The stache

Great, another Loe meltdown incoming..

Break out the brooms!!!!

Rogers wins! Brewers win! Hello, win column!!!!!

Ok, 9-2...can I feel good about this lead? After tonight, we should be 3 games under .500 guys. Last night's loss is still stuck in my craw.

7 to 2 with the A Ram home run. Is that enough of a lead for this bullpen with one inning to go?

FRIDAY FANTASY FACTS - Karstens handles a few Brewers The heart of the Brewers lineup (Corey Hart, Ryan Braun, and Rickie Weeks) has struggled against Friday's starter Jeff Karstens. The trio is a combined 12-for-71 (.169) in their career against Karstens with 14 strikeouts. Nicely done, ESPN. Nicely done, lol.

Hmm, Rickie now 6 for his last 6? Nice to see him hitting the ball with authority.

4-0! A Ram and Hart come through!!!!

I'm not using a small sample size. I'm using almost a full season's worth of statistics. Weeks, outside of today's great performance, has been deplorable. And it pains me saying that, as a big Weeks fan. But how much more of a sample size do you need? Seriously? We can't determine that Lucroy is a better option batting second right now than Rickie is until what, a whole season has gone bye, minimum? I'm sorry--nothing personal--but that's absurd. Batting in the top two spots in the order, Weeks has been awful. Batting in the sixth spot, Rickie has put up numbers closer to his career norms. I don't know why that is, but it's obviously not my job to figure that out. All I know is that in the top part of the order, Rickie hasn't played well, and in the bottom third, he's played considerably better. Career numbers are useful for for some things, but at some point you have to understand that a player's stats from three years ago are not indicative of the player that's on the field. Lucroy is a better hitter now than he was as a rookie. It's only natural for a player to improve as he's been in the league more, and understands the nuances of the game better. Rickie suffered a catastrophic injury towards the end of last season, and since coming back, he's not the same player. I give the guy all the credit in the world for going out there, and playing in pain, and I know he's frustrated by his play. Rickie is a man, and as such, you're not going to hear him complaining about his own play. He's not going to blame the ankle. But as a manager, Ron Roenicke should be putting together the lineup that gives us the best chance to win. And right now, Jonathan Lucroy is getting on base a lot more than Rickie Weeks. As such, he'd provide more run scoring opportunities. And pulling up what Weeks and Lucroy did two years ago as continued justification on the current lineup structure is poor management. Now, if Rickie continues this improved play that we saw today (obviously he won't go 5 for 5 every day), then I have no problem moving him back up.

Way to go, K Rod. You wanted to be a closer? Trash. Brewers could have....should have been 4 under .500. The bullpen and Roenicke blow it again.

From ESPN: MLB - Braun 25+ HR & 25+ 2B Ryan Braun hit his 25th double tonight. 25+ HR and 25+ 2B in 1st 6 MLB Seasons MLB History Ryan Braun Mark Teixeira Albert Pujols Frank Robinson Joe DiMaggio

Hey all, is there a way I can set it so the full editor comes up by default, instead of the quick reply? Or is that a forum setting?

Please God, no. A sweep, and 4 games under .500 please.

Note to self: make another thread tomorrow calling Rickie Weeks out... I hope this is the start of a trend, and he gets back to being the hitter we all know he can be.

How is Braun not the league MVP again? I'm sorry, he's just incredible.

Contradiction overload. You say he's not scoring enough runs and then post stats that say over half of his at bats this season have come before players like Cody Ransom, Cesar Izturis, Jeff Bianchi, Martin Maldonado, pitchers and pinch hitters. It's hardly a contradiction. Want to eliminate the stats from when he's batting sixth, and concentrate on his productivity when he's batting leadoff or second only? 225 plate appearances. 22 runs That breaks down to approximately 59 runs scored when batting in the top two positions. Much better. Not. He's actually more productive when he's batting sixth: 225 plate appearances. 30 runs scored. That breaks down to 80 runs scored.

And Lucroy is 3 for 5 with 7 RBI. What's your point? That Weeks, based on one game, is now suddenly a better option at second in the lineup?

So, we should have a guy that's not getting on base batting second, and a guy that is getting on base much lower in the lineup where nobody will drive him in, because he might slump? Forget numbers, that just doesn't make sense logically. Weeks is on a pace for 571 at bats, and 74 runs. That's terrible considering who's batting behind him. With 3 of the top 4 guys in the NL in extra base hits, he's not crossing the plate. He's not getting it done, I'm sorry. Weeks has 225 plate appearances batting first or second in the lineup. He's scored twice on Braun home runs. Twice. Rickie Weeks is batting .140 this season when he's second in the lineup. He has a .265 OBP, and a .210 SLG. Let me highlight this. Batting second in 2012, Rickie Weeks has a .475 OPS in 117 plate appearances. He's batting .176 as a leadoff hitter (108 plate appearances). Batting sixth, where I think he belongs, he's batting .274 in 225 plate appearances. http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=weeksri01&year=2012&t=b Why do people keep throwing up career numbers? This Rickie Weeks on the field in 2012 is nowhere near the same player that was an MVP candidate before the ankle injury any more than this is the same Jonathan Lucroy that hit .253 as a rookie in 2010. Players improve, and players slip. Right now, Rickie Weeks has no business batting second in the lineup. None.

During last night's game thread, I made a comment that Rickie Weeks needed to be moved down in the lineup. Obviously, with that game thread being archived, the discussion there will not continue. So, I would like to start a new discussion on the merits of moving Jonathan Lucroy back up to the #2 spot in the lineup. With Ryan Braun having another MVP-caliber season, Aramis Ramirez leading the NL in extra base hits, and Corey Hart hitting home runs, the meat of our lineup is producing. In fact, the NL leaders in extra base hits currently reads: Ramirez, Milwaukee 65 (43 doubles, 2 triples, 20 home runs) Braun, Milwaukee 64 (26 doubles, 3 triples, 35 home runs) Bruce, Cincinnati 61 (31 doubles, 3 triples, 27 home runs) Hart, Milwaukee 59 (31 doubles, 4 triples, 24 home runs) That's a whopping 188 extra base hits from the 3-4-5 portion of the lineup. Clearly the most productive trio in the National League. Yet we're 5 games below .500 still (mainly due to our bullpen). I question having Rickie Weeks in the #2 spot in the lineup right now, as I believe we are leaving potential runs off the board. Career on base percentage, and OBP for the season were brought up when I mentioned Weeks was 5 for his last 38. Valid discussion points, of course. But I tend to look at current trends, and not numbers from a couple years ago, or even several months ago. Here are Rickie's numbers for the last twenty games: http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/540/weeks8712to82812.png Baseball reference has not yet updated for last night's game. Rickie's average is .224 over the last 20 games. Slightly higher than his season average. His on base percentage over this period is only .298. And the outs he's making are still strike outs. 20 strikeouts in 76 Abs (26.32%). Some outs can be productive in moving a runner up. A strike out is never productive. Compare these numbers to those of Jonathan Lucroy. Over the last 20 games (all since coming back off the DL), and you'll see that Lucroy is a better option, at least for the time being. http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/7343/lucroy8712to82812.png Jonathan is hitting .305 with a .373 OBP and a .505 SLG over the last 20 games, and has struck out 7 times in 59 at bats (11.86%). Lucroy has an .882 OPS. Compare that to Rickie's .640 OPS. Nori Aoki, who is batting .282 with a .341 OBP (and 8 stolen bases in 11 tries) in his last twenty games might benefit as well, as Lucroy makes more consistent contact. Getting him into scoring position might get us a few more runs a week, and with our bullpen, that can't be a bad thing. Wouldn't it be prudent to move Jonathan back to the #2 spot for the time being, at least until Rickie can get back on track?

Ok Ax, good recovery. Hello, win column!!!! Brewers have now won 8 of 9, only 5 under .500. #rallycaps

Must Axford start every appearance with a walk? 2 run lead. How about an easy save here, John??

From ESPN: MLB - Braun 25+ HR & 25+ 2B Ryan Braun hit his 25th double tonight. 25+ HR and 25+ 2B in 1st 6 MLB Seasons MLB History Ryan Braun, Mark Teixeira, Albert Pujols, Frank Robinson, and Joe DiMaggio. And there's #26

Weeks needs to be moved back down in the order. 5 for his last 38. Why oh why are we putting him directly in front of the league MVP? Don't you want guys that can get on base in front of your biggest bats??

Some nice Cubs d this inning, but Maldanado could have run a little harder. He should have beaten that out.

Bianchi, wow!