coolhandluke121

There are some announcers and talking heads that are just so obviously better than most that it's hard to understand how they don't get national gigs. Hernandez and Darling from the Mets, for example. But you have to remember, they're looking for broadcasters who appeal to the masses, most of whom probably hate the audacity of the Brewers for everything they're doing. Being smart and showing it is kind of frowned upon for being uppity in a lot of circles. If you don't like it, better find someone else to watch or get used to it. Is you ready?

I like their chances today. How does LAD set their lineup against the threat of Woodruff, Guerra, and/or Peralta in innings 2-6? I think they should just play their best players and not try to play that game with the Brewers. The Brewers have the advantage of so many guys being interchangeable, but the Dodgers shouldn't get sucked into that. Here's hoping they do though.

I agree that he's been the best and I've called him the Popovich of baseball on several occasions. It's totally valid to criticize him for going to JJ again last night though. That's not just dinosaur baseball dogma. He needed a break. Another possible issue is just the value of giving them different looks to keep them off balance. JJ has now faced Puig 3 times, Machado 2, Grandal 2, and Turner 2, and it's only been 3 games. I'm not too worried about Grandal and Puig, but Machado and Turner have done some serious damage. I know it's not all on the same day, but there has to be some kind of reliever corollary to limiting the number of times guys see your stuff in a series. Lastly, a big part of Hader's success has been turning LHB's into pitcher-quality hitters all year. When you save him to the end, you don't force the other team to make a difficult decision about pinch-hitting early. He's very good against RHB's too, but nearly 200 OPS points better against LHB's. Why save him to the end and give up that advantage? Bringing him in any time in a high leverage situation with favorable match-ups has been a big part of the leverage advantage you get from him. It was a 1-0 lead with 5 out of the next 7 Dodgers (Pederson, Muncy, Bellinger, Puig, and Grandal) being worse against LHP's. I was really surprised he didn't bring him in there and I feel like he's trying to play 3-d chess when it's still a 2-d game. It's baseball, anything can happen, and odds are defied all the time, but last night I don't think Counsell lived up to the incredibly lofty standards he's set for himself this year. And that's coming from someone who defended him all year long, even in the most critical IGT's, so don't lump me in with the haters. That was an extremely stubborn decision.

It was a whole lot of ground ball singles last year though. Not sustainable. If he's still lifting his back foot on his swing all the time, I haven't noticed it. I don't know how someone doesn't come in and put a stop to that the first time it happens, but he picked a good time to stop. He's always had good contact skills, reflexes, and gap power. Always said he reminded me of Gomez and Segura before they figured it out. Hope this is a sign of things to come.

He's literally been worse than Drake. He needs a break. Stop being in denial about what's happening to him. I didn't say he shouldn't pitch the rest of the series or anything.

Afternoon game on Wednesday I thought...

I still haven't suggested actually benching him. I've said many times they're using him too much and that's a factor in his struggles. Give him 2 days rest and hope he's right tomorrow. Give someone else a little work. Yep. Never suggested. Not in the least. Please explain how that contradicts what I'm saying about him needing more rest. It was a stubborn, forced move by CC and he nearly had an all-time Bill Buckner of managers moment there.

Aguilar was an .800 OPS guy in the minor leagues for nearly 10 years, without being an especially young minor league player at most levels, so it is actually a pretty dramatic improvement to be doing what he's done this year. I'm not going to push the PED theory very hard, but I do think it would fit. You train hard and build some muscle in the off season with a little boost, but muscle mass disappears over the course of the season if you're not able to stay on the program. I think hitting the wall is slightly more likely and he might benefit from shedding some weight to stay effective all year next year, but I don't quite agree that PEDs don't work that way.

You are really underestimating how important Jeffress, and his success, is to this team's success. If he isn't this team's most important player, he is in the top 3. If he is bad, the Brewers are going to lose. It is in this team's best interest to get him right. Like it or not, or throw out some stat about how lucky he is, it doesn't matter. It is obvious this team is rolling with him. "Stop trusting him" was an exaggeration but they are being real stubborn by forcing him out there with less than optimal rest when he's laboring so much. I know they have to rely on him sometimes but for god's sake trust someone else instead of using him so much. And at least give them a different look because they're clearly seeing his stuff well. It seems he's facing some of the same guys every time. That doesn't make any sense.

As recently as September the guy was en fuego. Had a 0.00 era for the month. Brewers need him to find it again. I don't think they can win this series if they decide to bench him when they are up four runs. I still haven't suggested actually benching him. I've said many times they're using him too much and that's a factor in his struggles. Give him 2 days rest and hope he's right tomorrow. Give someone else a little work.

I agree about usage and I've also said I don't want to bench him completely, but they gotta stop forcing him out there. Trust has to be wavering somewhat though. He might recover if they stop acting like he's Mariano Rivera, but it's like they're insisting that this isn't actually happening to him. IT IS. Almost 80 games and over 80 innings this year now. If they value him so much, why not just save him for tomorrow? They still seem to trust him as much as Hader, so why aren't they saving him too? 60 pitches this series now.

Not backing down from that one. He's been awful. You just expect opponents to score 2-3 runs against him every single time out. You feel lucky every time it's just 2! It's really the Drake/Feliz feeling every time out at this point. Take a sedative dude. How long does a guy have to average 4+ base-runners per inning before you're allowed to stop trusting him, seriously? How bad was Drake's WHIP or Feliz's when they bombed completely?

It was a manager showing extreme faith in his guy. That means something. I'm guessing Jeremy is feeling great, and would be willing to run through a brick wall for Counsell right now. He could have run through a brick wall tomorrow then. This isn't how they got here. They don't go on all this gut instinct, player's manager stuff. They got Hader loose and he was throwing really hard out there; you gotta get more batters out of him to maximize his value. And if they have so much damn faith in JJ, why isn't he the one they're saving for tomorrow? Now both of them are kind of precarious tomorrow. Hader is not wired for consecutive short outings and JJ has 60 pitches this series. It was an incredibly stubborn move from Counsell.

And it's not just nervous Brewer fans who wonder what in the heck was going on there.

Holy overreaction Batman! You have been pretty high and mighty with your criticisms tonight, and this staff just pitched a shutout in Dodger Stadium. Not backing down from that one. He's been awful. You just expect opponents to score 2-3 runs against him every single time out. You feel lucky every time it's just 2! It's really the Drake/Feliz feeling every time out at this point.

All is well that ends well! However, was he ever really dominant this year? Hader is dominant. Knebel is dominant when he's on. Axford was dominant for a year. But JJ has always struck a delicate balance. He's more like the Brewers version of K-Rod. You could see him go from all-star to scrub to all-star again from year-to-year, depending on his BABIP and FB:HR ratio and other luck stats. He was dominant before being traded to Texas but now he's just a good finesse pitcher who is going to be vulnerable at times.

You're usually pretty level-headed, bummer. JJ has been every bit as bad as Drake for most of the playoffs now, seriously. He is either tipping pitches or his arm is dying after a long year, but he's a gas can right now.

The other issue is you're never going to get good JJ if you always use him a little too often and a little too long. He could have been saved for tomorrow and maybe he would have benefited from 2 days of rest. They just keep forcing him out there for some stupid reason.

How could Counsell be so smart so much of the time and do something so profoundly stupid now? This makes Yost look like a genius. OLIVE DRAKE WOULD BE A BETTER OPTION RIGHT NOW.

Once he was in, I think nearly everyone wanted him to stay.

DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB DUMB How many times do you have to be hit over the head to get the damn message?

Well, yeah. Once you brought him in, it's foolish not to get a little more work out of him. And it's not just about pulling him; do you not see why people are nervous about having JJ in there?

That too. Save JJ for tomorrow. You'll get a better version of him. He's had a ton of work this year. This is dumb on so many levels. I think CC is kind of losing his way a bit and overthinking some stuff.

I think this is kind of foolish if only because you probably prefer to save Hader for Wednesday anyway. JJ could arguably use another day off, and who's your backup plan if JJ labors? Too cute. You already got Hader loose, and unlike most relievers, another inning isn't a big deal to him.

Yeah, don't get it with a guy who's nearly impossible to double up at the plate.