Jim French Stepstool

Actually if they win tomorrow, they'd have the tiebreaker against us. 😄Problem is, they're so far back from 1st place they can't see it due to the curveture of the earth. If they win the season series & PJ Fleck was their manager, they'd put up a banner stating it.

Lauer starting tomorrow. No corresponding move announced (that I know of). It's such a privilege to watch a moment that you know the guy involved will never forget for the rest of his life. Fantastic.

2-0 swing by Caratini leading off the 3rd. Then a 2-0 swing by Turang for the 2nd out. Then 1st -ball swinging comebacker by Contreras for the 3rd out. They have a bullpen that's seen a lot of use, but apparently we want Hendricks to go 8-and-a-third tonight.

Can you imagine the mindset in the Mets clubhouse right now? Disappointing season, can't wait for the final out on Sunday so they can get outta town, and now they may have to stick around until Monday to finish 1 inning...........or, tie up the game & play another 1, 2,or 3. Are the starters from Saturday & Sunday allowed to leave early & get a jump on everyone else? Cardboard cutouts in the stands?😄

It could be tonight, but my guess is Saturday. I could see all your primary BP guys get one inning that day. Then two days off, then playoffs. Also hoping Peguero is good to go when his IL stint ends.

We're talking about a guy who hit relatively close to .300 who has also reached base OVER 100 times in ways other than collecting base hits, with an impressive # of extra base hits to boot. That's kind of incredible. Can't tell you how big a sigh of relief I felt when he remained here over the last two trade deadlines. Still, he hit a little speed bump when he went to AAA. I haven't really thought about him coming to Milwaukee once we got deeper into September & he stayed put.

So after facing Elder on Tuesday, in the rest of their crucial, must-win week they face Darius Vines, AJ Smith-Shawver, Colin Rea, "I don't know" (it looks like Boushley), and then Adrian Houser. That would make it that much sweeter if they fall short.

That would be me. Look at his #s at the major league level. It's something I feel will keep him from being a true difference-maker if he doesn't clean it up. He also hardly ever drew walks, which can be a real roadblock to reaching your full potential when you run the way he does. So today he comes to the plate three times & walks twice, which really impressed me (the double wasn't bad, either😁). I hope the way he took ownership of his ABs today is a sign of things to come.

I'd much rather see Woodruff & Peralta go Friday & Saturday and limit their pitch counts. We'll see how they play it.

I'd be surprised. But it's an idea that has some merit. If Mitchell would be mostly a PR, yeah, he has more speed than Wiemer, but Wiemer is more than fast enough to fill that role. And regardless of his struggles in the 2nd half he would be a better bet vs a LHP than Mitchell. The roster decisions are probably coming down to who their opponent is next week, as you alluded to.

Me too. I thought signing him was a great idea, and for the first month or two it certainly was. He wasn't good enough to sustain that but I never expected him to fall off a cliff offensively the way he did. And when he played regularly the glove was a huge asset; it won them games. Not an easy call, but I'd have given him a razor-thin edge over Mitchell for a roster spot right now.

I know their last week was meaningless AFA their playoff chances were concerned. But can you imagine a AAA OF consisting of Chourio, Mitchell & Wiemer? It'd be like they were playing a 4-man OF.

Expect pre-scheduled BP usage & scripted pitch counts over the next 4 days, regardless of situation. Even if Chafin was pitching well, there's no way you'd normally bring him in with a one-run lead & three RHH due up. Williams was probably pitching the ninth regardless of the situation, too. I have a feeling Small follows Burnes tomorrow.

When we've scored runs, we draw walks, grind out the ABs, foul off tough pitches w/two strikes, run up the pitch count, etc. I have zero problem with taking a 1st pitch strike, especially when there's no one on base. What DOES bother me is when I have to listen to how "(fill in the blank) is really throwing well tonight against us", and I look at the pitch count & he's at 37 pitches in the 4th inning. I hope to see a reset of the quality of the at-bats starting tonite, even with the lineup turned in. Also hoping it's the regular turn for Burnes, Woodruff & Peralta starting Thursday, w/a cap on the pitch count. Throw Williams tonite & Saturday, regardless of the situation. Anyone else impressed with Richie Palacios? Looks like the birds may have found something there.

😫STOP BEING LEVEL-HEADED😫!!!! I think I mentioned this once before in one of Chafins' outings, but in this most recent one he actually threw some pretty good 0-2 & 1-2 pitches. Problem was he was never at 0-2 or 1-2. Once he started facing RHH he became ultra-careful with a man/men on base. Where he caused himself problems was in falling behind & walking Nootbar. That can't happen.

A lot of this boils down to how CC feels about Houser/Miley working out of the pen. I'm sure Miley could do it once in a 3-game set, which would most likely bump Chafin. If both, then you have Megill/Wilson in a perilous position for a roster spot assuming Peguero returns. I didn't see Mitchell being added but a lot of you do, and I must admit his being in Milwaukee this week is sort of telling.

My wife has family in the Boston area, so maybe someday. Sounds like you went at a good time for avoiding a lot of humanity. Thanks for a very helpful report.

Yahoo.com/lifestyle. Sigh. Probably the only way that they know who Josh Donaldson is, is that he used to play in New York.

I thought Chourio would hold his own this last week, and obviously he has. But what I particularly liked was he gets promoted & shows no inclination to letting the moment get too big for him. Twenty-four PAs. One strikeout. There are gonna be mucho eyeballs on him & Black in March (to name only a couple). Joseph, thanks for the Myers info. Finishing up his season with 24 Ks in his last 14.1 innings should make him sleep REALLY well.

One 1st down away from winning. I think OSU is pretty clearly behind Michigan, and I could see them losing to Penn State, even in Columbus.

The East is overall better than the West. That's no surprise. But one of the hallmarks of OSU, when they put up video game numbers on opponents over the years, was talented QBs who could also beat you with their legs. The kid they have now isn't bad given his inexperience but not at that level.

I think the jury is still out on Tressels' defense. Certainly the tackling is ugly & needs to get much better. What I believe is a pretty good LB corps did not look good at all today. Purdue changed the spacing in the 2nd half, attacked well, and it took us a little over a quarter to figure it out. I do see some play-making ability among the paucity of fundamentals. Hallmans' INT was admittedly on a pretty bad ball, but he broke off his man & read the play really well. Darien Varner finally saw the field & made an impact in the D-line. Once Mullens returns there may actually be a little bit of depth, which would be much welcomed. The offensive line mistakes just want you to tear your hair out. So sad what happened to Mellusi. I think Jackson Acker can be adequate in relief of Allen, but obviously you take a big hit there. And there's a big dropoff after Acker. Maybe when Nowakowski returns he flips back over to the offensive backfield. Not sure if Purdue got screwed on 1 or 2 of the interference non-calls, but all I know is it was refreshing to watch a college football game where flags weren't thrown every time a DB breathed heavy. I was curious to see what would happen with this offense when protecting a one-or-two score lead in the 4th quarter of a game. Finally found out today. I'd give them an F, but only because there is no lower grade to give them. Even if we insist on mixing in the throws, to snap the ball with 15-25 seconds left on the play clock is just idiotic. I would say we gave Purdue an extra 1:30 to 2 minutes, at least. Kicking game looks to be in good hands. But Mr Van Dyke, please just aim for the middle of the damn end zone when the wind is at your back. After getting better each week, I didn't think Mordecai could continue the uptick, in a B10 road game. I was wrong.

So, yesterday Kon Kneuppel chose Duke. I was a bit surprised, not that I was overly confident about him going to UW (they had a legitimate shot but it was far from a given), but I felt his #1 choice if he decided to go away from home was Virginia. There's a pretty good relationship there between his family & the extended Bennett clan. Blue bloods swoop in late all the time & cherry-pick, he just didn't strike me as the type of kid who would be swayed late in the process. Their list of offers & kids they're considering offering is still an impressive one, with a legitimate shot at all but 1 or 2, IMO.

In your opinion (since you met the guy), which one is the phony?

This would be much more easily attainable under the old September roster callup rules. Hard to water down a lineup now, outside of giving Anderson his first start since dinosaurs roamed the earth.