joepepsi

Bet the Red Sox fans are complaining a lot these days....

They've been playing at a .640 winning pct, since sinking to last after that Boston series.

Rickie in 81 plate appearances since the All Star break:.284/.395/.433 .828 OPS

I think Trenni is really good. She's a lot better interviewer than Craig Coshun. Craig is the master at both asking a question and answering it all in one sentence. I remember one post game question of Craig's last year to Claudio Vargas: "Claudio tell about the 5th inning when you loaded the bases and had trouble getting your breaking ball over, then found your control and got the batter to hit into the run saving double play." Claudio just stared at him for 6 seconds and didn't know what to say.

I've never bought into the "closer mentality" myth. All players say things like "today is just another game", "tomorrow is another game", "it's a long season", and they all want to be the guy who hits the game winner in the bottom of the 9th, or gets the last out to win the game. So, don't all players at this level have the "closer mentality"? I don't have the odds in front of me, but years ago I came across the winning pcts. in history for teams in "save situations". Even before the closer was invented the number were something like this: Teams leading by 3 in the 7th win 85% of the time; leading by 3 in the 9th win 95% of the time; leading by one in the 9th wins 90% of the time. The numbers are even more lopsided when it's the home team leading late in the game. What this tells me, it's almost irrelevant who is your closer. Any reliever who can consistently pitch a scoreless inning, someone like Torres, should do fine as a closer. I'd bring him back next year, if he's willing. Personally, I think Villanueva would make a great closer. He's already the team's best reliever. As long as he keeps the ball down he's good for two scoreless innings every outing.

That's not true. Counsell just doesn't have value as an everyday player. The reason we got Durham was becuase of Weeks, not Counsell. Counsell has a lot of value as a defensive sub and that's exactly what he's doing when he plays 3B every once in a while. I do think Branyan should be playing for the most part against RHP as I stated earlier, but starting Counsell here and there has its benefits. It was my understanding they were looking for another lefty bat on the bench with good on base skills. I don't think it was specifically to replace Weeks, but if it was then, once again, Counsell wasn't good enough to fill that void.

Not even close. The Cubs as a team have hit .271/.357/.447. The Brewers have have only Fielder who gets on at a better clip then .357 They've scored 80 runs more than the Brewers for a reason. Bingo. There is nothing more beautiful in baseball than a great defensive play. But, as I noted previously in this topic, for a good as the Cubs' defense is, Brewer opponents score only .35 runs more a game than Cub opponents. That difference is as much attributable to Cub pitchers striking out an extra batter a game compared to Brewer pitchers, as it is to any defense prowess. The main difference is the Cubs score .75 more runs a game than the Brewers. The Cubs are a very good offensive team and the Brewers are about average. The difference between an good offense and an average offense is much more significant than the difference between good and average defense.

If Counsell had any value in the first place it wouldn't have been necessary to acquire Durham.

Thanks for those numbers. I'll have to save them. They point out the value in a playoff hopeful team paying $10 million or more for a reliable closer. Paying big bucks for someone like Cordero or Billy Wagner doesn't make sense when the team is aiming for a .500 record. But when you have a shot at the playoffs, that it's worth the money for a closer who only blows 5 leads vs. one who blows 7-9.

And yet there was Billy starting at 3rd against Homer "right handed pitcher" Bailey yesterday. Far be it from me to start a conspiracy theory but I think we can be pretty sure Ned don't like Russell. By the way since the All Star break Branyan is hitting thusly:.273/.333/.545 .878OPS. So we can stop the talk about how he's been in a slump recently.

yeah but would that be due to improved defense or because our new lineup scores .75 more runs a game than the old lineup?

I remember that. It was only a week or so ago, wasn't it? Great, smart play by Corey.

Yup, I know. Defensive stats kinda stink. Still Prince has been party to more DPs than Lee. In part because Cubs' pitchers average about one extra K a game, Lee has had fewer chances at 1B, made fewer putouts and fewer assists. Still, the Cubs have surrendered 40 fewer runs than the Brewers. It's possible some of the difference lies with the Prince. I suspect much of the difference is due to Cub pitching staff that strikes out many more hitters.

Twice this year I've seen Hart thrown out at 3rd stretching a double into a triple. Another time Prince was stopped at 3rd but Corey rounded 2nd and headed to third anyway, not watching Prince had been stopped. He was caught in a rundown, and iirc, made the 2nd out. I don't bring this up to criticize Hart who I think is a wonderful player; rather to show if you rely on anecdotal evidence to make your point you'll have a hard time convincing me of anything. That said, and accepting batting average can be overrated, Rickie does indeed need to hit for a higher average. Too many players on this team have spent too much of the season hitting in the .220-.230 range. I feel this is the main reason they aren't in 1st place right now. If Rickie hit .270 everything else about him would be fine and he'd be considered one of the best young 2B in MLB.

Of course you don't mean Ramirez would make 162 errors a year if it weren't for Lee!?!?! Here's the problem for me folks. I can't find any proof the difference between Lee and Fielder is all that great. Certainly observation tells us Lee is much better, but I can't find anything to show me difference has cost the Brewers any games. To suggest the Cubs would have 2 or 3 more losses if Prince were their 1B is very close to insinuating he's the reason the Brewers aren't in first place right now. Bearing in mind defensive stats are an imperfect science, here's some interesting figures: Errors: Fielder 9(.991 fldg pct); Lee 8 (.992 fldg pct.) Putouts: Fielder 972; Lee 874 DPs: Fielder 89; Lee 74 Total Errors by 2B, SS, 3B: Brewers 42 (20 at 3B); Cubs 33 (11 at 3B) So can we really assume Lee has save Ramirez 9 throwing errors that Prince hasn't saved for his 3rd basemen? Roll the videotape I guess, and we'll find out. It is worth pointing out the Cubs' pitchers have 100+ more strikeouts than Brewer pitchers (890 vs. 777). And the Brewers have given up 47 unearned runs while the Cubs only 35. It's possible the Cubs and Lee in particular are much better defensively than the Brewers. But to what extent it makes a difference is difficult to say. The Cubs give up 4.10 runs a game, the Brewers 4.45. But the Cubs score 5.34 runs a game while the Brewers score 4.65. Defense is important, but the disparity between the Brewers' and Cubs' defenses isn't as great as between their offenses. If you switched their runs allowed numbers the Brewers would probably have only one, possibly two additional wins. If you switched their runs scored per game numbers the Brewers would probably in first place by 5 games. While it's great to have wonderful defense and sucks to have average defense, I'm not convinced it makes all that much difference. At least not as much as the difference between a great vs. average offense.

What exactly is an intangible anyway?

Cards sweep, Brewers sweep. Cards leave Wrigley for 4 games in Florida. Root for the Fish to sweep the redbirds.

Rickie's rates since April 30: .247/.339/.405 .744 OPS Oustanding? no. Pretty average OPS for a 2B? Yup.

The other night my wife and I were out with a group of friends. Discussion floated around to the Brewers and I made the comment they were the best team in the league since mid-May. My wife turned to me and said, "really? I didn't know that. With all the [deleted by mod] and moanin' I hear about them, I thought they were pretty bad." I tell ya, it's tough to be a fan of a competitive team: you're more likely to complain and live and die with each game. After all these dismal decades of horrible baseball, it's important to step back every few days this summer and remind ourselves what a great season this has been. (edit: language --1992)

The Brewers have been better than the Cubs and Cards since the debacle in Boston. Brews: 44-27; .620 Cubs:: 42-29; .592 Cards: 38-32; .543 These percentages have held pretty steady through the summer. The Brewers and Cubs both have 47 games remaining. The Cardinals are at a slight disadvantage since they have one more loss than the Brewers and "only" 46 games left. If they play these percentages out, here's the standings at the end of the season: Cubbs: 97-65 Brews: 93-69 Cards: 89-73 edit: oops, my pct for the Cubs was wrong when originally posted. Fixed it now.

I agree. I think most of his managers have shown almost a resentment towards him. Seems like 3TO types are criticized for not "playing the game the right way", or for being lackadaisical. Managers are into strategy and showing how their moves win games. Whenever a team is in a losing streak fans and the media often blame the offense for not playing "small ball". Branyan takes the manager, heck he takes everybody but the pitcher and himself, out of the game. How does Nedly get credit for his brilliance if the win is just about Branyan's towering homers. I miss Earl Weaver. Back in the day Earl constructed one All Star left Field position by strictly platooning John Lowenstein and Gary Roenicke, with Benny Ayala in for defense late in the game when ahead. It's inexusable that Ned doesn't do this at 3rd. Counsell should never start a game anywhere but ss or 2B. To me he is the classice Sunday afternoon player. fwiw, I seriously doubt Bill Hall in on this team Opening Day 2009.

fwiw, Here's Rickie's rates since June 1: .248/.331/.404 .735 The last month he's doing this: .280/.375/.440 .815 I appreciate he needs to put up good numbers over an entire year, but he is playing much better after an abysmal first two months. I think there is more to like here than say, Bill Hall, who is fast becoming the next Deivi Cruz.

#1, Brett Wurst #2, Stosh #3, Guido #4, Frankie Furter #5, Cinco

Russell Branyan since the All Star break: .286/.348/.571 .919 OPS. Of course that's only 23 plate appearances because Ned refuses to play him. 6 hits, 2 walks, 4K, 1 homer, 3 doubles, 1 rbi, 6 runs scored. Craig Counsell since the All Star break: .167/.211/.167 .378 OPS. That's 3 singles over 19 plate appearances, 3 Ks, 1 walk, 0 runs scored, 0 rbi.

Tom Hardricourt is perplexed: