Eye Black

Nice job by Taylor to fight back after being down in the count. At least a little life here.

Well it’s an interesting question, and the answer might very well be both. Early in the season when there were a bunch of off days they stuck with a 5-man rotation. Then they inserted the 6th starter when there were longer stretches without off days. Most of the references I can find that have been made to the reasoning mention the “extra day of rest”, but that’s not to say the lessened season workload isn’t also a big part of the equation. A random collection of quotes from this year… Link: Craig Counsell said Eric Lauer earned another start after five scoreless innings Thursday. He prefers to keep starters on five days rest for the long term, but when circumstances require they will adjust. Link: So far, things have gone according to plan. Thanks to a bevy of off-days over the first few weeks of the season, Counsell has been able to give each of his starters an extra day of rest for all but one turn through the rotation. Link: Brewers president of baseball operations David Stearns said the plan to continue giving extra rest was discussed before setting up the starters for the Cubs series and it was agreed to stick with a formula that has worked well. “We talked about it both ways,” he said. “This is the way we’ve rolled with it so far. It’s worked so far. I would imagine we’ll get to a point in the season where we’ll ask a little more of our starters. We’re not at that point right now. Asked if there was debate about using Burnes against the Cubs, Stearns said, “Sure. We talked about it as we saw this coming after Brett (Anderson) went down (with a knee injury). We started our discussion, but this is what makes sense. This is the right thing to do. And it will benefit us in the long run. “All of these guys are going to surpass any sort of incremental innings increase. We are cognizant of that. I wish I could say there was great science behind all of these decisions. But a lot of these decisions are based on a combination of what we understand from a medical perspective and just subjective judgment. Link: The Brewers remain committed to keeping their starters on five days' rest.

Brandon Woodruff: Batter (Mets) vs Pitching Stats Tylor Megill: Batter (Brewers) vs Pitching Stats Statcast Game Preview for Mets-Brewers Statcast Game Feed for Mets-Brewers

CB Bucknor’s “zone” certainly makes watching games less enjoyable.

As wild as it sounds I wouldn’t have hated Hiura getting a chance where one swing of the bat can tie it.

Would like to see the Brewers make Derek Shelton pay for the decision to bat Anderson with the bases loaded.

This would be a good inning for the offense to come alive.

CB Bucknor’s blown strike three call that should’ve ended the inning may end up costing the Brewers big time here.

Per Adam McCalvy: Hernán Pérez is being granted his release from Triple-A Nashville to sign with the Hanwha Eagles in the KBO. He will play for Carlos Subero. Hernán Pérez asked me to share this message: “To the Brewers organization thanks again for opening the door one more time. I want to thank all the coaches and teammates. You the Brewers gave me the opportunity to improve my game and show everyone how I do get better everyday.” “Didn’t get the opportunity to be back with the big team but it was a great 2 months with Nashville Sounds. To all the fans who want me back in the CREW thank you for always believing in me. As a player I just can control what happens between the 2 lines. Love you all.”

Assuming everyone remains healthy, I think this is what we’ll see until the All Star break: July 4 (@Pirates): Peralta July 5 (@ Mets): Woodruff July 6 (@ Mets): Anderson/Bullpen July 7 (@ Mets): Burnes July 8 (Reds): Houser July 9 (Reds): Lauer July 10 (Reds): Peralta July 11 (Reds): Woodruff July 13 (All Star Game) July 16 (First Game Post All Star Break vs. Reds) Assume they’ll reset the rotation post All-Star break? For the remainder of July they have off days on July 19, 22, and 26, so they could get away from the 6-man rotation for a couple of weeks without sacrificing the extra day of rest for the other starters.

Yes, and he tried wearing special nonprescription glasses to help with the issue. It’s buried now, but I shared some of his quotes while with the Rays earlier in this thread: Post Link to Adames wearing glasses His quotes were also discussed on the Effectively Wild podcast both at the time of the trade (Post Link) and again this week (Episode Link).

Freddy Peralta: Batter (Pirates) vs Pitching Stats Tyler Anderson: Batter (Brewers) vs Pitching Stats Statcast Game Preview for Pirates-Brewers Statcast Game Feed for Pirates-Brewers

Josh Donaldson left yesterday’s game with a hamstring injury. He seems to carry a high injury risk, and I’m not convinced he’d be a great addition from a clubhouse standpoint. He was also the guy that sort of made fun of Yelich when he had his Twitter exchange with Darvish a couple of years ago, which certainly isn’t that big of a deal, but when the team chemistry appears to be completely rock solid right now I’m not sure I like the Donaldson fit. Jon Gray is a starter I could see them in the mix for if they wanted to add another higher end arm.

If the Brewers played .500 baseball the rest of the season they’d finish with 90 wins. Now obviously here in the optimism thread we all know they are going to play much better than that… 100+ win season here we come!

I never in my wildest dreams thought Jace had this recent stretch in him. Here’s hoping he stays hot during the 2nd half!

It’s sort of a testament to just how strong Tampa Bay’s overall system is when they can trade away infielders the caliber of Jake Cronenworth, Nick Solak, Nate Lowe, Willy Adames and yet still not really skip a beat.

Old friend Cody Ponce takes the mound versus the Crew today. Ponce last pitched on Tuesday going 3.0 IP and allowing 6 hits and 3 runs to the Rockies. The only previous start of Ponce’s MLB career came earlier this year (May 25) versus the Cubs in which he lasted 5.0 IP while giving up 4 runs on 9 hits and 1 walk.

Eric Lauer: Batter (Pirates) vs Pitching Stats Cody Ponce: Batter (Brewers) vs Pitching Stats Statcast Game Preview for Pirates-Brewers Statcast Game Feed for Pirates-Brewers

On the morning of Friday, June 25th (one week ago) the Brewers and Cubs were both 42-33, tied for 1st place in the NL Central. By the end of tonight (Friday, July 2nd) the Brewers are 50-33 and have built a 7.5 game lead in the NL Central.

The streak continues! Brewers are turnin’ up the heat, indeed. 10-game win streak (and counting) will now have a place on this list…