2013-05-01 Pirates (J. Gomez) at Brewers (Burgos), 12:10 PM CDT [Brewers lose, 6-4)]

[brwrsfan]

He's not under contract next year, he's up for arbitration. We could cut him and not pay him anything...I think.

 

Where is K-Rod at these days? did we assign him anywhere?

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

What an AB from Lalli.

 

Let's go Schafer! Keep it going for Jean.

[Daubs]

Running Lalli out there to PH over Maldonado seems like RRR waving the white flag. But that's just me.

 

pure silliness.

 

Huh...12-pitch AB and a single....

 

Didn't expect that one!

[AZBrewCrew]

I stand corrected. Nice little Lallipop.

[brwrsfan]

While I think Lalli was absolutely the wrong PH choice, he just had a great at bat. 12 pitches, winds up with a single. Now someone blast one out please. Schafer is due in a big way here.

 

Or not, he's really scuffled this year. Come on Jean, get Braun up here somehow.

[PrinceFielderx1]

I know the Brewers are paying Axford 5 million, but he's not going to be the same pitcher that was worth that kind of money. The Brewers need to look at this as a plus, meaning next season they wont have to pay him that 5 million or more if they trade him or cut him. Time to try some of the young players.

 

1. Who's going to trade for Axford and take the salary?

 

2. If he's cut, he still gets the money - it's guaranteed.

 

The money's not guaranteed next season since he's in arbitration. If "future" savings is all that's possible, then that's a huge reason to try to replace him with someone else.

[AZBrewCrew]

Cmon Mean Jean. And ballgame.

[Daubs]

I know the Brewers are paying Axford 5 million, but he's not going to be the same pitcher that was worth that kind of money. The Brewers need to look at this as a plus, meaning next season they wont have to pay him that 5 million or more if they trade him or cut him. Time to try some of the young players.

 

1. Who's going to trade for Axford and take the salary?

 

2. If he's cut, he still gets the money - it's guaranteed.

 

The money's not guaranteed next season since he's in arbitration. If "future" savings is all that's possible, then that's a huge reason to try to replace him with someone else.

 

Correct - they're stuck with him this year and they can just cut ties next year.

[TURBO]

Axford is mop duty man from here on out, right RRR?

 

Which brings me to the decision for RRR to say publicly that Axford will be getting his closer job back. That was an asinine thing to do, and now he looks like a fool...............................AGAIN!

[brwrsfan]

That's a disappointing loss to say the least. Wasted a great outing by Burgos...all because Axford can't keep the ball in the yard and Rickie thinks we're playing soccer. Frustrating. Can't win them all I guess but I wanted this one.

[Daubs]

Axford is mop duty man from here on out, right RRR?

 

The only issue I have with this was the pitch Marte hit out was a ball. Even if Marte was expecting the pitch, it still took a good piece of hitting to hit it out.

[splitterpfj]

That's too bad, but I can live with it, since we won the series.

 

Axford is obviously going to have these moments on the mound, and Rickie is going to kick some balls into the great wide open...the team isn't perfect, which we already knew.

 

Hopefully, someone will nail down the 8th inning spot sooner than later.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

Frustrating loss for sure. Can't help but feel like it should have been a W.

 

That said, tough to get too down about a winning series. I think even 5-4 is a good homestand against this level of competition, so it's off to a good start.

[brwrsfan]

Winning the series is great, but when you win the first two, have a 2 run lead in the 8th inning, I'm disappointed with the loss. Axford got somewhat unlucky with 2 IF hits essentially and Weeks kicking the ball, but he still gave up the HR and the hits on 0-2 were just too close to the plate for my liking.

[danzig6767]

Axford is mop duty man from here on out, right RRR?

 

Who is a reliable guy to be the setup guy in the pen?

 

Besides Henderson, the whole bullpen has been very erratic. Gorzelanny has been good, but has been needed to snuff out rallies before the 8th inning, that's why he leads the pen in appearances. Both Kintzler and Badenhop haven't been consistent at all. Gonzalez has sucked.

 

Axford prior today had only given up one run over his last 8 appearances. It's not like there are obvious answers when most of the bullpen as sucked.

[Bombers]

Winning the series is great, but when you win the first two, have a 2 run lead in the 8th inning, I'm disappointed with the loss. Axford got somewhat unlucky with 2 IF hits essentially and Weeks kicking the ball, but he still gave up the HR and the hits on 0-2 were just too close to the plate for my liking.

Kind of like when the Cardinals kept us scoreless for 26 of the first 27 innings played in the series from earlier this year. They only ended up winning 2 in that series. It sucks when that happens, just like in this series, but it shows the importance of not trotting out mop up duty scrubs. Axford sucks.

[PrinceFielderx1]

Axford is mop duty man from here on out, right RRR?

 

The only issue I have with this was the pitch Marte hit out was a ball. Even if Marte was expecting the pitch, it still took a good piece of hitting to hit it out.

 

 

I agree to an extent. However, when your fastball is as straight as Axford's is, all that the batter needs to do is wait on it and just get the barrel of the bat on it while swinging hard. Also, Axford needs to pitch differently. He seems to think that he can throw that fastball right down the middle of the plate, just because he throws it 96-97 mph, and he's wondering why he's getting hit hard? It's because he has little or no movement on that pitch, he isn't throwing it upper 90's triple digits, and he's really a 2 pitch pitcher. I don't really believe Axford is capable of hitting the corners, because of his control issues. This is a huge reason why I believe Jim Henderson is a much better option for the 9th.

[danzig6767]

Axford is mop duty man from here on out, right RRR?

 

The only issue I have with this was the pitch Marte hit out was a ball. Even if Marte was expecting the pitch, it still took a good piece of hitting to hit it out.

 

This is a huge reason why I believe Jim Henderson is a much better option for the 9th.

 

Henderson certainly should remain the closer, but as has been shown countless times when trying to hold on to a small lead late, getting three outs in the 8th inning is just as important as the 9th inning. The only difference is the guy pitching in the 9th gets a save for his work.

 

So finding someone who can be reliable in that 8th inning will be huge going forward because Henderson will just be sitting in the pen watching instead of pitching if games keep blown a lot in that 8th inning. Look at Grilli for the Pirates, had they not scored four runs in the 8th today, he wouldn't have thrown a single pitch in the series.

[splitterpfj]

The Brewers' middle relief was shaky in 2011, so they got K-Rod. and then everyone out there fell in place, and the bullpen was awesome.

 

This is part of the deal, every team starts the season with what is supposed to work, and then adjusts from there. Don't be surprised if we see someone else out there along the way. I realize that's why K-Rod was signed, but just like Henderson last year, there's an under-the-radar guy in Nashville...Robert Wooten.

[sveumrules]

Axford blows a save = torches and pitchforks.

 

Axford has a run of six out of seven scoreless appearances = crickets.

[Bombers]

Axford blows a save = torches and pitchforks.

 

Axford has a run of six out of seven scoreless appearances = crickets.

Dont forget that a few of the scoreless were in LA and SD and he had some very loud outs in those games. So maybe you are just saying don't pitch him at home. Maybe that is the answer. He can only pitch in large ball parks. What an awesome 8th inning man. Him and his 10+ ERA.

[Bombers]

Axford blows a save = torches and pitchforks.

 

Axford has a run of six out of seven scoreless appearances = crickets.

And the only reason you can hear crickets, instead of everyone cheering, is because everyone is holding their breath.

[markedman5]

6 home runs allowed in 11 innings for Ax now......the league is hitting .360 against him...his whip is 1.76

[PrinceFielderx1]

The Brewers' middle relief was shaky in 2011, so they got K-Rod. and then everyone out there fell in place, and the bullpen was awesome.

 

This is part of the deal, every team starts the season with what is supposed to work, and then adjusts from there. Don't be surprised if we see someone else out there along the way. I realize that's why K-Rod was signed, but just like Henderson last year, there's an under-the-radar guy in Nashville...Robert Wooten.

 

Robert Wooten really isn't an under the radar guy in my view, but I get what you mean. I also agree that we are a really good 8th inning guy away from having a really good pen.

[sveumrules]

Sure he had some loud outs in those games, in today's game he had some quiet hits. That is baseball.

 

Sure he has a 10+ ERA but he is a reliever with one month of innings so the predictive value of that number is practically zero.