giffted1

Our outfield defense could be a disaster, but I'm liking the right-handed lineup. It looks like Ned wants to make sure we don't lose that game on the Cubs that we gained last night.

I don't really think he's been managing much differently. Its just that his normal moves have been working more often lately. When the players execute, Yost looks good. The Weeks benching doesn't seem like a traditional Yost move, but I'm glad he did it. With the Cubs breathing down our neck we can't stick with struggling players if we have better options. Weeks has looked like a little leaguer out there lately and Graffy has been playing well. Tonight it probably made the difference in the game.

We had many missed opportunities, but still managed to win the game. The bullpen was excellent, and I'm thinking that Graffy should take a few more starts from Weeks. Huge win that adds a game to our lead with the Cubs losing.

Listening to the game they just came off a commercial break and Uecker said it was gone for Corey Hart. I thought it was just one of their intros with Uecker calling a home run but then realized it was live. Excellent.

Good Start.

I wish the best for Chris Spurling and hope Sheets is fine, but its exciting that Parra could be on the team. With so many young pitchers' careers ended by injury, it's great to see that Manny was able to recover and dominate like he has.

Adding a veteran starter sounds nice, but I'm not sure we need one and wouldn't want to create a hole by adding one. The improvement over Vargas wouldn't be worth losing Jenkins' platoon partner plus prospects especially since we have players on the team that could take his spot. Mench has been great against lefties this year and unless we added someone with major league experience to fill his role I wouldn't consider dealing him. I'd rather just let Gallardo, Villanueva, or Parra take his spot in the rotation and not have to watch Jenkins embarrass himself against lefties.

I agree with you on point three. There are too many times when he wastes good innings from Villanueva in blowouts, and too many times when he puts Spurling in the perfect position to blow the game. Points one and two are examples of how Yost can do no right in the eyes of some. When Yost lets a pitcher work through some trouble and they get rocked he's leaving them in too long. On the other hand, when Yost gets someone up in the pen at the first sign of trouble and the pitcher gets himself out of the jam he's warmed up someone unnecessarily.

I didn't like this deal from the start. With Villanueva seeming to be a good option in the rotation and Gallardo close, I saw no reason to sign Suppan. Not only did we sign a player to fill a hole that we didn't have, but we overpaid for that player. I don't expect Suppan to be this bad for the rest of the season, and am just hoping he pitches decently enough that we'll be able to trade him in the future.

Braun is good. Also, its good to see that Prince has his home run stroke back just in time.

I'll admit I've kind of missed the daily Gwynn excessive praise/unnecessary bashing thread. I hope this is only a mild sprain. Hall on the DL would not be a good thing as we'd have no good option against lefties. I'd almost consider letting Graffy play RF with Hart in CF verses lefties, but both Mench and Graffy in the corners would be a disaster.

Good to see the Cubs having trouble with a bad pitcher as well. Matt Chico is cruising.

I wouldn't trust him, but I'd trust Parra and Thatcher less. It's already been mentioned that Parra doesn't warm up fast, and with Shouse, Wise, and Villanueva who all get lefties out pretty well there's no real need for another lefty.

Chris Spurling has an ERA under 3. While most of his best work has been in garbage time, you have to give him some credit. I'd hardly say Brewers fans are suffering with him on the roster. If anything, he's been a pleasant surprise. In that game he was pretty much screwed. Capellan promptly loaded the bases leaving no margin for error. Giving up only one run was pretty good considering the situation.

The Hitters Ryan Braun (A) : Defense has been better than expected. Oh yeah, he's killing the ball too. Craig Counsell © : Not good, but certainly good enough for a backup infielder. Johnny Estrada (B) : Horrible plate discipline, but still the best hitting catcher we've had in a long time. Prince Fielder (A+) : Asking for more from him would just be greedy. Tony Graffanino (C+) : Recent power surge has been a pleasant surprise. Gabe Gross (D) : Looking like nothing more than a AAAA outfielder. Bill Hall (C+) : Probably should have gotten a worse grade, but I like Billy. JJ Hardy (A-) : Has cooled off quite a bit, but he's still an All-Star. Corey Hart (A-) : Absolutely great at the top of our order. Geoff Jenkins (B) : He's mashing on righties and can't touch lefties. Whats new? Kevin Mench (D+) : Someone in Chicago must have told Mench what a walk is. Hopefully he continues to use this new knowledge because a .709 OPS doesn't make up for the price of his special order batting helmets. Damian Miller (B) : He's been bad all semester so far but aced the mid-term. Rickie Weeks (D-) : He's lying about how his wrist is or he's simply lost at the plate. Either way he's been a dissapointment. The Pitchers Dave Bush (D+) : Bad luck or not, if his numbers don't get better we have two young starters waiting to take his spot. Chris Capuano (B-) : Had a great start, but got knocked around when we started playing good teams. Francisco Cordero (A-) : Had a few stinkers but has been great overall. Yovani Gallardo (A) : He's good. Hopefully he can handle to move to the pen. Ben Sheets (A) : He's finally learned how to win. Brain Shouse (C-) : Not really doing what he's paid to do. Dominate lefties. Chis Spurling (C-) : Has held on to a roster spot much longer than I thought he would. Jeff Suppan (C+) : Even though his numbers aren't good, he's pitched quite a few innings saving our pen. Derrick Turnbow (B+) : When he's off its a disaster, but when he's on you almost feel bad for the hitters. Claudio Vargas (C+) : He's played with fire all season, and he doesn't pitch deep into games, but he must be great at motivating the Brewers hitters on days he's pitching. Carlos Villanueva (A+) : Pitches like he's been in the league for years. Matt Wise (B+) : If he wasn't made of glass he'd get an A. Coach Ned Yost (No Grade) : What Yost does has little to do with how the team will do in the long run.

So is it Lacrosse day in Pittsburgh today?

Damian Miller is out of control. Wow.

Awesome review. I also wish they would have mentioned Woogie's IGTs. If I recall even someone on an opponents message board mentioned how cool they were. Another great thing about this site is how clean and organized the message board is. On some other boards theres a stupid graphic in every post, and it distracts from the conversation.

With the state the Cubs pen is in Marquis will have to pitch with a few splinters in his face.

They weren't kidding when they said their team chemistry improved once they got rid of Barrett. Yikes.

Braun has definitely been good, but I hope Matt V. was kidding. With Wright, Jones, Cabrera, and Ramirez all doing well and Braun's short time up he doesn't have a chance.

This one really hurt. I'm glad I was listening to this alone because I might have hurt someone. The fact that we managed 3 hits off 6 innings of cubs relief pitching makes me sick.

Wise has really been on a roll lately. I'll also give Yost some love for pulling Villy before the inning got too far out of control.

Mench!!!

The news has yet to report on this so hopefully he is fine. I certainly wouldn't put it past the WWE to make this up. If this is true it is sad. He was one of my favorites back when I watched wrestling.