Results tagged ‘ Opening Day ’
Milwaukee Brewers Finalize 25-Man Roster for Opening Day
The Milwaukee Brewers lost a game tonight in a big league ballpark and afterward announced their final decision for the big league roster.
In a somewhat unexpected move, 1B/OF Travis Ishikawa will start the year on the 25-man roster whihle INF Brooks Conrad heads to Nashville.
Conrad was widely, and incorrectly, assumed the favorite by many writers (this one included) as the Cactus League was reaching its conclusion.
Conrad is a switch-hitter and can back up at 1B, 2B and 3B, and had even been taking some “emergency catcher” drills with bullpen catcher Marcus Hanel. Ishikawa is left-handed at the plate and provides a more consistent pinch-hitting option, and while he only backs up at 1B, he’s a true backup there and packs a plus glove in his equipment bag. Ishikawa can also play the corner outfield spots in a pinch.
There can be no question in my mind that this decision was made in part because of how poor Conrad’s defense is around the diamond, regardless as to the position he’s currently stationed.
Anyway, congratulations to Travis Ishikawa.
If nothing unforeseen happens tomorrow, here is the rest of the official roster (as of tonight, things can always change before Friday) that will be lining up along the first-base line on April 6.
Starting Pitchers (5): RHP Yovani Gallardo, RHP Zack Greinke, LHP Randy Wolf, RHP Shaun Marcum, LHP Chris Narveson
Bullpen Pitchers (7): RHP John Axford, RHP Francisco Rodriguez, RHP Jose Veras, RHP Kameron Loe, LHP Manny Parra, RHP Marco Estrada, RHP Tim Dillard
Catchers (2): Jonathan Lucroy, George Kottaras
Infielders (6): 1B Mat Gamel, 2B Rickie Weeks, SS Alex Gonzalez, 3B Aramis Ramirez, 1B Travis Ishikawa, UTIL Cesar Izturis
Outfielders (5): LF Ryan Braun, CF Nyjer Morgan, RF Corey Hart, OF Carlos Gomez, OF Norichika Aoki
One in the Books: Opening Day Recap
By: Big Rygg
The new season is officially underway for the Milwaukee Brewers and while they didn’t come out of the day with a “W”, they played some pretty good baseball in places.
The best performance of the day from someone in a Brewer uniform belonged to new centerfielder Carlos Gomez. He had four hits in five at-bats with a double, solo home run, stolen base and two runs scored. Gomez also played well in centerfield to cap off a memorable Milwaukee debut.
The same cannot be said for Jim Edmonds on this day. Striking out swinging in both the first and third innings, with runners on base both times, along with getting doubled off of second base…well, let’s just say it’s an Opening Day that the veteran outfielder won’t be too fond of telling stories about.
Overall, the Brewers played well enough to give themselves a chance at victory. Had they done better than two-for-12 with runners in scoring position and therefore not left 11 runners on base, the score could have looked much different.
That being said, I think they had a bit of bad luck today including in the bottom of the ninth inning. With two men on, one run in and only one out, Prince Fielder and Edmonds hit hard line drives back-to-back only to have the baseballs settle into infielders’ gloves.
It happens.
The bottom line for me in this one was that the key players on offense performed fairly, Chris Narveson (2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 1 ER) pitched okay in relief of Yovani Gallardo (who pitched seven innings and struck out five in his own right) and everyone made it through the Opening Day jitters and nerves without any major meltdowns.
It’ll be a long year to be sure, but one that should be filled with great performances and like results.
Brewers fail to win to this one, falling 3-5 to Ubaldo Jimenez and the Colorado Rockies, but based on what I witnessed on the field in person today, I have plenty of confidence in the team to win more often than not.
I’ll be at the game tomorrow as well as Wednesday, so I’ll have first-hand accounts of those games as well. Even though the Brewers went 0-6 against the Rockies in 2009, I fully anticipate a victory right around 9:45pm or so.
Come on out to the ballpark and support the team as we fans try to eclipse three million fans for the third year in a row.
Go Brewers!
Latest Podcast (Recorded 3/24/10) Available For Download
The latest Brewer Nation podcast is available for download now!
We give you some roster updates and injury news but also predict the 25-man roster, pitching rotation and the Opening Day batting lineup!
Click the link to download now and then stop back here (or leave us a comment on the Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/BrewerNation) with your roster breakdown!
Opening Disgrace…
by South Side Rob.
There was some good, some bad, and a lot of ugly. Some quotes after the game:
- “We just didn’t pitch very well.” — Ken Macha.
- “When you get [Lincecum] out of the game, you’ve got to feel good about
it. When it’s in the third
inning, you feel like you’re going to score some runs.” — Bill Hall. - “Those were the two at-bats that really stick out in my mind. In those situations, you’ve got to make the pitch. Both of
[those] pitches were in a location where they could drive it.” — Jeff Suppan. - “Rebuild the first inning — take a look at it. With the
exception of that changeup he left over the plate to Ishikawa, he
didn’t get knocked around a lot and he gave up three runs.” — Ken Macha. - “There were a few little things, but regardless of how you get there,
you’re always working to get out of it. You have to keep making
pitches.” — Jeff Suppan. - “I don’t go out there and argue very often.” — Ken Macha
- “How you play on Opening Day doesn’t dictate how the season plays out.” — Jeff Suppan.
On Macha saying we didn’t pitch very well, that’s obvious. I sometimes wonder what pitchers are thinking about on how they approach certain hitters. I mean, we were playing what will probably be one of the worst offenses we see all season with 3 rookies making their major-league debut. Suppan pitched like he was facing a veteran 3-hitter all day. If he dreams of being Greg Maddux, that’s fine as long as he wakes up and remembers he’s Jeff Suppan. He talks about location constantly. Everytime Suppan was hit hard, the location was easy to see which was just below the waist and right down the pipe with an off-speed pitch that had zero movement.
Rickie Weeks had a nice game. Corey Hart had 2 3-pitch strikeouts, I guess he’s back to guessing wrong again. Braun had a nice hit but failed twice with runners in scoring position. Fielder had a nice double but also failed with runners in scoring position. Hardy had a strikeout and bounced into 2 double plays. Cameron walked 4 times and stole 2 bases. Billy Hall had an RBI double when the Brewers were down 5 runs (ala 2006) but didn’t do anything worth noting. Kendall tried to call a good game but Suppan can’t locate. He didn’t do anything at the plate. Suppan actually had an RBI double and drew a walk. Come to think of it, the Brewers drew 10 walks and were hit by 2 pitches for 12 free passes. Throw in their hits and they only managed 5 runs while knocking out last year’s Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum after 3 innings, his shortest outing in over a year. Yet, the Brewers lose 10-6.
Seth McClung showed why the Rays traded him away 2 years ago. Jorge Julio was an embarrassment as well.
It’s just one game but given the circumstances in facing one of the best pitchers in the game and getting to him early, the game was a complete waste.
Thank god for tomorrow. Baseball is cool that way. Have a bad game, let it simmer and then, go out and get them tomorrow. We hit lefties and Randy Johnson is just a shell of his former self. No excuses. We have to knock him around and win tomorrow’s game.
Opening Day Is Upon Us!!! (or is it…?)
By: Big Rygg

ays would not only win what is arguably the most top-heavy division in baseball but would then advance through the American League playoffs to win a game in the World Series?
Brewers 4, Cubs 3
By: Big Rygg
First of all, look for my late previews of the Scrubs and Brewers coming up soon.
That being said…
BREWERS WIN!!!
In an overly dramatic game, the Milwaukee Brewers survived a “punch-to-the-gut” 9th inning rally, after a rally of their own in the top half of the inning, to win on Opening Day in extra innings.
Surviving a couple of rain delays, Ben Sheets pitched 6 strong innings, shutting Chicago out and barely allowing any baserunners. What’s more, in an ironic twist of fate, Carlos Zambrano had to leave the game early with an injury that was being reported as a strained forearm.
At the plate we had a stellar performance from Tony Gwynn Jr., and some late clutch hitting from Ryan Braun, Corey Hart and Craig Counsell.
Gwynn also had a game-changing play in centerfield which prevented a run earlier in the game.
Check Brewers.com for the final boxscore and statistics, but trust me that Gwynn had a fantastic all-around game.
Also having a strong game? Guillermo Mota and David Riske. Salomon Torres had a scoreless inning as well, though his wasn’t nearly as clean.
My mind is running a mile a minute right now with a lot that I’d like to say, but there is no real structure behind any of it! Having said that, I’m going to sit down and watch the reply of the game here in about 30 mins while I work on the Cubs’ and Brewers’ previews.
But the bottom line today is a Brewer victory and the first of (hopefully) many days in 1st place in the NL Central.


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