2014-05-07 Diamondbacks (Arroyo) at Brewers (Peralta), 12:10 PM CDT [Brewers lose, 3-2]

[pacopete4]

Isn't Gomez batting like .500 when swinging at the first pitch? You are right of course that he doesn't HAVE to swing at it, but I'd probably at least wait till the average drops below .400 before counseling for him to change anything. Heck, the argument could be made that he SHOULD swing at every first pitch UNTIL his average falls below .400.

 

 

It's more about situation. I could not see the game but if it was a good pitch to hit, sure, whack away. But if it was a bad pitch, with bases loaded, not a great time to be swinging.

[mertonmonk]

Yay for a double! No chance for a double-play! Right????....

[trwi7]

Hey a double! It's going to be hard to hit into a double play now.

[pacopete4]

If there's a liner, he better just stand on the bag.

[The stache]

Gomez was hitting .520 on first pitches. But he was also hitting .211 in high leverage situations.

 

I just think he'd be better off making the pitcher work a little. See if the home crowd screaming doesn't get into the pitcher's head a little bit.

[brwrsfan]

Arroyo comes in with an ERA over 6 and we wind up with almost as many double plays as hits. 4 double plays. I'm not kidding, we have to lead the league in this. This team is lost offensively right now and it's very, very frustrating to me.

 

Losing a series at home to the DBacks is pretty tough to swallow. All those little things we were doing right for the first month have simply gone up in smoke over the last week or so. Highs and lows of the season I guess, but this particular 2-6 stretch has been pretty hard to watch. Double plays, outs on the bases, failure to execute sac bunts/sac flies.

[igor67]

I'd love a Reynolds or Gindl walk off bomb

[The stache]

Crush one, Mark. Please.

[The stache]

Pretty sad. This lineup absolutely blows without Braun.

[The stache]

Ouch, 2-6 in our last eight.

 

I'm really trying to find something positive. Have you guys got anything positive I can look to on our day off?

[trwi7]

Have you guys got anything positive I can look to on our day off?

 

No Brewers game.

[brwrsfan]

There is nothing positive. We've pretty much sucked the last 8 games. Well, our pitching has still been pretty good (yesterday aside) but our offense is brutal. Either we hit HR's and win or we don't score. We can't manufacture runs, we strike out a ton and our bench has been hit by the ugly stick about 100 times.

 

Can Braun fix all that? Maybe. Doesn't help that Ramirez has suddenly forgotten how to hit and Lucroy seemingly has lost all his power this season.

[TheCrew07]

Pretty sad. This lineup absolutely blows without Braun.

 

It's more than that, a healthy and productive Ramirez is just as important as Braun. The team was bound to come back down to earth some, they played over their heads in April, the pitchers just weren't going to be *that* good all year. I'm not too depressed about going 2-5 over the last 7 games, not unless this turns into another May to forget about, but we won't know that for another week or so. The Brewers didn't look good in the STL series but managed to pull out 2 wins in extras so I understand people starting to panic some, but I'm not there yet.

[SRB]

Ouch, 2-6 in our last eight.

 

I'm really trying to find something positive. Have you guys got anything positive I can look to on our day off?

 

Despite being a mediocre team that got extraordinarily lucky with a bunch of 1-2 run victories in April, it is indisputable that we still have the best record in baseball!!!

[brewmann04]

BACK TO BACK MAY DISASTERS OFFENSE IS PUTRID .

[brewmann04]

as this offense gets worse wonder how much they are thinking about signing Morales.

[fondybrewfan]

Its just weird; the talent is there. Even without Braun a lineup that includes Segura, Gomez, Ramirez, and Lucroy should be fine. But Aram has been horrible and we are just really struggling consistently getting on base and then driving them in.

 

If the pitching still holds up I feel OK long term because Braun will be back and Aram won't continue to be horrible. Hopefully the starting pitching holds up though

[wisniewski]

As someone else pointed out, losing the series the DBacks is completely unacceptable and unnecessary. So annoying on so many levels. The DBacks aren't a very good baseball team at all. Last night's game and the last game in the Reds series were too very winnable games that were 100% gave away.

 

I don't doubt that ARam is going to get his struggles righted, but everything about the way he's playing now stinks. And his body language is even worse. Hopefully the day off does something for him.

[wisniewski]

If the pitching still holds up I feel OK long term because Braun will be back and Aram won't continue to be horrible. Hopefully the starting pitching holds up though

 

Totally agree with you Fondy. As frustrated as I feel at this very moment, I actually feel pretty confident about them long term. I like the rotation, but for some odd reason that I can't put my finger on I don't any confidence in Garza. I have more confidence in Wily and Estrada than I do Garza.

[The stache]

it is indisputable that we still have the best record in baseball!!!

 

It isn't indisputable, because we don't have the best record any longer.

 

Brewers 22-13 .629

Tigers 19-9 .679

 

We have the most wins, but not the best record.

[brewmann04]

Now what happens if the Pitching falters?

[brewcrewdue80]

That lineup looks rough. Ouch

 

But isn't this what the fans have been calling for? Rest ARam and sit Davis? Surprised Segura is in the lineup that would have been doing what many in here have been suggesting.

[brewcrewdue80]

Ouch, 2-6 in our last eight.

 

I'm really trying to find something positive. Have you guys got anything positive I can look to on our day off?

 

Do you know where I think the troubles stemmed from? How many times was Gomez,ARam,Segura hit by pitch in the StL Cardinal series? Was it B2B on ARam that one game? I'm sorry but I fully believe the club went in to that series with the thought process to injure 1 or 2 of our batters. Because let's face it, we all know the bench players on this team are not every day players you want in your lineup. I called it from the beginning of that series to watch StL throw at our batters looking to weaken the team. And I feel they did. Accomplished it.

 

Am I going to lose faith in this team? No! I like Gennett and I believe in Davis. Segura hit a HR this series that's a positive. Braun and ARam being in the lineup matters a bunch and they'll get back in there. The pitching is great and I believe they'll stay good to great when looking at expectations.

 

Yeah I read Peralta gave up a lot of hits today, well he's a Groundball pitcher. There's going to be games where they all seem to find the hole. But majority of the time his Groundball tendencies will keep him a very effective pitcher. It's why he kept the damage to 2 runs. How good is that?

I read RRR say that Arroyo's offspeed offerings over and over work and are very effective when batters are aggressively swinging away at them. It works in to his favor. The hitters needed to be more patient....Well? This wasn't the first time Arroyo ever pitched, you know he's throwing off speed over and over again. So why does that statement get made after the game and not read more like.

"We knew he was going to throw offspeed over and over and we were successful in waiting back working the count not offering at any of them. If he locates them for strikes good on him. But we were waiting for the Fast Balls he throws that are like BP and we crushed them. It was a good job executing that approach."

 

Anyway we're 4-6 in our last 10. Who else is 4-6 in their last 10? StL and Cinncy. This little stretch isn't setting us back, taking the team out of contention.

[LMMCBrewer]

I was at the game today. My first one of the year. Peralta gave up lots of hits but our problem was not pitching. The sad thing is that two of our hits were bunts. On a positive note Lucroy hit a couple of seeds that were just hit right at people. If those were a couple of feet to the right or left they are basehits and maybe even extra basehits. I am really concerned about Aram. He didn't play today but looks lost at the plate and not only lost but also disinterested. We need to find a way to score more or we will have trouble winning even 80 games.

[PrinceFielderx1]

Everything will be fine when we play the Yankees.