liveforoctober

There are going to be a lot of 6 pitch innings with GoGo, Jean, etc in the opening inning. Hopefully Gomez does that a lot more often to compensate...

Your 6 of 10 success rate is way too high. http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-truth-about-bunting/ So, they aren't even bunting the ball fair half of the time. Let alone having it be a successful bunt. I actually think my number is low. Bunting the ball foul down the 3rd base line is a conversion of what I'm trying to suggest. If you bunt the ball foul in your first attempt, you are still telling the other team "if you shift on me, I WILL take my first strike and attempt to take the free base." If you bunt the first strike foul, then go ahead and swing away the rest of the at bat ... But if a team shifts on a guy, they do so knowing he is going to take the free base. If the other team will accept that and let him try at your 50/50 success rate.. And he is either on base or his at bat continues.

Braun is family still. I was hurt and upset when it happened too. But if my brother lied and cheated to me... We would probably get into a shoving match, we would both have black eyes, and then i would pick him up/dust him off and go buy him a beer while we figure out how to make it better. Braun is the same. In my eyes, we have taken our swings.. Now it is time to move forward and support him because that is what human beings do. Are we a little hypocritical because we wouldn't be exactly the same towards an opponent... Probably. But like I said, he is Brewers family and family is allowed different treatment. Im pulling for the kid.

I need some baseball minds to help me out on this one. Beating the shift as a top flight hitter. I was watching the Dodgers game Sunday night and w/ AGonzo up the Padres went into their usual “3B playing just left of 2 nd , SS playing 2 nd , 2B in short right…” defensive shift that is deployed on the big power pull hitters like Prince, Gonzalez, Ortiz, etc. As is the case with most shifts … Gonzo was up to lead off the inning (defenses generally only shift without runners on base) and I was obnoxiously/loudly asking him to bunt his way on. I am having trouble understanding why guys won’t bunt the defense out of that shift. With no runners on base, you are not in an RBI situation and the defense is giving you the entire 3 rd base line. There is no reason an attempted bunt should end up anywhere near the pitcher as you should be bunting directly at the bag, the attempt should be foul or tight to the line. At that point, trot to first as the 3B goes to pick up your infield single. I understand you are taking the bat out of one of your power hitters hands … but again, it isn’t an RBI situation beyond hitting it out. If you show the other teams you will ALWAYS take the free base if they are going to give it to you (this is assuming a 6 out of 10 success rate at getting a bunt near 3 rd base) .. one of two things are going to happen 1) within a month or so defenses will stop shifting against you as a hitter, which gives you back your pull advantage or 2) You are going to bat .360 on the season by accepting all of the infield singles that are being given to you and potentially increase the number of RBI opportunities for your team, increase the number of stress pitches for the opp pitcher, etc. Talk to me.

Can someone who knows more about baseball than me help me out? My understanding of the 8 spot in the lineup is that you won't see as many hittable pitches. With that said, wouldn't a guy like Reynolds (Who I understand is Adam Dunn-like in being picky/taking walks) be a good candidate for this spot? Maximizing his OBP by allowing him to take walks seems ideal to carry the pitchers spot and hopefully allow us to lead off the next inning with our #1 at a higher clip. Reynolds seems to be the ultimate feast or famine guy and the 8 spot seems like a good place for that type of hitter, given we have other guys to drive in runs at the premier spots in the lineup. Also, Gomez 6th and Scooter 7th (guys who can run a little bit) seem to be good fits in front of a guy who takes pitches to allow them to create a little havoc. My lineup would be K Davis in the 2, Gogo 6, Scooter 7, Reynolds 8 ... Why would that not be a great idea? (Legitimately asking)

Wow. This could be a great thread in itself. With KRod v2 not being terrible and Yuni v2 being a disaster .. can we get opinions on the best v2's and v3's (if applicable) in Brewers history?

I think one thing most have overlooked and an overlying reason why I am relatively ok with this signing is that this will be the first year we were going to be going into the season without closer options if our established closer goes down or is ineffective. In recent memory, we always had KRod, Hawkins, Saito, etc as a fallback in case Axford or whomever stopped performing. I understand that Kintzler, Thornburg, etc could possibly/probably outperform KRod but we know the latter has experience and has succeeded as a closer in the past and having that in our back pocket if Henderson falters makes me feel better, whether it is a placebo or not. Plus, I will chuckle inside if/when Henderson goes on the DL for 25 days before the deadline and KRod comes in as an effective temporary closer and gets traded to a contender for a moderate prospect. Go Crew.

Admittedly I'm excited for the soon to be legend of MKE Mark Reynolds when he goes 3-16 with 8 Ks and two game winnings HR's in the first week of the season. This has Branyan potential to me on the scale of cult following possibility.

What a great win considering the lineup we threw out there. When Hart went down I wanted the Brewers to try and stay .500 until he came back... when ARam went down I was hoping the Brewers could stay within 2-4 games of .500 until then. Winning games like this are awesome. Getting ARam back this week is going to be fun..

An RBI single from our 4 hitter ... whoa. Do your thing Yuni.

Also, if you would have told me two weeks before the season that Yuni B was going to be hitting clean up for us before May got here .. I would have made immediate weekend plans with Jack, C. Morgan, and maybe even Senor Cuervo. Yet here we are ...

Really? That doesn't really seem like a suitable reason for a scratch. I guess he could probably use a day off anyway, but I'd almost prefer if they didn't give that as the reason. I'm assuming it has to be his pointer finger on his throwing hand ... I would think it could affect your grip/throw. But then again I don't know .. I'm sure they will announce more during the game at some point.

Jean, Jean ... hitting machine.

Nice. I really didn't think Burgos was going to sniff a sac bunt there. Success!

cannon. yikes.

Captain RISP does it again... Lucroy is something else with the bases juiced.

I don't know why this is just hitting me now but with the emergence of Segura and Gomez offensively, if Weeks can turn his ship around .. a lineup of Aoki, Segura, Braun, ARam, Hart, Weeks, Lucroy, Gomez.. wow, I can't even fathom the destruction. Brain explode.

Rickie right on those last two... square it up! *edit* Good at bat Rickie! Turn it around!..

Alright Gonzalez.. you've earned a 2 inning reprieve from negative comments..

Ho hum triple for Segura. What a start ..

Early runs .. stress free pitching for Yo. That is the ticket today (and everyday!) ... let's go streaking!

Love Weeks finally out of that clean up spot... I feel funny saying this, but maybe hitting in front of Gomez the next few days will give him an extra pitch or two to hit and build some confidence? I agree I was hoping to see Maldonado at 1st rather than Gonzalez against the lefty but alas ... RR is making strides with his lineup as he tries to get it right (said partially tongue in cheek while I acknowledge our winning streak). Go Crew!

Don't really need him to do much of the latter...

Yovani isn't warm at all .... if he runs more than 40% at any point while out there I will be holding my breath.

Weeks should be out of the cleanup spot immediately IMO. He isn't confident/seeing the ball well/enter your own way of saying sucking. I know the options are limited ... but I think Lucroy should man the spot for the next few weeks until ARam comes back. I don't think he could mentally handle it .. but I'd much rather have Gomez in there right now too.