Cheer up!

[LouisEly]

Say what you want about RRR not arguing the pathetic strike calls on Braun, but at least you don't have a crybaby on your team.

 

WAAAAAA! WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!! I got called out on strikes and I'm going to cry!!! WAAAAAAAAAA!!!!

 

Go suck an egg, Molina.

[yfinn6]

It doesn't cheer me up knowing his team is going to win the Division. Braun's team..?

[rickh150]

His crying got his team a few calls late..... including the one on Braun.

[jerichoholicninja]

Being a thug like Molina and a piece of crap like Matheny will get you a long way in MLB. That doesn't cheer me up at all.

[AZBrewCrew]

Being a thug like Molina and a piece of crap like Matheny will get you a long way in MLB. That doesn't cheer me up at all.

This.

[MNBrew]

I still like LouisEly's initial post. They're hotter than heck and still find ways to be crybabies. They play quite good baseball as it is, but for those who notice, their whining & petty gamesmanship tendencies sure undermine any front of classiness they attempt to put up.

 

It doesn't make me feel better about the Brewers' losing, but I feel at least vindicated that the Brewers play & conduct themselves in a way that's far more respectful of their opponents and of the game.

[treego14]

Roenicke needs gumption,period! Act like you care! Or send one of your coaches out to argue! Kranny can talk! Let him do it, at least! When your team is getting raw deals on the field from umps, Roenicke canNOT sit in the dugout with an "Oh, well" look on his face.

[Invader3K]

Roenicke needs gumption,period! Act like you care! Or send one of your coaches out to argue! Kranny can talk! Let him do it, at least! When your team is getting raw deals on the field from umps, Roenicke canNOT sit in the dugout with an "Oh, well" look on his face.

 

Yost tried getting into arguments with the umps late in the 2007 season and it arguably cost us a playoff spot. Maybe ticking off the officials isn't always a great decision.

 

I don't think Roenicke can be blamed for his lineup producing zero runs, either.

[Patrick425]

I also thought the same thing about Roenicke last night, but isn't there an automatic fine that goes with getting tossed from a game?

[jerichoholicninja]

It doesn't make me feel better about the Brewers' losing, but I feel at least vindicated that the Brewers play & conduct themselves in a way that's far more respectful of their opponents and of the game.

 

I don't know. I think I would rather be a fan of a team that acts like the Cardinals and wins than a fan of a team that plays all nicey, nice and loses all the time.

[DatHoser]

Being a thug like Molina and a piece of crap like Matheny will get you a long way in MLB. That doesn't cheer me up at all.

This.

X3

 

I'd rather have the winning team. If you have to work the umpires, so be it. Those "strike" calls on Braun were pathetic. All it takes is even slight bias by the ump and you get stuff like this.

[FVBrewerFan]

Well, I don't think the Cards are better than the Brewers because Molina whines, or RR doesn't. They have a better line-up, better rotation, and better bulllpen. That may have something to do with why they're leading the division.

[jerichoholicninja]

Well, I don't think the Cards are better than the Brewers because Molina whines, or RR doesn't. They have a better line-up, better rotation, and better bulllpen. That may have something to do with why they're leading the division.

 

This year, yes, but in years past they've put some rather pathetic players on the field and somehow everything keeps coming up Cardinals.

[monty57]

Well, I don't think the Cards are better than the Brewers because Molina whines, or RR doesn't. They have a better line-up, better rotation, and better bulllpen. That may have something to do with why they're leading the division.

 

This year, yes, but in years past they've put some rather pathetic players on the field and somehow everything keeps coming up Cardinals.

 

That probably has more to do with the way they're coached to play baseball (i.e. Duncan's philosophy that Lohse says turned him around) than it has to do with arguing balls and strikes. I do think that LaRussa was good at getting under the opposing team/manager's skin with things like bean-ball wars and arguing everything, but I don't think that is the key to them winning their titles.

 

Just my opinion, but I think little things like taking a few more pitches and not running into outs go a long way in adding wins over the course of a season.

[Patrick425]

Just my opinion, but I think little things like taking a few more pitches and not running into outs go a long way in adding wins over the course of a season.

 

Amen! I think last night the Brewers had a base runner in each of the 1st 6 innings and yet, after 6 innings, Wainwright was barely above 60 pitches. I realize Wainright throws strikes but it's not just when Wainright pitches. I'm guessing that in most of the Brewer games this year our pitchers averaged more pitches per inning than the opposing pitcher. Aggressiveness can pay off sometimes, but I think in the long run it hurts you at the plate. It's really frustrating to watch at times.

 

I know that they keep track of the average pitches per at bat each hitter sees. I'm not sure how or where to look that up (I'm guessing on baseball-reference somewhere), but I would guess that Lucroy leads the rest of the team in this category (among players with regular playing time) by a mile. He has also been the most consistent offensive performer on the team.

 

Edit - Ok, a quick search on baseball-reference and I found the results:

 

Name PA Pit Pit/PA

Mark Reynolds 430 1737 4.04

Jonathan Lucroy 616 2367 3.84

League Average 3.8

Khris Davis 532 2010 3.78

Ryan Braun 536 1912 3.57

Carlos Gomez 605 2152 3.56

Jean Segura 530 1838 3.47

Scooter Gennett*456 1560 3.42

Aramis Ramirez 496 1697 3.42

Team Total 5711 20802 3.64

 

Sorry, kind of hard to read (Not sure how to embed something copied from excel into a post). However, it appears that Lucroy is actually below Reynolds (who really is not an everyday player). I'm surprised that Ramirez is last. Only Lucroy and Reynolds are above the league average.

[monty57]

3.8 vs 3.64 may not seem like much, but if they were at league average, that would be around 900 more pitches the opposing pitchers would have needed to throw. That seems fairly substantial.

[FVBrewerFan]

What that shows me is pitches per PA is not an indicator of success at the plate. Scooter, Aramis, and Gomez are all well below league average, yet they have a high batting avg. Reynolds sees the most pitches, and is the worst hitter (by batting avg.)

 

Really doesn't surprise me though, taking pitches just for the sake of taking them isn't a very good approach to hitting. Remember, pitchers these days are on strict pitch counts. They don't want to waste pitches. If you get a meatball for the first pitch, you take a cut. I have no problem with that.

 

Swinging at too many pitches out of the strike zone is the problem for this team, and I remember seeing evidence of that somewhere- I believe Fangraphs.

[HiAndTight]

Well, I don't think the Cards are better than the Brewers because Molina whines, or RR doesn't. They have a better line-up, better rotation, and better bulllpen. That may have something to do with why they're leading the division.

 

This year, yes, but in years past they've put some rather pathetic players on the field and somehow everything keeps coming up Cardinals.

 

That probably has more to do with the way they're coached to play baseball (i.e. Duncan's philosophy that Lohse says turned him around) than it has to do with arguing balls and strikes. I do think that LaRussa was good at getting under the opposing team/manager's skin with things like bean-ball wars and arguing everything, but I don't think that is the key to them winning their titles.

 

Just my opinion, but I think little things like taking a few more pitches and not running into outs go a long way in adding wins over the course of a season.

 

 

I would agree. They're similar to the Packers in their ability to substitute players and win games. They just have a mental edge on the rest of the division, ie, the Packers playing half their games without Rodgers and still beating the Lions and Bears, both of whom have a lot of talent.

 

I don't recall them having many "pathetic players," on the field, but they do manage to win when things don't go well for them and most things go right for us.

[Baldkin]

What that shows me is pitches per PA is not an indicator of success at the plate. Scooter, Aramis, and Gomez are all well below league average, yet they have a high batting avg. Reynolds sees the most pitches, and is the worst hitter (by batting avg.)

 

Really doesn't surprise me though, taking pitches just for the sake of taking them isn't a very good approach to hitting. Remember, pitchers these days are on strict pitch counts. They don't want to waste pitches. If you get a meatball for the first pitch, you take a cut. I have no problem with that.

 

Swinging at too many pitches out of the strike zone is the problem for this team, and I remember seeing evidence of that somewhere- I believe Fangraphs.

 

http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=5&season=2014&month=0&season1=2014&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0

 

They are 29th in baseball in O% ( Swung at more pitches than everyone except one team) and first in baseball in overall swing percentage.

 

The biggest offenders being Ryan Braun, Scooter Gennet and Carlos Gomez who are all over 40%.

[LouisEly]

Being a thug like Molina and a piece of crap like Matheny will get you a long way in MLB. That doesn't cheer me up at all.

This.

X3

 

I'd rather have the winning team. If you have to work the umpires, so be it. Those "strike" calls on Braun were pathetic. All it takes is even slight bias by the ump and you get stuff like this.

I don't think that Molina's crying had anything to do with it. I think it is much more likely that the ump had a beef with Braun to begin with, and what Braun said to him after the first pitch coupled with that caused the second strike. Molina was crying about a pitch on the low outside edge of the zone; the first one to Braun was inside off the plate and the second one was on the upper part of the zone (well) off the plate. Completely different locations.

[jerichoholicninja]

There have now been 2 games against the Brewers where Matheny has argued after a replay and he hasn't been tossed. Sure, there was another where he argued and was (which didn't even happen right after the review) but by rule he should have been tossed 3 times so far. I'm not going to go so far to say Cardinal bias or conspiracy but why have that rule if the umps are going to ignore it.

[chadomac]

Technically, you can't challenge a play after the 7th - right? I was listening and driving so I might be wrong, but Matheny shouldn't have been able to challenge that Holliday hit in the 8th'ish inning that was overturned to be called safe.

 

Yes, I'm whining. The results of the replays this year are so pathetic that - if you are a manager - you should just challenge anything that doesn't go your way, because it seems like a coin flip whether or not you're going to get the call reversed.

[hawing]

I still like LouisEly's initial post. They're hotter than heck and still find ways to be crybabies. They play quite good baseball as it is, but for those who notice, their whining & petty gamesmanship tendencies sure undermine any front of classiness they attempt to put up.

 

It doesn't make me feel better about the Brewers' losing, but I feel at least vindicated that the Brewers play & conduct themselves in a way that's far more respectful of their opponents and of the game.

This (especially the part I bolded above). I was just pondering since last night how you'd think the "Best Fans in Baseball" would be secure enough in their position that they wouldn't choose to put so much effort into picking at/on other teams and fanbases, not to mention into reminding everyone else about how they're the best.

 

If these were the only two choices, I'd rather lose with the Brewers' personnel than win with St. Louis'.

[jerichoholicninja]

Technically, you can't challenge a play after the 7th - right? I was listening and driving so I might be wrong, but Matheny shouldn't have been able to challenge that Holliday hit in the 8th'ish inning that was overturned to be called safe.

 

Yes, I'm whining. The results of the replays this year are so pathetic that - if you are a manager - you should just challenge anything that doesn't go your way, because it seems like a coin flip whether or not you're going to get the call reversed.

 

I think you are correct that a manager can't challenge at the 7th but he can still go out and make the umpires review it anyway. The replay system this year has been a joke. It needs a major overhaul for next season or just completely scrap it.

[coolcool]

I seriously don't know of another franchise with that many fans that would get so bent out of over something like the Lucroy All Star vote thing. If the Cardinals did an ad like that, I would think it was hilarious. But I guess the whole organization from the team, to their marketing, to their fans has one giant stick up their butt and gets more easily offended than a feminist at an NRA rally.

 

I hate to overgeneralize Cardinals fans as having an inferiority complex and being way too sensitive about what other fans think... Wait, no, I love overgeneralizing about how Cardinals fans get bent out shape because they legitimately get bent out of shape about that too. Hope some prying eye Cardinals fan is reading this, formulating a jealousy retort and some explanation about how Braun is a cheater while at the same time trying to ignore the McGuire statue on the front lawn and the massive Peralta contract that the team just signed.

 

That being said, I would hate to turn into Bears fans and ignore my team and focus on every game that your rival plays. Having "Packers suck go Bears" yelled out the window to me after the Packers lost to the Seahawks is something I certainly don't want Brewer fans to replicate. (PS, the Bears lost at home to Buffalo a couple days later).