BruisedCrew

I think that a lot of the criticism of Hamilton’s bunting is not second guessing, when he goes to it in situations where the value is minimal. Like on Sunday when he tried to bunt with runners on second and third with 2 outs and still tried to bunt with 2 strikes. Last night I was hoping for Black to pinch hit and Hamilton ended up wasting two strikes showing bunt before striking out. Down by 4 runs I don’t like trying to nurse one run across with multiple runners on base. Depending on the placement, even a bunt that he can beat out doesn’t guarantee getting a run in. Trying to bunt for a hit with a runner on first and less than 2 out in a close game doesn’t bother me because at least an out can advance a runner. But I don’t like bunting with runners in scoring position and two outs. especially when down by multiple runs, I think that some of the situations when Hamilton tries to bunt show that he doesn’t have confidence in his own ability to hit.

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

You alluded to my biggest objection to umpires calling balls and strikes. That is the potential for calls being influenced by the game situation and the players involved. I don’t see all ABS unless and until the result can be delivered instantaneously. Even a delay of a couple of seconds could add 5-10 minutes to the length of a game and I don’t want that.

The Brewers completed the relatively soft part of a difficult stretch of 6 weeks outscoring their opponents 66-40. Unfortunately, 38 of those 66 runs came in 3 games, and 28 runs in the other 9 games was only enough to produce 3 wins. Now the schedule gets really tough with 6 of the next 7 series against teams that are all at least 6 games over .500.

Chourio will most likely not be back tomorrow now until they see how his ankle recovers from the shot it took last night. I did not realize until they said it on the telecast today that the Brewers only have 3 HRs in road games.

In the gap and hitting the wall on the fly is hard to catch.

I’ve seen enough of Hamilton’s defensive gaffes and inclination to bunt in any and all situations to conclude that I don’t want to see him as an everyday SS.. A player who tries to bunt with 2 strikes and 2 outs with 2 RISP obviously has no confidence in himself as a hitter.

The same thing could happen in his first game in MLB too, so I’m not bothered that he was playing tonight. But if his return has to be delayed because of that it’s going to be extremely annoying.

More immediately you should hope that the Cardinals, especially Jordan Walker, cool off before the Brewers play them next week.

Just saw the clip of Chourio fouling a ball off his foot and hobbling off the field on one leg. Given how this season has gone with injuries I should probably expect to hear tomorrow that he broke a bone in his foot and will be out another 4-6 weeks.

Why should a pitch in the strike zone not be called a strike just because the pitch misses the catcher’s target? I don’t think there is any question that umpires should be trying to call pitches based on the rule book strike zone as established by ABS.

I just don’t want to hear that anyone had a setback I saw something today about Wyatt Langford of the Rangers. He went out on rehab and was expected to be activated in the next couple of days after a strained forearm muscle.. In his first AB on rehab, he aggravated the injury and said it felt just like it did when he first hurt it. So, he’s going to be resting for another week and then be reevaluated.

Have there been any more updates on Chourio and Vaughn in Nashville. I haven’t heard anything since their first game on Wednesday.

The Sunday lineups have been helped by Yelich and then Sanchez coming off the bench to hit 3 run HRs.

🤞🏻On Misioroski.

Obviously the bullpen hasn’t been great. But applying a rate developed over 486 games and expecting it to be repeated in a stretch of 30 games, especially early in the season with short starts and the use of “openers”, seems to warrant a “small sample size” alert. I also looked at those 8 games and 2 of the 8 “bullpen” losses were charged to Sproat and Patrick when they replaced openers. In the other 6, it looks like only 3 of the games included blown saves. Those are situations when the relievers give up winning runs in tied games. I also note that the number of runs scored by the Brewers in the 8 games in which the bullpen was charged with losses are: 2, 2, 6, 7, 5, 3, 3, 2. If the Brewers had a perfect bullpen they would have a couple more wins, but when you score 2 or 3 runs you’re going to lose more than you win.

The thing that really has to stop is challenging calls in non critical situations. When you’re ahead 6-1 it doesn’t really matter if a batter is facing a 1-2 count or a 2-1 count. You might really need that challenge later in the game when the opponent has a couple of men on base.

It’s a subjective term, but I think the offense has been generally scuffling. Sure, it’s been feast or famine, but a feast wins one game and several games of famine to go with them will usually produce a losing record. The fact that the Brewers Pythagorean projection is 19-11, 3 games better than their actual record, is a reflection of those “feast” games. My comment about scuffling is focused on the more recent games. In the 20 games since the 8-2 start the Brewers have scored 92 runs, a healthy average of 4.6 per game. But, 38 of those runs have come in 3 games. In the other 17 they scored 54 runs, a not so healthy 3.2 runs per game. Not surprisingly they went 5-12 in those 17 games. Another way to look at it is that in the 4 games in which the Brewers scored in double figures their run differential is +43. In the other 26 games it is -5. If you take away their 4 most lopsided defeats, those are only by 6, 6, 5, and 4 runs (-21). The biggest wins have a much bigger impact than the most lopsided losses. I guess we could quibble about whether the Brewers offense has been “generally scuffling” but the fact that the 4 double digit games have an oversized impact on both the run differential and the runs scored per game seems undeniable. What you’re calling “feast or famine” I am calling “generally scuffling with an occasional explosion.” Also, my comment should be taken as purely backward looking. Of course I know about the injuries, and hope that the return of Chourio and Vaughn, and then Yelich can help reduce the “famine” part of the offense.

Tough month of games. Hopefully Chourio and Vaughn can hit the ground running to give a boost to the offense and the SP and bullpen can hold up against some tough lineups. I say 12-15.

Shows how misleading run differential can be, especially early in the season, when a generally scuffling,offense has an unusual number of double digit outbursts.

I think the Brewers need to adopt a green light systen for batters using challenges. Early in the game with no base runners on the red light should be on all the time. In too many of these situations, there’s not that much to be gained by changing that one pitch

Has he always had that back leg uppercut? I don’t remember it being that extreme when he first came up. That’s especially bad for someone who would have a better chance of success as a slap hitter.

They could have put more pitches on Kelly if Black hadn’t offered at that 3-2 pitch that was about an inch off the ground. That would have loaded the bases for Bauers. So, instead of Bauers at the plate with the bases loaded and one out, they got Lockridge with 2 outs.

Part of that reflects my comment about other holes in the batting order.. The Brewers haven’t been getting enough base runners to turn the order around more than 3 times.

Ortiz has undeniably been terrible at the plate. But, having him at number 9 in the order might be more acceptable if there weren’t so many other holes in the batting order. I’m less upset about Ortiz than I am that the Brewers did nothing to fill holes at 3B and the outfield corners, which are usually manned by more productive hitters who can provide some power.