HarveysWBs

I know it is alarming enough that Harrison and Miz have looked really troubling so far against the first elite lineup they have faced in a long time, which is not what anyone here wants going into September. But of even more consequence is how they have seemingly conspired to torpedo my fantasy baseball playoff run. Thanks for nothing, fellas.

Man, that ball needs to find a glove. Namely Bauers'

Nothing warms my heart more than Greg going to the bullpen again and it immediately detonating in his face.

I took a little trip down memory lane today. The year was 2007. It was mid-August, and somehow, my, your, our Milwaukee Brewers had done the unthinkable: they had made me buy in. This was an utterly new experience for me; I started to watch baseball with the expectation that something good might happen. Maybe they’ll make the playoffs, or even win the division! The lead was something like a game and a half on the Cubs for 1st place. I tuned in to watch the start of a home series against the hated St. Louis Cardinals. I saw all the usual suspects being interviewed as part of the pre-game media, with the on-field reporter at the time asking something to the effect of: “how much does this series mean in light of the team’s success this year?” Every single interviewee I can remember (mainly the Hs: Hall, Hart, Hardy) said all the right things, but I could tell by their tone, their body language, and the look in their eye that they were nervous as heck. They hadn’t yet bought in to their own chances at success, and it showed. They promptly went out and got smoked, losing all three games and bringing themselves back into a virtual tie with Chicago. To that team’s credit (and largely to the credit of the Herculean efforts of Fielder, Braun, and Hart, as well as Ned Yost’s steady, if sometimes questionable, hand at the till), they hung tough down the stretch and managed a winning record, which was still a huge achievement in my eyes. But I never quite forgot how unready that team was for playing with a division lead against rivals late in the season. They had to learn how to be winners, which is something that happens at both the individual and institutional level. And so I was reminded of just how far we’ve come since then. I’ve been able to say every year for the last four years that this just might be the best Brewers team I’ve ever watched. 2011 and 2018 hurt really bad. Last year was about as deflating a final series as there can be. This team, though, looks like it’s better top to bottom than all of them, even though it may not count for anything in October. But I don’t think they’re nervous about this series this week, and neither am I. The Brewers have figured out how to be winners. I’m loving every minute of it.

…by not realizing he had Gary as a late-inning weapon sooner. I mean, he’s been there the whole time. Inexcusable.

I’ve never seen anything quite like this. How does the manager even face the cameras after this one?

Thank you, that saves me some time.

I’d be very curious to know what percentage of the bullpen calls were Murphy and what were the analytics department? You listen to the way Murphy brings stats to some of his postgame chats and you get a glimpse of how much data the team feeds him in-game. I kinda doubt he’s just rolling with hunches all day long down there, as much as his persona would seem to indicate otherwise. He isn’t exactly Ned Yost in there. But that said, the buck stops with him regardless.

Every team struggles. San Diego is a buzz saw right now. The micro scale means virtually nothing. But it is part of a trend of Brewers offense getting worse as the year goes on, no question. The team has to get run production from the marquee players, and it was always going to come down to that. There are only two real questions about this team, other than health: - Can they hang on to a top-2 spot? - Can the offense get hot at the right time? Nothing else matters about the 2026 Brewers. Their season will be defined by those two questions.

At least it wasn’t Machado. Never let Machado beat you.

I’m much happier when the West coast games are all late. Then I have a perfect excuse not to watch and I can pretend the games just don’t happen. This experience is far, far worse.

Rengifo’s .872 OPS with the Padres is…obnoxious.

To me, this is some sort of combination of injury (bad) luck and a further extension of their financial advantage over virtually the entire league. Because of their vast revenue system, the Dodgers can afford to sign players that will likely struggle to consistently pitch 150+ regular season innings (i.e. veteran starters with injury histories or concerns) knowing that even a combination of injuries are not likely to doom their chances of making the postseason. As such, they do not need to rush a player's rehabilitation in order to win regular season games, with an obvious eye to having the freshest stable of arms in October. Credit where it is due: they have enough depth to make it work (and one of the deepest lineups in recent memory certainly helps, too). But I don't see this as a manipulation of the injury list system as much as it is another example of how the league needs economic reform very badly, which I realize is not likely to be news to anyone here.

Yeah, I read Miz’s comments after the game that the mound played a role in the velocity stuff and that nobody in the building was worried about it. So that’s a relief. I think it’s good for him to continue working on the art of pitching, which includes how to handle having less than your A-level velo, and also how to handle preparation, listening to your body, and big moments in hostile environments. He was aces on all that stuff yesterday, and what else can you say about him at this point? He’s going to struggle for a stretch eventually, and seeing how he responds is really the last hurdle (that and maybe learning how to go deeper in games, but that’s also a structure of the game problem and not entirely under his control). As for today, I hope there are some boots on some north-side necks. They have a chance to go +3 on the season series against a major rival and the biggest threat in the division, and I hope they can do just that.

Well, that was relatively stress free from Uribe. Nice confidence builder, I hope.

The dugout view made it appear that Vaughn’s foot was on the middle of the base until the ball got there, and he was sliding it to the edge as Tatis slid into his foot. So it didn’t seem as bad as the first view. But Tatis did end up sliding into Vaughn’s side of the bag, and it was almost certainly intentional.

If we’re not going to get any of the super-hyped prospects up this year, I think a post-hype Tyler Black would be a cool consolation prize.

Atta boy, Breckenridge

Still got Turang going for us. So that's nice.

I know every fan base can do this, but I’d much rather have JSN and Gonzalez than LVN and Jordan Morgan.

Great game from both QBs, unlike that abomination in Denver (albeit a weather-related one). I kept waiting for Darnold to implode, but he's in a really good spot here and Seattle has him playing his best. Kudos to him.

I do not get that defensive holding call there at all. Hasn't been a penalty all day, and now you throw that? Shades of our NFC Championship against Brady's Bucs. You can't let only one of the two defenses be physical.

Seattle’s defense getting away with all kinds of BS. What decade is it, again? The more things change…

Put me down for “cromulently whelmed” on Gannon. Should be solid, but that was kind of the floor anyway on a defense with Parsons, Cooper, and our safeties. If he can make the group great (which is also a Gute problem, to be clear) remains to be seen. Certainly could have been worse. We could have gotten Eberflus.