batman

I just fired up my home-brewed OPTIMISM GENERATOR and it gave me this: It's better that we surrendered the lead here because now the offense will be able to get a late inning, clutch win. That will spur the offense's revival more than just scoring early and saving it with great relief work would. Works pretty good, huh? How aboot Scrap Iron, too. Bringing in Lidge in the eighth is a mighty progressive managerial move, and I gotta say I agree completely. This is a different guy than the one I remember... he talked up on-base average and downplayed the value of sac bunts in an article I read recently, too. Maybe he spent some time in SABRLAND, huh? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif ~Bill

Look up "unfun" in the dictionary... they just added an entry and it says: "this inning". Mike is pitching in his native Texas for the first time, so it is quite likely that he is nervous. This is the second poor outing he's had in the last few weeks, and both came at the most inopportune times. In hindsight, maybe the sixth really was Burba Time. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif ~Bill

Did anyone else see Beltran about throw himself right out of his shoes? That was pretty incredible. I think his shoes and socks actually came off in a "Brady Clark does Superman" style hurl. It was offline, which was much appreciated, but he sure didn't get cheated. ~Bill

73-year-old Chuck Smith (Chuck Smith!) four-hits the Tribe, nary a walk -- a franchise record 11th straight defeat -- embarassing... Wow. I saw Chuck E. Smith play in the Quad Cities in 1993 as a member of the then Houston-affiliated River Bandits. He wasn't very good, but he was only 23 and a fan favorite... I got like 10 of his autographs, including one on the Quad City River Bandits hat that I still own to this day. He signs his name with a flamboyant "Chuck E. Smith" script and is (well, was... that was a long time ago) a very funny dude. That was the year of "The Flood" that rendered the Bandits' beautiful John O'Donnel Stadium useless, so they played at a local high school field (could have been college... it was tiny, regardless). Anyway, I felt like sharing that for some reason. It's hard to believe that Chuck E. is still around and playing ball... I hope he's still as cool a guy as he was back in the day. ~Bill

All moot anyway because of the clutch job by Burba. But I just wanted to get that off my chest. Totally. The other thing to note is that with the #1 spot in the order due up for us the next inning, we could have brought in Vizco or Adams and had them pitch the next inning as well. Adams, at least, has done that many times before, and I'm sure Vizco could do it, too. It is nice food for thought, regardless. ~Bill

Sometimes Burba will drive you nuts, but he sure is a crafty veteran, huh? That was only his fifth appearance in July, but interestingly enough we have lost every one of those games. Bad omen? I hope not. ~Bill

Thoughts from the first 5+ innings: - It's interesting to hear that Butch Wynegar basically told his hitters to get to rippin'. I like it, and I think it might help alleviate some of the pressure. It's not something I'd like them to do long-term, but patience is a product of good hitting just as much as good hitting is a product of patience sometimes. If they can get hot swinging early in the count, that'd be fantastic. Lyle Overbay is a good example; early in the season, he wasn't walking much at all. Once he got hot, he became more confidence and opposing pitchers threw him more balls, so his walk rate went way up. I think that could be true for several players like Pods, Helms, and Ginter. - The Cappy/Moeller hug at the mound was kind of strange. I've never seen a pitcher and catcher embrace like that... it was more of an "arm on the shoulder" deal, but it was still weird. I have no idea why I'm mentioning this other than it just happened while I was typing this. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif - I like the lineup configuration (easy to say now that it's "worked"). I still think it would be better to move Lyle to third, Helms to fourth, and Jenks to fifth, but that's really nitpicking at this point... it's like moving around the chairs on the Titanic, as they say. - Bill and Daron have gotten on the umpire quite a bit, and I have to agree. He's been very inconsistent up/down and on the corners. - Capuano had put together another very nice outing, but I'm afraid he was left in much too long. While he *shouldn't* have been done, you could almost sense it coming for whatever reason. He didn't have that great of control over his fastball, but his little slider/changeup/cutter deal (which is really two pitches I believe, one harder and one softer) was outstanding. He struck out a handful of hitters with that low-and-inside (to a righty), sweeping breaking pitch and made them look foolish (the Kent at-bat stands out). - Carlos Beltran has incredible range in centerfield. The way he effortlessly travels to the extremes of his range toward left and right in that gigantic Enron pasture is a thing of beauty. He sure is a special player, although I'm sure I'll hate him when he signs with the MFY next year. ~Bill

Let us be unhappy about that. It stinks. I'm not saying you can't be... I'm unhappy about it too. But that's not mutually exclusive with emphasizing the positives, and so there's no reason to get upset at me (or others) who do so. Again, I never implied that anyone ought not be critical of the team. Quite the opposite, others (RoCo http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif ) implied that I ought not be positive about the team. That's all I'm taking issue with. ~Bill

Well, last week someone said (JaNelson, I believe) "Generally, if you walk 9 times in a game, you'll at least score a few runs" Actually, that was me, too. And tonight, "we DID get ten hits" Yep, that was me. Bill, I'm sorry if you feel like I'm picking on you today man! BUT.......... I think we're beyond the point of making shallow excuses for the offense and believing an outburst is around the corner. Are either of the above statements not true? Drawing nine walks in a game is a good thing. Getting ten hits in a game is a good thing. If we did either of those things every game, it would be an improvement over what we are doing now. What, exactly, is the point of ignoring any positives in favor of unrelenting criticism? What is a reasonable reaction to our offense's ineptitude? GOD I HATE THIS TEAM THEY SUXXXX HARDCORE!?!!? AWFUL EWWW BOOO BAD NOOOOOOO!?!?! I just don't get the desire many people have for everyone to criticize the offense lest they be "accepting failure" or "making excuses". Can't one enjoy the team, look for positives, derive enjoyment from the wins, and yet still recognize that we are a terrible offensive club? What is the point of only emphasizing the negatives? Because they are more "true"? Who cares? But EVERY TIME WE LOSE lately, there's a dozen posts about how "we shouldn't be dissapointed because we never expected to be this good in the first place." I'm sorry. It's getting old. Of course we didn't expect to be .500 on July 22. But 6-13 in the last 19 games, against divisional foes no less, with an offense that's bordering on becoming the worst in the league........... The fact that we're .500 doesn't mean I'm not sick of watching this offense squander runner after runner and fail to score on a nightly basis against mediocre to decent pitchers. And you have every right to be "sick of watching this offense." But others have every right to enjoy the team's successes and point out the positives of otherwise-depressing losses. There's no need to enforce "negativity purity" on everyone. It's not like the negatives aren't getting discussed ad nauseam. I like to focus on the positives. That shouldn't impact anyone else's enjoyment or lack thereof of the Brewers. And really, your indictment of what I said is off the mark. After highlighting some positives, I added "I'm not saying we oughtn't complain, but let's try to keep this civil." That's all. No more, no less. If you don't want to hear about the positives, like the fact that we got ten hits tonight or the fact that the Milwaukee Brewers are a .500 team in late July 2004, then just turn on your personal "ignore" button. ~Bill

At the risk of receiving a crushing jaw shot from RoCo, I think it should be pointed out that the Brewers had ten hits tonight. We only had one walk, though, and all of the hits were singles, but that's a lot better than the four and five hit nights of our recent past. Chad Moeller went 3-for-3 with a walk, too, which is great to see. Maybe both of our catchers will finally start hitting a bit... that would definitely help the offense, although it's not going to make that much of a difference. Sheets' struggles tonight just make Santos' outing last night look more incredible. The Cardinals' offense is really, really good, and Santos (plus the bullpen) held them to three hits (and two of them were by Woody Williams). The offensive futility is very disappointing, though, certainly. We have the same collection of players we had earlier in the season when we were hitting well enough, so its not as if we can't score more runs. I don't think this team will ever be above average (or even average) offensively, but they could definitely be a lot less bad than they are right now. I'm sure we all have suggestions for how they can fix things, but honestly I'm sure Wynegar and Yost are trying everything in their power and the players are doing their best. Unlike the Cubs, this team hasn't given up or lost its cool under the pressures of failure. Before getting too angry with their ineptitude with the stick, try to remember that. I'm not saying we oughtn't complain, but let's try to keep this civil. I feel a forum-wide meltdown coming on, but hopefully I'm wrong. This sucks, but at least we're not the Cubs, right? ~Bill

Webby is having a great year on a terrible team. Kind of amazing. You can see why when AZ called about Sexson last May, we told them all offers started with Webb. Yep, you're totally right... I think I conflated his numbers with someone else's, 'cause when I was looking up Marquis' GB:FB ratio I thought Webb's ERA was like 5.25 or something. Since we haven't played the Dbacks for a while, they are a terrible team, and he's not on any of my fantasy squads, I haven't paid enough attention to BWebb. Looks like he's doing just as well as one would have hoped... too bad we couldn't have included him in the Sexson deal - we got everything else we wanted. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif ~Bill

I have only seen Jason Marquis pitch a few times before tonight and didn't realize how much of a groundball pitcher he is. Among qualified starters in all of baseball, he is sixth in groundball/flyball ratio at 2.32, behind Brandon Webb (3.74), Derek Lowe (3.20), Jake Westbrook (2.68) , Roy Halladay (2.42), and Tim Hudson (2.39). That's really impressive. How 'bout Webb and Lowe, though? They're on a whole 'nother planet in terms of inducing groundballs, although neither has been successful this year. Marquis is also only 25 (he'll be 26 in late August). The Cardinals gave up a lot in JD Drew and Eli Marrero, but the combo of Ray King and Marquis is certainly a nice return. ~Bill

It is what allows a poster to add pre-formatted content (like stat tables). For example, this text is in four columns. Isn't that cool? ~Bill

07/22/2004 - Brewers (Sheets) at Cardinals (Marquis) Big Ben will need to play the familiar role of stopper today or the Brewers will fall back to .500. He's 9-6 with a 2.28 ERA while Jason Marquis is 9-4 with an ERA of 4.03. Game time is 7:10 PM CDT. Here are the rest of the matchups in the NL Central, thanks to SlideBernieSlide: - Cubs at Reds [Cory Lidle ( 6-7, 4.79 ) and Greg Maddux ( 8-7, 4.18 ) ] - Astros at Diamondbacks [Roy Oswalt ( 8-8, 3.99 ) and Casey Fossum ( 2-8, 6.04 )] - Pirates at Braves [Kip Wells ( 4-6, 4.61 ) and Russ Ortiz ( 11-6, 3.50 )] Hopefully the offense can put together a few runs and cut down on the doomsaying for at least a few hours. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif ~Bill

I know I'm not supposed to care, but I hate it when all or most of our affiliates lose. That High Desert game was certainly frustrating. Oh well. At least JDLR pitched well. Err. Nevermind. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif ~Bill

Darn it, Doug Melvin! Why haven't you taken that $27.5 million and added a power-hitting right-fielder, a power-hitting third-baseman, and a power-hitting catcher? Who cares if they would cost ten million dollars that we don't have and a handful of our best prospects? Just do it. If I was the GM, I would do it. You suck. ~Bill

Bill, why don't you just hand us all flowers while doing your happy dance!!!!!!!! http://www.premierphotographer.com/iris4.jpg http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif How 'bout some lovely lyrics from Travis to help quell the anger: Well I believe there's someone watching over youThey're watching every single thing you say And when you die they'll sit you down and take you through You'll realize one day That the grass is always greener on the other side Neighbors got a new car that you want to drive And the time is running out You wanna stay alive We all live under the same sky We all will live, we all will die There is no wrong, there is no right The circle only has one side We all try to live our lives in harmony For fear of falling swiftly overboard But life is both a major and a minor key Just open up the chord That the grass is always greener on the other side Baby's got a new car that you want to drive And the time is running out You wanna stay alive We all live under the same sky We all will live, we all will die There is no wrong, there is no right The circle only has one side Nobody jump off a bridge this afternoon... you'll miss tomorrow's win against the Cardinals! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif EDIT: And yeah, I forgot that they only have two games with the Cardinals. I hate these stupid mini-series, especially with no travel days. This isn't the NBA for christsakes. So yeah. We'll sweep the Redbirds. ~Bill

You guys sound like Cubs' fans. Or Red Sox fans. Yuck. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif I just took a peak out my window, and as far as I can tell the sky isn't falling. When this team stops proving how resilient it is, then I'll jump on the "oh dear god woe is me" bandwagon. Until then, I'll just go ahead and predict that they'll take two of three from the Cardinals and the game thread will turn into a "buy a right fielder!" fest. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif ~Bill

Pena grounded into double play second to first to first, Jimenez out at second. It was a run of the mill 4-6-3... just a mistake in the game log. ~Bill

The chart is from CBS Sportsline... I just did a screen capture and linked to it. As for its accuracy, the data is provided by STATS, Inc. and so I think its about as good as you could hope for. I'm sure they've got more robust charting tools that teams subscribe to, but for free this seems pretty solid. The blue ones that are in the strike zone are foul balls... the problem is that the yellow mixes with the green to make blue. On the actual chart page, you can just show strikes or just show balls or just show balls in play... there is just so much overlap that the colors mix together in the "cumulative" view. I should have explained that but I thought it was obvious... my bad. Here's the direct link to the chart for yesterday's game: cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/ga...19_MIL@CIN Have fun playing around with it. ~Bill

It is all in the timing of the event. And the timing of the event is almost certainly outside the control of the player in question. While Gary Bennett is a terrible hitter, do you really think he doesn't *try* in all situations? Did he make a conscious decision last night to get some hits in a meaningless situation? Of course not. It is astounding to me that you are able to find something negative about our impotent-with-the-bat-catcher's 4-for-4 night at the plate. I mean, seriously... give ole'-no-stick credit for a great game, don't rip on him for mis-timing his production. It's not always raining... sometimes ya' gotta enjoy the sunshine, even if it only peeks out of the clouds for a few minutes! ~Bill

Want to know why Lil' Ben had trouble yesterday night? This pretty much tells the story. http://www.mountaincry.com/images/hendrickson_chart.jpg Thanks to CBS Sportsline for the oh-so-cool charting tools. Lots of balls all over the place, and not many corner-painting strikes. He'll be fine, but last night wasn't pretty. ~Bill

So Manny Parra's shoulder is hurting again. That's just wonderful. ~Bill

Ooo mie gawd hendersen sux gawd he awful bad yuck boo ~Bill

Of course, Craig Counsell is the Brewers' big league SS, but he played SS at Notre Dame. It's similar to why Brad Nelson was moved away from 3B upon being drafted by the Brewers, some players simply don't project well to play certain positions, and I'm sure there are plenty of good reasons why Lewis & Sollmann aren't playing SS. I was just going to bring up Counsell as someone we didn't think could play shortstop but actually can excel there, but you're still probably right about Sollmann and Lewis. Toby is right too, though, that it will hard to be a valuable utility player if you can only play second. Mark Loretta is another example of someone who was able to play a solid shortstop in a pinch. I wouldn't mind seeing Lewis and Sollmann both spend some time at the position, even if it is true that they are currently poor fielders there. If they could improve to the point where they can play short, even if it is slightly below average, then their value increases quite a bit. We don't really have a clue, though, and for that reason I'll defer to the organization's analysis. It sure would be nice if Will or Steve could turn into Counsell-type 2B/SS/3B guys, maybe with more offense and less defense. A guy can dream, no? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif ~Bill