BruisedCrew

Big if. Have to keep the ball in the park, especially against Schwarber and Harper.

So, with the Phillies loss to the Braves the Brewers made it through the weekend holding even with the Cubs and Phillies and gaining a game on the Dodgers. A series win over the Phillies would be huge.

Local Boy Drake Baldwin trying to help the Brewers. Now it’s up to the Braves shaky bullpen.

Hard to know what will happen in a couple of weeks. They might shut him down for the season by then.

The MLB app shows Skenes as the scheduled starter for the Pirates against the Dodgers on Thursday. If he makes that start (which would make sense as he pitched on Friday) the Brewers will miss him next weekend. That wouldn’t upset me. Even though the Brewers have had success against him I’’d rather take my chances against someone else.

On the subject of the roster expansion I assume Hoskins will be the position player tomorrow. (Ah, Rockies walk,off Cubs as I write this). But when Ortiz is ready I hope we’ve seen the last of Siegler for this year. I would rather see Bauers because at least he has some pop, and is better defensively than Vaughn or Hoskins. Siegler might have some some skills the Brewers like, but he hasn’t shown enough to warrant a roster spot when results are all that counts. I would have been happy if the Brewers could have landed Santana instead of the Cubs. They really need a left handed hitting pinch hitter for September and October. Even Black would be better than Siegler.

Shocker.

Had a family event today so couldn’t watch the game and just followed scores. After looking at the play by play summary on the MLB app, and seeing the video of some of the plays, I’m glad I didn’t watch it. The mistakes and blown chances would have made me crazy. If the Rockies can hold their lead (not betting on it) it would be a good weekend.

As compared to the US?

Don Sutton Still a lot of pictures of obscure players without labels. But how could you go past 21 without a picture of the architect of possibly the biggest clutch SP performance in Brewers history? You could use him for 20 too because he switched to that after Gorman Thomas was traded.

What’s the contest?

His wild throw on a routine ground ball opened the door for the Giants in a 1-0 game last Saturday.. I’ll be glad to see Ortiz back with Monasterio in the utility infield role.

Looks like they are going to see how Chourio looks and feels in pregame warmups before making a decision. If he can't show that he can run at full speed without hesitation there is no point activating him.

He will probably be back. I think the Nashville shuttle will be busy in September

I chose 2008 for the comparison over 2014 because I think the setup to the home stretch is more similar. In 2014 the Brewers had a good start and led the division by as much as 6.5 games in early July.. But they lost 11 of 12 just before the All Star break to surrender that lead. They recovered for about a month to hold on to a small lead that did reach 3 games on August 17 Then they lost 8 of 10 to end the month to fall back into a tie heading into September. (Obviously the teams chasing them were not exactly tearing it up.)' Starting September, though they were tied for first place, they looked like a team in free fall. Then they lost 8 of their first 9 in September to fall 6 games back, and it was all over. Going 9-16 in July and 13-14 in August didn't carry the mark of a champion. so, the 9-17 September was not that shocking. They finished losing 25 of their last 36. In 2008, though, after a slow start, the Brewers had pulled to about 10 games over .500 when they made the Sabbathia trade just before the All Star break. After the break they reeled off 8 wins to tie the Cubs for first place. The four day massacre by the Cubs at Miller Park put a damper on hopes to win the division, so attention turned to the wild card race. In August, the Brewers went 21-7 and though they couldn't gain ground on the Cubs, they went into September with a record of 80-56, second best in the NL, and 4.5 games ahead of the Mets and 5.5 games ahead of the Phillies. They only had to finish ahead of one of those teams for the one and only wild card spot because one of them would win the east. The Brewers position looked strong and I don't think anyone anticipated what was coming next. The Brewers started the month getting swept by the Mets in a series at Miller Park. The next weekend they went into a 4 game series in Philadelphia still leading the Mets by .5 game, and the Phillies and charging Astros by 3.5 games. After a 4 game massacre in that series that led to the panic firing of Ned Yost the Brewers were tied with the Philles and 1 game behind the Mets. They responded to the Yost firing by losing 4 of the next 5 and found themselves 2.5 games behind the fading Mets, who had surrendered the division lead to the Phillies. We all know the ending. The Brewers won 6 of their last 7, including a 3 game home sweep over the last place Pirates, and 2 of 3 over the Cubs, who were resting players to get ready for the playoffs. to take the wild card from the Mets, who lost 5 of their last 8. Anyway, the lesson from this is that a team that looks great in August can suddenly and unpredictably fall flat, I'm not predicting that the same thing will happen this year, but a long stretch of losing always begins with a short stretch of losing. It's important to keep that short stretch from mushrooming. At least this year, with the expansion of the number of wild card teams, a spot in the playoffs is everything but mathematically guaranteed. But nobody wants to see the team limping into the playoffs like in 2008.

These next two series could go a long way toward showing us whether the Brewers recent 5-8 stretch is just an inevitable blip after an unsustainable hot streak or the start of a September swoon like the one suffered by the 2008 Brewers. A 10-17 finish like that would definitely put the division title at risk.

I’ll never forget the Braves game I attended as a 9 year old in 1961 when Willie Mays hit 4 home runs. He was in the on deck circle when the Giants made their final out in the ninth. Hank Aaron also hit 2 HR in that game, a 14-4 Giants win. The Giants hit 8 HR altogether.

I can see the value of getting on base to set up Contreras, but Durbin has had several extra base hits the last few days that could drive in runs directly instead of passing the baton. Don‘’t like it.

Ugh. 2 out bunt.

He should still be able to throw underhanded.

One big difference is that SP now often come out throwing all out in the first inning instead of “pitching” with some sense of pacing themselves through a game. Throwing 100 MPH and mixing in breaking balls with extreme “spin rates” puts a lot more stress on a human arm.

That error really opened the door. Does this mean the DBacks will answer with 6?

That feels like the knockout blow.

Maybe the Brewers can fall behind 10-2 then pull,off a comeback like the one they had against the DBacks last September. It’s looking like that’s what it will take. I feel like I’m being punished for some positive thoughts I had about Quintana in the first inning because he was really hitting or just missing the edges. That sure didn’t last.

While the Brewers are going to add more stress to their bullpen trying to struggle through nine innings today, the Blue Jays are sitting home with their feet up getting ready to welcome the Brewers with Bieber, Gausman, and Scherzer.