hoosier

No Braun for me, the taint of being a cheat who throws couriers under the bus is too much. My fandom was formed in the 70s and 80s so I am admittedly partial to that era. The suggestion of Rollie Fingers and the handlebar is immensely appealing. I would say definitely Robin and Molitor. Alongside them I would vote for Stormin Gorman, as much or more for the persona as for the production. If I had to name a fourth (and I agree, active names are ineligible) I would give strong consideration to Harry Dalton, who presided over the construction of the Bomber/Wallbanger teams.

This here, except I would describe myself as an obsessional pessimist, always inclined to see the worst aspects and fear the worst outcomes. 😛

Strange feeling two games into the NLDS. Padres fans clearly feel theirs has been the better of the two teams so far but have nothing to show for it. In a way I kind of agree with that take: Brewers have been outhit 14-12, their two top starters have struggled with command and walks, and the defense has been marred by sloppy infield play. To me, both games have had that same feel, that the Pads had the momentum and Brewers were struggling to stay in it. But there's another side to it, of course, which is that the Brewers stick with it and find a way to win, making their own luck as they say. Bullpen, excepting Uribe who has struggled to get ahead in counts and has gotten hit, has been outstanding. So it feels like this could easily be tied 1-1 or even Brewers down 2-0 heading to San Diego. And yet the Brewers also have that feeling of a team of destiny. Hard to reconcile the two in my own head.

Yelich emphasized that he views this thing as not just about on field performance but about how you carry yourself. I take it he's talking about a fairly wide spectrum that includes how one prepares, how one plays the game, but also the off field moral character stuff. Braun cheated, which is not a quality usually associated with leaders. What's worse, he tried to throw the delivery guy under the bus to cover for himself. I very much doubt anyone on the team had great admiration for that move, and it most definitely left a permanent taint on his public reputation. Public persona isn't the be all end all of being a team leader, but it is not insignificant either,

I did a bit of a doubletake when I saw Braun listed among Brewer lifers. Yeah, Braun didn't play for any other team, but he's a far cry from Ueck, Robin, and Yelich when it comes to carrying himself like a leader. I don't want this come across as picking on your post, just thought it was worth making the distinction between quantity of time served with one team and quality. If only Braun's moral character could have been a match for his production at the plate.

While Harrison's second half obviously leaves most of us feeling really uneasy about him pitching in the postseason, May has not really done anything to make me feel any easier about seeing him throw meaningful innings. Harrison looked good in his final outing, whereas May has consistently been erratic and has thrown way too many hittable pitches in favorable counts. I think at this point I trust May even less than Harrison, though the fact that he's a righty and there are already a lot of lefties destined to make the NLDS roster may work in May's favor.

I wonder if MLB is regretting not adopting reseeding after WC round. To have one of CLE, CHA, TEX or HOU destined to play in the ALCS is just a shame. (As of this morning, BOS could still move down to third WC and thus make its way over to the junior-junior circuit, but that is very very unlikely.)

I have no doubt Murphy would not hesitate to bring in one of his starters on short rest in a do-or-die scenario, but would expect him to stick with the standard (no fewer than four days off between outings) for designating a starting pitcher. Only exception I can envision is if someone has a really short outing, maybe bringing them back on fewer than four off. But if a guy has a truncated outing it's probably because he stunk it up, so that doesn't seem especially likely either.

I was mildly surprised but not unhappy to see that Murphy stuck to his guns when one of his established stars violated the protocol. His first response to the press conference question about hitting for Contreras was great: "I have no idea how he took it, I assume he was fine with it." No kid gloves today.

Henderson's splits this year also favor throwing him in one of the home games. Not a huge difference but he's definitely been more dominant at home. Split W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF WHIP SO9 SO/W Home 6 0 1.000 1.84 8 8 0 0 0 0 44.0 26 10 9 7 8 0 50 0 0 0 162 0.773 10.2 6.25 Away 5 3 .625 2.98 10 10 0 0 0 0 54.1 38 18 18 7 11 0 60 1 0 1 209 0.902 9.9 5.45

I see Frelick pretty solidly entrenched as 4th OF. He might get a start in the divisional round, but Lara should be getting the lion's share of the innings in RF at this point. His dismal second half (539) makes that disappointing first-half OPS (632) look not so bad. No way should he be getting starts in a postseason series.

Nice job with the jinx there

Poor AB by Luis, started with a chase, ended with the bat on his shoulder. Not sure why you would want someone who is still figuring out how to put together competitive ABs hitting second.

The peasant Bauers is banged up and needs a blow.

Lots of guys getting the day off today. Anyone know what is ailing Mitchell?