JohnBriggs12

The biggest problem is that when you call a strategy a "rule", it allows the manager not have to really think or be accountable. Now most times in the case of Ned Yost that is a good thing. However every game is different. High scoring offensive games are different than low scoring tense games. Either stopping momentum or keeping momentum on your side is key. Also key is putting yourself in the oppenents heads. Weeks' HR should have resulted in a huge momentum shift. Frankly I would have put Cordero in there in the 9th instead of the flammable Spurling. Having to see Cordero after giving up a lead would have kept the hammer down. Yost was extremely lucky to get to the 10th. Spurling hung pitch after pitch in the 9th, but luckily the Astros didn't have Justin Morneau batting and Stetter probably would have wild pitched in the winning run if the line out to short had been fouled off. But the bottom of the 9th close call, did get the Astros mentally back in the game. After the Brewers went quietly in the 10th, imagine the Astro confidence level seeing Matt Wise come in. They knew they had the game right there. I knew it. Jeff Wagner on WTMJ said today he knew it, as did virtually every fan that has watched Brewer games the past 2 months. But somehow the guy in the dougout couldn't get past an unwritten rule. It's not exactly like he hasn't been bitten by this before. Everyone remembers Prince's inside the park HR that tied the game in the 9th vs the Twins and how quickly that positive emotion was quelled when instead of bringing in Cordero, Yost brought in Spurling who gave up a walk off to the first batter in the bottom of the 9th.

"2 runs off a rookie pitcher is no fault of the manager" Who made out the lineup card? Who continues to sit Jenkins and Hall? Who decided Hardy couldn't start the game but was plenty okay to bring in defensively?

The Yost "explanation" that he had intended to take out Bush but he was gassed after running from first to third is a perfect example of just why he is a bad manager. That scenario could have easily been anticipated. The thought process should have been, "I want Bush to go another inning, so I'm going to let him bat here. But it's getting late and we could really use some insurance runs too. If he does happen to get on, I should PR for him, because running the bases will finish him anyway. Enter Stocker (is he still on the team?) who scores to give them a 3-1 lead. Yost doesn't anticipate. He doesn't grasp importance of stopping momentum. The "hidden" mistake in last night's game though was the lineup. I'm sorry I love the Dillon story as much as anyone, and I've always liked Gross but they are not everyday major leaguers. Hall had one horrendous game but his September numbers are not all that bad. Jenkins had a little slump too but blasted a HR the night before. Those two are better players than Dillon and Gross. As for Wise, he was the absolute last guy I would have used in the 10th inning. The obvious choice there was Cordero for the simple reason that the Astros had the middle of the order coming up. Sure you'd like to save your closer in case you get a lead but really it was the key inning. The Astros had already used their top relievers, so the chances for the Brewers scoring soon were very good. If Cordero gets through one inning under 15 pitches, he could go another. If not, Ray King has the veteran savvy to close out a game. The other option in my mind for the 10th and beyond was Capuano. Capuano was sharp his last time out and even while struggling as a starter all year, often times got through 3 or 4 innings unscathed.

Are there really any Yost defenders left? What more evidence of his ineptitude do you guys need?

This was mentioned by Astros telecast team last night. They quoted a scout commenting on Estrada: "He gets fatter and lazier every year". Gentlemen, that's our starting catcher.

I think rluzinski has it right. 85 to tie. 86 to win. If the Brewers could go 6-3 or 7-2 over their next 9, they could still be alive for the wild card heading into 4 with the WC leader Padres. 87 wins might be enough for the WC (assuming they win at least 3 vs. Padres). Of course if they do that, it's likely they'd beat out the Cubs anyway, but you never know.

Should Yovanni Gallaro been extended beyond his prescribed innings limit? Absolutely. The alternatives were awful. In fact Parra will end up well under his limit, and he still got hurt. The whole idea of prescribed innings limits is junk science. Has Ned Yost cost this team with his moves? I've been watching baseball for close to 50 years. Some of his moves are indefensible. Others are questionable at best. Occasionally he'll get it right but only occasionally. But worse than his in game moves hurting the team were the moves he made filling out lineup cards. He stuck with Capuano too long. He batted Estrada too high in the lineup all year. He buried Gross on the bench while he played Mench in RF against righthanded pitching. Should we have given up Will Inman, Steve Garrison, and Joe Thatcher for Scott Linebrink? They had to get somebody, but they had all offseason to get a veteran bullpen arm without paying that steep price. Had they done so, they could have inserted Villanueva into the rotation much sooner than they did. Did not bringing up Braun at the start of the season have any affect on this team? Fairly minimal but even a minimal positive impact earlier might have made the difference. Were the Brewers smart to keep Ben Sheets? We don't know who they could have gotten for him, so this is unanswerable. How many games has the bullpen cost them? It wasn't how many (a little above average) but the fact that many were games they had in hand. Vs. Texas, 2 outs, nobody on, up by 3 runs and Cordero doesn't retire another batter. Turnbow had a better year than in 06, but still had a few too many meltdowns. It's one thing to give up a one or two run lead late, but this team gave up way too many 3+ run leads. The bullpen though was often mismanaged so not all blame falls on the pitchers. This is the other question that needs to be asked: Did the Brewers make a huge mistake by not trading Chris Capuano in the offseason when he would have been in demand?

Estrada has 48 RBI. That is about 30 less than is needed to overcome his defensive and baserunning issues. Over the course of this season, that's enough to keep this team out of the postseason. He's been horrible. I don't want him back for 08.

I know Mike Rivera didn't have a great year at AAA but he was pretty darn good there in 05 and 06 and he's swung the bat with authority as a Brewer. And yes, he doesn't have a strong arm either but unlike Estrada, he moves around like an athlete behind the plate.

I'm amused at how the media focuses on Brewer fans unhappiness with the manager at a time when the team is in it's first real September race in a generation. Hey media, it's because we watch the games intently that we've come to the conclusion that Yost is a poor manager. It has nothing to do with not being used to the ups and downs of a pennant race. Bad managing is bad managing, and Brewer fans are intelligent enough to know it when they see it.

Believe me nobody wants to come on here and pound the manager day after day. But the fact is, he has the best team by far in the division and at best they might scrape into the playoffs by a game. Knowing they have the best team makes his continued mistakes intolerable by this fan. How many times can we say we've had the best talent in our division in the last 25 years? Now that we do, it might not be enough to overcome the managerial shortcomings. Ned is a likable guy, a guy who'll go down in Brewer history for his 3 run home run in Boston. It would be great to have him around as a third base coach on another Brewer pennant winner. But not the manager.

Nice try backup catchers, but you're not convincing. Kremblas has fashioned winning records with both with up and coming talent and with mostly career minor leaguers. He won a AAA championship a couple years ago after virtually all of his talent was in Milwaukee. Look at the pitching staff he won with this year at Nashville. Once Gallardo left, his rotation was a bunch of guys in their 30's. He's won managaer of the year awards in several leagues. Winning in the minors still requires game management. To some degree that's affected by the dual purpose of developing talent but not completely. That's a skill that Yost has trouble with. Yost has a nice demeanor and good communication skills. That alone will get you jobs in any profession. But coaching 3rd base is not a great training ground for managing in the big leagues. Alex Grammas was Sparky Anderson's right hand man and a great third base coach for the Big Red Machine. But he couldn't manage his way out of a paper bag either.

"If the Padres need a victory in game 162 to reach the playoffs, Jake Peavy." Only the Padres are up by 2 1/2 games in the wild card. If they need a win in game 162, that would mean a slippage somewhere including losing some to the Brewers. In which case the Brewers likely would not need game 162. You can turn the article around by saying which team faces more shaky pitching. The Reds are listing Dumatrait, TBA, and Belisle for the weekend. That's hardly imposing. Oswalt has an ERA vs. the Brewer this season of 5.48. The other two Astro starters in that series figure to be Albers and Woody Williams. Who knows whether the Cardinals will be even in the race by the time the Brewers face them. If they are, it will be because they took 3 of 4 at least from the Cubs which is a good thing for the Brewers. If not, it will be because their pitching has failed them and that's also a good thing for the Brewers. Bottom line though, it's one game at a time now. If the Brewers blast the weak pitching from here on out, it won't matter that they face some tough guys sprinkled in there. It will be enough.

Kremblas has a better resume to be a major league manager than Yost had when he was hired. Yost didn't win managing in the low minors, and though he was around Bobby Cox, that doesn't make him Bobby Cox. That being said, though I'm a huge critic of Yost, I hope he's around in 08. It would mean they overcame his many goofs and got into the postseason. Talent usually trumps even bad managers in the long run.

Today was the utimate dream day in a dream sports weekend. Brewers win. Cubs lose. Packers win. Bears lose. I had split screen. Packers in HD with Brewers on the smaller side. From time to time, I went all Packers in beautiful wide screen. When both were in commercials, I checked out either the Cubs or the golf (Saturday, I was behind the 8th green at Cog Hill when Sticker made the shot from the fairway). Throw in the albeit sluggish but winning Badgers, and it just might have been the greatest sports viewing weekend in my 55 years.

I think it taints his career. How much it does depends on how many names eventually come out. For him, the more, the merrier, as is "everyone was doing it". But at the very least it throws some cold water on the "feel good" aspect of his season knowing he rehabbed using substances that ended up being banned. McGwire used andro before it was banned too. It didn't cause too much of a ripple while he played, but combined with his evasive testimony, it cast enough doubt to keep him out of the HOF at least for the foreseeable future. HGH is a problem that still hasn't been solved due to lack of testing. It's my understanding that there is a blood test, but that it's not fool proof, and the union isn't going to approve it.

I think the innings limit on Gallardo got thrown out the window when it became clear that Yost's job is on the line this month. Unless the Brewers clinch or are eliminated before the 9/27 game, Gallardo will make 5 more starts, which will push his total innings for the year to between 180 and 185. That will be around 30 more than he threw last year. Is 5 innings beyond the "25 inning rule" worth it to get a franchise's first taste of postseason in a generation? You bet it is.

They made some bad deals. They had "can't miss" prospects fail and their farm system was devoid of pitching talent. They also have been hurt by injuries some of which could have been predicted. They traded Aaron Rowand for aging Jim Thome prior to 06. They felt Rowand was expendable because of Brian Anderson, who turned out to be a bust. Thome has fewer RBI in the past two seasons than the guy he replaced, Frank Thomas. Because of the success of Jenks, Williams thought he could go out and get a bunch of flame throwers, like Cisco, Aardsma, McDougal, and that Don Cooper would turn them into Jenks. He way overrated his pitching coach. Those guys were available for a reason. They had no starting pitching ready, so Williams had to deal to get it, but the Gavin Floyds and Denks haven't exactly been very good. Injuries to Joe Crede, Darrin Erstad and Pods, forced them to a youth movement with guys that weren't ready. Dye has also been hobbled by leg problems. Contreras starting showing his age. They still have 3 solid if sometimes inconsistent starters in Buehrle, Vazquez, and Garland. If Crede returns to full strength, they will move Fields to LF. They will also make a free agent run at getting Rowand back. Still they will need plenty of pitching improvement to get back to contender status.

He wasn't preening last night. He turned around and looked at the Brewer dougout or perhaps Prince as if to say "How'd you like that one?" No doubt there's some competition between the boys. He should learn to wait until he's back in the dougout or he runs the risk of appearing to be preening.

endaround is correct. Dunn's best position is DH. LaPorta was drafted to be the long term answer in LF for the Brewers. In the meantime, they could still keep Jenkins or go with Gross in a platoon with Mench or someone else. They'll need to spend elsewhere so no chance Dunn is on their radar.

endaround is correct. Dunn's best position is DH. LaPorta was drafted to be the long term answer in LF for the Brewers. In the meantime, they could still keep Jenkins or go with Gross in a platoon with Mench or someone else. They'll need to spend elsewhere so no chance Dunn is on their radar.

"people are second guessing taking out Braun in the 8th inning for defense with a 3 run lead. That's moronic." I disagree. It's not moronic to question that move. Not with this team coughing up leads routinely. When you double switch out Braun, you put the pitcher in the 3 hole. That's fine if you still have Hall or Mench to hit in that spot, but because of Jenkins injury, Hall was already in the game, and for some reason Yost thought Mench is a huge upgrade over Gross in LF so he replaced Gross there too. That left him with the untested Rottino to bat in the key AB of the game. That he got robbed is beside the point. Braun might have gone deep. Anytime you remove a bat as potent as Braun for defense you are giving up a huge bat and you lesson your chances to retaliate if the lead is lost. Personally, I don't mind 9th inning defensive replacements or earlier for 5-6 run leads, but not before in 3 run games.

Rivera is indeed being listed on the Brewer roster on the Brewer website. I would assume it's because Miller's injury and the fact they want (and need) to run for Estrada late in games and to do that, they need 3 catchers. Mike had a disappointing year at Nashville but still had good power numbers with 19 HR and 61 RBI and even played 3B the other day. They transferred Graffanino to 60 day DL, but I still count 41 on ML roster. Somebody has to be dropped. Here's hoping Spurling is the PTBNL and he will be gone. As for King, what took them so long? I guess Stetter didn't impress the other night.

The focus on fan's criticism is due in large part to the ever increasing disconnect between the Brewer fandom and the softer than soft coverage of the team from it's primary mouthpieces, namely the Journal-Sentinal and WTMJ. Now Haudricourt has gotten in a few jabs at Yost from time to time, but he's not anti Yost by any means. WTMJ? It's a Brewer management cheerleading squad there. In Chicago last year, the media just skewered Dusty Baker. They reflected the Cub fandom in doing so. Dusty focused his ire at the media, not the fans, but those fans were just as fed up with Dusty as the media. In Milwaukee, the major media outlets still seem to want to please the Brewers instead of catering to the fans.

Yost isn't just receiving criticism from fans locally. He's getting it nationally too as pundits actually pay attention to what's going on with this team. I believe Jayson Stark and Keith Law have been guys that have toasted Yost primarily for his bullpen management. As pundits continue to watch this team, there will be more national ridicule of Yost.