2018-09-21: Brewers (Chacín) at Pirates (Nova) 6:05 PM CDT [Brewers win, 8-3 -- Offense explodes in 6th, with 3 HR]

[Eye Black]

[pre]Brewers Lineup Pirates Lineup

1. RF Curtis Granderson (L) 1. 2B Adam Frazier (L)

2. CF Christian Yelich (L) 2. CF Starling Marte ®

3. 1B Jesús Aguilar ® 3. 1B Josh Bell (S)

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

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

6. 3B Mike Moustakas (L) 6. RF Pablo Reyes ®

7. C Erik Kratz ® 7. 3B Colin Moran (L)

8. SS Orlando Arcia ® 8. SS Kevin Newman ®

9. P Jhoulys Chacín ® 9. P. Iván Nova ®[/pre]

 

Link: Brewers Game Notes

[TooLiveBrew]

Need to stick it to Nova tonight & get some revenge on him.

 

I hope Aguilar has broken out of his slumber. Getting him hot again down the stretch would be massive.

[liveforoctober]

If the Brewers can get 2 of 3 and the White Sox can somehow take 2 of 3 from the Cubs ... the last week will be really fascinating. Being back a game and a half with the Cubs up against a pesky Pirates team then a (hopefully) fighting for its playoff lives Cardinals team would be a great thing to watch.

 

One game at a time. Hopefully Cain is good to go. Granderson for Braun tonight?

[yfinn6]

Need to stick it to Nova tonight & get some revenge on him.

 

I hope Aguilar has broken out of his slumber. Getting him hot again down the stretch would be massive.

 

Pun intended?

 

This series has me more nervous than any remaining series the Brewers have. For whatever reason, playing in Pittsburgh doesn't give me a ton of hope; but, I love to be wrong.

[owbc]

I'll be happy with one win in this series.

[stalton]

My heart expects a sweep. My brain expects 2 of 3. My stomach expects 1 of 3. I don't have an organ that expects to get swept.

[rcc]

The Crew needs to finally beat this team at home and act like a team that deserves to be in the playoffs. Chacin is the best starter this year and the bullpen is rested. Clutch hitting and we should get a good game. Beat the Bucs!

[bacon06]

Pirates have not lost at home since August 22

 

[tmwiese55]

Getting this first one would be huge, really takes the pressure off for the weekend games.

[Outlander]

Pirates have not lost at home since August 22

 

True, but they got swept in that series against the Braves. Since then they have played the Reds, Marlins and Royals in three game series. Give them credit for taking care of business against the bad teams but the Pirates are a .500 type team and the Brewers need to start beating them.

[MoreTrife]

My heart expects a sweep. My brain expects 2 of 3. My stomach expects 1 of 3. I don't have an organ that expects to get swept.

 

 

Haha good post.

[markedman5]

Cain still out

 

 

[torts]

Cain still out

 

 

 

good, get healthy for the playoffs.

[TooLiveBrew]

Cain still out

 

 

good, get healthy for the playoffs.

Agreed. I know he has declined, but it's pretty nice having Ryan Braun as a Plan B.

[Cool Hand Lucroy]

My heart expects a sweep. My brain expects 2 of 3. My stomach expects 1 of 3. I don't have an organ that expects to get swept.

 

I do. It's the sphincter. Well so I guess technically it's a muscle.

[adambr2]

This Kratz over Pina thing is just still such a mystery to me.

[tmwiese55]

This Kratz over Pina thing is just still such a mystery to me.

 

I think someone has pointed out they're tied to starting pitchers right now. But I'd still like someone to ask management on it. Pina has hit well the second half and he's just a vastly superior defensive catcher. Kratz had his good hitting streak there but is now back to what you'd expect. This should be a 3/5 split or even 4/5 in Pina's favor.

[topper09er]

This Kratz over Pina thing is just still such a mystery to me.

 

Kratz has a GAR of like 8, grit above replacement. That is Sogard territory. CC is big on that advanced metric

[jerichoholicninja]

This Kratz over Pina thing is just still such a mystery to me.

 

I think someone has pointed out they're tied to starting pitchers right now. But I'd still like someone to ask management on it. Pina has hit well the second half and he's just a vastly superior defensive catcher. Kratz had his good hitting streak there but is now back to what you'd expect. This should be a 3/5 split or even 4/5 in Pina's favor.

 

Maybe they're trying to keep Pina fresh for the playoffs. There's no way a 38 year old catcher should be catching as much as he is at this point in the season unless he's a top flight catch on offense or defense. And Kratz is neither.

[pacopete4]

I feel like it’d be a good idea to pin the ERA of each pitcher with both catchers somewhere.

[tmwiese55]

I feel like it’d be a good idea to pin the ERA of each pitcher with both catchers somewhere.

 

Yea I think someone pointed that out somewhere recently and that's why they're tied to each other. However, this again screams small sample. Pina is a great defensive C and just last year helped the P staff to massive over achievement. He didn't all of a sudden forget how to call a game. I guess I'd just say they should be finding away for him to improve with the Ps he hasn't done well with rather than just accepting it and therefore running out an inferior C 3/5 days. Come playoffs Pina should play every game. They should start prepping for that

[pacopete4]

I feel like it’d be a good idea to pin the ERA of each pitcher with both catchers somewhere.

 

Yea I think someone pointed that out somewhere recently and that's why they're tied to each other. However, this again screams small sample. Pina is a great defensive C and just last year helped the P staff to massive over achievement. He didn't all of a sudden forget how to call a game. I guess I'd just say they should be finding away for him to improve with the Ps he hasn't done well with rather than just accepting it and therefore running out an inferior C 3/5 days. Come playoffs Pina should play every game. They should start prepping for that

 

I think Pina is a good thrower but that’s where it ends for me in speaking of his greatness defensively. Obviously whatever they have data wise has been pushing Kratz into the lineup more and hey, we have been pitching pretty well lately. Don’t care if he’s 38, whatever works.

[tmwiese55]

I feel like it’d be a good idea to pin the ERA of each pitcher with both catchers somewhere.

 

Yea I think someone pointed that out somewhere recently and that's why they're tied to each other. However, this again screams small sample. Pina is a great defensive C and just last year helped the P staff to massive over achievement. He didn't all of a sudden forget how to call a game. I guess I'd just say they should be finding away for him to improve with the Ps he hasn't done well with rather than just accepting it and therefore running out an inferior C 3/5 days. Come playoffs Pina should play every game. They should start prepping for that

 

I think Pina is a good thrower but that’s where it ends for me in speaking of his greatness defensively. Obviously whatever they have data wise has been pushing Kratz into the lineup more and hey, we have been pitching pretty well lately. Don’t care if he’s 38, whatever works.

 

We're just average joes so IDK anything about pitch calling. But what concerns do you have on his blocking? I've never felt a problem there, and if you compare to Kratz it's night and day on blocking. He's just so tall he really struggles to get down on things, passed balls are frequent. And like I was getting at pitch selection is stuff you can coach and plan for, basically you should be training/coaching Pina to do whatever Kratz is doing if that's the reason behind it.

 

Have to note that our offense has also started to go down again to early season looking. not surprising that we now have a non-hitting C again and Arcia playing most days. At least Arcia is better than before but he's still very poor on O, so you're back to 1/3 of your lineup being very very bad.

 

Note: I feel like i'm coming off too anti Kratz. I generally appreciate how he's done overall this year and that recent hot streak was great and he had some clutch hits in there too. and he's a great story overall. But Pina is just better and I'm gonna somewhat cringe seeing playoff lineups with Kratz. So I wish they were working to correct whatever issues Pina is having with those guys and working through it. Could be like how people now rip on Kotsay in CF in the playoffs 2011, especially if a passed ball at the wrong time bites us

[pacopete4]

 

We're just average joes so IDK anything about pitch calling. But what concerns do you have on his blocking? I've never felt a problem there, and if you compare to Kratz it's night and day on blocking. He's just so tall he really struggles to get down on things, passed balls are frequent. And like I was getting at pitch selection is stuff you can coach and plan for, basically you should be training/coaching Pina to do whatever Kratz is doing if that's the reason behind it.

 

Have to note that our offense has also started to go down again to early season looking. not surprising that we now have a non-hitting C again and Arcia playing most days. At least Arcia is better than before but he's still very poor on O, so you're back to 1/3 of your lineup being very very bad.

 

They’ve averaged 4.64 runs a game in the month of September. I’d say the offense has been doing really well. I mean they’ve lost one series in like the last ten. A big part of that has been the pitching, which Kratz has done well handling. Honestly, if handling pitchers was as easy as what is in bold, stats wouldn’t matter because you could just teach any catcher the game plan. The difference of receiving the ball between the two catchers is probably closer than most would give credit for.

[tmwiese55]

 

We're just average joes so IDK anything about pitch calling. But what concerns do you have on his blocking? I've never felt a problem there, and if you compare to Kratz it's night and day on blocking. He's just so tall he really struggles to get down on things, passed balls are frequent. And like I was getting at pitch selection is stuff you can coach and plan for, basically you should be training/coaching Pina to do whatever Kratz is doing if that's the reason behind it.

 

Have to note that our offense has also started to go down again to early season looking. not surprising that we now have a non-hitting C again and Arcia playing most days. At least Arcia is better than before but he's still very poor on O, so you're back to 1/3 of your lineup being very very bad.

 

They’ve averaged 4.64 runs a game in the month of September. I’d say the offense has been doing really well. I mean they’ve lost one series in like the last ten. A big part of that has been the pitching, which Kratz has done well handling. Honestly, if handling pitchers was as easy as what is in bold, stats wouldn’t matter because you could just teach any catcher the game plan. The difference of receiving the ball between the two catchers is probably closer than most would give credit for.

 

True true, I see that. But this screams small sample. Basically everything that we're assuming here about Pina as the reasons on this are things he was massively praised for a year ago. But now in like 3-8 game samples he's lost it? I'm sure they have their reasons and all, but I think a reporter should definitely ask about this and see what they say. At first I thought it was because of the HBP to Pina and wanting him to get over that but that's a long time ago now. Basically Pina in the 2nd half Pina has hit similar to last year but we're now not playing him as much.

 

Interesting stat to find out would be runs scored based on who catches, but man I'm not gonna do that work.

 

ETA: I did some quick googling to try to find some Pina D info last year but struggled. So no help there but I thought he checked well on everything last year the way he was talked about. Gonna be heading out soon so I'm gonna give up. Hope Kratz goes 3/4 for with a ding dong