yourout

Rollin Rollin Rollin....keep them doggies rollin.

Just watched the rerun of the Grand Slam and by the time Braun hit the Dugout half the stands were empty. Not sure I've ever seen a crowd leave that fast.

Interesting stat. Albers now is 7 and 5 as a reliever. Junior Guerra is 9 and 5. 2 of the top 5 in victorys are relievers. I guess I should not be suprised but it just seems odd.

Rumor has it, the Packers thought they had the first down and it was 1st and 10, not 4th and 1. I'd be curious to know if the down marker on the sideline had changed by mistake. I just went back and watched it and that actually makes sense. I don't know if that's any better, but I was conflating the sequence where there was a 3rd and short where they lined up with Vitale in the I and pitched it to Jones and got stopped(when he probably gets it if he stretches it out) and the sequence where they went for it with 3 WR'es and a Graham at TE vs Minnesota's base D and Jones got stuffed, the later being the 4th down. That does make sense. I have to believe even a rookie HC would know enough to kick the FG in that situation under normal circumstance.

With all the shifts pitch sequencing might have a say in that.

So you don't think the 2018 bullpen had superior arm talent? You don't think 2017 Jimmy Nelson wasn't superior to any starter we have not named Brandon Woodruff (and probably him too) Examples? Is it not just as plausible that the sequencing and scouting is just fine and the pitcher lacks the ability to execute? Again, give me some examples of what you perceive to be bad sequencing. I see lots of catchers glove moving and pitchers missing spots by a wide margin. That ain't sequencing. I mean, I appreciate the effort you put in and at least you are making an argument unlike some others but I think it's a little intellectually dishonest to compare ERA from those years to this year. We all know that the ball is different and juiced and if you account for that those ERA numbers are probably a little closer. Add in above normal performance from some pitchers last year and I think you have a pretty similar staff. The difference between this year and last was a very dominant bullpen down the stretch to hide some of the differences of the starters. We don't have that this year. Introduce a juiced ball to an average pitching staff and that talent level gets exposed for what it is. Occam says the simplist explanation is the typically the right one and that seems far simpler than DJ having some sort of pixie dust. There are plenty of holes to be poked in the "DJ is the greatest pitching coach in the league" thoughts. Compared to the rest of the League the 2018 STAFF AS A WHOLE raw talent wise was middle of the road in my view. By raw talent I mean Velocity, Movement , and hittability. While I am not going to dig through specific at bats I am going to give you examples of a terrible pitch selection. Under no circumstances would I have thrown Braun a 3-2 slider if I had a 95+ fast ball. Half of pitch sequencing is reading hitter mechanics and being able to guess what they are looking for. For example Dejung was absolutely looking for that fastball in that spot on the HR. Throw a change or something else to start the AB. The location was not that terrible. It was at the top of the Zone. It was just the wrong pitch. I am not so much interested in the number as in ERA and runs allowed. I am interested in the relation to the rest of the league. Juiced ball should not mean 12th out of 16 teams.

I guess my question is who has the most control over pitch sequencing? Are most of the pitch selections coming from the dugout? Is that different from last year?

Here is how I look at it. From 2016 through 2018 here are the numbers. 2016 - 8th in runs per game(4.52) and 8th ERA(4.08) 2017 - 5th in runs per game(4.30) and 5th ERA(4.00) 2018 - 4th in runs per game(4.04) and 4th ERA(3.73) In none of these years did I think the Brewers had superior arm talent. The Brewers had average arm talent and outstanding coaching. Scouting, Mechanical adjusting, in game pitch sequencing was far superior to what I have seen this year. This year they still have average arm talent but the results say below average coaching. Far to often the pitch sequencing is terrible in that the hitter gets the pitch he is looking for in the location he is looking for it. Pitchers can get away with bad location at times if the sequencing keeps the hitter guessing. Yes hitters are still going to get hits and no one is perfect but many games are decided by the right pitch at the right time in critical at bats. Take a look at the list of Arms we had in 2016, 2017, and 2018. That is not a who's who of great arm talent. DJ was probably the best pitching coach in all of baseball and they should have gave him pretty much anything he wanted. 2016 Rk Pos Name Age W L W-L% ERA 1 SP Jimmy Nelson 27 8 16 0.333 4.62 2 SP Zach Davies 23 11 7 0.611 3.97 3 SP Chase Anderson 28 9 11 0.45 4.39 4 SP Wily Peralta 27 7 11 0.389 4.86 5 SP Junior Guerra 31 9 3 0.75 2.81 6 SP Matt Garza 32 6 8 0.429 4.51 7 CL Jeremy Jeffress 28 2 2 0.5 2.22 8 RP Carlos Torres 33 3 3 0.5 2.73 9 RP Tyler Thornburg 27 8 5 0.615 2.15 10 RP Blaine Boyer 34 2 4 0.333 3.95 11 RP Jhan Marinez 27 0 1 0 3.22 12 Michael Blazek 27 3 1 0.75 5.66 13 Corey Knebel 24 1 4 0.2 4.68 14 Tyler Cravy 26 0 1 0 2.86 15 Taylor Jungmann 26 0 5 0 7.76 16 Jacob Barnes 26 0 1 0 2.7 17 Chris Capuano* 37 1 1 0.5 4.13 18 Will Smith* 26 1 3 0.25 3.68 19 Brent Suter* 26 2 2 0.5 3.32 20 Rob Scahill 29 0 0 2.45 21 David Goforth 27 0 0 10.97 22 Sam Freeman* 29 0 0 12.91 23 Ben Rowen 27 0 0 15 24 Damien Magnifico 25 0 0 6 25 Neil Ramirez 27 0 0 10.8 26 Ariel Pena 27 0 0 27 27 Michael Kirkman* 29 0 0 9 2017 Rk Pos Name Age W L W-L% ERA 1 SP Zach Davies 24 17 9 0.654 3.9 2 SP Jimmy Nelson 28 12 6 0.667 3.49 3 SP Chase Anderson 29 12 4 0.75 2.74 4 SP Matt Garza 33 6 9 0.4 4.94 5 SP Brent Suter* 27 3 2 0.6 3.42 6 SP Junior Guerra 32 1 4 0.2 5.12 7 CL Corey Knebel 25 1 4 0.2 1.78 8 RP Carlos Torres 34 4 4 0.5 4.21 9 RP Jacob Barnes 27 3 4 0.429 4 10 RP Jared Hughes 31 5 3 0.625 3.02 11 RP Oliver Drake 30 3 5 0.375 4.44 12 Wily Peralta 28 5 4 0.556 7.85 13 Josh Hader* 23 2 3 0.4 2.08 14 Brandon Woodruff 24 2 3 0.4 4.81 15 Anthony Swarzak 31 2 1 0.667 2.48 16 Neftali Feliz 29 1 5 0.167 6 17 Jeremy Jeffress 29 4 0 1 3.65 18 Rob Scahill 30 1 3 0.25 4.43 19 Tommy Milone* 30 1 0 1 6.43 20 Paolo Espino 30 0 0 6.11 21 Jhan Marinez 28 0 2 0 5.4 22 Aaron Wilkerson 28 1 0 1 3.48 23 Michael Blazek 28 0 1 0 8.31 24 Taylor Williams 25 0 0 1.93 25 Jorge Lopez 24 0 0 4.5 26 Tyler Webb* 26 0 0 9 27 Wei-Chung Wang* 25 0 0 13.5 28 Hernan Perez 26 0 0 0 29 David Goforth 28 0 0 0 30 Taylor Jungmann 27 0 0 13.5 2018 Rk Pos Name Age W L W-L% ERA 1 SP Jhoulys Chacin 30 15 8 0.652 3.5 2 SP Chase Anderson 30 9 8 0.529 3.93 3 SP Junior Guerra 33 6 9 0.4 4.09 4 SP Brent Suter* 28 8 7 0.533 4.44 5 SP Wade Miley* 31 5 2 0.714 2.57 6 SP Freddy Peralta 22 6 4 0.6 4.25 7 CL Corey Knebel 26 4 3 0.571 3.58 8 RP Josh Hader* 24 6 1 0.857 2.43 9 RP Jeremy Jeffress 30 8 1 0.889 1.29 10 RP Dan Jennings* 31 4 5 0.444 3.22 11 RP Taylor Williams 26 1 3 0.25 4.25 12 Zach Davies 25 2 7 0.222 4.77 13 Jacob Barnes 28 0 1 0 3.33 14 Brandon Woodruff 25 3 0 1 3.61 15 Corbin Burnes 23 7 0 1 2.61 16 Matt Albers 35 3 3 0.5 7.34 17 Gio Gonzalez* 32 3 0 1 2.13 18 Joakim Soria 34 3 1 0.75 4.09 19 Jorge Lopez 25 0 1 0 2.75 20 Jordan Lyles 27 1 0 1 3.31 21 Adrian Houser 25 0 0 3.29 22 Oliver Drake 31 1 0 1 6.39 23 Boone Logan* 33 1 0 1 5.91 24 Aaron Wilkerson 29 0 1 0 10 25 Xavier Cedeno* 31 0 0 1.13 26 Hernan Perez 27 0 0 13.5 27 Erik Kratz 38 0 0 3 28 Alec Asher 26 0 0 0 29 J.J. Hoover 30 0 1 0 20.25 30 Mike Zagurski* 35 0 1 0 63

That seems high to me. Until the offense shows the ability to not trip over it's own feet for 3/4 of a game winning by 4 or 5 against a good defense is probably the ceiling.

Brewers are 12th out of 16 NL teams in runs allowed and ERA. I want someone else as a pitching coach next year.

Sounds like a Toby Keith song.

Pretty sure it's the give up rule. If an offensive player with the ball gives up and takes a knee and they have a timeout they can kill the clock at that time to prevent what you are suggesting.

/starts counting all the hands on heads. I love this. Absolutely love it!!! I count at least 10 full surrender cobras. My nephew texted it to me before the top of the 9th was over with the comment "Beautiful" The KMOX replay is available and hearing the Braun and Thames ABs does not disappoint. After a minute or so of minimalism they come up with "This could be a devastating blow for the Cardinals." Trying to find a link to listen to this gem.

Yeah that was pretty awful.

That's the risk you take going for 2 with 30 seconds to go. Yes they made it but by doing so they forced the Bears into a must score situation. With a tie game they might be less willing to risk deep throws.

Most wins are like a lite beer. This one was 1957 Dom Pérignon.

That was a satisfying win.

Yeah, Hook told him to throw a meatball and miss his location. That is 100% on Hader. Ridiculous. I'm as big of aHook hate as there is and i don't blame him for that one.

Automate the damn zone.

Especially as he is laboring here thus far. Crap.... That's why you don't walk Molina.

He was safe but I'm not sure that he should have tried it there..

I'd be ok with a few more.

Wow.....

Now second worst in all of baseball with RISP at .236.

Now 1 for 12 with RISP