rluzinski

I'm surprised it's that close...of course it always seems much worse than it is It's just impossible to try and keep track of the results of thousands of ABs, especially when we have a tendency to remember the failures more than the successes. It probably makes fans of every team convinced that their team should score more runs. As for the game, it was great to watch but it's only one game. With the spent bullpen and Vargas pitching tonight, there's a good chance of seeing Dessens tonight.

I love that the Brewers were sacrificing insanely for 3 innings, only to win it with the long ball. Go figure.

Those that stuck with the Crew tonight were treated to a wonderful game!

We had the same issue and Time Warner came, replaced some coaxial cables and tightened others. It went away as a result.

Ahhh yeh. Yelling at Wise would keep him from throwing 10 consecutive balls next time. He just wasn't properly motivated!

I only have stats for information. Melvin and Yost have a much better idea than me if injuries are hampering Weeks' performance. If we assume that he isn't hurt (which is a huge assumption), I'd be more comfortable with letting Weeks play over Graffy. Is that decision a statistical truth? Of course not. It's simply my opinion, based on what I know about Weeks and his potential replacements. The reason why my opinion is probably not shared by many is that I am not swayed as much by slumps and hot streaks as the next guy. I know that the majority of streaks are not a product of a hitter changing his expected performance level for a short period of time. They are a result of the same phenomena that let's you flip 5 heads on occasion. Dumb luck. Do I miss real trends? I'm sure I do. Sometimes, players get hurt or a random slump messes with the players' psyche, or maybe his mechanics get messed up. I recognize that sometimes short terms trends have predictive value but since I don't know which ones do and I feel they are in the minority, I am forced to assume they are most likely a random occurrence. Look at Graffy's season so far, by month: April: .530 OPS May: 476 OPS June: 1.169 OPS July: .679 OPS You might try and gauge Graffy's current expected performance based on the last month or 6 weeks but I generally look at the last 3 years, weighing the current year more and taking the age of the player into consideration. My guess for Graffy for the rest of the year might be something like a .720 OPS. That's the baseline I use to decide if Weeks should continue to get significant playing time. I can understand that some think Weeks has no chance to get anything near that but I feel like he can. A reasonable person could come to the opposite conclusion and I wouldn't call him a wrong. It's just my opinion.

Impractical and counter productive, IMO. It's that same rational that convinces fans that managers should pull every starter after the 4th inning who gives up a couple hits. A pitcher can get 2 outs on two scorched balls and give up 2 hits on ground ball dribblers. Fans are very result oriented, managers can't afford to be.

I'm just saying that in prior years the Brewers had nothing to play for, so you could let somebody play out of a prolonged slump. Slumps are a funny thing, since it's basically impossible to predict when they will start and end. Look at Graffy's month to month splits if you think you have a good grasp of what to expect from him. Barring injury, hot streaks and slumps can generally be explained by the normal streaks we would expect from any batter. Obviously, Weeks doesn't imply if injury is seriously hampering his performance. None of us are really in a good position to know if it's the explanation, however.

I'm being naughty. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif

but if he's too hurt, he shouldn't be playing. It's that simple. The problem is, it's not simple to decide when a player is TOO hurt to justify playing him. Players play hurt all the time and it hurts their production, to a certain degree. They are allowed to continue to play if their lowered production is still better than the alternative and/or their health is expected to improve. The fact is, it's nearly impossible to separate true talent, vs. bad luck, vs. temporary bad approach (slump) vs. degraded performance do to injury. For Weeks it could be one or all of the above to certain degrees. I wouldn't even begin to speculate on the answer. I can only assume that his injury can't be so serious that it entirely explains his poor performance. No offense rluz, but have you been watching wither of those guys hit lately? I watch the games. We have different ways of looking at the same thing. I can certainly appreciate how fans would prefer Graffy at this point, however. I sill say that some were calling for Graffy to be DFA'd earlier in the year, however.

I could understand people's clammering for Weeks to be permanently benched if the alternative was something to get excited about. Graffinino isn't something to get excited about, IMO. Weeks and Graffy are having pretty comparable seasons, overall and that's not saying much. I don't know if it matters much who starts, either way. Weeks just has more upside, which is why he's still getting his share of starts. If he was the 35 year old 2B, he would have been benched a long time ago.

Here's the average batting line for an NL 2B this year: .269/.337/.420/.757

(For you OBP guys--you're going to need to do better than that.) Weeks hasn't even been close to the worst player in the league. I would argue that Weeks doesn't even have the worst stats on his own team. And if you mean that he is when you take out the portion of the year that he was doing well...... And not making outs has a ton of value, so I don't see how you have to be sold on that fact. I can't see any major deals going down this year.

i wouldn't trade vargas at this point, he seems to be the only starter capable of wining. Even Tom Haudricourt has noted recently that Varas's record has as much to do with his run support as anything else. I think he said he has the 3rd best in the NL! You can't begin to talk about the virtues of a pitcher's record without starting with run support. Id trade bush instead, he'd get us a nice return as well. He would get us a nice return because he's a solid and cheap starting pitcher, who will remain cheap for several more years. A couple months ago, a large contingent of fans wanted to demote or DFA the guy, now everyone wants to trade him. I don't get it.

The idea of Gwynn in a corner outfield spot is unfathonable. If he ever starts in the majors, his only hope is at CF. Hall would probably be average offensively in a corner spot.

1 game lead! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

That 24-10 should not have significantly changed your expectations in my opinion. Going forward, I revised by expectations by about 2 wins. While I would have hoped for the Brewers to do better after their great start, the people who convinced themselves that the Brewers were an elite team after 34 games were setting themselves up for a bitter disappointment. Those that convinced themselves that the Cubs were a terrible team because they were 0-9 in 1 run games to start the season were setting themselves up for another disappointment. Now every other Brewer fan has to suffer for their incorrect judgment. Baseball Prospectus's preseason simulation had the Brewers winning the NL Central by 1 game over the Cubs, 85 wins to 84 wins. That doesn't sound very off right now. The Brewers were never a significantly better team than the Cubs, they just had the significantly better record for a good chunk of the season. Unfortunately, all the luck has evened out for both teams now. Time for season #2. I just hope I am allowed to enjoy it around here without having to read around vent posts in every thread.

Good teams don't do this and good teams don't do that. It's all pure bologna and if you are such the uber-baseball fan that you say you are, you should know that.

Things sure have changed when I'm excited over the prospect of a 1 game lead after tonight's game. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif

I wouldn't think so.

I wasn't talking about any one poster. I don't blame anyone for being frustrated but why do tough times always breed insane crazy posts that transcend logic and reality? It's like people literally lose their minds. Any outsiders reading this stuff must think we are a bunch of loonies.

Yeah how about you read the whole sentence next time. Like the last two words, right now. Isn't that like the definition of a bandwagon fan?

I just hate that he seems like an automatic out and that you can't count on him to execute because he might strikeout. That describes Gwynn about as well as it does Weeks.

Brian, I think you need to make a new message board because we have been over run. Retreat!

Be honest and say that both teams are pretty good, which should result in an interesting September?