TheCrew07

Yes!!

WI has 7 runs, and the top 5 players in the order are hitless... go go bottom of the order! (why did the go go thing pop in my head and what cartoon is that from? why am I unable to place it?) Meadows has been excellent since the 1st. Rivas has to walk more than 1 batter every single time he approaches a K:BB ratio of 3:1 just so I'm unable to pimp him more. The entire BC lineup exploded tonight except for Schafer, I was hoping he'd keep the multi hit games rolling in. Hall with 2 more hits in Nashville. Gamel out of the lineup... mental health day? Helena just under way but Brownstein with another hit. I sincerely hope he keeps hitting as he moves up, he's so easy to root for. And yes I admit Steve Wendt has probably slightly influenced me, but anyone who's read my comments on Sanchez will understand why I like Brownstein.

MLEs are worthless unless you're trying to project Escobar vs trading Hardy this season, and even then I think the MLEs are too low as they based on averages and obviously your more talented players are going to be better than average. As far as the walk rate thing goes... generally I think a good walk rate is 1 per 10 PAs. Obviously every player isn't going to have the opportunity to take a walk. For example, no one is pitching around Hardy this season, but they are pitching around Fielder, so I would expect Fielder to have more walks than Hardy. Ratio wise, obviously I'd like it to be as close 1 as possible, I'm not into worrying about the double play, I want balls in play. Reducing the strike outs gives a batter a better chance to get on base. I'm not so concerned about the ratio though, generally the ratio defines the type of a hitter a player is.

Once again, there is a wide gulf between the stress of pitching off of a mound and playing catch/long toss on a flat surface. I would think he workload has a direct correlation to the up and down nature of his season. Core strengthening exercises, lifting, stretching, plyos, ect.. are more about stamina and power (adding and maintaining velocity) None of those other exercises are about the health of the elbow or shoulder, there's no way to replicate the stress of pitching other than to do it. Yo was never very economical with his pitches and if the forum searches were working you could search the minor league forum and see me commenting it on that many times when he was in AA and AAA. For some reason it appears that people believe if Yo doesn't get hurt this year, we are in the clear. That's not necessarily the case, for many pitchers it manifested itself the following the year which is what happened to pitchers like Prior and a favorite trade target of mine from last year Santana. This has become the thread to nowhere, the same concept being explained numerous different ways and the same arguments coming back around.

I know he hasn't had a good year and some are claiming he's done, but I still like the guy. That is an excellent guess, and makes perfect sense given how things went down, I wonder who we would have to give up? Based on Melvin's comments saying the fans wouldn't have liked the deal I would think it would have been someone on the MLB roster, how many fans care about prospects? Maybe he just meant Kazmir would have been viewed as a declining player? I would have much rather acquired Kazmir than Peavy, I wasn't depressed at all about the trading deadline till this "almost" trade became public. What could have been...

It was also Angel's 4th full MiLB season, this is Lucroy's 2nd, and in my opinion the MLE argument is the most hollow argument out there. It doesn't take development into account and no one is saying that Lucroy is Milwaukee's best option at C this season or he'll be Braun. Taylor Green's MLE's have him at at a .612 OPS so I guess he has no value either. Braddock's FIP MLE is 5.12... he must suck. Maybe Gindl's .624 MLE OPS makes him less of a prospect? Lawrie is our worst position prospect because his MLE OPS is only .514 and Chris Dennis has a .604 MLE OPS?

McClung was brought in as a reliever and they tried converting him back out of necessity. De La Rosa was brought in back in 2003... he acquired 1 young starter with serious upside in his entire tenure as GM. He not unlucky, he's been inactive, especially considering the organization's history developing pitchers. Maybe he thought Capellan was going to be that kind of guy and got swindled badly, I have no idea. I find it hard to believe he thought he was getting a top of the rotation starter for Kolb though, and in hindsight we should have known better as fans. I also have a seriously hard time understanding where people are coming from who think the Brewers can stretch the payroll further. Milwaukee/Wisconsin has stretched the payroll as far as it's going to go. Attendance was already very high, so the usual playoff boost in attendance wasn't going to have the same economic impact here. Short of the team finding a significant sponsor willing to pay double digit millions to be part of the Brewer experience, where is this extra revenue going to come from? Do people expect Mark A. to kick in his own money? If so... why? Who operates a business that way?

I might have to turn this off, geez.

It's not that I had any great love for Rottino, and yea I guess the move was warranted given our lack of pitching depth, but Vargas literally sucks the will out of me to sit and watch a baseball game. It's rare that I last till the 5th inning when he's pitching. I'd rather DVR game and constantly jump ahead with the skip button on the remote and watch the whole game in 30 minutes than sit through his shenanigans on the mound. I've literally gone to the bathroom between his pitches in the past, he truly is the human rain delay. Maybe he's changed, no idea, and honestly I had no desire to find out, I just despise the guy because of how slow he pitches. From the baseball side... meh... whatever... from a personal standpoint I would have almost had anyone else acquired.

Has there been an easy victory all year? There must have been a couple, I'm just having trouble remembering off the top of my head. edit. Die Eckstein you little weasely scrub.

Looper gets a lot of run support for whatever reason, but he sure does help his own cause. I was actually surprised he's batting below .200, maybe it's just because he seems to put the ball in play quite a bit. As much as I liked Sheets, his ABs really pissed me off, I like having pitchers that can swing it a little bit... now we just guys that can actually pitch and hit and we'll be all set.

Schafer with another multiple hit game, he's on FIRE! (for those of you that watched Beavis in your college years) Gindl with the night off. Ferris with 3 hits and Alfonso adds a couple of hits as well. Merk was pretty studly, 2H, 0R, 0BB, 6K in 5IP. Nick Green, bah... but Colome wow... strikes out the side in his inning of work, he might get another. Hall goes 2 for 4 so far... keep hitting and bump and that trade value Billy. Gamel 0-3 with 2K, these strike outs are coming out of nowhere.. what the heck Mat? Heether has been on a slide lately, average down under .300. Huntsville tied 3-3 late. Lucroy 2 for 3 with a bomb, Green 2-4 hopefully snapping out of his slump, Cain 0-2 with an RBI. WI... no offense here again other than Komatsu who's 3-3. Scarpetta with a QS if you're into that sort of thing, 3ER, 3BB, 3K, 1HR, in 6IP. The baby faced assassin is tearing up Helena again tonight. 6IP, 0ER, 0BB, 6K

Where have I said that at all? Nor do they go 4 to 6 months without throwing.

Is this some sort lame joke? (sigh)

I was bouncing around the FSL leaderboards just seeing what's up, I found some interesting notes I thought I'd pass along. Hitting (qualified batters) AVE - Logan Schafer is 3rd overall with a .309 BA, other Brewer prospects in the top 20 include, Wilson at .280, Haydel and Gindl at .277. The league leader is Darin Mastoianni, a CF prospect for the Blue Jays with a .325 BA since promoted to AA, he was old for the FSL at 23, turning 24 at the end of August. OBP - The Brewers have 3 prospects in the top 15, Gindl comes in 10th overall with a .372, Wheeler is sporting a .364 and Schafer a .359. Once your league leader is Dominic Mastoianni with a .426 SLG - There are 2 Brewer prospects in the top 10, Gindl comes in 4th with a .459, Schafer 9th with a .438. The league leader is Dominic Brown, a 21 year old corner OF prospect for the Phillies, he's SLG .525. He has impressive measurables, is LH, and is probably someone we're going to become familiar with. OPS - Caleb Gindl again comes in 4th, with a .831, Schafer comes in 12 with a .798. The league leader is once again Dominic Brown with a .917 SO - Here's the boo list... Brent Bewer and Steffan Wilson are 5th and 6th with 89 and 87 strike outs respectively. Haydel comes in 14th with 79, and Gindl comes in 18th with 75. The league leader is Gregory Burns a 21 year old CF prospect of the Marlins with 117. SB - The Brewers have 3 prospects in the top 12. Eric Farris leads the league with 45, the next closest player is Tony Campana, a 23 year old Cubs prospect (so of course he sucks) with 42. Lee Haydel is 6th in the league with 28 and Brent Brewer is 12th with 18. Pitching (qualified pitchers) ERA - Evan Anundsen is currently 7th with a 2.74, Amuary Rivas is 11th with a 3.28. The league leader is Darin Downs a 24 year old LHP in the Rays organization, his ERA is 2.07 IP - Anundsen comes in at 16th with 102 and Rivas 20th with 96.2, the league leader is Elih Villaneuva a 23 year old RHP in the Marlins organization with 128. I'm pretty happy with where our prospects are on this list, unless your a sinker baller like Dillard getting complete games on 85 pitches, there's no reason to be a league leader in IP in the FSL. SO - Anundsen is in a 3 way tie for first with 100. He's tied with David Broomberg a 21 year old RHP in the Twins organization, and the afore mentioned Darin Downs. Rivas is 6th in the league with 89. BB - No Brewer is in the top 20, Rivas is in 22nd with 31. The league leader is a 19 year old RHP named Richard Castillo from the Cardinals with 56. He's a tiny little dude, only 5' 11", 165... but must have gas being 19 in the FSL and pitching for a division rival. WHIP - Anundsen is 3rd with a 1.06, Rivas is 5th with a 1.17. The league leader is Jose Rosario, a 23 year old RHP in the Marlins organization. Team Batting BC is 5th in OPS at .697, 2nd in BA at .263, 6th in SLG at .368, 5th in OBP at .329, 9th in SO with 664, and 1st in SB with 151. Team Pitching BC is 11th in IP with 826.1, 1st in ERA at 2.78, 1st in SO with 754, 2nd in WHIP with 1.22, 2nd (surprisingling bad) in BB with 349, and tied for the best in HR allowed with 33. Maybe it's time that Rivas gets some love? Possibly perhaps?

Normally guys like him call it quits, gents that have multiple major surgeries before they get out of AA tend to find something else to do.

Of course he threw... but he threw from the ground, not on the mound... and conditioning your arm with long toss and what not isn't the same as pitching in a game, it's also unlikely he did anything throwing wise for the first month after the surgery. It's like weight lifting... say you get your bench press up to 300 LBs but then hurt your back. You take some time off, let things get healed, then you start working your way back into a routine with light weights, gradually progressing until your back into your regular program. However your bench press is no longer 300 LBs, it's probably dropped to 275-280 because you weren't able to do enough work to keep the muscle mass. Very few people can naturally bench press 300 lbs... in the same that very few people can pitch 200 innings... it's something one must build into, and if you stop working at it, your body slowly returns to it's natural state.

The truth is rarely that black and white

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that either Henderson or Ryan used roids. I remember Ryan's advil commercials, they were sort of a family joke... yes Nolan, Advil is the reason you can still pitch that way at your age... No Molitor was roider, at least early... he was hurt way too much, the same reason I don't suspect Griffey was a user.

Seems odd that the hold up is an over slot deal for a 5th round pick, how much over slot can it actually be? Approve the deal Bud... I want to read about this kid in action before the end of the season.

So we've reached a point now where it's unfair to suggest something should have been done after the fact? Isn't it enough that a select few of us have been clamoring for talent upgrades in the rotation for almost 2 years now? Because we didn't pinpoint the exact deal at the exact time we have no business pointing out the obvious moves? It's not like Jackson was some obscure player who just broke out, he was one of the top prospects in all of baseball at one point in time, and we have a recent history of trading with the Rays. I was actually thinking Sonanstine would be the SP pitcher moved, I really wanted Shields, but if we had known Jackson was available there's no doubt 1, if not both of us would have suggested a move for him. I actually wanted Niemann over Wright and Green and have said as much numerous times including at the time of the trade for Wright. I was only looking at his history with the Brewers, but if you look at his tenure in Texas as well it's readily apparent that DM doesn't make many moves for top of the rotation prospect pitching. His only acquisition as a Brewer was JDLR who was part of the massive Sexson trade in 2003. How about some objectivity? We don't know what deals were offered, what talent he was pursuing, but the fact that we've acquired mostly soft tossing SP with injury histories and/or ceilings around that of 3/4 types just based on pure stuff it shouldn't be a surprise that we've reached this point with the rotation. Neither X or I are saying "I told you so", we're simply stating the obvious, if you aren't able to develop enough pitching, and you don't trade for it, at some point you're going to run out of it. It's a very simple concept that keeps getting blown way out of proportion. Instead of being concerned with "depth", many of us wanted "quality depth", the 2 acquisitions that settled most posters down, Wright and Green, have backfired horribly... Burns out pitched them both by a wide margin in AAA and he seems to be the pitcher that everyone wants to replace right now.

Final: DSL O's/Brewers 3, DSL Royals 2 (11 Innings) DSL O's/Brewers Box Score All 3 Rookie level teams win today. Arias 0-4 with 3Ks, Abreu 2 for 4, Javier 0-2. Martinez who signed for $225K last year is having a tough season, 0-1 today and only .169 on the year. The young DSL pitchers do excellent work in this one, King works 3 scoreless, 0BB and 6K, Linares gets the W going 2 IP with 1BB and 2K. DSL O's/Brewers Game Log Abreu with the game winning RBI. DSL O's/Brewers Bottom 11th Edwin Wilson doubles (2) on a fly ball to center fielder Ysmelin Alcantara. With Joan Abreu batting, Edwin Wilson advances to 3rd on a balk. Joan Abreu singles on a ground ball to center fielder Ysmelin Alcantara. Edwin Wilson scores.

Final: AZL Brewers 3, AZL Athletics 0 AZL Brewers Box Score Stosh starts the game but only pitches an inning, no mention of injury in the game log. Pitching was definitely the story here, Brewer pitchers didn't walk a batter while striking out 7, Thielbar goes 7IP for the win, Sauter closes it out for his first save. Walla with a hit in 5 of his last 6 games, 3 of said games have been multi hit efforts, 2 hits tonight including a double for the young man. Sizemore also had 2 hits for the Brewers. AZL Brewers Game Log The littlest Brewers got all the runs they would need in the 5th. AZL Brewers Top 5th Brandon Sizemore singles on a ground ball to pitcher Luis Reyes. Allixon Cequea grounds out, second baseman Joel Eusebio to first baseman Christopher Affinito. Brandon Sizemore to 2nd. Maxwell Walla doubles (4) on a ground ball to right fielder Douglas Landaeta. Brandon Sizemore scores. Tony Pechek singles on a ground ball to left fielder Anthione Shaw. Maxwell Walla to 3rd. Connor Lind singles on a bunt ground ball to pitcher Luis Reyes. Maxwell Walla scores. Tony Pechek to 2nd. Franklin Romero flies out to center fielder Elvis Garcia. Pitcher Change: Ryan Quigley replaces Luis Reyes. Carlos George singles on a ground ball to shortstop Gernaldo Castillo. Tony Pechek to 3rd. Connor Lind to 2nd. Demetrius McKelvie strikes out swinging.

Final: Helena 4, Great Falls (White Sox) 3 Walking off with a win Amber Kuehn / Independent Record - 7/31/2009 Chad Stang was due. Then again, so were the Helena Brewers. The Brewers got to be on the other end of a walk-off victory for a change, beating the Great Falls Voyagers 4-3 Thursday at Kindrick Legion Field. It was their first win over Great Falls in the last five tries. After Stang struck out swinging in his previous two at-bats, the Brewers center fielder found himself in a pressure situation. With the score tied 3-all in the bottom of the ninth, with pinch runner Mike Roberts in scoring position and one out, Stang got the hit he'd been waiting for. He stroked a drive along the third base line, briefly checked to make sure it fell fair, then sent the 1,208 fans into a frenzy with the winning RBI double. "Even before the inning started, coming in after the three outs, I knew I had a chance to redeem myself," Stang said, the smile still on his face minutes after the game had ended. "I wasn't having a very good day but you always have an opportunity to do something." "Of course there's pressure, but that's what you live for, that's why we play this game," Stang said. "I just tried to breathe and relax myself." Stang said after the first couple of hops he knew the ball had fallen on the right side of the chalk. The cheers assured him it was fair. "For the most part Stang was having a rough night," Brewers manager Rene Gonzales said. "We talked about what it is to be a professional and really grind out every at-bat and he did it." Although he'd had a couple of walk-off wins during his career at Midland College, Stang said this was different. After struggling in the last few games, he worked with Ned Yost on his swing and the batting coach had offered him words of encouragement before that last at-bat. Stang admitted there were some butterflies. It was a pitcher's duel for much of the game. Great Falls reliever Nelson Curry was dealt the loss, while the Brewers Jonathan Pokorny was key in relief, pitching three innings of perfect ball and fanning four to get the win. Although Helena starter Hiram Burgos didn't get the W, it was still a performance to be proud of and by far his best of the season. "That's hopefully what he's capable of," Gonzales said of his pitcher, who was 0-2 with an 11.76 ERA entering the game. "Before all his pitches were up in the zone; today he was down, his breaking ball was down." Burgos kept the Voyager batters off track, working a fastball over the outside corner. After five innings, matching his longest outing of the season, the 21-year-old had fanned five, walked none and allowed just one run on three hits. After Burgos retired the first six batters he faced, Cutter Dykstra put the Brewers on the board in the second with a solo home run over the Farmers Insurance billboard. Dykstra briefly stopped at second, not realizing he had hit it out of the park until he was waved home. It was the second baseman's third long ball of the season. Unfortunately for the home crew, the relentless Voyagers fought their way back, never leading but having an answer immediately after every Helena run. Great Falls third baseman Rob Cummings' RBI double to the right-center wall in the top of the third tied the game. Helena catcher Shawn Zarraga later scored on Kyle Dhanani's RBI double, and Dhanani then came in on a wild pitch with Josh Prince at the plate to give the Brewers a 3-1 lead after four innings. Once again Great Falls wasted little time tying the game, as Jesus Avila hit a two-run bomb off Helena reliever Ryan Platt. "What's most disappointing is when it's usually right after we score," Gonzales said of Great Falls' ability to come back immediately. "It's just hard luck that way." The win was big for Helena (18-17), which remains in third place behind Missoula (20-15) and Great Falls (19-16) and needs to win the rest of its games this half to have a solid shot at the playoffs. "It was huge," Gonzales said. "We got into first place, then all of a sudden we lose four in a row and six out of seven and that's horrible." Gonzales is hoping this win was just what his guys needed after a tough stretch. "It gives us great confidence for sure," Stang said. "We've lost a couple of games but now we know in a tight situation we're capable of winning with the guys we have." Helena Box Score A big win for the H-Crew in the bottom of the 9th. Burgos with his best outing of the young season, 3H 1ER 0BB 6K. Platt struggled a tad in his inning but shakey defense certainly didn't help his cause, the Brewers should have turned 2 but didn't prior to the HR. Pokorny with an excellent 3IP throwing up all 0s to go with 4Ks. Brownstein with a double and a walk playing 3B today. Dykstra with 2 hits including a HR, Dhanani and Stang also had 2 hits a piece. Zarraga also nailed a baserunner stealing 2nd while I was listening tonight. Helena Game Log The winning rally for your reading pleasure.. Helena Bottom 9th Shawn Zarraga hit by pitch. Offensive Substitution: Pinch runner Michael Roberts replaces Shawn Zarraga. Kyle Dhanani strikes out swinging. Wild pitch by pitcher Nelson Curry. Michael Roberts to 2nd. Chadwin Stang doubles (3) on a line drive to left fielder Jordan Cheatham. Michael Roberts scores.

Final: Fort Wayne (Padres) 9, Wisconsin 2 Road to nowhere By Chris Mehring / Wisconsin Timber Rattlers FORT WAYNE, IN - The Fort Wayne TinCaps scored six times in the bottom of the fifth inning and cruised to a 9-2 win over the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers at Parkview Field Thursday night. Adam Zornes had three hits, including a two-run homer that put a cap on the big inning for Fort Wayne. Wisconsin ended their six-game road trip 0-6. Wisconsin (47-55 overall, 13-18 second half) grabbed a first inning lead on an RBI infield single with two outs by Jose Duran. Fort Wayne (72-31, 27-6) tied the game in the bottom of the second. They had runners at first and third with no outs. Brayden Drake grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to let the runner from third base score. The Rattlers retook the lead in the top of the fourth inning. Brock Kjeldgaard doubled with one out. Michael Vass followed with a double to make the score 2-1. But, things fell apart for Wisconsin in the bottom of the fifth. Daniel Robertson reached second with one out. He took first with an infield single and moved to second on the play thanks to a throwing error by Juan Sanchez. Jeff Decker followed with another infield that put runners at first and third. Rattlers starter Trey Watten got Allen Dykstra to send a grounder to first for a potential inning ending double play. But, Kjeldgaard's throw to second pulled Sanchez off the base. Not only did Wisconsin not turn two to get out of the inning, Robertson scored to tie the game 2-2. It was about to get worse. Watten walked Justin Baum to load the bases and Nick Tyson relieved the Rattlers starting pitcher. Twice on this road trip Tyson had entered a game with the bases loaded and he had gotten out of the jam without allowing a run. The story was a little different against the TinCaps. Cole Figueroa drove in the go ahead run with a sacrifice fly to center. Yefri Carvajal followed with a one-hop, line drive to left-center. Rattlers outfielder Pete Fatse missed the ball on the bounce. Carvajal got an RBI single and Baum scored all the way from first on the play. Zornes was next and he lined a two-run homer to left for a very sudden five runs to put the TinCaps up 7-2. The ninth saw the TinCaps add insult to injury. Their ninth place hitter Brayden Drake hit a long homer to left to leadoff the inning. Another Rattlers error allowed Robertson to reach again. He stood at second with two outs and Baum at the plate. Baum sent a bouncer down the third baseline. The ball hit the bag and bounded into left field to send Robertson home with the final run of the game. Wisconsin is 2-13 in their last 15 games. The Rattlers return home to start a seven-game homestand on Friday night. The Quad Cities River Bandits are in first to start a three-game series. Cody Scarpetta (2-7, 3.91) is the scheduled starting pitcher for the Rattlers. Aqruimedes Nieto (2-9, 4.26) is set to start for the River Bandits. Batman: The Dark Knight will be at the ballpark, throw out a first pitch, and meet with fans prior to and during the game before returning to Gotham City. Also, the first 500 fans will receive a Cody Scarpetta player magnet from Lamers Bus Lines. In addition, it is North Shore Bank Family Night. Kids 12 and under eat free! Children 14 and under may run the bases courtesy of Thedacare after the scheduled post-game fireworks display sponsored by 95.9 KISS-FM. Game time is 7:05pm. Wisconsin Box ScoreFor some reason the WI audio feed constantly buffers for me and it's been happening most of this road trip, I haven't listened to a full game in some time. What absolutely horrid stretch for the T-Rats... they were leading for a 2nd half playoff berth at one point, but that's a distant memory now. As Chris noted above the defense didn't do the pitching any favors at all in this game. Watten has given up 3 or more ER in 5 of his 7 appearances. Following Lawrie reminds me of following Escobar early in the year... Many 1 for 4s and 1 for 3s with some 0 fers sprinkled into the mix. He's consistently contributing, but hasn't caught fire and put up a stretch of multi hit games in a long while but he did have the only multi hit game for the T-Rats today. BK and Vass each had double, but BK and McPhearson also had 3Ks a piece. Wisconsin Game Log The Fort Wayne 5th if you dare... Fort Wayne Bottom 5th Blake Tekotte pops out to second baseman Brett Lawrie. Dan Robertson singles on a ground ball to shortstop Juan Sanchez. Dan Robertson advances to 2nd, on throwing error by shortstop Juan Sanchez. Jaff Decker singles on a ground ball to third baseman Jose Duran. Dan Robertson to 3rd. Allan Dykstra reaches on force attempt, throwing error by first baseman Brock Kjeldgaard. Dan Robertson scores. Jaff Decker to 2nd. Justin Baum walks. Jaff Decker to 3rd. Allan Dykstra to 2nd. Pitcher Change: Nick Tyson replaces Trey Watten. Cole Figueroa out on a sacrifice fly to center fielder Derrick McPhearson. Jaff Decker scores. Yefri Carvajal singles on a fly ball to center fielder Derrick McPhearson. Allan Dykstra scores. Justin Baum scores. Yefri Carvajal to 2nd. Missed catch error by left fielder Peter Fatse. Adam Zornes homers (4) on a fly ball to right field. Yefri Carvajal scores. Brayden Drake strikes out swinging.