adambr2

I guess he's not our next MLB manager. http://milwaukee.brewers....mp;fext=.jsp&c_id=mil

I guess he's not our next MLB manager. http://milwaukee.brewers....mp;fext=.jsp&c_id=mil

They're choking again....they're doing it...right before our very eyes...

Another question is, is he eligible for the playoff roster? I'm pretty sure he is, as he was still considered part of the 25 man roster but did not take up a space because of being on the 15 day DL. He was never moved from the 25 man roster to my knowledge.

As good and exciting as this team is, they have a major flaw -- the bullpen. To prevent another bullpen meltdown costing us a shot at the postseason again, we seem to have enacted Operation Don't Let The Relievers Pitch '08. That's been good to some extent, but I think we can probably count on needing the pen during the playoffs. Which of our relievers would you actually feel good about entering a playoff game? Torres, most of the time? Shouse, maybe against lefties? We have no setup man. Gagne is hit and miss, and Mota, as good as he's been lately, is not the answer. If he's ready, we need Gallardo. He fits the mold of a late inning reliever as either a setup man or closer and has uncanny poise for a young pitcher. Even thrown into the fire during a playoff game, I'm confident he can handle the pressure.

Bud Black is a genius telling his pitchers to walk Counsell, ensuring that Yost is enamored enough to leave him in the starting lineup. Now that's looking ahead to the rest of the series.

If those are our expectations, I hope we don't have any serious playoff aspirations.

I've said it before, I'll say it again, closers are extremely overrated. I was never in favor of us re-signing Cordero, and I'm glad he didn't take us up on 4 years, $42 million. I think in 2 years when Cordero isn't throwing 96 and his slider isn't breaking as hard, the Reds will wish they hadn't invested in him, either. Cordero hasn't been that good for the Reds this year -- certainly not what they paid for him, anyway. His ERA is respectable at best, his WHIP is pretty bad (around 1.50), and he's 22 for 28 in save opportunities. He certainly hasn't been as good as Torres. It's nice to have a stopper, but if a mid-market club is going to invest that kind of money over 4 years in one, he had better be Mariano Rivera in his prime. We have had plenty of successes having early season auditions for closer with some potential candidates before someone nails down the spot and does a respectable job all year.

We are now dead last in the NL hitting with runners in scoring position, with a .239 average. Hitting .239 as an entire lineup for the entire season with runners at 2nd or 3rd. Simply put, that's downright horrible. I have always thought that hitting with RISP is more luck than anything, and most teams should be right around where they are hitting as a team. I'm not even sure that's the case anymore. We seem to have some players who are pretty mentally fragile at the plate and, for whatever reason, press when they have a chance to knock in runners and fail to get the job done time and time again. I'm not placing blame and I'm not even sure who is to blame, but this can't continue. This lineup is far too talented for that kind of failure. There's no excuse that they shouldn't at least be around the middle of the pack hitting with RISP. They were doing it at the beginning of the season.

No retaliation from Lou. He didn't have to, the series spoke for itself. He got the sweep, and Yost was left whining and pouting in the other dugout.

COME ON RICKIE!!!!! (What, I want 6 burgers for $5 at George Webbs tonight.)

This is great post-game press conference material for Yost. Now in addition to talking about how good Harden was and how Bush pitched well besides one or two mistakes, he can talk about how we "battled" in the 9th.

Time to put on those Sombreros, here comes Kameron again.

Now how did Prince get tossed?

What is he supposed to do? Well, I'd like him to prepare detailed scouting reports on upcoming pitchers, for one thing, especially pitchers that our lineup hasn't seen before. I'd like him to look for tendencies from the pitcher and be able to at least give the lineup a general briefing on what they can expect. I'd like for him to review video on our players who are not performing expectations and see if he can give them any additional information on something they may be doing differently that is hurting their swing or approach. I'd also like him to have our players' vision routinely checked to make sure they are all seeing the ball as well as they could be. Telling them not to "swing at balls" doesn't really cut it IMO. This is the 21st century and there are plenty of technologies available that can be used to best prepare a lineup and correct a problem. If the job is so simple that any idiot can do it, I guess MLB coaches are very fortunate to be able to collect that free paycheck. I don't know what more evidence there can be of a lack of discipline in the lineup to show that there is indeed a glaring problem.

I hate Jim Edmonds. On the downside of his career, looks like he's completely washed up to the point where he simply can't compete for anybody anymore, then he dons a Cubs uniform and exclaims, "Hey, wait a minute! I've got it again!" Ass.

I don't believe I cited a "sudden slump". I believe I mentioned the fact that our offense has fallen far below expectations over the course of the season and also shown very poor plate discipline (.325 team OBP). A sudden slump has nothing to do with it. The difference between Skaalen and the countless hitting coaches ahead of him is that this team actually has a talented lineup which was supposed to be a top 3 NL offense.

I think Yost will say that Harden pitched very well and that Bush made a good pitch to Edmonds and Edmonds just beat him and that we need to just brush it off and keep battling.

I really believe it is time to take a closer look at Skaalen. I know it's hard for us to know what a batting coach really does or how he contributes to the team. I would just really like to know what he positively contributes that makes us a better hitting club, because I see very little that the hitters do that they couldn't accomplish on talent alone. Skaalen didn't even notice when Hall had been sitting back in his stance and was struggling as a result. This was something Hall realized on his own. Isn't that sort of Skaalen's job? There is absolutely no evidence that Skaalen sufficiently prepares his lineup to face unfamiliar pitchers. When shut down by Marlins starter Mark Hendrickson earlier this year, Skaalen commented numerous times that "their guy" pitched well. Don't you think that a coach who adequately prepared his lineup to face "their guy" would at least recall his name? Rickie has looked awful. Braun is impatient. Hart has been awful since the All-Star break. Cameron is having a poor year. Hall has maybe fallen off the map worst of anyone and has probably the worst approach at the plate. It's not one guy -- it's generally across the board. That was one clear advantage we were supposed to have over the Cubs this year -- a lineup that could rake, probably as good as anyone in the NL other than the Phillies. It's not just the fact that that hasn't happened that makes me think Skaalen is not good at his job -- it's the fact that our lineup is very undisciplined, and the time has come to stop using youth as an excuse. They just don't look professional at all at the plate. Basically to sum it up.....what does Jim Skaalen do for our lineup that they couldn't accomplish with no hitting coach at all? I would like evidence that there is SOMETHING.

Well, I'm no doctor, I'll admit, so I can't elaborate much on an ACL tear, especially an individual one. But from what I understand from it, if his recovery is going well, he may be at the point in September where he could function normally on the mound, without risking re-aggravating his injury, despite not yet having made a "full" recovery. Obviously, it'll be up to the doctors to really determine that and where he's at.

Okay, I am in NO way suggesting we are in the playoffs yet, I realize there is plenty of season left, so this is all hypothetical at this point, especially not knowing if Yo will return before the end of the season or not. However, assuming he did, what would you think of using Gallardo as our playoff closer? Really, closers are pretty huge in the playoffs, and we have a logjam in the rotation if we were to go with 3 starters. C.C. and Sheets are obviously starters. At that point, you almost need to give Parra the nod as the 3rd starter, especially with Gallardo just coming off an injury, if Parra continues the way he has. Again, this is all just a thought at this point. If Torres continues to have the season that he has had so far, fine. If Gagne dominates in the second half, okay, he's an option again. But what if neither happens? At this point, as huge as he has been for us, Torres is still more or less a de facto closer, and Gagne still hasn't shown enough after an awful first half to instill a ton of confidence in him being the playoff closer. Gallardo has very successful, although very limited, bullpen experience. He is a strikeout pitcher, and doesn't have control issues, nor has he ever showed signs of being influenced by heavy pressure situations. Sounds to me like he fits the mold. Especially with teams having seen very little of him, I don't see them having much success off Gallardo seeing him for only 1 inning.

There isn't much to vent about the last few days, but.....are the Cardinals EVER going to figure out that they're not actually a 90 win type team?

Here's a hypothetical baseball situation that I'm wondering if the rule book addresses. Team A and Team B are tied in the bottom of the 9th, Team A is batting. The bases are loaded with 1 out. The next batter for Team A drives one deep to right field. It's playable, but there's no way the RF can get the ball back in in time to prevent the sac fly. Realizing this, the RF gets an idea. He stops the ball with his glove, putting it back up in the air but avoiding making the catch. With the ball now relatively under control, the RF repeatedly taps it in the air alternatively with the palm of his glove and his throwing hand, avoiding possessing the ball at any time, making his way back toward the infield until he is finally close enough to safely make the catch. Is this legal?

I hope you didn't see his line from last night. Ugh.

No votes for Yost for best manager in the NL?