TooLiveBrew

Not my place, but that dude should be banned for the season-long troll job he put on here. Has he even shown his face on here during the last month? He was banned.

Playoff hopes fading, Brewers turn to Fiers in Cincy Milwaukee coming off tough series loss to contending Pirates By Stephen Petrella / MLB.com | 9/22/2014 12:06 AM ET After losing two of three games in a crucial series against the Pirates, the Brewers will turn their attention to the Reds on Tuesday, trying to make a desperate push at the postseason. But they're now 4 1/2 games behind Pittsburgh for the National League's second Wild Card spot. Mike Fiers will start for Milwaukee opposite Cincinnati ace Johnny Cueto following an off-day Monday. There was some concern that Fiers would be shaken after hitting Giancarlo Stanton in the face over a week ago, ending the outfielder's season. But in his last start, Fiers answered any questions one would have. Fiers took a no-hitter into the sixth inning against the Cardinals on Wednesday, and a shutout into the seventh. On the day, he allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits. "Obviously, everyone knows what happened," said Fiers, referring to the Stanton incident. "But we've got games in front of us, important games, and this was an important one." Cueto had an uncharacteristically poor start on Tuesday, allowed five runs on six hits in a 7-0 loss to the Cubs. He lasted just 5 2/3 innings and walked five. But Cueto has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this season, posting a 2.33 ERA, 3.56 strikeout-to-walk ratio and a 0.98 WHIP. Brewers: K-Rod now 10th on all-time saves list Francisco Rodriguez tossed a six-pitch inning on Saturday to seal a 1-0 victory over the Pirates, picking up his 43rd save of the season and 347th of his career. That tied him with lefty Randy Myers for 10th all time. With 11 more saves, Rodriguez will tie Troy Percival for ninth on the saves list. But that will have to wait until next season. "I'm going to take it with a lot of pride, definitely," he said of Saturday's milestone. "Especially with my family here with me, enjoying this moment, it's priceless for me." Reds: Latos won't pitch again in 2014 Reds starting pitcher Mat Latos began this season injured, and that's how he's going to end it as well. Latos, who has already missed two starts with a bone bruise in his right elbow, is not slated to get one final start this week before the season ends. "We haven't gotten beyond the game of catch at this time. It hasn't been fluid or completely pain free," Reds manager Bryan Price said. Latos finished his injury-shortened season with a 5-5 record and 5.25 ERA in 16 starts. He spent all last winter rehabilitating from October elbow surgery to remove bone chips. Just before Spring Training started, he tore meniscus cartilage in his left knee while throwing. Another setback came when Latos strained the flexor mass tendon during a rehab assignment in the Minors. He did not return from the disabled list until June 14, but pitched well, for the most part, when he was healthy. Latos will be third-year arbitration-eligible this offseason after earning $7.25 million in 2014. Worth noting • Cueto has a 3.22 ERA and 1.11 WHIP in 15 career starts against the Brewers. He fanned 10 over eight innings on May 3 against Milwaukee. • Devin Mesoraco hit his 40th career home run on Sunday and his 24th of the season with a three-run shot vs. the Cardinals. With 77 RBIs, Mesoraco is the first Reds catcher to tally more than 75 RBIs in a season since Ed Taubensee had 87 RBIs in 1999.

[igt-2012][game-setup][logo]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20589901/BrewerFan/2014/logos/brewers.png[/logo][game-info][h1]September 23 | 6:10 P.M.[/h1][h2]Brewers (80-76) | Reds (72-84)[/h2][h3]FSWI | WTMJ 620[/h3][/game-info][logo]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20589901/BrewerFan/2014/logos/reds.png[/logo][/game-setup][pitching-photos]http://i.imgur.com/OEeAnto.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/DZMu2GM.jpg[/pitching-photos][game-matchup][divclass=away][pitcher]Mike Fiers[/pitcher][h2]6-3, 1.78 ERA, 0.84 WHIP[/h2][h3]Versus Reds | Game Log[/h3][h3]Fiers was just fine in his first work since a scary incident involving Marlins star Mike Stanton, taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning and a shutout bid into the seventh against the Cardinals on Wednesday.[/h3][/divclass][divclass=home][pitcher]Johnny Cueto[/pitcher][h2]18-9, 2.33 ERA, 0.98 WHIP[/h2][h3]Versus Brewers | Game Log[/h3][h3]Cueto needs two victories to reach 20 and is coming off one of his poorer outings of the season at Chicago, where he gave up a season-high five walks along with six earned runs in 5 2/3 innings.[/h3][/divclass][starting-lineup][divclass=away] CF Carlos Gomez 2B Scooter Gennett C Jonathan Lucroy 3B Aramis Ramirez RF Ryan Braun LF Gerardo Parra 1B Matt Clark SS Jean Segura RHP Mike Fiers[/divclass][divclass=home] CF Billy Hamilton LF Jason Bourgeois 1B Todd Frazier C Devin Mesoraco 2B Brandon Phillips RF Jay Bruce 3B Kristopher Negron SS Zack Cozart RHP Johnny Cueto[/divclass][/starting-lineup][/game-matchup][game-links][h3][chat]BrewerFan Chat[/chat] | MLB Gameday[/h3][/game-links][/igt-2012]

There have been numerous responses in this thread that go a lot deeper than, 'We suck, fire everybody'. And has anyone actually called Melvin terrible? The thing I hate in this kind of discussion is the knee-jerk extreme/polarized canned responses from those on both sides. Gets in the way of what has potential to be a great discussion.

I thought it'd be interesting & useful to compare the franchises at .500 or better over the past 5 seasons (from 2010 - today ). I used the 2014 W-L records as they currently appear on Baseball-Reference: [pre]Team W-L WS wins LCS wins LDS wins Div. titles Playoff apps. BAL 406-396 (1)* (2) BOS 412-391 1 1 1 1 1 NYY 451-351 2 2 3 TBR 444-360 1 3 DET 443-359 1 3 (4) (4) LAA 429-374 (1) (1) OAK 429-373 2 (3) TEX 431-372 2 2 2 3 ATL 446-356 1 3 PHI 424-379 1 2 2 WAS 423-378 (2) (2) CIN 428-375 2 3 MIL 410-393 1 1 1 STL 448-355 1 2 3 (2) (4) LAD 428-374 1 (2) (2) SFG 432-370 2 2 2 2 (3)[/pre] * = any number in parentheses includes a tally for the 2014 season. These might not wind up being right, but are correct if the postseason started today. I don't understand the mentality that's fearful of trying a new GM. The Brewers had a better sustained run of success from '78-'92 (15 seasons) than they have from '05-'14 (10 seasons). The fact that the organization was run horribly for basically a decade from the early-/mid-'90s to the mid-'00s has little -- if any -- effect on who the Brewers would be able to hire & the direction they'd take the franchise from 2015 - onward.

Six pitches of serenity?

Hey... a win!

BF.net is looking to refresh the IGT lead post template. Pretendastronaut's design is great, but it's been in use for 3 seasons now, & a fresh new look is in order. If you have the graphic & coding ability, we want to see your take on the IGT template! The necessary features/info are what's already included in the current template: date, team logos, game time, TV & radio broadcast info, team logos, SP images, team records, starting lineups, a text field for the daily MLB Gameday SP blurbs, MLB Game day link, & BF.net chat link. Beyond that, it's up to you. Please note that the ideal template will be simple enough to use on a daily basis that 'anyone' can work with it. We're definitely willing to deal with some complexity in exchange for visual appeal, though. Any accepted template's submitter will need to connect with 1992casey to ensure that it gets coded correctly for use on the site. So if you can contribute, please chime in here! The mod team will follow up with you for further involvement.

http://i.imgur.com/gcrLGf3.jpg It is the fault of the Wang!

Luuuuuuuc!!!!

Martinez looking a little fatigued. Hope we can get to him here.

C'mon, Scooter

Cards employ Miller looking to pad NL Central lead Brewers turn to Lohse seeking series win in chase for Wild Card spot By Manny Randhawa / MLB.com | 9/18/2014 2:00 AM ET As the Cardinals continue their push toward a second consecutive National League Central title with the Pirates trailing by just 2 1/2 games, St. Louis will send one of its hottest starters to the mound to face the Brewers in Thursday night's series finale at Busch Stadium. Right-hander Shelby Miller is 2-0 with a 0.45 ERA (one earned run in 20 innings pitched) in three September starts, and he's been particularly good against the Brewers in his career. In seven starts against them, the 23 year-old is 5-0 with a 2.30 ERA. St. Louis, which lowered its magic number for a postseason berth to six on Wednesday, has never lost to Milwaukee with Miller on the mound. During the stretch run in 2013, Miller faded in September and only made one appearance in the postseason as the Cardinals reached the World Series. This year, however, he feels different. "My first year last year, going through 170 innings, it's a grind," Miller said. "I felt strong then, but I feel stronger now, and I feel like I'm a smarter pitcher because of [catcher Yadier Molina]. It's not me making the calls out there. I'm just trying to make the pitch." Miller will be going up against a Brewers club that is playing each game as if it could be the difference between making the postseason or missing it, because it could be. With Wednesday night's 2-0 loss, Milwaukee is five games back in the NL Central and 2 1/2 games behind Pittsburgh for the second NL Wild Card spot. The Brewers will send veteran right-hander Kyle Lohse to the hill hoping for a clutch performance. Unlike his counterpart on Thursday, Lohse has not had success in his career against his next opponent. In 12 starts against St. Louis, Lohse is 3-7 with a 5.12 ERA. In three starts against the Cards this season, he's 0-2 with a 9.64 ERA (15 earned runs in 14 innings pitched). Lohse was solid in his last start, but he settled for a no-decision in an eventual 3-2, walk-off win over the Reds last Friday. He went 6 2/3 frames, allowing two runs on five hits, while walking two and striking out six. After his last start against St. Louis, in which he gave up five runs over four innings in a loss on Sept. 6, Lohse spoke about the notion that the Brewers were running out of time after falling out of first place, a position they held for 150 days. "We have to look at it as we have a game tomorrow and we have to come out and do the best we can to execute when we have opportunities," he said. "That's the way it is." Brewers: Starters coming through in crunch time The Brewers have been getting solid starting pitching over the past week, and despite Wednesday's loss, right-hander Mike Fiers pitched well, allowing one earned run on three hits over seven innings, while carrying a no-hitter into the sixth. "I don't know why that happens," manager Ron Roenicke said of starters feeding off each other. "They run a lot on emotions, and when we're not going well and everyone tries harder, it never works. "That's probably the biggest thing when you're going bad, people try to do things that they're not normally used to doing. The mind screws up the body. The veterans, that's where it really becomes important. They're the ones who should get through all this and know that they've got to stay level to get out of it." Cardinals: Despite hiccup, Rosenthal continues to chase saves mark With 44 saves on the season, closer Trevor Rosenthal is three shy of setting a franchise record. He blew a save opportunity on Tuesday night by yielding the tying run to Milwaukee in the ninth. That was his first blown save chance in nearly a month, and a familiar issue for Rosenthal was the culprit: the leadoff hitter reaching base. Forty percent of batters leading off an inning against Rosenthal have reached base against him in 2014. "What he needs to be reminded about is that he's up on the leaderboard up there for saves, and we trust him in those situations," manager Mike Matheny said. "It comes with getting one out at a time and trusting your stuff. There are times when it's just not there. Times like [Tuesday] stand out, and the natural tendency would be a mistake of overcorrecting something." Worth noting • Milwaukee's Scooter Gennett is 6-for-13 (.462) against Miller. Aramis Ramirez is also 6-for-13 against the right-hander, with two home runs and five RBIs. • Several Cardinals hitters have had success against Lohse. Matt Holliday is 10-for-28 (.357) with a double, a homer and four RBIs. Molina is 11-for-20 (.550) with three doubles, three homers and eight RBIs. Jhonny Peralta is 8-for-22 (.364) with a double, homer and two RBIs. Kolten Wong is 5-for-8 (.625) with a double, homer and four RBIs. • Brewers closer Francisco Rodriguez's next save will be the 347th of his career, tying him with Randy Myers for 10th place all-time.

[igt-2012][game-setup][logo]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20589901/BrewerFan/2014/logos/brewers.png[/logo][game-info][h1]September 18 | 7:15 P.M.[/h1][h2]Brewers (79-73) | Cardinals (84-68)[/h2][h3]FSWI, MLBN | WTMJ 620[/h3][/game-info][logo]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20589901/BrewerFan/2014/logos/cardinals.png[/logo][/game-setup][pitching-photos]http://i.imgur.com/igkBnLz.jpghttp://i.imgur.com/v64rhg2.jpg[/pitching-photos][game-matchup][divclass=away][pitcher]Kyle Lohse[/pitcher][h2]12-9, 3.81 ERA, 1.21 WHIP[/h2][h3]Versus Cardinals | Game Log[/h3][h3]Lohse appears to have recovered from an ankle injury that cost him one start in mid-August and limited his effectiveness in a couple others. In his last start last Friday against Cincinnati, he allowed two runs on five hits in 6 2/3 innings.[/h3][/divclass][divclass=home][pitcher]Shelby Miller[/pitcher][h2]10-9, 3.75 ERA, 1.28 WHIP[/h2][h3]Versus Brewers | Game Log[/h3][h3]Miller picked up his 10th win on Saturday, going six innings and giving up one run. Miller has given up just three runs in his last 27 innings, a streak that coincides with his ability to mix in his secondary pitches with his fastball.[/h3][/divclass][starting-lineup][divclass=away] CF Carlos Gómez 2B Scooter Gennett C Jonathan Lucroy 3B Aramis Ramírez RF Ryan Braun LF Gerardo Parra 1B Matt Clark SS Héctor Gómez RHP Kyle Lohse[/divclass][divclass=home] 3B Matt Carpenter CF Jon Jay LF Matt Holliday 1B Matt Adams SS Jhonny Peralta C Yadier Molina RF Oscar Taveras 2B Kolten Wong RHP Shelby Miller[/divclass][/starting-lineup][/game-matchup][game-links][h3][chat]BrewerFan Chat[/chat] | MLB Gameday[/h3][/game-links][/igt-2012]

I thought he looked out on the replay

I thought the exact same thing.

That was a disgraceful strike 3 call on Braun. Always nice to see an ump who wants to be bigger than the game.

Even if it feels like it's lost, this season is far from over. Try to stay positive!

Oof. What a play at 3B by Carpenter. Aramis hit the heck outta that ball.

Have a September, Gerardo Parra!

Thank you very much for that strike 3 call. Have a seat, Yadi!

Tough luck for Segura. Decent cut there.

I'm definitely jumping all over it tonight & taking advantage to fire up the grill again (for what might well be the last chance I have ) I happen to know that once you actually get the coals started, it's possible to grill out during in a blizzard in January, grilling season never officially ends! I do not however recommend the experience outside of how much it sucks for the grill master to deal with the weather as the hot dogs, brats, and burgers had a noticeable tint of gasoline because it took so much lighter fluid to combat the wind. However since I was feeding a bunch of starved and drunk young men in their early 20s there were no complaints, they were just happy to be fed. Though now that I'm thinking about it again a propane grill would make the situation much easier... I'm old school on the grilling front, I only use coals. I have both options... but for warmer, less windy times, charcoal's obviously my first choice.

I'm definitely jumping all over it tonight & taking advantage to fire up the grill again (for what might well be the last chance I have )

Many pitchers were busted for HGH use, and HGH's primary function is to aid in recovery time (not add bulk muscle mass like anabolic steroids). Given that recovery is a huge part of any pitcher's job, I think it's pretty safe to say that HGH was helpful.