Well it doesn't get much more depressing than this. Brewers got swept by the Pirates putting us behind the Cards by 9 and a half games now. Who by the way those Cardinals just picked up a Hall of Fame arm in Jon Smoltz. We have now dropped to four games below .500 and I have officially lost all hope for this season. Maybe it doesn't help that I'm listening to "Hurt" by Johnny Cash and the only two distractions I've had in the sports world in the past week have been Vick not signing with the Packers and Brett Favre signing with the Packers. I have less hatred towards Ted Thompson now though since the news has broken that McNabb has taken Vick under his wing. It seems as though the Eagles were just so determined to pick up Vick that T squared had no chance, at least that's what I'm telling myself. As for Favre, we all saw it coming and nobody can very surprised at all. The only thing I hope for more than a Packers' Superbowl victory this year is for the Vikings to pull a 2009 Detroit Lions this year.
Can you tell I'm putting off talking about the Brewers? It feels like the lowest point all season to me and for the first time I have zero hope of us making the playoffs. We're just way too far out of any the races and we still don't have any starting pitching to help us make a tremendous run. As I mentioned above, the already stocked Cardinals added Smoltz to apparently bolster their bullpen or make starts, I have no clue. All I know is if they can get anything out of them it's going to help them a lot. The self-proclaimed "best baseball fans" who live in St. Louis have a lot to look forward to this October it seems.
The wildcard which the Brewers enjoyed last year is out of reach as well. We're eight and a half games behind the leading Rockies for that spot and an additional four teams are above us as well. It is going to take a lot of solo Prince Fielder home runs for us to surmount a comeback that great. I say solo because bug-eyed Braun gets picked off every third time he's on the basepaths. How has noone in the dugout told him to just stand right on the bag from now on while Prince is hitting? I feel bad for Prince. He is a much better player than what he is getting right now from the rest of the team. I don't expect us to trade him next year unless we throw in the towel extremely soon. He will however be traded before his contract runs out because I would be extremely surprised if Attanasio if willing to pay him what he wants and deserves. Assuming that to be the case we need to get some quality value for him from another team.
There was one bright spot over the last few days. The Mariners picked up Bill Hall because of their own injuries at third in exchange for a minor leauge pitcher. It's funny to see how much the Mariners have turned into the Brewers of a couple years ago because of Zduriencik being the new GM there. Of course there's a downside to this deal and that's that the Crew agreed to pay nearly the rest of Hall's $10.5 million salary that is still owed to him.
So that's where the Brewers stand, rebuilding once again. Hopefully the rest of the season will be entertaining to at least watch how some of those younger faces perform. If not it's less than four weeks away from football season to distract me from my Brewers blues.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Hnarrative
After discussing with several Brewer fan’s over the past about the prospects of the rest of the season the overwhelming response seems to be that it’s over. Those who still do have hope of a possible playoff run are very reserved on the actuality of that glorious event. You can definitely stick me in that latter camp, and I’m proud to be there. Of course most sports fans have a very short-term memory and after watching them drop two of three to the Padres (again), it was very easy to throw The Crew under the bus. Especially when in the one game you win you score 12 runs and still almost give it up because of poor pitching. The important thing though is that it goes down as a win and helped to propel us to the first three game winning streak since the middle of June.
It is largely due in part to these mighty struggles over the last several weeks that I have so much hope. I truly believe that we are a better team than we have shown over that time. The fact that we are still within striking distance of the Cardinals makes me so happy. We have a lot of games left against them, as well as the Cubs, and it would be very easy for us to close the gap during September. A friend of mine was expressing her hope that we would sweep the Cards for the rest of our season series against them. Although I find that extremely improbable and nearly impossible, it definitely is true that we can make some hay against them. Of course, it was my expectation we were going to be winning a lot of games and series since the All-Star break to where we stand today and I’ve been terribly wrong, but that optimism cannot leave me.
It is that same optimism that has led me over the last couple weeks to grow so excited about the changes our bullpen has experienced. I think Weathers is a tremendous set-up man and Vargas put together some great innings for us. After watching Weathers blow the game on Sunday, losing the chance for a series sweep, most would lose faith, but not me. This is due part to my optimism still, but more so my stubbornness that I was right about Weathers being a great set-up man. I don’t blame Weathers for giving up that two run homer. He pitched a good at-bat against Pence, and Pence hit a pitchers pitch for a home run. It was an impressive show by Hunter, and not much Weathers could have done about it. I was reading another blog in which the author suggested we should have given Pence a free pass to first and pitched to Pudge instead. That type of strategy is so stupid and will not work for you in most situations since you’re putting the go ahead run on first (and Pence has good speed to). I think that author also greatly underestimates Pudge, who is still a rather good hitter with decent power.
At any rate we’re eight games back and below .500. If the Brewers struggle any longer to win series and in all honesty begin to sweep some teams I’m afraid I’ll have the jump off the playoff prospective bandwagon. That has not happened so far though, so let’s just go out and continue our dominance over the Pirates. Oh, and screw you Thompson, I hope you enjoy watching the Eagles in the Superbowl this year, jackass.
It is largely due in part to these mighty struggles over the last several weeks that I have so much hope. I truly believe that we are a better team than we have shown over that time. The fact that we are still within striking distance of the Cardinals makes me so happy. We have a lot of games left against them, as well as the Cubs, and it would be very easy for us to close the gap during September. A friend of mine was expressing her hope that we would sweep the Cards for the rest of our season series against them. Although I find that extremely improbable and nearly impossible, it definitely is true that we can make some hay against them. Of course, it was my expectation we were going to be winning a lot of games and series since the All-Star break to where we stand today and I’ve been terribly wrong, but that optimism cannot leave me.
It is that same optimism that has led me over the last couple weeks to grow so excited about the changes our bullpen has experienced. I think Weathers is a tremendous set-up man and Vargas put together some great innings for us. After watching Weathers blow the game on Sunday, losing the chance for a series sweep, most would lose faith, but not me. This is due part to my optimism still, but more so my stubbornness that I was right about Weathers being a great set-up man. I don’t blame Weathers for giving up that two run homer. He pitched a good at-bat against Pence, and Pence hit a pitchers pitch for a home run. It was an impressive show by Hunter, and not much Weathers could have done about it. I was reading another blog in which the author suggested we should have given Pence a free pass to first and pitched to Pudge instead. That type of strategy is so stupid and will not work for you in most situations since you’re putting the go ahead run on first (and Pence has good speed to). I think that author also greatly underestimates Pudge, who is still a rather good hitter with decent power.
At any rate we’re eight games back and below .500. If the Brewers struggle any longer to win series and in all honesty begin to sweep some teams I’m afraid I’ll have the jump off the playoff prospective bandwagon. That has not happened so far though, so let’s just go out and continue our dominance over the Pirates. Oh, and screw you Thompson, I hope you enjoy watching the Eagles in the Superbowl this year, jackass.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
An Early Edition of Friday's Hnarrative
When I woke up Wednesday morning and heard on the radio about the biggest one day shakeup the entire year I was ecstatic. Although the Brewers may be a far ways from being mathematically out of the playoffs the realistic window is closing fast. As far as the major league roster is concerned, Bill Hall was moved to assignment and Hardy was sent down to AAA. I’m looking forward to checking out the new faces we’ve moved up in Escobar, Iribarren, and Bourgeois. Including another probable major league stint from Gamel in the closing months of the 2009 season we will get a great chance to see the future of the Brewers. This excitement is bittersweet however knowing that even though Melvin claims this not a “white flag,” it’s about as close as you can get. Either way it should generate excitement and more profit for the rest of the season, which I’ll continue to patiently wait to be applied to our player payroll. The final part of the Wednesday shakeup was the firing of the Brewers pitching coach, Billy Castro. If you would like to know my feelings on this move I suggest reading my Wednesday Hnarration. Instead I’d like to focus on the roster moves that took place.
Let’s start with Bill Hall. If any team is desperate enough to pick up his large contract what a plus. It’s rather clear that Hall had worn out his welcome in Milwaukee over the past two years or so. Over that time Hall’s role has regressed from a clutch hitter and a mainstay in the starting lineup to a lackluster defensive replacement. Although our former Mother’s Day savior did have success clutch hitting this year, it felt like he couldn’t get a hit in the first 6 innings of a ball game. When you get excited about a walk from a player so you don’t have to witness him swing a bat that player has got to be awful. It’s fairly clear that even though results are supposed to drive whether or not you should stay on the major league roster for the Brewers (just look at Jorge Julio and Brad Nelson); Melvin wanted to give him a real good chance to pull it around to save face on signing Billy to such a bloated contract. Even if he were to stay with the club the rest of the year he would just waste away on our bench like he has all year long. I would much rather get a chance to see the aforementioned younger faces in pinch hitting roles and spot starts. I do have to give props to The Doorman (you can see him behind the visiting dugouts the majority of Miller Park games) for supporting Hall by wearing his jersey to last night game. My respect for The Doorman grew once again with that move.
Now onto the case of the tough luck of JJ Hardy. He has had a heck of a grind this season. If you look back it would be tough to find at-bats where Hardy would give away an out. He had a ton of hard hit balls which went right an outfielder or to the left side of the infield. In addition to that his defense is still above par and is blessed with one of the strongest arms on the team. After watching him this year I have no reason to believe he will not be a major leaguer for a long time to come still. Whether or not the majority of those years are spent in a Brewers uniform remains to be seen and is dependent on a lot of variables. As far as the short term is considered, we can only hope JJ will be able to loosen up, get hot at the plate, and return to the Brewers soon to provide us with some offense he has been unable to produce so far this season. That will only matter if the Brewers are still in the playoff race by the time his run at Nashville over, which is definitely not a known fact. Either way it will be interesting to see what our infield will look like next year assuming Gamel and Escobar perform up to their expectations in addition to Hardy, the return of Weeks, McGeehee, and very possibly Bill Hall.
That’s all I got for you today. You’re only required to read on if you’re Ted Thompson. I would like repeat my convictions I voiced on Wednesday about Vick. He would provide a wonderful backup to Rodgers would get hurt and just imagine all of options you could have on offense with both Vick and Rodgers on the field at the same time. If you want to know how powerful we would be just consider if you were facing that as a defense and how difficult it would be to make a game plan for that. I know he’s got baggage, but I think it is over exaggerated from what it actually will be considering how hard Vick seems to be trying to rectify his atrocious acts. Thanks Ted.
Let’s start with Bill Hall. If any team is desperate enough to pick up his large contract what a plus. It’s rather clear that Hall had worn out his welcome in Milwaukee over the past two years or so. Over that time Hall’s role has regressed from a clutch hitter and a mainstay in the starting lineup to a lackluster defensive replacement. Although our former Mother’s Day savior did have success clutch hitting this year, it felt like he couldn’t get a hit in the first 6 innings of a ball game. When you get excited about a walk from a player so you don’t have to witness him swing a bat that player has got to be awful. It’s fairly clear that even though results are supposed to drive whether or not you should stay on the major league roster for the Brewers (just look at Jorge Julio and Brad Nelson); Melvin wanted to give him a real good chance to pull it around to save face on signing Billy to such a bloated contract. Even if he were to stay with the club the rest of the year he would just waste away on our bench like he has all year long. I would much rather get a chance to see the aforementioned younger faces in pinch hitting roles and spot starts. I do have to give props to The Doorman (you can see him behind the visiting dugouts the majority of Miller Park games) for supporting Hall by wearing his jersey to last night game. My respect for The Doorman grew once again with that move.
Now onto the case of the tough luck of JJ Hardy. He has had a heck of a grind this season. If you look back it would be tough to find at-bats where Hardy would give away an out. He had a ton of hard hit balls which went right an outfielder or to the left side of the infield. In addition to that his defense is still above par and is blessed with one of the strongest arms on the team. After watching him this year I have no reason to believe he will not be a major leaguer for a long time to come still. Whether or not the majority of those years are spent in a Brewers uniform remains to be seen and is dependent on a lot of variables. As far as the short term is considered, we can only hope JJ will be able to loosen up, get hot at the plate, and return to the Brewers soon to provide us with some offense he has been unable to produce so far this season. That will only matter if the Brewers are still in the playoff race by the time his run at Nashville over, which is definitely not a known fact. Either way it will be interesting to see what our infield will look like next year assuming Gamel and Escobar perform up to their expectations in addition to Hardy, the return of Weeks, McGeehee, and very possibly Bill Hall.
That’s all I got for you today. You’re only required to read on if you’re Ted Thompson. I would like repeat my convictions I voiced on Wednesday about Vick. He would provide a wonderful backup to Rodgers would get hurt and just imagine all of options you could have on offense with both Vick and Rodgers on the field at the same time. If you want to know how powerful we would be just consider if you were facing that as a defense and how difficult it would be to make a game plan for that. I know he’s got baggage, but I think it is over exaggerated from what it actually will be considering how hard Vick seems to be trying to rectify his atrocious acts. Thanks Ted.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Padres v. Brewers Game 2 Lineups
Here are the lineups for tonight's game. The infield is as predicted in my earlier post as Escobar is not in from Nashville yet.
Brewers
2B Felipe Lopez
SS Craig Counsell
LF Ryan Braun
1B Prince Fielder
CF Mike Cameron
3B Casey McGehee
RF Frank Catalanotto
C Jason Kendall
RHP Carlos Villanueva
Padres
CF Tony Gwynn Jr.
2B David Eckstein
1B Adrian Gonzalez
LF Chase Headley
RF Will Venable
3B Kevin Kouzmanoff
C Henry Blanco
SS Everth Cabrera
RHP Kevin Correia
Padres v. Brewers Game 2
Well. It certainly has been quite a day for the Brewers and the Brewers fans. As the posts below will tell you, the Brewers have sent JJ Hardy to the minors, DFA Bill Hall and fired pitching coach Bill Castro and brought up Alcides Escobar (SS) and Jason Bourgeois (OF). But you already knew that.
The lineups have not been posted yet, but Ken Macha said in the press conference today that Escobar will not play today. I'm going to speculate that Lopez will be at 2B, Counsell at SS and McGehee at 3B today, unless Macha for some reason puts in Iribarren.
Funny enough, all those roster moves today are really irrelevant (besides the firing of Castro) because its the Brewer's pitching staff that needs help. We have a matchup of Carlos Villanueva (2-9 ERA - 6.05) vs. Kevin Correia (7-9 ERA - 4.51).
I don't want want to link anyone else's stories because its basically already been done by Nate today and I've had enough of reading all the negativity and such.
Lineups should be out soon and hopefully I get them up before the game starts.
The lineups have not been posted yet, but Ken Macha said in the press conference today that Escobar will not play today. I'm going to speculate that Lopez will be at 2B, Counsell at SS and McGehee at 3B today, unless Macha for some reason puts in Iribarren.
Funny enough, all those roster moves today are really irrelevant (besides the firing of Castro) because its the Brewer's pitching staff that needs help. We have a matchup of Carlos Villanueva (2-9 ERA - 6.05) vs. Kevin Correia (7-9 ERA - 4.51).
I don't want want to link anyone else's stories because its basically already been done by Nate today and I've had enough of reading all the negativity and such.
Lineups should be out soon and hopefully I get them up before the game starts.
Casey Goes to Bat for Cerebal Palsy
On a day filled with such grim happenings for the Milwaukee Brewers, it's nice to be able to step back a little and see some good.
The Brewers are currently offering a promotional ticket deal in which the proceeds will go to benefiting the fight against cerebal palsy.
Check out the promotion HERE.
The Brewers are currently offering a promotional ticket deal in which the proceeds will go to benefiting the fight against cerebal palsy.
Check out the promotion HERE.
Melvin Says this Mornings Moves aren't a "White Flag"
Tom Haudricourt spoke to Doug Melvin today about the drastic moves the Crew made this morning.
Here are some hightlights.
Read the entire article HERE.
"We're still focused on winning games," said Melvin. "We're two games below .500 and 6 1/2 games back (in the NL Central). We're not gving up."
"Last night's game was a stinker," said Melvin. "That put me over the edge, I guess."
"Bill Castro's been so good to the organization; that was a tough one," said Melvin. "Billy was familiar with our pitchers so we gave him the chance to be pitching coach but our staff just wasn't performing to the level we thought it should."
"All of these moves are performace bases. I look at myself and maybe I waited too long on some of these. I'm maybe more patient than most people. I try to ride these things out. When you don't see progress, you've got to make moves."
"I talked to J.J.," said Melvin. "I told him he needs to go to Triple-A, relax and have some fun. Mentally, take a breather. That's what Triple-A is for. Maybe he can find something mechanical with his swing."
"I've had a couple of calls about Billy. We're talking with some teams about him. Maybe we can find a team interested in him as an infielder (Hall has been playing RF in Corey Hart's absence). He's not getting playing time in the infield here because of the depth we have there."
"We're all big boys. We understand we're evaluated on performance. Nothing is in the making. Ken is our manager."
Here are some hightlights.
Read the entire article HERE.
"We're still focused on winning games," said Melvin. "We're two games below .500 and 6 1/2 games back (in the NL Central). We're not gving up."
"Last night's game was a stinker," said Melvin. "That put me over the edge, I guess."
"Bill Castro's been so good to the organization; that was a tough one," said Melvin. "Billy was familiar with our pitchers so we gave him the chance to be pitching coach but our staff just wasn't performing to the level we thought it should."
"All of these moves are performace bases. I look at myself and maybe I waited too long on some of these. I'm maybe more patient than most people. I try to ride these things out. When you don't see progress, you've got to make moves."
"I talked to J.J.," said Melvin. "I told him he needs to go to Triple-A, relax and have some fun. Mentally, take a breather. That's what Triple-A is for. Maybe he can find something mechanical with his swing."
"I've had a couple of calls about Billy. We're talking with some teams about him. Maybe we can find a team interested in him as an infielder (Hall has been playing RF in Corey Hart's absence). He's not getting playing time in the infield here because of the depth we have there."
"We're all big boys. We understand we're evaluated on performance. Nothing is in the making. Ken is our manager."
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