formerlybis

The patchwork rotation outside of Miz and Harrison - and using a 6-day rotation - has me expecting to go 3-3 each full rotation, regardless of opponent. Saw that Henderson is now pushed back, too. Just treading water until the real starters can rejoin.

I see they're saying Crow starts tomorrow - I'd imagine with the bullpen grid being the way it is, Sproat might be on multi-inning relief duty tonight (possibly tomorrow), along with Anderson and Woodford. With the short turnaround to tomorrow's day game, probably want to save the A-list back-end guys. Want to being the operative phrase. Low expectations for run prevention tonight...

Interesting, as always. It leads me to the question of whether these are sleeping giants (pun intended). Just play a little smarter with small ball tactics - take a few more walks, put the ball in play to result in productive outs rather than always trying for the big inning, etc, - and they'd score more runs. Can't help'em on the run prevention side

I was looking at SF's lineup and they've got healthy batting averages and a similar (slightly higher) team OPS to the Brewers, but score about a whole run fewer runs per game. I'm no @sveumrulesbut I assume that has something to do with baserunning and productive outs - SF is dead last in SBs - only attempted 21 (15 successful), whereas the Brewers are 60 for 80.

Whatever source you're pulling this from doesn't seem to count the pitches from when one of these guys opens/starts a piggyback game (noticed this with Patrick, too, when he did this last week) - Drohan threw 68 pitches yesterday. And, is Rob Z not on the roster? I thought they called him up, but I may have misunderstood. In this stretch of no off-days, getting 6 IP from the "real" starters when it's their turn would help out a great deal. Ashby should be ready for action to bridge to the back end (if needed) tonight.

The bullpen grid should show Patrick with 61 pitches on Wednesday. A little bit concerned with Crow and Sproat going the first two in this one. Will need Hall, Anderson, and Woodford, and CRod to step in and help out. Houston has some offense - they've scored exactly one fewer run than the Crew (though have played 58 games to our 53). They allow a ton of runs, though, which explains their losing record. 7-3 over their last 10, though, including hurling a combined no-hitter earlier this week.

To the original question, I think the Dodgers are in our fans’ heads - I certainly think it’s true for me. But the rest of the thesis of the author is pretty thin sportstalk bloviation. As a small market team fan in the current configuration of circumstances, expectations should be managed. Once in a great while, a Kansas City sneaks a title (or a Leicester in the EPL), but the smart money is on those with the highest payroll. More bites at the apple is meeting my expectations and probably exceeding them.

This seems like another one of those games where we’re going to need some innings from the B-list bullpen (Anderson/Hall/Woodford) - the back end is intact, though, so just get through 7 with a legitimate shot (say, a two-run deficit or better). I was looking at the standings and noticed the Brewers have played 4 fewer games than a lot of teams - due to a couple of postponed games, I assume, but that means fewer off-days than others. That will hurt the bullpen in the long run, but being able to bring up reinforcements (and Koenig is going to be a big add if he can make it back up) is imperative.

I think the points are all good in this thread - I'm especially intrigued by the tension between role and earning potential. Civale complained about being "demoted" from starter to long reliever last year which ended up with him being almost instantly traded for some struggling AAAA first baseman from the White Sox (-: But I understand the complaint - the market favors starters and closers, and then probably one-inning set up guys. It's really useful to have these effective multi-inning guys, but they are not valued the same way. Maybe that will change if the Brewers' Way gets more mainstreamed.

I didn’t read any recaps this morning, but I assume Vaughn was lifted after his last at bat in order to get a real LF into the game. You can’t play Yelich/Bauers/Vaughn without having a below average LF. Bauers’ flexibility is useful.

Doofus alert

This. Mission accomplished of getting through this game with the B-list bullpen. Still want to see a comeback here, of course, but this was what we needed from the pitchers

Doesn’t look like the problem will come until after 5 (and more likely later than that). Should be fine.

Today is going to be overcast and windy - not sure of it’ll be blowing in, out, or across, but maybe good practice for Chicago. Supposed to rain later in the afternoon - shouldn’t be a problem unless we get a game going over 3.5 hours. I’m expecting multiple innings from the low leverage bullpen arms today. We’ve set up the rotation with two spot starts this weekend to get ready for Cubs and Dodgers next week, so probably looking to set up the bullpen, too. Feels like they might sacrifice this one for the greater good - unless the offense unexpectedly rises to the occasion.

Not wanting to really do any of my own research here - could this have been a byproduct of overuse last year?