Fear The Chorizo

I compare Braun's defensive struggles at third to Weeks' struggles at 2nd when he first came up. Weeks isn't a gold glove caliber defender, but he's improved enough to be serviceable at 2nd - and as we're seeing lately, when he's healthy his bat more than makes up for his defensive shortcomings. Defense is a skill that a player can improve by working on it - the Brewers have shown that they're willing to let one of their young players develop defensively at a very important defensive position (2B), so there's nothing to indicate that they won't allow Braun to continue to improve his defense at 3rd. I'd keep Braun right where he is at 3rd and let him work to improve - he's plenty athletic enough for the position. Remember Aramis Ramirez and how brutal his defense was earlier in his career? Why mess around with making Braun an outfielder when we have plenty of other options for OF? I'd let Hall stay in center - he'll be motivated to have a bounce-back year. Keep Hart in right and either platoon gross/mench in left or see what can be had via trade or FA. I think the biggest defensive areas of need for the Brewers are at catcher (Astros' announcers quoted one of their scouts on Estrada "He gets fatter and lazier by the day") and finding coaches that actually put their players in proper defensive alignments/positioning - the Brewers employ weird shifts to far too many players, and seem out of position far too much for their scouting system to be working properly....part of that is probably pitchers missing their spots or pitching away from the defensive shifts. I've seen that a few too many times this year also, when the OF is shifted for a righty to go the other way, and the pitcher's working him consistently inside.

I had a long conversation with a few of my friends after the game last night, who happen to be Cub fans (not your typical kool-aid drinkers, they actually know something about baseball). They couldn't believe who the Brewers had pitching from the 7th inning on. Every pitching change and personnel move Yost made starting with taking Bush out of the game put Milwaukee at a disadvantage. They weren't sure what the biggest reason why the Brewers weren't 5-6 games ahead of the Cubs was at this point - Sheets' July injury that totally altered the Brewers rotation/bullpen plan for the 2nd half of the season, or Yost's ineptitude. Unless the Brewers find a way to get into the playoffs, Yost should be canned. The Cubs have the big three in Lee, Soriano, and Ramirez, but even my friends acknowledge that the Brewers have a 1B, 3B, and OF that are having better years than those players. The position player talent to fill out the remainder of the roster isn't close, with the Brewers clearly having better talent. The difference right now is in the bullpen, a big advantage for the Cubs, since they have more consistent, veteran arms (and Marmol, he's amazing), plus a manager who knows how to use his pen. That all being said, my Cub fan friends concluded that the Cubs better get in the playoffs this year, because the Brewers are going to be nails in 08. They've noticed what that lineup with a healthy Weeks and another year of seasoning for all the young stars will look like.

Why, oh why is it that Yost continually makes these foolish in game decisions? 1. Not running for Bush after he got on base in the 7th - Yost's postgame reasoning for it more or less indicated that he didn't think the top of the order could drive him in...great vote of confidence for your offense there. If you leave him in to run the bases, you have to at least let him get the 7th inning started. 2. Not using your best reliever in a very important extra inning game - Yost has continued to do this, and while there is a time and a place to save your closer until you have a lead on the road, last night wasn't that time and place. Looking at Houston's pitching situation, had the Brewers gotten out of the bottom of the 11th, both Lidge and Qualls would have been used, so one of the Astros' scrub bullpen arms would have gone out for the 12th. I don't see how you put Wise in that situation (his ERA is over 9 in his last 15 appearances, not exactly the pony you want to ride down the stretch). IF you lose, you want to at least lose with your best on the mound in this situation, especially with Houston's heart of the order up. 3. Once again, bringing in Turnbow for a second consecutive day, with the kicker being with runners already on 1st and 2nd. Not only did I assume the game would at least be tied at that point, Turnbow decides to have a total mental lapse and allow Berkman and Lee to DOUBLE STEAL with one out! If he had at least looked at 2nd base, that flyball doesn't score a run, and the Brewers get out of that inning down 1 run. Weeks 2 run shot the next inning gives them the lead, and Cordero comes in and closes the game out. 4. Continually removing Braun for defensive purposes when the game is still in doubt, and the Brewers could use additional tack on runs. It's one thing to pull him with a 1 run lead in the ninth, when he won't get another AB if they get 3 more outs, but to take your 2nd best offensive player out of the lineup in the 7th?? This is at least the 2nd or 3rd time Yost did this where it totally backfired on him in later innings.

To be fair, Capuano was the pitcher who was staked to a 5-0 lead, and in three innings after that, he managed to leave the game with it tied, and with runners on 1st and 2nd with one out. That was against a reds lineup that was without Javier Valentin and a guy named Griffey, too. He was as much to blame for the loss as anyone, which has been the case for the vast majority of the 16 consecutive starts he's made that have resulted in Brewers losses. Yost didn't demote him for his performance this one start, it's been a struggle for 3 months now. As for him starting next season - I think there's a good chance that he's not on this roster come spring training next year. If Milwaukee believes that Parra can start in the bigs, and with Gallardo, Sheets, and Suppan (due to his contract, not performance) basically guaranteed starting spots in the rotation, that leaves one spot in the rotation between Bush, Vargas, Capuano, and Villenueva...if Capuano thrives as a reliever, he may fit into that same role next season...otherwise he's as good a bet to be traded this offseason as Bush or Vargas is.

I will drink until their onfield performance looks good. If that means getting so drunk that I am impressed by observing 8 players able to stand up on their own before a pitch is thrown, while the catcher is also able to stand some of the time when he isn't taking a break by crouching, so be it!

There was a great article a couple of days ago on either cnnsi, or sportsline (can't remember which), talking about the dbacks - The gist of it was that even though their offense is inconsistent, as well as their starting pitching (aside from Webb), the team has been great at holding the leads that they do get. The article also mentions how their manager has used his bullpen this season to either lock down a win, or essentially forfeit a game if it's out of reach, depending on what pitchers he uses. Basically their bullpen has some dominant relievers, and some scrubs - Bob Melvin uses the scrubs when they're in a game down several runs late, which has led to a lot of blowout losses (the main reason their run differential is so bad). From Melvin's perspective, if he brings in a reliever to pitch in a situation where it's teetering on the brink of a blowout, and he gives up runs, that pitcher's going to stay out there to at least eat up some innings to save his better relievers for another day, no matter how bad they are pitching. The Dbacks scrub relievers probably have zero confidence because of it, but at least they know that they have a role, and will continue to get opportunities to pitch, and pitch well. They win the close games with a combination of solid starting pitching, their very good bullpen relievers, and very good defense. # of errors don't tell the whole story about defense, to go with their solid fielding %, they have athletes all over the field that can flat out take hits away from hitters. In summary, the article sums up Melvin's managing style as realizing that all baseball teams lose 50 or so games by default, and in the games that appear to be losses early on, he more or less throws out the white flag. This saves his better relievers for games that they'll have chances to win down the road. Also, the article applauds Melvin for his ability to get his team to bounce back from many of their blowout losses, and focus on the next game on the schedule.

At least we have a better record that what our Pythagorean record indicates it should be....guess it's kinda difficult to keep pace with a plummetting Pythagorean when every 8-0, 12-4, blowout loss only equals 1 loss in the standings. Obviously, it's getting really, really tough to find any silver linings anymore

it's too bad you can't selectively serve a suspension - Fielder could then opt to serve his suspension during games that the Brewers have little to no chance to win anyway...like the next 3 games started by Capuano.

7 IP, 2 ER 7 IP 2 ER 7 IP 2 ER 8 IP 1 ER When an argument trying to defend a pitcher over what is amounting to a 4 month stretch of baseball has only 4 starts out of 15 to use as evidence/proof that the pitcher is performing well, it kind of looks like those 4 starts may have been the "luck" rather than the norm.

Good luck, bad luck, whatever - Capuano doesn't have good enough stuff to be able to attack hitters 3 and 4 times through the order. Unless he runs into a team that is too aggressive and chases his changeups and slurves and other garbage out of the zone, he consistently gets into deep counts and can't get out of the 6th inning. I don't care how many seeing eye singles and duck snorts get hit off him - he puts himself in bad situations by walking and hitting batters, so those "fluke" hits get magnified with runners all over the basepaths. I don't care how "unlucky" any pitcher is - there is still quite a lot of blame to be placed on his shoulders when his team hasn't won a single start of his since May. Unfortunately, the Brewers may be stuck with him in the rotation, because I don't see them putting Parra in that role due to the innings he's already pitched - Sheets' injury really prevents the Brewers making any more rotation shakeups until he gets back (unless they can swing a trade for another SP). As for '08, I hope Capuano does decently the last part of this year so Melvin can at least get some return in a trade - with Parra healthy and appearing MLB ready, there's no reason to keep Capuano around.

Anybody else find it hilarious that as soon as Kerry Wood actually made it back to the big league roster, the rest of the Cubs team has started dropping like flies? Soriano's quad, Ramirez's wrist (and balky knee), Pagan's colitis, Ohman's shoulder....it's like Kerry Wood is the plague!

As crappy as things look right now, the fact that the Brewers are somehow still in first place is encouraging. Other than the Mets and Dbacks, every other NL team would love to be in our position right now. The fact remains that if Milwaukee takes care of its business, it wins the division and makes the playoffs for the first time in 25 years. To think that the Brewers team would automatically coast to a 95-win season this year after showing no prior ability to do so is a bit too optimistic, no matter how much raw talent is on this roster. This is the first time that the core of this team has gone through the season while having to deal with the pressures of being the team everyone else is chasing. I'd rather be in this position than the Cubs current situation - Soriano's probably out till the end of the month, and Ramirez is back in Chicago right now getting his hand/wrist looked at by a specialist - Their roster is also full of young players right now, the problem for them is that their young players aren't able to carry the load that a Fielder, Braun, Hart, etc can carry. That, and their bullpen is as burned out as ours is, and they don't get an off day for awhile.

While this is a question that appeared almost comical about a month ago, when both the Cubs and Brewers appeared headed for 90+ win seasons, have recent events created the possibility of a division winner finishing with fewer than 81 wins? The Padres came close in the NL West a few seasons ago, but IMO, there is a decent chance that no team in the NL Central will finish over .500. The Astros and Cards have been playing the best baseball lately, but even with their hot streaks they are 12 and 7 games under 0.500 right now. The Brewers have been in a steady downward spiral, and suddenly the Cubs have begun playing like they did the first 2 months of the season. I hope yesterday's debacle lights a fire under the Brewers, similar to being no hit against the Tiggers - They get an off day to continue to stew over their last loss, and hopefully they can regroup - if they play well over their next nine (3 at Houston, 3 each with STL and Cincy at home), they should all but eliminate the Cards and Astros playoff hopes (yes, I said the Astros - it's not like they don't have enough time to make up ground with the way the Brew Crew and Cubs are currently playing), and probably put the Cubs into a 3-5 game hole as well. Right now, I think if a team gets to 85 wins, they win the division by at least 3-4 games.

I'd love to see the Mets tack on one more before the 9th here

remember a few weeks back when everyone couldn't get over how good all the Brewers' bullpen ERA's looked? those days seem so, so long ago...

Parra's innings won't get limited if he's optioned to AAA. Innings pitched in triple A are just as taxing on a pitcher as they are in the big leagues. The brewers can actually do a much better job of limiting his use if they keep him in the bullpen in Milwaukee. my guess is that either Dessens gets DFA'd, or Spurling does back down.

1. Craig Biggio 2. Tom Glavine 3. Vernon Wells 4. Magglio Ordonez 5. Travis Hafner -------------

LF Adam Dunn worth (3 points) Prediction: Padres RF Jermaine Dye ( 5 points) Prediction: Dodgers 1B Mark Texiera ( 10 points) Prediction: Braves SS Edgar Renteria ( 2 points) Prediction: Not Traded SP Matt Morris ( 3 points) Prediction: Mariners RP Eric Gagne ( 3 points) Prediction: Tigers RP Octavio Dotel ( 5 points) Prediction: Not Traded 1B Richie Sexson ( 3 points) Prediction: Not Traded 1B Dimitri Young ( 4 points) Prediction: Not Traded RP Joaquin Benoit ( 2 points) Prediction: Not Traded -----------------------

Weeks is still too young to give up on, considering how talented he is. The Indians faced a similar situation with Brandon Phillips a few years back, and look how he's turned out in Cincinnati. Weeks has improved dramatically on the defensive side of the game - he's truly made himself into a viable 2B, when all the talk a few years back was how he would need to move into the outfield in order to stay in the lineup. Though he's not hitting .300 and lacing frozen ropes all over the field, he is still getting on base at a pretty good clip. This year, the Brewers have enough guys that can hit home runs, right now they need players who can consistently get on base in front of them. There's still 2 months of baseball left in this season, which is plenty of time for Weeks to start hitting the way he's capable of, and really give this team a boost. ---------------

Soriano's been in a pretty prolonged slump, Fontenot has started to come back down to earth, Lee still hasn't shown that he can hit for power, Ramirez continues to collect bumps and bruisies to go along with his balky knee, Floyd runs around like he's 60, their catchers can't hit, Jones is their CF, Marmol looks human due to how often he's been pitching, and their 3-5 starters have been scuffling. The Cubs have been winning, but friends of mine who are Cub fans (knowledgeable ones, actually) have watched them play - while they are thrilled that they got themselves back into contention for the division, they see the same ominous signs of a team that could be headed to being burned out. I saw a graphic while watching the Cubs game last night - the Cubs have been the hottest team in baseball over the past 45 games. The yankees were a couple of games behind them. Who was the 4th hottest team in MLB during that same stretch? Milwaukee, with a record of 25-20. The fact is that it's extremely rare for a division title to be wrapped up by early August - Brewer fans who thought they were entitled to coasting to a division title after waiting 25 years to see their team in the playoffs were obviously a bit too optimistic.

Since dwelling on what's happened in the past during the baseball season (good or bad) is about as worthwhile as someone trying to lose weight ordering a diet coke to go with a king-sized whopper meal, let's look at the pitching matchups for this weekend's STL series. Vargas - Maroth Maroth pitched well against the Brewers while he was still a Tiger, but he's been pretty bad lately. Vargas needs to find some way to get through 7 innings to keep an already taxed bullpen from completely burning out. Vargas looked very good in his last start - he did give up 3 runs, but he surrendered very few hard hit balls and had pretty good command. Capuano - Thompson Capuano should have 2 wins in his last two starts. He's been very good, and hopefully will continue to pitch well. Thompson's been o.k. for the Cardinals as a starter, something they've had to accept with their depleted pitching staff. Parra - Reyes This game may come to do a battle of the bullpen scrubs for both teams, although I think Parra has an advantage in facing the Cards for the first time - can you say Chris Saenz? Yo - Wells Wells has been pitching pretty well his last two times out, but Yo has been better - if Wells is on, this will be a hardfought game. if not, it could be one of those laughers. This should be a very interesting series for the Brewers team - I think we'll all find alot out about how the rest of the season's going to play out over the weekend. Milwaukee's gotten back up and played very well after getting slammed to the ground after a few bad stretches/losses already this season. Now, with the Cubs breathing down their necks for the division lead, and a logjam of potential wildcard teams with nearly identical winning percentages, let's see how resilient and confident this team is in itself. For the past two months, they've talked the talk about taking things one game at a time and not looking ahead in the schedule or behind them in the standings - now it's time to find out if they really believe that, or if playing for something meaningful is too much pressure on them. -----------------------

No matter how crappy things seem right now, every Brewer fan is going to wake up tomorrow with their team in first place - so obviously, their outlook could be worse! -------------------

Uh, no. I'm not talking about the best record. I'm talking about who's playing the best over the last stretch of about 30 games or so. If one does the research, it will be the Cubs easily. well, if one does more research, no matter what the Cubs do tonight in STL, they'll still be in 2nd place, because the Brewers will have been the "hotter" team over the last stretch of this season. People like you who have been proclaiming that the Brewers will eventually lose their lead in the division forget that even if they do, there's still 2 months of baseball left to be played. funny how you show up in full force every time the Brewers lose.

Cubs are the best team in baseball and we're far from it. Me saying we'll be out of first place in 3 days isn't that much of a stretch. Something tells me you're forgetting about the division leaders in every other division in baseball, plus the Indians.

Sounds trivial now that the game's over, but the only reason it gets to extras is for the diving play Encarnacion makes on Miller's groundball in the 8th with Hall at 3rd and 2 out. The ball Braun didn't field cleanly was a much easier play - Dunn would have remained at 2nd, 2 would be out and that hit Valentin had probably wouldn't have been able to score Dunn Hindsight's always 20/20 - the fact is their offense needs to start putting together big innings every now and then. ----------------