Why can't this team hit on the road?

[endaround]

Weeks always looks to draw walks. He doesn't swing at crap. Fielder has hardly pulled the ball this year. Saying things like that makes it hard to take you seriously.

[nate82]

paul253]Ha well I didn't mean to start an argument. The point is the Brewers lineup is filled with guys who don't seem to have a whole lot of strike zone discipline. The best way to get a rally going when you aren't hitting to draw some walks. Fielder will draw some walks, as will Weeks. But they aren't looking to draw walks, which is why they swing at so much crap. And they swing on counts that, if you want to work the count, you wouldn't swing at. 2-0, 3-1 counts. Why not take a pitch and make the opposing pitcher work a little bit. Another problem is everyone seems to want to be a dead pull hitter. Weeks, Gomez, Fielder, McGehee, and Bentancourt always try to pull the ball, so when they get a pitch on the outer half they roll a week little ground ball to the infield. It's just very frustrating watching players with the same weaknesses they had 2 or 3 years ago.

I am sorry but this is just false especially for Weeks and Fielder.

[paul253]

Weeks always looks to draw walks. He doesn't swing at crap.
Fielder has hardly pulled the ball this year. Saying things like that
makes it hard to take you seriously.

Weeks doesn't swing at crap? Are you serious? He leads the team in strikeouts this year, led them in K's in 2010 as well and is constantly swinging at pitches out of the strike zone. With this new Fox Trax thing on FSN you can see every time he swings at a ball out of the strike zone and it happens a lot. And no, I don't think he looks to draw walks. If he were looking to draw walks then he wouldn't swing as often as he does. In general, if there is a pitch that he thinks is a strike, he'll swing at it.

As far as Fielder goes, teams have been using the shift against him for years. There has to be a reason for that.

[endaround]

He strikes out because he works deep into counts not because he swings at junk. His O-swing% is the lowest among regulars on the team.

[nate82]

Weeks doesn't swing at crap? Are you serious? He leads the team in strikeouts this year, led them in K's in 2010 as well and is constantly swinging at pitches out of the strike zone. With this new Fox Trax thing on FSN you can see every time he swings at a ball out of the strike zone and it happens a lot. And no, I don't think he looks to draw walks. If he were looking to draw walks then he wouldn't swing as often as he does. In general, if there is a pitch that he thinks is a strike, he'll swing at it.

 

As far as Fielder goes, teams have been using the shift against him for years. There has to be a reason for that.

Weeks 2011 O-Swing% 23.7%

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1849&position=2B#platediscipline

For comparison Albert Pujols O-Swing% 22.4%

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=1177&position=1B#platediscipline

[RockCoCougars]

It's such a dramatic swing between home/road records, I'm starting to wonder if our boys like the nightlife on the road a little too much.

[Ennder]

Weeks doesn't swing at crap? Are you serious? He leads the team in strikeouts this year, led them in K's in 2010 as well and is constantly swinging at pitches out of the strike zone. With this new Fox Trax thing on FSN you can see every time he swings at a ball out of the strike zone and it happens a lot. And no, I don't think he looks to draw walks. If he were looking to draw walks then he wouldn't swing as often as he does. In general, if there is a pitch that he thinks is a strike, he'll swing at it.

 

None of this is true for what it is worth, this seems to be a reaction to Weeks Ks a lot and not the reality of how he approaches his AB. The poor hitting on the road is almost certainly a function of the pitchers we have faced and/or random variation. This is one of those things that fixes itself like 99% of the time.

[rluzinski]

Lot's of interesting splits in May. There's a reason why we don't talk about this stuff as much in September; things tend to even out by the end of the year.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Brewers are 18 over 0.500 at home (0.725 win pct, best in majors) , and 10 under 0.500 (0.375 win pct, ahead of only KC and Oakland) on the road. They are by far the biggest outlier in MLB with how drastic their home/road splits are.

 

Brewers have dropped to 3rd in the majors in home team OPS, and have moved up to 23rd in road team OPS - evening out a bit but still over a 170-point difference. Recently their pitching performances have seemed to mimic home vs road offensive performance, although I'd argue their recent schedule including Boston and New York on the road has alot to do with that.

 

82 games left on their schedule, so hopefully the road woes can be eliminated - getting to the point where it will take a drastic run for "things to even out" by the end of the year. With the starting pitching this team has, it's difficult comprehending how the Brewers continue to be so Jekyl and Hyde depending on whether they're playing in Miller Park or not.

 

The remaining Brewer road trips appear to give them opportunities to get on a roll as long as they take care of teams in their division, aside from their upcoming trip out west to Colorado, Arizona, and San Fran right after the AS break.

[joepepsi]

The last two weeks they had bad road starts from Marcum and Yo, and now two horrible road starts from Greinke. In this stretch the offense has been better on the road, but it's hard to win games when the pitching staff gives 10-12 runs. Hopefully Marcum is healthy and these 4 lopsided road losses were just hiccups.

 

The schedule gets easier after interleague, so look for the road record to improve.

[brewmann04]

I think the starters have took their lumps against some of the Top Al east teams and hopefully once they get to the national league schedule things will fall into place.

[tomwopat]

It's such a dramatic swing between home/road records, I'm starting to wonder if our boys like the nightlife on the road a little too much.

After getting back from the Tuesday night game, I was watching the encore broadcast of the Tuesday game on the YES network. When talking about the Brewers dominance at home and their struggles at home, the announcers suggested that this usually happens when the home team is stealing signs.

[endaround]

Well if the YES announcers say so....

[JohnBriggs12]

He strikes out because he works deep into counts not because he swings at junk. His O-swing% is the lowest among regulars on the team.

 

He "works" deep in counts because he takes a lot of good hittable pitches, then ultimately gets 2 strikes where he does chase to protect the plate. That approach does get him more walks over the course of a season, but more strikeouts too.

[RightFieldCoder]

What's the percentage of balls hit turned into outs? ~70% iirc. I'd rather Rickie take a lot of pitches and risk the strikeout than swinging early in the count. It may not look good in one at bat, but it increases the pitch count and lets everyone see the pitches he throws.

 

Yu-Sucky refuses to take a good hittable pitch. He has a low strike out rate. I'd rate Weeks as the better hitter.

[Funketown]

After getting back from the Tuesday night game, I was watching the encore broadcast of the Tuesday game on the YES network. When talking about the Brewers dominance at home and their struggles at home, the announcers suggested that this usually happens when the home team is stealing signs.

That might be one of the most idiotic things I've ever heard from an announcer, and that includes many years of listening to Darron and Bill.

[JohnBriggs12]

It's such a dramatic swing between home/road records, I'm starting to wonder if our boys like the nightlife on the road a little too much.

You won't hear announcers talk about it or beat writers mention it in their columns, but I think your observation is closer to the truth than any. It's all there for them on the road, nightlife, wine and of course, women.

[DuWayne Steurer]

It's such a dramatic swing between home/road records, I'm starting to wonder if our boys like the nightlife on the road a little too much.

You won't hear announcers talk about it or beat writers mention it in their columns, but I think your observation is closer to the truth than any. It's all there for them on the road, nightlife, wine and of course, women.

That alone wouldn't explain why the Brewers are the best home team in baseball, and one of the worst road teams.

[TooLiveBrew]

I'm sure the guys are out perusing wine menus. Because you can't get wine or other alcohol in Wisconsin.

[endaround]

Obviously its the hard partying that makes Roenicke put in Loe against left handers with the game on the line in Cincy and Chicago.

[Klements Bratwurst]

Don't worry Brewer fans. This Brewers team could be this decade's version of this team which ended up winning the World Series even though they were a dreadful road team.

 

During the Brewers-Twins series, the pre game show was interviewing members of some of the great Twins teams and I remembered a comment that one Twins player made about how their 1987 team was so bad on the road, away from the Metrodome. The Brewers are 16-30 on the road after their first road loss after the All-Star game which is a .347 winning percentage. The 1987 Minnesota Twins were 29-52 on the road (.358 winning %). They couldn't win to save themselves outside of that blasted dome in a season almost 25 years ago. At the Metrodome, that Twins team won at a .691 clip in 1987.

 

While it is hard to grab your bag of chips and a Brew and sit for three hours to watch this Brewers team lose 2 out of every 3 games on the road, as long as they clean up at home which currently they are sporting a 33-14 record (.702 winning %) and win a few on the road, they always have a chance!!!

 

It is maddening though, but can history repeat itself???

[logan82]

I'm sure the guys are out perusing wine menus. Because you can't get wine or other alcohol in Wisconsin.

Could be true in Minnesota though.

[Fear The Chorizo]

I think this road trip is going to go a long way to determine whether the Brewers get on a roll to separate themselves from the division, or end up scuffling with 2-3 other teams to see who stinks the least at season's end. It's comical looking at the home-road splits of this team. Originally the offense was mostly to blame for their poor road performance, but now it seems like the pitching and defense have more than contributed to their problems away from Miller Park, too. At the end of the day if they don't play at least 0.500 ball on the road for the rest of the season it will be tough for them to win the division - they've been unreal at home to this point and it's gotten them no cushion.

 

From a standpoint of improving their team, I think the timing of this road trip is actually pretty good - if their road struggles continue I don't see how Melvin won't do everything possible to trade for a decent shortstop, and maybe even get Green up to platoon at 3rd.

[bucksman4]

I still can't grasp how the same group of guys playing consistently on the home and on the road can perform so drastically different. Is it merely a lack of focus? Starting out slow on the road and it dragging on their minds now that its talked about so much? Are they just mental midgets?

 

I never understood the value of a "home field" advantage in baseball. Maybe quirky stadiums like the Metrodome would favor the team used to playing there and I know some teams are constructed as a result of how a particular ballpark plays, but most stadiums are similarly laid out with dimensions.

 

Just a very strange dynamic. I thought at first that all it would take to turn around road woes would be to win a series on the road in commanding fashion. They did that in Florida and then went on to drop a bunch of road games thereafter. I've come to the conclusion, we may be ripping our hair out in frustration at this all year long...