2017-07-19: Brewers (Davies) at Pirates (Cole) 6:05 PM CDT [Brewers lose, 3-2, 10 innings]

[SomewhereInTime]

Four losses by a combined seven runs. They've been quite unlucky to say the least. Sometimes bloopers fall in. The great thing about building a 5.5 game lead is you can survive a little stretch like this and still have a lead.

 

What lead? The only thing that matters it the L column which is tied right now.

 

Standings are by winning percentage, not the loss column. The Brewers still have a better one than the Cubs.

[Brewers4Ever]

Four losses by a combined seven runs. They've been quite unlucky to say the least. Sometimes bloopers fall in. The great thing about building a 5.5 game lead is you can survive a little stretch like this and still have a lead.

 

What lead? The only thing that matters it the L column which is tied right now.

 

Standings are by winning percentage, not the loss column. The Brewers still have a better one than the Cubs.

 

I understand the standings are by winning percentage. But it's fool's gold to pound your chest and say we are winning. It would be like if a fan proclaimed they were winning against the Freeze halfway through.

[SomewhereInTime]

Oh don't worry, I'm pretty sure I know where this season is headed. I actually thought Anderson going down was going to spur the inevitable downswing, but then they did the opposite and went into the break hot. It's not even really these four games, there have been numerous unlucky breaks that have lead to four straight losses, it is what it is and all four could just as easily have been wins.

 

What it is is the difference in talent between the Brewers roster and the Cubs roster. The Cubs will most likely be in first place by the end of the season. As a fan I'll root against the analytics and predictions and hope the long shot comes through, but that probably won't happen.

[Boomer5]

Four losses by a combined seven runs. They've been quite unlucky to say the least. Sometimes bloopers fall in. The great thing about building a 5.5 game lead is you can survive a little stretch like this and still have a lead.

 

What lead? The only thing that matters it the L column which is tied right now.

 

Standings are by winning percentage, not the loss column. The Brewers still have a better one than the Cubs.

 

Loss column is the only one that matters. You can't make up losses, you can make up wins.

[Pugger]

well the brewers accomplished one big job keep my interest until Training camp opens

 

Pretty much, but I'd like to at least see them stay within striking distance until early September to keep things interesting.

 

I fully expect the Cubs to win this division by at least 5 games at this point. But it would be nice to at least have a pennant race.

 

Why? We aren't ready to compete with the real contenders in the NL yet. We do have a good base to build on and the guys will learn from all of this if we want to look for silver linings.

[Pugger]

Four losses by a combined seven runs. They've been quite unlucky to say the least. Sometimes bloopers fall in. The great thing about building a 5.5 game lead is you can survive a little stretch like this and still have a lead.

 

What lead? The only thing that matters it the L column which is tied right now.

 

Standings are by winning percentage, not the loss column. The Brewers still have a better one than the Cubs.

 

Today, sure. But unless they can figure out why they can't score runs when they really need too this once promising season is toast before the end of July...again.

[Brewers4Ever]

 

What lead? The only thing that matters it the L column which is tied right now.

 

Standings are by winning percentage, not the loss column. The Brewers still have a better one than the Cubs.

 

Loss column is the only one that matters. You can't make up losses, you can make up wins.

 

Exactly. And with the way the Cubs are playing, I wouldn't bet against them losing games they had to win to catch us.

[AdvantageSchneider]

But we also don't have to beat the cubs to get into the playoffs. Can still make it as a wild card. D-backs and Rockies have to slug it out against each other and the Dodgers. We can turn it around still. Plenty of season left.

[TJseven7]

And when I thought I was the negative one...

 

To say this team isn't talented and that the analytics are proving true is utter nonsense. The same dudes who made those projections have come out to explain how they got it wrong.

 

Nelson spent a full year revamping mechanics... no one thought he was a legit 2/3 going in... the change in mechanics having this effect was not projectable.

 

Arcia who has a bad bat has had a great approach which we've seen morph in his first full season and has been hitting over 300 for a long stretch here. You can't accurately project the development of a 22 year old.

 

Santana is a kid too. There was promise in some of his numbers but injuries held him back last year and he's clearly on the up swing... happening faster than you could reasonably project. When you cry defense he's going to end up a LF who carries the stick required there... again 24.

 

Shaw becoming mentally stronger...

Anderson making a streak of last season look more like a reality.

Thames being an adam dunn like ops monster who also Ks a ton.

Sogard lol can't project utter statistical nonsense.

 

Same way you can't project a complete and utter collapse from villar... not repeat sure... but this no.

 

This team hasnt lost 4 straight because projections are catching up... they didnt lose 4 because they aren't talented... there's a lot more talent here than anyone realistically could have imagined or projected. They lost 4 straight because of a bad pitching decision sunday... a flare and zero timely hitting monday... umps a bad steal attempt decision and a late hook tuesday... and a continued lack of timely hitting tonight mixed with a couple flares from a team that has been red hot.

 

4 L... a few stupid decisions... a few bad calls... a few flares that hit dirt by a team thats hot vs a team thats grinding.

 

Baseball is a fickle game but don't give me this BS about being devoid of talent and analytics. The analytics people already waived the white flag and made retractions on a number of the misses they made in regards to this roster.

 

You want to talk about davies guerra garza and our patchwork bullpen lacking talent... go ahead. The rest... yes chicken little the sky is falling but not for the reasons you foretold.

[SomewhereInTime]

It's a long season and a lot of times the numbers at the all-star break don't represent a full seasons worth of numbers. There are numerous guys who have played over their heads so far (Sogard, Aguilar, Thames, Pina, Shaw to an extent, Anderson, Suter, Knebal). These four games don't really mean much, mostly just bad luck close losses but that doesn't mean struggles aren't on the way. This has been a really soft schedule the last month and a half, that's about to change and we'll find out what we have in this team soon.

[Ennder]

I will take it a step farther,28 year olds are entering their decline these days. Prime is 25-27. The game has changed and gotten much younger.

 

Yeah, I didn't really look into it but I remember reading something for hitters that power and discipline tend to peak a little later but everything else peaks earlier and the peak age of a hitter overall is 27 or 28 so I went with that. I think that article was from like 2003 or something so things might have changed since then.

 

 

Peak was never actually about age which was the flaw with the original article. It is about years of experience. Players are coming up younger so they are peaking younger. You would think that would mean they peak longer but that hasn't been the case for whatever reason (probably steroids). It just means players are declining earlier in general.