LouisEly

There's a difference between "running out" a play and "running all out". Of course no one runs "all out" on every play; you can't survive a 162 game season doing that. You have to pick your spots. "Running out" a play means making it to 1B even if you're out by a few steps. You're running about 60% full speed but in the event that there is an error you still have a chance to be safe. Not "running out" a play means that you quit before getting anywhere near 1B, and my understanding is that's what Harper did. Papelbon is a jerk, and I'm not saying he is right for what he did. But I'm curious, for those who think Papelbon is in the wrong, how did you feel about Fielder going after Manny Parra in the dugout?

I've never understood the concept of leaf blowers. Basically they use a bunch of energy and your time and make a bunch of noise to move leaves around that will just get scattered around again the next time the wind picks up?

Lopez regularly hitting 94, touching 96 in the first inning. Nelson, Peralta, Lopez, Houser, Hader. Then on the back end, Jeffress, Knebel, Magnifico, Barrios. In a couple of years the Brewers will have a bunch of guys who can bring it.

Did anyone else catch the interaction between BA and Rock regarding their booth and the bottled water they get? BA: "... you sit in red chairs and drink Cardinals water. The bottles do say 'Cardinals' on them." Rock: "They sure think a lot of themselves here."

DVR. Start watching the game 30-45 minutes after it starts. Skip through them. That's what I do.

They could be trying to set Reed up for success by not throwing him out immediately against tough RHP. I'm guessing they are trying to help his confidence by waiting for a better matchup. He hits right-handed, so I don't know if throwing him out against Wacha and Martinez is the best thing to do right away. Let him start against a lefty or an average/below-average RHP.

What they probably didn't show on the replay was Bryant getting in Segura's way on the way to 3B which slowed him down a bit. Bryant was on the ground and Segura had to run around him. I'm pretty sure that Sedar was waving him in - his arm was up because he was pointing at Bryant asking for an obstruction call.

Because every pitcher in baseball can get a strikeout with bases loaded in the 8th inning of Game 7 of the ALCS against an All-Star with a .927 OPS and .408 OBP that season? If Trever Miller could have done it why didn't they use him to get the last four outs? If Miller could have done it then why did they only use him for 0.2 IP that entire seven game series? You want to rely on a guy who walked 20 batters in 43 IP that season to come through in that situation? There's a reason why his WHIP was 3.000 in the ALCS and 2.000 in the World Series. Your stance that anyone could have come through in that situation, particularly Miller, is just as ridiculous.

Boy, Price's 14 regular season innings and 2.1 innings in the ALCS in 2008 must have been incredibly important if they wouldn't have gotten to the World Series without him. You may want to check the game logs, particularly 7 of the ALCS. Garza was pretty important to that team as well, and he was acquired for former #1 overall Delmon Young.

Let's not forget that Tampa had a decade of top-5 overall picks to build that franchise with. They don't go to the World Series without David Price (#1 overall) or Evan Longoria (#3 overall), nor do they go to the World Series without 35-year-old Cliff Floyd or 30-year-old Eric Hinske. Yes, they've made some good trades to recycle talent, but they don't have Chris Archer without having a #1 overall pick (Delmon Young) to trade for Garza to trade for Archer. They also held on to Melvin Upton Jr. after 91 and 96 win seasons and let him walk in free agency instead of trading him before his contract was up. Now that they've had seven years of not-top-10 picks that talent well is drying up. Now that the talent well is drying up, and they have no money to spend on retaining players, the shine is coming off. They are about to have their second losing season in a row. Yes, Friedman is no longer there, but most of the players were acquired under his tenure. And while they play in the AL East, they've only won 10 more games than the Brewers this year without having to play the Cardinals, Pirates, and Cubs 50 times. I'd say Cardinals/Pirates/Cubs are better than Yankees/Blue Jays/Orioles (Reds and Red Sox are a wash). No, you don't need top-5 picks to build a winning franchise. But without top-5 picks you have no shot at a David Price, or an Evan Longoria, or a Kris Bryant, or a Kyle Schwarber, or a Gerritt Cole, or a Carlos Correa. It also matters what year you have top-5/10 picks. 2006, 2005, 2011 - good years to have top 5/10 picks. 2004, 2003... not so much. 2007 you better have 1/2, or you're probably coming away with bubkus.

Or they want to give Arcia some rest before winter ball begins. Since he's Venezuelan, and since Venezuela participates in the Caribbean Confederation, he's not eligible for the AFL.

Boy, Chattanooga shut down Biloxi in this series with several pitchers who had very average to mediocre seasons if not careers. How did that happen?

I wonder what he had to say about the trades for Gomez/Fiers and Gattis, because it appears so far that the Astros overpaid in both of those trades.

What they don't need is Garza going to the pen at the end of a lost season and pulling a Thornburg and damaging his elbow because now he's pitching shorter stints more frequently and not on a starters routine/schedule. It's one thing to have to come in on an emergency because of an extra innings game, but it's another to move to the pen entirely. I think that's why the team gave him the option to do it, and didn't request or ask that he do it. Lohse is a different story - his contract is up, and he's fighting for any kind of job with any team next year. It's also a different story when you're a AAA guy without a guaranteed contract; those guys (such as Pena, Thornburg, Cravy, etc.) are also fighting for any kind of major league job, starter or bullpen. But we saw the risk of that with Thornburg. Thornburg may have already had some damage to his elbow, but the last thing the Brewers need is Garza making $13M next year unable to pitch or be traded because he has a busted elbow or shoulder.

Has anyone ever played refurbished/refinished golf balls? I've heard different things, with some saying they are good and some not. I'm not good enough where new balls are going to make a difference in my score, but there are used (4A NM/5A Mint) and there are refurbished/refinished. Trying to figure out which is my better bet.

I think the other thing we need to keep in mind is how tough of a division the Brewers play in. The NL Central houses three teams that are among the five best records in baseball. If you look at records against the rest of the NL excluding the NL Central: STL (43-20) - .682 winning % PIT (45-14) - a ridiculous .763 winning %!! CHC (41-25) - .621 winning % If you include interleague play, their winning % are .650 (STL), .734 (PIT), and .588 (CHC). That .588 winning % of the Cubs, compared to all non-NL Central team's overall winning percentages, would be second only to the Royals. Yeah, it's easy to look bad against teams like that.

He hides the ball well, varies his FB from 92-93 down to an 88 mph sinker. Slider is devastating when it's on. His mechanics get easily out of whack, tends to fall away to 1B too much and miss his mark. He's been yanked back and forth between starting and the pen, but I think starting has helped him. I think "effectively wild" applies to him.

I'd love nothing more than to see Pena no-hit the Cardinals tonight. I realize I may have better odds of winning MegaMillions tonight; however, that, to me, would completely justify and validate the Grienke trade.

I think it's more along the lines of the coaches - specifically Kranitz - not being good at getting guys out of a funk. Just about all major league players go through occasional slumps, and the job of coaches at the ML level is to analyze their approach and figure out what's wrong/help them make adjustments. Gennett had to be sent down to get out of his funk, and it took Lucroy until after the All-Star break to get out of his funk. I would not be surprised, nor would I be heartbroken in any way, if Kranitz isn't brought back. He couldn't right Lohse or Garza (although Garza was more hurt than he was/is letting on), and Peralta is still very inconsistent, as is Nelson. I haven't seen any improvement in the starting pitching since Kranitz has been here; the veterans have gotten worse, and the younger guys haven't gotten better. Yes, the Cardinals play in a more pitcher-friendly ballpark, but I don't think that accounts for a majority of the distance. I think they simply have better pitching coaches at the major league level.

You haven't heard of Michael Wacha or Stephen Piscotty? Those two plus Kyle Barraclaugh are already in the majors from the 2012 draft. The rest could all flame out and it would still be a very good draft, especially considering that they didn't pick until #19. 2013, not so much. Gonzalez hasn't looked like anything special since moving up to AAA. Kaminsky is a decent prospect though. Don't know anything about the rest of the class.

Can they please move or shield the microphone so that we don't have to hear that damn "woo-ing"?

Has anyone been to games there? Are a lot of people doing this, or it is just a couple of jackasses who sit near the announcer booth?

Adrian Houser is pitching an interesting game through five innings at Biloxi tonight...

I wouldn't characterize it as "misguided". It literally took a perfect throw to get him. If the throw is a foot higher, lower, or to the left he isn't tagged out. You can't anticipate two consecutive hits from RHB against Hughes. With two out you have to put the runner in scoring position. The odds of making a perfect throw like that to get Braun are no more than 10%; there's a 90% chance he makes it.

This year Morton has a .613 OPS-A vs. RHB and a .827 OPS-A vs. LHB. That, and Lucroy has a concussion, Braun needs a day off every now and then, and Santana should be set up for success by not always sending him out against tough RHP - let him build up his confidence first. Interesting side note - for his career, Khris Davis has a slightly higher OPS vs. RHP than LHP.