Jim French Stepstool
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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool
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Ahhh, a Green Knight. Break a leg😁. I never made the big time but we had a pretty good HS choir. We even traveled once to perform in a foreign land---St Louis.
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And Oliver Dunn..........oh wait, they were right about that one🤔.
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I think that pretty much hits it on the head.
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As a 23 & 24-yr-old, Nolan Ryan averaged between 6.5 & 7 walks per nine innings. This isn't to suggest Brandon Sproat is another Nolan Ryan, rather to say that if a HOF pitcher can struggle early in his career, Brandon Sproat certainly can. Personally, I have serious questions as to whether he can get the command & poise under control. But the organization certainly isn't giving up on an arm like his, save for a trade.
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This was actually a terrific night. You found out Brandon Sproat isn't going to help you in October, and it didn't cost you a win to find that out. With a 7-run lead & wanting to give your primary people in the BP (outside of Romero) two days off, I get giving him rope until he walked in a run. But you certainly can argue he should've been pulled after the 3rd walk. It's just painful to see the moment being too big for someone when they have that big of a lead, and it clearly did get too big. Like I said, you found something out while still winning. I'll take this over scaring someone in the 9th & still going home with an L. Sproat will probably be a Nashville Sound next year, and they'll continue to work with him. It's what you do with guys who have an arm like that. I thought, and Murphy mentioned in the presser, that once getting a big lead we put up some lazy ABs. That's something that shouldn't happen, even if the game ended 8-1. Lesson learned, hopefully. Did we ever sweep these guys in a home series & a road one, in the same season?
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I wonder if anyone in the history of the Brewers' organization has received less attention for a 20+HR, 90+RBI season than Luis Castillo?
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I was reminded of this after watching Turang being held at 3rd base last night on the Frelick hit. Third base coaches are a lot like offensive linemen in that you usually just notice them when they screw up. There have been some comings & goings there in the last decade plus, but to me Matt Erickson has quietly been very, very solid. I used to think he was going to have a career as a 'good soldier' w/o ever coaching at the MLB level. Great to see him doing a nice job in the show.
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Sproat, Romero & Uribe are certainly the three out of the chute this evening if need be. I hadn't heard anything about the pitching matchups for this weekend, but Drohan could also be available tonite if they wanted to go that way. He's had four days off & if they go May & Harrison in the next two you could easily pitch Gasser Sunday. The caveat is you'd need to have some length ready behind Harrison. But w/a day off tomorrow the pen actually looks to be OK right now.
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Some of that footage of Counsell yesterday & today late in the games was absolutely priceless.
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I remember feeling good for Money when the team reached the WS in 1982. A solid veteran who spent five years with the team BEFORE they even had their first winning season. Played all four INF positions here, & played 'em all really well.
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So much to gush about in this one, maybe the most fun, unlikely, exhiliarating win of the year. I'll mention some stuff that hides in the margins (comparatively): Yelich extending the game to get to Chourio after falling behind 0-2 & then refusing to chase. Second day in a row he's done that. Hamilton keeping the tag on Suzuki, on a play where some guys might've just swiped & not gotten the out. D L Hall looking like dammit, he might actually be for real. After the winning hit, the first guy to bear hug Lara was Sal Frelick.........just raw positive emotion towards someone who's going to be cutting into his PT. That's why you gotta love this group. IMO, Misiorowski needs to get back to putting the secondary stuff at the knees or below, when he does go to it. That wasn't happening early on. He DID rely more on the FB than his last couple-few times out, which I liked. Not real concerned about Megill just yet. A guy having an MVP-type season got to him yesterday, and today there was an INF hit mixed in, along with a K that wasn't a K due to our Challenge Incinerator. Let's face it, this is a team that can touch you up. Let's see how he looks vs Cincy. A wonderful night, after all 😁.
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I Remember BJ Surhoff doing that w/the bases loaded to walk someone off once about 700 years ago.
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That's the first thing I checked; pitch count. Ninety-four. Astounding. And to do it on a day when there were hardly any other MILB games. Center stage!!!!
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Recency can be a b****. Let's let the last seventeen games play out for May, for Harrison. Hell, even for Sproat, before declaring what they should or shouldn't do in a 3rd playoff game.
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That's the Achilles heel right now for him. He shows all the qualities of someone who can consistently put up pain-in-the-arse (for opposing pitchers) ABs but it's intermittent, sometimes within the same trip to the plate. Just watching him, I have a lot of confidence that aspect of his game will only get better---which is exciting because it ain't all that bad now at age 21. Just kinda comes & goes. Frelick still has a role here & will get on the field some, but in the 1B-RF dynamic with him, Lara, Vaughn & Bauers Lara certainly is ahead of Frelick.
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Actually it was tied when Ashby came in but yeah, he made the right moves. Not much by way of options AFA Patrick in the middle innings (Sproat?), but he went to him instead of hoping for Gasser to get the 3rd out. I don't think he normally would've gone to Uribe down one, but he was sort of out of options today after the last two games in Cincinnati. Fortunately Uribe only had one very short outing in the last 4-5 days.
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Chourio had the huge hit, but that bottom of the 8th was about so much more. Ortiz with a magnificent AB, beginning to end. Yelich, clean out of nowhere, suddenly executes some terrific takes to get to 3-1. And Bauers goes from 0-2 to a walk, setting up the sac fly. Memo to Lara.....when an opposing pitcher is hanging himself, DO NOT cut the noose for him. I'm sure he'll learn. Two short ones for Gasser, but both looked promising. I think Lara is benefitting from a lot of reps. He's made some circus catches w/o necessarily taking great routes or being fundamentally sound. But the one in the 9th was textbook. Serious talent, he & Pratt both. Lara & Ortiz getting a lions' share of PT from here on out is a no-brainer. Still I can't wait until the first game one of them isn't in the lineup. I'll know because I'll see smoke coming from my device😄. But yeah, they've earned it.
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Once the smoke clears in the upcoming negotiations, I wouldn't be surprised if you see a 14th pitcher added to rosters, maybe even some sort of a taxi squad situation. That might alleviate some of the "fake IL" moves, FWIW.
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At this stage in his career there are certain pitchers that I think Lara should be steered clear of. Other than that I agree 100%.
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I'm nowhere close to being a Fickell supporter. But IMO Don Morton was much, much worse.
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Big, big, big time.
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Going by NIL money alone is awfully simplistic (although it's obviously a factor). I think the transfer portal & allowing people to leave every year w/no repercussions is huge. For over 35 years this has been a developmental program. Now it pretty much can't be. There are exceptions, but in large part any skill improvement you accomplish is just as apt to help the next program the guy jumps to as your own. I think that's affected UW more than others. Of course I'm talking big picture here; not for one second do I believe we have a bunch of 'coach 'em up, make everyone better' coaches on this staff. And along with the many years of winning, a lot of fans particularly enjoyed that aspect of the program, how kids develop, wait their turn, maybe show something on special teams & after 4-5 years you look back & found that you experienced something that you really enjoyed seeing unfold & being emotionally invested in (not to mention financially through season tix, bowl game trips, etc). Barring a miracle that isn't coming back. And it's created a rather large contingent of fans who are much more apathetic.
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Yeah, for awhile now he's been viewed as someone who's only as good as the guys surrounding him. And the merry-go-round AFA assistants are concerned since he's been here has been painful to watch. When you compare it to the job Alvarez did of assembling a staff.......night & day. I actually thought Jeff Grimes' gameplan & calls today weren't bad, considering the mismatch up front.
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With the new AD, I think the chances of him getting canned are pretty high. But to get canned in-season is something else. Looking at the sked, after Penn State you have MSU, UCLA & USC with 2 of those 3 at home. Cratering during that stretch after what should be a 2-2 record going into it just might do it.
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If the season proves that Notre Dame (and Carr) is as good as the pundits say then there are things to build on, and it was no surprise that the superior depth & strength won out after halftime. ND found some things in the secondary to expose, but really it wasn't much more than their offensive line being "persuaded" to take control of a UW defensive front that isn't at the level of the LBs & secondary. Joseph is clearly an improvement over the last handful of years at QB & it's not particularly close. But at this level he'll need more help than this O-line can give him, at least than they gave him today. MAYBE if Mandell makes it back & is truly healthy it can make a difference down the road. Again, if the 'experts' are correct this is the best team on their sked (although you still have to match the physicality of a PSU or Iowa for 4 quarters). I thought Sama ran the ball fairly well but again, if the guys up front don't get better as the season unfolds he'll take a healthy beating & it'll wear on him after several weeks. And the receivers collectively had some pretty sticky hands on some balls that in the past would be dropped. IMO both kickers were pretty good to very good.
