joeyhepatitis

I heard that gal couldn't get a word in edge-wise between the slurred "you knows". Then her real boyfriend showed up and a fight ensued. He probably could've gotten the better of the dude in the fight, but he swung and missed. Tom Haudricort, watching through the window, turned to Anthony Witrado and asked, "Why wouldn't he just try to shove him lightly?"

It's not perfectly logical to remove your most consistent hitter in the 6th inning unless you've given up the game 2/3rds of the way through and want to save your bullpen that didn't have to pitch the previous day at all because Sheets went 9. The Brewers are more than capable of scoring 4 runs against the Nationals and were getting people on base all game so I don't see why there should be any reason to throw up on the white flag in the 6th. Variables and strategic thinking probably aren't brought up in introductory level courses like Double Switch 101 so it doesn't surprise me that Yost continues to manage without any consideration to the situation. It's not like having Defelice getting up and sitting down and warming up for 20 minutes without having him come into the game is harmless either. He had a pitcher ready for the 7th who could go multiple innings, I don't see the logic in taking your best players out of the game in the 6th. It's a cardinal sin of over-managing.

I understand this line of thought, I just subscribe to a different baseball philosophy. I'd rather have the bat in the line-up then the glove in the field until the 9th. Most of my complaints about Yost are about his attitude towards the media, how he instantly gets defensive whenever he's asked to explain why he did something, and that his explanations almost always boil down to him depending on a small sample or that he was organizing the bullpen by inning as opposed to the hitters at the plate. I still don't want him fired, though, as there are many worse managers out there and I don't think that he's going to affect the Brewers negatively as the players get better and the bench gets deeper. Thanks for fixing my post casey

I don't know why the font got all messed up.

Again you are talking about a guy with a much better bulpen. He also only used his closer in a nonsave situation once. On 7/8/07 he used his closer in the bottom of an extra innings game on the road. His closer only pitched more than an inning on one occasion. That was on 8/1/07 when Valverde blew a save and was left in for the next inning. To me this does not point to pattern of strategy much different than Yost's.Sorry, I didn't mean to make it sound like Yost should adopt Melvin's way of handling a bullpen. I was just using him as an example of a guy who managed to the needs of the team - he knew there was no incentive to keep the game close in the late innings if his team was behind because the odds of late-inning heroics with a team that ranked 2nd to last in .avg and .obp and 26th in runs scored so he maximized his team's potential in games where they were ahead while refusing to wear his bullpen down in games where they were behind. Obviously this is every team's goal, but I think we can agree that it's a lot more difficult than it seems and a lot depends on luck. From the NYTimes - This accounts for part of the team's outperformance: Once the outcome of a game is all but settled, Melvin gives his bullpen aces a rest and brings in the mop-up men, resulting in some blowout losses. By contrast, when the result is in doubt, he uses his best relievers. Of course, all teams pursue this strategy, but Melvin has done so more effectively. The Braves, by contrast, handed 44 innings at an L.I. above 2 to the ineffective Bob Wickman before releasing him, while their best reliever, Rafael Soriano, has an L.I. of 1.17. Unsurprisingly, they have won four fewer games than their Pythagorean projection. My problem is that Yost's late-inning strategies seem divorced from the team on the field. The Brewers have bad defense and an unreliable bullpen but they can hit for power up and down the line-up. It just made no sense for me to see Yost taking the bat out of our best hitter's hands and relying on the defense and bullpen to shut down the other team. Bringing Counsell in for Braun in the 7th inning was like putting a band-aid on a bullet-wound and then going back into the fight without a weapon. He adopted a small-ball attitude in the late innings even though it regularly forced the hitters who couldn't lay down a bunt to try and lay down a bunt and force the bat out of the hands of Hart and Hardy. I'd assume that all the complaints that the Brewers couldn't manufacture runs would convince Yost that we weren't the sort of team built to manufacture runs, instead it just seemed like it gave Yost the idea that the Brewers needed to start trading outs for runs if they were to succeed. Whatever, it's all a moot point if the Brewers continue to get better since good teams take decisions like these out of the manager's hands. He won't have to pick out the mediocre outfielder to start, he'll just have a starting left-fielder. He won't have to gamble on AAA pitchers shutting down the opposing team, he'll have bullpen of quality relievers to pick from. He won't have to sub out our best hitter in the 7th, our best hitter will have either improved defensively or moved to a position where he's less of a liability.

Exactly! Unless you wanted to throw Cordero and Linebrink a crazy amount this season yost had no choice to throw Turnbow when he was struggling, Wise after he hit Lopez, or Spurling in any pressure situation. However, I will say the two times he used Aquino in the 9th were dumb, but not worth his job! I went over all of this 2 pages ago - I don't know what point you're refuting here besides that I might be too harsh on Hoffman. Bell, Brocail, and Meredith are a solid core of relief pitchers and Thatcher has been great for them in those 2 months. I don't think that Yost using the same strategy with his bullpen as the Padres used should validate Yost. The decision to use Spurling in a tied game on the road in the 10th is completely different than using Bell in the same situation. You couldn't expect the Brewers bullpen to be consistently successful in deep, extra-inning games, and Yost's refusal to bring in the most reliable reliever in non-save situations demonstrates a fundamental flaw in handling a shallow bullpen. I didn't mean to make it sound like Hoffman has been horrible this year. I just didn't like it when that other guy was like, "See what the Padres did! If it works for them then that's the correct strategy for Yost to use with the Brewers! You guys are so wrong to criticize him!" I think that would validate the criticism, right? And when you bring up that we'd only be satisfied if Yost would overthrow Cordero is ridiculous considering he the plan was to bring him into the game eventually. Use him less in 2 or 3 run leads in the 9th, use him more in tied and 1 run games in the 8th when the heart of the order is up or the previous reliever has failed in doing his job. Or just try and do something besides the turnstile of AAA relievers in high leverage situations. A good example of a manager using a different bullpen strategy effectively is Melvin with the Diamondbacks. He managed to the talent rather than forcing the talent to fit into the accepted and basic MLB strategy.

The Brewers fought the first 4 months of the season trying to gain national respect for the quality ballclub they assembled and it seemed like the organization and the fans were on the same page, but as soon as things started to go south for the Brewers they started releasing those ridiculous quotes like Attanasio saying that fans New York and L.A. aren't as hard on their managers as Milwaukee. It's just gone so far backwards that I hate reading local stories about the Brewers in case I run across a quote from Prince that fans need to earn the right to be dissatisfied with the team or Haudricort explaining how ignorant all fans must be if they think Yost has done a bad job. To read this quote is like being punched in the stomach by Yost as he laughs, "You idiot! You actually had high expectations for us again!? We tricked all of you into thinking our goal was to win! We're just a small-market club from Milwaukee who wanted to sell out a couple games in September by hanging around .500 and losing our way into a post-season race in the worst division in baseball!" Would it be that hard for him to just say, "We didn't make the play-offs and we're obviously very disappointed in our performance late in the season, but a lot of positives were gained from this season and we look forward to next year. Also, I'm sorry that I thought I would gain respect by being thrown out of games instead of using the opportunity to cultivate a winning attitude in a young ballclub." He could even leave out the apology and I'd still like it - I'm not picky...

Bell is the only Padres reliever that has put up better numbers than Hoffman this season (Thatcher doesn't really count since he was there for only 2 months). Hoffman may not have the best stuff in the Padres pen, but the production is still there. Most teams would be happy to be handcuffed with Hoffman as their closer. I don't know what point you're refuting here besides that I might be too harsh on Hoffman. Bell, Brocail, and Meredith are a solid core of relief pitchers and Thatcher has been great for them in those 2 months. I don't think that Yost using the same strategy with his bullpen as the Padres used should validate Yost. The decision to use Spurling in a tied game on the road in the 10th is completely different than using Bell in the same situation. You couldn't expect the Brewers bullpen to be consistently successful in deep, extra-inning games, and Yost's refusal to bring in the most reliable reliever in non-save situations demonstrates a fundamental flaw in handling a shallow bullpen. I didn't mean to make it sound like Hoffman has been horrible this year. I just didn't like it when that other guy was like, "See what the Padres did! If it works for them then that's the correct strategy for Yost to use with the Brewers! You guys are so wrong to criticize him!" I think that would validate the criticism, right?

I'm pretty sure most San Diego fans realize that Bell, Brocail, and, well, most everyone else in the bullpen has better stuff than Hoffman at this point in his career. The Padres are handcuffed to Hoffman in the closer role because I don't think they have the guts to bench the all-time saves leader, but they benefit from the situation, as well as teams like the Indians and the Cubs, where their best relievers are middle-relief guys who can go multiple innings and are available in the highest leverage situations regardless of the inning. I'd appreciate it if you don't put words into people's mouths if you don't understand the arguments they're making about Yost's mismanagement of the bullpen. I'd still say that with the Brewers bullpen you'd have to use Cordero earlier because the bullpen just isn't as deep or as good as the Padres - I mean, the fact that Yost would manage the Brewers bullpen the same way as the Black manages the Padres illustrates Yost's compete inability to create strategies that would cater towards his own team and their own needs to be successful.

Normally I get over the season sometime in August but I'm going to be gutted until spring training starts...

I'm Nay on Yost but you can't hang this loss on him. He's made plenty of bad decisions as a manager, but c'mon...If the season's played out in such a way that Cordero can blow a lead, the Brewers continue fail to get a hit with RISP, Weeks botches a routine groundball, and NONE of it is surprising in the least bit the team isn't going to make the playoffs. There's been enough bad play to be able to spread the blame around the entire team including Yost.

Bill Hall looked absolutely pathetic at the plate before the hit in the 10th. Those 35 homers feels like an eternity ago.