Cool Hand Lucroy

Yes. Mis with a shot to get through 7 now. Get him some runs.

I wouldn't sleep on the series with the Astros either. I know they aren't great, but they are in need of wins for the division race.

Whew! I think that about sticks a fork in the Cubs, as far as the division goes, but it'd sure be nice to grab the next two too, especially given who we'll have on the bump. On ABS, I've said it before, so I won't belabor the point. My belief is that strikes have an aesthetic element, and that's a good thing. Not every pitch in the same spot should be a strike. I don't mind umpires valuing (consistently) vertical or horizontal edges, within reason. ABS exists to correct obvious errors in key situations, which is why the challenge system is a nice compromise. It theoretically gives control to the teams, especially when faced with either bad calls or excessively individual ones in crucial spots, while still allowing a strike to be subject to certain, fair bounds of interpretation. Moving into a binary world isn't a great thing. I'd prefer my strike zones slightly ambiguous, just as real life often is. More than that, fans expecting players to challenge when they get the benefit of immediate feedback on a sphere bending and swerving at 95 mph belies the inherent uncertainty of balls and strikes. The whole point is for the pitcher to throw an edge pitch that the batter thinks is a strike but is actually not hittable. Giving everyone a flat, falsely certain strike zone wrecks that entire back and forth. Every AB is a three-way negotiation. I can live with introducing a robot as a limited arbitrator. The idea of making it the ultimate arbitrator all the time flattens the game and makes it less interesting. It takes a messy, nuanced, human process, and makes it flat and binary, giving us illusory defined edges instead of blurry borders. Let me look uncertainty full in the face rather than surround myself with a false blanket of truth. As for other notes on the game, I'm pumped we got to see Chourio and Lara shine in the last couple innings. Joey Ortiz was excellent. Gasser probably won't get enough credit for what a strong performance that was. If Murph isn't treating this like a playoff game (good for him!), I doubt he brings in Patrick in the 5th. That move was a "this is for real" kind of move. That 8th inning was just Brewers offense in a time capsule. They've done nothing all game, but they pressure the starter out, draw tough walks, hit a sac fly, and win by putting the ball in play, even with two strikes. Feels so good to take the lead in the 8th, knowing you only need three outs. And what great defense in the ninth. Megill got hit pretty good, but credit to the Cubs for doing it. And, yeah, it's hard not to be impressed by their CF. Nearly won it for them single-handedly today. The easy SBs were impressive. When I watch that guy play defense, combined with everything else, it's hard not to see an MVP. I don't like him, but he's good. With the Braves dropping one, we're back to a 3.5 game lead there. I wouldn't necessarily mind the Dodgers catching us for the one seed, but I'm getting more and more at peace with playing the Cubs in the playoffs. I'd rather not, but I doubt the Brewers are afraid of the emotional baggage fans like me have a hard time shaking.

Gasser missed his spot, and Contreras caught the ball inside Suzuki's batter's box. It was diving hard in.

No one will ever be good at challenging that pitch.

ABS is not a human person. You cannot expect a human person to perfectly understand it. Be mad at Bill about other ones, okay. But being upset about that one is silly.

The calls for Contreras to challenge that pitch are exactly why the strike zone box on the broadcast is misleading. That pitch has not been a strike the entire history of baseball. He'd literally have to be a robot to challenge it.

Fair point! I don't know what schedule Sproat was on, but I imagine he's fresher than Anderson would've been, so I guess I only mean "fresh" in a relative sense.

They could, but there aren't that many minor-league games left, and then he doesn't get service time credit. I certainly could be off-base. It just happened with Wilson and now Anderson, so [shrugs]...

I say this as Brewers fan. It's pretty suspicious that our last two pitcher IL moves came after guys threw a whole bunch and we needed a fresh arm. I'm a little torn on this (assuming it's roster manipulation--it certainly could be a coincidence). On the one hand, these guys get paid, and the Brewers get a fresh arm who also gets paid, so maybe it's a victim-less crime. On the other, it's a little uncomfortable to use the IL for roster management purposes. At the end of the day, I'm not sure there's anything the league can do about it, so maybe it's best to leave it at that. The principle is weird, but maybe there isn't much of a practical downside. Be curious to hear others' thoughts, as I genuinely don't have a firm opinion. I think I've talked myself into it mostly being fine...

Nope. Also, not what I said. You're allowed to have any opinion you want. But, at some point, every appearance by these guys can't be a referendum on the trade. It's done. Your disagreement is philosophical and may or may not end up bearing out. You've stated your position, and weaponizing it every time results from Romero and May go a certain way isn't all that useful, and I say that as someone who completely understands disliking the trade. It's just not something worth litigating until we have enough information to actually litigate it. It's sort of like trading stock in an up-and-coming burger restaurant for stock in a mid-tier, established chain restaurant. Evaluating your trade every time the chain moves up or down is kind of a silly way to do business. Once we end the season, we'll at least know the Romero/May half, and, at that point, we can check in. Until then, it just seems kind of silly to constantly scratch the itch. It's a lot of energy to expend on a range of outcomes that will, most likely, fall into the category of "meh" (and, again, if it doesn't, by all means, let's talk then!).

Straw man. I'm not saying Made is expendable. I'm saying you can't argue this was a bad trade because nothing has proven the talking heads wrong. You don't like it. We get it. But shouting out your disagreement with the philosophy on repeat is just continually stating the same position. Nothing that happens in these next five weeks is really going to tell us much about whether it worked or not.

We're also....years from anything happening to prove them right.

Frustrating loss, but, as usual, this thread is chock full of overreactions. Pitching staff gave up a bunch of runs in Cincy. That's...never shocking or weird. Hamilton had an awful game. Bo Naylor started. Uribe's coming in to get 1 out after not having pitched in three days. This is not good, but it's all stuff that happens in a baseball season, especially when you're coming to the back end of a stretch of 16 games in 16 days, one of which was impacted by a rain delay and another of which your starting pitcher had to exit after 1 pitch. The end result of this is going to be that we go 3-4 during a tough week, lose a game or two on the Cubs (who trail 8-3 right now) and do the same with ATL (who also trail late) for the bye. We now enter a stretch where we get off days each week. Yes, we have a three-city road trip. But we also get to play the two worst teams in the division and a mediocre Orioles club while the Braves have the Dodgers, Cubs, Phillies, and Astros. We're about to win our fourth consecutive division title and very likely set up our pitching for a longer postseason series. Losing a series for the first time in a while, while getting good information about who should play in the postseason, is exactly what should be happening.

The whole idea is we won't know if it worked until October. I thought May was pitching very well pre-rain delay. He's shown flashes. Harrison looks like he's really struggling with confidence and location. Team needs a reset button. A comeback win here or a series victory over the Cubs headed into the off day would suffice.

Like the idea of trying to get Anderson through the 7th here. He's been good. Even if the offense doesn't come back, we should be in good shape headed into the Cubs series.

At the very least, I think an opener next time would be in order. Maybe a tandem start with somebody. Guy obviously needs a change, but I think it also depends on the stakes. Might be worth giving him a start at home if we win the Cubs series or are playing generally low-stakes games (I know people will talk about the bye, and there's something to that too, so it kind of depends on how the next week shakes out).

Reds playing the defense Hamilton hasn't today. Two nice plays there.

If we get out of here with a Cubs and Braves loss, I'll consider that a win. And I don't think 9 is going to be enough today. Brewers tend to play these kinds of games in Cincy. Never felt comfy with even a 5-run lead there.

It's one thing if guys hit. The lack of strike-throwing is really a problem for Senzatela here. Haven't put up a zero all day. Very poor pitching. But still a long game here, and I think it really might take 12 or 14 to win it.

Definitely has the feel of a GAB, 14-12 special.

Just a lot of little things during that two-pitch sequence costing the Brewers at least a run and possibly 2. Going to have to hit today.

Oof. Naylor really needs to challenge that. And Hamilton can't throw home. Yikes.

Little bit of an important game today. Reds have been better lately, but the Brewers got some favorable pitching matchups. Rain delay yesterday hurt them. No excuses, but certainly bad luck. They'll miss Imanaga (who I know they've hit, but he's a good pitcher) and Holmes during the Cubs series, and get to counter with Mis and Henderson, so it'd be a disappointment not to win the series, despite only really needing one. Hard to know what to make of this series given that the Reds have been better lately, and the Brewers are coming to the back end of a tough stretch of travel and consecutive games without an off day. Obviously just feels a lot better to go 4-3 than 3-4 during a really big week. Long way to go.

Great Bauers AB, followed by a terrible base running error. Mitchell's a fast lefty who strikes out a ton, so the advantage of avoiding the double play is about as low as it could possibly be. Plus, hitter-friendly ballpark. Just a bad, bad situation.