2015 Regular Season Optimism Thread

[superfly]

Khris Davis taking 2 walks last night is a sure sign we've turned it around...that's the equivalent of flying pigs landing in Miller Park.

[torts]

I STILL BREWLIEVE!!!!!

[Baldkin]

Khris Davis taking 2 walks last night is a sure sign we've turned it around...that's the equivalent of flying pigs landing in Miller Park.

 

Before last night he had the 2nd highest BB% on the team....

[pacopete4]

Khris Davis taking 2 walks last night is a sure sign we've turned it around...that's the equivalent of flying pigs landing in Miller Park.

 

Before last night he had the 2nd highest BB% on the team....

 

 

Yeah if he'd only hit the ball now...

[JohnBriggs12]

On June 10, 2012, the Oakland A's were 26-35 and 9 games behind in the AL West. They finished that year 94-68 and won the division by a game. They made up 10 games in the standings over 101 games.

 

The Brewers have 134 games left to make up 11.5 games.

 

The 2012 A's featured a far from stellar lineup that included Kurt Suzuki and Derek Norris behind the plate, Chris Carter and Brandon Moss at 1B, Jemile Weeks at 2B, Cliff Pennington at SS, Brandon Inge and rookie Josh Donaldson at 3B, Yoenis Cespedes in LF, Coco Crisp in CF and Josh Reddick in RF and Jonny Gomes as the DH.

 

Their rotation consisted of immortals like Tommy Milone, Jarrod Parker, 39 year old Bartolo Colon, Brandon McCarthy, Travis Blackley and A.J. Griffin.

 

Show of hands if you don't think the Brewers have a better roster than that? Way too early to give up on the season.

 

Oh yeah, didn't Craig Counsell just say the same Bob Melvin that managed that Oakland team had the biggest influence on him?

[pacopete4]

This team isn't done by any means. Do they have a long, uphill climb? Absolutely. But this thing is far from over and this team is talented enough to get on a roll. Keep winning 3, lose 1, win 3, lose one and continue that pace for awhile and see where things stand.

[torts]

Lets not forget the struggles of the NL Central! Pirates are on a 5 game losing streak! IT CAN HAPPEN PEOPLE!!!!

[RobertR]

We only need about 100 pitchers on other NL teams to need Tommy John surgery. It's possible.

[Thurston Fluff]

We only need about 100 pitchers on other NL teams to need Tommy John surgery. It's possible.

 

Not all 100 have to. Some can tear their Achilles.

[The stache]

Their rotation consisted of immortals like Tommy Milone, Jarrod Parker, 39 year old Bartolo Colon, Brandon McCarthy, Travis Blackley and A.J. Griffin.

 

You can dis Parker, but if he were healthy, I'd give him the #3 starting spot in the roster without blinking an eye. In fact, if he could put his arm troubles behind him, he could be the ace on this team.

[SoupTown]

At what stage do we refer to this squad as a juggernaut; when Gomez and ARam are back - well, it will resemble the Harlem Globetrotters vs whatever poor squad it drawn against them on the night

[DHonks]

Well, with a win tomorrow that would put us at 3 straight non-losing series (6-4 record). I previously said I was hoping for a 6-4 homestand and a win would have us at 4-3 on pace. Right now we just need to chip away at the record. 10-21, but it would be nice to be about 8 games under in 2 weeks.

[DHonks]

So we're now 11-21 and 4.5 games back of the Reds and Pirates. We've had 2 losing streaks (4 and 8-games) longer than our longest winning streak (3-games).

 

I've always said that baseball is about winning and losing streaks. Over 120 games, every team will play roughly .500. But do you have more long winning streaks or losing streaks? 10-8 the rest of the way in May would be nice, and would get us to 21-29. We really could use rattling off 6 or 7 in a row to get back close to .500.

[Ennder]

We caught the Phillies so are tied for worst record, can only go up from here!

[DHonks]

3.5 out of 4th place in the NL Central.

 

Gotta say I love the Gomez in 4-hole plan. Lets us stack Braun's OBP higher. Last year we seemed in decline in June, then plugged Gomez into the 4-hole for a few weeks and he instantly sparked the team. He's always wanted to be a middle-of-the-order hitter...now's the time to see what he can be. I like seeing Counsell being creative, whereas Roenicke often played his bench players too little and openly stated his disdain for shuffling the batting order.

[superfly]

Just play Elian Herrera at 3rd base & put Ramirez in the assisted living facility.

[pacopete4]

Just play Elian Herrera at 3rd base & put Ramirez in the assisted living facility.

 

Haha I had a good chuckle at this. But in all seriousness, Herrera should play over Scooter. He's been flat out awful.

[torts]

3 GAME WINNING STREAK!!!

[tmwiese55]

5 games out of the wild card. You know, these guys aint so bad.

[torts]

DONT SELL DONT SELL JUST WIN WIN WIN!

DONT SELL DONT SELL JUST WIN WIN WIN!

DONT SELL DONT SELL JUST WIN WIN WIN!

[JohnBriggs12]

Just play Elian Herrera at 3rd base & put Ramirez in the assisted living facility.

 

Haha I had a good chuckle at this. But in all seriousness, Herrera should play over Scooter. He's been flat out awful.

 

Counsell has been showing just the right amount of patience and not falling for small sample struggles of his players. Just this past Friday, Herrera was hitting .186/.255/.302 and as recently as last Thursday, Davis was hitting .209/.309/308.

 

Gennett's Line Drive Percentage is a whopping 37%, well over the league average of 24%, and better than his 30% over the past couple years when he was a .300 hitter. Someone with a LD% over 30% cannot continue to have a low BABIP of .243 over time. In other words, Gennett has been hitting in fairly extreme bad luck. Since coming back from his injury he's made very good contact (3 K's in 24 PA compared to 12 in his first 33 PA appearences pre DL stint) The last thing Counsell should do is show lack of confidence in him when he's actually swinging the bat well but not getting results.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I just randomly picked out Wade Boggs, and randomly chose 1988. I easily scanned his game logs and found a 13 game stretch where he went 8 for 49 with 2 extra base hits.

 

No......Scooter isn't Wade Boggs. The point is, over the course of a season even GREAT hitters go through bad patches. Let's not bench Scooter yet. He's proven over a full season + that he can hit MLB pitching. He's earned more than 50 plate appearances at the start of a season to show that this isn't just a rough patch.

[JohnBriggs12]

Anyone care to look and notice that through 32 games last year, the Pirates were 12-20 and further back (by a half game) in the wild card race than the Brewers are now and just like the Brewers today, ahead of just one other team in the NL.

[torts]

YUP! NEVER LOSE HOPE!

[Thurston Fluff]

After losing two series in a row again I think it's safe to say we are not going to suddenly turn it around in time to save the season. For doing that so early in the season I am grateful. I can now look at this season as the beginning of a new era instead of the last gasp of the old one. While it would have been nice to see the old one go out with more wins starting over has it's own excitement. Seeing who we get for the future at this point is more interesting than the actual games. I will still listen/watch games and will cheer especially loud when we play the Cubs or Cards. No matter how we are doing if we can take those two down the season isn't a total loss.