The stache

/face palm. Wheels on the bus ...

That's the thing that most frustrates me about this team. They have some really great talent, but there are so many times where just the basics of baseball fail us. Bunting. Hit and run. Working the count. Aaaaaaaaand, as I'm typing this, we get nothing out of that inning. Great. Making another pitcher that I've never heard of look like Cy Young.

Come on offense, wake up!!!! Cardinals lost. Take advantage!

Should I feel confident that we'll win the series with Gallardo going tomorrow? Because I don't. Not the way we're whiffing left and right.

I feel bad for the wives of some of these guys. Those beards are just nasty. And honestly, I don't know how they can play with them. I've never had a beard, but I've had a few days of growth, and I just couldn't sleep. These guys have a damned shrub hanging from their chin, and they're out there sweating. Darn, Luc just missed it. That would have been big.

Please don't walk in a run. 5-1 would be a killer.

Gomez strikes out. Stop me if you've heard this one before.

Those beards look ridiculous. Do you think that one day, when they're older, these guys will look back and see how stupid they looked? Pinch hi specialist Lyle Overbay is up.

http://millerpolooza.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/hi-res-1402327_display_image1.jpg On this day in 1987, Paul Molitor went 0-4 in a 1-0 10 inning Brewers win over the Cleveland Indians. That ended Molitor's hitting streak at 39 games. Molitor's streak was the 7th longest in Major League History, and the longest in the American League since 1941 when Joe DiMaggio set the Major League record by hitting in 56 straight games. DiMaggio's streak ended on July 17th. DiMaggio, being interviewed after the game, said that having the streak end cost him $10,000, as the Heinz Corporation would have paid him $10,000 to endorse their Heinz 57 product if he'd hit in 57 straight. The next day, DiMaggio started another streak, hitting in 16 straight games. Incredibly, that meant DiMaggio hit safely in 72 of 73 games.

Exactly. Tell the shortstop to get ready for a weak grounder.

Ya, I was alluding to this earlier tonight. A few times tonight the Brewers were in a position to get a walk, and they ended up striking out on some terrible pitches. Braun was ahead 2-0, I think, and he eventually struck out on a ball that was about two inches off the ground. And ARam's at bat was even worse. Ramirez gets a pass from me tonight. He didn't play a great game, but he's been so on all month, he can hit the showers. Most of the rest of the team should donate their game checks.

Jean came into June hitting .269. June is where the wheels started coming off. He hit .196 for the month, with a slash line of .239/.294/.533. The Brewers managed to go 18-9 with Segura getting 20 hit in 112 plate appearances. He had 2 triples and 2 home runs. No doubles. And he stole only 4 bases in 6 attempts. In July, he was worse. He hit .179. His slash line was .220/.269/.489. Ouch. He's been better in August. He's hitting .255. 13 for 51 with 2 doubles. But he hasn't stolen a base in the month on August 26th. His slash line has been .339/.294/.633. That would be at least less painful if he was playing solid defense and stealing bases. But he's not. For the last three months, here's his baseball card. You might want to tell the kids to leave the room. http://imageshack.com/a/img537/4039/JexbJj.png Ouch.

Oh man, I just don't know what's going on with Jean. I think he's frustrated beyond belief. And let's all keep in mind it was only a few weeks ago that his little boy died unexpectedly. That's not an excuse for what has been a horrible year-he was struggling before that. But wasn't his boy sick before he died, too? I think the only answer I can give is that I haven't a clue. Usually when somebody is struggling, you can watch them for a while, and pick up where they're struggling, and what needs to be changed. Or, at least you can come up with a theory. I'm not a Major League Coach, of course, and the Brewers aren't ringing my phone off the hook. But again, when you've spent far too many hours watching the game over the years, you can identify some things. With Jean, I think what we're seeing is a complete mental breakdown. A few times he's warmed up a little, and once or twice it looked like he might be coming out of it. I think he was approaching .260 for a while. I'll have to check that. I think he was at .256 or .257. But since then he's regressed, not only at the plate, but on the base paths, and now in the field. He didn't suddenly become slow. He didn't become a 90 pound weakling. When you see somebody have a complete collapse like Jean's had, well, I'd bet good money that there's nothing physically wrong with him. No more than the bumps and bruises any Major Leaguer will have over a 162 game season. I think Jean's second guessing himself. I think he's lost his confidence. He says the right things in interviews. He knows what he's doing wrong. He acknowledges the problem. He just can't solve it. Pitchers made their adjustments to Jean's game. He hasn't been able to counter with adjustments of their own. I think it's safe to say the "fatigue" issue that I and a few other forum members hypothesize had nothing to do with his struggles. And that's too bad. I would love to have an excuse that makes us all feel better. I like Jean Segura a lot. My heart aches for the loss he's still dealing with. But ultimately, you need to put people on the field that will help you win, and Jean Segura is doing nothing right now to help this team. He's a black hole at the plate. He's making mistakes in the field. And he's a burner that's getting thrown out once in every three stolen base attempts. He needs to sit, and go down if he still can. He needs to find what's wrong, because having him try to work it out is clearly not working, and it's just frustrating him more.

He is right now, yes. Some pitchers dominate right away. Some take a while to develop. I don't think Nelson will ever be Sandy Koufax, but you just don't give up on a guy with that kind of potential. I don't think he's a pretty average pitcher. He wasn't just good in AAA, he was dominant. Let him adjust a little more to the Majors, and learn how the game is played at this the highest level. Come talk to me in two years. If Jimmy hasn't progressed, I'll gladly admit that I was wrong. I won't ever duck out to save face. I've watched a lot of baseball in my life, and I know the difference between just a warm body, and somebody with a makeup that has very good potential. I think he will be a good starter. There's nothing wrong with his mechanics right now. He's just not confident yet. Peralta showed some of that same thing early on, and now he's playing very well.

Attaboy, Scooter! Ace this! Nice, beautiful swing!!!

I know this is their best pitcher, but the abysmal plate discipline that we show at times makes me nuts. Popping up for an out on what would be ball 4. Striking out on a ball at the shoe strings by Braun when he only saw two pitches. Now Ramirez. Jimmy Nelson, are you watching? Scooter NEEDS to come through. We cannot strand Lucroy.

#18 would be nice.

Double + an error. Gotta be. Let's remember, the Padres are bad.

I can't comment on the MLB At-Bat app as I've never used it, but yeah our stream does seem to be the worst. I watch a lot of other games, and the other feeds just seem to be cleaner. And they also seem to drop out less often, though I think that's more due to when I watch, later at night when far fewer people are requesting bandwidth from MLB's servers. Boy, if Jean is going to keep having these defensive lapses, he has to go down. His hitting has been deplorable, but he's been able to stay in the lineup because of his defense. But he's just not doing anything well right now. He's pressing, and he needs to get his head right. Losing your starting shortstop in the last fifth of the season during a playoff run could be really bad.

The wheels are coming off a little. Jimmy's not locating his fastball very well. And you certainly can't let a pitcher lead off an inning, and get a hit.

Jimmy's not quite there yet. I like some of the things he's doing, but it hasn't quite clicked for him yet. He's close, and I think he's making strides. I know there's a lot of baseball to be played yet, but looking forward, I'm really getting excited about our rotation going forward. Mike Fiers won't be this lights out all the time, obviously, but I think that again he's showing he can be a really nice piece in the rotation. Wily Peralta, of course, has the stuff to be an ace. It's a tribute to his possible upside that we can say he will still get better in a season where he will approach 20 wins. Jimmy is going to be a hoss, an innings eater, and I don't know, but I think his ceiling is a 2/3. If we keep complimenting those three with a veteran starter, we're looking at one of the better rotations in the NL.

Maybe 82brewcrew11 and I are just lucky. I reset the Roku, so we'll see how that works. If they could just fix their issues with the intermittent drops like that, I'd be the happiest guy on Earth. I love being able to watch every Brewer game.

Come on, Jean. You have to be smart, and not pop up on ball 4. You should be mad at yourself. Use your head.

Is anybody else on MLB.tv having a lot of page loading interruptions?

What a waste of a great start. Cole looked like a man possessed. He actually looked like he was pitching angry a few different times. If Jameson Taillon is able to come back from Tommy John the same kind of pitcher, the Bucs are going to have a heck of a 1-2 punch. And Tyler Glasnow might be in high A ball, but he could be a real stud, too. He's supposed to have a lively fastball, and Jonathan Mayo thinks he has an above average to plus curveball. So the Pirates should be a better team going forward. With the Cubs having so much young talent, you have to figure that at least a few of those top prospects will meet expectations. If they do, add them in with Rizzo and Castro, who I think will still take a step forward, and the Cubs should have a pretty strong lineup, too. The NL Central could very easily be the toughest division in baseball for a good long while. And you know, I like playing in a tough division. If all the teams are at least pretty good, that's baptism by fire, so to speak. If every divisional opponent is trying to make it to the playoffs, if you do end up winning the division, or making the playoffs, you've had just a little bit more game play against top opponents, which means you're just a little bit better prepared for the post season.