jerichoholicninja

The Ben Sheets one. I remember staying up all night for a 17 inning west coast game when I had to be up at 4:30 the next morning for work. Dumb decision on my part.

As was predicted by pretty much everyone. He was toast well before he even hit free agency.

Nice to see Lindbloom get the retaliation.

It will make no difference in mechanics. Like I said the actual distance from rubber to catcher probably varies within a foot during every game.

[sarcasm]The Cubs should stop trying to throw at Urias.[/sarcasm]

He's only had like 20 plate appearances or something like that and he's had some really bad luck on hard hit balls. He works the count, and rarely swings at bad pitches. None of this matters if he can't eventually turn bad luck into hits though. I do hope they give him at least 50-75 at bats before cutting bait though. Does working the count mean taking belt high fastballs over the plate? I haven't seen much of him but that's all I've seen him do today. He's had a bunch of very hittable pitches I thought he should have swung at but just stood there.

I don't have the statcast metrics. It looked to me like Garcia's ball was smoked. Hit harder than Shaw's. My eyes must still be adjusting to something like standard baseball. I agree. No way did I think Shaw's was a homerun but I thought Garcia's was or at least would have been close but it wasn't even near the warning track.

What a horribly inconsistent strikezone today. But at least it's horribly inconsistent for both teams, I guess.

Many Cubs players have said they don't believe it's intentional, but are calling us out for being sloppy on how we pitch inside and need to be better at it. Their whining should be treated completely as white noise. Many players on that team crowd the plate, but HBP hasn't been an issue because others like Rizzo(notorious plate crowder) aren't whiny man-babies and understand that crowding the plate results in more HBP. AND...there's plenty of evidence of Contreras actually leaning into pitches trying to get hit. My opinion is the Brewers shouldn't change their approach one iota. Keep pitching inside, try not to hit guys for strategy reasons(we don't want baserunners)...not because Contreras might get mad and have a temper tantrum. And absolutely no intentional HBP for message purposes. We aren't the Cardinals and screw the unwritten rules(though apparently the Cubs are now subscribing after that pitch by Tepera). I'd much rather one of the Brewers do a Castellanos when he gets to home plate after a HR right in Contreras face...much better message. Ballplayers are all members of the same uber wealthy fraternity. Any sort of suggestion of a feud over intentional HBPs is just journalists stirring things up to get clicks. Every ball player in the major leagues knows HBPs are part of the game, and they've probably all been hit countless times (Contreras was hit 14 times in just 57 games last year). Not a single member of the fraternity wants to intentionally do something to a fellow member that can take away their membership in the club. Contreras had a gripe where he got hit, not because he got hit. I think he even said he was upset because getting hit high and tight can end careers. I believe there's a lot of truth to that but it's far from universal or else there wouldn't be as many beanball wars as there are every year.

One foot isn't going to make much of a difference. A batter can make a one foot adjustment forward or back in the box. The catcher sets up based on where the batter is. If the batter moves forward a foot so will the catcher.

The other thing that irritates me is that baseball sitting this situation out until a brawl happens practically ensures that a brawl is going to happen, which is exactly what MLB pays lip service about "having no place in the game." You don't want beanball wars? Fine, neither does Counsell, it seems. I am absolutely fine with not engaging in tit for tat beanings, especially after I grew up watching the disgustingly sanctimonious thuggery of LaRussa's Cards. But you can't say this stuff can't continue in our game and then NOT step in when a team one-sidedly escalates the situation while the other does not. And you would think MLB certainly would offer a suspension or two after a player straight up admits in an interview that they threw at a player intentionally. But MLB is an administrative clown show, so of course this ends in blood. That'll be another banner day at the office for you, Manfred. This is exactly what gets me every time these situations happen. MLB says they want to stop it and then does nothing to stop it. It's like that scene in South Park where the two kids are beating the crap out of each other and all the adults are standing there watching and then finally when they're both a bloody mess does someone step up and say knock it off.

I'm assuming this was a joke because I laughed pretty hard at it. Hard to get any worse when you suck to begin with.

Weigel was previously drafted by the Brewers but didn't sign. For whatever that's worth.

Who are the Sogards and Petersons on this year's team? Robertson, Shaw, Arcia (gone thankfully). Mathias and Lopes on the 40 man. I'll probably throw Vogelbach in there too.

Long overdue. I don't care if he goes on to become an All Star elsewhere it certainly wasn't going to happen in Milwaukee.

I can't follow this logic at all- isn't Stearns the one who acquired that roster of talented hitters and guys that put up good numbers previously? Yep. How can he be blamed if they come here and don't produce at all? Doesn't that INHERENTLY imply issues with approach/coaching? I'm not talking about players under their career numbers like Yelich or Navarez. I'm talking about the rest of the guys. He fills the roster with Sogards and Petersons who have no bat to begin with so any struggles from the "real" hitters makes the whole offense tank. Yelich's otherworldly hitting carried the team in 18 and 19 and now that he's not hitting to his standards (for whatever reason) the team needs perfect pitching every night to just stay in a game.

Despite having some talented hitters and guys that put up good numbers this offense has been pretty crappy as a whole for a number of years now. That's not on Haines or Counsell or any coach, that's on Stearns. We're consistently a contender (somehow) so I'm not really going to complain about the job he's doing overall but he's been a massive failure at building an offense.

That would be fun but how about opposing players and coaches simply calling them out on it? Castellanos licking Yadi's boots to the press after the game was beyond weak. All you have to do is point out that the Cards and Yadi specifically are involved in by far the most bench clearing incidents every year. MLB has constantly said they want to crack down on beanball wars and especially benches clearing now because of COVID. How about they give a real punishment to the biggest instigators in all this? Suspend Molina 10 games, 20 games. And any player that leaves the dugout or bullpen or charges the mound gets the same. MLB needs to grow a pair and do something about this. Especially serial turds like Yadier Molina. Is it safe to make a guess that the White Sox will be joining this list? LaRussa is the king of the retaliation. Probably at some point. In the book "Three Nights is August" Tony says one of the hardest things about being a manager is figuring out if and when you retaliate after one of your guys gets hit.

Castellanos suspended 2 games, 0 for Molina or anyone else. What a freaking joke.

That would be fun but how about opposing players and coaches simply calling them out on it? Castellanos licking Yadi's boots to the press after the game was beyond weak. All you have to do is point out that the Cards and Yadi specifically are involved in by far the most bench clearing incidents every year. MLB has constantly said they want to crack down on beanball wars and especially benches clearing now because of COVID. How about they give a real punishment to the biggest instigators in all this? Suspend Molina 10 games, 20 games. And any player that leaves the dugout or bullpen or charges the mound gets the same. MLB needs to grow a pair and do something about this. Especially serial turds like Yadier Molina.

Castellanos had a reason to react like he did. As soon as he got hit Yadi was jawing. It was on purpose, there's no doubt. That guy needs a heater to the dome so bad. Trash human.

Molina needs to be suspended. The guy is always in the middle of things. He is the problem. But he won't. Castellanos will probably be fined and suspended and forced to make an apology and probably clean Yadi's gear for a month.

No need to discus this as the Rockies will be 10 games back and under .500 at the deadline but make zero moves because that franchise is a rudderless ship.

kind of - the MLB all star game was a reward for building a new stadium. This was Atlanta's reward. I do not think the NBA All star game will ever come to Milwaukee to play in the Fiserv Forum, which is how MLB and NBA differs. Probably more to do with the weather in Milwaukee in February being horrible. And I don't blame them for that.

Not really, I think that is a pretty good summation of current popular culture and what it means to be a celebrity today.