2nd half optimism!!

[homer]

2.5 out and now only behind two teams. What a difference a week makes.

[brewmann04]

Just win and hope

[torts]

CANNOT WAIT TO GO ON TUESDAY AND THURSDAY EVEN MORE NOW!!! A SWEEP CAN MOVE US ONE MORE TEAM CLOSER TO A WC SPOT!

[djoctagone]

happy that the cards & dodgers are going extra innings today. hoping for a looooooong game to wear out both pitching staffs.

[BCZF]

Just wine and hops

[homer]

happy that the cards & dodgers are going extra innings today. hoping for a looooooong game to wear out both pitching staffs.

 

Game is in the 12th and the Dodgers are on their 9th pitcher.

[Baldkin]

Vin Scully mentioned that Jon Jay was 1 for 17 in the series 7 times before he doubled them into the lead.

[BCZF]

So considering.. If they dont make they playoffs, but end the season with a winning record, considering where they were, success or not?

[torts]

So considering.. If they dont make they playoffs, but end the season with a winning record, considering where they were, success or not?

 

UH YES

[Hitman_Hart]

THIS SEASON IS ENDING IN THE PLAYOFFS. WORLD SERIES? ON!

[Ennder]

So considering.. If they dont make they playoffs, but end the season with a winning record, considering where they were, success or not?

 

The season will be a disappointment but not a disaster. There will be a lot of positives to pull from it.

[DHonks]

It makes me wonder if we have any possibility of adding a position player, given that the rotation looks worth taking a gamble with

Yo

Estrada

Fiers

Peralta

Rogers

 

The position player would have to be SS, CF, or RF. Would be interesting. I can't say it's disappointing anymore. We legitimately should have 8 more wins. It makes me feel better coming to Brewerfan because I'm not reading lots of comments about trading our star players anymore. Those really were bumming me out and frustrating me, because I was seeing a team dramatically underachieving while others were seeing a team that they felt needed a massive overhaul and couldn't contend despite arguably 9 potential all-stars in any given year. Glad to see us over .500, and hoping for my bet to payoff (along with pitchleague)

[logan82]

I was seeing a team dramatically underachieving while others were seeing a team that they felt needed a massive overhaul and couldn't contend despite arguably 9 potential all-stars in any given year.

A few thought the team needed a massive overhaul. Most thought we should trade a few guys to get young good players back in return.

[faede]

I was seeing a team dramatically underachieving while others were seeing a team that they felt needed a massive overhaul and couldn't contend despite arguably 9 potential all-stars in any given year.

A few thought the team needed a massive overhaul. Most thought we should trade a few guys to get young good players back in return.

 

Those players included ramirez, hart and even gallardo.

 

All three of which are instumental in this playoff push as well as key cogs in next years plan.

 

Roeneke and Melvin deserve some kudos. Their steadfast belief in the players and patience during the "storm" is now being rewarded.

[pogokat]

ya know, when this all started, i thought the team needed to win 88 games---i'm beginning to think the 2nd wild card may be won with something more like 84 wins...the brewers are the ONLY team in this race playing well

[logan82]

Some even wanted to trade Braun. Every single player comes up for trade talk at some point. That is why you have to address the merits of posts one at a time and not make sweeping generalizations. Even in a good year somebody is going to talk about trading players.

 

Whether or not it is more beneficial to trade Hart and Ramirez before next year is still up for debate.

[DHonks]

logan, I wasn't trying to make it sound like I was in the minority. To me 20-40 could be "a lot of people" because they were a vocal group. I most definitely didn't mean to claim that I was one of only a few. It's just that for me, I'm 31 now. I've followed the prospects since the late 90's when we got one minor league breakdown per week in the Journal-Sentinel (or it might have been Sentinel or Journal before the merger). I remember staying up late for boxscores on usatoday.com. I really enjoy following prospects. But it's been a 10-15 year transition from a team with no budget in perpetual rebuilding mode to a team that can selectively keep star players with a decent budget. It's been a joy for most of these last 5 years, except for the Macha years.

[logan82]

I don't think you were in the minority. I understand how it would get tough to read though.

[lcbj68c]

So basically (minus the .5 game) the Brewers are 1 game out from making game #162 mean something.

[torts]

HUGE 3 GAME SERIES STARTING TOMORROW

[brewmann04]

Just win and Hope

[brwrsfan]

It really would have been ideal for the Dodgers to win last night, as their schedule is just so much harder than the Cardinals. It also would have been ideal to not have a roadtrip against the top 2 teams in the NL right now, but that's how it goes. I still think realistically, we have to win a minimum of 6 games this trip to have a chance, but really i think it's probably close to 7 or 8. If we're within 2 going into that last homestand, I think we'll have a shot. A small one, but a shot.

[rluzinski]

We legitimately should have 8 more wins.

 

The Brewers should be 82-64? The Brewers have under performed but let's not get carried away. It's easy to remember all the games they "should" have won but you can't forget about the ones they stole themselves. Their run differential on the year is +41, which works out to a Pythagorean record of 77-69 (3 more wins).

[Outlander]

With 7 games to go in 2008 they were 2.5 games back of the Mets so it has happened before with the Brewers.

[DuWayne Steurer]

We legitimately should have 8 more wins.

 

The Brewers should be 82-64? The Brewers have under performed but let's not get carried away. It's easy to remember all the games they "should" have won but you can't forget about the ones they stole themselves. Their run differential on the year is +41, which works out to a Pythagorean record of 77-69 (3 more wins).

 

 

I think what he (and many others) are talking about is the huge number of blown saves/leads by the bullpen. Sure, the Brewers have stolen some. EVERY team steals some every year, and blow some every year, but generally, pythag takes care of that.

 

Let's look at the Royals series, which the bullpen gave up the lead in the 8th, 9th, and 11th innings, and blew 2 saves in the 9th inning. Honestly, what are the odds of that? Let's look at the July series against the Phillies, which featured a 4 run 9th inning surrendered by the pen, a SIX run ninth inning surrendered by the pen, and then for good measure, the took the lead in the 10th inning of the last game of that series, and blew that one too.

 

When people say "the Brewers should have more wins this year", they aren't talking about pythag, they're talking about the incredible bad luck/timing of the bullpen meltdowns, and the horrible pitching of the bullpen in general, and how it has derailed a top-notch performance by the offense, and honestly, a surprising performance by the starting rotation, considering Greinke is gone, Marcum has missed a bunch of the year, Narveson has made 2 starts all year, and Wolf pretty much sucked.

 

I realize that the bad bullpen plays into the pythagorean w/l, but you can't honestly say you'd ever expect a team to blow a save 3 days in a row, let alone blow 3 saves in a 3 game series, twice within a one month span. The odds against are astronomical.

 

Playing devil's advocate here, but taking away even just 3 of those 6 craptastical meltdowns puts the 'Crew a half game in the drivers seat right now.