DuWayne Steurer

Late to the chat here, evening fellas (and ladies, I'm sure). Can't complain about 5 1/3 scoreless out of Narvy there. Would have been nice to get through 6, but it is what it is. Good thing we got 7 strong out of Yo last night, and hopefully Greinke can do the same in the nightcap here.

Fielder keeps trying to hit this guy to the moon. That's not going to work.

I actually don't remember that happening all that much unless you are counting Brewers pitchers stranding runners.I recall at least a few going back over this streak. They're just not very prominent when you're winning lots of 1-0 and 2-1 games.

That was a strike? 2nd and 3rd with no one out, and nothing to show for it. That seems to be a familiar tune lately.

Good job Cory. First pitch swinging at garbage out of the strike zone, and pops up to 1B with a man on 3B.

Casey clutched up on that one. That looked 'too high' off the bat, and when Bay started jogging, I thought he had a read on it, and then it was gone by plenty.

Nice scoop on a bad throw Prince. Let's get some baserunners here. This is already feeling suspiciously similar to all those 2-1 and 1-0 games from the last homestand. Not that I mind when the Crew's on the winning side of course.........

This game is breezing along. Mets are helping out by popping up or hitting weak grounders on 1st/2nd pitch of every at bat here.

Wow, very nice, quick inning for Yo. Those are definitely a plus today.

Yo looks a little wild here in the first. Hopefully he finds his command and gives us a good strong 7 inning outing today, with the double dip tomorrow.

Nyjer is creating quite the breeze with his mighty hacks...........

I did not stop watching, but I was pissed when they blew the 6 run lead. I know these things are bound to happen over a 162 game season, but that doesn't mean I won't be pissed when they do. Having a 7 1/2 game division lead and blowing a 6 run lead is like getting socks for Christmas. I know I shouldn't be disappointed, but I am none the less.

Any game you have a 6 run lead in, *should* be a W. Regardless of the lead in the standings, there's no way I'm not going to be pissed about losing a game that the Crew had a 6 run lead going into the bottom of the 7th inning.

Sometimes during a bad season, or a losing streak, or when one player has been playing particularly bad for a stretch, you can hear a pretty unmistakable tone of disgust in Uecker's voice on the radio. He doesn't come right out and make blatant critical comments, but it's not hard to discern the tone and meaning of what he's saying.

A friend of mine bought a 20 game pack with his brother, each of them taking 10 games. Before my friend could commit, he made me commit to at least 2 tickets for at least 3 games. So, when they got their options for the playoffs, it was 4 tickets to every playoff game in the section we usually sit (117), or four tickets to ONE game each series, in the nose bleeds. So once again, I was asked to give a commitment for at least one game in each series, for 2 tickets. if that's what I have to do...........I suppose.

http://espn.go.com/chicag...neral-manager-jim-hendry

If that's the case, yeah, he's definitely worth the 2.5 or so it might cost to keep him around.

I wasn't sure if this should be in the transcation/rumors forum, but he's currently a Brewer, so he wouldn't technically be moving. I like what I see out of the guy so far. He's versatile defensively, and not only that, he looks semi-competent wherever he's been on the field so far. Granted, he's not hitting much for the Crew, but sample size is basically nil. I don't think it'd be unreasonable to expect a .325/.375/.700 line out of him, seeing him get 200-250 PA's wouldn't be the end of the world in a utility/PH/PR role next year. If the price is right, yay or nay?

The Brewers are 73-51. This is an absolute go for it year. If starting someone's clock a month and a half early is the best decision for winning a game this year when needed, that's what they should do. There's times to be cautious about this kind of stuff. You see teams like the Royals burn service time on 21 and 22 year old guys when they're 22 games below .500, and it's easy to see why they keep falling behind. Washington bringing up Strasberg way before they were ready to contend.........and so on. Gamel is 25, and Green is 24. Even if they qualified as Super 2's (which they won't), they're under team control until they're 31 and 30, respectively. If the team truly believes either or both of these guys gives them a chance to win even one more game than someone they'd replace, service time should be the last consideration right now.

Halladay gets it, unless he tanks. (which he won't do) He's Hollywood right now, doesn't matter what anyone else is doing. I'll bet most sportswriters who are based more than 500 miles from Phoenix don't even know who Kennedy is. Lincecum gets good pub, but Halladay is the guy that most of the voters are going to look at, simply based on past performance.

Clutchness is in absolutely no way, shape, or form, predictable. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, or doesn't happen. If a career .150 hitter has 3 game winning hits in 2 weeks, that's clutch, but it doesn't predict future 'clutchness' at all. If Kotsay's ZIPs for the rest of the season say he's going to hit about .260, I'd expect him to hit .260 in clutch situations. That doesn't mean he will, it just means with a large enough sample, that would be the expected production. That is the only thing I think the 'statheads' are trying to say here. For some reason, 'statheads' and 'SABR' have seemingly become dirty words around here. So in theory, if Gamel, Green, or anyone else is predicted to do better than Kotsay in 'normal' at bat situations, there's no reason to assume they'd do worse in 'clutch' situations. That's not to say that there's not a human factor. I agree that being a 'gritty vet' may provide some unmeasurable benefit in such situations, but I don't know if that's something that roster decisions should be based on. I don't know that there's any substantial evidence that Gamel or Green would feel overwhelmed or daunted by pressure at bats in a playoff scenario. These aren't 13 year olds in the little leauge world series, they're professional ball players who've been preparing for the better part of the last decade to play in the major leagues. Like any prospect, they may pan out, they may not. But decisions shouldn't be being made based on Mark Kotsay being a 'grizzled vet' when he's supplying the offensive punch of a backup catcher. Clearly, in 2003, Miguel Cabrera's lack of veteran grittyness did not hold the Marlins back, nor did it prevent him from putting up an OPS over 1.100 in the LCS against the Cubs.

That's how I feel right now. "What?!?? They LOST?!? A GAME?!?? How could this HAPPEN!?!?" I'm trying to get upset about the offense basically going to sleep the last 4 games, but it's just really hard to get bummed about anything these guys do right now. every offense goes through a funk. It just so happens that during the stretch in which the crew is doing so, every starter is pitching like Walter friggin Johnson.

K-Rod has seemed to change the entire dynamic of the bullpen, hasn't he? It's funny how one guy gives us the perception that the bullpen is 'that much' better with him in it.

Probably only need Wolf for 2 starts in the playoffs. 1st round vs. Braves Greinke Gallardo Marcum (sweep) Round 2 vs. Phillies Greinke Gallardo Marcum Wolf (sweep) WS Greinke Gallardo Marcum Wolf (Sweep) There you have it, only 2 Wolf starts in the playoffs.

I was pretty shocked by that as well, though I suppose Carlos Gomez helped out that number a ton. Gomez, Morgan, certainly Counsell, and maybe to a lesser extent, Weeks. The other thing is that some of the metrics showing Casey and Hart as being 'above average' this year, but again, they say defensive data takes a good 3 years to get a solid sample size big enough to draw correlation from. Statistically, the Brewers might be 'above average' defensively this year, but I think that we can all take that data with at least a small grain of salt.