BrewerFan

Also, good to hear Watson is back. What did MLF say? He looked like a freak? He changes an offense more than any guy who gets ~600-700 a year possibly could. He's not Moss, but again, one of only 4 guys in NFL history to run in the 4.3s at his size. 3 since Pryor initially ran as a QB. But still... big+fast+strong... not this week, but he started practicing. I was thinking week 12 maybe. That'd be a fast recovery. I'll guess he'll get some snaps in 3 weeks, the long end. But, good news all the same.

And Sean Rhyan still wouldn't start for them. It'd be nice if Belton would be back this week, but it sounds like he'll be out for a while yet. Tom is a tossup. Walker is banged up. They still need to put this game away early. If not by half, shortly thereafter. They've got Hendrickson and pretty good DTs(at least vs the run). But they play so much Cover1 Man, they should be able to get some big plays. If it's Morgan and Kinnard at the Tackles... Fitpatrick should be in a lot to block or play more Brooks. He was huge in the first few games in pass pro. There was one game vs Detroit, he chipped Hutchinson and then was still in position to get a blitzing LBer and stood him up. I like Wilson and Jacobs as backs, but until this OL either plays better as is or gets healthy, take a couple guys out of the routes and keep 6 or even 7 in to block. I don't actually think Carson was as bad as he looked. We had terrible snaps and Whelan was just learning how to hold. That hold against SF was.. brutal. Plus, we couldn't block. Great news Jenkins is going to be on FG block. Curious why he wasn't before. Lane Johnson, Jordan Mailata, they're on FG block on a much deeper OL... But, at least they're making that change. But sure, go for it. Give them something to work on.

LOL... Cubs fans are just as pressed. They had one reprieve in '16, but they haven't exactly been clutch in the post-season the last 30 years themselves.

That's asking a LOT to start the game. I wouldn't tell the kid until tomorrow. He's young enough, I don't think the whole "routine" matters. I probably wouldn't pitch him in the first. The best case scenario would be to get a couple early(obviously)... and then just drill it into Misiorowski's head that his stuff is so good, as long as he's attacking and NOT letting his front fly open(which you don't need to be an MLB pitching coach to see happens when he gets excited)... he could get rolling and give you a repeat. He could also just as easily walk 2 and then in an effort to NOT walk a 3rd, groove a FB to Tucker and they score early. It's the playoffs, so anyone can go, but... I probably would have not pitched Patrick last night when we were down because I wanted to see him in a potential Game 5.

I think this is what I'd do. The Brewers are GOING to come out and hit the ball better. I just... may be inclined to give Quintana the ball to start the game. Let him face the lefties. Let him get a couple innings. He's got the approach that I think will work vs a Chicago team that's going to be pressing on the road. Koenig, Ashby... I'd be fine with them in the 1st inning. I wonder if Gasser after that elbow injury may be dealing with arm fatigue though? Just... talking out loud here. Tobias Myers has been throwing pretty good.

I'm going with Priester tomorrow to start. I don't care what happened in Gm3... things happen. I trust him, he's been there all year. He gets ground balls and... I don't trust Misiorowski. With Miz, you have 3 batters. That can put you behind the 8 ball... as we've seen EVERY game this series. And I think whichever team finds themselves behind is going to be really pressing. Priester got smacked around... sucks. But he'll be at home, GB pitcher... and maybe Miz can get some outs with a 2-3 run lead and if he can, he can get rolling. If he can't... Chad Patrick has to fill in. The other option is Quintana in the first? Let that play out? See if the Cubs are going to be aggressive and if the savvy vet can make them a little overly aggressive?

Yeah, that's... played up even more in the post-season. Plus, you have a guy in the BP who has really earned the right to start a game in the NLCS in Chad Patrick. I ALSO believe Priester is going to come through next time he's up.

I do not trust Mis enough to do that. The way I'd use Mis at this point... in a close game would be with nobody on and I'd be ready with a VERY quick hook. But... I'm not throwing him ahead of Freddy. I will say... if we had Patrick fresh(maybe Myers, I don't like that decision) I could understand the logic behind going BP... but I wouldn't agree with it. The argument FOR would be to be able to come back with Freddy in Gm1 of the next round, but... can't be thinking like that. You have to put this Cubs team away. They have too good of a lineup to get too cute. That said, I was very wrong about Gm2 so I'll root for whatever they decide to do. But this seems like a really simple call. About as simple as Vaughn starting the game vs a LHP.

You felt the need to post a link to show BA for 2 for 12? That's... cool. Not sure what the point here is, but alright.

I agree, his AB vs Thielbar was a bad and non-competitive AB. But someone said he hadn't had a 3 hit game all year... which wasn't true...and also that he hadn't walked. I'm CERTAINLY not arguing we don't need more from him. I said that last night. If we're going to win this series and have a chance next round, we need more out of him. We need him and we need Frelick to be better. Tonight, I think the 1st inning is going to be huge. You put runs on the board early, you're going to see the Cubs tighten up... if you don't and the Cubs with Busch and Hoerner get going... THAT is going to make the Brewers tighten up. Need Freddy to give us a strong 5. Empty it out. Then we've got 4 day until Gm1.

Yeah, I hear ya... but that'd require playing Frelick in CF and people seem very against that(IMO, I wouldn't put that stress on Chourio). Even in that rough Sept, he had a .345 OBP so... he's certainly not Lockridge. I would kinda like to see a lineup of Frelick Chourio Yelich Contreras Vaughn Turang Durbin Collins Ortiz But... that's just me and I don't think we'll see it. I'd feel BETTER about it, but I think Collins needs to see regular ABs to see the ball better... but I still like the lineup swapping Perkins for Collins. Defense is clearly better, especially with the wind potentially blowing at Wrigley.

No, he had several 3 or 4 hit games this year. I don't know what led you to that belief, but... it's not accurate. He's also got a walk. So we're basically looking at a 2/5, 0/4, 0/3 1BB Things aren't nearly as dire as people have been saying.

I don't really get this to be honest. The "he's been terrible since the ASB," comments... which isn't true, he had his best stretch the ~45 games otu of the break. I DO get wishing Hoskins was on the roster, but Collins is still a very nice player and I'd prefer him on the roster over Lockridge... and especially with Chourio's iffy hammy, I'm fine with him being on the roster. I did want Hoskins on there and if the team was healthy, again, I'd have given up Lockridge, but knowing what I know now... I'd still take Hoskins, but Lockridge could be useful later in a game. We're waay too down on Collins.

It wasn't really so much a short leash as the Brewers grabbed the leash and walked him around by it. 6 Runs, 4 hits, 1BB, WP... we took that leash right out of CC's hand! We hit Soroka pretty hard and Civale... we were up 9-1, we kinda shut it down. We'll have go to through the likes of Snell, Yamamoto, Ohtani...Glasnow and Kershaw(which I thought he was done, but... he's not). They also have a pen that's... limping by, but has some starters that are guys who'd be in most rotations. So... if we can't get by Boyd, Civale, Soroka, it's because we're just not putting together good at bats. I don't think that'll be a problem. I'm even confident that Turang will have better ABs. He hasn't been as bad as people on here have inferred... saying he'd been bad for a while. Forgot he was 2-5 in game1, he had two walks in Gm2. He was bad today and had a non-competitive AB, but I still have faith in him. He had a MONSTER month in... August, but he'd been good all year outside of a very poor July, but he had a big Sept, he was good last year in the post-season... He will get on base. He and Frelick. I think I'd go with (RF)Frelick, (CF)Chourio, (C)Contreras, (DH)Yelich, (1B)Vaughn, (2B)Turang, (3B)Durbin, (CF)Perkins, (SS)Ortiz I'd honestly consider going with Collins over Perkins and playing Frelick in CF, but... we're not going to do that. I just don't get why they kinda moved away from Collins. Perhaps Chourio's defense being limited plays a factor, but they kinda gave up on Collins in Sept.

Yeah, the innings would be a bigger deal, but he's a lefty soft tosser and... they really don't have many other options. Hell, they don't really have any. That was their choice for Gm1. They went with Rea for 60 pitches 2 days ago, so... not sure he'd get too many. I'm sure he'll be available, all hands on deck and all that. Civale on the other hand... I GUESS he could be an option to start... and if the Cubs were up 2-1 instead of down, maybe they go to him as the starter, but... I just don't see any scenario it's not Boyd. I hope the Brewers take a patient approach as I would assume Boyd will adjust his pitcher and give less first pitch Fastballs given how the Brewers jumped on them. Chicago doesn't have a pitcher that scares me though. Their lineup can be a bit troubling, but we've really shut that down save for Busch. I'd be hitting Bush 3rd and maybe even Tucker 1st, but that's for the Cubs to worry about.

Yeah... you are. The kid is a gamer though.

It's pretty obvious it's going to be their All-Star starter on full rest in an elimination game. If they decide to go with... Civale or Soroka(neither of whom have started for them)... we should send them a GREAT big gift basket.

Did you see him running on that 8th inning double? Playing him in CF would be a huge mistake. He is not moving well. That ball got past PCA and he still barely made it into 2nd. But again... there's a lefty on the mound, so you don't need to make room for Bauers. I'd honestly consider swapping Yelich and Chourio. I don't think there's much question if this was the regular season, he'd be on the IL and then... probably be out for a month until it was 100% healed up... but it's not, so you play through it until you tear it too bad you can't play, but throwing him in CF is just ensuring it happens.

So how are you rounding out the OF? Chourio can't play CF. He can play RF... but you really can't sit him. Would you be sitting Frelick? I wouldn't do that, even vs a lefty. Also, the Cubs are going back to Boyd tomorrow, so... it wouldn't make sense to start Bauers. I think you just go with the same lineup from Gm1.

.... right, but we were talking about how they'd configure the OF for the bottom of the 9th HAD they scored and you're the one who was adamantly against Frelick playing CF. So... It's pretty valid question. If we're doing the 'I'm not the manager, so it doesn't matter,' thing, then your objection to him playing CF doesn't make much sense in the first place.

Yeah... these kids, for the most part, had nothing to do with the past losses. I'm choosing to continue to be optimistic.

He was on fire after the break. His best baseball was post-ASB. He struggled when he started getting more sporadic playing time the last few weeks of September, but he was still much better the 2nd half vs the 1st half.

Well... dream about being in the middle of thousand of depressed, sad Chicago fans(so their natural state).

Yeah, for sarcasm. You're not seriously complaining that Collins and his Wife had a kid during the season... right?

I didn't like that at all. Collins is a good fielder. On top of Frelick being able to play CF in a pinch late, he's also more than capable of doing so for a whole game. Lockridge isn't a great fielder from what I've seen(he's good, but mostly just fast). But I'd have certainly taken my chances with Collins over Lockridge. That being said, Lockridge at least had a good AB vs Tallion and Collins swung at a really bad 3-2 pitch. It's easy to go back and nitpick the managerial decisions and we can debate them. But some guys(Chourio, Vaughn... every pitcher not named Priester/Ashby) has been good and other guys like Turang have not. That's a 5-6 WAR player and he's up there on a 1st pitch swinging like he's protecting... but also NOT protecting. He's gotta get it going like he did last year in the post-season. The Brewers need someone else to step up.