2011-08-11 Brewers (Gallardo) at Cardinals (Carpenter) - 7:15 PM CDT [Brewers lose, 5-2]

[dlk9s]

Rosiak just said Braun is just resting today. No injury...

http://i1107.photobucket.com/albums/h396/dlk9s/tumblr_lgbj3sN4Td1qf8yek.gif

[trwi7]

Have to keep Kotsay fresh so he can continue giving us professional at bats.

[dlk9s]

If we get up 2-0 in the NLDS will we rest Braun then also?

Really? He has looked terrible lately. I'm not thrilled with the move, but at least it's not some passive aggressive punishment like back when Macha was manager.

He's been bad for three games. And last night wasn't even too bad. 1-4 with a walk and one of his outs was a smash right to the third baseman. Sorry, you don't sit one of the best hitters of this generation just because he's had two bad games and one not that great game.

[topper09er]

If we get up 2-0 in the NLDS will we rest Braun then also?

Really? He has looked terrible lately. I'm not thrilled with the move, but at least it's not some passive aggressive punishment like back when Macha was manager.

Mark Kotsay has looked terrible since 2004, whereas Braun never looks terrible. Even last night he drew a walk and didnt strikeout which is a great sign for someone in a "slump"

[sargennm]

If we get up 2-0 in the NLDS will we rest Braun then also?

Really? He has looked terrible lately. I'm not thrilled with the move, but at least it's not some passive aggressive punishment like back when Macha was manager.

Mark Kotsay has looked terrible since 2004, whereas Braun never looks terrible. Even last night he drew a walk and didnt strikeout which is a great sign for someone in a "slump"

Look, the point is I doubt this was done in some sort of vacuum where RR said, "You know what Ryan, you look tired. Hit the pine." There's probably some other issue that they are not going to publicize at play here. Let's hope it's not an injury.

 

I don't think this is a good move, but I doubt it's exactly as it's been presented.

[Mays Hayes]

Shoulder, calf, oblique... he's had a rough year already. I'm sure somethings barkin'. Bottomline, if Braun is 100% healthy and feeling great, he'd be in the lineup. If somethings a little sore, and they think he just needs a day, they're not going to tell the media that he's hurt and create a circus. Little do they know of the circus they create here, though, by playing Kotsay, and hitting him 3rd!

[wisconsinfan47]

A .250/.300/.330 line (or whatever Kotsay has now) batting 3rd wouldn't even be acceptable on the current Astros squad.

[MillerParkSouth]

I just don't understand why they give him a day off against the Cardinals when the Pirates are coming to town, unless of course he's actually hurt and they're not letting on. This is an ugly line-up. Thank god we got the first 2 in the series, but i'm greedy now and really want to get the sweep. Hopefully Corey, Prince, Casey and Yo have big games.

[brwrsfan]

According to RR, this is part of the "plan". This incredible, brilliant "master plan" couldn't have been devised so he'd have a day off against the ten game out of first Pirates, as opposed to the second place Cardinals? Not to mention the day off we just had on Monday....

[Baldkin]

3 lefties in a row means that Morgan will face a LOOGY late in the game, when normally they'd save that for Prince. I just doubt RRR would PH Braun for Kotsay.

[dlk9s]

According to RR, this is part of the "plan".

What the...I don't even...

[logan82]

Now all DPR has to do to complete the trifecta for the day is put in Loe against a left handed hitter with the game on the line.

[The Truth]

I don't mind resting Braun tonight. He's looked like he could use a day off during this series. Giving Braun occasional days off will hopefully lead to him finishing the season batting .325+ with a .970+ OPS .... him grinding it out day in & day out could lead to a .305 BA and a .920 OPS

 

I get the sentiment that "why don't they wait till tomorrow"? But the reality is, he's a human being, he's looked pretty run down the last few days. These are the dog days of August. He needs a day off today.

 

As others have said, I don't get Kotsay batting 3rd!!!! In fact Hairston should be starting over Kotsay anyways

[dlk9s]

Ah screw it, we're going to win anyway.

[logan82]

I don't mind resting Braun tonight.

 

So, 2 games wore Braun out? This is going to be a very very long couple months if Braun wears out after 2 games.

[pgerbs]

RR is covering for Braun..let's question the latter, not the former.

[pebadger]

Not to sound like COfan, but seems like there's a lot of complaining about something that seems minor. A guy is out. Another guys steps in. RR doesn't want to mess with everyone else's spot in the lineup, so he just plugs the new guy into the old guy's spot. Kotsay hasn't played in a while, and RR wants him to get some ABs. It's not like he's throwing up a white flag here.

 

A lot of folks would make different choices, but RR has the Brewers in the best position they have been in many posters lifetimes, or at least their own memories. I was 13 the last time the Brewers were in the position they are now. It doesn't mean RR is always right. I'm even willing to consider that if he did things a bit differently they might even be better than they are now in terms of record. But they're pretty close to topping out their potential talent right now the way it is.

 

Two Wisconsinites occupy the top 2 spots on the PGA Championship leaderboard. The Packers are defending Super Bowl champs, the Badgers defending B10 champs in football, and the Brewers are on as good a roll as they've been in a long time.

 

Let's see the Crew finish off the sweep.

[fondybrewfan]

RR is not sitting his best player two games after an off day against our chief competition in the division just for the heck of it. There is something else behind it. RR never just sits Prince, he very rarely gave Weeks any days off. He is definitely covering something. RR has done an incredible job of keeping the team playing at a very high leve for a long timel, I trust him at this point to sit the guys when they need to be sat.

[logan82]

RR has the Brewers in the best position they have been in many posters lifetimes

 

This team is in this position despite the manager.

[Baldkin]

A lot of folks would make different choices, but RR has the Brewers in the best position they have been in many posters lifetimes,

I just want to make the point that the Brewers were 4 games up in a playoff spot on 8/12/2008. It really hasn't been that long.

[logan82]

A lot of folks would make different choices, but RR has the Brewers in the best position they have been in many posters lifetimes,

I just want to make the point that the Brewers were 4 games up in a playoff spot on 8/12/2008. It really hasn't been that long.

That barely turned out ok.

 

The manager has earned no benefit of the doubt to this point. He has consistently made bad decision after bad decision especially with decisions involving Kotsay.

[fondybrewfan]

RR has the Brewers in the best position they have been in many posters lifetimes

 

This team is in this position despite the manager.

Don't you think you are going a little over the top in your criticisms of everything? I don't want to sounds rude but you have had it in for the guy from Day #1 and find any excuse to rail on him.

[logan82]

RR has the Brewers in the best position they have been in many posters lifetimes

 

This team is in this position despite the manager.

Don't you think you are going a little over the top in your criticisms of everything? I don't want to sounds rude but you have had it in for the guy from Day #1 and find any excuse to rail on him.

No, I don't. I fail to see how pointing out a series of poor decisions is railing on a guy.

[topper09er]

He seems to excel at keeping everyone happy and playing 100%, which I think is maybe more valuable than actually making correct managing decisions, but it took him 2 months to realize Carlos Gomez should not be hitting #2, 3 months before he took Loe out of the automatic 8 inning spot, and apparently infinity to determine he should not be trotting Yuni out there everyday especially now that we have 800 shortstops on the team. He still may deserve a lot of credit but also has made some pretty dumb, obvious mistakes

[dlk9s]

Now that I think about it, the good thing about Braun sitting is that we'll be able to witness some Ryan Braun 9th inning pinch hit heroics.