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Just to point it out, even if the Brewers had brought in a reliever to pitch a scoreless fifth inning, the Brewers would still trail 5-4.

For those of us who only see the words "Injury Delay" ... What happened to Carlos?

Congratulations to Tony Gwynn Jr. on his first major league hit. ...and a double (who says he can't hit for power? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif ) Bring him home Ricky!

Anyone think Bush coming out of the bullpen could be an indication that a trade may well be in the works? (Probably just his off-day, but still fun to think about bringing in another starter.) All things considered, does this game now count as a "must win?"

just the everyday casual fan who sees a japanese guy pitching for the brewers and automatically thinks of World War II. ...are those the same 'everyday casual fans' who embraced Hideo Nomo in less than a full season, such that he couldn't be traded for PR reasons? (Or that cheered Nomo's donning the racing sausage costume during his return to Milwaukee?) I just don't buy it. Then again, I also don't think about World War II when playing my Nintendo GameCube, so I'm obviously biased. [Tomo Arigato!]

Congratulations on the new job! (Do you list Brewerfan.net on your resume?)

If Ned were calling for the IBB, he would have left Shouse in before going to the pen.

I don't remember hanging on an update from Gameday with as much anticipation as I was the called strike 3. Nice managing, Ned. Now let's get some insurance (and a save for el Cappy).

From Today's J-S: Also signing were ninth-rounder Shawn Ferguson, a right-hander from Texas Christian, 10th-rounder Michael McClendon, a right-hander from Seminole (Fla.) Community College, 13th-rounder Chris Toneguzzi, a right-hander from Purdue, 30th-rounder Jordan Swaydan, a catcher from San Diego State and outfielder Mike Goetz, a 25th-round pick out of UW-Milwaukee. We need a signings thread.

Maybe more of a research project than a question -- would it be possible to find out what HS pitchers Jack Z has selected (with other teams) that have pitched in the major leagues? If there was a 20-game winner or two in that list, I know it would make me feel more comfortable with these picks.

Am I missing something, or is Conger still on the board? (Injury, College commitment, liklihood to move from catcher....something else entirely?) [Edit: Thanks jloos, Peavy - I forgot "Hank" wasn't his real first name.] Odds that we can buy Brent Brewer out of playing football for Florida State?

"On-field Delay" is listed on GameCast... Rain? Drunken Idiot? (Anyone care to clarify?)

Hey guys, stop making even subtle hints, it makes me extremely nervous. And you know exactly what I'm talking about. Isn't that, in and of itself, a subtle hint?

Rickie with 3 errorless plays in the inning. Who says he can't play defense. People who have seen him play more than one inning? Nice to see Hart not being over-aggressive in his starting opportunity, and taking the walk when the pitcher gives it to him. (Then again, compared to the rest of the series, anything that doesn't result in an out is probably an improvement. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif )

According to some teams he wasn't, but according to others he was. I know you keep bringing this point up, but really we only know that based on the reports from Baseball America. If the Brewers had stuck to who the best players available were at the time (according to others), Prince Fielder never would have been the team's selection in 2002 based on the reports. In fact, that is why so many people (including myself up until I got to see him perform at the pre-draft workout) were upset with the Fielder pick at the time. I was debating whether or not to respond to this...looks like I will. I don't really remember bringing the point up at any other time in the past 6+ months, so I don't think I'm harping on the point. Second, based on the results up to this point, it certainly seems as though the people who rated Bailey ahead of Rogers got it right, and our scouting staff got it wrong. (I'm not about to dig up the info, but I believe that BA, Jonathan Mayo at mlb.com, and probably the people over at T1 all predicted Bailey to go ahead of Mark Rogers.) While I can understand your comparison to Fielder on some level, it's not as though there was another first baseman under consideration. (If memory serves, the player most people here wanted was the 3b Moore, who didn't exactly thrive in Detroit.) It should be easier to definitively rank players at the same position than it is to make cross-positional rankings. Moreover, Prince was projected as a top-10 pick based on talent, so it's not like he was a "reach" where he was picked (which is less of a consideration in MLB, where you can't trade picks as we all know). Also, considering that a member of the front office staff (Bill Lajoie) threatened to resign if Fielder wasn't the pick (I vaguely recall this from Dean Taylor after the draft), I'm not sure that Jack Z had the complete autonomy back then that he does now. My larger point, however, is that I think an organization needs to do this sort of post-mortem evaluation when there is an apparent discrepancy between what your organization is seeing and what others are saying (especially disinterested parties). If a team has a bit of an evaluational "blind spot," this is one of the best ways to filter it out. And, if you look at this team's history (recent or otherwise) with HS pitchers in the first round, it hasn't been good.

My biggest problem with the Rogers pick wasn't that he was a HS pitcher (although that fueled a good deal of the concern), but that he wasn't even considered the best HS pitcher available. Looking at Homer Bailey's line (3.1 ERA, 52 k's, 16 bb in 45+ IP, according to a quick flip over to BA), I think it was a mistake twice-over. Call me crazy, but I'm of the belief that a team should set an organizational goal that 60-80% of their first round picks should at least make it onto the 25 man roster. (The number should be higher than league average, but not so high as to be virtually impossible to reach.) Until they hit the major league level, the return on investment is virtually nil. One of the best ways to fall short of that number is to draft HS pitching, and if you are falling short....chances are you're falling behind everyone else.

My question is, why was he there? Brewers and the Phillies don't play the Sox this year. Possible trade partners? Good thing Moeller had a big day at the plate. I honestly didn't realize that we don't play the ChiSox until you mentioned it. Considering both teams were starting young pitchers, the Sox may have wanted to have their major league scouts get a first-hand look at the two of them. Let the trade rumors commence!

If we can get through a whole IGT without calling a routine baseball move as moronic or idiotic, I'll happily move on. Grip about how you would make a different decision all you want, but lest save the moron comment for when they are truly deserved. You do realize Moeller's in the starting lineup, right? Today's a bad day for that kind of thinking.

I wish I was so witty like everyone else here. You've hurt my feelings.

Sure. And maybe we can write the really mean stuff in Red, and the happy stuff in Green. My apologies, but if ever there was a suggestion that was just ripe for sarcasm, this was it.

On the plus side, by the end of this game, Fernandez's ERA will (hopefully) be lower lil' Ben's. Viva La Knuckler!

Hendrickson is pretty much Steve Woodard, without the small amount of major league success Woodard had. Hey...that's MY line (circa 2004)! Sad to see that it's true, though. The guy just can't throw strikes to save his career. Do AAA hitters just flail away at junk, or can he hit the strike zone in the minors?

CMON!! This inning really can't get that much worse can it? This game already seems like it's over! The first 5 men have reached base. There are no outs. It can get worse.

...maybe if I complain about his inability to throw strikes some more, he'll resemble a major-league pitcher for a few more innings. (FWIW, the reason this outing scares so many of us is because this was exactly the same problem lil' Ben had last time he was with the big club.)

http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif They're Called Strikes Hendrickson....the game generally goes better when you throw 1 or 2 of them early in the count.