brwrsfan

I'm so glad Kotsay is playing. 2 K's. That last pitch was over his head. Dempster is having a hard time throwing strikes, yet we just keep chasing balls for strike 3. And then Braun with a first pitch out. So much for working the pitch count. Is it just me or does this feel like a game we're going to find a way to lose 2-1 or 1-0?

About the only good thing at this point is that Dempster is at 86 pitches, heart of the lineup due up here. If we can get into their bullpen, it would be a very good thing. I'm not going to hold my breath though.

It's just a terrible, terrible call. We struggle to score on Dempster, especially with this lineup, and we just go and hand away a run. It should be Brewers -1, Cubs 0 right now. THis will be yet another case of the Brewers winning a game, despite a stupid managerial move. Squeeze plays aren't something you do all the time, if they were that successful, teams would run them all the time. It worked the first time, and we've done it three times since then. Give it up already, especially in a situation like that.

And of course hits a rod, right at the 1b. Wow did we screw that inning up. That whole sequence really makes me mad. It makes no sense and you cost yourself a run. 2 doubles, no runs.

He's struggling to throw strikes. It's a 3-1 count to your pitcher and you call a squeeze play. You have to be smarter than that. Even if he K's, you still have Weeks with a man on third. AWFUL. Infield was in too, just let him swing. The 3-1 pitch was way outside too, though Wolf has to make a better effort than that to get the ball. Throw the bat if you have to. Still a terrible, terrible decision.

Nieves should sac bunt him to third for Wolf. Not kidding either.

If Dempster could just pitch against us, he'd win the Cy Young. This lineup doesn't help much either. Here comes Betancourt, Nieves and Wolf. I'll be happy if they can make him throw 7 pitches this inning I think.

The Cubs always seem to find their best of the season against us. They've been getting shelled lately so hopefully that continues. And Dempster is due for a nice big 8 spot against us I think. And as far as the lineup goes, any lineup that includes Wil Nieves is going to get bashed and rightfully so.

Dempster's career numbers against us are pretty absurd. I hope for at least one night that changes.

Right, there was that at bat yesterday. The game the other day...it was tied, 2 outs and Gomez comes in to PR. Is running and Betancourt swings and makes an out to end the inning. His numbers are way, way down from last year so I don't know if that was a fluke or he's just terrible this year. Sadly, I really don't think we have much of an option. A Counsell/Wilson platoon just doesn't do it for me. I think Counsell is done (Friday night not withstanding) and Wilson did just get waived by another contending team and has a very pedestrain track record. They probably wouldn't do much worse I guess, but it just doesn't seem to be the answer. The mistake was getting Betancourt in the first place (though nobody would project him to be THIS bad, way below his career numbers). As long as he's playing, we can only hope that he starts to revert back to his form from last season and that Casey and Lucroy stop slumping. Especially Casey. I have no idea why teams continue to pitch to Prince. Until Casey can prove he's capable of driving runs in, there's no reason to pitch to Prince at all.

If we do make the playoffs, whoever we face is going to likely have a strong pitching rotation and solid lineup, that's how they go to the playoffs in the first place. That being said, I'd like to avoid the Phillies if at all possible.

I'll be there for all 3 games, group of 5 of us going. Unfortunately, the weather doesn't project to be very good. It's still a few days away, so hopefully it changes. But there is rain/storm in the forecast for all three days.

You'd have to send down a pitcher and roll with 11 man staff for a couple of weeks I think. This shouldn't be that big of a problem though. Our starters have consitently gone 6-7 innings and in the AL games, you don't have to PH as much so there are less pitching changes.

Our offense had a few games last year with very large run totals, so that made that number a tad artificially high last year. This season, we also had that stretch where we scored like 20 runs in 12 road games or whatever it was, making that number a tad lower than what it probably will be. However, I'm still having some concerns about our offense. Casey is just brutal right now, Betancourt is below average and Lucroy is marred in a pretty dramatic slump. Throw in the pitcher spot and that gives you half a lineup (or more if Gomez is playing) that is really struggling. At some point Prince is going to cool off and we're going to need other guys to start producing.

I agree that it's a longshot and probably a pipe dream. But I also never really believed that we'd have a pitching rotation that included Greinke and Marcum either.

We'll be in the AL, we should be able to get by with 11 pitchers. Most AL teams only have 11 because they aren't forced to take pitchers out when they come up in the lineup. I would guess if they want Gamel up, it'll be a pitcher who goes back down for a few games. Not sure who that would be at this point though. Loe is performing by far the worst but it wont' be him. Estrada has an option I think? He could go down, he's been hit hard lately as well. That is assuming nobody gets hurt. They'll also have to make room for Saito shortly too.

So you're saying that how a hitter is feeling at the plate has absolutely NOTHING to do with his next at bat? On pure math, sure that's absolutely true, but this isn't math. These are people. And how they're feeling, confidence levels, etc, DO have an effect. Are you suggesting that the manager should ask the batter if he feels like he's going to perform better than average? Do you really think the answer will provide useful information to the manager? I just think that saying that you absolutely NEVER walk the bases loaded is not a factual statement. I specifically didn't mention that situation because my Mamma told me to never say never. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif I will say that the facts suggest it's generally a bad idea. I never said anything about asking the player how he felt. Of course not. However, confidence at the plate, and past results (even in that same game) do tend to have a mental aspect. Confidence is a big deal when you're playing the game and past results, even if it's just 3-3 in the game, do have an effect on a players mindset. That point wasn't really my biggest argument though. The fact was we were losing in the game already, you had a weaker hitter in the on deck circle, you have a pitcher that throws a sinker and is supposed to be good at inducing ground balls. It's a scenario that really seems to suggest walking the batter to load the bases. I might think differently if it were tied. There's really no point in arguing about this further, I think we're both deadset in our views on it, and that's fine. Just agree to disagree I guess.

Betancourt...what the #$)(#@)$ are you thinking? Tie game, best base stealer on first base, he goes and has it easily and you swing at the first pitch? That is just stupid, stupid baseball. You have to be smarter than that. Give him the take sign for crying out loud. Is it even possible for Axford to have ONE inning without a base runner? Sure doesn't seem like it lately. Gotta get up to bat with it still tied here.

So you're saying that how a hitter is feeling at the plate has absolutely NOTHING to do with his next at bat? On pure math, sure that's absolutely true, but this isn't math. These are people. And how they're feeling, confidence levels, etc, DO have an effect. We're just going to have to agree to disagree on this I guess. I just think that saying that you absolutely NEVER walk the bases loaded is not a factual statement.

1. It shouldn't surprise you that people have looked at average performances after a good start to a game. A guy with 3 hits is not expected to hit any better than his normal expectations. Hell, you can take a guy who's been hot for a week and it really tells you nothing. Pretty much a myth. 2. Intentionally walking the bases loaded is generally very bad because of the whole walk scores a run thing. I'm sorry but I completely disagree with this. 1 - technically that's true, one at bat doesn't really mean much for the others, HOWEVER, it can mean that a guy is seeing the ball well or seeing it poorly (take Prince now and Casey now as examples). He just as easily could have struck out or hit a HR but he had been hitting it well all night and has a very high average on the season as well, not to mention a PH was on deck. 2 - walking someone to score a run doesn't really bother me at all. getting a double play or a force at home plate was your best chance to get out of the inning without a run scoring. most teams do well driving runs in with 1 out and a man on third. a bigger inning can result with an intentional walk to load the bases, but you also have the possiblity of getting out of it without any runs scoring whatsoever. I'm not saying always walk them loaded, but in this case, i think it was definitely the better move, that's without even talking about the HR that he hit.

Also, if I can go back to the bottom of the 7th here... If Lucroy was going ot come into the game anyway (which he had to), why did he NOT pinch hit for Nieves? Lucroy is a much better hitter (highest average on the team) than Kotsay. Two men on base, and you don't put him in. Not only that, but you don't double switch after Kotsay makes an out. This would have let Lucroy lead off eighth at the very least. And taken Loe out of the game. This could work out where Lucroy plays but doesn't even hit. You also wasted two position players for on PH (and another one when the 9 spot comes up next inning). Can anyone please explain this? 1 - why Kotsay PH over Lucroy and 2 - why not double switch?

You walk the bases loaded there. The guy has 3 hits tonight. You're already losing and you have a sinkerballer on the mound. A double play gets you out of the inning. There was no reason to pitch to him there. That decision (along with actually putting Loe in in the first place to face lefties) has likely cost us a game. That doesn't hide the fact that in the last two games, against guys with ERA's near 6, we've scored three runs, both on Prince Fielder homeruns. We've had plenty of guys on base too.

The whole "veteran" angle is just a joke to me. Many guys on our roster have been around for quite awhile, and the core components (Braun, Fielder, Hart, Weeks, Yo) were all on our playoff roster. I don't believe we have anybody on the roster that qualifies as a rookie. The only guy we have even close is Lucroy (and maybe Braddock) but everyone else has been around long enough and seen enough stuff to not need "veteran leadership". The leaders on this team are Braun and Fielder, nobody is looking to Counsell or Kotsay for advice. It's not a team full of rookies, these are experienced players that are almost "vets" themselves at this point.

I don't like Betancourt, but his offense appears to be on the upswing the last few weeks. If he was hitting like he did last year, his defense might be given a bit more of a pass.

I would agree. You don't "need" a defensive catcher. If you have one, great. But if not, it's not really necessary. It's not like we're going to sub in a new catcher in the 8th inning as a defensive replacement like we might at the other positions.