2013-08-14 Brewers (Thornburg) at Rangers (Garza), 7:05 PM CDT [Brewers lose, 5-4; bullpenned]

[The stache]

Would have been nice to put another run or two on the board, but Ron likes to run us out of innings too much.

[BarneyStinston]

Predictable, after walking the bases loaded to start the inning. Too bad for Thornburg. He deserved a win.

 

This happens to Thornburg every outing. The guy needs to learn to at least go through 7. He's not going to get a win going 5 or 6.

[The stache]

Nice play by Scooter coming in all the way from shallow right field.

 

Can our offense muster up a run here, or will they go to sleep?

[trwi7]

Aoki with 16 steals and 11 caught stealing on the year in addition to his .695 OPS. Not much value there.

[The stache]

Predictable, after walking the bases loaded to start the inning. Too bad for Thornburg. He deserved a win.

 

This happens to Thornburg every outing. The guy needs to learn to at least go through 7. He's not going to get a win going 5 or 6.

 

They could have just as easily walked three to start off the eighth inning. Our bullpen is just not dependable.

[BarneyStinston]

I doubt the Brewers want to play extras here. They are exhausting the bullpen as it is. Just go home.

[The stache]

Scheppers shows how a bullpen is supposed to work.

[coolcool]

You just had to have this feeling after Thorn came out that Axford would pitch at some point in the game. Putting him in with the winning run at the plate, then the winning run on base was a stupid idea.

 

I also can't stand the base running. There can't be a team that runs into more outs than the Brewers.

[BarneyStinston]

Reducing exposure to the bullpen is the key. Every inning you can keep guys like Axford and Gonzalez out of is a good inning. These guys destroy good starts.

[The stache]

Aoki with 16 steals and 11 caught stealing on the year in addition to his .695 OPS. Not much value there.

 

I like Aoki, but can't argue with you. No reason not to give some more playing time to Khris Davis in left, and put Logan Schafer in right, because Aoki's not doing much this year.

[sdcheezhd]

Roenicke runs us out of more scoring opportunities than any other manager I've seen in Milwaukee.

 

Hey, 1 out, and a guy that is getting thrown out 40% of the time. One of our best hitter at the plate. I know, let's steal and get the base runner out of Luc's way.

 

Good lord.

 

Plus he's thrown out on the pitch that makes it 3-0 on the way to a walk.

[The stache]

Reducing exposure to the bullpen is the key. Every inning you can keep guys like Axford and Gonzalez out of is a good inning. These guys destroy good starts.

 

Agreed, but the Brewers can't figure out what they're doing with Thornburg. He was starting at AAA, then they bring him up and pitch him 7 games from the pen. Then they have him starting. You want him to go more than 5 or 6 innings? He has to start on a consistent basis. You can't have him go from pitching an inning for a few weeks, then tell him to go out and throw seven innings. You don't do that to young arms.

 

The Brewers have nobody to blame but themselves.

[BarneyStinston]

The Axford apologists are running out of excuses. He hasn't had any run of scoreless inning play to brag about lately. 9 runs in the last 8 games.

[The stache]

A tale of two bullpens:

 

Texas bullpen tonight: 2 1/3 IP, 1 hit, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, 32 pitches, 24 strikes (75% strikes)

Milwaukee bullpen tonight: 2 IP, 2 hits, 3 earned runs, 3 walks, 42 pitches, 22 strikes (52% strikes)

[BarneyStinston]

Reducing exposure to the bullpen is the key. Every inning you can keep guys like Axford and Gonzalez out of is a good inning. These guys destroy good starts.

 

Agreed, but the Brewers can't figure out what they're doing with Thornburg. He was starting at AAA, then they bring him up and pitch him 7 games from the pen. Then they have him starting. You want him to go more than 5 or 6 innings? He has to start on a consistent basis. You can't have him go from pitching an inning for a few weeks, then tell him to go out and throw seven innings. You don't do that to young arms.

 

The Brewers have nobody to blame but themselves.

 

Then you might as well send Gonzalez and Axford out there in the first inning, and start Thornburg with a 3 run handicap in inning #4. His starts have been pretty consistently been sabotaged by the bullpen. I'd rather have the sabotage out front and center.

[The stache]

Snatching a defeat from the jaws of victory. Great job pen /golf clap.

 

Brewers have shot themselves in the foot repeatedly all year. The offense went to sleep again. 1 hit in the last three innings, and that base runner is eliminated because Ron decided to run a guy stealing at a 60% success rate. Oh, how things could have been different with first and second and one out.

 

I want Ron Roenicke and Rick Kranitz both out of Milwaukee. Firing the bullpen coach this year ain't gonna cut it. These two imbeciles are awful, and they end up showing how inept they are on a daily basis.

[coolcool]

Snatching a defeat from the jaws of victory. Great job pen /golf clap.

 

Brewers have shot themselves in the foot repeatedly all year. The offense went to sleep again. 1 hit in the last three innings, and that base runner is eliminated because Ron decided to run a guy stealing at a 60% success rate. Oh, how things could have been different with first and second and one out.

 

I want Ron Roenicke and Rick Kranitz both out of Milwaukee. Firing the bullpen coach this year ain't gonna cut it. These two imbeciles are awful, and they end up showing how inept they are on a daily basis.

 

What about windmill Ed Sedar? If I see another guy run to third when the center fielder already has the ball in his hand, I'm going to lose it.

[The stache]

I'm cool with adding him to the list. I was pretty irked when Segura was told to run for third. It was clear Martin was going to nail him. everybody in the ballpark knew what was going to happen except for our third base coach.

[BarneyStinston]

Snatching a defeat from the jaws of victory. Great job pen /golf clap.

 

Brewers have shot themselves in the foot repeatedly all year. The offense went to sleep again. 1 hit in the last three innings, and that base runner is eliminated because Ron decided to run a guy stealing at a 60% success rate. Oh, how things could have been different with first and second and one out.

 

I want Ron Roenicke and Rick Kranitz both out of Milwaukee. Firing the bullpen coach this year ain't gonna cut it. These two imbeciles are awful, and they end up showing how inept they are on a daily basis.

 

What about windmill Ed Sedar? If I see another guy run to third when the center fielder already has the ball in his hand, I'm going to lose it.

 

So true. Its hard to find any Brewer fan who hasn't seen Ed Sedar send our baserunners into a firing squad more than a dozen times. The time when he made Schaeffer turn around steps away from home plate should have solidified that firing.

[BarneyStinston]

I can't believe that Axford gets a hold and a loss for that game, according to the ESPN stat sheet. Really? A hold? One out and basically sealing our doom that Gonzalez started? Ugh

[sdcheezhd]

In Ax's last win he gave up a run to put the Brewers down 4-1 but then they got 5 for the lead and won. That's even more bogus than tonight's hold, which it least is balanced by the L.

 

The Brewers were 5-4 on the road trip and Ax lost 2 of the 4 getting 1 out in each. He hasn't pitched well in a meaningful situation in weeks. There's no reason he should be in when it counts. Wooten and Kintzler were available tonight.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Snatching a defeat from the jaws of victory. Great job pen /golf clap.

 

Brewers have shot themselves in the foot repeatedly all year. The offense went to sleep again. 1 hit in the last three innings, and that base runner is eliminated because Ron decided to run a guy stealing at a 60% success rate. Oh, how things could have been different with first and second and one out.

 

I want Ron Roenicke and Rick Kranitz both out of Milwaukee. Firing the bullpen coach this year ain't gonna cut it. These two imbeciles are awful, and they end up showing how inept they are on a daily basis.

 

Unfortunately, I think the Braun situation, coupled with injuries to Hart and Ramirez, probably get RRR off the hook.

[The stache]

Everything should be weighed. We have obviously been lacking our three biggest offensive guns for pretty much the entire season. But in situations where the game wasn't decided by a lack of firepower, but a dumb managerial decision, Roenicke shouldn't get a pass.

 

The way I look at it...how many more years are we going to give him, and make excuses? Last year, it was the bullpen while we had the best offense in the league. This year, it's we don't have enough offense. The common factor is the manager and coaches are screwing up, and costing us games. They're not the difference between making the playoffs and not, obviously, but when this team does get it together again, the same management team in place could very well be the difference.

 

I don't trust Ron Roenicke. Time and time again he is just too slow to react. He is stolen base happy. That's fine when you steal with guys that do it with a high rate of success. Aoki is successful 3 of 5 times, meaning 2 out of 5 times he's not. That's a horrible rate, and when you are in a dog fight, and every out and every run counts, you don't throw away base runners carelessly. Aoki should have been on first when Lucroy walked. Then it's first and second with one out instead of Luc on first with two outs. Maybe A Ram takes a different approach, and maybe we score a run more.

 

As much as I loathe Roenicke's management style, it's Kranitz I really want out of town. He is the man behind the curtain in Oz, and he's pulling the levers. The continual failure of our pitching staff in pressure situations has to be blamed on somebody. Our bullpen came into the night ranked fourth best in the Majors, which I find unfathomable, because it seems that whenever somebody is sent out there from the pen in a high leverage (pressure) situation, they melt. Gonzalez had a two run lead, yet he's out there pitching nervous with the first batter. Hello? No matter what you do, you cannot surrender the lead to the leadoff hitter. Go after him, be aggressive. If he hits it out, so be it. But go at him, and get a fly ball, a strikeout, or a grounder. Nibbling around the edges is never going to get the job done. Then, after he walks two, we send the biggest head case we have out there. Seriously, what compelled Ron Roenicke to send Axford out there with two men on, no out, and 36,000 fans screaming? Did he pick his name out of a hat?

 

Everybody watching the game knew what was coming next.

[brewcrewdue80]

In other news. The Blown win by our bullpen keeps the Brewers tied for 5th worst record rather than tied for 6th worst and 2games from 11th worst.

 

I keep looking at the standings and teams are coming back to us. At current rate I'm fully expecting the team to finish 14games under .500 and still wind up with the 13-14th pick! Losses like tonight need to happen. 14 games under .500 to 20games under .500 I see as being 5th pick to 13th pick. over 6games in the standings. The Brewers need to go on a losing streak here to solidify their top 10 draft pick standing. They continue playing .500 ball and there's no chance they finish with a top 10 selection.

 

It's a lost season, we need to keep losing!

[brewmann04]

I am also hoping for a top 5 pick and hope some teams get hot and maybe catch the Crew. Big difference between 5 and 11 pick.