TooLiveBrew

The stretch run of this season is going to be absolutely brutal. The Brewers will truly have earned whatever accolades they're able to accomplish this season. August & September are both pretty tough, schedule-wise. And I'm looking forward to every inning & every game!

I didn't sit down & watch this one last night, so I watched all the video highlights on the Brewers' site this morning. One thing that stood out to me is that none of the pitches that wound up going as big hits for the Brewers really looked like bad pitches -- the catcher's glove rarely moved from where he initially set it as a target. But the swings simply went with where the pitches had been thrown, and the run-scoring hits all really went where they 'should' have. Great hitting up & down the lineup last night.

Dusty Baker lives on! Where's he going to hit? In the lineup, probably inside baseball stadiums. A lineup including Napoli could look like this (2014 YTD stats) -- [pre].305/.343/.481/.824 Gennett .303/.354/.530/.884 Braun .312/.382/.500/.882 Lucroy .304/.369/.505/.874 Gomez .279/.395/.456/.851 Napoli .283/.332/.452/.784 Ramirez .249/.297/.467/.763 Davis .235/.269/.325/.594 Segura[/pre] Honestly, no pitcher in baseball would want to have to face that. That's a minimum of 7 guys who can take you yard in any given moment, and 5 or 6 guys that are consistently really good on-base threats. Frankly, I'd slide Napoli into the #2 spot (given his strong OBP skills) & just push everyone else down a spot, but I doubt Roenicke would hit a slower player 2nd (since he hasn't really done that this year iirc).

He has a really nice OBP-heavy OPS, & has his whole career. He hits lefties & righties. There is nothing overrated about him, & he would absolutely be a difference-maker in our lineup. Swapping his .279/.395/.456/.851 2014 line in for the .220/.300/.364/.664 line the Brewers have gotten so far from 1B would be a massive improvement. Saying anything otherwise is just not being objective -- seriously... a nearly 100-point jump in OBP isn't a difference maker? Let's be honest here. As a throw-in, he's been stronger in the 2nd halves of seasons, & sports an OPS north of 1.000 for the month of September on his career.

Baseball Prospectus #71 overall prospect Wilmer Flores has been called up from AAA & activated for tonight's game. Tweets from NY Post Mets beat writer Mike Puma... #1 -- #2 -- The corresponding roster move wound up being Kirk Nieuwenhuis getting sent down to AAA Las Vegas. The 22-yo Flores struggled in his previous big-league time (both this season & last), but has posted a .323/.367/.568/.935 line through 55 games & 241 PAs with Las Vegas so far in 2014.

Garza trying to keep Brewers rolling vs. Mets Coming off rough outing, righty to square off vs. Gee in opener By Matt Slovin / MLB.com | 7/23/2014 5:39 PM ET The Brewers, coming off a key divisional sweep of the Reds, hope to add to their National League Central lead when they play host to the Mets for four games starting Thursday. Milwaukee had watched its 6 1/2-game advantage from the beginning of July disappear and was tied with St. Louis for the top spot as recently as Sunday. The sweep of Cincinnati, however, pushed the Brewers' lead back to two games entering Wednesday night. Matt Garza will get the ball for Milwaukee in the opener looking to bounce back after a rough start on Saturday, when he managed to record only one out while allowing five runs vs. the Nationals. He ran into some bad luck, as the Nationals fouled off 13 of his first 35 offerings. The hits that they got off the big right-hander were well-placed, not particularly well-hit. In the two starts before that implosion, though, Garza was excellent. He took a no-hit bid deep into the game in both of those outings. Brewers manager Ron Roenicke was encouraged that Garza returned to the dugout after his day ended early, and the pitcher seemed to be in good enough spirits to put the start behind him. "[Pitching coach Rick Kranitz] had a talk with him yesterday," Roenicke said. "We had a talk with all our starters yesterday, just making sure everything's good and everything's fine. Garza's back. Like I said, he came back on the bench that day, and the next day he was the same. That's good. I think he can put it behind him." Dillon Gee, who will go for New York on Thursday, showed some signs of rust in his last start against the Padres. He hadn't pitched in 10 days because of the All-Star break and had made only one previous start since a two-month stint on the disabled list. Gee didn't walk any batters and struck out five, but he gave up two homers, including a massive, 440-foot shot to Yasmani Grandal. "It was just a bad night," Gee said after that loss. "I wasn't locating for a while, pitching behind guys, and that makes it tough when I do that. The positive side is, I felt strong [against] the last six hitters, so hopefully that can continue and I can carry that into my next start." Mets: Granderson's status for Thursday unknown Outfielder Curtis Granderson was out of the lineup for the second consecutive day Wednesday due to a stomach illness. Chris Young replaced him in right field. Granderson has been sick since about midnight Tuesday and has been receiving fluids. It's unclear if he'll be available for the series opener in Milwaukee after flying from the West Coast. Brewers: Gennett likely out again Thursday Roenicke said Wednesday that he isn't sure when to expect Scooter Gennett back in the Brewers' lineup. Roenicke noted that Gennett's platoon partner, Rickie Weeks, would probably man second base for the next couple of days. Against Gee, it's safe to say that the left-handed-hitting Gennett would normally have gotten the nod Thursday. But he aggravated a right quad injury Tuesday night that he first felt over the weekend in Washington. Gennett said he's fine resting for a few days as long as it means he can come back healthy. "Like anything else, when it's sore and doesn't feel good, that's when you're prone to something serious happening," Gennett said. "You're preventing something serious from happening -- if that means a day or two, I'm fine with that." Worth noting • Aramis Ramirez played his 2,000th game Wednesday. He is the 16th active player to reach that milestone. • The Brewers have had at least a share of first place since April 5. • When the Mets and Brewers met in New York last month, Milwaukee took two of three games.

[igt-2012][game-setup][logo]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20589901/BrewerFan/2014/logos/mets.png[/logo][game-info][h1]July 24 | 7:10 P.M.[/h1][h2]Mets (48-53) | Brewers (57-45)[/h2][h3]FSWI | WTMJ 620[/h3][/game-info][logo]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20589901/BrewerFan/2014/logos/brewers.png[/logo][/game-setup][pitching-photos]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20589901/BrewerFan/2014/pitchers/mets/gee.jpghttp://dl.dropbox.com/u/20589901/BrewerFan/2014/pitchers/brewers/garza-12.jpg[/pitching-photos][game-matchup][divclass=away][h2]4-2, 2.92 ERA, 1.05 WHIP[/h2][h3]Versus Brewers | Game Log[/h3][h3]Gee's first start after the All-Star break was also his first in 10 days, and just his second since returning from a two-month stint on the disabled list with a strained right lat. It was not his best; he gave up four runs in five innings.[/h3][/divclass][divclass=home][h2]6-7, 4.04 ERA, 1.24 WHIP[/h2][h3]Versus Mets | Game Log[/h3][h3]Garza was blooped and bounced out of Saturday's start in Washington after 42 pitches, five runs and one out. The Brewers could bring him back early, but Garza said he'd rather the other four starters stay on schedule.[/h3][/divclass][starting-lineup][divclass=away] Curtis Granderson RF Daniel Murphy 2B David Wright 3B Lucas Duda 1B Travis d`Arnaud C Chris Young LF Wilmer Flores SS Juan Lagares CF Dillon Gee RHP[/divclass][divclass=home] Carlos Gomez CF Jonathan Lucroy C Ryan Braun RF Aramis Ramirez 3B Rickie Weeks 2B Khris Davis LF Mark Reynolds 1B Jean Segura SS Matt Garza RHP[/divclass][/starting-lineup][/game-matchup][game-links][h3][chat]BrewerFan Chat[/chat] | MLB Gameday[/h3][/game-links][/igt-2012]

Here's a look at Braun, who actually has fared worse against Finesse pitchers, & much better against Power & Avg. types. Gomez hasn't done well against Power, but well against everyone else. Luc has been similar to Gomez. I'd have to guess that the assumption that most players don't fare well against Power is correct.

One of Howard's troubling splits this season (& there are many) is how he's fared against pitchers as classified in the three categories of Power, Avg. Power/Finesse, & Finesse: [pre]v. Power: .171/.289/.214/.503 v. avg. P/F: .200/.278/.292/.570 v. Finesse: .260/.328/.497/.826[/pre] So basically, he's only been hitting soft-tossers so far this season (& he posted similar struggles against non-finesse pitchers last season, too). That wouldn't really bode well for potential postseason at-bats. I'm not sure what injuries he's been battling, but the decline against power pitchers points to a possible loss of bat speed. I think I'd stay away from Howard at this point.

http://i.imgur.com/VYhZVbz.jpg?1?7705

Selfishly I want to see him go to Boston if he isn't picked up by the Brewers. That name... in that accent... it's a dream come true.

http://www.picgifs.com/graphics/b/brooms/graphics-brooms-608407.gif

Circling back in the replays as I could start watching until the 8th - I really want to hear the explanation from MLB on this one. Jeez - horrible call. Way to go Jon Luc!! Glad to see him have a huge game I'm still waiting to hear why Gomez's hit was a double yesterday after Heisey knocked it over the fence. What's to stop an outfielder from "accidentally" bumping a ball over the fence with a runner on 1st and end up saving a run? Unless I missed a 100% clear replay, it looked like Heisey actually didn't hit the ball with his glove, but that the ball bounced off the top of the wall. Initially, I thought Heisey had hit the ball as well, but honestly looked like it was just an optical illusion given the angle.

To be fair, you did say "Breeers". For all we know, the Breeers could still lose 5-3, somewhere, in 11 innings.

LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUC!!!!!

I can't remember if it was a fastball or not, but he pulled the crap out of his HR in Washington.

I could see the Brewers (& I think they will) giving Gennett every chance to succeed/fail against LHPs. However, the idea that they wouldn't use a young player in a complimentary role is pretty much invalidated by how they've used Schafer, Gindl, Maldonado, & Bianchi.

One option to keep in mind as a possible platoon partner with Gennett in coming years is Yadiel Rivera. Last year, playing with a home park that's notoriously tough on RHBs, he didn't hit lefties well. But in both '12 & so far this season, he's put up a slash line around or north of .800 against southpaws. He probably won't ever be much more than a Yuni Betancourt-esque option (career .699 MLB OPS v. LHP) as a hitter, but Rivera is generally regarded as the best defensive SS the Brewers currently have in their system. He also took reps at 2B, as did Arcia, when the two were together this season with Brevard County. Rivera is probably still a year or more away from being ready to contribute in the bigs, but that could well mean the Brewers will only need to buy a one-year stopgap to partner with Scooter. It would also be nice to have a slick-fielding middle infielder to additionally serve as cover for Segura at SS.

From an interview on Sunday with Jim Bowden, about 5 more weeks for both: Probably looking at returns no earlier than in September, if I had to guess.

Hermida's bat could be nice off the bench to face righties, but as others have noted in various discussions on this forum, you need an OF to back up CF. So unless you want to carry two backup OFs (which would mean carrying Schafer anyway), imo Hermida's not a realistic option.

Jeffress is the kind of arm the Cards would call up & see pitch like an All-Star. So I'm thinking it could be our turn in that vein... that'd be juuust fine.

But the important thing here is that you got to use donnybrook in a sentence! What a word.

with use of words associated with marijuana, i truly thought that the rest of your post was going to be laced with pot references. No. I am too classy for that (read: I didn't think of it. ... I love cheap puns & corny jokes & probably would've done it had I thought of it)

There's that, & there's also the whole 'flirts with triple-digits with his fastball' thing. But the two are probably related. Good luck to you Jeremy, & we need you bud. Hopping right into the fire... I can't imagine a young player wouldn't relish this kind of opportunity. I know I'll be tuning in to games now with the hope of seeing Jeffress as a top priority. And fortunately, it seems Roenicke will be forced to use him since our bullpen options have been so limited by injuries. If not for that, I could easily have seen Ron hardly using Jeffress & espousing reason after reason about how he can't use a young kid in big moments. Talent needs to play, period.

Good to hear about Coulter not being in any serious injury trouble. And your Denson note reminds me that I wanted to comment after seeing him in person for the first time on Friday. He's a really impressive physical specimen, and relative to MLB, he hasn't really put on any muscle yet. Don't get me wrong, he's already built like a Mack truck. But when you look at his overall build, you can just see how much more room to add muscle there is -- especially in his upper body. It's scary to think that a young man capable of 450'+ bombs is really only still scratching the surface of his power potential. If he develops physically, mentally, & baseball-y to the point where he becomes capable of what I believe he can do, imo we're talking superstar impact in the bigs. If Coulter can do the same, imo we'd be looking at another one-two punch akin to Braun-Fielder. Obviously any speculation like that is for 3, 4, or 5 years from now. But Denson could wind up making his 15th-round status look like an absolute joke.