DuWayne Steurer

45 pitches without retiring a batter. ouch

I'm good with that. No thought of trying to extend Burnes with a 9 run lead for a silly individual milestone.

Burnes has to be digging the run support.

1.001 OPS vs righties this season coming into tonight, and that's before the homerun.

I get that you loathe Hiura, but my post was somewhat tongue in cheek, given that I'd much prefer to see him play/bat vs righties than lefties.

Hiura vs a righty pitcher. Results guaranteed.

Crooked numbers are fun.

Welcome to the ump show!

Pleased with Urias getting the run in there.

my jaw dropped. running full speed doing a full out dive going away from home plate? into the wall? if Davis can keep his OBP north of 330 or so I like what he offers as a bench bat/defensive replace.ement

my jaw dropped. running full speed doing a full out dive going away from home plate? into the wall? if Davis can keep his OBP north of 330 or so I like what he offers as a bench bat/defensive replace.ement

The Brewers headed to Florida for a short two-game series against the tough Tampa Bay Rays. Brandon Woodruff returned to boost the Brewers rotation, and Kolten Wong also returned from the IL after a three week stint to help the Crew take on the Rays. Image courtesy of © Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports The Brewers headed to Florida for a short two-game series against the tough Tampa Bay Rays. Brandon Woodruff returned to boost the Brewers rotation, and Kolten Wong also returned from the IL after a three week stint to help the Crew take on the Rays. Game 1 -- Brewers 5, Rays 3 https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TBA/TBA202206280.shtml Brandon Woodruff returned from the IL and the Brewers threw him into action against the Rays, with manager Craig Counsell telling reporters pre-game that Woodruff would be on a 75-80 pitch limit. Woodruff was brilliant in his return from the one month layoff, striking out ten, allowing just one run on two hits. Woodruff hit 99 on the radar a handful of times, and looked sharp right from the get-go, striking out seven of the first nine batters he faced, going through the first three innings in order. In the fourth inning, Woodruff gave up a double and an RBI single, but didn't allow another runner through the remainder of his start. The 99-mph cheddar he threw past Brett Phillips to strike out the side had to be the highlight of his night. A healthy, dealing Woodruff is a huge boost to the Brewers rotation, obviously. While Woodruff's early season numbers look fairly pedestrian, most of his peripheral numbers are right in line with last years near-Cy Young numbers. If last night's stellar outing is any indication, maybe now the Brewers will get the results to go along with the performance the rest of the way. Only time will tell, but the Brewers are a better team with Woodruff than without. All that aside, the Brewers entered the sixth inning down 1-0, and looked to make Woody's fantastic return all for naught. With two down and a man on second base, Andrew McCutchen continued his hot hitting. The Brewers tacked on two more in the inning with an no doubt shot from Luis Urias . In the eighth inning, Urias added an RBI double to make it 5-1 Brewers. Things got a little bit interesting in the bottom of the frame when Counsell brought in starter Jason Alexander to get some work, and he walked the first two batters, gave up a sacrifice fly and an RBI single to allow the Rays to pull within two. Devin Williams came in to finish out the inning, but using a starter, and a rookie at that to work the eighth inning is an interesting strategy, and one that almost backfired on Counsell. To be sure, he doesn't want to overuse Williams, but in the end, he ended up using him anyways. Josh Hader struck out the side in the ninth to notch his 23rd save. Woodruff secured the win thanks to the Brewers big rally in the sixth, and bumps his record on the season to 6-3. The Brewers roll into Wednesday looking for the sweep in the two game set. Game 2 -- Brewers 5, Rays 3 https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401355365 Brewers starter Eric Lauer struggled once again, lasting just 4 1/3 innings, allowing six hits and two walks, while throwing 92 pitches over his start today. While he did allow just three runs, Lauer worked in and out of trouble the entire time, and struggled to find the zone, while his E.R.A bumped up over 4.00 for the season now. Lauer's day might have been worse if not for this catch by Jonathan Davis. Rowdy Tellez homered in the second, a solo home run to put the Brewers up 1-0. Down 2-1 in the fifth inning, Urias hit his second homerun in as many days. The Rays tied it back up in the fifth, but solo home runs by Tellez in the eighth and super utility man Jace Peterson in the ninth inning put the Crew back up 5-3. Tellez's second two-homer game in a week has him now at fifteen on the season and brought his OPS up to a solid .818 nearing the halfway point. The catwalk home runs make the Trop interesting, if not aesthetically pleasing. Hader allowed a few baserunners in the ninth, but ultimately locked down save number 24, and the Brewers get the short series sweep in Tampa. Brad Boxberger picked up the win with an inning of scoreless relief, moving his record to 2-1. The bullpen did a nice job overall today, with Jandel Gustave, Hoby Milner , Boxberger, Williams, and Hader combining for 4 2/3 scoreless innings of one hit ball in relief of Lauer. Next up, The Brewers, Tellez, and his home run road show travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Pirates in a 4-game set at PNC Park. Hopefully we'll get to see a few river shots, but barring that, a few Brew Crew wins. View full article

Then what is Tampa compared to the rest of the AL playoff contenders?

I hope they don't screw around too long with Alexander here .

Well, that sure escalated quickly!

The Brewers have had Adames, Renfroe, Wong, Urias, Brossau and Narvaez all out for significant amounts of time as well. As you've pointed out yourself, everyone has to deal with injuries.

They're 12th in the AL in runs scored. For all the "our offense sucks" griping around here, I can imagine what a Rays message board must look like (if they have enough fans to have one, that is)

That's fair. Hopefully they can get a few runs before then and get him in line for a win.

Woodruff looks really sharp tonight. Wonder if he's on some kind of pitch count or whatever in his first start back.

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/rowdy-tellez/15679/stats?position=1B/DH fangraphs doesn't think much of Rowdy's defense either.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/t/tellero01.shtml bREF hates his defense. -.7 dWar

this is all spot on. analytics can tell you that you score more runs the way the game is played now and I think most of us would agree that looking at the data etc etc etc , but the phrase that keeps being said is "it's not asesthetically pleasing" Watching guys like wade boggs and Tony gwynn hit was fun. Ricky Henderson stealing 130 bases was cool! even if I know that getting caught 42 (!!!!) times nullified a lot of the positive value of his 130 steals. it's just things we don't see anymore. guys don't hit .370. guys don't steal 80+ bags. it's definitely a different game.

this is all spot on. analytics can tell you that you score more runs the way the game is played now and I think most of us would agree that looking at the data etc etc etc , but the phrase that keeps being said is "it's not asesthetically pleasing" Watching guys like wade boggs and Tony gwynn hit was fun. Ricky Henderson stealing 130 bases was cool! even if I know that getting caught 42 (!!!!) times nullified a lot of the positive value of his 130 steals. it's just things we don't see anymore. guys don't hit .370. guys don't steal 80+ bags. it's definitely a different game.

Craig Counsell had the worst stance ever. and there's no way it helped him hit. ?