RyDogg66

Ahh, I don't think the batting order is switched around at all. Our batting order is 1. CF 2. SS 3. 2b 4. LF 5. 1b 6. 3b 7. RF 8. C You can stick the names wherever you want, but that right there is our set batting order, for the season.

I like that starting lineup, I suggested the exact same one last night, except I had Hall in for Counsell (I was projecting a lefty starting against us). Lets hope that Overbay can come back tomorrow the way that Spivey has when he was sat down for a day.

Well MassBrew, I have to hand it to you. You are always on the ball when it comes to starting Link Reports...but this time you have gone too far... Link Report for Games of Monday, August 12th A little too early for this one isn't it?? I thought this was the early thread for the Minor League game at Miller Park between Beloit and Wisconsin.

I know that Brooks made contact, and that Lidge is a RH pitcher, but given the situation, I would have looked at my bench and thought about PH with either Ginter or Counsell in that spot, probably Counsell, before I even looked at putting in Kieschnick. I think Yost was looking for the 3-run HR rather than getting that run in from third base.

Game now over. I just caught the first two and last 3 innings. I really have to question the thinking of Ned Yost in the 8th when he PH for the pitcher with Brooks Kieschnick, rather than using Keith Ginter or Craig Counsell. With two runners on and nobody out, with the top of the order coming up, I would think that you'd want to put someone out there who will more than likely make contact and keep, or move the runners over, or at the least just keep the rally going. Ginter had been tearing the cover off the ball and I thought Counsell was supposed to be on this team for those situations. Maybe last year Brooks was the best player in the spot - because our bench was so bad, but this year, Brooks has got to be the worst hitter on our bench - right? It is easy to be arm-chair manager and say after the fact what Ned should do - but this was a move that I was questioning as soon as Kieschnick was announced at the PH. Also - what if the game went to extra innings? You just spent one of your relief pitchers. Oh well.

Woulda could shoulda in the late innings. Failing to get runs in from third base with fewer than 2 outs in the seventh, and then failing to get anything with runners on 1st and 2nd and nobody out in the eight might end up costing us. Spivey - nice game. Love to see that after getting sat down with a bad game the guy comes out and just rips the ball - with something to prove. Love it. 7-3 right now, and if we could have gotten a run in both the seventh and eighth we'd have the go ahead run at the plate Check it - score now 7-4.

Easter Sunday, everyone is either at the game, at church or with their families...I am stuck in the library reading about property...anyway..... We're up 1-0, Jr. Spivey nice line drive to score bill hall. man, if we can get to Oswalt early....well let's just get this done one run at a time. Go Crew. By the way - anyone have any idea why sportsline.com gamecast put up that Biggio lead off with a HR? I listened to the first inning thinking the Crew was down 1-0. Oh well, I was pumped when I found out it was an error.

One knock I had on Ben last year was that he rarely "dialed it up" to the mid to upper 90s. We all knew he could do it, but he tended to try to be too fine with the 90 mph heater. I didn't like hearing them talking about how he had scrapped the 2seamer. I think a combination of the two is better. It also is a little unnerving that his changeup and curve were both coming in at 83 mph. He needs more variety Ah yes, only at Brewerfan.net will you find criticism and skepticism after such a dominanting performance. The hitters Sheets faced were baffled all day long. I hope he does exactly what he did today every start from now on. Watching him pitch in person, you really could see the Astros shaking their heads after swinging and missing repeatedly. Ben said he threw all 4 seamers. If they are all unhittable and topping off aroung 95-97 mph I really don't care if he throws no-seamers.

Well, just got back from my second game of the year, and here is a quick report - Ben Sheets - What can I say. From the get go the guy was absolutely filthy with legitmate #1 starter stuff. He was not only locating that fastball (that started at around 95-96 in the first) at the knees, but when he did get it up the Astros just could not catch up to it. I really hope this start silences a lot of his critics that like to post that the guy is over rated and only a #3 starter, etc. I really hope that this start was a bit of a coming out party for Ben and we will see more of this in the future. He seemed to tire abit on the 6th, bit his one of his last pitches touched 98mph...impressive. The best start by a Brewer pitcher I have ever seen. The Bullpen - Jeff Bennet was solid, as his numbers indicated, living around the 91-92 mph mark, topping out at about 94. Vizcaino pitched well, just that mental error in the 9th when he didnt cover 1st. Pods - My score card shows 0-4, but let me tell you, in the first and the fourth be BLASTED the ball to dead center both times, and the ball, which has not carried well to right or center in either game just died out there. An 0-fer but good contact. The defense was just so-so. The play on the Ausmus liner was bad, but the line drive in the OF is the toughest play to make. Counsell - A nice hit and run single, and his last out was well hit, but in his first 3 ABs he looked pretty bad. Ginter - Much like Pods, Ginter SMOKED the ball ever time up. He hit two bombs to dead center that were just too damn high and Palmeiro caught them both at the wall. I really hope he plays his way into the starting lineup soon. Jenks - usual self. on base 4 times, two nice hits. Overbay - still love this guy. Both singles late in the game were clutch Helms - I stood up for his third AB because I could tell something was about to happen, and you knew it was out by the sound of the ball on the bat. Nice game. Grieve- I think he'll be fine at the plate - his defense gets worse and worse. I think he dropped a foul ball early in the game. Moeller - He and Bennett will be a much better combo than last years guys - whoever they were. That's about it. Again MVP goes to Sheets. Day and Night difference between today and yesterday. Sheets was ahead of about every batter and didnt go to a three ball count until Berkman in the fifth. If our pitchers can throw strikes, we will be ok. Great game.

I wonder, if Kinney can go as many as 5 innings while not allowing more then 2 runs, if Ned would take him out and put in Hernandez for 6-7-8 and then someone else (Ford?) in the 9th (if we are so lucky). the only thing about these first few games is that our bullpen is getting stretched thin already. Today I would have to guess that the bullpen arms most likely to be used in order are Hernandez, Kieschnick, Burba, Ford, Bennet, Viz, Kolb. realistically, I'd be surprised to see more than the first 3 used.

Matt Kinney....(gulp!)

St. Louis has an awesome offense, and I am not taking anything away from Reggie Sanders when I say this, because all has done the past few years is produce, but that 7-8-9-1-2 is not that intimidating at all. Granted, our 7-8-9-1-2 is not much better, but from a pitching stand point I hope Ben can mow through that part of the order today and if the 3-6 hitters do get on base Ben shuts down the rally at the bottom of the order.

How can we release a guy who is so close to being the next Mike Mussina?

THIS JUST IN....The Brewers have added a roof to the top of their stadium and therefore they DO NOT have to open on the road, in the south, or the west...in fact it could be below zero outside in Milwaukee and blowing snow and we could still play ball!!!

Minnesota 1992 - Dan Serafini 1993 Tori Huner, Jason Varitek (did not sign) 1994 - Todd Walker 1995 - Mark Redman 1996 - Travis Lee 1997 - Micheal Cuddyer 1998 - Ryan Mills 1999 - BJ Garbe Oakland 1992 - Micheal Grigsby 1993 - John Wasdin 1994 - Ben Grieve 1995 - Ariel Prieto 1996 - Eric Chavez 1997 - Chris Enochs, Eric DuBose 1998 - Mark Mulder 1999 - Barry Zito I dont know if this says anything or not. I guess every pick in baseball is a crap shoot because the players are usually still so far from playing in the Majors that a lot has to go right for them to make it. But these teams seemed to do alright with their first round picks for the most part, especially their high ones.

Well, it is true that first round picks are not what makes or breaks a draft, or, I guess if you miss on your first pick, you can still have a great draft 4-5 years down the line if you do your scouting and pick the right guys in rounds 2-10. The biggest difference in the Braves picks and the Brewers picks is all of the BRewers picks were very high, where there is a lot of cant-miss talent, where the Braves were picking very often at the end of the first round, when the best players are usually gone. In my mind, it is hard to compare the two. Id say, compare Milwaukee and Minnesota, or Milwaukee and Oakland.

colby - Well done. Thanks for answering my post so thoroughly. I have one more question to add on. Coould you please compare the top 5 college pitchers ability with other top draft picks over the last 5 years. Obviously there is no Mark Prior here but how do these top five compare to guys like Kyle Sleeth, Brian Bullington, Mark Mulder, etc. Thanks

So it seems that the biggest change from the 1992-1997 years to 1998-2003 is a combination of increasing our draft budget and taking the best player available, to some extent, with the 1st round pick. To me, it would seem like not as smart an idea to draft for immediate need knowing that prospects take time to arrive and that any player can not pan out. Also, by the time that player does reach the major leagues power, or 3b or CF or whatever may not be an immediate need any longer. For example, getting Wes Helms, and finding Scott Podsednik make 3b and CF not immediate needs and we would never have guessed we'd have those two at the time we drafted in 2002. Hypothetically, if the year were 1998 when we got two players similar to Helms and Pods, then the picks of Williamson and Green don't make as much sense. I guess this is the biggest reason that I was pleased with the selection of Prince Fielder depite having Sexson, Nelson ahd Hart at the time at the same position. Likewise taking Tony Gwynn, Jr with Pods and Krynzel already in the system. Do any teams still "draft for IMMEDIATE need?" or is this something that teams have gotten away from. Finally, our immediate AND futre need appears to be Starting Pitching. Is there any chance that with the 5th pick we might be reaching for a pitcher if the first 4 picks are pitchers and position players like Stephen Drew and others are much more highly regarded as prospects. Thanks for the analysis colby, I remember the Brewers and Chad Green talking that he was a "Kenny Lofton" type player. Yeah right.

In 1992 to 1998, the Brewers selected some pretty awful players with the exceptions of Jenkins and D'Amico. 92 - Felder 94 - Willimason 96 - Chad Green 97 - Kyle Peterson 98 - JM Gold. Would anyone who was tracking the drafts back then be able to relive those selections, mainly, who, if anyone else, the Brewers might have been thinking about selecting and if it is was just poor scouting or signability that caused the picks to be so bad. I remember the Chad Green pick being talked about as a cheap selection. Some of the drafts have a lot of guys going after our pick in the first round that never amounted to anything also, so I realize it is a crapshoot in the first round, more than anyother sport. If anyone has any info about our scouting procedures back then and how things have changed today I'd love to read about it.

I don't know. If the Brewers really want to help that prospect class they'll grab a college pitcher who can be effective at AA by the end of the season and might be able to be in the rotation by the start of '06. A high school pitcher is just too risky and would take too long to develop. I am for grabbing a HS pitcher in the 2nd or 3rd round. By the way, I'd love to see our first 3 picks be pitchers, at least 2 college.

I wonder how many doctors they had to do to before they heard what they wanted to hear?

Without doing too much research I am going to wonder if it is a good idea for Luis to be doing a lot pitching this winter. even though if it said he has only thrown 3 innings I wonder if he will be pitching any more, I assume he will be. I know he threw a lot of innings last season and was hurting a bit. I hope he uses the winter wisely and proves that last year was no fluke. His MLB outings were less than stellar. I like this kid, I hope he can help us at some time next season.

Doesn't he have tendonitis in his elbow? I thought he was shut down for the year. I hope he does not get hurt today, or hurt himself anymore than he already is. I like that in this final game Yost is starting guys like Weeks, Cruz, Zocco, and Conti. Let's win this one and really lay it to Houston in this final series.

Re: sexson. Just missed #3 by about 3 inches, had to settle for a double. 1. We'd be crazy to trade a guy like this for anything less than a bonafide #1 starter and change...or let me say a Hershal Walker type trade offer. 2. You've got to think that the Giants and Dodgers would love to have a guy like Sexson, and keep the other from having him, especially with the show he is putting on today. My guess is that if Richie did get traded it'd be to one of those two teams. Seattle a possibility as well. 3. I hope we keep him.

Starting against the Reds tonight, when is his first major league start? 5 days from now...lets see...Either next Monday or Tuesday I suppose. Good Luck Luis, the Reds are a nice little step between AAA and the Bigs!! Edit - uh oh. didn't Nuegie once make a successful September debut against the Reds?? A sign of things to come?? I hope not.