conclusion (I put 'messed up' in quotes since clearly the ump just had the injured player's best interests in mind... and I don't mean to imply you weren't/aren't empathetic, tdeggie). However, the subsequent ruling needed to have more clarification from the ump imo. The nature of the out is relevant -- obviously like you said, if it was a force out then the runs shouldn't have been counted. And I'm not sure that a tag out for this situation would be the same as actually taking the force out at 1B... but the play never got to that point thanks to the premature "time" call. I'm honestly not sure exactly what rule was applied to call the batter-runner out... the closest I can think of is that the batter-runner 'gave himself up', but that's typically reserved for a batter-runner who just turns & heads to the dugout without making any kind of attempt at 1B. And I'm not certain if giving yourself up as a batter-runner is regarded as a force out at 1B or not; I'd have to check the rules on that. And there might even be a special provision for a play just like this, where the batter-runner is injured during the play & unable to proceed to 1B. But the ump certainly botched this situation, and in all likelihood it was probably because he/she has never had that situation come up in a game before. From what you've described it just sounds like the ump didn't know how to handle the scenario, and just worked out an arrangement that both managers were satisfied with... which certainly doesn't mean the correct call was made.

I almost feel like if you asked Chris what he does on his days off during the season, he'd just start laughing. Great stuff, Chris!

I'm not sure how you can hold the NL East & NL West in the same regard, top to bottom.

I don't have the link to back up what I'm saying here, but I absolutely remember that comment from Melvin being waaaay over-interpreted. Iirc the answer he gave clearly sounded like an answer to the question, 'Is there any chance Jungmann could help next season?'... and answered that yeah, technically he supposed there was a chance. It certainly wasn't an answer where DM was publicizing that he expected Jungmann to reach the bigs anytime soon... more of just answering a hypothetical. I realize that has nothing to do with Morgan, but I don't want this comment I quoted from you to turn into the new 'The Giants offered Cain for Hart & DM passed!'

Just so it's officially noted, TheCrew07 & I have agreed to switch Huntsville (now me) & DSL responsibilities. Thanks TC07, it'll be nice to not have to wait up nightly for those boxes & game logs.

Really? No one so far?

@DSL Brewers 6, DSL Tigers 2 DSL Box Another day, another DSL game, and another strong pitching performance from the Cerveceritos. Today it was RH starter Milton Gomez (5 IP, 4 H, 2 R/ER, 1 BB, 6 K, 6:2 GO:AO) and piggyback partner, LH Juan Santiago (4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K, 3:1 GO:AO). Gomez turned 18 less than two months ago, while Santiago is in his age-21 season. What I wouldn't do for some reliable scouting reports on these DSL arms... but oh well. Also of note, zero WPs, zero HBPs, zero PBs, and zero errors for the Crew. Although this season's Cerveceritos are working hard to make that seem commonplace, it really is impressive. Gomez allowed one run in each of the first two innings, but the Brewers scored twice in their half of the 1st, and the game remained tied 2-2 until the bottom of the 5th. After the new Tigers pitcher retired the first two batters he faced via the groundball, SS Carlos Belonis lined a single into CF. There was a missed catch of some sort by the Tigers CF, because Belonis came all the way around to score on the play. Belonis had doubled in his previous PA, & finished the game 2-3 with the only RBI (via sac fly in the 1st) credited to a Brewers hitter. The score stood at 3-2 until the home half of the 7th -- and it was a vintage DSL inning. One single, three walks, and four wild pitches... and three runs scored for the Crew en route to the 6-2 final score. Leadoff man CF Francisco Castillo (2-4) & 2-hitter 3B Raphachel Colatosti (1-3, 1 BB) were the only other Cerveceritos to tally hits. With Belonis in the 3-hole, the top three spots in the lineup combined to go 5-10. The other six spots in the lineup combined for a shudder-inducing 0-16... although they did produce six BBs and two HBPs. New addition Yunior De La Cruz gave Carlos Pena the day off and made his first start of the season at catcher, going 0-3 with a walk. Other new face Jose Dicent played 1B & went 0-4. Sthervin Matos was once again in at DH. He only got one AB in today's game, but it wasn't due to re-aggravating his inury. He walked once and was HBP in two other PAs. So he finished his day at 0-1, but reached base three times. Ahh, baseball. Matos must be feeling better, too, because he attempted two steals in the game today (1/2 success rate). Hopefully he'll be back manning 3B before long. DSL PbP

Except that Maldonado shows a polished approach at the plate routinely, instead of Gomez's swing-from-the-heels-when-I'm-not-bunting approach that he has routinely. Maldonado has actually had three relatively good offensive seasons in a row now for a catcher (yes, I'm prematurely chalking '12 up as a good season... could be wrong). If you only look at stats & you don't put any critical thought into watching him as an actual hitter, I can see how you'd just write him off though.

No joy.

At this point, I'd just like the Brewers to keep Kottaras as a 1B/C/Bench Thunder, with Luc & Maldonado as the two main catchers. I realize 'the league' will get 'a book' on Maldonado before long, but what I've seen of him at the plate so far looks good. Yes, he's still learning, but I believe there's talent there, or at least backup big-league catcher talent. Not to mention his defense. He'll be really affordable through 2015 or so, and I think he'd look really nice teamed up with Lucroy.

I might be able to check back in once more tonight before heading to bed, but it's looking like Friday night may have taken priority over getting the DSL Brewers box score & recap updated on the MiLB site.

So I'm not sure whether or not to start a thread in the ML forum or not, but... I'd like to formally invite people to a tailgate prior to the August 18th (Sat.) game against the Phillies to help Kalle & Rosanna celebrate their honeymoon & pilgrimage to the Mecca that is Miller Park! I happened to already be going to this game, and when I realized that this was a game Kalle would be attending, I messaged him to see if anyone had invited him to a tailgate yet. When he answered 'no' -- and the enthusiasm he has for this tailgate came oozing off my cpu monitor -- I knew this had to happen. What I'd like to know is if enough people would be interested in this to warrant a post in the ML forum taking an official head count. As of right now I have absolutely zero planned & zero idea of how much interest to expect. So please weigh in with whether or not you want to attend -- this tailgate is 100% happening, even if it's just like half a dozen people total But I'll need to have some idea of how much food/beer will be needed, so... go!

Clearly B-Ref & actual facts are no match for my infallible human memory

I get that Lawrie is still only 22 or whatever, but he hasn't been very good this season. He hasn't been horrible, but not great either. Offensively, he'd be toward the low end of AL 3rd basemen. I should know because he's been one of the bigger disappointments on my fantasy team. Maybe last year was a bit of a mirage. Last season was definitely a mirage in that he shouldn't have been expected to instantly be a HOF-caliber bat. But I do believe he's going to return to that level of production once he really hits his stride. And it wouldn't surprise me at all if he were to have a big second half this year, either. He's just very naturally gifted as a hitter, he has bat speed you simply can't coach. I realize some people read posts like this & assume that I mean I'm guaranteeing that he'll be a star, but that's not the case. He simply has the type of physical ability necessary to be a star.

And 100% just like last season, most people's complaints about RR's boneheaded in-game moves have nothing to do with results or team W-L. It sure was his 'fault' last season that the team was winning, when it came to discussions that were critical of his in-game strategy, so you'd better believe that it's his 'fault' now that they're losing. Not that I genuinely feel that way, but it can't be both ways so conveniently for the crowd that doesn't seem able to separate bad strategy from good or bad results.

He's worn that baserunning wrist brace or whatever you want to call it for a while now, unless this was something different Dnye.

I don't see how this team is a contender in 2013 unless there are some very nice trades pulled off by Melvin over the rest of this season. And this is why so many people have/had a problem with "going for it" in 2011. Yeah, sure, it was great to be a serious contender for one season. Trouble is, you don't get to hit the reset button & start over after that... you have to lie in the bed you made, and that's where Melving & Attanasio are currently languishing. This organization is in serious trouble right now imo, and with Melvin at the helm, I'm concerned that any kind of rebuilding efforts wouldn't pan out (demanding MLB-ready players instead of high-upside players regardless of level, etc.). Sure, there's some nice pitching on the farm now, but for how much longer? Do people really expect Patcher Melvin to not trade at least some of those young arms for vet SP(s)? Melvin doesn't build an organization, he's focused nearly 100% on the MLB team in the next 1- or maybe 2-year window... and this is the result of that strategy, whether it'd worked for a WS title last season or not.