2018-08-26: Pirates (Archer) at Brewers (Anderson) 1:10 PM CDT [Brewers win, 7-4]

[Eye Black]

[pre]Pirates Lineup Brewers Lineup

1. Starling Marte ® CF 1. Lorenzo Cain ® CF

2. Adam Frazier (L) 2B 2. Christian Yelich (L) RF

3. Gregory Polanco (L) RF 3. Jesús Aguilar ® 1B

4. Francisco Cervelli ® 1B 4. Travis Shaw (L) 2B

5. Corey Dickerson (L) LF 5. Ryan Braun ® LF

6. Elias Diaz ® C 6. Mike Moustakas (L) 3B

7. Colin Moran (L) 3B 7. Jonathan Schoop ® SS

8. Adeiny Hechavarria ® SS 8. Manny Piña ® C

9. Chris Archer ® P 9. Chase Anderson ® P[/pre]

 

Link: Brewers Game Notes

[Invader3K]

Hate to throw around "must win", but this feels like a "must win" at this point in the season.

[pacopete4]

Today’s a Brewernet sanity day. If Archer beats the crew I can’t imagine some of the posts.

[Chicago Here]

Hate to throw around "must win", but this feels like a "must win" at this point in the season.

Since June we arent even .500. We are now in "must win" territory. The good news is that even if we finish 15 games back of the cubbies, all we gotta do is make sure we finish ahead of the rockies.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

I am of the "there are no must-wins until there are must-wins" school here but totally agree that it is a sanity day, especially with the Monday off day.

 

It is nice to be 2 clear of Philly and LA. I am trying not to scoreboard watch, but it is tough with like 5 or 6 games a day mattering.

 

Just. Keep. Winning (series), Brewers.

[jerichoholicninja]

I won't be mad if they lose, just please look like a major league team for at least 9 innings today.

[Greenleaf1]

Counsell going back to Cain-Yelich at the top today even though they're going against a righty.

 

I think it's hard to go wrong either way at the top of the order, but did think this was an interesting choice.

[Chicago Here]

I won't be mad if they lose, just please look like a major league team for at least 9 innings today.

i think the players do their best its just that we have zero bullpen other than Hader, Jeffries and Burne.

 

Williams is about 2 years away from being solid, Albers has always had tough times, and jennings is a glorified Barnes.

Soria is tolerable. That 15 inning game just shelved our best relievers, but we got the win.

 

We have all our best relievers available today so we should be in good shape. Especially with a quality pitcher like Archer. We hit the hell out of great pitchers but cant hit the #2,, or 3s too well.

The team has been ahead i think in most of their games in august, we just lack a bullpen.

[jerichoholicninja]

I won't be mad if they lose, just please look like a major league team for at least 9 innings today.

i think the players do their best its just that we have zero bullpen other than Hader, Jeffries and Burne.

 

Williams is about 2 years away from being solid, Albers has always had tough times, and jennings is a glorified Barnes.

Soria is tolerable. That 15 inning game just shelved our best relievers, but we got the win.

 

We have all our best relievers available today so we should be in good shape. Especially with a quality pitcher like Archer. We hit the hell out of great pitchers but cant hit the #2,, or 3s too well.

The team has been ahead i think in most of their games in august, we just lack a bullpen.

 

I was referring mostly to 3-8 in the lineup. I understand the BP getting blasted last night but the offense has been so bad. We've scored runs in only 3 of 24 innings in this series.

[Chicago Here]

Our offense is strange. For the first time this year we move our avg past .250. Have days that we get 10+ hits but only 2 runs. Personally, i think we swing at too many bad pitches and get few walks. I dont mind being aggressive, especially jumping on certain tough pitchers early on their first pitch but all too often we are extremely predictable. If it was football, it would be the equivalence of knowing your opponents play at the line of scrimmage. Sad.

[Chicago Here]

Schoop needs to play today. He crushes this Pit pitcher. Sad that Arcia is putting Schoop on the bench but arcia is finally batting fair.

[rcc]

The team lacks a deep bullpen with Corey's regression a big reason. The lack of timely hitting with regression by Santana, Arcia, and former player Villar shows the hitting coach just isn't cutting it and it is past time that a change needs to be made. Look at Scooter and Villar as two examples of a better coaching staff. Yes sometimes a change of scenery helps but coaching and a different philosophy is also a big part.

The Pirates have owned the Brewers this season. Hopefully the Crew gets a win this afternoon.

[Eye Black]

Schoop needs to play today. He crushes this Pit pitcher.

Good catch, Schoop in his career versus Chris Archer... 10-for-29, with a double and 6 home runs (a .345 average and 1.345 OPS in the small sample). Has also only struck out three times in those 29 at-bats.

[wibadgers23]

Just keep winning series and you're in the playoffs. This offense needs to be more consistent though. The inability to string together multiple base hits in any given inning is so puzzling. I've given up trying to figure it out.

[82brewcrew82]

The team lacks a deep bullpen with Corey's regression a big reason. The lack of timely hitting with regression by Santana, Arcia, and former player Villar shows the hitting coach just isn't cutting it and it is past time that a change needs to be made. Look at Scooter and Villar as two examples of a better coaching staff. Yes sometimes a change of scenery helps but coaching and a different philosophy is also a big part.

The Pirates have owned the Brewers this season. Hopefully the Crew gets a win this afternoon.

Why wouldn't the regression of Guerra, Anderson and Knebel warrant a call for DJ's job?

[pacopete4]

Time to flip Braun and Aguilar.

[Lathund]

Counsell going back to Cain-Yelich at the top today even though they're going against a righty.

 

I think it's hard to go wrong either way at the top of the order, but did think this was an interesting choice.

 

It's because there's no Thames in there. When CC needs to fit all four big LH bats in there, Yelich leads off so they can alternate L-R and have the lefties bat 1-3-5-7, so you don't have somenoe like Thames 8th. With no Thames in the lineup, you can have them go 2-4-6.

 

I prefer Cain leading off pretty much no matter what, so I'm happy. Hoping the offense shows up tonight. While yesterdays game did get away from us in the latter innings thanks to a bullpen meltdown, fact remains that we only had 6 hits and 1 run, so even a good bullpen day likely would've meant a loss.

[ThisIsMyCrew]

Random question...have any of our players been tossed out of games this year? Sometimes I feel they lack a little fire. Not saying be hot headed like a Harper, but rarely is there much emotion. Just an observation.

[dlk9s]

Random question...have any of our players been tossed out of games this year? Sometimes I feel they lack a little fire. Not saying be hot headed like a Harper, but rarely is there much emotion. Just an observation.

 

Outward displays of negative emotion are overrated. I see no value in someone throwing a fit.

 

In fact, not being able to control your negative emotions is typically a detriment. Sample size of one and obviously not on the professional level, but I had a bit of a temper when I played high school sports. Going into junior year, I made the conscious decision to be much more zen on the field. I don't know if being calm made me a better player, but it definitely didn't make me worse. I still had the fire inside, I just didn't lose my cool.

 

Just because someone doesn't scream and yell doesn't mean they don't care. It just means they choose not to let their emotions get the best of them.

 

On the flip side, I am all for showing happiness. Baseball is the absolute worst with unwritten rules and it pisses me off to no end that showing positive emotion or having fun is looked at as inappropriate.

[dlk9s]

Also, on a side note, can we stop with the "player x is lazy" talk? I don't know about anyone else, but it really bothers me. Just because someone doesn't make a play or doesn't move quickly on a play doesn't mean they are lazy. I've seen a lot of this lately and I feel it is very unfair.

 

It's one thing when someone opts to not run to first; sure, that's a lazy play. But to say a player - in general - is lazy just isn't cool.

[rcc]

The team lacks a deep bullpen with Corey's regression a big reason. The lack of timely hitting with regression by Santana, Arcia, and former player Villar shows the hitting coach just isn't cutting it and it is past time that a change needs to be made. Look at Scooter and Villar as two examples of a better coaching staff. Yes sometimes a change of scenery helps but coaching and a different philosophy is also a big part.

The Pirates have owned the Brewers this season. Hopefully the Crew gets a win this afternoon.

Why wouldn't the regression of Guerra, Anderson and Knebel warrant a call for DJ's job?

 

Might have a point with Corey but for the most part DJ has done a good job. The hitting especially in clutch situations leaves a lot to be desired. Add Choi in Tampa doing well too.

[sveumrules]

Schoop needs to play today. He crushes this Pit pitcher. Sad that Arcia is putting Schoop on the bench but arcia is finally batting fair.

 

Schoop has started 14 of 22 games since he got here, I don't see how Arcia or anyone else is putting him on the bench. His starts have followed a pretty consistent pattern thus far...

 

Opposing starter is a lefty. 6 of 7 games.

Anderson on mound. 5 of 5 games.

Peralta on mound. 4 of 4 games.

Guerra on mound. 3 of 4 games.

Miley on mound. 1 of 4 games.

Jhoulys on mound. 1 of 5 games.

[jerichoholicninja]

Random question...have any of our players been tossed out of games this year? Sometimes I feel they lack a little fire. Not saying be hot headed like a Harper, but rarely is there much emotion. Just an observation.

 

Outward displays of negative emotion are overrated. I see no value in someone throwing a fit.

 

In fact, not being able to control your negative emotions is typically a detriment. Sample size of one and obviously not on the professional level, but I had a bit of a temper when I played high school sports. Going into junior year, I made the conscious decision to be much more zen on the field. I don't know if being calm made me a better player, but it definitely didn't make me worse. I still had the fire inside, I just didn't lose my cool.

 

Just because someone doesn't scream and yell doesn't mean they don't care. It just means they choose not to let their emotions get the best of them.

 

On the flip side, I am all for showing happiness. Baseball is the absolute worst with unwritten rules and it pisses me off to no end that showing positive emotion or having fun is looked at as inappropriate.

 

I agree getting upset at every little thing is stupid. Although it seems to work, or at least not lead to ejections, for so many players we play against. The last two years the numbers have shown that the Brewers are near the top in unfavorable ball/strike calls. It makes you wonder if voicing frustration with bad ball/strike calls leads to getting more calls in your favor.

 

Last night it looked like Aguilar wanted to get tossed after he struck out in his last at bat and then just walked away. The camera's flashed to Counsell who was calmly standing at the railing not really interested in what was going on. Overall there is a real lax attitude on the team. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. It's nice to see guys having fun but so much of what this team does is just goofing around. I liked the intensity Prince had when played and there hasn't been anyone with that mentality since he left. When Pat Murphy was hired I assumed he was going to be the guy getting tossed all the time due to his hot head reputation but not so much.

[sveumrules]

Look at Scooter and Villar as two examples of a better coaching staff.

 

So you're saying the last place Reds & the historically awful Orioles have a better coaching staff than the currently in the thick of contention Brewers?

 

Add Choi in Tampa doing well too.

 

Choi was on the active roster for about two weeks & was blocked by Aguilar, Thames & Braun. How do his results in Tampa have any bearing on Coles coaching ability?

[jerichoholicninja]

Choi spent all of about 4 months in the Brewers organization and only a few weeks on the MLB roster. I don't know how you can use him as an example to prove any point.