7/22/08 Brewers (Suppan) at Cardinals (Lohse): 7:15 CDT

[And That]

If the Brewers win tonight, they'll be one of only six teams in baseball with a .500 or better road record.

[Menotti80]

soup's ERs in the past 5 games

 

1 then 2 then 3 then 4 then 5 then 6. i dunno i thought that was kinda funny, getting worse in a very linear fashion.

 

EDIT: eanelson you beat me to this one...

 

anyways, i hope the turnaround for soup begins tonight. even if that means 5 ER (and hopefully major run support), then 4 next time out, and once he gets abck down to 1ER, it will be almost September and it might just stay down there...

 

if i was given some $ that i could only bet on the brewer game tonight, i wouldn't even know what to do. on paper says we get dominated, but theres so many intriguing things that have been going on i dont know what to think:

 

- brewers abusing other team's aces this year

- soup pitching against his former team

- the brewers on an absolute roll right now

 

the list goes on...

[naivin]

If the Brewers win tonight, they'll be one of only six teams in baseball with a .500 or better road record.

 

Alright, with that jinx out of the way, I can go ahead and trim my trees tonight instead of watching the Brewers lose.

 

Tonight is definitely a bit of a lynch pin game in the series. If they win tonight, with Sabathia and Sheets going the final two, a split would be disappointing. If they lose tonight, a split would be just fine. (I really want 3 of 4 though.)

[Menotti80]

i think maybe this is the perfect night to throw out a mini-"JV" lineup instead of on Thursday for Sheet's start.

 

Since this is the game we are at the biggest disadvantage on paper, why not just couple that with playing some guys that might see action on thursday (kapler, ?). Who knows, maybe it would turn into one of those awesome offensive performances by the bench-filled lineup and the brewers can steal another win.

 

i dunno just throwin this out there...

[jhart05]

Pretty cool chart there, obobo55.

 

I might switch the "-2, -3" outcome to red thou, and "-3, 1" outcome to yellow.

 

Cool chart.

 

 

Let's steal one more tonight Crew!! Also if they win tonight, I believe that puts them at .500 on the road this year.

 

Make my trip down there Thursday that much more sweet.

[Oldcity]

This has been a fun stretch. BP actually has the Brewers at a 26% chance to take the division. I love that the Cubs aren't running away with it.

[FVBrewerFan]

Even though I'm a Yost critic, I'll admit he has a tough decision tonight. Are Weeks and Hall's struggles vs RHP WHOA SOLVVD, or are you better off putting Durham and Branyan in there tonight vs a tough righty? I guess I would start Hall again, Branyan's been struggling lately anyhow. Weeks/Durham is a tougher decision, I guess I would give Rickie the night off. What would you do?

[RickieDROPSbombs]

I would play both Rickie and Billy because both had good nights offensivley last night. Also i would have suppan tell the trainers his elbows feeling a little stiff and get Dave Bush in there to pitch.

[Fatter than Joey]

What would you do?

 

Ask Ned, do the opposite

 

or

 

consult Clucky.

[sheethead]

Hall and Durham. Weeks had a huge 3 run HR last night, and I give him credit for that. But I take credit away for flying out on the first pitch of the game, leaving a small village of runners in scoring position later in the game, and for not making plays when he should have made plays. I would give him the night off.

[rluzinski]

Sheethead, you continue to amaze me with your comennts. How dare Weeks make an out with runners on! And swinging on the first pitch no less! Completely negates a 3 run HR? Do YOU even belive that?

 

You win some kind of bf.net award, for sure.

[wibadgers23]

I would start both Weeks and Hall. They are both on a little bit of a roll right now and the team is playing great. Go with what's working.

[Menotti80]

lol. one of the funniest back-to-back posts i've ever read.

 

well no i might as well chime in - i start Hall for sure. As far as Weeks/Durham, start who has the best numbers against Lohse.

 

wibadgers-i like the Minnesota Lohse picture instead of a "playing out of his mind" Lohse picture as a cardinal

[sheethead]

I thought you would like that. I didn't say the 3 run HR was completely negated. Rather I took some credit away from his game last night. Not sure if you agree, but I don't think Rickie had a solid game yesterday. A big hit? Definitely.

 

edit: I love winning awards.

[LUKE232323]

I wouldn't sit Weeks when he's starting to show signs of getting it going. Let him ride out this mini hot-streak. Same for Hall.

 

And it's amazing to see Weeks criticized LAST NIGHT for swinging at a first pitch when he had 2 hits including a 3-run bomb and got on base a third time via BB.

 

Any time you drive in three runs and score two, you had a good game regardless.

[2008 world champs]

An odd superstition but i'm thinking some grilled cheese and tomato soup for supper. Yes, I am college aged so that is still an acceptable supper every now and then.

[JohnBriggs12]

Durham is 10 for 30 (.333) with just 3K's vs. Lohse. Weeks is 3 for 11, with 2K's. Not a great seperation.

 

Counsell on the other hand is 8 for 16 with a double, triple and HR vs. Lohse, so maybe Yost will surprise everyone.

 

Neither Branyan (0 for 6, 3Ks) nor Hall (1 for 12, 1K) has done anything vs. Lohse.

 

Tomorrow they face Looper. Hall and Weeks both handle Looper pretty well, so I'd be inclined to try Durham (or Counsell) and Branyan tonight vs. Lohse, and Weeks and Hall on Wednesday.

[Glennron]

I thought you would like that. I didn't say the 3 run HR was completely negated. Rather I took some credit away from his game last night. Not sure if you agree, but I don't think Rickie had a solid game yesterday. A big hit? Definitely.

 

edit: I love winning awards.

On base three times, including a 3 run homer isn't a solid game? He obviously didn't look good on those two plays in the 9th but Torres didn't really help him out either. Durham isn't going to be an improvement defensively for Weeks, so I'd rather see him start tonight since he's been hitting pretty well the last 10 games or so.

 

[sheethead]

He had a good game, but I can't call it solid. Judging from the box score it looks solid, but I watched the game in its entirety and saw too much to call it solid.

 

His last 10 games have been decent (.263/.391/.368). But don't go back 12 games, or all that decency goes away with an 0-10 (.208/.321/.292).

 

Durhams last 10 games (257/357/314) vs his last 12 games (310/400/476) is quite the difference as well - not including yesterday's 0-1.

 

I am not meaning to hate on Weeks aftere pretty much winning the game for the Brewers yesterday, but vs. Lohse:

 

Weeks - 273/333/273 (12 PA)

Durham - 333/344/367 (32 PA)

 

I would just go with experience over a player who is on a mild, mini roll right now.

[rluzinski]

dea.12 PAs. What is that? 3 starts? Yost is supposed to consider that while filling out his lineup?

 

I don't have a problem with Durham getting 4-5 starts a month at 2B but I wouldn't do it the day after Weeks had one of his better offensive days in awhile.

 

As for Hall/Branyan, I have no

[obobo55]

Pretty cool chart there, obobo55.

 

I might switch the "-2, -3" outcome to red thou, and "-3, 1" outcome to yellow.

 

Cool chart.

 

 

Let's steal one more tonight Crew!! Also if they win tonight, I believe that puts them at .500 on the road this year.

 

Make my trip down there Thursday that much more sweet.

Well, -2,-3 would be us losing the last 3 while the Cubs also lost 3. I agree at this point dropping the final 3 would be bad, but the chart was started before the series began. We were a cumulative -4 (3 behind Cubs, 1 behind Cards), playing four games on the road I figured dropping 1 game combined would be a decent result. Plus that would have the Cubs going 1-6 out of the break. In the big picture, that wouldn't seem so bad.

-3, 1 would have us winning 2 of 3, while the Cubs won 3. Again, looking at the result from the beginning of the series that is a good result as we vault the Cards by taking 3 of 4 and keep pace with the Cubs while they go 3-1.

While I agree with you that yesterday's win (and Cubs loss) changes the outlook, I think you need to keep your hopes constant. If things end up anywhere in the blue or green areas, it would be a great 4 day stretch.

[Jimbo]

i like that CV wasn't used last night so he can step in easily if Suppan can't get comfortable.

 

Hopefully Suppan's rest did him well, as he needs to get up to the level of our other starting pitchers lately.

 

Vegas insiders say go with the guy coming off the DL. His arm will be fresh.

[jhart05]

I think you need to keep your hopes constant.

 

 

 

That might be my problem. My hopes for the Crew are consistently a bit too high I think. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[fondybrewfan]

Off Topic but has something happened to Woogie? He always did a bang-up job on the game thread. Yeah I said Bang-Up. Bill Talk.

 

We are at a major pitching disadvantage in this game but you just never know what can happen. I don't like being in a tie for anything. Ties are for soccer fans not wild card races.

[datrain711]

surprised that we don't know the roster move yet.