2018-04-04: Cardinals (Martínez) at Brewers (Chacín) 6:40 PM CDT [Brewers lose, 6-0]

[Eye Black]

[pre]Cardinals Lineup Brewers Lineup

 

1. Dexter Fowler (S) RF 1. Eric Thames (L) 1B

2. Tommy Pham ® CF 2. Christian Yelich (L) LF

3. Matt Carpenter (L) 3B 3. Lorenzo Cain ® CF

4. Marcell Ozuna ® LF 4. Travis Shaw (L) 3B

5. Jose Martinez ® 1B 5. Domingo Santana ® RF

6. Yadier Molina ® C 6. Jonathan Villar (S) 2B

7. Paul DeJong ® SS 7. Manny Pina ® C

8. Kolten Wong (L) 2B 8. Eric Sogard (L) SS

9. Carlos Martinez ® P 9. Jhoulys Chacin ® P[/pre]

[FVBrewerFan]

Dear Millennials:

 

If you saw the Brewers game last night, do you still think I'm boring? If so, I have nothing further to offer you.

 

Sincerely,

 

Baseball

[ThisIsMyCrew]

I feel sad for those that don’t appreciate baseball.

 

I will also gladly take a 5-1 start!!

[ThisIsMyCrew]

I feel sad for those that don’t appreciate baseball.

 

I will also gladly take a 5-1 start!!

[adambr2]

May not be an easy move but I fully expect Braun to be off today. Don't want to be sitting Santana too much, and he's had some success against Martinez.

 

It's a RHP so Thames probably gets the nod at 1st. He's been overlooked some but he's off to a really nice start and he's been a bit unlucky even.

[topper09er]

Dear Millennials:

 

If you saw the Brewers game last night, do you still think I'm boring? If so, I have nothing further to offer you.

 

Sincerely,

 

Baseball

 

Just kidding, we can offer you mimosa too! You can drink them in our establishments and outside too in our parking lots!!!

[pacopete4]

May not be an easy move but I fully expect Braun to be off today. Don't want to be sitting Santana too much, and he's had some success against Martinez.

 

It's a RHP so Thames probably gets the nod at 1st. He's been overlooked some but he's off to a really nice start and he's been a bit unlucky even.

I think it would be a good day to see Cain sit IMO.

 

Thames- 1B

Yelich- CF

Braun- LF

Shaw- 3B

Santana- RF

Villar- 2B

Bandy- C

Arica- SS

 

would be my preference today.

[owbc]

Sorry, too busy eating avocado toast to watch baseball.

 

-A millennial

[tmwiese55]

I'd guess Braun sits for Santana. Avoids him getting the standard Cards plunking in the back too.

[adambr2]

May not be an easy move but I fully expect Braun to be off today. Don't want to be sitting Santana too much, and he's had some success against Martinez.

 

It's a RHP so Thames probably gets the nod at 1st. He's been overlooked some but he's off to a really nice start and he's been a bit unlucky even.

I think it would be a good day to see Cain sit IMO.

 

Thames- 1B

Yelich- CF

Braun- LF

Shaw- 3B

Santana- RF

Villar- 2B

Bandy- C

Arica- SS

 

would be my preference today.

 

I'm fine with either. Whichever one Counsell thinks could use a rest day more right now. I would much prefer to not see Santana on the bench for a 3rd straight day.

 

It would be Braun's second day off or Cain's first, neither would be really out of line for 6 games in.

[pacopete4]

Ish... Sogard again.

 

Thames- 1B

Yelich- LF

Cain- CF

Shaw- 3B

Santana- RF

Villar- 2B

Pina- C

Sogard- SS

[ThisIsMyCrew]

Braun and Arcia not in the starting line up.

[liveforoctober]

That is about as left handed as we go (see: Vogt)

 

I always want Arcia in the lineup but this isn't the worst spot to get Sogard a start.

 

A bench of Braun, Aguilar, Arcia, Perez, Bandy is pretty silly. Let's go Jhoulys!

[ThisIsMyCrew]

Just my opinion. But Arcia should be as much a regular as Yelich and Cain.

[adambr2]

As good as our bullpen and bench is, and as bad as our rotation is, maybe we should go with a 13 man pen, bullpen committee every day, and pinch hit/double switch for the pitcher every time. Half blue.

[pacopete4]

Just my opinion. But Arcia should be as much a regular as Yelich and Cain.

Even if he never got on base his defense alone has more value than playing Sogard.

[FVBrewerFan]

I predicted Cain would be sitting, glad to see he's still in there. Ride Yelich and Cain literally almost every day, barring a nagging injury or something. Santana hasn't played for a couple days, so I'm fine. When it comes down to Santana vs Braun, hard to be upset either way. A small part of me wants Braun full time at 1B, Santana FT in RF and just let it ride without Thames, LH bat or not.

 

Arcia..... could be they are working with him on certain things at the plate and he isn't doing what they've asked. Who knows, just a wild theory I'll admit.

[brwrsfan]

Agree on Arcia and I vented about it quite heavily a few days back. It's ridiculous that he's already gotten 2 days off in the first week of the season. His defense alone should put him on the field every single day.

 

I also don't understand the infatuation that Counsell has with getting Sogard playing time. What exactly did he do to earn it?? He had one amazing month last year, then reverted more or less back to his career norms of being an entirely below average hitter with very little power and marginal defense. I don't get it quite frankly.

 

I also know Braun's numbers this year aren't great, but he's now hit two monster 9th inning HR, and promptly got put on the bench the next day. I get that it's matchups, but why not try to get him hot and ride it out? He's carried the team before on his hot streaks.

[Devinep]

Why does Arcia need so many days off? Apparently more so than Villar.

[pacopete4]

Sure would be nice to get six from Chacin tonight. 7-8 to Hader and Knebel to close it out would be ideal.

[CrewFanBrewMan69]

Unless there’s some minor injury with Arcia it makes no sense to be giving him days off. The defense is too valuable

[TexasCheesehead]

Not sure how I feel about Eric Thames batting lead off. High strike-out rate and not a whole lot of speed. Given his power, wouldn't it be better to move him down in the order and put either Villar or Yelich in the lead of slot? Just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, he's not a lead off kinda dude.

[Devinep]

Agree on Arcia and I vented about it quite heavily a few days back. It's ridiculous that he's already gotten 2 days off in the first week of the season. His defense alone should put him on the field every single day.

 

I also don't understand the infatuation that Counsell has with getting Sogard playing time. What exactly did he do to earn it?? He had one amazing month last year, then reverted more or less back to his career norms of being an entirely below average hitter with very little power and marginal defense. I don't get it quite frankly.

 

I also know Braun's numbers this year aren't great, but he's now hit two monster 9th inning HR, and promptly got put on the bench the next day. I get that it's matchups, but why not try to get him hot and ride it out? He's carried the team before on his hot streaks.

 

Sogard is a LHB crappy infielder-so CC sees himself in him. Thames should get the day off instead of Braun because of what you said and Thanes was Chris Carter outside of April last year so he doesnt need to start against all righties

[TexasCheesehead]

I'm excited this game is on Fox so I can actually watch it ( Texas problems) .

[Greenleaf1]

Not sure how I feel about Eric Thames batting lead off. High strike-out rate and not a whole lot of speed. Given his power, wouldn't it be better to move him down in the order and put either Villar or Yelich in the lead of slot? Just doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, he's not a lead off kinda dude.

 

If he has a .350 OBP (currently it's .400 but extremely small sample size alert), why does it matter if he strikes out a lot? You can't move over runners when you're batting leadoff.

 

I like Thames up there, and he has looked pretty great so far this season at the plate. I think he's going to have a much bigger year than people are giving him credit for, he's even looked pretty good against lefties so far.

 

Of course it's only been like a handful of PAs so the jury's still going to be out for a while but I like putting Thames in a position where his walks will help the team best. He can score from first on a double, that's fast enough for me.