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topper09er

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Everything posted by topper09er

  1. topper09er
    He is running because the Brewers best chance to score there with 2 outs is a steal + hit, especially with 2 strikes it is very unlikey Braun will hit an extra base hit. Now Braun gets a new AB.
  2. topper09er
    I like the steal attempt, although earlier in the AB would have been better
  3. topper09er
    Yo is hitting for himself
  4. topper09er
    First, the steroid era IS over, they do enough random testing now its totally over and has been since 2004 (which is nice that Braun is totally out of it so his career numbers can be looked at in a different light than guys from the 90s). Just because it is does not mean guys cant hit 50 HRs anymore. People have hit 50 HRs without steroids before and it will happen again. I think the only good chances for 50 HRs are Howard (who has already done it) and Pujols (who hit 49 HRs in 143 games in 2006). Prince has already had the best season he will ever have in the majors in '07 and I dont think he will ever repeat that level of perfromance. My main thought on this topic is that I agree and the good teams over the next few years will be the teams that realize this. I think a lot of managers still have the 90s mentality of trying to hit 3-run HRs and that is going to be less common than before and teams that can find other ways to score will be better. I think Macha may on to this a little bit, like when he had Kendall steal in the 8th with 2 outs and Rickie up there because your best chance to score a run with a runner on first and 2 outs is a steal + hit, not 2 straight hits or a HR. I think most teams would have not sent Kendall and thought that they would be more likely to score with 2 hits or a HR which is just not true.
  5. topper09er
    Nice work, I did not think to look under the batter for this situation. Also, this is interesting, if Pettite's pitch would have hit Ellsbury it would have benefited the Red Sox because the other runner on 2nd would have been awarded 3rd.
  6. topper09er
    Remember as the chart points out, winning a Gold Glove has NOTHING to do with defensive skills, all you have to do be an all-star and have a few nice highlights against the yankees or red sox or somehow rob Pujols of a HR that they can show over and over on baseball tonight. Then, you have the reputation of being a "good fielder" and as long as you remain an all-star (which happens by having good offensive numbers) you will just entrench yourself as the gold glover at your position. Rafeal Palmerio once won the gold glove at first base when he only played 28 games at first that year and the rest at DH!!!!!!!!!! Why did he win? Because he won the gold glove the previous 2 years so he established himself as the gold glove guy and he was an all-star and finished with a .324 .420 .630 1.050 47 148 line.
  7. topper09er
    Ryan Braun's career playoff OBP is less than his AVG because he has 0 walks and 1 SF in his postseason career.
  8. topper09er
    What doesnt make sense about this is that a HBP does not affect a pitcher's WHIP. (WHIP = BB + Hits/IP, NOT BB+Hits+HBP/IP)
  9. topper09er
    Interesting but I am wondering what you are basing this on since it is not covered at all in the rule book. Is this your opinion/how you would rule if you were the umpire? Im not sure you can call the batter out on a strikeout because the catcher did not catch the ball, so the batter is not out until he is putout at first base or tagged. So lets say your scenario above, 2 outs 2 stikes, pitch hits the runner stealing home for a strike and bounces far away and the batter is safe at first on a strikeout, that would score a run, although it seems not fair to the defense because the catcher never had a chance to catch the ball. Would it be the same ruling if it was only strike 1 or 2? Could other runners advance more bases if the ball bounced off of the runner stealing home far from the catcher (could a runner go from 1st to 3rd on this play?)
  10. topper09er
    No, that would be a balk becaues a pitcher has to pitch towards home plate so it would be a dead ball and all runners advance one base.
  11. topper09er
    Another question I thought of when Ellsbury sole home last night, what is the ruling if he is hit by the pitch? I looked in the major league rule book and there is nothing in the chapter on the runner (ch. 7) that says what happens if a runner is hit by a pitch. It does state that if the catcher is on the plate or in front of it without the ball or touches the batter at all or the bat, the ruling is a balk and the batter gets first, but it does not talk about what happens if the pitch hits the runner. Is he out, is it a dead ball, is it automatically a strike, is it some kind of interferance call? If he is out does that mean the pitcher should try to hit him if he sees him stealing home and he is out? What happens if the batter hits his own runner with a swing? These all seem pretty unlikely to happen, but after watching Ellsbury steal home last night he actually was pretty close to being hit by Pettite's pitch. Anyone ever seen this happen?
  12. topper09er
    This is because the catcher has to catch the ball to record the out, if he doesn't catch he has to throw the runner out at first. The real reason for this is that this was not an easy/automatic thing 100 years with very bad catcher's equiptment, so actually catching some pitchers 90 mph pitch with basically a piece of leather on your hand was impressive.
  13. topper09er
    This is what I am talking about. Also, there have been 2 sportscenter commercials on the sausage race (the cannibal hotdog who orders a hotdog for lunch, and the running of the sausages) plus the Randall Simon sausage gate. This is something we are nationally known for (like it or not) and it should be fun/exciting for the fans. One reason I started this post was that last season one of my buddies form the east coast came with me to his first Brewer game. He had heard about the sausage race and was excited to see it, and after one just sprinted the course and won in like 10 seconds with no drama his reaction was... eh. I felt like the sausage race let him down and we (the brewers) should do a better job with it.
  14. topper09er
    So you are saying the ump blew the call because it was a throw in the dirt? Really? Yes, that is what I am saying and it is 100% true. If infact Rickie had thrown the ball in the air to Prince it is very, extremely unlikey that the umpire would have made the wrong call. This is because of how umpires do their jobs, what they do is watch the base and listen for the ball to hit the glove. When there is a scoop situation this is much more difficult (because the ball is not as loud and there are 2 sounds) and pretty much is the only time that major league umpires get calls wrong at first base (even the 1985 World Series blown call came from a soft flip from Jack Clark to the pitcher so the ball was not that loud). Every baseball game there are lots of plays at first where us the fan can only judge based on seeing the runner and the ball, and the delay causes us to be wrong a lot and yell at the TV and only after the replay realize we are wrong. When the ball hits the first basemen's glove hard the umpires are right 999/1000 times.
  15. topper09er
    Wow, I went back and looked at the 2 games I mentioned above, and they are very similar. In both games (April 11 2009 and July 28 2008) Top of 7th, against Cubs, score is 3-2 brewers. 08 game: inning goes single, single, K, walk, (bases loaded 1 out) FC Hardy-to-Weeks-E4 on throw to first, 2 runs score, Cubs win by 2. this year: inning goes walk, single, single, K, (bases loaded 1 out) FC Hardy-to-Weeks-1 hopper to first runner called safe, 1 run scores, Cubs win by 1. I guess Counsel should play against the Cubs in every 7th innings if we are leading 3-2.
  16. topper09er
    THANK YOU, this really bothers me every time he turns 2. I agree 100%. This exact scenario has already cost us 1 game this year. Remember the Saturday Cubs game, there was the crucial double play in the 7th inning where Weeks threw his usual lazy sidearmed garabage throw and Prince actually made a nice scoop and Soriano looked out on the replay but was called safe...although if Prince would have caught the ball in the air the umpire would have definetly called Soriano out thus making his 9th inning HR only a game tying rather than leading taking HR. And lets not even get into the game he blew last year against the Cubs that CC started and we lost on our to getting swept by the Cubs, again because he threw away a double play with his horrible sidearm throw. I feel like this is something any high school coach would correct with a high school 2nd baseman, and I dont buy the whole "well he's too old now to change how he throws," I think that is a terrible excuse. Someone (I can do it if necesary) needs to show him how to put his left foot on the base, step to the ball with his right foot, and then step into his over-the-top hard throw, and jump to avoid the runner if necesary. Major leaguers should have proper fundamentals.
  17. topper09er
    I have 11 baseball cards signed by Geoff Jenkins, is that good enough? Just kidding. Sorry if this has been mentioned, I havent read through all the pages, but how bout Bud Selig as the first honorary member?
  18. topper09er
    Even though the sausage race is not that old I can still remember the "good old days" when it was properly executed by the people (such as Hideo Nomo) in the costumes. What I mean is that the race once had a predetermined outcome and everything during the race was just done to entertain and taunt the crowd (such as the Wisconsin Badger football game student section races). Some examples of things that once made this race great and now do not seem to exist anymore are: one sausage getting out to a huge start and then running in place/running around in a circle and losing his huge lead in the race, all of them seeming to run at about 40% speed and no one taking a big lead, just jogging around, someone running off course/falling down, one sausage getting to the finish line and then running sideways and letting someone else win...basically there should be a different sausage leading the race at the 50% and 75% marks and then another one wins. Nowadays all that happens is all 5 just sprint as fast as they can and one is usually better than the others and there are no close/exciting finishes. This may not bother anyone else (and when I say bother I mean like the way things bother Larry David) but I was just wondering. Any reactions?
  19. topper09er
    You cant really sacrafice OBP for power, OBP comes from walks which comes from balls out of the zone and you cant really increase your power by swinging at balls. You can, however, sacrafice AVE for power by trying to crush everything and swinging at balls and stiking out/not making good contact, but Rickie is hitting .271 right now so thats not happening. A perfect example of this is Adam Dunn who averages 40 HRs a year with a .380 OBP and a .247 AVE. You could maybe sacrafice OBP for power by swinging at more pitches and taking strikes and going deeper into counts and drawing more walks, but if you are trading a walk for an extra-base hit that is fine with me. All we can tell right now is that Rickie seems to be driving the ball to all field more than he has in the past. I will agree the most annoying thing about him is how he NEVER changes his approach no matter the COUNT and would always strike out taking huge swings, basically always trying to crush everything like Ru Rah Rah says. I have no problem with him trying to crush everything until he has 2 strikes and it seems he may be doing better at this so far this year which may explain his higher ave, but its pretty early.
  20. topper09er
    That was so nice, small ball to perfection. Hit, SB, SF to advance runner, ground out to get him in.
  21. topper09er
    2nd time through the order now, lets hope they hit 'em where we are
  22. topper09er
    The way I see this discussion everyone agrees that after 2 starts this year he is horrible and gives the brewers zero chance to ever win when he starts. The different sides of the arguement are 1)historically he is better than this, his career ERA is lower and over the course of the season his ERA will approach his career ERA and he will finish with a win% near .500, or 2) at some point late in a players career they keep playing when they shouldnt be and perform much worse than their career numbers because they are old and just dont have it anymore and this is where Suppan is right now this year. It is pointless to throw out numbers from his past, the question is do people think he can perform at his career numbers over the entire season or is he done as an effective major league pitcher. Based on what I have seen the end of last year and this year is that he is done, we can expect an ERA near 6 and more walks than Ks. 2 of his last 3 starts he has allowed a HR to the leadoff man (Rollins and Soriano), he NEVER gets ahead of hitters and the only possible way he can get consistant outs is if hitters get themselves out. UNfortunetly, it looks like the whole NL knows this and everyone is just waiting for him to get behind and walk them or serve up 86 MPH fastballs with no movement. Every start he has this year is just a missed oppurtunity to get someone with real major league stuff in there (DiFileice, McClung, anyone else..)
  23. topper09er
    Kendall will slug under .300 this year
  24. topper09er
    Why???? Is there a rule that you are not allowed to release players who you have under contract? Last time I checked no, this is the kind of Ned Yost attitude that got us nowhere. The mariners released Richie when he proved to not be a major league player anymore, Detroit with Sheff (hahaha) and so on. Right now it is a serious legitimate OPTION to outright release Jeff Suppan. I do not think they should do this because teams always get banged up and there may be a point when he is the best option we have to start, but right now I do not think he is a major league caliber pitcher and he should not be on a major league roster.
  25. topper09er
    Who cares about the stats or what he has done before, just watch him out there...he is horrible! He has zero major league caliber pitches, he is just going to be throwing BP all season. Look at that first pitch, a 87 MPH garbage pitch that started down the pipe and moved an inch in. He has NO ability to get any sort of above average major league hitter out. Every time he pitches he will allow a few runs every time through the heart of the order and "eat up" the innnings where he faces the bottom of the order, unless he walks them to get back to the top of the order for another pounding. He is falling behind almost every hitter, how bout that Koyie Hill AB last night. You have bases loaded with 1 out facing the 8th place hitting back up catcher and then the pitcher. Then who is next, Soriano who is hot and has already homered off your above average high school fastball. So what should you be thinking in this situation, obviously it is DONT WALK THIS GUY NO MATTER WHAT, just throw fastball down the middle the whol AB and then do the same thing to Dempster. When he walked Hill on 4 pitches I do not understand how Macha could have possibly left him out there. I mean that is horrible managing, I dont care if he has not had much time to learn Jeff Suppan, anyone with any baseball insticts should have realized he was done.. Needless to say he is not a major league caliber starter anymore and we'd be better off in the longrun with anyone else who is available.
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