2010-04-18 Brewers (Davis) at Nationals (Marquis), 12:35 PM CDT [Brewers win, 11-7]

[sauveb]

Why did Carlos V bat there?

 

The frequencies in Macha's head are not known to normals.

Because CV only threw 10 pitches in the 8th and Macha is hoping he can finish the game.

 

[jvrocksaz]

What if Casey McGehee is actually good?

McGehee has an OPS of .873 in his first 424 career at bats. He also has a BA of .304 with 20 HR's and 81 RBI's in those same 424 AB's... Not a bad start to a career. I am glad he is a Brewer!

 

 

[ilovebeer]

would this be coincided a ugly win?

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

We've improved over last year's first 12 games...let's hope we get hot like we did last year after 3-8.

[MilwaukeeCounsell]

People just need to realize it is a long season, and not overreact after one single game or a string of games.

 

Last year, at the end of April, Pirates had the best team ERA, with the Royals in 3rd and A's in 5th. They all ended up last in their divisions. Meanwhile, 4 playoff teams were in the bottom 7 of team ERA after April (Yankees were 2nd last)

 

Point: LOT of baseball left.

[WV Brew]

Vintage Doug Davis. 100+ pitches in less than 5 innings with a 10 run lead. Glad he didn't get a W.

[MilwaukeeCounsell]

Wins and losses are probably the worst stat in sports, so I don't know why that would matter.

[BrewCrewForever]

Casey McGehee is one of the few bright spots so far this season.

Him along with Braun and Weeks. Those three guys are coming play every day and doing a good job. Oh yeah and Carlos V to.

[logan82]

Maybe we are facing a tough righty.

And so that means Gomez gets to play?

Sarcasm man, sarcasm.

[craigharmann]

Wins and losses are probably the worst stat in sports, so I don't know why that would matter.

But, when playing in the postseason depends on how many wins you have, they do matter.

[bobskube]

Parra allows two rockets. I was called out for call his brain the size of a Koala's and I still contend that he will never be a good big league pitcher.

What does his brain size have to do with his physical skill set?

I need to be more specific with my thoughts. Sorry...

[hawing]

Where do you find the win probability charts?

 

Oh my God.

I love how news of the Counsell Crush (and yes, that was the first phrase that came to my forum-oriented mind as I watched the ball land in the Nats' bullpen) broke in this thread. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif It's not every day that we can say about a game that the Craig Counsell grand slam made the difference.

 

I realize that the ten-spot was at least as much about Jason Marquis' crappiness as anything. I decided to go against the grain of half the posters here lately and enjoy it anyway. As the Nats fans seated around us behind center field began to openly throw in the towel, I knew that the same thing could easily have happened to Sharpie - and was relatively happy that he got as far as he did. After sitting through Saturday's game, I chose to take what I could get.

 

I actually wondered whether Macha would have Vargas bat for himself (the lead was big enough at the time, and the Brewers could then try to squeeze a little more out of Claudio on the mound), so I wasn't as surprised when he did it. I was more surprised, but in the end not disappointed, when he did the same with Villa. I began fearing an 8th inning Hawkins appearance around the time Sharpie was taken out, so I was just glad to see Villa.

 

Fun facts: When Craig Counsell hit his last home run (last July 30 vs. WAS in Milwaukee), I was at that game; and I was also at the 2001 game when the Brewers last had a ten-spot inning. I'd like to think this means something, but know it probably doesn't.

 

Of the three games we attended, I was happiest with the seats we had today, and not only because of the on-field results. We were in the center of the fourth row of section 100 (in yellow below):

http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/was/images/ticketing/y2010/nationals_parkmap_640px.jpg

 

These turned out to have waitstaff service and padded seats that were a few inches cushier than the MP club seats. I've yet to find indication of this on the Nats' website or in their equivalent of the Gameday program, so it was a nice surprise. I was happy with the view (also figured it was just as well we couldn't see the miss of the fly ball that led to the Nats' first run). Had we been on the left side of the section, we could have kept an eye on the Brewers' bullpen, but with another sub-20000 crowd (this was the "big" crowd at 18,789), it was easy to walk over and peek without getting in anyone's way.

 

Being across the field from home plate, we did not get a good look at the "Carlos Gonzalez-to-Jeff Zaun" play, but on the Baseball Tonight replay it looked gritty. Way to hang on, Jeff.

 

The Nationals kept advertising a "Citizen of NatsTown" package which sounds a bit like a kids' fan club for adults. Basically you get a Gameday Audio subscription plus minor Nats-specific perks for the price of a Gameday Audio subscription. I'd spring for that if the Brewers offered it.

[bensheeps]

Hawing

 

As I watched the 10-run inning, I was hoping you were in attendance for the Sunday game. I would have hated for Saturday's showing to be your final thought of the Washington experience. (Maybe I feel that same way for any of us that watched the series)

[brewmann04]

Very Dissapointing DD could not get past the 5th today with a 10 run lead.

[MJLiverock]

A 5 run lead in the 7th and people are getting nervous? If it had started 5-0 Nats, and the Brewers scored 10 runs in the 6th, we'd be jumping for joy. The order that the runs are scored tells you next to nothing about who's going to win so just relax.

Or it just means that no amount of runs scored or lead generated is enough with this pitching staff.