BruisedCrew

Renfroe's HR came just as I was moving to the basement TV to watch during the severe storm warning. Now need a shutdown inning and some add on runs.

If a team want to save wear on their starters against the Brewers maybe they should just intentionally walk the leadoff hitter and count on getting the DP from the next one.

538 had the Brewers winning chance at 67%, which would be 2:1. Even that’s pretty high for an MLB game.

Of course you wouldn’t. I’m not sure exactly where I would draw the line between “rough” and “substandard”. I was referring mainly to the start of the start where he labored through the first few innings, threw a ton of pitches, and guaranteed a short start. 100 pitches in 5 innings is not what a team needs from its ace starter. With virtually everyone in the bullpen used last night the Brewers need more than that from Woodruff tonight. Maybe the quicker second inning will get him back on track.

Woodruff matching Burnes’ rough start from last night.

If an easy win is one that doesn't involve going to any of the top relievers to finish out the game to earn a save, or to preserve ties, those are very rare for the Brewers. I made the point in a game thread last week that the Brewers have fewer wins (by a significant amount) that didn't require a save than any of the other NL playoff contenders. The main reason for this is that the Brewers offense doesn't produce enough runs often enough to allow games to be finished out without a save. The Brewers model of hoping to squeeze out enough runs in the first 6 innings to create a small lead and then counting on the bullpen to hold that lead cannot be sustained for a whole season. To win 90-95 games a team has to win some games by building up a 4 or 5 run lead (or larger) and taking that lead to the end of the game without going to the back end of the bullpen. The Brewers have not been able to do that often enough. Just look at the scores after 6 innings in the 15 games the Brewers have played since the 19 run outburst in Pittsburgh (their most recent easy win): 2-7, 2-0, 0-1, 2-8, 1-0, 3-2, 3-0, 4-5, 6-2, 1-1, 2-2, 5-2, 0-1, 1-9, 3-3 In those 15 games, the Brewers have scored just 55 runs (3.67 per game) while going 6-9 against teams and pitchers that generally aren't the best in the league. But only 35 of those runs have come in the first 6 innings of games, and only once have they had a lead of over 3 runs going into the final innings. A lot of the runs coming after the 6th inning have come in extra innings (with the aid of a free runner) or as consolation runs in the games in which they were way behind. That kind of offense forces the starters to be near perfect to keep the team in the game and a near perfect effort from the bullpen to pull out wins.

I agree about getting down to 2 catchers but they don’t seem to be inclined to do that right now. The only way it makes sense is if they are trying to include Severino in a trade to some team that has no playoff aspirations. If they activate McGee and Hiura today Sadzeck seems like a logical choice for demotion.

With the shuttling of pitchers on the active roster these days it’s easy to lose track of who’s on it, so I was wondering who would be dropped to make room for McGee. I forgot that Sadzeck was still around; he would be the obvious candidate.

Bed time. Good to pull out an ugly win.

I’m old enough to remember when the Milwaukee Braves won the World Series and, because my Dad was from New York and rooted for the Yankees, we also rooted for the Yankees when we were kids and were happy when they won the World Series in the Mickey Mantle days. Since then it’s been a 60 year dry spell.

This is pathetic. Since the 19 run game in Pittsburgh the Brewers have scored 54 runs in 15 games, and if you take into account how many of those runs have come in extra innings with a built in advantage, or late in lopsided losses, that looks even sadder.

I thought the SF series would be the last games lasting until midnight for awhile.

The only way I can reconcile that call at third is if they couldn’t say for certain that Urias didn’t brush the runner’s hand as he tried to tag him in the chest.

Some of us are old enough to remember when a team had to be better than top third in baseball to be a playoff contender. Some of the Brewer teams in the Molitor/Yount era won over 90 games when half of the teams in MLB weren’t tanking and didn’t come close to making the postseason. Lowering the standards for entry doesn’t make the last teams in any better. “Bad” is the wrong word but “mediocre” certainly fits. And the fact that they are in first place by a half game despite playing under .500 ball for the last two months doesn’t make them better.

On to the 11th and past the 4 hour mark.

In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king. It is good to see that the break didn’t affect the Brewers momentum.

Hader pitched to the bottom of the order now Gustave gets the heart.

That was on a fly ball to CF by Tapia that the CF never saw. He stood with his arms out, then came in a few steps, and the ball hit off the wall behind him. By the time the LF retrieved the ball they had no play.

I blinked.

No way he’s getting to the sixth. He’s going to be over 100 pitches just to get through 5.

In other news, the Blue Jays lead the Red Sox 22-3 in the 5th inning.

More payback from the right field porch.

I think everyone was comatose from the glacial pace of the first 3 innings.

Remember the complaints about the short right field fence in the Pirates series? There’s a little payback.

Burnes has been off from the beginning. Getting to 70 pitches and isn’t out of the third inning yet. Not able to put hitters away. This might be one of the risks of giving a pitcher over a week in between starts. He might be rested but not sharp after getting out of the routine.