JaNelson52

Don't get me wrong, Sheets had to come out, but why Bennet? Yost thought, "Gee...even Trent Durrington can't get on base against Hernandez tonight. I guess this game is over."

Available pinch hitters to lead off the 8th: Bill Hall - one of the hottest hitters on the team Brady Clark Junior Spivey (he IS supposed to be able to PH) Brooks Kieschnick Gary Bennett Trent Durrington Who does Yost pull off the bench? Trent FRICKEN Durrington. This infatuation with certain players just drives you crazy.

Still no Junior. PH duty only until the Atlanta series.

Right now, we're not playing to win, we're playing just to get to tomorrow, and that's not right. Thats not true, RoCo. Forget about Kieschnick...he was obviously being saved for the end of the game. Yost felt that leaving Wes in there to go out for the 7th was better than PH someone and putting Bennett in there...and the way Bennett has pitched of late, I would certainly agree. To be quite honest, Wes pitched pretty well tonight, really making only one mistake (the HR to Griffey).

Just gotta take this series, throw it out the window, and move on. The Brewers stole two from the Reds at the Keg. I'd say Cincy is now even. I agree fully with Peavey...if Durrington isnt DFA tomorrow to bring up SOMEONE from AAA, there is something seriously wrong with the way this roster is being managed.

As I said, some people will defend Yost no matter what. Fine, Yost played it by the numbers. Great job! I question Ned's decisions as much as anyone else here, but its also quite easy to make the managerial decisions from the easy chair in your living room, and then criticize those judgments when/if they don't work out. Yost had two pitchers left for three innings of work, and one of those pitchers (Bennett) has been bad of late. If Yost had another fresh arm out there, I would probably agree that he should have PH for Wes in the 7th. But its pretty clear that Yost just was hoping for one more inning from Wes, and then go to Brooks to finish the game. Like I said before, Yost can only work with what he has. Also, I find it funny that just about NO ONE is blaming the defense for the Reds big inning...its all Yost for leaving Wes in there. If the D just makes the plays, we arent having this discussion.

Regardless of the errors, Obie put the 1st two guys he faced on base. THEN he brings in the inexperienced Bennet (like he always seems to do) with no one out and a pair of guys on base. You can't just say "regardless of the errors". If that was Dan Kolb out there instead of Jeff Bennett and the same errors took place, you would totally say that it was the defense that did in the team in the inning. If the defense comes through and just makes the routine plays, the Reds dont score. And Brooks is set up to pitch the final two innings. And Yost is considered a fine manager for working through a thin pitching staff. Fine line, isn't it?

i fully blame ned yost. what the hell is he thinking? letting overmueller hit with the bases loaded with only a 2 run lead. Wes had nearly 100 pitches already after 6. Wes was only at 86 pitches...BIG difference, there. Yost did all he could do. He tried to milk one more inning out of Obermueller, and it just didnt work. With only two guys fresh in the pen, and one of them struggling mightily (Bennett), Yost had little choice. EDIT: To be fair, its also hard to win games when you give the opposing team 6 outs in an inning. The defense in that inning was just pathetic, and for such a "sparkplug" that Pods can be, and for the handful of decent plays he makes, he is not a good defender at all.

Now knowing that Burba wasn't good to go, not only does it make the Sheets decision last night make more sense, but it gives Ned a mulligan for the Wes decision. Its quite clear now, looking back, that the situation with Burba is probably reason #1 Yost milked Sheets for all he was worth last night. Assuming that is the case, the current management with this roster is absolutely clueless. Durrington has no place on this team with the current state of this pitching staff.

Jeff Bennett isnt getting any help from this defense tonight, but its quite clear that he doesn't belong with the big club, and is being exposed when he is forced to pitch in tight spots. It would be nice to have a lefty in the pen, too. Two nights in a row LH batters in key spots (Dunn last night, Griffey tonight) have come up with key hits against RH relievers.

I wouldnt put the current status of the pitching staff on Yost, I would put it on Melvin. The Brewers have to dig two guys out of the bullpen to start games this weekend. Kolb has been out. The current starters, save Sheets, have been inconsistent. Why Trent Durrington continues to waste away on the Brewers bench is beyond me, especially since this team needs another arm up here. Durrington isnt gonna get claimed by anybody, and even if he does...so what? Yost can only work with what he has up with him.

YOST IS SO FRIGGING OBSESSED WITH MAKING PLAYERS FEEL HAPPY HE CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT. According to the radio broadcast, Burba isn't 100% tonight, either. Vizcy has pitched two days in a row, Kolb is unavailable, Ben Ford is probably unavailable after last night...it looks like the only available bullpen guys, except in emergency, are Kieschnick and Jeff Bennett, who just came in. Wes was only at 86 pitches before the inning, so you can't fault Yost for going back to him to start the 7th.

You're right: How dare I point out a valid contradiction in your argument? Peavey, you're such a dumbass. I was merely making a point about how a few pitches add up over a season, and using Sheets' numbers as an example. You're sidelining you're best relief pitcher for an extra week... it makes zero baseball sense. Whatever you say...

So if he only needs to miss 6-7 days as they expect, you'd put him on the DL for an EXTRA 8-9? That's just dumb. How is that dumb? If you need to dig TWO pitchers out of your pen to make spot starts, absolutely. You are already wasting a roster spot for one week. I know I would like to have an extra arm (or two) in the bullpen, with Obermueller going tomorrow, Hernandez on Saturday and Santos and Sunday. But you said he's going to be on the DL GUARANTEED this year.... how's he going to get 35 starts? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/laugh.gif Yeah! That was funny alright! Certainly shows the depth of your thoughts...

Brady clark is now 1 for 4 trying to steal. He's a scrappy guy and really tried hard, though, so he will probably start tomorrow. Hit-and-run or not, running in that situation with Clark being the lead run was about as foolish as you can get. You can't make the first out of the inning at second.

you're leaving just Burba and Keish to work tomorrow? Talk about poor planning... Its even worse planning to pin your hopes on having Ben Sheets throw a complete, or near-complete game, against a team that takes a ton of pitches and walks a lot. Its also poor planning to only have those available pitchers to go to. If you know you have to dip into the pen to put both Santos and Hernandez into the rotation for spot starts, you need to have more bullpen guys available - which falls on Doug Melvin. After all, I thought this bullpen was supposed to be full of guys who "can go more than one inning", wasn't it? Likewise, you tell Ben Sheets not too mess around so much. There were numerous occasions that Ben put Reds hitters behind 0-2 tonight, only to end up pushing the count to 2-2 or 3-2 by fooling around and nibblling before taking care of them. Dan Kolb, if he can't pitch, should be on the DL. They're still not sure if he is even going to be available to go this weekend. If that's the case, he should be on the DL, and a fresh arm should be up with the team. Its wasting a spot in the bullpen that is needed, especially with the changes in the rotation of late. I hate to say "I told you so", but having a guy like Wayne Franklin in AAA wouldn't look so bad right now. Still, he's averaged 104 pitches this year.... still wondering how many pitches you think it's appropriate for him to be averaging? He has averaged only 98 pitches per start in his career, which is probably about where he should be. While six pitches doesn't sound like a lot, over 35 starts, that's 210 pitches, or two full games. Suddenly, its not so trivial a number. Ben should have been out of this game after the fifth, when he was at 98 pitches I believe.

Actually its not. Peavey, letting your 25-year old ace - who has already had back trouble this year, by the way - throw more than 120 pitches TWICE this already year is abuse. We're in the first week of May. There is no need for it, especially with a pretty fresh bullpen. Just put this in perspective...despite having two short starts, one from injury and one from being hit hard, Ben will likely end tonight leading the NL in total pitches thrown this season.

You do realize that our bullpen consists of 4 guys right now? Yes, I do realize that. Still, the only guys to have pitched since Sunday are Kinney and Vizcy. And while Hernandez is slated to start this weekend, he hasn't pitched in a week...he could go an inning, like Obermueller did last week. Jeff Bennett hasnt pitched since Sunday, and can go an inning. Same with Ben Ford, and he could probably easily go two. Dave Burba hasn't pitched since Saturday. Brooks Kieschnick hasnt pitched since Saturday. While Vizcy pitched yesterday, he could also go an inning if he had to. Even with Kolb out until this weekend, the bullpen is hardly depleted. Even after this start, he'll have about an average of a 100 pitches per start or so...I would hardly call that abuse. Its the first week of May, and if you take away the start that Ben got back stiffness in, which he certainly would have gone longer, Ben has averaged 104 pitches per start -with two of those starts Ben throwing MORE than 120 pitches. Im sorry, but that's abuse.

The way Ned Yost and this coaching staff abuses Ben Sheets, he will undoubtedly hit the DL before the season ends. Count on it. Just foolish planning and coaching, especially since the only bullpen guys to have seen action since Sunday's game are Kinney and Vizcaino.

To be brutally honest, Matt Kinney didn't pitch that much more poorly tonight than Doug Davis did last night. Likewise, the Brewers have hit more than a few balls quite hard this evening off Wilson, but yet have nothing to show for it. It shows the fine line between a successful start and a complete disaster. Getting rid of Matt Kinney now does no good. The reason? We're gonna see this kind of inconsistent pitching all season, because the entire Brewers starting staff, with the exception of Sheets, are all fifth-starter types. The same could be said for anyone we would call up from the minors. An example: for as much props as Chris Saenz deserves for his good outing the other night, he was 10 more feet farther on a fly ball from being down 4-0 in the first inning. To me, there looks to be an overall "confidence" problem with the staff. As far as Im concerned, that goes right up to the coaching staff, and more specifically, Mike Maddux. We hear all the time that these coaches preach getting ahead in the count and throwing strikes, but yet just about all our pitchers, with the exception of Sheets, throw first-pitch breaking stuff all the time. No confidence at all in the fastball. Matt Kinney's fastball tonight was consistently in the low 90's, and most of the fastballs he threw were strikes. What's wrong with that? Half the battle on the mound is being mentally strong. If you go to the mound with a "defeatist" attitude and have no confidence in your fastball, you are gonna get rocked every time. I kept track of Adrian Hernandez when he first came into the game, and the first pitch to the first three batters he faced, one of which was P Paul Wilson, were sliders. It makes no sense. Brewers pitchers just aren't good enough to nibble around the corners all the time, and they certainly aren't good enough to fall behind 2-0, 2-1, and 3-1 each and every time. If the opponent wants to swing at all the first pitches in every AB, more power to them. I would rather the opponent do that than throw two breaking balls to start the AB.

I haven't looked through any of the other in-game posts tonight so I don't know if it is mentioned, but with a rested bullpen, here is who is available, and how I would rank them: 1. Kolb 2. Vizcaino 3. Burba 4. Bennett 5. Santos 6. Ford 7. Obermueller I put Wes last only because he should only see action out of the pen either to only stay sharp while his rotation spot is being skipped or if the starter is knocked out early. Obviously, you arent going to use Kolb or Vizcy in the sixth. That leaves four guys out there, and Yost went with probably the worst two you could. With Dave Burba pitching so well, how come he cant throw the sixth and seventh, especially with the lead?

Okay Jason, where does one find the time to figure that one out? Baseball stat junkies love days off work http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

Austin Kearns has a broken forearm and is out indefinitely. I'd imagine that this injury might bring Cincy back to the bottom where they belong... Kearns was hitting only .137 with 2 HR and a .623 OPS before the injury. Its fair to say he has had little to do with their success. Quite simply, the Reds are just creating more scoring opportunities than their pitchers are allowing to their opponents. Reds hitters have a .352 OBP, opponents .334. The Reds have drawn over 30 walks more than their opponents; only 20 or so games into the season, that is quite a difference already. It cant get any more basic; more baserunners = more runs. Likewise, there is also one other stat I really like, and it really shows the mentality the Reds have under Chris Chambliss. By my calculations, 22% of all the Reds plate appearances thus far have resulted in a 3-ball count. The Reds take their pitches, take their walks, and get ahead in the count.

I'm hoping to help remedy the situation very soon, as I am in the process of putting together some articles from the survey I put in the forum a couple of weeks ago.

I would hope that the Brewers would try to get a bit younger with the AAA guys, but Delgado is familiar with the organization, so I assume it was an easy pickup.