HarveysWBs

With a day off Thursday and a chance to pick up another win on the division leaders, it would be a travesty to get the B-team tomorrow.

Nah, it’ll just skip ABs this inning.

As someone who has had Brewer (and Packer) fandom in my blood from birth, but has lived 30 of my 31 years in Illinois, I can speak to this phenomenon. The attitude you sense is not just an online thing, it is very real among flesh and blood interactions, too. I live in a part of the state that isn't particularly close to Wisconsin, and is in fact about half way between Chicago and St. Louis, so I have seen this from Cardinals fans, too. The Cardinals fans ("Greatest Fans in the World, and Keepers of the One True Right Way to Play Baseball") are obnoxious for their self-righteousness, yes, but they've earned it. They have the pelts on the wall, and so while their thumping of the unwritten book of baseball rules and their general snobbishness still rankles (and boy, 2011 absolutely killed me--my wife is a Cardinals fan!) I can at least begrudgingly respect where it is coming from. Cubs fans are a different breed entirely. I know a few decent ones who will hold a respectful conversation about baseball and not allow themselves to be too blinded by their allegiance as to be insufferable. But I only met them well into my adult years. The vast majority of the Cubs fans I see in their native habitat have been boorish, ill-informed, and take pleasure to go out of their way to tell me that my beloved franchise pales in comparison to theirs and that I am a fool for following them. This was true even in the 90's when the Cubs had some truly pathetic teams, and apart from a few years of good play, were often just as pathetic as the Crew. I have always been surprised by this, since if the Brewers win a World Series title soon, it would make them about as successful as the Cubs have been since baseball returned to Milwaukee, and with a better stadium, to boot. I was surprised, that is, until I realized it boils down to tribalism and a bullying mentality. Cubs fans outnumber most of their rivals, particularly in the heart of the midwest, and so they gang up on and belittle fans of smaller franchises, and this gives them an immense pleasure, often irrespective of actual results on the field. As others have mentioned, for some, this is a class issue, since Cubs fans (particularly in Chicago proper) are far more affluent on average than your typical Brewers (or even Cardinals) fan. As this pertains to Miller Park attendance, that isn't the only issue, but I suspect it is a big part. It must be awfully tempting for many Brewers fans to flip tickets to Cubs fans who are willing to pay a premium to see their team in a more comfortable environment than the "friendly confines." Heck, I can even sympathize with those who see these brutish louts invade Miller and decide they'll spend their hard-earned money on a different matchup, especially if they are bringing kids to the park and don't want to expose them to the generally appalling behavior of many of the Cubs fans. But I can only speak for myself when I say that when I watch the Crew on TV (I get FS Wisconsin and try to make 2 or 3 games a year in person) and I see the Cubs fans in attendance, I see the same bullying attitude I saw growing up in this state. If I am ever fortunate enough to live closer to Milwaukee, I will make it a point to attend as many Miller Park Cubs games as I can (although I'll probably leave the kids at home), and gladly cheer as loudly as I can. At the end of the day, the Crew is about family to me; always has been, and always will be. The only real Brewers fans I've ever known personally have been my late grandfather, my father, and my uncles. Of that group, the only one I have close enough to regularly converse (read: commiserate) with is my dad. Although I have been incredibly happy to find brewerfan.net and all you fellow-sufferers as a makeshift community, I've always been acutely aware of the fact that I don't really have a "tribe" of my own. I hope my dad and I get to see the day when the Crew gets to celebrate on the field as champions of baseball. No words of vindication need be said, even after a lifetime in the lion's den; we can just look at each other in that moment and know. And we could go back out into the world and be at peace, not to be as the Cubs and Cardinals fans have been, but simply to smile and to know the feeling was sweeter than they could ever imagine. It would be a great feeling... ...but beating the Cubs and/or Cards on the way to that moment would be pretty sweet, too...

I want to beat the Cubs in the playoffs. Don’t care if they win the division. I want them to lose to us when it matters most. +1. Brew4U knows what is best in life.

I’m not sure anyone is going to claim Granderson resembles his old self at all, but let’s take the numbers with a grain of salt. Granderson has nearly twice as many OF innings as Thames this year, and true, his UZR is twice as bad. But consider, the Crew is clearly doing what it can to protect Thames in the field by being selective in his use (and while I haven’t studied their defensive alignments, it wouldn’t shock me if Cain is shaded his direction a bit with a better defender in Yelich on the other side). In the end, I’m not sure I can reasonably say who is a worse defender at this point, but I’m reasonably sure of two things: Granderson isn’t great, and Thames is not suddenly the best OF defender he’s ever been at nearly 32 years old, as some of his unalloyed numbers seem to suggest. Neither is a great option in the field, and we should hope they don’t have to play meaningful defensive innings. EDIT: I composed this while others posted similar arguments. I did not intend to pile on. Great post. Truly superb. :-) Tip of the cap to your analysis as well. Couldn’t have said it better.

I’m not sure anyone is going to claim Granderson resembles his old self at all, but let’s take the numbers with a grain of salt. Granderson has nearly twice as many OF innings as Thames this year, and true, his UZR is twice as bad. But consider, the Crew is clearly doing what it can to protect Thames in the field by being selective in his use (and while I haven’t studied their defensive alignments, it wouldn’t shock me if Cain is shaded his direction a bit with a better defender in Yelich on the other side). In the end, I’m not sure I can reasonably say who is a worse defender at this point, but I’m reasonably sure of two things: Granderson isn’t great, and Thames is not suddenly the best OF defender he’s ever been at nearly 32 years old, as some of his unalloyed numbers seem to suggest. Neither is a great option in the field, and we should hope they don’t have to play meaningful defensive innings. EDIT: I composed this while others posted similar arguments. I did not intend to pile on.

Yeah, I'm not so much for drilling people for breaking someone's "unwritten rule," but he was so over-the-top it was ridiculous. I hadn't actually paid any attention to how he usually bats until that one right there. Is this something he does all the time? Or an aberration? Either way, it was annoying. Yeah, Soto is like that all the time. He gave Hader that business the last time they were in Milwaukee. He’s got the confidence to be a star, that’s for sure. I know I’m biased, because it rubbed me the wrong way too, until I tried to imagine him playing in the AL. I think I’d like him if he just wasn’t in our league.

Barnes had em right where he wanted em...

HUGE K!

That’ll do, Corey. That’ll do.

But what if it were carried by an African swallow?

It is nearly unthinkable to me that Gray clears enough teams on waivers to fall all the way to the Crew. The AL teams get first crack at him, where you have to figure at least the A's and Mariners would be intrigued, not to mention a few teams hoping to contend next year, since Gray has a final arbitration year in 2019. If, somehow, he clears the AL teams, then the NL teams can claim him, in order from worst record to best. Even if all the non-contending teams in the NL pass on him (again, not a given, since he isn't a rental), the Phillies and Braves at least figure to be interested, and you could include the Pirates, Cardinals, and Nationals in that list, as well. All of those teams get priority over the Brewers due to record. Now, putting all that to the side, in theory, a Sonny Gray acquisition actually makes a lot of sense. Gray and Derek Johnson apparently have a great relationship, stemming from their time at Vanderbilt (I read that, at least as of a couple years ago, the two stayed in regular communication, and Gray has had nothing but glowing things to say about DJ, even going so far as to call him a father figure). Some speculate that the Yankees, or the New York environment, has gotten Gray way off track from what makes him successful. He uses his sinker/fastball combo about half as often as he did during his most successful stretch with the A's, and it could be a product of the Yankees' coaches de-emphasizing fastballs in general considering their homer-happy stadium. It is possible he hates the media circus in New York, especially with all the expectations he brought with him as a high-priced trade acquisition. And finally, it seems the Brewers (who, admittedly, "check in on everyone and everything") did more than a little nibbling around Gray during the off-season, before moving in other directions. More realistically, I think a move in the offseason could happen, and unless he has some miraculous stretch out of the pen in September or October, his value will be at an all-time low at that point. That has the makings of a classic David Stearns move. That being said, if somehow the Brewers could get their hands on him this month, I'd be supportive of the effort. Even if it doesn't pan out, it has a lot of logic to recommend it.

Being a sports fan has to be one of the most absolutely irrational human pursuits. Sometimes I'm not sure why I invest countless hours in misery hoping that just once in my life, I'll see a championship-clinching moment for the Brewers. I've envisioned that moment so many times in my head (routine fly ball, or a grounder that goes 6-3, and the players erupt in ecstasy), yet my eyes moisten to think about it still. It feels so far away...

Is that what a closer looks like? Minter's pitch location is phenomenal.

Brutal double play against a lefty. Yikes, Braun!

That didn't seem like a horrible pitch by Burnes, but Swanson(!) was all over it. Could this be a pitch tipping situation? Pitch selection getting predictable?

Short answer: Lots of stranded runners.

His balls aren't that important. Depends on what team we're talking about...

I hate it when they keep the camera on the catcher in this situation. Give the guy a minute!

Knebel warming up. Here we go...

Then the restructuring of the bullpen has begun. It may not be overstating things to say that the fate of the season hangs in the balance of getting it right, and soon.

I prefer to have JJ available to pitch high leverage situations. I mean. Knebel had the 7, 8, and 9 guys. If we can't trust him to get those guys out...then maybe he shouldn't be trusted anytime with a lead. I had hoped he would keep JJ in, but I thought going with Knebel there was okay. Gotta assume hes not going to walk all 3 of those guys...right? Or maybe not. High leverage situations like... the last inning of the game? The most important one when you have a lead? It isn’t really all that more important than any other inning. The problem is a psychological one. It is clear that players do better in defined roles. People have argued for years that managers should simply use matchups and ride the hot hand, but real players in real life don’t always respond best in that situation. So I actually get CC’s hesitance to upset the established order in the bullpen. That said, nothing is guaranteed forever. At some point, performance must dictate strategy when the results are so apparently poor. I think we’ve reached that point with Knebel. I hope Soria and/or Jeffress and/or Hader are up to it. Goodness knows the rest of the ‘pen probably isn’t. What a mess right now.

So, if, in some hypothetical future, the Crew were to have a very meaningful baseball game in Dodger Stadium, I think I might just trust Miley with that start.

I think OF defense could take this team VERY far

I think we gave a better package for Schoop than what the Braves gave for Gausman. That's where I don't understand the logic... I think the logic is that they didn’t like Gausman that much. I mean, the enthusiasm around here for Gausman was based on what? Former high draft pick, Wade Milley expletives, coaching magic, and wish-casting for the next Arrieta? It isn’t a very strong argument in the end, it seems to me.