by South Side RobI need your help. I felt like reading
Tuesday Night's game recap on ESPN, and I read the first quote by Ned Yost regarding Eric Gagne, and it says, "Sure, I could not pitch him so that nobody thinks that I'm stupid for pitching him"
Maybe I'm still waking up this morning but I don't understand that statement. Seriously. I've tried. I don't get it. Could somebody please translate this?
By: Big Rygg
I was at this afternoon's nationally-televised game, and I cannot tell you how disappointed I felt upon leaving the stadium.
Let me set this up for you a bit first...
I can handle losing. As a life-long fan of the Milwaukee Brewers, I've gotten very good at being able to handle losing. What really gets my goat, sometimes, is how we go about losing.
Tonight, we were down 0-3 through 6 and 1/2 innings. While the bats didn't exactly come alive in the bottom of the 6th, we did lay off enough pitches to walk two runs in. It was a great display of plate discipline by the men involved. Then, in the bottom of the 8th, Prince Fielder showed one more time why he's our MVP. His game-tying solo home run was the type of thing that leads us to victory!
Then, with the bases-loaded and only one out (Corey Hart was retired by Russ Springer on a fly ball), Jason Kendall was at the dish and Ned Yost called for a squeeze play on the first pitch. Bill Hall broke from third but Jason Kendall didn't get the bunt down. In fact, Jason Kendall didn't even square to bunt and simply took a called strike one.
He missed the sign and Bill Hall was very out.
Possibly liberating was the fact that Kendall grounded out to short to end the inning, and play that may have gone for a double play anyway, but then again as any official scorer will tell you, you can't assume a double play.
And that, my friends and loyal readers, it what made this afternoon's game so frustrating. Yes, Gagné could have shut them down in the 9th to give us a real chance to win it in the bottom half or even in extra innings, but the bottom line is that we should have been going into the 9th inning with a lead in the first place. If we take only a one-run lead into the inning, do we possibly lose anyway if Gagné gives up two? Maybe, but had we gotten the squeeze down, who's to say what else could've or would've happened in the rest of the 8th?
A missed sign...the possible difference between back-to-back victories and having gained absolutely no ground in the NL Central.
Kendall was rightfully hard on himself in post-game comments to the media, but he deserves mention here specifically as he completely missed the call.
But, tomorrow is another day, and another chance at victory!
And you can bet your *** that Kendall doesn't miss a sign tomorrow.
One more thing...for all of you fans that love to boo your own players, it doesn't help. Groan, moan, shout, throw your hands up, sigh...there are lots of ways to express frustration without raining down a chorus of boos. Gagné was terrible today, no doubt about it, but other than making yourselves feel better, what's the point of booing a guy that's out there with the intent of helping your team win?
by South Side Rob
The new additions (I believe) are playing better than expected. With last year being valuable experience for the young players to obtain, we were all given the impression that this team would be much improved. Whoops! Oh yeah, there has been one constant and it's Ned Yost. The Brewers blew 2 4-run leads this weekend but I guess Ned feels its early and not that big of a deal. Does he really think this team is that good? If so, when will the fans get to witness this great team?
A new bench coach, a new 3rd base coach, a new catcher, a new center fielder, a new bullpen, and, yet, nothing changes. In fact, this team is regressing in some areas notably, base running.
After Sunday's joke of a game, Yost was in form which was back to covering for mistakes made by his players.
On Sheets being called out at home plate where he didn't slide, Yost said, "Of course he should have slid," Yost said. "Come on, we're playing
baseball. Yes, he should have slid, but Benny gets on base so few times
that it really was like foreign territory." Another words, it's ok to screw up running the bases when you rarely get to because your such a terrible offensive player? What's worse is that the replay clearly showed that Sheets actually beat the tag.
Now, we fast forward to the 9th inning and Rickie Weeks makes an outstanding play at 2nd base where he had to field the ball in short right field. Yes, because of all the distance he had to cover just to get to the ball, it did make it difficult for Weeks to put anything behind his throw. The result was a safe call by the 1st base umpire. Again, after seeing the replay, he was out. Close? Sure but the throw beat the runner.
Yost responds with, "It was bang-bang. Could have gone either way". No Ned, the throw was there in time which means it should have only gone one way. As such, the Astros are essentially allowed 4 outs in the bottom of the 9th.
Still in the 9th with Gagne thowing over the plate and at the knees to Michael Bourne and all 3 of these were called for balls. After Bourne walked and Tejada was unintentionally intentionally walked, Lance Berkman comes to the plate where he is awarded 5 strikes instead of 3. Two of Gagne's pitches were over the plate and right at the waist. Both of these pitches were called balls. One of them was on a 2-2 count. Had the ump made the call, the game is over and the Brewers win.
Yost, who, stood motionless in the dugout while this was taking place said after the game, "There were some calls that could have gone either way that we thought were
strikes, but not the majority of them. We're talking two
or three pitches." One of those pitches should have ended the game. Where was Yost and why didn't he question the umpire in an attempt to protect his pitcher? The way Yost acted tells me he only will protect his players from the media and not the umps.
I can't believe we are in the early days of May and I'm already fed up with all of these poor performances. We all bust our tails at work just so we can keep our jobs. It's different if you play for Ned Yost.
I've had just about enough of it. How about you?
"Houston, we have a problem."
Yes, those words are probably clichéd out by this point, but they are fitting since the Brewers head into Houston tonight to face the Astros...but they'll do it with a couple of changes on the big league roster.
One, that you've heard plenty about by now, isn't a problem at all for most people. Derrick Turnbow was designated for assignment this morning (which basically means the Brewers have 10 days to trade him, assign him to the minors, or release him if he refuses the minor league assignment). Turnbow has supposedly gone on record that he'll take the assignment and do his best to work out his issues in the minors. That's a good thing, Milwaukee fans. Not only does it bring balance back to the roster by providing an extra bat off the bench that we've been lacking, but that man is versatile player Joe Dillon. I'm a Joe Dillon fan.
The driving force behind this article, however, was the other news that came out of Houston today regarding the Brewers...that the spill that Yovani Gallardo took yesterday afternoon in Chicago was not as harmless as we thought (especially after Gallardo stayed in the game, and then came back out to pitch the 6th even).
Gallardo has a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee (note: this is not the same knee that was surgically repaired this offseason and that kept Gallardo out for the first couple of weeks) which looks to sideline him at least a couple of months (though more likely for a while). They'll know more about how long he'll be out once the swelling subsides and they can examine it better.
The roster move I spoke of is the recalling of Dave Bush from Nashville, the same Dave Bush that struggled mightily out of the gates this year and had all of one AAA start to work out his issues (though he was, admittedly, throwing better in his most recent big league starts than his first couple before he went down). In that one start on April 30th, Bush twirled 6.0 IP, surrending only one earned run on 3 hits while walking 2 and striking out 7. The walks still bother me personally, but we don't have a better option to take Gallardo's place right now.
The Brewers as a whole scuffled through much of April offensively, and hopefully the bats are finally beginning to come alive. Scoring 19 runs in a series has got to feel good for a change. I don't think that the team psychologically needs Gallardo like they apparently need a healthy Ben Sheets in order to perform well, but it's got to be a bit of a blow to lose the (arguably) second best pitcher on your team for what could be the rest of the season.
Will the Brewers have a hangover from this? Only time will ultimately tell, but I think we'll get a fair indication tonight in Houston.
Leave it a Chicago Scrub to injure one of the Brewers best and brightest. Let's just hope that the rest of the team can pick things right back up (and yes, that includes Dave Bush).
Come on Crew! Keep the road winning trend alive! Let's sweep the 'Stros!!
by South Side Rob
This time is now. Actually, its been time for some time now. I would have thought before the season began but what do I know (Don't answer that).
Ned's defense of Derrick Turnbow is that he's an All-Star relief pitcher or that he was at one time in his career. Jose Hernandez made an All-Star team too. Does that mean he can't be released? Ned does understand the rules of making the All-Star team doesn't he? Every team has to be represented no matter how bad that team may be playing. It's another subject but that's why I feel it shouldn't be considered an All-Star game because it just isn't.
What bothers me most about Turnbow's performance late last season and now this season is that nothing has changed. Nothing at all. The pitches he uses, his mechanics, nothing. He has made the decision going into this season that his performance and his skill is enough and there was no reason to work on his game or skill set.
I don't know about you but I would have thought about working out a few of my own problems last off-season so that I made sure I had some value to the team I'm under contract with in the next season. Turnbow didn't do that. He showed up with all the same problems and now, they have just gotten so bad that he is returning no value at all to the team.
The only value belongs to Turnbow and that is his salary (est. 3.2 million). If the Brewers could cut Vargas with money being owed to him and I think it was more, why can't the Brewers cut the line and move in another direction leaving Turnbow out?
I said in the off-season that it's hard to find hard-throwing pitchers which might be the only reason Turnbow is still employed. Now, every time he steps on the mound, he embarrasses himself even more. I'm starting to feel bad for him but in the same breath, a change is needed.
We've read what Ned has been saying of late regarding Turnbow and I even heard Doug Melvin this morning on the radio. The tone of his voice suggests that they will have no choice but to do what's best for the Milwaukee Brewers. Shouldn't that always be the case?
by South Side Rob
I never thought I'd see a Brewer team quit again. By the 5th inning on Wednesday, that's what I witnessed so I followed suit and turned off the game myself. I wake up this morning to find out the final was 19-5. At first, I was really mad but then I thought about it and noticed that the Cubs were only credited with one win as a result and the Brewers were credited with just one loss. I probably would not have cared if they would have suffered this beating to anybody other than a franchise who embraces losing the way they do down in Chicago.
Anyway, I did like the responses from veterans like Jason Kendal who said, "What's done is done. We'll just try to win the series". Ryan Braun, who, seemed like the one player who didn't quit said, "It does no good to dwell on it or focus on it or make it anything more than what it is".
Then, there is Ned Yost who, can always say something so obvious that people of his lack of intelligence can even understand, "I don't think we ever got settled in as a pitching staff".
The Chicago Cubs finished their best April in franchise history which goes back more than 100 years. Their fans are dancing through the streets. Some of their fans are already sizing up their chances against the Diamondbacks in a playoff re-match.
Today is a big game. It will tell us how much metal makeup this team has. How will this team deal with adversity. Getting thumped and embarrassed on a game that ESPN picked up is a sure-fired way to never be on the network for the rest of this season. With that out of the way, does this team have enough concentration to go out and win today and take the series?
With the unbalanced roster of right-handed hitters and too many pitchers, this team is not that good. The players we picked up were suppose to improve this team. I don't see it. In fact, Rickey Weeks (who played ok last night) and Prince Fielder (who was one of the first players who proved to me he quit last night) do not seem to be the players we thought they were. Kendall and Cameron appear to be even better than anticipated, yet, this team just does not play like a winning team. Every game is like going to the dentist. It's painful.
I hope the Brewers go out and prove me wrong and go out, and start playing to their capabilities...
By: Big Rygg
Another day, another extra-inning affair. The Brewers lost this afternoon courtesy of a Wes Helms home run. You want to know something that ticks me right off? When we lose because of Wes freaking Helms.
Therefore, I digress from talk about the game today and instead pose the following situational query:
Ben Sheets is supposed to be getting his next start this coming Tuesday evening against the Chicago Scrubs in our second series of the year at the Northside Garbage Dump. Also, coming back for the Brewers in that game will be Centerfielder Mike Cameron, fresh off of his 25-game suspension for the use of a banned stimulant. A lot of people want to call him a steroid user, but that simply wouldn't be an accurate statement.
We also know that Cameron's roster spot on the 25-man roster was opened up when the team optioned RHP Dave Bush to AAA Nashville. They plan on keeping him pitching every five days while there so that he can keep working as a starter. While I understand the move (Bush had options and some of the other relief pitchers that could've been jettisoned don't) and it makes sense to me, my question now becomes who gets the ax when Joe Dillon is eligible to return from Nashville as well?
One thought process from someone that hasn't been paying any attention would be that since Mitch Stetter came up when Dillon went down, that it only makes sense that they'd swap back again. While Ned Yost and Doug Melvin may end up doing just that, Stetter has proven again and again that he deserves to be in the Brewer bullpen and that he also definitely helps us win. (I know I said I wouldn't talk about tonight's game, but he got out of a bases-loaded, no one out jam hand-crafted by Derrick Turnbow, with ZERO runs scoring. That's impressive.)
So, who goes? Is it Stetter, and they'll just call him back up again for the next Reds' series? Is it McClung, which a move involving would leave us without a long-man? Maybe Turnbow finally has done enough that Yost wants him to go down for a spell to get his confidence back? I know it won't be Gagne, Shouse, Torres or Mota (I'm pretty sure of this, but I never thought they'd carry 14 pitchers for as long as they did either.), but maybe it could be David Riske? I personally think he needs to be with the parent club, but maybe it's his turn for a 10-day stint in Nashville?
Who do you think it'll be, Brewer Nation? Or do you think that we'll keep Dillon in the minors until something bad happens, thereby severely limiting ourselves offensively and just begging for something to happen that will force us to play somebody severely out of position?
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Question #2: What are your thoughts now that this season is officially 25 games in? We have an off-day tomorrow (much needed in my opinion thanks to all of the extra-inning games we've been playing), so it ought to give us all a chance to reflect a little bit.
Personally? I think we're lucky to be 14-11. You can say that without the Giants' sweep that we'd be .500 (which is mathematically correct), but we've faced some tough teams and some very good pitching so far this year. We've run into Carlos Zambrano, Aaron Harang (twice), Johnny Cueto (twice), Johan Santana, Oliver Perez, Scott Olsen (who's been throwing lights out so far), Adam Wainwright (twice) and the Cardinals staff that's been playing out of their minds to this point, Cole Hamels...(do you see my point yet?)...and we've done this with Sheets missing one start and Yovani Gallardo missing a few himself due to an off-season knee injury.
We avoided Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain of the Giants, but otherwise we've drawn the opposing team's ace in every series so far. Perhaps that's adding in to our offensive struggles so far, but even if we would've faced everyones' bottom three, we'd still have been struggling out of the gate with the bats. Individuals are starting to come around, and if we ever all come around at the same time we'll be in for some fun 9 inning games, but we're definitely not all there yet.
So what are your thoughts? Lucky to be 14-11? Should be better? Is that about what you expected after 25 games at the beginning of the season? Let me know what you think, Brewer Nation!!!
By: Big Rygg
Despite his game winning run today, and a home run that wasn't called as such, I'm happy to report one Gabe Gross has been traded to the Tampa Bay (devil) Rays for pitching prospect Josh Butler.
Joshua Bulter - 0-2, 6.35 ERA, 17.0 IP, 18 H, 12 ER, 5 BB, 10 K
I'm not upset by this...I don't care what the return was. Nice work, Doug Melvin!
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Oh yeah, the Brewers won one helluva game today, 9-8 in 12 innings. More on that (with some pictures) later, probably.
By: Big Rygg
"Okay, so there's Craig Counsell, Gabe Kapler and...yup, Mike Rivera. Okay, where's Gwynn? Right...on a rehab assignment. Well what about Dillon? Optioned to Nashville? Hmm."
I have a feeling that someone may have said something quite similar to the above statement today when arriving to the ballpark. When the Brewers were in the field defensively during today's ballgame in Cincinnati, the dugout consisted of exactly seven uniformed members of the Milwaukee Brewers (four of which are coaches) that don't count the bullpen as at least their second home. That's not many.
Ned Yost, in 2006, alienated Milwaukee icon Robin Yount (then his bench coach) by insisting in carrying 13 pitchers instead of the "standard" 12. Yount didn't like the limited options in pinch-hitting, pinch-running and other aspects of the game that a bench that was a man short of regular scenario handling allowed for. Yount left the bench after the 2006 season citing the want to spend more time with his family. I'm not one to begrudge the man his public reasoning, but it seems like odd timing.
Now in 2008, Yost has a swollen bullpen again. There may be underlying reasons for it (some of which include: wanting an extry lefty for the bullpen while we faced Cincinnati's left-handed heavy lineup, Brian Shouse being overworked, Seth McClung not having any minor-league options left, being unsure about what to do with the extra spot in the rotation, not being positive about Ben Sheets' tricep), but the bottom line is that the Brewers are currently carrying an unprecedented 14 men in their bullpen. This leaves, as previously stated, 8 starting position players and three backups (1 catcher who could backup at 1B, 1 infielder who mans 2B, SS and 3B, and 1 OF that could backup at all three spots assuming his shoulder can hold up). Dicey, Ned and Doug...dicey indeed.
So what does this mean in the long run? Well, hopefully not much. Hopefully the phone rings in Frank Kremblas' office tomorrow and there's a move or two to report back the other direction. Otherwise, the Brewers will continue to be perilously thin and in danger of severe problems should they need a pinch-hitter late in the game or in the case of an injury. Granted, a guy that can handle anything but an injury to J.J. Hardy in Joe Dillon is just a short flight away, but that's still something that you just have to pray to avoid.
Will this end up biting the Brewers in the short term? Let's hope not. But until another position player (or two) is added back to the roster, all we can do is hope.