danzig6767

Yep If Rickie was the special or fairly special hitter we hoped he'd become, then it would be much easier to live with his defensive problems. I know everyone is focusing on his terrible turn on the DP ball, but his inability to bring in the ball hit by Fukudome was so similar to many plays he hasn't been able to make this year. Plays that were barely just tough enough to not be scored an error, but are plays good defenders make in most cases. I've lost count how many times Weeks has been involved with plays that i'm sure most watching were saying, come on Rickie you gotta make that play, but it was boarderline enough for the official scorer to call it a hit. IMO his error total really understates how often Rickie manages to bungle plays that should have resulted in an out, but either via the ball bounces off his glove, goes under it, or his throw is off target. Yea he is better than he was in the field as a rookie, but that's only going from a miserable defensive player to a below average one.

This game is murder on my acid reflux

Because Hart has terrible plate discipline. In nearly 400 at bats so far, Hart has a measly 21 walks, Craig Counsell in only 138 at bats has 20 walks.

What? Plenty have questioned whether Suppan is the best option for a rotation spot, but the managers job during a game is to put the team in the best positions to win. I think 90% of people watching the game were yelling for Yost to get Suppan out of the game before the damage got out of hand, yet Ned sat there with his arms folded and a relief pitcher already warmed up and let Suppan get hammered until the game was out of hand. It's not like the long relief pitchers were overused and we needing 7-8 innings from Suppan. McClung and Villanueva were rested, plus CC and Sheets are the two next schedules starters. What was even the point of having McClung get warmed up that inning if Ned wasn't going to bring him in after Suppan was obviously fooling nobody and one more big hit off Jeff could blow the game wide open? We very well could have lost anyways, but Ned leaving in Suppan until he allowed 7 friggin runs was baffling to say the least to nearly anybody watching the game.

I was at the game tonight and man was the crowd electric after the Braun homer, that was as loud as i've heard Miller Park. Even after the game, there was lots of fans chanting stuff in the concourses. Baseball fever has finally taken hold of Milwaukee after so long being the largely ignored stepchild to Packer football. Another thing i've noticed when going to games this year, just how much Brewers apparel the fans have on. In years past, i'd see nearly as much Packers or Badgers apparel on fans as Brewers stuff. Now when i go to games, i see Brewers apparel on fans everywhere.

I posed this question after we called up Branyan and he was hot right away. What would Ned do once Branyan went into one of his typical slumps that he's always been prone to do and his batting average nosedives? We have our answer. For whatever reason, MLB managers and often GM's have a fairly short leash with Branyan. Once he gets in a bad slump where he say goes 3 for 25 with a bunch of K's, any sort of consistent playing time just vanishes. On a plus side, even though he only has 5 hits in 31 at bats this month, Russell only struck out 8 times. He should be playing more.

I have no idea who the kids are that the Yanks gave up, but i don't think Marte is just your typical LOOGY. He has for his whole career been solid vs righthanded hitters and great vs lefties. Shouse is what i'd call a typical Loogy, a relief pitcher who is good vs lefties, but not a guy you want facing righthanded bats. Marte has averaged a K per inning and less than a hit per inning vs righthanded batters over his career, as he is doing this year, few if any LOOGY'S in baseball can do that. He does walk to many batters though In fact, besides Torres, a solid case could be made that Marte would be our second best relief pitcher.

I love when Manny does that, he brings some flair to the game of baseball that to often unwritten rules try to shut down. Nobody say anything if a pitcher say strikes out the side and kinda glares at a hitter as he walks off the mound, yet a pitcher should be offended just because a hitter watches his home run for a few seconds? It's a real peeve of mine that baseball feels the need to dull down the game and not allow much or any showing of individualism when a player does something great. If a hitter say pointed at the pitcher and started talking smack as he circled the bases, then yea i could see an issue. Just watching the ball for a second a two deserves scorn and a bean ball next at bat? That's a bunch of crap IMO.

I have zero problem with any hitter posing or admiring a bomb they hit so long as it actually leaves the yard. I think it's ridiculous that only in baseball that a player shouldn't be allowed to show some excitement or be proud of doing something great. In all other sports players do things after a great play. Football players spike the ball after a TD which brings attention to themselves. Hockey players celebrate goals in a way that brings attention to themselves. If a baseball player jacks a bomb, he should have every right to watch and admire what he did, it's a very tough thing to do. Plus, i like baseball players with some flair, like say Manny of the Red Sox. I love his pose after homers, it's entertainment to me. If pitchers don't like the homer pose, don't serve up a meatball, end of story.

He simply doesn't take enough pitches Fans get on Braun for his lack of patience, but Hart isn't any better. You have a pitcher walking guys left and right, Hart has the count 1-0 and he swings at a slider off the plate.

Man, tons of stranded runners I sure hope this doesn't end up being one of those games where we say outhit them 12 to 4 and end up losing 3-2 or 2-1.

http://www.stltoday.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=553449&postdays=0&postorder=asc&&start=0 Amusing thread of Cards fans wanting Hall plunked

If Suppan didn't have such a big paycheck, he'd be in the pen and Bush/McClung wouldn't be in a platoon

Sabean i'm a bit torn on Yea he's made quite a few really head scratching signings, his trade with the Twins where he gave away Nathan/Liriano/Bonser was one of the worst in history, and Bonds played a huge huge role in the Giants success. With that said, Sabean did in most years put together good pitching staffs and some decent hitters around Bonds for those Giants teams that won a lot of games for multiple years. I would never hire the guy to be GM if i was an owner, but even with as insanely productive Bonds was for the Giants/Sabean, one great player won't make teams a winner as Arod showed with Texas. With the Giants badly needing to rebuild, they likely would be better off getting a new GM, but Sabean did some good things for that franchise in his tenure.

But, aside from a tiny window of his career now over 4 years removed, Mota has never been a good pitcher. Yep Mota had a very good year and a half stretch for the Dodgers in 2003/2004, that's it, his ERA for any other season hasn't been under 4 and in most cases, was way above 4. Yet, because he's able to throw hard, teams keep trying to convince themselves that the Mota of 2003 will magically appear again out of nowhere. It would be like some hitter from the steroid era who say jacked 55 homers with a great OPS over a year in a half stretch in 2003/2004, but has been crap since. Yet teams keep picking him up and thinking he'll repeat that magic even though his overall numbers have stunk since, but teases a few times a year with huge home runs. No question sample sizes can effect relief pitchers more than starters, but if anyone wants to find the anomaly in Mota's career, it was his great year and a half in LA. The rest of his career, Mota has been a below average to very poor relief pitcher.

Bowden already had a spot in the dumb GM standings, this just further cements his place. Even for him this is a terrible trade and i'm kinda bummed Melvin didn't make a call, Rauch has an incredibly team friendly contract. Even if Rauch was just a rental the trade looks terrible. Trades like this make me so glad i'm not a Nats fan.

Much like this franchise, he's due? He has great stuff, he just gets pounded relentlessly. I don't get it, but I'm tired of it already. Actually, Mota has been terrible since the second half of 2004 I keep hearing how we can't give up on Mota because he still throws hard, well, Mota has been able to throw hard the last four years while he wasn't getting hitters out and stinking up the joint. Being able to throw 95 is fine and dandy, but if the pitches are grooved right over the plate because Mota has terrible command, why does it matter he still supposedly has "good stuff"? A sizable part of a pitchers "stuff" is being able to throw pitches where hitters can't jack them and not walking to many batters. I don't know if this is a Melvin or Yost call, but when Mota inevitably implodes and cost us games, it's on whoever was dumb enough to ignore that Mota has been bad for years just because he still throws hard.

For a 5th starter, that's pretty damn good. Obviously it's to early to be 100 percent certain about anything with Seth, but he never showed any level of consistent pitching with Tampa like he has with us after changing his mechanics. Since the start of June and after having time to stretch out as a starter, he has started nine games and only one of those starts was really bad. I do understand why many don't like this starter platoon idea, but it is hard for me to just dismiss that while Bush may have 4.51 career ERA, in his three years as a Brewer, he has a great home ERA and a miserable road ERA. Many or maybe even most pitchers will have some difference in their home/road splits, but since being a Brewer, Bush has been so flat out terrible when pitching on the road that he's been a major liability to the team in those starts. Bush has been like Jenkins when facing righties or lefties. Maybe his final numbers on the year would be decent, but it was only because of his raking vs righthanded pitchers. When he was allowed to play vs lefties, he was a hindrance to the team succeeding. That's the same with Bush. For three straight years, when Bush has pitched at home, he's been an asset to the team succeeding and when he pitches on the road, he's a been hindrance to the team succeeding. I guess we could keep throwing him out there on the road and hoping that like when Jenkins would out of the blue got hot for awhile and hit lefties, maybe Bush would stop serving up batting practice meatballs on the road. I don't have a crystal ball to know how exactly this will work out because platooning pitchers certainly isn't common, but the reasoning behind trying it just doesn't strike me as dumb as many here do.

Harden is silly good I never cheer for players to get hurt, even on rival teams, but i gotta admit that i wouldn't mind Harden getting say a strained muscle of some kind when we have to face the Cubs now or in he playoffs because i dread the thought of our very righthanded lineup having to go up against a health Rich Harden. I certainly understand why Beane wasn't able to get a crazy good package for Harden given his vast injury history, but if that guy can buck the odds and stay healthy this year and most of next year, that's terrible news the the NL Central.

To the stat guys out there, warning alert, these are just my naked eye impressions Hall is much better making touvgher plays moving laterally on grounders to either side, this is the weak area of Branyan defensively. While Billy can get to balls that Branyan can't, Hall has flubbed more simple plays . Arm strength wise, both look to have roughly equal arms to me, but Branyan is a lot more consistently accurate. I had forgot how Branyan was on defense, but his throwing has been what's impressed me the most by far. He not only doesn't pull Fielder off the bag, i can't remember a single throw that Prince had to scoop out of the dirt. If Branyan does field the ball clean, the throw almost always hits Prince's glove around chest high. In fact, his throwing had been so flawless all year that a few games ago when Russell made a throwing error, i remember being very surprised. On the plus side for Hall, his throwing has been improving. Early in the year, there were so many off line throws that either ended up an error or Prince had to scoop balls that i'd get nervous each time Billy threw to first. Given that Fielder is miserable at scooping balls in the dirt compared to good firstbaseman, an inaccurate throwing infielder gets exasperated even more.

That's the thing with Weeks defense I can't even count the number of semi-tough plays that he's botched that haven't been called error

Is a point ever going to be reached where Brewers fans stop with the silly "McDung" comments? The guy has pitched very very well for a 5th starter, even more impressive when it' factored in how much he's improved as a pitcher from his Tampa days. In his previous 8 starts, Seth has only allowed three runs or less in each of those starts except for one of them. That's damn good production for a 5th starter, yet instead of it being appreciated, we still have people thinking they are being clever by calling him McDung.

Where else would another position player play besides some at second? Kendall isn't losing PT. Prince sure isn't. Hardy isn't platooning with anyone. Unless we waived Branyan and traded for a lefty thirdbaseman, there are no at bats available at third. No chance whatsoever than any of our outfielders lose playing time. That leaves second and Rickie Weeks who has been miserable his year vs righthanded pitchers. Now i can understand some who feel Weeks losing some starts against righties to Durham isn't a net gain given Durham is worse defensively and they hold some hope that Weeks will stop being garbage at the plate when righties are on the mound. Other than somehow trading for a clear upgrade to Weeks like say Roberts and either losing Weeks in the trade or basically bench him so Roberts can play, along with having to give up much more in return, i'm not sure where else that "other possible player" would end up playing and who loses at bats in the starting lineup?

Ford and Hammond would pretty much be just throw ins if we had/do make anymore trades. If i was the GM to another team and had say a quality setup relief pitcher that multiple teams wanted, i can't see how the Brewers being willing to throw in either Hammond or Ford at the end of the trade having any impact whatsoever in me accepting or declining the overall offer. The odds of either guy even making the bigs are slim and even vastly more slim that if either made the bigs, that they'd be much more than 24th/25th man fodder. GM's in baseball know this also and is why Melvin didn't sweat tossing them away for a 2 month bench player. If the Brewers do try acquiring a quality 8th inning setup guy, the GM owning that pitcher isn't going to be telling Doug, we could have had a deal, if only you still had Hammond or Ford to add to the package. Now i gotta pass.

What guy in baseball was available that plays second, gets on base, mashes righties, plays good defense, doesn't have a bad contract, and wouldn't cost us any premium prospects? All i see this trade being was basically trading Joe Dillon for Durham. When you consider that the "prospects" we gave up were very marginal and the Giants ate half of Durham's contract, i'd much rather have Durham on the bench than Dillon. In pinch hitting situations, Durham provides switch hitting that Dillon doesn't. Even though Durham is bad defensively, Dillon is worse at second. I wouldn't play Durham in a strict platoon with Weeks and i doubt Ned will either. I see Durham getting maybe a start or two a week when a starter that is very tough on righthanded batters is on the mound, the rest of the time Durham takes Dillon's role of bench pinch hitter. If we actually had given up a good prospect or two, then i'd maybe have had an issue with the trade. If over the rest of the season, having Durham on the team vs Dillon ends up helping the Brewers win one more game, that's well worth to me spending an extra roughly million dollars and two fringe prospects.