Cool Hand Lucroy

I totally would have taken one win had you offered it to me on Thursday morning, so I'm not totally surprised we got swept. I'm pretty bummed at how ugly these last two games were, though. Anyone can see the pitching is alarmingly thin, even recognizing that the Yankees can both really mash and are really hot. I seem to recall them hammering us in the last two games of a series last year too, so maybe it's some bad-matchup stuff too. We didn't look very ready offensively this series either, but that's not necessarily a sign of concern yet. I just also think this year feels weird to me. I was super optimistic last year, even though a lot of folks seemed to think it was a transition year. This year feels very transitional to me, trying to figure out who the pitchers are and losing Adames on the position player side. It just feels like a Brewers team that's going to have to gel in the summer months rather than right out of the chute. There needs to be a real veteran leader figuring things out, and I'm not sure who that will be with Woody sidelined, Yelich coming off surgery, Hoskins on the downswing of his career, and Jackson still really young. It should be Contreras, but he just doesn't seem like that type of leader to me (Yeli either, for that matter). Woody is that guy, so maybe his rehab helps things and some of the young OFs grow into themselves. Will help to get Perkins back too.

I guess Freddy looked good? Seriously, though, we needed that one on Thursday. And probably deserved it. But that's baseball. We need pitching reinforcements. We get through this next week or two okay, I'll feel pretty good. Still think we just need to be within a game or two of .500 end of April. At that point, we'll have a lot of the tough travel out of the way.

Payamps not being able to get outs is really frightening.

Alright, time to flush this series. Let's get home and put together a 5-2 week.

There was a time when the umpires could have cared enough to make a good argument for rejecting ABS. They failed pretty miserably at that. I prefer a challenge system. But it isn't just bad calls. It is utterly inconsistent ones. Today it is like dude is flipping a coin.

Come on, blue. He's not god. He's Aaron Judge. And then he blows strike one to Chisholm. Just not much going right this series.

And, hey, Bauers heard me!

What do we have so far this series? 2 HR? In that ballpark? That's not enough in today's game.

This series is a disaster. It doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, but still frustrating. Honestly, the Yankees are going to club a lot of people. But between our pitching being a mess and the offense really struggling to get runs on the board without help (Devin's walks Thursday, the errors in the second yesterday), it's hard to see a lot to be happy with. I think we'll turn it around this coming week. And, hey, we swept the Mets to start last year, and they ended up having a nice little playoff run.

I mean, this pitching situation is...not good. Someone's going to have to throw multiple innings out of the pen. I get "not letting Judge beat you," but, like, the dude strikes out a lot. Maybe avoid throwing a grooved fastball?

Yeah, and some of it is just having 16 extremely well-founded schools in a talent-rich area. You outspend people like this, you're just going to hit on a year like this one.

Texas Tech had that game. Wow. First, Clayton is just an assassin. Hit two huge threes to take a six-point lead to nothing while Tech was missing front ends. A couple of uncharacteristically bad defensive possessions from Tech too. It just looked like they saw that 9 point lead shrink to 3 in a blink and couldn't regroup. Florida got a VERY friendly whistle, I thought. Obviously there's the free throw differential, but they were getting some calls on jump shots and on drives that Tech could not sniff on the other end. Good game. I am rooting for the Houston/TN winner (like both those teams a lot), the Auburn/MSU winner (appreciate that Izzo's done it his way, and have always appreciated Pearl's personality), and, somehow, Duke. I actually like Duke's players. I can't believe it, but it's true. Basically, I am anti-Florida and Alabama. Anyone else, okay, tournament gods?

Noticed that too. Negativity sells, but, mainly, weekday afternoon versus weekend afternoon probably has more to do with it 😁.

Really good info! I was thinking we were sort of due for a bad start. This team feels like one that is going to need some coming together (Yelich returning, adjusting to Adames being gone, all the injuries on the pitching side). I also think we've been spoiled with really really good starts lately. The early schedule is difficult, too, opening in NY, and then getting a home week before traveling out west. All in all, I'm going to feel fantastic if we are at .500 end of April. I'm giving this year's team much more leash than in years past, especially because I think the NL is going to be a logjam all year, at least after the Dodgers.

Some positives: We only play the Yankees one more time this year. I would've definitely taken 1 win in this series. Still time for that. We scored some runs against a lefty starter today (albeit with the help of some shoddy defense). Still feels like spring training somehow. I expect we'll turn it around once back home. Better ABs today. We're going to figure it out. Probably tomorrow.

Yeah, Alabama was going to have a game where they made 15 threes, and they would have beaten anyone. Never thought they'd hit 22, though.

It's crazy for BYU to only be down 11 after Bama outscored them by 30+ from three. Whoa. Maryland missed a chance to have a little mini-run but goes into half down 2 and taking every Florida punch. Everyone talks about Queen, but this game will come down to Gillespie, I think.

I thought Turang should have held off 3-1, but what are you gonna do there? That's the fastball you're looking for, not that far off from the zone. I get being a little overzealous and trying to do damage. Chuorio tipped his cap to Devin on K number 5, as he should have. Just a filthy change-up and it was a strike. Nothing you can do. Devin was early-season Devin. Fought it, found the change, and escaped. Hard to think he's available Saturday after nearly 40 pitches, at least. Generally speaking, that felt like a typical early season game. Yankees got all the breaks (really probably should have only had 1-2 runs), and we struggled to get the big hit. Good fight in the ninth. Good battle from the bullpen.

And a poor throw from Chuorio. I've seen better Opening Days, but I have also seen a lot worse (2015 is seared into my brain because the Badgers lost to Duke in the national title game the same day).

Not getting the breaks today. All three Yankees runs lucky.

All in all, glad baseball is back. Glad we get cheap HRs, weird check swing calls, and a home plate ump with little clue. It's like we never left!! Seriously happy for Capra. That was crushed.

We are the worst team in baseball at scoring a runner from third with less than two outs. I know this to be true.

I was more optimistic than most last year. The injuries have me concerned so far this year. I would take 90 and run. I think 85 is more realistic. But, hey, let's play and see how it goes.

Gophs hiring Medved, Iowa gets McCollum. The neighbors made good hires. I like that, honestly. Makes things more fun and competitive.

One question I have in the wake of this Badger season is: Going forward, is this about where the expectations for the Badgers should be? Does losing a really good regular season, a B1G tournament title game appearance, an NCAAT win, and a close, round of 32 game loss against a team that was probably a little bit underseeded constitute success? I would say: yes. I'm curious what others think. Bo had the two FFs and hit S16s and E8s a few times before. Gard has the two S16s since. We're now pushing a decade without a S16, so I understand wanting a little more. On the other hand, the landscape has changed so much, and I think being at this level is about where we want to be. As long as Gard keeps this up, I could see another 10-12 years of this kind of situation, and I would take that. He's still only 54. Even 5 or 6 years (coaches age more quickly in the NIL era) is great with me, hopefully with a graceful exit and transfer to the next dude. All to say, I think this program is in a good spot. I'm also a little worried the ceiling isn't as high as it once was. Marquette certainly seems to have a higher ceiling in some ways. I think the BEast was down this year, but Pitino, Shaka, Cooley at Georgetown, even Holtman looking to turn around DePaul, Nova getting a needed new coaching hire, and that's not even mentioning "the best ***** coach in the sport" (he ain't wrong), I think that league is on a rocket for the next couple years. We'll see what comes, but definitely curious what the smarter-than-me, more behind-the-scenes Badger followers on this board think.