2019-04-17: Cardinals (Wacha) at Brewers (Burnes) [Brewers lose, 6-3 -- Burnes’ struggles continue]

[Eye Black]

 

[pre]Cardinals Lineup Brewers Lineup

 

1. Matt Carpenter (L) 3B 1. Ben Gamel (L) CF

2. Paul Goldschmidt ® 1B 2. Christian Yelich (L) RF

3. Paul DeJong ® SS 3. Yasmani Grandal (S) C

4. Marcell Ozuna ® LF 4. Mike Moustakas (L) 2B

5. Jose Martinez ® RF 5. Ryan Braun ® LF

6. Dexter Fowler (S) CF 6. Travis Shaw (L) 3B

7. Kolten Wong (L) 2B 7. Jesus Aguilar ® 1B

8. Matt Wieters (S) C 8. Orlando Arcia ® SS

9. Michael Wacha ® P 9. Corbin Burnes ® P[/pre]

 

Corbin Burnes: Batter (Cardinals) vs Pitching Stats

 

Michael Wacha: Batter (Brewers) vs Pitching Stats

[Eye Black]

 

Every team in the NL Central currently has an even or better run differential.

 

Coming into this game the Cardinals are 1-5 versus the Brewers and 8-2 versus the rest of their schedule.

 

The Brewers are 10-2 versus their NL Central rivals so far. There are still 64 games to play against the four others in the Central, but that is a heckuva start.

 

Lastly, today would be a great day for the Brewers to turn around their luck versus Michael Wacha.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I was whining about our RD about a week ago, until yesterday when I looked at the standings and saw how jacked up they are all over the league. It's just too early. The Padres are sitting in 1st at 11-8 with a -12 RD, 40 behind the Dodgers with the same record.

[Baldkin]

[Fear The Chorizo]

I was whining about our RD about a week ago, until yesterday when I looked at the standings and saw how jacked up they are all over the league. It's just too early. The Padres are sitting in 1st at 11-8 with a -12 RD, 40 behind the Dodgers with the same record.

 

When you have as inconsistent a rotation and seemingly thin bullpen in terms of quality late inning arms as the Brewers currently do, run differential early is pretty meaningless - if a guy has a blow up start CC can pretty much give the bottom of his bullpen most of the innings, and unless the offense goes bonkers it'll be a big loss. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if the Brewers remain among the outliers in RD vs actual W/L record for a good portion of the year. However, if they can stabilize the rotation to get at least more consistency (hopefully Nelson can help, and at least 2 of the young starters better establish themselves), the Brewers have plenty of offense to rocket that differential far into positive territory.

 

The Dodgers run differential at this point is almost completely tied to a couple blowout wins against the Dbacks to start the year, aside from that their differential is basically 0.

[KeithStone53151]

Usually a winning record and low run differential is the sign of a very strong bullpen with a mediocre offense/starting pitching. It's a bit unique I think that the offense is so strong and bullpen weak, yet we continue to win the close ones for the most part. Hader definitely helps, but he's really the only lockdown guy in the bullpen right now.

 

Is anyone worried about the use of Claudio? I feel like Counsel is going to pull a Joe Maddon with him and wreck his arm by mid-August.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Not really, because I think the way guys are being used right now is drastically different than how they'll be used going forward. Hopefully Jeffress is formidable this year but at some point Nelson is going to be worked in the pen and Anderson is probably going to get a few starts and be a stretch reliever of sorts. I also think there are 1-3 arms not on the team that will be pitching by August. There are so many potential combos it makes my head spin. I'll just let them deal with it and enjoy the show.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Claudio strikes me as one of those "rubber arm" types who you could throw out there for an inning every day. He's got an easy delivery, and isn't going to generate a lot of torque with that mid-80s fastball.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Gamel - CF

Yelich - RF

Grandal - C

Moose - 2B

Braun - LF

Shaw - 3B

Aguilar - 1B

Arcia - SS

Burnes - P

 

Cain getting the breather today. I'm excited to see what Gamel can do in the lead-off spot. Also happy to see they moved Grandal up to provide some Yelich protection. I see complaints about Braun, Shaw and Aguilar being stacked, but what can you do? It really sucks that we are getting so little production out of spots that should be run producers.

[wallus]

Gamel - CF

Yelich - RF

Grandal - C

Moose - 2B

Braun - LF

Shaw - 3B

Aguilar - 1B

Arcia - SS

Burnes - P

 

Cain getting the breather today. I'm excited to see what Gamel can do in the lead-off spot. Also happy to see they moved Grandal up to provide some Yelich protection. I see complaints about Braun, Shaw and Aguilar being stacked, but what can you do? It really sucks that we are getting so little production out of spots that should be run producers.

 

I would like to see Thames get a little more playing time.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Aguilar is seeing it better lately. I'd like to keep him in there to work through it.

[RollieTime]

Love the lineup! I thought Gamel would be a guy that would hit at or near the top of the lineup frequently. Glad to see Grandal moved up to third today. Yelich needs some protection as I would guess that the Cardinals are going to walk him multiple times today, even if there is a runner or two on. Make the other guys who have been struggling beat you. Hopefully those guys step up and start producing sooner rather than later.

[pacopete4]

Gamel - CF

Yelich - RF

Grandal - C

Moose - 2B

Braun - LF

Shaw - 3B

Aguilar - 1B

Arcia - SS

Burnes - P

 

Cain getting the breather today. I'm excited to see what Gamel can do in the lead-off spot. Also happy to see they moved Grandal up to provide some Yelich protection. I see complaints about Braun, Shaw and Aguilar being stacked, but what can you do? It really sucks that we are getting so little production out of spots that should be run producers.

 

 

Braun has 12 RBI is 15 games. Stat line isn’t pretty yet but productive when opportunities are there.

[brewcrewdue80]

Gamel - CF

Yelich - RF

Grandal - C

Moose - 2B

Braun - LF

Shaw - 3B

Aguilar - 1B

Arcia - SS

Burnes - P

 

Cain getting the breather today. I'm excited to see what Gamel can do in the lead-off spot. Also happy to see they moved Grandal up to provide some Yelich protection. I see complaints about Braun, Shaw and Aguilar being stacked, but what can you do? It really sucks that we are getting so little production out of spots that should be run producers.

 

This is actually what I said at the end of IGT yesterday. Grandal 3, Moose, then any of Braun/Shaw/Aguilar. Kudos to CC for making and putting the best hitters first.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Gamel - CF

Yelich - RF

Grandal - C

Moose - 2B

Braun - LF

Shaw - 3B

Aguilar - 1B

Arcia - SS

Burnes - P

 

Cain getting the breather today. I'm excited to see what Gamel can do in the lead-off spot. Also happy to see they moved Grandal up to provide some Yelich protection. I see complaints about Braun, Shaw and Aguilar being stacked, but what can you do? It really sucks that we are getting so little production out of spots that should be run producers.

 

 

Braun has 12 RBI is 15 games. Stat line isn’t pretty yet but productive when opportunities are there.

 

When the two guys typically hitting in front of him are virtually guaranteed to give him at least 1 runner on base, less than 1 RBI per game is actually a pretty poor total. He's got a -0.5 WAR in 61 plate appearances - that's awful for a #3 hitter. By comparison, Chris Davis is at -0.6 despite just 4 hits in 45 ABs.

 

Braun has made some loud outs, no question, but he's also had a good number of throw away ABs to offset the couple 3 run HR's he's hit. 9 of his 12 RBIs are from his 3 HRs, and he's only scored 3 more runs himself.

[RollieTime]

Our 4-8 hitters today all have a .230 batting average or lower... Yuck. That won’t last all season obviously, but there is a lot of room for improvement offensively for this team. When these other guys start producing, watch out! This offense is going to put up big numbers.

[pacopete4]

Scooter telling us something?

[BruisedCrew]

Our 4-8 hitters today all have a .230 batting average or lower... Yuck. That won’t last all season obviously, but there is a lot of room for improvement offensively for this team. When these other guys start producing, watch out! This offense is going to put up big numbers.

 

Arcia probably won’t hit much better than he has so far, and Moustakas is doing just fine but will never be a high average hitter. Shaw, Braun, and Aguilar have all been struggling and more production from them would really help, especially since Yelich and Grandal aren’t going to be hot all the time.

[liveforoctober]

Our 4-8 hitters today all have a .230 batting average or lower... Yuck. That won’t last all season obviously, but there is a lot of room for improvement offensively for this team. When these other guys start producing, watch out! This offense is going to put up big numbers.

 

Arcia probably won’t hit much better than he has so far, and Moustakas is doing just fine but will never be a high average hitter. Shaw, Braun, and Aguilar have all been struggling and more production from them would really help, especially since Yelich and Grandal aren’t going to be hot all the time.

 

Why? He is like 24 or something. His offensive game is absolutely transformable and growth should be expected. 2 years ago he hit near .275 with reasonable power.

[ThisIsMyCrew]

Our 4-8 hitters today all have a .230 batting average or lower... Yuck. That won’t last all season obviously, but there is a lot of room for improvement offensively for this team. When these other guys start producing, watch out! This offense is going to put up big numbers.

 

Arcia probably won’t hit much better than he has so far, and Moustakas is doing just fine but will never be a high average hitter. Shaw, Braun, and Aguilar have all been struggling and more production from them would really help, especially since Yelich and Grandal aren’t going to be hot all the time.

 

According to Yelich, he isn’t hot nor seeing the ball well....

[BruisedCrew]

Hopefully Burnes can make the three HRs solo shots and the Brewers can outscore the Cardinals again. The last thing I expect is a low scoring win.

[BruisedCrew]

Our 4-8 hitters today all have a .230 batting average or lower... Yuck. That won’t last all season obviously, but there is a lot of room for improvement offensively for this team. When these other guys start producing, watch out! This offense is going to put up big numbers.

 

Arcia probably won’t hit much better than he has so far, and Moustakas is doing just fine but will never be a high average hitter. Shaw, Braun, and Aguilar have all been struggling and more production from them would really help, especially since Yelich and Grandal aren’t going to be hot all the time.

 

According to Yelich, he isn’t hot nor seeing the ball well....

 

Except against the Cardinals.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Well, HR #1 is a solo shot at least.

[adambr2]

I can't imagine there are too many pitchers in the modern baseball era that have given up double digit HRs by April 17th.

[RollieTime]

Burnes has been living on the corner today and his one mistake pitch is crushed for a homer.