1992casey

Here are the two key lines in the game log (Beloit, bottom 11th)? ? Defensive Substitution: Scott Van Slyke replaces designated hitter Joshua Bell, batting 4th, playing right field. ? Pitcher Change: James Peterson replaces David Pfeiffer, batting 7th.

In an effort to get this to you quickly, I'm not going to attempt to answer the question right now, but here's the game log and the box score. I'll take another look later. Report back if you figure out something first. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

Great job with the information, PS. Had someone not shown up with it, I'd have tried to bumble through it. This is so much better. That said, and with the information in hand, I think that I'd still prioritize splitting up lefty hitters. That would go along with the leverage thing mentioned previously. If an opposing manager is able to bring in a LOOGY to face two batters, it's probably going to happen at the worst possible time. EDIT: PS, you may not be aware if it, but Tango posted here a couple times last winter. EDIT 2: removed reference to page number of previous post as they're kind of irrelevant with Yuku http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

Both of these work for me right now: http://forum.lambeauleap.net/ (direct link) http://lambeauleapforum.net/ (hit the "forum" link) The main page still produces an error, though.

The main page is down, too. It was down yesterday, and Brian speculated that it was likely one of the outside feeds he uses and hoped it would 'fix itself'. Apparently it didn't. I can't tell you why the main page and the forum would bork simultaneously. Too technical for me.

Well, SoCal, at least the twain only meet on one guy: Floyd.

You may be right on that, Phenom. It seems consistent with what I've been 'reporting' and speculating on, especially in regard to #3-4-5. Could be. I think the way to examine that one would be to create lineups with Braun, Fielder, and 7 average players, then seeing what happens. (added quote for clarity)

That's essentially what's happened with a lot of statistical study. Examining a relatively 'normal' complement of players (like you'd find on any of the 30 major league teams) rarely shows much difference when players are shuffled around. To get to the nuts and bolts of the matter and to see a difference, you have to use much more extreme examples. My gut says to agree with that. The study I cited doesn't get into #3 vs. #6 or #7, though. All it suggests is that you're better off putting a better hitter at #5 than at #3, despite the fact that #3 will bat a bit more often. Obviously, the single study isn't enough. For starters, I'd continue the same thing and do 3 Ruths / 6 Koufaxes and 5 Ruths / 4 Koufaxes. In the case of the TV show, limiting the batting order segment to one study would have simply matter of time-contstraint. It covered defense and strategies, too. Had this been a mini-series, an entire hour could have been devoted to lineups.

Yeah, I mentioned that above. Glad to see you've committed that thought to memory. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif As I also mentioned, because it's raw data, it's tough to dispute that little factoid. But in addition, there are statisticians saying that putting one of a team's four top hitters into the #3 spot sacrifices second inning production for the sake of the first. That falls into the category of interpreting data and would be wide open for discussion. I wouldn't go so far as to say a team's worst hitter should be in the three spot, though. After all, he will get more ABs than the #6, 7, and 8 hitters. But given the "nobody on and 2 outs" thing, I think #3 might be a nice spot for a lower OBP / high SLG guy or a good hitter who strikes out more than you'd like. Last summer, the Science Channel aired a special on sabermetrics called Baseball's Secret Formula. One of the studies presented involved a lineup with four Babe Ruths and five Sandy Koufaxes. The best batting order had Babe hitting #1, 2, 4, & 5, with Koufax hitting #3, 6, 7, 8, and 9. As far as the #2 spot, I think it's been fair to say that that spot has been 'elevated' in importance over the years. Most managers, statheads, and fans are now acknowledging the importance of OBP in that spot. Building on TC's "Braun hitting second" idea, the newest stuff is telling us that getting power?in addition to on base ability?into the top of the order is a really good thing that shouldn't be overlooked.

We're all human, PBIB. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif Actually, Casey's my dog's name and 1992 is the year he was born. I'd never noticed the coincidence that the number was also the Brewers' last winning season. Good call.

Maybe PBIB didn't get to the bottom of the thread before replying? It's a good idea to read all messages before posting, but it's also nice to cut some slack. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif Sometimes it takes a couple of posts for the 'redirect' idea to kick in.

The National League Rookie of the Year thread has been around for 3-plus weeks and has some nice discussion comparing rookies. It's in the designated threads list because it's a great thread to bring back and track how things might change over the course of the rest of the season. Let's confine this thread to keeping track of any Pence injury news and the implications the Astros are facing while using the ROY thread for the more general stuff. Gracias! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

I'll get technical here and break it down a bit further? Weak arm: I'd put this in the 'he is what he is' category. I can't blame him. Lazy and dogging it: Totally subjective, but also totally fair game for discussion. Not taking pitches: This could fit into the 'is what he is' category, but I'd tend to stick it into the 'blame on Estrada' category. Batting 5th: Totally on Yost.

I think what you have to keep in mind is that if you go to ESPN and do sort for OBP, you'll find that most of the best OBPs belong to elite power hitters. So while you certainly want high OBPs hitting before the cleanup hitter, chances are that the highest OBP on the team will end up defaulting to a power spot. I don't think anyone would argue using Fielder and Braun in the #1 or #2 spots, for instance (unless your lineup was so ridiculously good that you could afford that luxury). I'm kind of hoping Russ can chime in a bit because he can explain some of the technical ramifications and would probably also have links. My understanding doesn't extend much past the raw data. While raw data is pretty hard to dispute, interpreting its meaning leaves a ton of room for discussion. EDIT: Aytumious notes that Braun can do both table-setting and driving in runs. That's what I'm trying to say; your heart of the order should be doing both.

JB, the cleanup hitter leads off innings more often than anyone other than the leadoff hitter. EDIT: While I agree that the middle of the order (with Hall back) isn't a huge issue, there's nothing wrong with discussing it. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif We already have a thread for top-of-the order stuff, though, along with a thread for discussing the full lineup. (edit 2: grammar)

lithium, I don't think Ennder was doing any backhanded bashing at all. The way I read it, he was giving Ryan full credit for doing things right.

Putting sample and possible regression issues aside for a minute, Braun has the highest OBP and SLG pct. on the team. That screams cleanup. Of course, Prince has a high OBP and high SLG pct., too, which also makes him an excellent choice. Given that the #3 hitter comes to bat with two out and nobody on more than anyone else, it could be considered a 'waste' to bat either of those guys in that spot. Of course, there's more to it than just the stats. In the heart of the order, keeping two lefties from hitting consecutively should be a priority. That's not an issue here, though. My inclination would be to go with (3) Hall, (4) Prince, (5) Braun vs. righties. Vs. lefties I'd do (3) Prince, (4) Braun, (5) Hall. (Good work by DHarris34Phan at keeping a full lineup out of the original post; it keeps the thread much more focused. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif)

I don't think the rookie triple crown is a big deal for evaluating a player or his future performance, but I see it as a big deal for the people who vote for the award winner. Of course, as I mentioned earlier in this thread, if I were voting, I'd try to use other stats. I'd be in the minority, though.

Dogs' attention spans are pretty short when it comes to rule violations. You have to catch them in the act. One advantage to large dogs is that there's much less dog-proofing to do. They can't get behind as much stuff. You have to sound downright mean, at least in the beginning, even if it bugs you. It's not like you're beating the guy up. Impress this upon your daughter. For serious infractions, it's absolutely fine to grab him by the scruff of the neck. That's what his mother would have done. My friends have shock collars for their dogs. I have no personal experience with them, except to see them with these particular dogs, but they seem to work. The collar will beep, then shock. Or the shock function can be turned off entirely. The idea, of course, is to get them to respond to the beep. As far as safety/cruelty, my friends are pretty major animal lovers who donate to animal causes; I think if they saw an issue, they wouldn't be using them. Along the same line as the shock collar are the invisible fence products. I've read up a bit on these. They work, but they have flaws. One is that you should be checking to see that the collar doesn't malfunction and burn the pet. Another is that if the pet somehow gets outside the 'fenced' area, he won't want to (or be able to) reenter. When I started taking Casey to the dog park in Oak Creek, I noticed the whole area was surrounded by a cheap fencing product. I don't know what it's called, but it's like a heavy gauge rabbit wire. Snowfence posts should be fine to hold everything together. If you're in an area where you can get away with fencing that looks like something you'd find on a farm, you could enclose a large area rather cheaply. I regret not knowing this when Casey first came around; where I live, I could easily have gotten away with this.

Ouch. Much worse than reported on Home Plate this afternoon. Here's a separate Pence injury thread: Hunter Pence out 4-6 Weeks Any other rookies we should be talking about, even if they may not come close to Ryan?

You reminded me that I forgot to include ABs. Ryan has 201; Hunter has 312.

This came in my e-mail a couple days ago. There's still plenty of time to reserve a spot for playoff tickets. 2007 Brewers Fan's Choice 20-Game Plan

Here are the current stats. I'm starting to think that Ryan is catching up, and may even be in a position where he could be surpassing Pence: [b][u]HR[/u] [u]RBI[/u] [u]BA[/u] [u]OBP[/u] [u]SLG[/u] [u]OPS[/u][/b] Braun 15 42 .338 .387 .657 1.044 Pence 12 45 .330 .355 .564 .919

I think you're going to find a lot of similarity between a good Weeks and a good Hart. With Corey, I'm happy with him in a lot of lineup spots. Depending on circumstances (who's hot, who's not, who's hurt, who's available), I'd be happy with Corey being placed anywhere from #1 to #6. Hey gang, as noted in the forum FAQ, let's save full lineups for the lineup thread. Full lineups tend to remove focus from the players relevant to this discussion.

Barbs, whenever you post, you seem to hit the nail right on the head. There's nothing at all wrong with going twice. As a matter of fact, there's so much to do at Disney World and in the Orlando area, that Bench Coach's family won't possibly to cover everything in one vacation. Not only that, after the first trip, the kids will be itching to return.