Jim French Stepstool

I've been wondering if we see Musgrove tonight.

Kinda my point, as mentioned above. It IS hard, especially in the post-season, and I think Murphy feels Vaughn is better equipped than anyone on the roster to come in & get it done. I'd have zero problem with him getting multiple ABs, but he's had 2 PH opps in this series---a base hit, and a flyout vs Miller where I thought he worked the AB well & just got under a pitch. Maybe it's short-sheeting the guy, but I'd much rather have Vaughn available late to hit than Hamilton, Lara or God forbid Mitchell when he isn't picking up the ball. When he's right, I think Bauers would be very good in that role also. But Bauers trumps Vaughn defensively.

I think part of it might be that Murphy feels Vaughn is the type of hitter who can come into a game cold & put up a good AB, moreso than whoever else might be on the bench if he was in the lineup. And that can be vitally important right now. Notice I said PART OF IT. In a perfect world He & Bauers could handle 1B-DH, but as you mentioned Yelich can't play the OF.

Yeah, it's hamstrung them pretty much all season. For a team that loves to utilize versatility it's impressive they've been able to have that successful of a season.

"When he's good, he's really, really good. And when he's bad............." No one epitomizes that line more than Garrett Mitchell. I don't know if he'll sit with a RHP going for SD but I agree it's a worthy thought.

I think our overall feelings re May are similar. I'm just saying he didn't cost us the game yesterday, any more than the runners left on base or the unfortunate error from Pratt. He left, and shortly afterward it was a 2-2 game. Outside of the game in Cincinnati before the rains came & maybe one other one, he hasn't been impressive. I just don't think he's public enemy #1 for the loss last night. If they can get through the rest of the post-season without having to count on him that would be great. If they advance IMO Gasser, Drohan & Harrison are all better matches for LA so there's that.

The clincher. @sveumrulesused to talk about sequencing. You can call it that, you can call it clutch hitting, whatever. Bottom line, the Brewers had eleven hits & drew four walks. You can't do that & only score three runs w/o your opponent playing some solid & timely defense. Ks figure into that too, and Bauers & Mitchell were the obvious culprits tonite in that area.

I was shocked that he wasn't used for the 9th. My guess is King talked Stammen into going two innings, which led to him being able to hold Morejon back for tomorrow. Joe Musgrove, who I believe has pitched once in the last two years, might get used tomorrow. Just a feeling.

My biggest issue with him tonight was swinging at STRIKES, and not putting them in play. But yeah, he took a couple down the pipe, too.

I think Bauers is somewhat overrated defensively as a 1B, but I'll take him over Vaughn at 1B every day. That doesn't mean you never start Vaughn there, but I really don't think you're going to see him over Bauers tomorrow vs Buehler. Usually on this team, "--------- needs to be better for us, I still believe in him", trumps "-------sucks, I'm getting him out of there!!!!" And it works more often than not.

Yep. We had a # of base hits tonite where the ball wasn't 'lifted', but was hit hard.

Please don't tell me starting Vaughn at 3B has been brought up.

Quite possibly, yeah.

Cooper Pratt---he was poor in his 1st playoff game Saturday, much better Sunday, and I thought played like a veteran today. His ABs were first rate. As for the error, I saw a side view & he definitely had his lower half all off-kilter on the throw due to the bat coming at him. It's a shame because it wasn't close to hitting him; just an instinctive thing. Even then, if it doesn't hit the seam it probably at least gets smothered by Bauers, holding Bogaerts at third. Certainly an E-6 but a tough break. I don't have much stomach for ripping on May. He threw a way-too-good 1-2 pitch to Taylor leading off the 3rd; should've been at or above the top of the zone. That cost him a run eventually. My only other bugaboo with him was we got him a run & he went out & threw 5 balls to start the next inning, but they didn't score thanks to Romero. He didn't put us in a situation where we were severely underwater, which I think we all would've signed up for. Before the series I mentioned that I thought Garrett Mitchell could be a conduit in the post-season or an albatross. The full story hasn't been written yet but he couldn't have been worse tonight. I'm sure Bauers received plenty of guff in this thread, and rightfully so. But at least they pitched Bauers really well. He still had a bad night but they gave him very little & IIRC outside of one AB they were ahead of him all night. OTOH, it made no difference with Mitchell tonite---get ahead in the count, fall behind, on the edge, right down the middle---he was missing everything. It was a tough call, but I'd have wanted Hamilton to try to steal in the 8th & if he doesn't make it so be it, then Chourio leads off the 9th. But I can see both sides of that one. Yelich is seeing the ball right now. If he liked the first pitch there, I'm fine with him swinging. Always a chance you'll find a hole going that way; just not this time. I think it should be understood now why he & Frelick are being relied on. As our old friend who is now cashing checks in Chicago used to say, the "next hit". 3-4 Chances for that & came up empty.

it's possible he's onward & upward. His HC job was at Grand Valley State & he's at an age (51) where it's not out of the question that other schools might single him out. I suppose the title he has could indicate that UW wants to tie him up, especially if the pay is commensurate. I haven't followed recruiting responsibilities on this staff in recent years, but if like you said he brought these LBs in as well as coaching them up then you gotta make a serious play to keep him.