BrewCrewRising

But I think Chicago would do almost the same thing. So I think that series might be close as well. But I don't think we'll have the WC sewn up by then anyway.

The '82 Crew didn't get their 77th win until August 31st of that year. At that time they were 77-53-1 (that's right, a tie). While it's a few days earlier on the calendar now than when the '82 gang did it, they did it in fewer games (Current record 77-55). FWIW.

Ben Hendrickson had a 2 hit shutout on July 17th. Therefore, we never should have traded him.

Chad Moeller once hit for the cycle. I plan on going to his Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

Rickie Weeks - once he leaves the Crew and starts to have amazing years and stops striking out and popping out. When he reaches his forever talked about potential with another team, he's really going to annoy me.

According to TH's blog, the Crew is keeping mum on Braun. This seems bad to me. They hide things as it is, and this seems to be the best way to do that. Just don't comment.

I was a bit alarmed tonight by Yost leaving Sabathia in tonight when he had already thrown 110 pitches after 8 innings and had a 7 run lead. According to Baseball Prospectus Sabathia and Sheets are 2 and 7 respectively in Pitcher Abuse Points. I have to confess I had never heard that stat before. I looked up the explanation and found that essentially if a pitcher throws over 105 pitches in a game, he's generally less effective in his next outing. Obviously Sabathia and Sheets have been pretty decent (although they've had rough outings), but could this have implications on the post season?

Yeah, I'd like them to just have these heated battles where one wins every other game. I was optimistic on Friday when they went extra innings. I was hoping that was a sign that the WHOLE series would be extra innings. I know not very probable, but a guy can dream.

Too bad from a schedule perspective: 3 more games against the Crew this year, and that helps us a little, but: Houston has 6 more games against the Cubs 4 more games against the Mets 3 more games against the Marlins Houston, though they have a less than desirable record, can get streaky against good teams and put the hurt on. Though I'd rather face them without El Caballo, it would be better from a pennant race/wild card race perspective if he were still in the lineup. From a human perspective, I wish him a painless and speedy recovery.

Foulke and Dotel were already established closers before coming to Oakland. Foulke with the White Sox, and Dotel with Houston. Do you mean the Brewers former way of going about it? Since they were ready to shell out money for CoCo, and made the blunder with Gagne, I'm not certain that they have an established "way". I like the idea of ammasing arms and seeing what goes, and mixing that with home grown talent. I suppose that doesn't always work though. Wise, Turnbow, Kolb and Adams all fit that bill, and worked out for a short while, but it's not like the Brewers found true diamonds in the rough. They found temporary shelter from the storm, but that's about it.

This is a timely thread since somebody just yesterday posted the thread about the Jim Caples article and how overrated the closer is. A save stat is invented, and agents can market their players as being very valuable to the bullpen. After a while the culture of the game buys into this as such, and BOOM, closers make insane amounts of cash, and as such are closely scrutinzed. Basically you pay a closer to be consistently good so that every time you get to the ninth inning you have a good shot at winning. CoCo had rough stretches with the Crew too, and didn't do as well out of Miller Park as in. I'm glad that Melvin wasn't given a chance to top that offer, because that is a lot of money to pay somebody to be consistent in his permanent home in the 9th inning when he has shown he really isn't. He's a good pitcher, but I think he is overrated like most closers. I wish the Brewers had that knack to develop closers from within the organization like the A's and Twins do.

Well chalk up another great debate on this site that I wouldn't thought of on my own. I have to admit I was a bit perturbed when I saw how well Balfour was doing in TB, but then was a bit assuaged by how well McClung was doing as a starter for a while. But I hadn't really thought about true trade value based on historical performance. A quick look at thebaseballcube.com showed me that in the minors Balfour has better numbers in certain peripherals and WHIP and similar numbers in ERA. Each has spent considerable time in the minors: Balfour 10 years in Minors: 3.25 ERA - .56 HR/9 - 3.35BB/9 - 10.12K/9 - 1.18 WHIP McClung 8 Years in Minors: 3.58 ERA - .47 HR/9 - 4.23 BB/9 - 8.61 K/9 - 1.43 WHIP Majors show similar advantage for Balfour: Balfour 5 Seasons Majors : IP 120.1 - 4.49 ERA - .9 HR/9 - 5.24 BB/9 - 10.77 K/9 - 1.42 WHIP McClung 5 Seasons Majors : IP 345.2 - 5.73 ERA - 1.30 HR/9 - 5.21 BB/9 - 6.67 K/9 - 1.58 WHIP Looking at those numbers, and seeing how Balfour is able to translate his minor league numbers to success at the major league level more than McClung, I also find myself wondering why they didn't give Balfour another chance, or at least as much of a chance as they did other RP. Or why they traded for Linebrink when he wasn't having a great season in SD. The only thing I see in the numbers and other records that gives McClung a bit of an advantage is that Balfour has more of an injury history than McClung. Balfour has only been able to pitch 120 major league innings in 13 seasons as a player, where as McClung has been able to get more innings out of his big league seasons (though not with huge success). Or else (and I'm being conspiracy minded and non-objective here) Ned told Melvin that Balfour just didn't have it and recommended he be traded. All in all, I just don't always understand Melvin's moves. I'm happy enough with McClung now, but I'd rather have Balfour RIGHT NOW. Though I have to admit I don't know how we would have handled those games where he gave us some great starts.

He was optioned to Triple A Sacramento and Dan Meyers was recalled from Sacramento. I sometimes get the feeling that Billy Beane "protects" his players by moving them back and forth between the minors and the big club. Eveland had 3 bad starts in a row, but for a team that isn't even competing, it isn't all that dire of a situation. It's almost as if Beane knows that Eveland will never be "it" and so wants to create a great trade intrigue by developing his major league stats. I don't really follow the A's all that much, so I don't really know.

If Walt Jockety couldn't find room in the St. Louis payroll to pay Suppan 11M a year, he won't find it in the Reds payroll either.

I have to give it up to Geno on this one. I try to be optimistic and not succumb to pessimism (key word on "try" here), but I think the story as of July 31st is a pretty pretty indicative of the state of the Crew. Yost: They say that a team gets the credit for winning games, and the manager gets credit for losing games. That aphorism is of course simplistic, and wouldn't clearly outline the Crew's problems, but they come close. Yost can't take too much blame for the Brewers suddenly not hitting. Teams do slip into mini slumps (The Cubs' bats had been quiet prior to facing our three best pitchers). Yet, I can't help but think that his lack of ability to manage pitching became very apparent during the last week. I'm thinking mostly of Sunday's Houston game and his insistence on keeping Suppan in so he could use his "one pitch" that would solve it all. Melvin/Mark A: I can't complain about getting CC, but I can question it in terms of the context of the context of the trades the Crew made this year. Yes, we needed an upgrade in starting pitching, but if we are truly "going for it", I wonder why nothing got done with a reliever (I was at a wake yesterday afternoon and didn't get back until late, so I may have missed some news, but I haven't seen any). Durham was a bit of a "meh" trade that probably helps the Crew, but it doesn't seem like it was an overwhelming help. CC was bold, but you can't be bold just part of the time. Maybe we need to get a real new 2B. Maybe it's best to keep Rickie. I don't know. But I am pretty sure that we needed bullpen help, and playing it safe here and being "comfortable" about the bullpen doesn't get it done. Not that I'm for giving up all our prospects for a RP, but it doesn't make sense to give up our best prospects for half-hearted chance at the playoffs. Besides, looking at what teams had to give up for RP, I feel that that Crew could have gotten a little help there at non-crippling cost.

Without a doubt. I take full responsibility for the last four games. I shall vow to never again post at NSBB, even if (when) the Brewers storm back to challenge for the Central. I must keep quiet to fulfill the prophecy. What jerks. You didn't "crow". You merely went over there and tried to pay them back for their arrogance. And they took that payment and went out and bought more. Sigh.

This prospect doesn't look like he was that much to give up. I'm wondering what the M's would have wanted from the Crew to make that happen. Was Melvin posturing for another trade or what is going on here? Why the talk of getting a lefty reliever and then not seriously pursue one?

They traded him just last year, and this year the A's have the best ERA in the AL. So, I think it's safe to assume that a lot of the ERA shift was just statistical noise from what is generally a very good pitching system (pitchers, pitching coaches, etc.) I'll agree with Russ that you can't put too much on a catcher's effect on a pitcher, but if pitchers are singing praises of the catcher in public, instead of saying nothing or being polite (thus masking possible hatred), it can't hurt. But Jason's doing a great job this year. Hitting is OK, and defense much better than expected.

Then we'll be even, but I still think the Cubs are going to be stronger down the stretch. But, I love being wrong. I'm really, really enjoying being wrong lately. I looked at Bullox's bumping of the thread at NSBB. Too funny. What was nice to see was how certain of themselves the posters were. Given the strength of the Cubs team, they can still feel pretty confident about their chances, but I like it when too much certainty, coupled with unjustified disdain for the glorious Crew, comes back to bite you.

Hallelujah! I second that!

This is how I feel. If you have unbridled enthusiasm - an instant eruption of joy - I'm fine with that. That's why I don't mind Favre running down field, or CC, or anything like that. But the cold stare is a bit cocky. I too don't mind that it was done to the Cards, but I always believe that hubris like that will come back to haunt you somehow. I guess I just prefer that players be humble when they can.

Then again, maybe McClung or Bush wouldn't have stepped it up had Gallardo gotten hurt, and Melvin would have tried to shore up the pitching staff anyway. Who really knows? I think as long as we weren't at the top of the division and poised to win it all, they would have made the trade. Even if they had been on top, I think last season would have given them pause to think that they had to get 1) a strong arm and 2) and innings eater arm. Maybe had Gallardo not gotten injured, it might have been a lesser pitcher, but you really don't know. What is more, the season is no where near over. For all we know CC tanks out, or loses every game in the playoffs. (I'm just saying that so it can't happen).

I was very excited to see Braun's HR tonight. I wasn't very excited to see him walk along and admire it. I missed Billy Hall's HR on Tuesday night, but the Cardinals announcers on FSN Midwest were saying that Billy Hall did the same thing, and that in general the Crew was being too admiring of their HR's. I have to admit I don't like that. I like to think we have a workman like team (with god-like powers) who are humble of their (super-awesome) powers. But I guess that isn't true. Somebody please tell me they've seen Pujols and other Cardinals do the same thing so I don't feel as embarrassed about the cockiness. Don't get me wrong, I of course am ecstatic about the HR's, but I don't like the batters showing up the pitchers. Be humble. Edit: Title grammar + spelling... AT / 1992

I agree that this is bad karma. To whomever said, "Karma only hurts the wicked", I have to point out that pride is one of the seven deadly sins. In any event, hubris always seems to be the downfall of the Crew...hubris from this site! Recall the "Curse of the Cubs" thread last year? And then they won the division. And the "How bad are the Nationals" thread last year right before we played the Nats? I believe we lost 3 of 4 to them after that. I am convince that even Russ could show that statistically, these threads lead to the downfall of the Crew (but only using the two examples above). Bad, bad karma.

A friend told me that one of his friend's brothers works in the Brewers clubhouse and they said that Corey Hart sprinkles crushed puppies on his salad before every game. True story. Actually, it's much more nefarious than that. He sprinkles the puppies on the salad and then gives them to kids and says, "That's it kids. Don't ever try to eat right. Vegetables are full of crushed puppies! Ewwww!" It's probably just a ploy to get kids as fat as he is and get to like 105 pounds.