Jim French Stepstool

That's a memory of the '23 season I'll always remember. Got swept---at home---by a terrible A's team, and swept the eventual WS champs on the road. However we fare in the PS, these last three games won't have anything to do with it one way or another, frustrating as they were.

This was the series of the one ugly inning. Today the bottom of the 3rd. Texas only scored two but it really set the tone for the rest of the game. Peralta gets the 1st out, then gives up what was at the time a 'no big deal' single to left. What made it a bigger deal was he follows it w/back-to-back walks, then later the balk. Some good takes mixed in with a few of the well-known uncompetitive pitches. The type of sequence you hoped was behind him for good, but not today. Hard to find a lot of fault with the offense today & yesterday, save for a big hit or two at the right time. Can't complain too much with 22 hits or whatever it was the last two days. Yelich continues to amaze me though. Hits 3-4 balls hard yesterday, hits a screamer today in the 1st, then looks mostly lost in his final three ABs. Had an AB where he K'd on four pitches, none of them strikes. Just strange. BP is in good shape, all things considered. It's to the point where you wanted Koenig & Uribe used today if there was a lead. One last thing-----it would've been nice this week if Bochy had mentioned to us that he was going to have Willie Mays playing CF & hitting 9th.

I mentioned the other day how I thought this would be a good day to sit Contreras. I wasn't confident that it would actually happen, though. Maybe, just maybe Perkins is emerging a litte bit given his last handful of ABs.

If by 'moving forward' you mean '26 then I agree. Right now he clearly has folks ahead of him. He's shown the ability to adapt, add a pitch, which is certainly a plus.

Strange game. Obviously nothing wrong with the quality of the ABs. But even beyond that you look at the Texas lineup & feel there isn't a whole lot that can hurt you, and except for a stretch of 5-6 ABs in one inning, that's exactly how it played out. And a large portion of that stretch came vs a pitcher (Ashby) who's been hot. Very odd. If I tried to find someone to beef about I guess it would be Patrick. You could put together a highlight reel of his outing & make it look like he was dominant; he mixed the FB in with the other stuff really well. Yet, three walks in 4.1 innings---and none of them were vs people or situations where you'd be pitching around someone. And two of them scored. He does things that make you glad you have him as organizational depth, but also does things that make it clear why there are others ahead of him. Maybe overanxious in his 1st AB back, but Hoskins didn't exactly endear me swinging at ball four w/a man already on & Turang due up vs a RHP.

When I was in Milwaukee for the NCAA games in '14, I walked over to the Oregon fan section before their 1st round game, pointed out to the floor while the team was warming up & exclaimed "Hey, look!!!!! It's the Nike test lab!!!!!" Then left, quickly.

It's good to see the defense get off to a nice start before being challenged more in the weeks to come. They'll have to most of the heavy lifting. I don't know how much of a difference Heywood would've made at tackle, but throwing Heinzen out there in week 1, him looking totally lost & then moving pretty much all the OL chairs around btwn weeks 1 & 2 is very disconcerting. Renfroe has to be out there, needless to say. WRs have looked good, and a couple of the young TEs have surprised. I'm just not optimistic there will be sufficient time to get them the ball except for the ineffective dink & dunk stuff we saw under Longo, and w/o a run game & facing better LBs, corners & safeties than we've seen the first two weeks it'll be tough to solve. O'Neil can tuck it & run some, and I believe Edwards is supposed to be able to do that as well. I just don't know how wise it is for that to be happening much.

Good points, although for the remainder of the season I don't see defenses NEEDING to load up on the run to stop it. I think the RB talent appears adequate but they'll need to be much more than that to generate any kind of a consistent threat behind this line. Obviously need Renfroe healthy, but even then..........

In the case of a bye I'm sure they'll do some live game simulation stuff, just without all of us nosy fans poking around. When the strike in '81 ended they actually did an intrasquad game at County Stadium as part of their startup. They opened the doors for it, I went & found it mildly entertaining. Coaches don't seem to like umpiring though.

Yes.

Agree with all of this, especially the first part.

Watching Latz, he reminded me a little of a LH Brandon Woodruff, when Woodruffs' been on point this season. Locating his breaking stuff & changeup pretty much exactly where he wants, keeping you not quite certain of what he's throwing & when, seldom behind in the count. And all that stuff makes 93-94 much more effective than you'd think. He was very good, as was Quintana for the vast majority of the game. The HR by their kid gave me a flashback to the Ortiz GS in New York----didn't try to do too much, just got a mistake & barreled it. Other than that the ball didn't seem to be carrying all that well for either side. Nice to get an entire day off for the 'pen as I'm guessing Rodriguez will be leaving. Unless a LHP is throwing in the series finale I think that would be a good day to tie Contreras to the water cooler & force him to take a day off, giving him two w/the team day Thursday. Just feels like a good idea to me.

Texas trots Pederson out there even vs LHP? I know they're down a few bats, but that surprises me if true.

Yoho looks like he's straightened things out. It would be wise for him to keep getting regular work, and I don't know if he'd get that in Milwaukee at this point. I was surprised to see Fedde throwing in the BP Sunday after working the day before as I doubt he's used to that kind of schedule, but I think Murphy likes that he's been through the wars & throws strikes. And now Anderson is back. Some unfortunate stuff would have to happen for Yoho to be on a PS roster anyway, and like @tmwiese55mentioned, he can come back sooner now if needed. Fedde, Payamps, Anderson.......Yoho has more upside than all of them. But rosters are seldom about who the best 26 guys are.

Background behind the OF seats second to none, with I guess the possible exception of the water behind RF in Frisco.

I was thinking the same thing. I believe they said it was Pitts' longest AB of the game. Right at the end of his outing. Murphys' Law.

I know how you feel. Maybe my favorite of all time was in 2019. They made the splashy deal to bring over Kimbrel, he comes in for the save, Braun greets him with a HR. Then a walk. Then Huira homers to end the game. I also get a particular joy out of the way the division wound up last year, and is about to wind up this year, after a certain managerial change they made.

He also changed his foot location on the rubber & scrapped one breaking pitch for another. There's a real nice piece on that somewhere on this site.

I was as surprised as anyone to see Misiorowski come out for the 7th. But a large part of what goes into that is the stress level as well as the pitch count, and his stress level was pretty much nonexistent after the walks to open the 1st. If he can start out ABs with curveballs for strikes like he did today, good luck. Very enjoyable to watch. A hidden nugget today-----Caleb Durbin rarely strikes out, and Ks three times while going 0-5 while playing his 4th game in a row. Is that a coincidence, or did his mental sharpness at the plate dwindle just a touch today in a four-game grind while going through his first major league season? Do the daily lineups actually get made out for good reasons that we aren't always privy too? Not a great day at the plate for Perkins, but a step forward. Good to see. And a terrific approach all day for Vaughn. Loved the way Yoho looked. But in fairness, holy cow Cruz looked like mentally he was already taking a shower. Impressive weekend.

The BP looks to be in great shape from the left side. It'll be interesting to see what's done when a RH is needed in the 6th-7th-8th.

I think one of the best stories in the organization in '25 is the way Burke has performed since advancing to AA, along with Made hitting the ground running w/the bat at Wisconsin.

1) It's important as things stand right now for Hoskins to get ABs, and for Bauers to not get totally buried because he may well be on the PS roster. One could certainly argue that Hoskins should be the one here, With Bauers getting the ABs in Nashville. It might be the fact that Hoskins & Vaughn have such a similar profile, while Bauers can provide the PR & better defense. Once the PS begins, you have more bench pieces & the redundancy btwn Hoskins & Vaughn isn't as drastic of a factor. 2) I don't think Seigler provides much of anything Bauers doesn't other than the ability to play 3B. I think the only way they're both on the PS roster is if for whatever reason they aren't impressed with Urias this week in N'ville. As for now I don't know, I assume they're more comfortable with two 2B-SS-3B on the bench. If so, that's certainly debatable. But Durbin has done more than anyone expected. Maybe, just maybe his not being run out there every day has something to do with it. IF Yelich gets IL'ed I'd be shocked if Hoskins doesn't immediately return. 3) I agree. They must feel he's getting sufficient ABs/work in AAA. I think the huge similarity btwn Hoskins & Vaughn is playing a role here. If Hoskins hit LH, had the baserunning acumen of Bauers & fielded like Todd Helton it would be an easy call. But it's tougher, and thus open to legitimate questions. Yours are good ones, as usual😉. One way or another, I agree Hoskins will return in a few days.

Great point. I wouldn't have a big problem with it being Uribe, but part of that equation would be Megill pitching the 8th, or 7th. It SHOULD'NT be an issue, but relievers can be strange birds. Megill HAS only given up one earnie in his last four games, with 7 Ks & one BB. Bring him back healthy, and it's a nice situation to have.

Well done. Another word to put on the BF mantel, next to 'cromulent'.

I'll try. Mind you, I'm looking at this through the prism of the organization. In the postseason you'll have Vaughn & Hoskins. They both need to be PR for if it's a late-inning important run. That will probably be Bauers because you may also want to hit for Ortiz & don't want to burn Monasterio. You could also use Siegler as the PR but I think they're far from certain he'll be on the PS roster. That's why they signed Urias. If Urias IS on the roster, he really isn't a good PR candidate from what I remember when he was here. Perkins can do it, but as tonite showed he may be a late-inning guy for Collins with Chourio moving to LF. Also, Bauers may be a defensive sub late, especially for Hoskins. He also might be a choice for a PH appearance. Not because he's any good, but just because Murphy wants to see how many Brewerfan members he can get to jump off a bridge. I'm not a huge Bauers fan, but I recognize situations where he might be beneficial, and with PS rosters being what they are you can carry someone like that. If Tyler Black was having a better season it would maybe be him. And if you needed to carry 13 pitchers in the PS Bauers' chances would be slim & none to be carried.