Eye Black

This made me chuckle.

In other action... the Pirates just went up 3-1 over the Cubs in the 6th innning.

Turning around and staring at the home crowd would have almost certainly left him subject to Cardinals justice in his next at bat under LaRussa. Will be curious to see if they still fancy themselves as the keepers of law & order on the diamond.

I don’t think I have ever wanted the Brewers to throw a no-hitter more than I do tonight.

Yeah, I think he did. I don't think any part of that line of thought is accurate. If they didn't like what CC was doing they would just fire him and put someone in place who thinks like they do. Generally speaking, the front office has very little to do with game to game strategy. I probably should have phrased my original speculation differently. What I was getting at is that the idea of not starting Anderson tonight and rather going with a bullpen game likely originated with the front office/analytics staff and Counsell was on board. Over the past 10-20 years the role of a manager has evolved. With the advancement of analytics and scouting information the manager/front office have more info than ever before. When it comes to writing out the daily line up card and which relievers come into the game that's probably still completely in Counsell's control. Everything else is likely a collaborative effort. For example, Anothopolous was just on MLB network radio this afternoon and was asked who makes the decision for the playoff rotation and whether guys will go on short rest. He said that it's a group effort between the front office and coaching staff to make these decisions. He did say that if the manager is strongly against something they'll usually defer to the manager. My point is that the front office staff has their hands in a lot of these day to day type decisions. Such as short leashes for the starting pitchers, structured rest for Hader and Braun, starting rotation, etc. Like long ball I don’t have any friends in the Brewers front office, but I do have a friend that works for another MLB organization (and has for a long time). Today’s front offices are absolutely involved with game strategy. In that organization’s specific case there was initially a lot of tension between the coaching staff and front office as things began to drift that direction several years ago. More recently it sounds like the relationship between the two groups is copacetic (at least for that particular organization).

[pre]Brewers Lineup Cardinals Lineup 1. CF Lorenzo Cain ® 1. 1B Matt Carpenter (L) 2. RF Christian Yelich (L) 2. RF José Martinez ® 3. 1B Jesús Aguilar ® 3. SS Paul DeJong ® 4. 2B Travis Shaw (L) 4. LF Marcell Ozuna ® 5. LF Ryan Braun ® 5. 3B Jedd Gyorko ® 6. 3B Mike Moustakas (L) 6. C Yadier Molina ® 7. C Manny Piña ® 7. CF Harrison Bader ® 8. SS Orlando Arcia ® 8. 2B Yairo Muñoz ® 9. P Dan Jennings (L) 9. P Jack Flaherty ®[/pre] Link: Brewers Game Notes Note: With a starter (or at least “opener”) yet to be named by the time of this posting, today’s IGT graphic is a tribute to the bullpen.

That was my first thought as well, but I’ll still be slightly surprised if the TBD starter only goes one inning.

One crazy scenario would be... Cubs go 1-3 against the Pirates and 0-3 again the Cardinals. Cardinals go 2-1 against the Brewers and 3-0 against the Cubs. Brewers go 1-2 against the Cardinals and 2-1 against the Tigers. All three teams would finish with an identical 92-70 record, and it would be a three way tie for the Division title. That would cause some chaos and delay the start of the NL playoffs.

Another quote from Rosiak via Twitter...

Yeah, it has been mentioned that a scenario where the Brewers tied for the division title could end up hurting their playoff chances if they lost at Wrigley on Monday in Game 163. The Monday game would certainly be high stakes with the loser at a disadvantage for Tuesday.

I would probably go with Matt Carpenter in a big playoff situation. As far as which player am I the most worried about facing entering the playoffs, that is Jack Flaherty. My guess is that if the Cardinals have already clinched a playoff spot going into next Sunday they will push Flaherty’s start to the Wild Card game, and that worries me.

Well the Vikings are getting trounced at home to the previously winless Bills, so it could be worse.

That. Was. Amazing.

I appreciate Clint Hurdle saving his best bullpen arms for the Cubs series after the Pirates had climbed back into this game.

The Brewers really need to take advantage of facing Brault this inning.

Yeah, I’m not interested in finding a new heartbreaking way to lose in Pittsburgh this season.

Well, unfortunately we have a ballgame again.

How much longer can they possibly leave Kingham out there? I think it is safe to say he doesn’t have it today.

Travis Shaw into the Allegheny!!! Well this is fun.

Yelich is so fun to have on “our team”. I guess the kid catching a souvenir “double” is a moot point now.

Come on kid, we’re in a pennant race here! Brutal. Interesting to see what they (league office replay) decide on what should have been an Arcia home run. Edit: I think they got it wrong. That would have hit off the top of the fence and out. That kid cost the Brewers a home run, IMO.

Yeah, collecting three hits and HBP all in the same inning usually lead to more than one run, but after getting shutout yesterday getting anything early seems good.

Bases loaded with one out, and Aguilar coming up. Really need to convert and get an early lead today.

I love watching Yelich and Cain get back-to-back hits.