2011-10-05 Brewers (Wolf) at Diamondbacks (Saunders) - [Brewers lose, 10-6; NLDS Tied 2-2]

[mastershake76]

fastball right down the middle to weeks. Sure, why wouldn't you, I guess?

[B2k1121]

Hit a guy on the arm on an 0-2 pitch....."booooooooooo"

To be fair, Brewers fans (and pretty much everyone) does this too

Shhhh, I'm on a roll.

[adamb100]

Well at least this game is over.

[B2k1121]

Weeks popped it up, I'm surprised.

[mastershake76]

Odds on a grand slam tomorrow by the d-backs?

[owbc]

Well it all comes down to Friday. Scary.

[HOF4canrake]

I officially believe green should be at third and hairston at second on Friday. Weeks looks awful right now. Overswinging and off balance on every at bat. He is pressing big time and looks helpless.

[a3uge]

Pretty confident about about Friday. Just keep it under 5 runs through the first 7 innings and it's game over. They'll do their job.

[SeriesFinale]

Pretty confident about about Friday. Just keep it under 5 runs through the first 7 innings and it's game over. They'll do their job.

Yeah, I'm not pleased they couldn't take one of these two (I liked their fight tonight offensively) but I'm feeling fairly good about a team that gave up 18 runs the last two days

[bucksman4]

I'm not confident at all for Friday. Sure we have played awesome at home all year but I can't see us pounding Kennedy. Yo better bring his A+ game on Friday. I think it will be a pitcher's dual.

[brwrsfan]

I feel like we're the underdog on Friday. We got destroyed the last two games. Two grand slams and a bunch of other home runs. One of the best pitchers in the league against us. All the pressure on us. I don't see how anyone can feel confident about winning on Friday. Sure, we could win, but I have zero confidence. Yo doesn't bring his A+ game and it's basically over. We wold have been the first NL team ever to lose a NLDS series after being up 2-0 as well.

[Baldkin]

Odds on a grand slam tomorrow by the d-backs?

0% chance. Oh wait, its already Thursday.

[lbb020]

I wouldn't be worried if the game was played on paper. There's a lot of luck involved in baseball, and the Dbacks seem to be catching every break. There's no doubt in my mind the Brewers are better than the Dbacks, but it doesn't always work that way. For instance, Hart's bases loaded at bat vs Roberts.

There's doubt in my mind that the Brewers are better than the Dbacks. We have far more star power, which gives us a much better 1-2 punch, but they have waaaaaaaay more balance offensively and they are superior defensively.

[sdcheezhd]

SoCal glad you made it. Sorry to miss you. I was trying to post during the game but blackberry didn't cooperate. I agree with your comments and everyone else's about how dead their ballpark is, that the Brewers seemed loose before the game, how annoying their fans are (they booed Yo, Zack and Ax during the pregame introductions, EVERY check of the runner, EVERY mound conference etc.) When they booed Fielder in the 9th even the Dback fan (and lifelong Phoenician) next to me said "aren't they over that yet?" Good for her; I'm less embarassed to have been born in Phoenix. While the games sucked it was great touching base with a lot of interesting folks. I'm sure my 6th try at finally seeing a Brewer clinch will be the one.

[TooLiveBrew]

Ball hit farther then Roberts and its an out. Funny game.

My thoughts exactly. This one hurt -- so many chances to both stem the bleeding and tack on runs.

 

 

We wold have been the first NL team ever to lose a NLDS series after being up 2-0 as well.

Well there's a title I'd rather the team avoid.

[brewerjamie15]

Still in a cloudy state here. I'm seriously trying to rationalize why things went so poorly for Marcum and Wolf in AZ. Marcum was completely overwhelmed and in a daze. Looked like a deer in headlights. Wolf just plain got rocked. He was crushed. RR could seem to make no moves fast enough, he was clearly out managed. I still can not figure out why wolf was allowed to get into sooo much trouble.

I can't see why there were so little patience at the plate from the #5 slot down when we were at bat.

Lots of questions, few answers, cautiously optimistic for Friday. I think the Brewers can win, and St.L/Philly going 5 helps ease the use of Yo, so maybe that's a plus or at least an equalizer? I don't really know. I've had time to digest, just not fully understand how things went so terribly wrong for Marcum,Wolf,RR.

Any fresh thoughts now that you've slept and hopefully gotten the anger out?

[sargennm]

Today, and probably today only, I'm just thankful for the competitive season the Brewers put together this year. Win or lose tomorrow, it was nice to root for a team that did some pretty incredible things this year. Lots of fun moments to remember.

 

I know people will jump on here and say, "If they don't make it to the NLCS, none of that matters." That's a completely valid argument, and one I'll likely be slurring at about 7:30 on Friday if they spit the bit in game 5. But for today, I'm just going to enjoy the fact that this has been the most fun for me to be a baseball fan since 1992.

[ReverendBrewmeister]

Any fresh thoughts now that you've slept and hopefully gotten the anger out?

There were a number of positives in the game that should have led to a win:

(1) Production from the bottom of the order: Betancourt - 3-for-4 with a 2B; Gomez - 2-for-3 with a HR; Kottaras - 0-for-3, with RBI groundout.

(2) Offense scores runs: Six runs were scored on the road. That is a total that should put a team in a position to win.

(3) Pitching from the bottom of the staff: Estrada put up scoreless innings, as well as Loe.

(4) Hairston's continued success: 2-for-4, 1 BB, 1 2B. Good approach at the plate each at-bat.

But then there were the negatives that led to a loss:

(A) Wolf's and Narveson's inability to finish off innings: 7 out of 10 runs scored by Arizona were on 2-out RBIs.

(B) Rickie Weeks' night: 0-for-5, 1 GIDP, 6 LOB.

© No "big hit" = No "big inning": The hits to drive in multiple runs just never came, even when some of the "big hitters" came up to bat.

At some point, you have to chalk some things up to "luck": Hart's SF could have been a double or HR leading to multiple runs, and the game would have changed. Not much can be done about that. There was enough done by the team without optimal performances from the entire lineup to nearly win the game despite Roenicke's failure to pull Wolf in the 3rd inning. That is what makes the loss tough to accept.

A repetition of Arizona's performance in Game 4 need not be expected: a Roberts fly-out to left-center instead of a GS down the line and a Weeks single to left instead of a DP to 3rd in the 1st inning were just as likely as the reverse that actually happened. That would have completely changed the game. Friday will be tough, but I don't think that Tuesday's and Wednesday's performances necessarily portend doom and gloom.

[young guns]

If this series has taught me anything, it's that teams that win 2 games in a row don't win the next game. I am fully confident that the best home team will win a decisive game at home. You can say all you want about the dbacks having momentum, but didn't we have momentum earlier in the series? Didn't work out too well for us in game 3.

[brewmann04]

Wow this board had really hit the Pits and guy like Jason talk about me. Guys we played 162 games to get home field and that what we got for a game 5. The Diamondbacks are a good team notice there record. They did what they were supposed to do win there games at home like we did in the 1st two. IT be up to the Crew to play there game and come up with the win.

[SoCal Brew Crew Fan]

sdcheezhd]SoCal glad you made it. Sorry to miss you. I was trying to post during the game but blackberry didn't cooperate..

 

Sorry I missed you too sd. I posted from the park early, by the time I could get back in the IGT was on page 21.

 

 

Hats off to hawing who got me to download "Written in the Stars" on my ipod which I listened to a dozen times on the trip over to Phoenix to fire me up. That song will either be my favorite or the bane of my existence in 48 hours.

 

The overall experience at the park was mixed (I'm trying to be balanced after an emotional loss)...it's kind of a strange place. I've been to AZ at least 50 times, but this was my first ever stay in downtown Phoenix...I haven't missed much. It's very nondescript. Everything is nice and clean, but very bland and dead. I'm actually more of a fan of the downtown parks than big parking lot venues (although Milwaukeans know how to bring their own fun to the park with tailgating), but with downtown Phoenix there's no there, there unlike an east coast park or even a Denver or Seattle.

 

The roof was closed...everyone was pissed about that. It was low 70s with no wind...pathetic, but this is MLB's call.

 

 

We went down by the field pre-game and saw the Brewers take BP. They looked loose. We were cheering on Tony Plush...I got him to crack up when I yelled "way to tickle that one" when he took one the opposite way during BP. Prince & Rickie were hitting bombs...if only Sveum could pitch to my hobbling hero Rickie during the game. Plenty of national media hanging around as well.

 

The stadium has many similarities with MP, but is more cavernous especially in the upper reaches of the stadium so it feels bigger. The outfield and scoreboard are very similar.

 

 

There were plenty of empty seats in the upper deck. It looked about half full. The rest of the stadium was full. They said attendance was 38k and there were plenty of tickets available outside at or below face. I paid less for this one and had better seats than a few weeks ago in Milwaukee for a regular season game.

 

 

An issue with Phoenix is the DBacks are everyone's second favorite team. It reminds me of how the Angels have been out here. As people raise their kids there and they grow up to follow them they'll build more of a fanbase (like the Angels have), but right now people just aren't that invested in the team. I spoke to plenty of fans, they all like the DBacks but then mentioned they were fans of some other team...mainly the Cubs.

 

The place we stayed at was within walking distance and had plenty of Brewers/Miller Park employees staying there. We met a bunch of really cool people. They had a double whammy...the disappointment of losing, then getting ready for a home game on Friday. It was beers and blackberries after the game.

 

Lastly, we sat fairly close to Mark A and saw him downstairs when we made a pit stop. We were down about 7-3 and the poor guy was pacing and looked sick to his stomach. I really want to Crew to win for that guy...he's poured his heart, soul and cash into this team and deserves more than a financial reward for his efforts. As does the City of Milwaukee and the respective diaspora. The Milwaukee metro area is less than half the size of Phoenix and could have sold out three Chase Fields last night. Hopefully that earns some points with the baseball gods. If there is justice, the next DBacks home game will be in April...in front of 8k fans with the roof closed.

 

Hang in there Brewers fans.

 

EDIT: Added spacing

[brwrsfan]

It's not so much that we lost the 2 games, it's HOW we lost. They just hammered us. Both games. Our offense was horrid in game 3, better in game 4 but we couldn't drive anyone in. Couldn't get the big hit at any point and we couldn't get out of any innings, giving up 7 runs with 2 outs. Had we lost both games 2-1 or something I'd feel a lot better. Getting destroyed in two of the biggest games of the year leaves something quite different in my mouth right now.

[brewmann04]

I ok going into game 5 at home think the HF will make all the difference.

[Rob]

And this start can be forgotten.