BruisedCrew

I think the Demons of the Weekend 10 Pack misread the schedule and thought we were going today. This was the type of game we saw too often last year, though this one is going faster.

I don’t think it works that way. Teams set their rotations and as the season progresses with off days and rainouts, different days of rest, injuries, etc, the starts of the top starters are not in synch.

Before today's game starts I just want to celebrate my hope that the demons of the Weekend 10 Pack from last season have been exorcised. I have never enjoyed a Brewers-Cubs game more simply because the Cubs fans had virtually nothing to cheer about all night. One of the funniest moments of the night came in the first inning as the Cubs kicked and threw the ball around (I'm still not sure why Steele didn't get an error on Renfroe's squib) and the Brewers took advantage to score 3 runs. One of the people in the group of Cubs fans sitting right behind me said "The Cubs look like s**t". I had to think to myself "well, they are the Cubs".

Seems like you're going out of your way to pick an argument now. This was not a shot at the Brewers offense, but a follow up comment to one I made earlier this week about Schroeder referring to the Brewers offense being "inconsistent" when it had been pretty consistently unproductive. It's like when he says that a runner "doesn't run all that well" it really means that he's slower than the hills. When he says the offense has been "inconsistent" it really means they haven't been hitting a lick. This week they have really been feast or famine inconsistent. Our enjoyment of the game tomorrow may depend heavily on whether we have Cubs fans sitting on both sides of us who feel obligated to reach over us to high five each other whenever the Cubs do anything. That gets old in a hurry and is one of the reasons we usually sell our tickets to Cubs games.

I didn’t respond to your points because I didn’t see anything new and didn’t see any point in prolonging the discussion.

True, but the real comparison for me is what he does compared to what Garcia did last year because that’s the spot he is filling. Garcia is off to a very slow start this year. It’s pretty certain that he won’t be matching last years HR total playing half his games in that Marlins park.

Now I would say that this week the Brewers offense has been inconsistent: 1, 2, 12, 3, 3, 11. We’re going to go tomorrow night because our tickets weren’t selling on Stub Hub and I would rather go than take a loss on them. If the game is like most of the ones in the Weekend 10 pack last year the over under on Brewers runs scored will be about .5, especially considering that a LHP will be starting for the Cubs.

Do you think it is also tiring to constantly hear on here every time some other team gets shut out (or no hit) as if that has any relevance to the Brewers offense?

Milner doing his part to get Hader a save opportunity.

Just catching up with the game. The Brewers and Yelich must be back to stealing signs again. Hope they can get through this without using Hader.

I don't know of anyone who thinks the Brewers are the only team with offensive problems. As I said in a post on this thread a few days ago, offense is down all over, but the Brewers are well below the league average., Even after the 12 run outburst the other day, the Brewers are still 20th in MLB in runs scored per game. The fact that that game was surrounded by games of scoring 1,2,3, and 3 runs suggests that the 12 run outburst was an outlier, not a sign that the offense is coming around. Maybe some games in the relative warmth of AFF against the Cubs and Reds will bring the offense to life. As for the Red Sox, they are one of the teams seen as a playoff contender in the brutal AL East that has struggled offensively early in the season. After yesterday's shutout, the Bosox RPG of 3.60 puts them at 21st in MLB, just behind the Brewers. But, using yesterday's lineup and performance to illustrate anything is somewhat misleading. Facing Jays' ace Alex Manoah they fielded a vintage getaway day lineup, giving both Bogaerts (who was 4 for 4 the night before and has an OPS of .943) and JD Martinez who has the team's second best OPS of .826. Between having some established veteran hitters in the middle of the lineup and, like the Brewers, some other hitters who are having early struggles (including Story and Hernandez), I would bet that, as the season progresses, the Red Sox offense will be more productive than the Brewers. They probably feel like they can absorb Bradley's offense in order to have someone who can cover ground in the outfield. I would swap offenses with theirs in a second. Regardless, if I was rooting for a team that has won 4 World Series in the last 20 years, I would probably be more patient.

When offense is down all over, I agree that fans should lower their expectations for offense in an absolute sense. Expectations for things like individual BA, OPS, HR totals, and team runs scored totals should be lower. The same should also be true for absolute pitching stats like ERA, where numbers that would have been exceptional in some recent seasons will now be more common. But, in a relative sense, middle of the pack is still middle of the pack. In any given year there are likely to be almost half of the teams that are going to be non competitive, in many cases because they are actively rebuilding or borderline tanking. Being middle of the pack probably means close to the bottom of the pack of serious playoff contenders, several of which are likely to have both pitching and hitting close to the top of the pack.

Nice to see the Brewers navigate an inning by putting the ball in play instead of trying to rely on the long ball. I feel like this one balances off the Friday game against the Phillies with their succession of soft hits. Also good to see Williams come in and get the ball over the plate instead of working out of a self imposed jam.

Actually I think the Brewers are better off having Hader pitch one inning at a time. As it is they’ve needed him to finish off 10 of their 12 wins, a pace that cannot be maintained for the whole season. Multi inning appearances would inevitably mean that he would appear in fewer games, and I think the net result would be negative.

Good thing Renfroe wasn’t interested in accepting a lead off walk.

Bednar has been nasty when I’ve seen him.

Looks like Adames was still thinking about his failed AB when he took the field.

The lineup has been very consistent with one aberration.

I wish. Too bad Adames went up looking to tack on 4 runs with one swing instead of looking to tack on a couple by going with pitches on the outside part of the plate.

Looks like it’s going to be up to the bullpen to go 3 scoreless innings for the Brewers to win. Without Hader to finish that hasn’t been working well.

I thought that was what he was saying. That catchers who are good at framing will be “out of a job” (something of an exaggeration) because that skill wouldn’t have value.

I hope they don’t even consider using Hader today. He’s pitched 4 of the last 5 days and threw a lot of pitches and was not sharp yesterday. The Brewers have to be able to win at least 40-50 games this year without needing Hader to finish.Some days they’ll have to win with more offense and with other pitchers getting the final outs. Today has to be one of those days.

Or 1310.

Actually, the Brewers were in first place alone for about two weeks last season in late April and early May and reached a record of 17-10 before the slide that included the four game sweep by the Phillies dropped them below .500. They returned to first place in late June and stayed there the rest of the season.

Maybe they are planning for him to be the first reliever behind Ashby tomorrow.