Ron Robinsons Beard

I love Granderson's patience. He's not great by any means, but he brings a lot of nice intangibles to this team.

Which is good.........if we can score. It's good regardless. You want a Cubs team with something to play for to face the Cardinals next weekend.

Guerra's been nails out of the pen. I like this move.

Was still bringing it at 95. Just didn't have his command tonight. He'll be fine (I hope)

The tears of all the baseball purists upset at the Brewers bullpenning

Well Counsell said a few days ago that there were some great moments and some not so great moments in store this week. He was right.

Oh man ... nothing is ever easy. Nothing.

Almost like lefties help neutralize Carpenter!

You know, the overreacting goes both ways. I didn't see anything over the top. Questioning the moves in an important game seems prudent. I didn't see any sky is falling posts, though.

Saving the better hitters (and Thames) for later.

If you are doing a bullpen game, you do a bullpen game. Not a Freddy Peralta start disguised as a bullpen game because you tossed your disposable lefty in there for the first hitter. Counsell has had some great games playing matchups this year. This one was a miss though. If you're doing a bullpen game, you don't have to bring in a new guy every inning. And as of this posting, reliever #2 has gone 3 and 2/3rds allowing 1 run. At least put the pitchforks away until something worth crucifying the manager happens. I think the argument is, if you are going to let Carpenter beat you, why play games? Just start the guy that was slated to start, and has good numbers against the Cardinals. I know you can''t predict how Anderson would have done, but he's been solid the first couple times through the order for the most part. Now lets score some runs, and make all this arguing moot!

If you are doing a bullpen game, you do a bullpen game. Not a Freddy Peralta start disguised as a bullpen game because you tossed your disposable lefty in there for the first hitter. Counsell has had some great games playing matchups this year. This one was a miss though.

Having Peralta face Carpenter with a man on is not an acceptable deviation. Peralta is, putting it optimistically, not dependable at this point in his career. He may be someday, but his command just isn't what it needs to be to be a dependable option on a playoff club. He was pitching well, and I think Counsell got a little greedy. It happens.

Exactly. Also, if the plan is to start Peralta, start Peralta. If you are doing a bullpen game, do a bullpen game. It's like they can't decide what they want to do.

Yeah, I think he did. I don't think any part of that line of thought is accurate. If they didn't like what CC was doing they would just fire him and put someone in place who thinks like they do. Generally speaking, the front office has very little to do with game to game strategy. I probably should have phrased my original speculation differently. What I was getting at is that the idea of not starting Anderson tonight and rather going with a bullpen game likely originated with the front office/analytics staff and Counsell was on board. Over the past 10-20 years the role of a manager has evolved. With the advancement of analytics and scouting information the manager/front office have more info than ever before. When it comes to writing out the daily line up card and which relievers come into the game that's probably still completely in Counsell's control. Everything else is likely a collaborative effort. For example, Anothopolous was just on MLB network radio this afternoon and was asked who makes the decision for the playoff rotation and whether guys will go on short rest. He said that it's a group effort between the front office and coaching staff to make these decisions. He did say that if the manager is strongly against something they'll usually defer to the manager. My point is that the front office staff has their hands in a lot of these day to day type decisions. Such as short leashes for the starting pitchers, structured rest for Hader and Braun, starting rotation, etc. I get the feeling that Counsell is much more into analytics that you think. Also, I think the confusing part is that you keep using the term "front office". I guess in my mind, front office personnel focus on player acquisition exclusively. I think what you are describing would fall under Baseball Operations.

Just looked it up... "fared well" may not work well in this case... lol "I got a hunch he's due." - Lou Brown, Indians Manager

Why do you think this is the case. Do you know someone? LOL jinx again! I guess we both read that and did a double-take at the same time.

How did you come to this conclusion? I am trying to wrap my head around how/why the front office would be making game strategy decisions. That doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

That's exactly what I was thinking. Jennings has actually been very good in non-critical spots this year. He should be fine for an inning or two, and it eliminates the urge for Counsell to go to him with 2 runners on in the 7th in a 2-1 game.

Plenty of speculation mostly centered on Chase's propensity to give up early gopher balls, but they really haven't said for sure why they are going this route. I'm guessing Counsell sees this as a probable low-scoring game, and wants to play matchup and get an extra bat in the lineup. Both Guerra and Barnes have been terrific against the Cardinals, so it wouldn't surprise me to see either one of them get the nominal "start". Probably one inning for Barnes, and maybe 2 for Guerra if he's rolling, depending on when his spot comes up in the order.

2/3 is a must against the Cards imo. Sweeping them would of course be ideal, but that is never an easy task. I wouldn't say 2 of 3 is an absolute must, but it would be ideal to avoid the unenviable thought of cheering for the Cubs next weekend.

"I don't want your liefffe!" - Jon Moxon Fun fact: James Vanderbeek was originally supposed to wear #13 in this movie, but requested that his number be switched to #4 (and Paul Walker's to #7) in honor of his favorite player, Brett Favre, and the way Favre began his Packer career by taking over for an injured Don Majkowski. Vanderbeek still is a big Packer fan.

Pretty much all the Cardinals scare me. Harrison Bader is probably the most scary, though. He strikes me as the type who is going to be a thorn in Brewers pitchers' sides for the next decade.

I don't see this as them treating it much differently. They had bullpen starts last year in the midst of a playoff race as well. I kinda think that Counsell has been secretly itching to try this all year, but the solid work from his rotation has kept him from doing it. With rosters expanded and the bullpen busting at the seams with guys right now, it's the perfect opportunity to go this route. Plus Chase strikes me as the type of guy who already pitches with a chip on his shoulder, so I wouldn't be surprised if he comes out next weekend against the Tigers and throws 7 shoutout innings.

In a perfect world, the Brewers sweep the Cardinals, while the Cubs struggle against the Pirates with a 2-2 split. The Cardinals then feel obligated to play with their hair on fire next weekend against the Cubs to secure a playoff spot, while the Brewers come home and take care of business against Detroit. Probable? No ... but entirely possible. If the Brewers can take 2 of 3, they will be in the division hunt barring a 4 game Cub sweep.