Ron Robinsons Beard

Wouldn't be a Brewer game without Hiura chasing pitches out of the zone

It feels like Yardley has the emptiest 1.7 ERA in baseball history. It feels like he is primed to give up 5 runs whenever he's in the game, but he seemingly never does.

Burnes isn't throwing his fastball tonight. Something is definitely wrong. Ugh.

Not Burnes' night tonight. Bummer.

Wow. Yes. The Fowler AB is exactly a Yo start. 0-2 goes full then loses him. Yep ... fly ball on the first pitch of the inning, then loses the next guy after getting up 0-2. Gallardo was so known for that. Going back further, that was a Ricky Bones habit as well.

I don't think Taylor is ever going to be a star, but I think he can be a useful #4 OF for sure. He's had some very solid ABs this year. Also solid defensively.

Heard that Keon Braxton moved into a hotel in Milwaukee, so I assume he is also part of the taxi squad, or at least in the list of 40 players who can be activated for the playoffs.

It really too bad the Brewers couldn't have found a way to take a few more of those close games this year, because the Cubs are once again crawling to the finish line. Dropped two of three to the Twins last weekend, and have dropped two straight to the Pirates, and are down once again 3-0 in their day game today. They have a tough series set for this weekend against the White Sox, too.

Yelich is at 32% whiff rate this year too. W/o both those guys, the offense is horrible. With them the offense is still various synonyms of horrible.

Your conspiracy theories don't even make sense. Do you think Fauci, Birx, Redfield etc. would hesitate to throw Trump under the bus if they believed the truth was being suppressed? There's been nothing but leaks the last four years on everything, yet somehow this conspiracy is all being kept private. Your first example has already been proven false. Admiral MacKenzie already explained original guidance was asymptomatic people didn't need tobe tested IF they self quarantine. Which is still true, but message was changed because people were ignoring that 2nd part. When you keep saying "from the top" I agree with you, but it's the top of the CDC, top of the task force, etc. If Trump, Pence whoever was pulling strings it would be on the Washington Post's website in 2 minutes. Yes, I do and I think it's clear they have to tip toe around him. But sure OK if you say so. The guy publicly disagrees and undermines them pretty much on a daily basis and is their boss. Literal headlines news about him downplaying it. Seems pretty straightforward to me. But yea, it's probably made up. The sources are either lying, or the all the media citing them are just making it up. Classic fake news. The beacon of truth is the reality tv star who's been a crook his whole life and is caught blatantly lying every day. That's another thing that bothers me about this whole situation. Any news that comes out that doesn't jive with what the current administration is saying is "fake news" put out by a "biased media". I totally get that there is some media bias out there. But the discrediting of all media that releases anything that can be construed as negative is a travesty. But this conversation is steering political, so let's bring it back to COVID. It IS a big deal, it IS serious, and this country has failed in controlling it in a gargantuan way.

Effective herd immunity likely means at least a 70% infection rate. Even at a very conservative 1% mortality rate, that is 2.3 million more dead people. I think for this disease it's less than that but I'm not advocating for herd immunity by any stretch. Just feels like it's never going to go away given the response. It's hard to pinpoint what the actual mortality rate is, as as soon as a number is released, the people who don't like seeing that high of a number call it "fake news" or say that it doesn't count because some of those people had underlying health conditions. That's another idea that bothers me, though, too. I've been a Type 1 Diabetic for 27 years. Because of that, I am at a higher risk of complications should I contract COVID. However, my diabetes is highly controlled, and does not stop me from living a normal life. It's a minor inconvenience more than anything. If I were to contract COVID and succumb to it, there would be a large group of people arguing that I should not be counted as a COVID death because I'm a diabetic, when in reality, diabetes wasn't going to kill me anytime soon. What a mess.

Effective herd immunity likely means at least a 70% infection rate. Even at a very conservative 1% mortality rate, that is 2.3 million more dead people.

I noted this trend earlier today. It's creeping into the rural areas (maybe more than creeping). Small hospitals are filling up, pushing people to places with open beds. My wife (a healthcare exec) said the models are not good. Let's hope the models are wrong. They have been before, but that was when data was so limited. Case in point as to why an attempt at "herd immunity" would have catastrophically tragic consequences.

Fortunately for the Brewers, every other team they are fighting has a tough matchup this weekend against a very good team that is arguably better than they are. The Reds' top 3 pitchers did a solid job shutting down the Brewers lineup, but it's a whole other story trying to shut down the Twins thumpers. The Twins are also in a major battle in the AL Central against the White Sox, who face the scuffling Cubs. Marlins and Phillies will have their hands full with the Yankees and Rays. Giants face a terrific Padres team. When you really look at it, the Brewers have may have the best matchup against a mediocre and worn out Cardinals club.

I think it's extremely unlikely, but I envision the scenario where we take 3 then have to sit around Monday watching St. Louis beat Detroit in a double header to eliminate us. That seems the most Fate of a Brewers Fan of outcomes. I think if they win 3 of 5, they are likely in at least in one of the Wild Card spots. All the other teams they are battling for those final few spots have very tough matchups this weekend. Winning 4 gets them a spot for sure, though. It sure appears like the Cardinals are gassed, too.

The Cubs crapping the bed in the final week of the season is a little fun to watch. Dropped another one to the lowly Pirates tonight. If they lose again tomorrow, and get swept this weekend by a very hungry White Sox team with a lot to play for, the Reds, Cardinals or Brewers could still theoretically catch them record-wise. Not sure what the tie-breakers are, but that would be crazy.

Yes! We need to go get that hitting coach we had last year when Hiura was great! Devil's advocate -- most of Hiura's instruction last year likely came from Missions hitting coach Al LaBeouf, who has been in that position for quite a few years now. Don't know what if anything that Haines changed with him when he came up, but not likely anything. Something went wrong between the end of last season and this season for sure. I don't know if Haines is at fault but it's incredibly frustrating seeing a hitter like Hiura continue to struggle this badly with no end in sight. You'd have to think that whatever is going on with him is correctable. He's far too talented of a hitter to be this bad for this long. Wouldn't it be pretty likely that they would have the same hitting philosophies up and down the organization, though? I'm sure LaBeouf and the other hitting coaches in the minors take a lot of their direction from Haines and the big club, especially with a blue chip fast-riser like Hiura.

Yes! We need to go get that hitting coach we had last year when Hiura was great! Haines has no responsibility for anyone in this lineup. Yelich, Hiura, and Narvaez all being terrible has nothing do with the hitting coach. Not only should we keep Haines but he should probably get a raise for the fine work he has done with Hiura. I understand that argument, although I still believe that the role of the hitting coach is greatly overrated by many in a team's fanbase. My post was more to poke fun at the ridiculous notion that Haines needs to go this year because Hiura is terrible, when he was "great" last year, under the same exact hitting coach. If you are going to present a solid reason to change hitting coaches, that ain't it.

Yes! We need to go get that hitting coach we had last year when Hiura was great!

Yelich is 6 strikeouts behind Hiura and is hitting 210. And we just backed up the truck to pay him for the next 10 years. That is pretty damn depressing. I think both suck pretty equally. It is really a miracle that this team is in playoff contention with their top two prospective bats looking like Chris Davis.

Assuming the Royals can hang on tonight, it's time to be huge Twins fans! Heck, let's be Pirate fans for the next couple days, and White Sox fans this weekend too. I know the Cubs likely have the division wrapped up, but I want their fanbase to suffer for as long as possible. Also, go Padres this weekend! And Rays!

Well, at least Hiura made contact. Baby steps ...

Well, at least Hiura made contact. Baby steps ...

Oh man ... I get what you are saying, but Bauer is probably looking at $35-$40 million + if he does this one-year deal thing that he's talked about.

I would say likely. If he wins the final start. If he shuts down that Twins lineup, it would be deserved.