Fear The Chorizo

Bill has to score on that - terrible read

I just don't like how the offsides rule has to get interpreted with modern technology - there shouldn't need to be a virtual line across the entire width of the pitch where if any part of an attacking player breaches it at the touch of a soccer ball from 15 yards behind them that it's offsides - and that line moves with any number of defenders who may not even be involved in the play. IMO that's not in the spirit of why the offsides rule was written in the first place, and it takes away from the game. I know the reason VAR exists in the first place for soccer is due to terrible calls on those and other plays where human error decided game outcomes inappropriately - but I'd rather recalibrate the interpretation to be the entire player's body having to be offisdes in order for that call to be made, not just a millimeter. There are too many occasions where a player running towards the goal passes a defender sliding away from the goal, and quite frankly i feel the amount of the time it takes to establish that arbitrary offsides line digitally probably blurs the result even for VAR.

Agreed - now lines officials almost automatically throw up the offsides flag on most goals being scored, almost after the fact, and then have VAR see if one of the goal scorer's cleats has gone past the closest defender's fingertip who isn't even marking him.

I don't think so on the appeal - from what I understand once the VAR indicated to the referee he had to review the play, his call based on the stills/slow mo footage VAR sent him is final and not able to be appealed....which is a complete and total joke because I'm certain the VAR footage was just the incidental cleat to back of leg at 1000 frames a second, making it look awful. One of those instances where VAR / technology is really bad for the actual game being played. To go from no foul called on the play to a Red card costing a key player the next game is atrocious. The mistake is VAR even suggesting the review to the referee. I've always hated the offsides call in soccer, too - I get why the rule is in place, but I think there needs to be a modification where any time the ball is played from within the penalty area (18 yard box), there is no offsides. Either that or in this era of VAR monitoring offsides needs to be changed to a player having any piece of himself onside when the ball is played be ok instead of any piece of himself offside taking goals off the board. The soccer field is too large and services into the box coming from too far away for players to get penalized for aggressive and well-timed runs just because opposing defenders find themselves moving the wrong direction at the right time.

Soccer refereeing and rules are stupid, I'm sorry - that red card on Balogun after all the physical nonsense not called for 65 minutes is a complete joke

This is insanity - i was thrilled to get 5 after that long 1st inning...just setting him to get shelled and make this a game.

100 pitches....get him out of there before this gets dicey

So is his HR%

Apparently RISP evening out is gonna happen tonight - baseball is weird. 1 of these fluky excuse me hits on Sunday in several spots and there'd be no pitchforks out after a cub series win

No way - its great like it is. Players just need to be better with it at certain times.

I think the stats say different - but it feels like the Brewers have really stunk with ABS challenges the last couple of weeks - both on offense and defense

Wake the hell up, fellas

He's what, 6-21 with a handful of walks the last two postseasons with no slugging? That he's only 1 of 4 hitters with that wRC+ value over a hilariously small sample size for that stat doesn't mean anything besides the rest of the team needs to hit the ball better in October.

That's why this is a debate that is pointless - against a lefty, you've got to have better offensive options to put in the OF than Perkins, when the rest of your OF options could also be plus defenders. Justifying playing Perkins against lefties because his career splits are a bit better than other lefty bat options who are also plus defenders at their OF positions (Mitchell, Frelick) and you don't want to stick Bauers out there isn't what I'm arguing against - the team needs a better bat against LHP that can play OF or, frankly, a better bat that can be a utility IF, too.

The problem is something that has been the Brewers' postseason achilles heel in recent years, though - their position player roster doesn't have enough offense. When Mitchell kept getting hurt, with Yelich needing time out of the OF, Chourio dealing with hammy issues last season and missing time, a player like Perkins is valuable to help a good team churn through regular season wins. However, if those players + Frelick are healthy and producing at reasonable levels, Perkins is a 6th OF on this team because of defense only, and he's worthless in October. Arguing that 1 good defender with a weak offensive game doesn't crater a team's winning percentage too much is kind of silly, when the rest of the roster is pretty damn good. It avoids looking at what the teams winning percentage could be if that roster spot was manned by a player who could provide what has been a problem for this organization leading to playoff exits and the few tough stretches during regular season - offense. The same can be said of their IF left side options right now - Pratt, Ortiz, Hamilton....all plus defenders you can put across demanding IF positions....but they are bottom of the order hitters on any MLB roster that can be upgraded with a better hitter who may not be as slick defensively but can still probably give you a better chance to win a game for you in October instead of just being a postseason run preventer behind a pitching staff that already will be striking a ton of hitters out. I'd much rather add a bat-first OF/IF option to this roster and option Perkins to AAA.

Im guessing 27.5 ft/sec....the common unit running speed is gauged on a baseball field, was the actual speed. Elite speed down the line or from 1st to 3rd gets up to around 30 ft/sec Units are important, Jeff

Gary Sanchez needs to get traded so he stops blowing challenges for this team...wth are you doing challenging that in inning 4????

He cant stay in the game after that

Nothing going to fall tonight - holy cow that was a wicked collision

gas prices where they are now have alot more to do with the price of a barrel of oil when it was initially purchased as a raw material before the refined gas products were manufactured from it, transported through a series of pipelines/tanks/tanker trucks to a gas station's underground storage tank before it's ever pumped into a car's tank and had the hell taxed out of it (variable based on the state you live in). It's not like an oil price future drops 10% and instantly the price of refined products from oil that was purchased 1-2 months earlier also drops at the exact same time. Also, gas stations often intentionally reduce their margins on a gallon of gas when prices run up to avoid customers foregoing convenience store purchases altogether (where the gas stations actually make a profit), knowing once the price of oil drops and stabilizes that they will lower the gas prices more slowly to recoup some of those margins because the consumer has gotten used to paying more at the pump. the ~$70/barrel oil prices now will be reflected in gas prices in August - we are seeing gradual drops around me below $3.70 a gallon and continuing to go lower. 1 month ago oil prices were still pretty close to $100/barrel.

Cubs have used fewer pitchers today on a bullpen game....unacceptable from this offense

Ashby needs a solid week off

Of course

There are going to be troughs when scoring runs is a problem for this team....it still sucks watching it.

For the love of God can someone do the job with RISP?