TooLiveBrew

Final: @Casper 9, Helena 8 Mende's big night helps Ghosts snap losing streak Casper Ghosts Sam Mende tripled and homered twice as the Casper Ghosts snapped their 7-game losing streak with a 9-8 win over the Helena Brewers at Mike Lansing Field. For the first time since Monday, the Ghosts struck first. Yafistel Roja led off with an infield single and he scored on a David Kandilas double. With two out, Sam Mende made it 3-0 when he hit a 2-run homer, his fifth of the season. Helena got one of those runs back. They had runners at the corners with one out, and on a pickoff throw to first Danny Winkler threw the ball away, allowing a run to score. Matt Argyropoulos got that run back with a home run to lead off the bottom of the second, his first homer since opening night in Orem June 20. Another error on Winkler allowed another Brewer run to score, cutting the Ghosts lead to 4-2. The Ghosts put up another 3-spot in the third. Will Swanner singled with one out, and he scored on a triple by Mende. Carl Thomore brought Mende home with a single. He stole second and scored on a single by Argyropoulos to give the Ghosts a 7-2 lead. Helena scored a run in the fourth on a double by John Dishon to cut the lead to -3. Mende's second homer came with 1 out in the fifth, that made it an 8-3 game, but John Dishon answered with his third home run of the season to cut the lead to four runs. The Ghosts ninth run came via a 2-out rally in the bottom of the sixth. Yafistel Roja singled and then stole second. He scored on a single by David Kandialas to put the Ghosts up 9-4, but Helena answered with two runs in the seventh after Nick Ramirez hit a 2-run homer to make it a 9-6 game. Helena made the Ghosts sweat it out, as they had the tying run in scoring position with two away, but Russell Brewer came in and struck out Kyle Dhanani to lock down his second save of the season. The Ghosts and Brewers continue their 4-game series Sunday afternoon, first pitch is set for 1:05 at Mike Lansing Field. Helena Box Score Eric Arnett optimists, shield your eyes: 4.1 IP, 11 H, 8 R/ER, 1 BB, 2 K. *sigh* Seth Harvey allowed one run in 2.2 IP, allowing two hits, striking out three & walking none. Sean Albury ('11 31st-rd.) pitched a clean 8th inning. Ramirez added two singles to go along with his homer. Dhanani also singled twice. Max Walla walked once, and had a two-out RBI double in Helena's almost-enough rally in the 9th inning. Yadiel Rivera singled twice & walked twice. Helena Play-by-Play The Ghosts were up 9-4 heading into the 7th inning, when Ramirez's longball brought the Brewers back within striking distance: Helena Top of the 7th Robert Garvey grounds out, pitcher Alejandro Barraza to first baseman Matthew Argyropoulos. Yadiel Rivera walks. With Nick Ramirez batting, wild pitch by Alejandro Barraza, Yadiel Rivera to 2nd. Nick Ramirez homers (3) on a fly ball to right center field. Yadiel Rivera scores. Parker Berberet pops out to second baseman Jose Rivera. Max Walla flies out to left fielder Carl Thomore. And here's the top of the 9th; Helena took Casper down to the wire tonight: Helena Top of the 9th Defensive Substitution: Harold Riggins replaces first baseman Matthew Argyropoulos, batting 8th, playing first base. Robert Garvey grounds out, second baseman Jose Rivera to first baseman Harold Riggins. Yadiel Rivera singles on a line drive to left fielder Carl Thomore. Nick Ramirez singles on a fly ball to left fielder Carl Thomore. Yadiel Rivera to 2nd. With Parker Berberet batting, wild pitch by Benjamin Hughes, Yadiel Rivera to 3rd. Nick Ramirez to 2nd. Parker Berberet out on a sacrifice fly to center fielder David Kandilas. Yadiel Rivera scores. Nick Ramirez to 3rd. Max Walla doubles (6) on a fly ball to left fielder Carl Thomore. Nick Ramirez scores. Pitcher Change: Russell Brewer replaces Benjamin Hughes. Kyle Dhanani strikes out swinging.

I got more curious tonight, & looked into this more. I think you're right & I was wrong -- this is probably not a PCL issue. Sorry I was so quick to assume I knew, what with my extensive medical training & all. Bear with me, as I think I'm doing this right... The biceps femoris is one of the three hamstring muscles. In layman's terms (I think this is correct), the biceps femoris muscle tapers down into a tendon that connects to the exterior side of the top of the fibula, & also connects to the outer-most side of the top of the tibia. http://i.imgur.com/2vu0W.gif (image source: http://www.dubinchiro.com/features/hamstring1.html) I circled the area where I'm guessing the inflammation is located. That would be the bottom of the biceps femoris, at the point where it contracts into a tendon & connects to the fibula & tibia. That would be a "tendon behind the knee", and clearly it can be seen how it would be felt in both the hamstring & calf areas. But I suppose it could also be off the semitendonosus or semimembranosus, the other two main muscles that comprise "the hamstring". EDIT: I think you can feel (by touch) these two tendons just outside & slightly behind your knee.

Not to mention that K-Rod's best out pitch is a filthy changeup, which moves down & away from LHB. My impression of Roenicke so far? Ned Yost with a better personality.

The report again on Braun's injury during the broadcast (aka the info the Brewers provided) was a 'calf & hamstring strain'. This is a tendon issue, and could be a serious problem for the Brewers the rest of the way. I hope his exiting the game tonight was extremely precautionary. This lineup gets pretty ugly without him in there.

I think people are being overly critical of the pitching staff - Wolf has been absolutely exceptional. Yo has been a bit of a disappointment - but it's not like he has been bad. Marcum has also been great but did seem to slow down since the quick exit in Boston. Gallardo's rough stretch in late April & early May is still inflating his ERA quite a bit. Over his last 10 starts, his ERA is 3.45. Wolf has been just huge so far. Marcum has come back to earth, probably due to the hip flexor issue, but maybe not. Hard to say. Greinke's start tonight dropped his ERA from 5.45 to 5.04. Still obviously not good, but I believe he's going to have that ERA down in the low 4's pretty soon. Narveson has been pretty bad lately, 5.95 ERA in his last 10 starts. I think we tend to overvalue him, but he's certainly not a bad #5.

Taylor Green is a better option at 3B. What Melvin has against him, I'm not sure I'll ever figure out.

How about this? "These things, these contracts, most of the time a manager doesn’t know about them, so you don’t have to worry about anything." What the... what?

Well the bad news is that this team is probably only about a 82-86 win team, in terms of talent. The good news is that Melvin has the hard-to-get pieces (aka stars), and the improvements that should be made are relatively affordable & available.

I really am of the belief that this can't be said enough: this team is really not as talented as we'd like to believe it is. It has the star players, but it has so many liabilities in the complementary players that it's just painful. Hopefully Melvin will change that.

Sad, but possibly true

Rivera is holding his own nicely though, he even walked tonight... hopefully the OBP goes up as he learns to be more selective at the plate. Count me as one that's very high on Yadiel. Nice to hear how impressed Toby has been by his arm, as well. Honestly I didn't think he should've been sent down from Wisconsin... but what do I know.

Well honestly part of the problem is that this team just really has too many players who are either bad or performing poorly overall. I don't mean that sarcastically -- you have Kotsay, Betancourt, McGehee, Loe, Braddock, Greinke, Gomez*, Wilson, Counsell, & Estrada -- that's 40% of the 25-man roster. Ultimately it's probably just a small sample thing, but it's related to not having enough talent. I mean, this team's pythagorean W-L record right now is 45-48. Let that sink in; that's how effective the Brewers have been at scoring runs & preventing runs simultaneously. * I know Gomez has been very good in the field. He probably shouldn't be on the list, really. Dropping him off puts that number at 36% of the 25-man.

I kind of feel badly for Ax Man now. He did not do anything wrong to have his job put into question. Well as has been discussed on this topic, a "game finished" can be pitching the bottom of the 8th on the road when the home team goes on to win. Or blowing a save but still being the last pitcher used. I don't think Roenicke is stupid enough to value "Frankie" over Axford... at least I'm pretty sure. EDIT: Now that the vesting option has been ditched, I'm feeling confident that Axford will still be The Closer™. However I would LOVE to see Roenicke just using his best RPs in the most important situations, regardless of inning.

Yeah, that *had* to have been sarcasm. it's like having two Yuni Betancourt's playing everyday. Unacceptable on a team trying to make the playoffs. It's poor decision-making like this that keeps teams from making the postseason. 'It's fine for now' & 'you just have to ride it out & he'll get it going', until all of a sudden it's September & you've wasted away soooo many chances at those two, three, four, extra wins that are the difference between playing in the postseason & wondering what went wrong.

Don't judge [betancourt] entirely on what you've seen so far. Yeah, that stance coming in from the offseason really proved accurate. He's totally going to turn into a competent hitter & fielder, we just have to wait for it.

It's just amazing. I think I'm about to go off on a rant. Casey McGehee, nice guy I'm sure, & yes I'd love to see him start hitting again. But at this point, there's a very real possibility that Casey just caught lightning in a bottle for a season+. He was never more than a pedestrian hitter in the minors, is a liability on defense, is as slow or slower than most catchers in MLB... I just don't see what he adds at this point. He's immune from being sent down, but you had Hardy who was not only sent down but clearly had his service time exploited? All the while, Taylor Green, who was highly regarded prior to his wrist injury & has produced well at multiple levels of MiLB, wastes away in AAA. He's a solid defender, good LH bat with power & patience, just an upgrade over McGehee in almost every way. It makes zero sense. It's ironic to me -- McGehee was given priority over a far more talented (tools-wise) player in Gamel, because the team was trying to 'win now'... even though they shouldn't have been. Now, you have an actual prospect, McGehee is just horrible with no encouraging signs, the team should & is in 'win now' mode, and McGehee is just completely accepted as the reality. Doug Melvin, please wake up on this one.

Apparently, the answer to this thread title's question is "unlimited". This situation has gone from annoying me, to concerning me, to really really really pissing me off. If Casey played good defense, I could live with them sticking with him & just putting him at like the #7 spot. But neither of those things holds true.

Erik Komatsu (Little Pine) is one of my irrational favorites to follow (not a big prospect, but I just like him). He profiles as a 4th OF or lower-end RF starter. High OBP, lower SLG. Can play CF in a pinch. I can see him being one of the PTBNL options. One reason I think Komatsu's a decent bet to be on the PTBNL list is that the reports on his defense are that he's not really a CF, but doesn't have the arm for RF.

Saito has K-Rod has 125 saves the past 4 seasons - Saito has 20, not to mention K-Rod is 12 years younger. Brewers would lose that grievance within 30 seconds, there is no doubt that K-Rod is the better closer today. There's no way you know what would happen. The Brewers don't owe K-Rod anything, they didn't sign him to close, nor did they acquire him to close. (heck, how often do players actually win this type of grievance?) Or even file for it?

Lawrie would be getting ready to step into the 3rd base role right now. If only the Brewers had a solid defensive 3B option putting up a .900+ OPS in AAA right now.

Going to be at the T-Rats game tonight. We'll probably see some rain, but I doubt enough to postpone the game.

direct link to said tweet Great find by Heyman Fwiw, Heyman's got the reputation of being a Boras mouthpiece

I could definitely see Komatsu being one of the PsTBNL. Davis would surprise me & piss me off. ...is that how you feel about Khris Davis? Absolutely not, and most who frequent the MiLB forum here are readying the pitchforks & torches if Davis isn't promoted to Huntsville soon.

I would still like to see the Brewers go after Ryan, but no thanks on Figgins. Let Jack Z. live with that mistake.

Some Moog (background music) reports on Walla could be fun