Dmiles23

Anyone know why Griffey changed his number? I know I heard a reason during spring training, but can't remember for the life of me.

Ummmm... don't you remember last week in Cincinnati where our bullpen was out of gas?! We had 7 pitchers out there then, so what's the difference between then and now? We don't have a great 3rd, 4th, or 5th starter, so you need a guy that can come in and pitch when one of these guys struggles. We have guys that can pitch an inning or 2, but nobody that can go 4-5 innings if needed. I do think that about Eveland, but he's our best option right now. He should have been in AAA all year, but because of injuries he's been forced into a hard situation. Why bring up Jackson and most likely start over where Eveland started a couple weeks ago? So... lets see... Doug Davis leads the league in walks and has had 5 crappy starts. Let's send him to AAA. This IS a time to let a guy figure it out, because we have injuries. Yes, this team is trying to be in the pennant race in September... but right now we have 3 injured pitchers. And hey... we are 2 games over .500 with 2 of our top 4 pitchers on the DL. We may need Eveland in September... so wouldn't it be better to get the wrinkles of pitching to MLB hitters out now instead of waiting till September? In the minor leagues Eveland has had K:BB of: 4.71 in AAA, 2.58 in AA, 4.87 in A, and 5.12 in R. So you think maybe his struggles to find the strike zone could have something to do with the teams he's played? Not wanting to throw the ball over the heart of the plate and get it crushed? He's proven he can throw the ball over the plate, so what is sending him back to AAA going to prove? And that's the reason he's getting hit hard. He's falling behind because he's trying to be too precise on his location and over throwing. If careers were made on 4 starts... wow, I don't know where we would be.

But we need 2 starters. I've wanted Jorge to get a start for quite a while, but who knows what he will do. I disagree with Gonzalez getting the next start. The Brewers DESPERATELY need a long guy in the bullpen. And I don't believe Sarfate, Jackson, or Eveland should be sent to the pen because they need consistant work, so I'd keep Gonzalez in the pen. So you have Jorge, Sarfate, Jackson, and Eveland for the 4th and 5th spots in the rotation. I don't believe Jackson is ready yet. I believe he needs to stay in AAA the whole year. There isn't any sense to rushing 2 pitchers(Eveland and Jackson), so I'd drop Jackson from that list. I believe Jorge should get every opportunity to succeed as a starter. So for the 4th spot, i'd say it's between Eveland and Sarfate. Eveland has been here for a while and knows what's going on. He just needs to learn how to trust his stuff to believe that he can throw it over the plate. And making his first four starts against the Reds, Phillies(twice), and Mets can't help him want to throw it over the plate. A start this week against the Nationals might be just what the doctor ordered for him. If he struggles in that start, that's when I'd think about giving Sarfate an opportunity.

Or... I'll take my 2 starting pitchers with 7 ERA's... and hold down the fort for 2 months of the season till my injured pitchers come back. So what are you saying the Brewers should do right now? Go with a 3 man pitching staff?

And on a side note... Pittsburgh and Houston are in extra innings again today!!

Yep. If the team doesn't score, I don't care how many pitches they throw. The team with the lowest pitch count doesn't win the game. The team with the most runs does. And at this point, I'd take 5 innings of 4 run baseball from my 4th and 5th starter. Then put it in the hands of my bullpen. I have enough confidence in them that 2 times every 5 days they can go 4 innings and keep the team in the game.

No... I don't. But quality pitching doesn't grow on trees. It shows there are more teams around the league with pitching problems than the Brewers. Heck, the Yankees are having pitching problems and their payroll is a zillion dollars more than the Brewers. With all the injuries to the staff, I have been quite happy with our pitching this year. There have been times when I've wanted to pull my hair out, but it could be lots worse. Eveland is our best option right now... so we're gonna have to deal with it. It just really bothers me that people rip on this guy and "if this" or "if that" and "shoulda this" and "shoulda that." He's trying his best. He's learning on the job. Those stats just show that teams are in a lot worse shape than the Brewers are. What starters were traded this week? Hernandez, Williams, and Gonzalez. And for some reason I don't see any of those guys being a savior. The Brewers will have to deal with what they have, Eveland will get better, and *hopefully* in a month or so we get our injured guys back!

How many of his walks or HBP scored? And oh... they weren't hitting the crap out of the ball. Imagine if the Brewers were hitting the crap out of the ball. They'd have 55 runs by now!!

Well... there are 8 teams so far today whose starting pitcher has given up more than 4 runs in the first 5 innings: Ryu for the Cubs gave up 6 in 1.1 innings. Smoltz gave up 4 in 5. Nolasco for the Marlins gave up 5 in 4 innings. Seo for the Dodgers gave up 6 in 2.2 innings. Rodgers for Detroit gave up 5 in 4.1 innings. Hernandez for KC gave up 5 in .2 innings. Taubenheim for Toronto gave up 4 in 2.1 innings.

How did he beat himself today?

What do you expect from the kid? He's the organizations 7th starter, filling in as the 4th starter. He gave up 4 runs in 5 innings. That's not bad. There are a lot of teams that would like that from their real 4th starter. You look at it as he could have given up a lot more runs, but he didn't. He gave up 4 runs, and it could very easily be a shut out right now. Dana got into some jams, and didn't have great control. But he got outs when he needed them. So tell me... what do you expect of Eveland?

I agree with the call... like was said, the rule says contact and Brady made contact. The thing I have to question is how the home plate ump can see where the batters foot is when he makes contact with the ball and call balls and strikes at the same time. That's probably the reason he missed that 3rd strike against Burrell in the 9th... he was looking to see if his feet were in the box!!

Then why wasn't Eveland stretched out a little longer today? I don't think his pitch count was high. They showed 68 pitches not long before they took him out. He wasn't pitching that terribly. If the bullpen needs a break, someone needs to take one for the team.

If you look at the Matchups, the 6 current Brewers who have faced Lima have gone a combined 28 for 78, or a .359 average. So it kinda looks like those Brewers who Lima faced leading to his 11-0 record vs. the Brewers are gone. So hopefully the success for these 6 continue, along with success for the rest of the team!!

Yost said that Prince was called up to DH against the 4 right handers the team will face in interleague play. So with Fossom on the mound, no Prince.

This is kind of off topic, but does anyone know how long before the game the parking lots open at Miller Park?

Weeks has a good eye, wish we could say the same for the hack Jenkins. What?? does that make you feel more like a man that you can take every opportunity to make fun of Jenkins? I mean, come on... he does suck, but give it a break buddy!!!