Jim French Stepstool
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Everything posted by Jim French Stepstool
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After Michigan, I thought we might.......not match the physicality of Iowa, but be a little more pugnacious at home w/the Saturday night homecoming crowd. But it was a total mismatch up front. The challenge for opponents going forward might be to figure out how FEW they have to put in the box & still not have to worry about a running game. Not that it makes a difference in the outcomes, but they really seem to miss Zachman on the back end, too. The late-80s unis were painfully appropriate. I half expected Sean Wilson to come in off the bench to take a few snaps, roll out & gain a half yard.
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MAYBE Priester?
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I really thought the move was to send Patrick out to warm up for the 8th, let them bring in the PH, then Koenig. Then Uribe. But this was OK, too. Savor the moment, everyone.
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Think I need to go party. First, a little ditty: "Hey Craig Counsell, whaddya say, Your next games' several months away"
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Good rundown. After competing pretty well from a physical standpoint last week until wearing down a bit, I think this is a good followup game. The biggest challenge remains trying to run the ball at least well enough to make Iowa honor it; otherwise they'll be relegated to bad down-and-distance & most likely won't have time to allow the longer patterns to develop. Maybe the most impressive thing they did last week was limit mistakes. That will have to continue in what I agree should be a low-scoring game. Maybe a sense of urgency too, in what the coaches would never admit publicly but what might be their best chance to win a game for awhile.
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As was Longo as an OC.
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I remember once reading about Yogi Berra talking to a young player about hitting. He started talking about his hands & his feet & this and that, and the kid got more & more confused. Finally Berra just walked into the cage & said "Ahh, just watch me do it". Carew is a great example. OTOH, while his philosophy would make todays' players cringe Charlie Lau was a very successful hitting coach with KC in the 70s after a thoroughly average career.
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The first time I heard the idea of #5 being a possibility I just shook my head. In a series-deciding game, at home, I don't care what has or hasn't happened in the last week, or the last few days. Selling off part of your season or partial-season pass to foot the bill is one thing. Today? I'd like to have a higher opinion of Brewer fans than that.
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- pat murphy
- jackson chourio
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He's definitely trying to go to RF. It's been a LONNNNG time since he's hit something hard to the pull side. His bat HAS been slow. Balls to the left side are jam shots & as you said, late on balls oppo. IMO he should keep the RF attitude but make better swing decisions. As to the article, I was 100% behind the bunt decision with Yelich & Chourio due up next, especially given how much time was left in the game. Tonite it might be different depending on the situation & who's available on the bench.
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OMG, I read @Frisbee Slider's post & immediately thought of that scene. Then three secs later I see this. Well done!!!!
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If it's close, you kind of have to hold someone back just in case. No ghost runner; you might have to cover 5-6 innings. We KNOW Megill is opening, we know Uribe can go more than one. I think you're right that Miz is going to work tonite, and if he's off Patrick might be next. But you have three LHPs available as well. Priester could also be the guy held back.
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You just KNEW there was going to be something surprising personnel-wise, where you could turn the roster inside-out, consider every possible idea, then something still happens that you didn't expect (at least I didn't). It makes sense as long as he throws strikes. You now have 3 LHPs available for later, and Uribe can certainly go more than one inning if needed. Either Patrick or Miz held back in case of extras?
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They'll still have Thielbar for later, but this is a pretty good point.
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If you DO load up on RHH in the opening inning (I don't think they will), IMO one of them needs to be someone you can swap in a LHH for otherwise it's somewhat of an advantage for them when they go with a RHP in the middle/late innings. That would probably mean something like Monasterio, then Turang subbing in. You could just bite the Pomeranz bullet & hit Frelick 2nd after Chourio, then probably Contreras. But I suspect Yelich will hit 2nd. About a 97-win season being 'meaningless' if they don't advance---I suppose that's the residual effect of the evolution (deterioration?) of sports with the advent of multiple rounds of playoffs. Given the money to be made it was inevitable. But by its' very nature & by the length of the season, baseball is the best game for which the regular season should carry the most weight. Byes & home field help to some extent, but IMO it goes against the essence of the game to have twelve teams make the postseason. Of course it won't change back. And of course I'm making myself sound like a 93-yr-old. But here we are--a 97 win season would be meaningless to some with a loss today. I just think that's unfortunate.
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He addressed it recently. I don't remember how he worded it, but it had to do with the idea of getting him the extra AB. It works with Ohtani, but the bottom three spots in their order get on just a little more often than ours.
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99% sure Gasser has thrown his last game in 2025. If they advance I'd expect to see Myers added unless there's an unexpected bump in Woodruffs' recovery. Wouldn't mind Ashby, but I would lean toward Quintana as well.
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Yeah. People are upset about not scoring like we did in the first two games--or even close to that--but to me falling behind early is at least as big of a problem if not bigger. Bauers can play a corner adequately, but there's something to be said for having him ready on the bench to be inserted in a key spot. If we don't figure out the 1st inning thing there might not BE a key spot. Frelick can play CF but not at the level of Perkins, so if he's playing there you're weakening yourself in CF AND RF. And I doubt Chourio in CF right now would be a good idea. That said it wouldn't shock me if there's something different rolled out Saturday, good idea or not. But this whole thing gets magnified when you're down three right away. Put up a zero in the 1st, roll out the lineup from game one & two, and just breathe for crying out loud.
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Great point re Hoerner. Even during the regular season I didn't like the way we pitched him. For two games now, they've been the aggressor on the mound while we seem to take 6 or 7 hitters to make the same determination. Early HRs play a part in that of course, but vs this team reacting by nibbling is never the right response. AFA the offense is concerned, the balance you mentioned is key. It doesn't take much for hitters to go into 'I have to get us out of this' mode & I think that's affected some of them. It can quickly turn Yelich, for example, from a dangerous hitter to a downright liability. Swing-decision wise, Collins hasn't looked like himself for awhile. I don't think Frelick has been horrible but a couple ball-strike calls have affected him, I think. And Turang, geez. I'd love for whoever has been wearing his uniform to give it back to the real Brice. Stringing together good ABs is always a challenge. But even in game two, the long balls came (twice) with 2 runners on, otherwise it's tight late. This 'woodpecker' thing isn't a constant, it needs to be re-committed to every day.
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That's pretty good. It would be even better if he included "And find a way to get our DH to stop chasing breaking balls out of the zone".
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Not sure when we see him, but I think Miz pitches at some point & should go for as long as he can be effective. I'd have a LH open as well. And I'd like it to be Quintana so Ashby can be available for the mid-portion. And I'd agree that Patrick is almost certain to work. Not sure about Uribe for only one inning. If ever there was a game to ride him hard this is it, and he's extremely well-rested.
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I'm not in the medical profession. But a longtime friend who now is a Red Cross director did one of his clinicals years ago relating to afflictions of the mind. I get the despondency, but sports fans can be interesting test cases, to say the least. Many take the leap of actually believing that they 'knew' something bad was going to happen beforehand, which is obviously nonsense. I'd say it's a defense mechanism. Maybe not textbook, but........ But back to baseball. Like in 2011, they're returning home tied after going up 2-0 & need to play better than they played in Chicago. No momentum. Chicago also had none, but found a way to turn things around at home. We need to do the same.
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He adjusted the batting order in game three vs a RHP after facing lefties in the first two. He's done that numerous times during a season in which they won 97 games, and it was often successful. The red lights were including Lockridge in that game, and not reverting to the games 1 & 2 BO in game four. He spread out the LHH. I understand the idea behind that, but it didn't work. So that can certainly be criticized.
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It looked obvious from late in the season that Lockridge would be added, due in large part to the ? regarding Chourio & the hammy and probably fueled by Collins turning in some downright horrible defensive play late in the season, along with the ability to PR. Definitely, he hasn't contributed. But there weren't many other options. They didn't put much effort into getting Hoskins more ABs late in the year, so I don't think they ever considered him much of an option. His #s were OK in Nashville. That might prove to be a mistake. After that, they took a look at Urias in AAA, and Tyler Black was probably considered. Siegler would've been an INF version of Lockridge. Slim pickings.
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In situations like that you're right, it isn't as consequential if he doesn't reach. I just have a hard time lumping a twelve-pitch AB someone puts up, with one where you're totally overmatched or chase three pitches & sit down or whatever. I thought what he did was impressive despite the result.
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Ortiz was 'kept in' because at that time Murphy would've been happy with making it a one-run game, and Ortiz was more than capable of advancing the runners into scoring position w/one out & two of the better hitters on the team looming. No one is 'in over his head', except apparently Yelich in the following AB. Check around. You seldom if ever see a manager make moves like that in the fifth inning, when you have the same spots in the order coming around again in a couple innings & you only have four or five position players, and only one of them a MINF. It may have been part of the reason Vaughn was held back until the 9th inning in game 3. The A's did that in the 70s. they had three or four guys who could play 2B, none of them particularly good hitters, and would often PH for them. But that was when you had seven position players on your bench. Usually the only early moves these days are when you more-or-less script it, like Counsell the other day when he waited for a RHP so he could then insert Busch.
