LouisEly

The Brewers' hitters look like they have absolutely no clue what to expect.

The CEOs of the nine pharma companies involved in developing a COVID-19 vaccine issued a joint pledge that none of them would release a vaccine unless it had been thoroughly vetted for safety and efficacy. This is because the public is deeply skeptical of a vaccine that would be released before the November election. The election couldn't come at a worse time.

Lovely. I guess I can forget about wearing my Brewers hat here anytime soon.

The ball wasn't in the glove on the tag on Hiura, it was in his bare hand. Might have been worth a challenge.

For a vast majority of the teams who have won the World Series in the last 25 years, the average age of the players on the team has been over 30. If you trade everyone by the time they hit 27 you aren't going to win anything.

Hopefully Yelich's 29-game on base streak comes to an end here...

Maybe we need to look at the right data. Some data suggests he is pitching better than he was a year ago: Hard hit %: 2019 - 35.3%, 2020 - 30.8% Soft hit %: 2019 - 17.8%, 2020 - 21.1% Exit velocity: 2019 - 86.7, 2020 - 86.0 Ground ball %: 2019 - 53.4%, 2020 - 62.9% Fly ball %: 2019 - 25.5%, 2020 - 15.9% Infield fly ball %: 2019 - 5.3%, 2020 - 9.5% Launch angle: 2019 - 5.3, 2020 - (-0.7) BABIP: 2019 - .301, 2020 - .331 The outlier is HR/FB% (18.4% in 2019 to 28.6% in 2020), but his flyball % is down so that isn't a big factor (HR/9 was 1.13 in 2019 to 1.27 in 2020, not a significant increase). His xFIP in 2019 was 3.60 and in 2020 is 3.85. I'd take that as a starter over the course of 162 games; over 8 starts anything can happen. Maybe it's bad luck. Maybe it's bad pitch-calling, because that has changed significantly over last year. Four-seam fastball: 2019 - 31.4%, 2020 - 17.1% Two-seam fastball: 2019 - 36.0%, 2020 - 47.9% Changeup: 2019 - 7.0%, 2020 - 12.6% Curveball: 2019 - 13.9%, 2020 - 11.2% Maybe throwing the two-seamer almost half of the time has made him more predictable, and he needs to throw the 4-seam and curve more often. Maybe the changeup and two-seam have similar sinking action and makes them easier to hit. What it looks like is the change in pitch selection has resulted in fewer strikeouts and more balls in play, and the balls that have been put in play - while softer in contact and much more on the ground than in the air - have found holes in the defense for an above-average hit %. And that's more luck and coaching than his skill set.

Aaaannnnd, just like that the Badgers pick up a 3-star CB out of Colorado.

Did that game finish in less than three hours? When's the last time a Brewers-Cubs game did that?

Nottingham not being very socially distant or masking...

He's not throwing as hard as he used to, but his slider is way, way better than it was and he is just a better pitcher than he was.

Taylor has been impressively patient at the plate tonight.

Looks like the Brewers get good Kimbrel tonight, not the 9.8 BB/9 Kimbrel.

Cubs broadcasters: "(Caratini) has not gone deep yet this season. This would be an opportune time." (Woodruff blows one by at 97) "Not gonna happen."

Technically he's also only a month and a half into the season.

Kudos to Lester, he hasn't been putting anything over the heart of the plate. Painting the edges of the zone tonight.

Lester also has no pickoff move whatsoever, so anyone can get a big lead on him.

Given that the original call was out, there would have to be clear evidence to overturn it. I didn't see clear evidence to overturn it.

That sequence to Hoerner was just nasty. Two knee-buckling sliders, a wasted pitch in the dirt, then 98 on the bottom outside corner. You could hear the Cub's play-by-play guy just mutter softly, "Wow." Deshaies was speechless.

His slider started out rough, but he's found it the last two innings. Sharp and late. It's fun watching Lester throw 88 and then Woodruff come in and throw 98.

That, and when you're consistently good, you're consistently drafting at the end of the rounds. They haven't had a top-10 pick since 2009, and Raji was 9th overall.

Almost forgot, I did have one issue with the vehicle I purchased from CarMax - the driver's seat heater didn't work. I purchased the vehicle on Memorial Day, so I didn't have a reason to test it until well after the warranty had expired. (I don't really need it, I run hot enough as is; the ventilated seat function is much more important.) So, test everything, including the climate controls even if it is off-season.

The OL recruiting has been great, but they really need to focus on DBs for the rest of 2021 and 2022. They have one safety and one CB for 2021, one CB in 2020, and one safety and two remaining CBs from 2019. I know WRs can and do flip to DB, and I wouldn't be surprised if one of Crawford or Roberts gets flipped to DB, but you need depth in football as injuries can and do happen.

Yes, both of those in fact. In 2012, I purchased from Car Max but it was before delivery was an option. I didn't have a vehicle and found a 2009 Lincoln MKX (because I previously had a 2010 Lincoln MKX as a company car and loved it) on Car Max and had them send it to the nearest dealership (75 miles away, $200 for a one-way car service). Since I previously had a very similar MKX I knew what I was getting. Overall, I had a good experience with Car Max and wouldn't hesitate to buy from them again. Last year the power transfer unit on that 2009 Lincoln MKX started going out. It was a $2000 repair and it could last another two months or two weeks before needing repair but if it went out before repair it would cost a lot more than $2000 to fix. I had 125K miles on it and didn't want to put $2K into it, but was scared of going over 60 mph on it (the PTU would hum over 60mph) so I didn't want to risk driving it on the freeway to a dealership to trade it in. Carvana offered me on the low end of trade in, but would come and pick it up and would just drive my vehicle around the block to see if it ran (which didn't involve going over 60 mph). Bought a 2016 MKX from Carvana and they delivered it and took my old vehicle away. The 2016 MKX wasn't in as good of condition as they said it was - more cosmetic damage than indicated on the pictures. Then the battery died 17 days after taking delivery - they covered that with their 100 day warranty. Then the PTU on that vehicle had an issue that needed to be fixed; fortunately the factory powertrain warranty hadn't expired and Lincoln covered those repairs. I purchased an extended warranty which covered the seat belt failure ($500), but I'm still in the hole for the $1600 I paid for that. So, I would recommend Car Max but I don't know about Carvana unless you are buying a vehicle that still has a factory warranty. Carvana has a 100-day warranty so you have some protection, but I wouldn't trust their inspection process because of the excess cosmetic damage and battery issue I had.

No, it's not. He had worked him low in the zone the first three pitches, then went for a 4-seam fastball up in the zone and somewhat inside which he fouled off, then tried to get him low and away. It was a great sequence, going up down and up and down in the zone, inside and out. The pitch was well outside off the plate and he took it the other way. It was a great piece of hitting.