Brock Beauchamp

Bob Uecker narratives this 20-year anniversary retrospective of the 1989 Milwaukee Brewers. It was a volatile season with the Brewers bouncing up and down the standings in the American League East division. We see many familiar faces of yore in this video: Paul Molitor, Robin Yount, Teddy Higuera, and more. View full video

Keston Hiura had some early season success but ultimately, it wasn't enough to prevent a demotion to AAA Nashville. Keston Hiura has been a polarizing figure among Brewers fans for several years. After a breakout 2019 season, he struggled through the shortened 2020 season before becoming borderline unplayable in 2021, posting just a 49 OPS+ 197 plate appearances. Huira has struggled to find a position and playing time in the current Brewer roster, as the Brewers have Kelton Wong entrenched at second base while Rowdy Tellez has thrived at first. His reverse platoon splits have also been working against Hiura, meaning the right-handed hitter struggles against left-handed pitching. This has led manager Craig Counsell to have difficulty regularly finding a place to play Hiura. Replacing Hiura is 28-year-old minor league journeyman Luis Perdomo, likely a stop-gap move as the Brewers want to bolster their bullpen during a stretch where the team plays nine games in nine days, the final six on the road. Suppose Hiura remains in the minor leagues for 20 days. In that case, the Brewers will burn his remaining option, which means they will need to make a difficult decision on Hiura this fall or next spring, as he will be required to remain on the 26-man Major League roster or be exposed to waivers. Was this the right move for the Brewers to make? Leave a comment and give us your opinion! View full article

After making the postseason for the first time in 1981, the 1982 Brewers stumbled out of the gate, losing 14 of 21 games and putting manager Buck Rodgers on the hot seat. Ultimately, Rodgers was fired in early June and replaced by interim manager Harvey Kuenn, who helped lead the Crew to their first World Series appearance that season. Featured in this video is a (very young) Bud Selig who was interviewed about the mid-season managerial change. View full video

Well, partially yes, but that's not the entire story, at least for me. I've been a part of many forums over the years and watched almost all of them slowly die to the (what I believe are contemptible) forces of Facebook and Reddit. Instead of all these great little communities that once existed for every niche, each with their own particular flavor, we have a handful of overlords controlling a too-large portion of the internet. So, yeah, I want to someday make money from this site but it's not as if Twins Daily is raking in the cash for me, either... the work I do is as much out of love of communities and the sport as it is financial gain. If it was purely financial gain, I'm a developer with 20+ years of experience living in a tech-heavy city. I have lots of opportunities that pay much better than what I'm doing here... but I actually care about my baseball projects, which makes these projects a fair trade-off for me personally.

Want to support Brewer Fanatic and its community, but don’t have the time to moderate or write? Become a Caretaker. 100% of the money you contribute will be invested in our writers, community managers and others who make Brewer Fanatic a place you want to visit every single day. You’ll also get another important benefit. If you become a caretaker, you’ll get ad-free browsing on Brewer Fanatic. This happens whether you choose the monthly or annual subscription. We planned to hold back this program for some time as we acclimated to the new site but we've had so many requests for an ad-free option that we decided we needed to get this option released to our users as quickly as possible. Like your participation in the site, this is all completely voluntary. We are not putting any content or features behind a paywall. We just want to give an ad-free option to everyone, and give those folks who value Brewer Fanatic a chance to support its writers, moderators, and administrators. If that describes you, sign up now. And THANK YOU. You’re helping Brewer Fanatic grow now and become a self-sustaining site for the next generation of Brewers fans. Why caretake? It allows us to continue to improve the site and its features, like our newly-released Brewer prospect tracker. It features the latest prospect news and is voted on by our community so everyone is involved in its creation. And we're only getting started, there's so much more to come! View full article

Never use the criminal burden of proof in place of other burdens of proof. For obvious reasons, the burden of proof is at its absolute highest when a person's freedom hangs in the balance. There's a good chance Bauer loses a civil suit(s), where the burden of proof is lower. And even lower than that is the burden of proof of a private employer that usually has contractual stipulations surrounding character, behavior, and improprieties.

Thank you! This job can get me down sometimes - particularly hard conversations like this one - and I genuinely appreciate hearing people say positive things. This project has cost me a lot of time and money and comments like this, even offhand, make it easier to pick up the next project and keep plugging along.

By the way, really good call on spotting that header ad. I think that made a huge difference.

Are people seeing noticeable changes? We've reduced the number of ads by about 20% and reduced the header ad size on desktop.

The Milwaukee Brewers offense continued to struggle and nearly wasted an excellent start from Freddy Peralta; the lineup faltered for eight innings before coming up big in the ninth to snatch a victory and sweep from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Brewers 3, Pirates 2 W: Hoby Milner (2-0) L: Chris Stratton (0-1) S: Devin Williams (1) Rotation Continues to Give the Brewers a Chance Freddy Peralta looked like the good version of himself - surely with some help from the generous strike zone of home plate umpire Vic Carapazza - and retired eight straight Pirates from the second inning through the end of the fifth. While he started to wear down in the sixth - not unusual for pitchers after the shortened spring training - his characteristic wildness was absent as he walked no Pirates while striking out seven over six innings. He allowed only three hits, all singles. Andrew McCutchen, You Have One Job Opposing Peralta, veteran Jose Quintana used his inherent left-handedness to give Brewer hitters fits through five innings of work, striking out nine batters and walking none. The sole exception to Quintana’s dominance was McCutchen, who homered on the first pitch of the game and later sharply singled to the outfield, accounting for two of the only four Brewer hits against the left-hander. The Brewers' offense needs to kick-start itself, especially against left-handed pitching (26th in MLB with a 73 wRC+), as they’re not going to face the hapless Pirates again until the final day of June after playing Pittsburgh six times in their first 20 games. A big reason why the Brewers lead the NL Central is thanks to their 6-0 record against the Pirates. Confusing Choices Continue to Confound Right-hander Miguel Yajure replaced left-handed Quintana to start the sixth. He walked Willy Adames to start the inning, which prompted Craig Counsell to continue his baffling platoon approach with Keston Hiura (career .838 OPS vs. RHP, .587 vs. LHP). Rowdy Tellez pinch-hit for Hiura and flew out to the warning track in right-center on a 106.7 mph towering fly ball. While Tellez missed giving the Brewers a three-run lead by only a few feet, consistently starting Hiura against left-handers and replacing him the moment a righty takes the mound is using the worst of both sides of Hiura’s stat line and minimizing his ability to create a positive impact on offense. As the team struggles to string together hits and runs, it’s hard not to be increasingly frustrated with this approach. Fans too often tout reverse splits, but Hiura appears to be one of the rare cases where a batter is legitimately better when the pitcher is same-handed. In all four of Hiura’s seasons as an MLB player - including 2022 - he has posted a better OPS against right-handed pitching over 821 total plate appearances. Hiura, ignoring his other offensive issues over the years, has enough data points to indicate this is probably not an aberration and should be factored into how he is used and platooned by Counsell. It Was Bound to Happen Brad Boxberger has been one of the stalwarts of the Brewers' bullpen, keeping the team and its low-scoring nature in the game through late innings; given the razor-thin margins the Brewers offense has given their pitching staff, days like today were inevitable. Boxberger entered the game and immediately began handing Pirate hitters BOGO rifle shots: Ben Gamel with a .970 xBA single, Michael Chavis with a .630 xBA double, followed by a Jack Suwinski .400 xBA grounder that was fumbled by Adames behind second base and ruled an error. One Diego Castillo .680 xBA sac fly later, and Boxberger’s day was over, having relinquished the lead to Pittsburgh in the form of a 2-1 score. Brent Suter was called in to clean up the damage with one out and a runner on first. One weak fly to left and another to center later, he had done just that. The Dead Cat Bunt? Chris Stratton came in to close the game for the Pirates and induced a weak fly out of Lorenzo Cain, which prompted Counsell to pinch-hit Christian Yelich. Yelich squared up to bunt on the first pitch, laying a beauty toward third for a single. Wong followed with a sharp grounder past the right-side infielders, sending Yelich to second. Omar Narvaez, the second pinch-hitter of the inning, blooped a single in front of the left fielder, loading the bases. Bringing the game full circle, McCutchen walked the plate. He rifled a line drive right at Pirates' second baseman Josh VanMeter who would only put a fraction of leather on the ball at a full leap, and the Brewers once again had the lead, 3-2. Stratton regained his composure, retiring Adames and Renfroe to stop the bleeding. Hold Onto Your Butts With Josh Hader having pitched in what feels like every Brewers win this season, Counsell had to lean on Devin Williams - always a controversial figure amongst Brewers fans, particularly early in seasons - to step into the closer role. Just as every Brewers fan across the country surely predicted, Williams quickly and effectively struck out the side, and the Brewers got to catch the early flight back home. WPA Heroes: Andrew McCutchen +54.1 (3-4, 1 BB, 1 HR) Freddy Peralta +38.9 (6.0 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 7 SO) WPA Zero: Hunter Renroe -5.4 (0-5, 3 SO, 4 LoB) The Brewers head back to AmFam for a three-game set against the Northsiders. The Cubs will put the infamous TBD on the mound against Adrian Houser as the Brewers try to extend their lead in the National League Central division. View full article

Okay, a bunch of significant changes were made to ad delivery again, they should kick in any time between now and this evening.

K, I'm working on a big project today, will try to take another look at this.

Desktop, right? Because I don't think a mobile header ad exists, at least not for me.

It was a sight we’ve seen all too many times this season across baseball - bad weather, weak bats, fielders standing where the ball is hit - but the Brewers did what they’ve done all season; they scored just enough runs to win while they leaned on their pitching staff to hold onto that lead late. It says something about modern baseball: a game with dual no-hitters going through six innings still required 3:01 to complete in front of a sparsely-attended PNC Park on a cold night in Pittsburgh. Brewers 3, Pirates 1 W: Trevor Gott (1-0) L: Wil Crowe (1-1) S: Josh Hader (10) After a wild 12-8 Brewers win the night before that saw Craig Counsell use five pitchers, he needed a quiet night from young lefty Aaron Ashby, which he received if you only look at runs scored. Ashby struggled with command but was ultimately effective, pitching 5.2 innings while only allowing a single hit and issuing five walks. Opposing Ashby, the Pirates used Dillon Peters as a two-inning opener, followed by Bryse Wilson filling the traditional starter role with a four-inning start. I feel like this isn’t something we’re seeing nearly as often this season after openers became trendy in 2020 and 2021, and I’m entirely okay with that being the case. We need baseball to look more like it was 30 years ago, not less. Through the first two-thirds of the game, the Brewer and Pirate pitching staffs tossed zeroes at each other, allowing no hits until Bryan Reynolds singled on a grounder to Willy Adames with two outs in the sixth. While it may appear the pitching staff of both teams was dialed in, watching the game gave a far different impression as the Brewers walked seven while the Pirates walked four. And the lack of hits was often the result of luck on both sides, not dominant pitching. Before Kolten Wong doubled hard to right field in the sixth for the first Brewer hit, Brewer hitters had made contact on balls with the resulting xBA (expected Batting Average): 930, .670, .550, .420, .480. The number of actual hits? Zero. Thankfully, things finally started to roll in the top of the seventh, with the Pirates holding a 1-0 lead after a shaky fifth inning from Ashby, which saw him exit with two outs in the sixth. Leading off the inning, Christian Yelich pulled a 105.9 mph ground ball past the first baseman against Pirate reliever Wil Crowe. Hunter Renfroe quickly blooped a single to right-center, with Yelich taking third. The Pirates continued their Bad News Bears routine as Tellez smashed a ground ball under the glove of first baseman Yoshi Tsutsugo for a two-base error. Tyrone Taylor kept the ground-pounding going with a liner between short and third. Unfortunately, the all-too-common offensive woes continued after this brief outburst. Omar Narvaez went down on strikes with runners on first and second with no outs. Mike Brosseau hit a relatively weak fielder’s choice, Tellez out at third. Wong, weak pop-fly to the left, inning over. The rally had ended, but the Brewers exited the top of the seventh, carrying a 2-1 lead. The Brewers were able to flip to cruise control for two innings, handing the seventh to Brad Boxberger and the eighth to Devin Williams, neither of which relinquished a hit and had clean innings. Sam Howard took the ball for the top of the ninth for the Pirates and had no feel for… anything. He faced leadoff hitter Rowdy Tellez, whom he promptly hit in the right arm. He walked Narvaez and then walked Brosseau, loading the bases. Kolten Wong was up, ready to extend the Brewers’ lead, which he did… by, you guessed it, walking in a run. It required a questionable check-swing call against Andrew McCutchen for Howard to get out of the inning finally, somehow allowing only one run. I want to say Josh Hader came in, closed the game, grabbed the save, and everyone went home four minutes later, but Hader uncharacteristically struggled with control as well. After a borderline ball four call Ke'Bryan Hayes, Hader continued to run up an excessive pitch count while striking out Dan Vogelbach, Michael Chavis, and Tsutsugo to end the game. A win is a win, but Hader is almost certainly unavailable to close the series after throwing 26 pitches to get through a single inning of work and tomorrow's early lunch-time start. The Crew goes for the sweep on the road with an 11:35 CST start time. Freddy Peralta (RHP) goes against Jose Quintana (LHP). View full article

By the way, I expect to roll out an official dark mode for the site within the next few weeks.

Thanks for the feedback. I’m starting to believe an ad free option might be the best route forward here. I have a site meeting tomorrow and this will be the focus of it.