But My Big Brother's Wearing a Dress

[GenoSeligPrieb]

Anyone else catching a ton of crap this week, and can't do a thing about it?

 

My 1970 Brewer barrelman pennant is displayed prominently in my office. This week, it has served as a magnet for taunts, laughs from Cub fans, and mild put-downs, mostly good-natured, (some, not so much), which I have to just sit there and take.

 

It's like I'm 9 years old, and bullies are coming after me. These bullies don't have a superstation to promote them nor do they have unlimited cash, but....work with me here. So, the neighborhood tough-guys are on me, and I call for my big brother to come to my defense. But he shows up wearing a Girl Scout uniform.

 

That's how it has been here in Chicago.

 

I kept pointing to our All-Stars, our acquisition of CC, even Ray Durham, as signs that we're not the same old Selig Brewers anymore. We won't choke anymore! None of that applies anymore. All the unprofessional, backward people who lead us are gone.....except one. And he's the common thread between The Great Collapse of 2005...last year's shameful debacle, and the architect of this season's spectacular failure to capitalize on momentum, and go for the throat and win some key games. The Brewers DON'T have my back...again.

 

Last May, after getting some hype, the first place Brewers headed for New York City. High profile media attention. And what happened? Later in that season, at Wrigley Field (on the superstation, nationwide) we failed again, under the bright lights. This year, it was national TV for a series in Boston. Bad. Now, with a lot of hype surrounding us, in a home series where we could have made life difficult for the Cubs, the same thing happens.

 

Why? Because losing is always excused. "You've got to tip your cap to the other pitcher!!"..."(Insert Underperforming Brewer's Name Here) is doing just fine!!"...and my favorite, "We're still in first place!!"

 

This morning, when Haudricourt cited our lack of performance in the clutch, and Ned's response spoke volumes:

 

"Since the all-star break, the Brewers are hitting .156 (19 for 122) with RISP. That famine dropped the team average to .239 in those situations, one of the lowest marks in the league."

"There's nothing you can do about it," manager Ned Yost said. "Just keep battling. It'll turn around. I don't think it's a major ordeal they're going through. It's not just something that happens to us. You wait it out."

What a great plan to focus on a problem area! Leave it alone, and it'll get better all by itself! If Ned were a physician, he'd cure patients with the AIDS by doing nothing for them!

 

Would Lou Piniella...HAS Lou Piniella ever made this many excuses, ignored bad trends, stubbornly stuck with poor players, or allowed his favorites (DOES he even have any favorites?) to not hustle as Weeks did today? Would Lou ever allow his team to dump their drawers, as we've done, again and again, in crucial games, year after year?

 

It's the difference between a REAL manager, and a good ol' boy who sat on Atlanta's bench, supposedly soaking up all that winning atmosphere, but forgetting that, instead of a sponge to absorb all those intangible "winning ways" emanating from Leo Mazzone and Bobby Cox, he was using aluminum foil, all along.

 

Part of the blame, however, rests on Doug and even Mark, now. They claim to be "going for it" which makes for a nice soundbite, a great marketing catch-phrase. But it rings hollow if you keep committing to a manager who won't use better players in the right situations.

 

Hell, we may even still make the playoffs, because Mark and Doug assembled that much talent this year. I'm not so sure anymore, but it could go either way right now as long as we don't pee away key games. But honestly, can we ever expect to go anywhere this year, with this clown as our manager? Next season, CC. Sheets and even LaPorta won't be around, and our window of Wild Card opportunity won't be as open. Do we want to waste this rare convergence of talent the rest of this season, with Ned at the helm? Ted Simmons should at least get a chance, NOW. He couldn't do less to instill a sense of urgency. Jeff Torborg came in a few years ago, in-season, in Florida, and look what could happen.

 

Last analogy, I promise! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif Now let's say you're managing a Wal*Mart. Your 80-year-old greeter is welcoming shoppers, in pants with a big hole in the crotch. He's embarrassing himself, and by extension, YOU, as his boss. You even give him a pair of better replacement pants, fechrissakes. Let's call these improved pants, "Durhams". But no, the geezer keeps wearing the useless pants, because they had potential, and they used to cost a lot, brand new, back in the 1950's. The hole rips larger, and now his butt is showing, but you let him make his own decisions.

 

Who's fault is it now?

 

A few weeks ago, I proudly pointed out Doug's bold quote to my friends and relatives, when he said "We're going for it!!", but brother-in-law laughed and said, "Yeah, Ned Yost will lead you to the Promised Land!" That reality slap ruined the good feelings I allowed myself to have that day, but the truth was that I needed that, to prepare me for this week's torture...

[sbrylski]

So you blame Ned Yost for the players hitting poorly with RISP? He's not up there behind them swinging the bat with them like a guy teaching a three-year-old to hit. Is he supposed to say something in the clubhouse that will magically make Jason Kendall's liner find grass?

 

But it rings hollow if you keep committing to a manager who won't use better players in the right situations.

 

Ned's problem is with pitchers/bullpen. Who is he supposed to have in the batting order right now? He's actually played the "hot hand" pretty well this season. This is a poor time for your rant too, with Weeks losing more and more time to Durham, and Hart being essentially benched.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

The Brewers are not going anywhere this year and sadly this is the best chance they're going to have for at least a couple more years.

[GenoSeligPrieb]

"So you blame Ned Yost for the players hitting poorly with RISP? "

 

Nope.

 

I'm blaming him for downplaying it, and saying there's nothing to be done.

 

His public statements, and his handling of struggling players, paints the picture of an enabler. Why do the Brewers fade when the pressure's on so often, under Ned? Because his words and lineup choices suggest there's no sense of urgency. It's not a problem, to lose big games.

 

No one's guaranteeing Simba will come in, crack the whip and make everything better. But this is starting to look like the 3rd time his teams are playing well beneath their talent level suggests. He should have been gone last year, but Doug quietly EXTENDS him.

 

Since there's no pressure on Ned to excel, it filters down. We can't be taken seriously as "going for it" with a 3rd-rate manager, costing us a game here and there, when our room for error is so small.

 

Tell ya what. If we could switch Ned for Piniella, wouldn't you feel like we'd win not only the division, but probably the pennant?

 

Those extra games his bad decisions cost us (the Julian Tavarez game vs. Minnesota on June 14th...the infamous 5-run lead Mota game...Monday's loss to the Cubs, with Durham and even Counsell available, and he still starts Weeks, who couldn't hit and couldn't turn a DP), they add up fast. Maybe Ted Simmons saves us from 1, or even 2 of those examples, alone. That's a game or 2 closer right there...

[sbrylski]

I don't think our players are going up to the plate apathetic. That's just me though.

 

I also think there could be a different Ned behind the scenes. His attitude when entertaining the media may be different.

[holybannana]

The pants analogy is great. I want to get a paid of Durhams!

 

The team has the second best record in th NL on August first. Lets keep things in perspective here. We're all grieving right now and we all know the stages of grief. This stage is anger.

 

But its August 1st right now and this team is in second place. They really screwed the pooch on this one after being invincible hero's last week. 2 months left, I'm OK with it. Yost is what he is. He isn't great but he isn't terrible either. they're doing alright.

[valpocrewsader]

The team has the second best record in th NL on August first. Lets keep things in perspective here.

So your kid has like a 98% in freshman biology and then for a week he totally slacks and doesn't turn in any homework and bombs a test, dropping him down to a 92%. Do you turn to your wife and say, "Junior's still got an A-, let's buy him a car!" I think you get pretty pissed about the fact that 2/3 of a year of hard work has just been squandered.

Any winning that you do in baseball should purely be treated as a headstart to the remaining games, not a defense that excuses future losing.

Another gogeous, award-winning post, Geno. I know I'm in the super-minority here, but I want no part of the NL wild card. Division or bust. The cheap, lame, backdoor way into the playoffs does not interest me at all ... at least not with it being the Cubs that's in front of us. We could and should be leading this division.

[holybannana]

So your kid has like a 98% in freshman biology and then for a week he totally slacks and doesn't turn in any homework and bombs a test, dropping him down to a 92%. Do you turn to your wife and say, "Junior's still got an A-, let's buy him a car!" I think you get pretty pissed about the fact that 2/3 of a year of hard work has just been squandered.

No, what I'm saying here is that in baseball things tend to even out. They got away with a few wins last week and then this week they couldn't buy one. But they've been very consistent every month this year and that's what I've been looking for. They had a chance to have an amazing July and now it's just a very good July. Oh well. You move on.

I'm not really sure what is cheap or lame about a wild card berth. And who said they can't win this division? It's Aug 1 and there's a lot of baseball left. Look at the last 2 weeks. The Brewers cut a 5 game lead to even and lost it all in a single week! Anything can happen and this isn't the end of anything. Perspective is so necessary to rationally observe this. Have fin, they're having a great year! A poor run this last few days. Boo hoo. they got served and that's it. They'll come back stronger. They're now 6-4 against the Cubs this season.

 

[Schlitz001]

So your kid has like a 98% in freshman biology and then for a week he totally slacks and doesn't turn in any homework and bombs a test, dropping him down to a 92%. Do you turn to your wife and say, "Junior's still got an A-, let's buy him a car!" I think you get pretty pissed about the fact that 2/3 of a year of hard work has just been squandered.

Or your kid lives in Denver Colorado in 2007 and puts up a 99.9% in the last month of the season and earns highest honors in the class. My point of course being that there is still season left to play and getting that wild card spot is a perfectly acceptable method to get to the final stage.

 

As far as Yost goes, his quotes have always been ambiguous, defensive of himself and protective of his players. I personally feel he should have been fired a long imte ago, and I stopped putting any kind of stock into how he treats the media a long time ago. I don't however think you can blame him entirely for the Brewers BA with RISP. Can you honestly think that, that particular stat will change under Simba? The quotes might, but the runner will still be on third base.

[lukevan]

Your analogy would work, Valpo, if the teacher was attempting to deny students graduation from high school or if the Brewers were somehow not trying to compete in this series.

 

As for the OP, I have no blame to hoist upon Yost. I've been critical of him but when you get outscored as much as the Brewers did this week, it's hard to blame the manager for not manufacturing/mojoing/wishing the Brewers to victory. We're still well above .500. We've finally obtained the respectable road record that everyone bashed Yost for not producing last season but got swept just as Tony LaRussa's squad did last week in a playoff-type series.

 

Hard to blame Melvin when he's made tons of moves to try and improve the club. It was always a lottery ticket to expect these young players to bust out enough to make us the best team in the league. As luck would have it, we're only the second best at present, with Hardy putting up huge numbers and Braun playing like a hall of famer.

 

The Cubs pitchers WERE great. Our hitters WERE terrible and have been for a few weeks. We were fortunate to have some well-timed and well-powered hits from Ryan Braun and Bill Hall in the Cards series. Luck caught up to us this week, as we quite conceivably could've taken game one and been in okay position by taking just that one game. I've been yelling at the television the last four games just like everyone else. That doesn't mean we don't have a team capable of making the playoffs and beating a team or two.

[homer]

"The cheap, lame, backdoor way into the playoffs does not interest me at all ... at least not with it being the Cubs that's in front of us. We could and should be leading this division.?"

 

 

Just curious why you think the Brewers should be ahead of the Cubs? To me, their lineup is much much better than the Brewers', the defense is most definitely better, the starting pitching is equal if not slightly better, and the bullpen is better. What am I missing? Oh yeah....the manager - there's an easy answer.

[Hammer]

Well done Geno. I too am taking a beating because of this series and the punchline has been something to the fact of "I can't believe your manager did this...or that" several times. The worst part? I work in outside sales and my customers are the ones giving me the business so I can't say a dang thing!

 

Yost definitely has his good points and would make a very good secondary coach but he doesn't have the total package to get the job done. He just can't get a grasp on how to run a pitching staff. He also gets way to attached to "his guys" and seems to forget that while this is a game/sport...it is still a business. If I am as crappy at my job as Rickie Weeks is I would be fired...poor Rickie will only get benched. Ned needs to grow a pair and make the tough decisions...

[ozzybourne]

Nice post Geno--you have given a detailed accounting that many Brewer followers feel.

 

As for the we have the second best record/ there is still alot of baseball to play crowd---open your eyes and look at the standings! The NL East has caught up. The second place Mets are 8 games over and the Marlins are 7 games over. The Crew is 11 games over. One week ago all the talk was about the stranglehold we were going to have on the wildcard.

 

If this trend continues--and Geno has pointed out that the history is once again starting to repeat itself--in 2 weeks we may be talking about how this season got away. But by gosh we're still out there battling everyday.

 

I have been largely quiet over the past several weeks, being optimistic about the Brewers as they have made a run. And hoping to see a continually improving bunch of decisions by the manager. But after witnessing this homestand, especially starting with the Suppan meltdown, I have to admit that Yost does not have magic touch, in fact at critical decision times he has no touch at all.

 

So will this be the second year in a row that a playoff spot slips away? Even as Yost points out that we are playing now for a "dress rehersal for September". C'mon people- that may be the absolutely dumbest thing a baseball manager has ever said.

[cubfan1126]

Just curious why you think the Brewers should be ahead of the Cubs? To me, their lineup is much much better than the Brewers', the defense is most definitely better, the starting pitching is equal if not slightly better, and the bullpen is better. What am I missing?

I was actually wondering the same thing. Also wondering how you (Valpocrusader) came up with a 6-4 record vs the Cubs. I attended Valparaiso myself and I know that they instruct better than that.

[RightFieldCoder]

As for the we have the second best record/ there is still alot of baseball to play crowd---open your eyes and look at the standings!

They might be the same people (re: Yost) that said last year at this time, "but we're still in first so there's no need to worry" when it was obvious to everyone that the ship was sinking.

 

I don't really blame Yost for this series, even though I don't like him and think he needs to go. When Doug puts together a team that will win games by scoring tons of runs, and that team decides to stop hitting for a week, wins will not come. We knew we had a mediocre pitching staff, but belive our hitting would carry us. The problem is that we have no OBP so we're still a team that will hit a lot of solo HRs.

[lukevan]

As for the we have the second best record/ there is still alot of baseball to play crowd---open your eyes and look at the standings! The NL East has caught up. The second place Mets are 8 games over and the Marlins are 7 games over. The Crew is 11 games over. One week ago all the talk was about the stranglehold we were going to have on the wildcard.

 

My eyes are open, thank you. I'm not sure how many people thought a 3 game lead in July was a stranglehold; one need look no further back than last season to realize we had absolutely nothing wrapped up. On the other side of the coin, going 1-6 at home doesn't mean that we're out of it either. Ride the roller coaster and see what happens. As they say, this is why they play the games. Hopefully the Brewers' self-loathing keeps them working hard at their approach to hitting especially.

[BrewCrewRising]

I have to give it up to Geno on this one. I try to be optimistic and not succumb to pessimism (key word on "try" here), but I think the story as of July 31st is a pretty pretty indicative of the state of the Crew.

 

Yost: They say that a team gets the credit for winning games, and the manager gets credit for losing games. That aphorism is of course simplistic, and wouldn't clearly outline the Crew's problems, but they come close. Yost can't take too much blame for the Brewers suddenly not hitting. Teams do slip into mini slumps (The Cubs' bats had been quiet prior to facing our three best pitchers). Yet, I can't help but think that his lack of ability to manage pitching became very apparent during the last week. I'm thinking mostly of Sunday's Houston game and his insistence on keeping Suppan in so he could use his "one pitch" that would solve it all.

 

Melvin/Mark A: I can't complain about getting CC, but I can question it in terms of the context of the context of the trades the Crew made this year. Yes, we needed an upgrade in starting pitching, but if we are truly "going for it", I wonder why nothing got done with a reliever (I was at a wake yesterday afternoon and didn't get back until late, so I may have missed some news, but I haven't seen any). Durham was a bit of a "meh" trade that probably helps the Crew, but it doesn't seem like it was an overwhelming help. CC was bold, but you can't be bold just part of the time. Maybe we need to get a real new 2B. Maybe it's best to keep Rickie. I don't know. But I am pretty sure that we needed bullpen help, and playing it safe here and being "comfortable" about the bullpen doesn't get it done. Not that I'm for giving up all our prospects for a RP, but it doesn't make sense to give up our best prospects for half-hearted chance at the playoffs. Besides, looking at what teams had to give up for RP, I feel that that Crew could have gotten a little help there at non-crippling cost.

[ozzybourne]

lukevan--I said "all the talk was about the stranglehold we were going to have on the wildcard", in regards to the 7-0 roadtrip, coming back to MP, and the fact that we were looking towards first place and that the wild card would be an afterthought with all the momentum we were building.

 

Has all that changed in one week--yes, since the NL East has crept back in the picture, in large part to our 1-6 homestand.

 

I love rollercoasters, but not one with Ned Yost steering it.

[lukevan]

So you're saying we thought the Crew were going to distance themselves from the pack while playing the Cubs? Even if we'd won 3 of 4, we'd still be sitting 3 games up in the wild card, right where we were when the series started. Disappointing to be only tied for the wild card lead? Sure. But we're in a lot better position than we were two months ago.

 

We had the best record in the league for the last month and a half (can't remember the exact date) but streaks are only streaks until they are stopped. Why suddenly is Ned responsible for going 1-6 but not for winning all those games the previous 7 weeks?

 

I'm not debating that the wild card picture hasn't changed, it has.

[JohnBriggs12]

Geno,

 

Your comments are very insightful. Sure the Cub pitching was good. But the Brewer hitters got pitches to hit and didn't. They also swung at pitches in the dirt, over their heads, etc. And the Brewers at time looked like a Rookie league team (Weeks throwing balls away, Kendall not blocking balls etc.)

 

Sadly, the tone for this series was set Sunday as Yost sat idly by waiting for Suppan to get that 3rd out against the Astros. Meanwhile the Cubs were breaking out of their offensive slumber by pounding on the Marlins. It was almost as if Yost was satisfied with the week and really didn't mind losing that game.

 

You hit the nail on the head calling Yost an enabler. That's exactly what he is. Oh he talks accountability and he benches guys (but not some guys), and takes guys out of the rotation (but not some guys). Yet until I see him put his foot down and sit Kendall for a series or pull Suppan from a start, or actually sit Weeks for 5 straight games, or he orders Corey Hart to stop trying to bunt with 2 outs and a runner on first, I don't see him as tough enough. Eventually players see that (if they haven't already) and they just ignore him. Yost could take a lesson from Mike McCarthy who is willing to stand up to a legend of the game who doesn't know when to quit.

[ozzybourne]

luke--yes to the distancing thing, while more importantly staying right there with the cubs for the division lead. now we are nowhere near having a 'stranglehold' on the WC--wth 2 more teams in it from the east in it, and the cards--and sadly have lost 5 games to the cubs (in standings) in 5 days. that will be tough top make up.

 

as far as neddy goes--he gets credit and blame for all things the brewers do. we'll just have to disagree as to the level of responsibility he has when things dont add up to a win, or a 1-6 home stand.

[lukevan]

Certainly losing all four was a disaster. The division is probably a far-fetched dream at this point. But I would've said that when we were 9 games back a few months ago too. Ned certainly is a part of the team and has his share of responsibility for the team's failures, I worry about how much of a hitting coach he is. Our approach at the plate gets really poor at times.

[Oldcity]

Don't people think it's possible, if not likely, that Ned isn't so "it's no big deal" when the media isn't around?

[iluvlamp]

Great post Geno. I would just like to add that maybe Yost COULD do something to light a fire under their butts. He never lays into the team...ever. This series against the Cubs the Brewers looked like defeated, apathetic walking corpses. I was disgusted.

[homer]

This series reminded me a lot of the Red Sox series. Team seemed to rebound from that pretty well - I'm not jumping ship just yet.