Tim_Unroe_Helped

103 down. 11 to go.

I’m not too upset about this one. With May, Harrison, and Gordon pitching against Zack Wheeler, this game went better than expected. I was hoping for a better performance from May and Harrison, but I was expecting a worse performance with Gordon pitching 5 innings. 4 runs against Wheeler and this bullpen (including Duran) isn’t bad. The offense looked better than they did in Baltimore. Meanwhile, the Brewers are still on the verge of clinching a bye tonight, we didn’t give Philly much experience against our likely playoff pitchers, and I’m in the camp that really doesn’t want to face the Cubs in the NLDS (not good for my blood pressure and I do fear they have good bulletin board material with the L flag from last year).

I took a long weekend in Baltimore and made it to all the games this weekend. I don’t have a whole lot to add; the Brewers offense was concerning yesterday and today, but otherwise, it was a fun weekend and overall, the Brewers looked good against an ok Orioles team. I just have a few notes to add. The Brewers had a good fan contingent here. The “Let’s Go Brewers” chant could be heard throughout the stadium a few times, and I saw a lot of people in town in Brewers gear (much more so than the Saints, who were also in town this weekend). If you have a chance to catch a game at Camden Yards, I would highly recommend it. I put it up there with PNC Park and AT&T Park when it comes to best ballparks I’ve visited. Finally, going to a visiting team’s city is a reminder that we have the most exciting pitcher in baseball. While waiting for the train to get to the game today, a few Oriole fans were telling me they were checking all week hoping to see the Miz on the mound. I got asked multiple times earlier in the weekend whether he was pitching this weekend. As great as Chris Sale, Christopher Sanchez, Brian Schittler, etc. are, the vibe I get is that Miz is something different.

The Brewers aren’t going to give up on Sproat, and that’s a good thing. Corbin Burnes was even worse in 2019 than Sproat has been this year and then we all know what happened. Of course I’m not saying Sproat will win a Cy Young or anything like that, but he’s not going to be DFAed. He should be done this year, though, and I hope the Brewers have an excellent sports psychologist to work with him extensively this offseason. Dont let Sproat’s outing get you down. I highly doubt he will be a part of the team the rest of the year. Uribe’s outing was a bit troubling, but I prefer giving up 2 hits in his situation over walking two guys to begin the inning like Sproat did. The main reason we feel uneasy after tonight is a guy who will throw 0 pitches in the playoffs this year. The magic number for the division is 5 now. It’s mathematically possible for the Brewers to clinch this weekend.

With my user name, I’d be remiss to not participate today.

I hope the Brewers either put Harrison on the IL or option Anderson before the game tomorrow. We need reinforcements in the bullpen, even if in the way back. I’m glad Anderson did his role today, but having to use Uribe in a blowout loss shouldn’t happen. Romero and Senzatela are almost certainly unavailable tomorrow, and Gasser hasn’t really gone deep into games (though I do think he is our #3 starter right now).

This is the kind of stretch where I really miss the old 40 man call up rules for September. We may have to use a decent bullpen arm or two today even if we are down multiple runs. Having Stallings, Gordon, and Koenig up right now to eat up the innings Harrison can’t would be nice. Hopefully Grant Anderson can go more than 2 innings today.

Kyle Harrison is still a huge piece of our pitching staff in the coming years, but he seems so spent this year. Right now, I’d trust all 5 of our other starters, along with Crow and possibly Sproat over him. Maybe a few weeks off will help. Maybe he needs a whole offseason. I trust he will be back as a top 3 pitcher in the rotation, but right now, we can’t depend on him.

I hate to say it, but Kyle Harrison is reminding me of 2011 Shaun Marcum right now.

The latest I saw is a restart at 9, but who knows?

The Cardinals are upset that the umpires are enforcing uniform standards?

Right now, Gasser might be our 3 after Miz and Henderson. Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s an opener followed by Patrick or Hall either.

Things looked grim when we couldn’t score anything off Boyd after two hits to lead off the 4th, followed by the Cubs scoring 3 in the bottom of the inning. I was definitely down at that point, but I tried to remind myself it was going to be a whole different game when we got to the Cubs bullpen. They have a good bullpen, but it hasn’t been good lately, and it’s nice to see the Brewers take advantage.

At this point, these aren’t high stress pitches. After using Anderson for multiple innings yesterday and putting Wilson on the IL, the remaining long reliever is Chad Patrick or DL Hall. Hall has looked quite good lately (maybe a dark horse SP candidate if May/Harrison/Gasser don’t look playoff ready?) so I’d rather use him in high leverage. Hopefully Patrick can get us through multiple innings tonight so we don’t use much of our A bullpen. Barring a huge comeback, having Gary pitch the 9th is probably best case scenario.

Well, just gotta remind ourselves that a week ago at this time, if we knew the Brewers would be 7 up in the division after tonight, we would have been thrilled. I also think our two best pitching matchups are the last two games of this series, especially given Harrison’s recent struggles. I wouldn’t give up on a Robert Gasser start either. His numbers are really inflated by two blowup starts, but other than that, he’s been cromulent as a bottom of the rotation arm. We do need to figure out who is our #3 pitcher, though. Thankfully, we have some time for May, Gasser, Drohan, Harrison, or maybe even Crow to get red hot.