jjfanec

If you want another point as to why Kotsay has the pinch-hitting spot wrapped up look at his numbers with runners on and RISP. OPS of .866 with runners on and OPS of .773 with RISP. He is batting over .300 in both situations. Gamel actually was 3 for 9 in his limited at bats with runners on this year, but he was 0-17 with bases empty. Way too small of a sample size to get read into, but Kotsay has been solid with runners on base this year. So I guess you could say we should have someone else pinch hit when no one is on but that is it. People who still trash Kotsay are confusing to me. Just because you didnt like him at the beginning of the year doesnt diminish the fact that he has been average (not terrible) as a pinch-hitter and very product with runners on base.

I am going to enjoy the last month or so of Prince. I have very little bad to say about the guy because he plays hard and gets the most out of every at bat. He is a phenomenal hitter. Sure his defense is terrible but I believe he has tried to get better. That said I still think saying this made no sense. For all the people saying it is refreshing he was honest I dont get it. If someone asked Braun if he liked RR and he said no I wouldnt applaud him for honesty. I would ask why one earth he would say that right now. I feel the same way about both KRod and Prince. Sure what you said was obvious but the easy answer of "I like to close but I love being a team that wins" and "There is still a lot of season left and I will worry about FA when that time comes" are what should have been said. Absolutely zero reason to say what they did and I will not applaud honesty in a situation that didnt need it. Prince has been asked the question a million times. He should have stuck with his normal answer. In the end it doesnt matter though. I am not going to turn on Prince because of it. I am going to be happy he was here. And I am going to root for a team in the back half of the first round to sign him so we have 3 first round/sandwich picks next June

He had over 100 pitches and his spot came up in the order

Insurance run for the Phils. 4-2 with bases loaded 1 out

Yuni's hits most definitely did not come when the game is more or less over

Your NL batting title leader - Ryan Braun

Yuni has a home run and 2 RBI and Kotsay has 3 RBI tonight. Crazy

At this point if Braun doesnt win I will be shocked. His numbers all across the board are pretty remarkable for a guy who was injured for a couple weeks

At the risk of being unoriginal. MVP! MVP! MVP!

Yo is so good tonight he can get DP without balls being put in play. 13 K's through 6. 18 possible outs and 13 K's is pretty amazing

Which bad thing will it be? There are like 10 posts if Yuni makes an error or gets out with RISP but when he gets an RBI it is quiet. Usually opponents quiet fans when they do good but Yuni quiets Brewer fans when he does well

I like Casey but this is hard to watch. Time to get Taylor Green in there. Casey still looks lost but at least it wasnt GIDP

Can we get some love for Yo tonight! 11 K's through 5 against a lineup with some pretty good hitters. His pitch count probably means he has 2 innings left if he can keep it up. Heart of the order needs to get an insurance run or two here

If we get to a point where we need Yuni to win or lose a game in a crucial spot, that's an utter and complete failure by both Melvin and Roenicke to ever allow it to come to that. True. I worded that incorrectly. Meant to say we are going to hope for him to do something not need. I feel like some here hope he stinks. I understand that to the extent that maybe they bench him but it doesnt seem likely. Hairston would be nice be nice but he is 1 for his last 24.

I can't. Unfortunately, his sucktitude is so great that even when he does something good (hit a HR) I can't do anything but give a sarcastic cheer. Yuni is the only guy, I mean the ONLY guy in Brewers history that I've found that I simply can't root for. I get it, it just seems like he is going to have to do something good for us to win down the stretch and once the playoffs start

I agree Yuni is really bad but do we need to make snarky comments or bash him even when he does something good? Let's enjoy those little moments of goodness when they happen

Westbrook walks in a run. Bases still loaded with one and out and Utley up. 2-0 Phils

Morgan had a good shot at that home run. Yo looks to have a start similar to Greinke's last one going. Lots of K's leading to a high pitch count (although Greinke gave up a lot more runners)

Exactly. I dont care about athleticism or plus pitches if the guy gets results. Marcum has been very good for us. I dont care what he runs the 40 in, how high his vertical is, how much he can bench, or whatever. Even it the athleticism was in regard to how fast he throws. Ubaldo Jimenez throws really fast but Marcum has completely outperformed him. Would it have been better if we traded for Jimenez instead?

Cain and Buccholz alone would have cost a ton. I think you undervalue what it takes to get pitching. The Cubs gave up really good prospects to get Garza. St. Louis gave up Rasmus for E. Jackson and a couple okay relievers. Bryson and Jeffress did not have a ton of value even if we loved them as prospects and neither are really of much value anymore. Escobar was shown to be one some scouts thought he was - an all-field no hit shortstop. Cain is a solid but not great outfield prospect same with Brantley. LaPorta, Odorizza and Lawrie are the only guys who are top 100 type prospects. Lawrie looks like a potential stud. Odorizzi looked dominant until he got to AA ball but he has time to turn it around and LaPorta has been ok at best. Cain alone would have cost a haul close to Greinke when you wanted to trade for him Buccholz was the #4 prospect in baseball in 2008. No guy on this list was top 20 except maybe Lawrie last year but you would have had to package a player like Lawrie and another to get Clay. Neimann was young and under control for a long time and peaked as #20 on the prospect list. He would have cost a lot too. You under-estimate what it would cost to get major league ready pitching. Especially pitching under control for 4 plus years like all these guys were. Greinke has been an ace since the break. He had a rough start because he didnt have Spring Training but his 2.23 ERA and peripherals are ace like. Maybe not Sabbathia-like but still terrific. I could go one with your post with where I agree and disagree but I dont have the time. I do agree people (inlcuding myself) at times are trying to down play how good Lawrie is. He has the potential to be a star player and he was overpaying (not by as much as you think) for Marcum. However, I will never agree we overpaid for Greinke. Of the 4 prospects only two were guys I miss even a little.

There is already a thread on this but I am sure the mods will merge them. I will agree with you though. I dont see how it cant be Braun right now. There is no way you give it to a guy on a non-playoff team when a guy on a playoff bound team is having the year Braun is having. Braun, Upton and Fielder are all deserving so Kemp, Votto and Tulo will have to wait another year. Braun has to be number 1 right now. #1 in OPS (#1 in Slug and #4 in OBP) #2 in BA #8 in HR #5 in RBI #1 in runs #7 in SB #5 in WAR behind Votto, Kemp, Tulo and Upton His strike out numbers are actually very good. He is tied for 48th in the NL (while being 26th in walks with 2 IBB) Sure he is not a good fielder but does that matter that much to voters. And yes he missed some games but that has not effected stats like Runs, HR, and RBI's a lot. I know those are not great stats to determine overall value but they do get looked at and Braun does well in the other stats. In my mind it is a 2 player race between Upton and Braun. I think Braun wins due to offensive stats and name recognition

I want home-field advantage in the first round. I dont care if that is against the Braves or D-Backs.

Yeah the offense was but we still are 7-9 in our last 16. Not really a terrible stretch of baseball when 6 games were against the Cards and 4 were against the Phils. I am not saying this to you at all, but some Brewer fans have seemed to be really impatient with this team. One little slump and people are jumping off the bandwagon, talking about this season being a disappointment, and how this team is going to miss the playoffs or at best lose in the first round.

Oops. They sure didnt make Arroyo look like an ace tonight

Do you realize we have the 3rd best record in baseball! They are 6-9 in their last 15. Their terrible stretch is 3 games under .500. People are acting like we have been horrible. It is just a rough stretch for a team that is still 5.5 up in the division and still has the 3rd best record in baseball. They still have a very good top 3 in the rotation. They still have Braun, Weeks, Fielder, and Hart.