Defense

[SconnieKid]

That article about how Greinke is a GREAT pitcher and led the world in xFIP this year and how it made no sense that his results didn't match the stat that usually shows the actual value of a pitcher, well now it all makes sense.

[SconnieKid]

I was in a restaurant at the time. They had 4 PJs but I couldn't hear at all. Who did they call interference on? JHJ? Lovely way to compound a terrible play.

Yup - after the ball went through his legs he turned around and started back toward the OF grass, running into Molina.

 

I love JHJ but he said something about "nothing you can do" when the ball doesn't bounce true and it torqued me. I coach 8 year olds to stay down on the ball and come up. For the ball to skip under his glove is very much something you can do something about. That he ran into a terrible basrunner and gave him a run as well... The rest of the team must have infected him.

[sheetswannabe]

This is the reason that we need to have strikeout pitchers. Our D is terrible, it should be better next year at least with McGehee probably done at 3rd (just guessing), Yuni B gone (hopefully), and Fielder possibly leaving. Who knows what players will be in there positions but I hope to god they can play D.

[RockCoCougars]

Again, Hart catches that ball and a lot of that bad stuff doesn't happen. That was the key play. I have no idea how he missed it, it ended up hitting the middle of the wall- just a horrible play.

 

I'm still not convinced they would have scored more than a run anyway. It seemed like they were 2 hit when they actually had 9.

[stoutdude04]

And feel free to pile on Braun too. The ball went through Hairston's legs but Braun could have run the ball in to get Yadi out. Instead he threw the ball 10 feet up the line. I really felt like there were at least 6 errors out there last night and that doesn't include the fly ball Hart didn't get to.

 

Incorrect. Yadi would have scored no matter what. I do believe the ump called defense interference.

 

EDIT: Didnt read the second page before posting.

[brewmann04]

lets think positive and hope the defense shows some sense of urgency tomorrow,

[chickinbrickin]

lets think positive and hope the defense shows some sense of urgency tomorrow,

 

Doesn't matter how much ugency a team has it will make no difference with the defense. Defense is more about being comfortable and reacting. Brewers defense has been horrible all year and we were all lying to ourselves if you didn't think it would bite us in the playoffs.

 

Need to comment on that double by Molina that involved Hart. Some folks are saying that it was a very tough play. No it was not, Hart was already playing deep he seriously had to range 15 feet back to the wall stop and make a standing catch. He can't read a ball and react. I think Kotsay even has a good shot to make that play the way the outfield was positioned. Hart seems to jog thinking he has these balls tracked and then finds out it is over his head and makes an ugly effort to try to make up for his laziness. Go full speed until you know you have the play made.

[razzzorsharp]

Defense...

 

I am in favor of it.

[istanbultaye]

Out of curiosity, even though errors aren't the best judge of a defense, they are telling to a point... what is the record for number of errors committed in a playoff series? I have to think 9 is pretty high up the list.

[MNBrew]

Pujols is regarded as a strong defensive 1B. I'd gladly overpay to get him at 1B if Prince goes elsewhere. That would help.

[mkm13]

Was anyone else extremely frustated when we were playing the shift and they hit a slow bouncer to the same side as the shift and the ball still got through easily? Neither Betancourt or Weeks were able to get within 5 feet of it..even though they were playing a shift. It looked like Betancourt moved 1 step. That was a key "hit" that allowed 2 runs.

[jeffy]

Out of curiosity, even though errors aren't the best judge of a defense, they are telling to a point... what is the record for number of errors committed in a playoff series? I have to think 9 is pretty high up the list.

 

I'm pretty sure the announcers had said 8 tied a record, so yeah, 9 is now the record, I guess.

[YoungGeezy]

Braun needs to stay in LF, he is not nearly as bad as people cry about. It's hard to take one of your top flight athletes and place him at the most non athletic spot on the diamond. He has gotten better, has the arm, has average range and routes to ball. His defense usually doesn't make or break games for us. He gets the balls he needs/should get and hopes like hell Go Go can get to the ones he can't. Maybe the Packers should move Finley to LT, even though he is a freak athlete he drops plenty of balls that hit him in the hands. Thats how I feel about wasting Braun at first. Hart on the other hand.....if he can still pick thats fine, move him. He has not been good in RF at all this season. Really took a step back out there. Gamel I think will be a good defensive 1B. Guy has an outstanding glove and will no longer have to throw the ball to much. When he does it will be bang bang where he doesn't have time to think and mess up his footwork.

 

Overall

 

We have one elite defender in Gomez, and then I guess Morgan, Hairston Jr, could be labled as good defenders. Braun, Weeks, Counsell maybe but unlikely Lucroy could pass average fielders. The rest is pretty much below. That is why we set a playoff record for errors in a series.

[Herm]

I know Weeks had a few errors this series and several posted here with frustration about his D. But a picture (or in this case a video) tells about all you need to know about two guys...

 

Let me set the stage.

Elimination game in the NLCS. Your team teetering on the brink, down 3 in the third, with runners on 2nd and 3rd and two outs. Got to get this out

and prevent those two from scoring. Gotta go after everything - at least keep

it on the infield. It's all-out effort time if ever there's an all-out effort

time. So look at the effort, angle, and range Yuni comes with:

After you've watched it once

or twice, note that the ball is several feet on SS side, and Weeks (still coming

off a very severe ankle sprain) comes from 2B side and gives it the old college

try with dive at the end, looks like Weeks was 3 or 4 running strides on SS side

of line when he made the dive. I realize it looks like they were shifted a bit to the pull side from typical 2B and SS spots. But what was Yuni doing, going to cover 2nd in case there was a force play on the ghost runner from first? Maybe from second base he had a better angle to see if Doug Melvin was up in his box

picking up the option on Yuni's contract for next year?

"The little things" is what

they always call them... I am glad we have Weeks signed (and I expect a big year in '12) and I hope like heck that Melvin says "No thanks, and that" when it comes to Yuni's contract option.

[burnzy24]

Watching that replay made me mad all over again. Why on earth was he going to second on that play? It seemed like Yuni was jogging the whole time and didn't even try to make a play on the ball.

[brettac1]

I just had to watch that like 4 times. Wow. I didn't realize just how awful that play was in the moment and it wasn't like I was going to re-watch this game on my DVR.

[Thurston Fluff]

This team was built with the understanding that defense was weak. As the 96 wins shows that doesn't mean the team can't win. I don't know what good it does to blame the defense now. It's like blaming the water for being wet when the boat inexplicably springs a leak. Why not blame the areas that were supposed to be good but weren't? Greinke and Marcum wetting themselves really were more an issue with me. That wasn't expected.

[Raw Biz]

This team was built with the understanding that defense was weak. As the 96 wins shows that doesn't mean the team can't win. I don't know what good it does to blame the defense now. It's like blaming the water for being wet when the boat inexplicably springs a leak. Why not blame the areas that were supposed to be good but weren't? Greinke and Marcum wetting themselves really were more an issue with me. That wasn't expected.

Why does everyone assume that they just melted under the spotlight and pressure? Greinke would have been fine in his last start (even though for some reason he couldn't miss bats) if he had even an average defense behind him. It's very possible that there was some added pressure but it's also possible that it was just another one of those rough patches that almost all pitchers go through and it just happened to come at the end of the year.

[FVBrewerFan]

I don't assume they melted under the pressure of post-season. The fact is they melted, regardless of the reason. Life isn't fair, and the playoffs are a zero-sum game. You either get the job done, or you don't. I'm not so sure Greinke would have been fine without the errors, it's impossible to know how an inning, or the next inning would have developed without the errors/ could-have-been-errors. He wasn't missing bats at all, literally.

[rluzinski]

This team was built with the understanding that defense was weak. As the 96 wins shows that doesn't mean the team can't win. I don't know what good it does to blame the defense now. It's like blaming the water for being wet when the boat inexplicably springs a leak. Why not blame the areas that were supposed to be good but weren't? Greinke and Marcum wetting themselves really were more an issue with me. That wasn't expected.

Why does everyone assume that they just melted under the spotlight and pressure?

As I love to play sports psychiatrist, I will take a stab at answering that. When our sports teams fail, we search for a way to vent the inevitable frustration that it results in. Part of the venting process involves assessing blame to the individual players. It's more emotionally satisfying to blame an athlete's poor performance on a character flaw than luck or fatigue, so invariably that is what the fan determines caused the poor performance.

Or not. I don't really know.

 

[Thurston Fluff]

Why does everyone assume that they just melted under the spotlight and pressure?

 

My comment was on their performance not a judgement on why they performed that way. Simple fact is they did not pitch well and that above all else was why we are now watching the Cards in the WS. All I'm saying is since we knew we would have to win despite our defense it seems silly to blame our defense now. Whatever the reason Marcum and Greinke failed miserably and that was not expected.

 

When our sports teams fail, we search for a way to vent the inevitable frustration that it results in. Part of the venting process involves assessing blame to the individual players. It's more emotionally satisfying to blame an athlete's poor performance on a character flaw than luck or fatigue, so invariably that is what the fan determines caused the poor performance.

 

You summed up my feelings on why I think so many people blame the manager for everything and anything. It's the easiest most visible target and you don't have to be mad at your favorite player in the process. That and there is no way one can be proven wrong when blaming the manager. SO it's easy prey.

[RightFieldCoder]

Watching that replay made me mad all over again. Why on earth was he going to second on that play? It seemed like Yuni was jogging the whole time and didn't even try to make a play on the ball.

From right field, I saw the way Yuni was jogging in on the ball and I thought he had it all the way. I was shocked when it went by him. The replay simply blows my mind.

[Raw Biz]

You summed up my feelings on why I think so many people blame the manager for everything and anything. It's the easiest most visible target and you don't have to be mad at your favorite player in the process. That and there is no way one can be proven wrong when blaming the manager. SO it's easy prey.

Starting Kotsay in CF.

/halfblue

[Thurston Fluff]

Starting Kotsay in CF.

 

You've pretty much made my point. There are multiple things that went wrong but you focused on the manager instead of Greinke not striking out a single batter or Braun and Fielder failing to drive in Kotsay or Braun not backing up the play Kotsay missed in the field. Hell you made an excuse for Braun failing to back it up on that play in another thread.

[endaround]

Starting Kotsay in CF.

 

You've pretty much made my point. There are multiple things that went wrong but you focused on the manager instead of Greinke not striking out a single batter or Braun and Fielder failing to drive in Kotsay or Braun not backing up the play Kotsay missed in the field. Hell you made an excuse for Braun failing to back it up on that play in another thread.

You know why? Because the manager has complete control. Greinke wasn't thinking "hey, I know, I won't get this guy out!" Roenicke did think Kotsay was a good idea.