Game Thread (4/11/2022): Brewers (Houser) at Orioles (Zimmermann) - 2:05 PM CDT

[Eye Black]

 

NOTE: Reminder that today's game begins at 2:05 PM Central Time because it's the Orioles home opener. 

[Eye Black]

The Brewers travel to Camden Yards for the first time in nearly two decades. The Brewers last played in Baltimore on June 15th, 2003.

Here’s the boxscore from that game: Brewers at Orioles - June 15, 2003

With the reported new scheduling model going into effect next season this should be the last time teams face such a long drought between visits to another team’s ballpark. 

[Brock Beauchamp]

Nineteen years between trips to Camden? That seems almost impossible in today's game and schedules.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

42 minutes ago, Eye Black said:

The Brewers travel to Camden Yards for the first time in nearly two decades. The Brewers last played in Baltimore on June 15th, 2003.

Here’s the boxscore from that game: Brewers at Orioles - June 15, 2003

With the reported new scheduling model going into effect next season this should be the last time teams face such a long drought between visits to another team’s ballpark. 

Wow, what a trip down memory lane! This early 2000s Brewer teams were so terrible, yet were pretty fun to watch. Just look at the lineup! Eric Young was a sold 2B, Scott Podsednik was that season's Rookie of the Year, Richie Sexson was a star, Geoff Jenkins was a solid power-hitting LF,  That's where things fell apart, though. The rest of the lineup was guys like John Vander Wal, Brady Clark, Wes Helms, Eddie Perez, Royce Clayton and Keith Ginter. Brooks Kieschnick was also surprisingly effective as a two-way player that year. That was also the year Ricke Weeks debuted as a 20-year-old, and Bill Hall got some time as a 23-year-old rookie. As with most Brewer teams of that era, they were done in by terrible pitching.

[MVP2110]

I will be curious if Tellez or Hiura gets the start today. Tellez has been hot and historically hits lefties as well as he hits righties but if CC wants to get Hiura some ABs it probably comes in games like this

[Brock Beauchamp]

31 minutes ago, MVP2110 said:

I will be curious if Tellez or Hiura gets the start today. Tellez has been hot and historically hits lefties as well as he hits righties but if CC wants to get Hiura some ABs it probably comes in games like this

If Counsell isn't going to start Hiura on days like this, playing the platoon role, he probably shouldn't be on the roster.

[MVP2110]

7 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

If Counsell isn't going to start Hiura on days like this, playing the platoon role, he probably shouldn't be on the roster.

Totally fair. Which is why it's tough cause I don't think sitting Rowdy is the answer. Baltimore will have multiple lefties going this series, are we really going to bench Rowdy after how he played? 

[stoutdude04]

8 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

If Counsell isn't going to start Hiura on days like this, playing the platoon role, he probably shouldn't be on the roster.

True, but doesn't Hiura have reverse splits?  I may be misremembering though.

[young guns]

They could always start one or the other at DH and maybe sit yelich with McCutchen in left.  Or sit Wong with Hiura at second.

[Jopal78]

2 hours ago, Ron Robinsons Beard said:

Wow, what a trip down memory lane! This early 2000s Brewer teams were so terrible, yet were pretty fun to watch. Just look at the lineup! Eric Young was a sold 2B, Scott Podsednik was that season's Rookie of the Year, Richie Sexson was a star, Geoff Jenkins was a solid power-hitting LF,  That's where things fell apart, though. The rest of the lineup was guys like John Vander Wal, Brady Clark, Wes Helms, Eddie Perez, Royce Clayton and Keith Ginter. Brooks Kieschnick was also surprisingly effective as a two-way player that year. That was also the year Ricke Weeks debuted as a 20-year-old, and Bill Hall got some time as a 23-year-old rookie. As with most Brewer teams of that era, they were done in by terrible pitching.

In 2003, I recall them being pretty bad both offensively and defensively. In fact, I would say the '03 Brewers were "tanking" before that had it's own name. By '03 they had already been pared down to the bone having sold off what they could: Tyler Houston, Alex Ochoa Mark Loretta, Jamey Wright.

They did find some nice short-term pieces in '03 with Doug Davis, Brady Clark, Podsednik, and Dan Kolb. All of whom were later flipped for players who were part of the first winning teams the Brewers had since the early 90s. 

[TURBO]

Houser is going to have a gem today, I can feel it.  The big 3 have been suspect, Houser will be the guy to right the starting pitching ship!

[NBBrewFan]

2 hours ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Nineteen years between trips to Camden? That seems almost impossible in today's game and schedules.

Well 8-10 interleague games every year doesn't leave many options. I am so happy with the new schedule reducing division games and rotating through all of the other league.  I was getting pretty tired of seeing the Pirates and Reds so many times and having to host the Cubs fans at MP/AmFam so many series each year.  Seeing less of the Cards and their holier-than-thou attitudes is just fine with me. FWIW I am fine seeing less of the Twins. Personally I never felt that was much of a rivalry (although Twins fans are several logs better than Cubs fans!) and I will gladly see less of them to see more of the rest of baseball.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Just now, NBBrewFan said:

Well 8-10 interleague games every year doesn't leave many options. I am so happy with the new schedule reducing division games and rotating through all of the other league.  I was getting pretty tired of seeing the Pirates and Reds so many times and having to host the Cubs fans at MP/AmFam so many series each year.  Seeing less of the Cards and their holier-than-thou attitudes is just fine with me. FWIW I am fine seeing less of the Twins. Personally I never felt that was much of a rivalry (although Twins fans are several logs better than Cubs fans!) and I will gladly see less of them to see more of the rest of baseball.

I agree, I don't mind an unbalanced schedule but it should be less unbalanced than it has been for the past couple of decades. Seeing a more diverse version of baseball is good, particularly cross-league play. For example, you Brewers fans have really missed out the past ten years by not seeing more Trout and Ohtani, even if the Angels themselves are pretty mediocre.

[MVP2110]

7 minutes ago, NBBrewFan said:

Well 8-10 interleague games every year doesn't leave many options. I am so happy with the new schedule reducing division games and rotating through all of the other league.  I was getting pretty tired of seeing the Pirates and Reds so many times and having to host the Cubs fans at MP/AmFam so many series each year.  Seeing less of the Cards and their holier-than-thou attitudes is just fine with me. FWIW I am fine seeing less of the Twins. Personally I never felt that was much of a rivalry (although Twins fans are several logs better than Cubs fans!) and I will gladly see less of them to see more of the rest of baseball.

I believe the Brewers and Twins will continue to face off 4 times every year which is what it has been in recent years so that part isn't changing

[Austin Tatious]

3 hours ago, Eye Black said:

 

With the reported new scheduling model going into effect next season this should be the last time teams face such a long drought between visits to another team’s ballpark. 

I haven't heard about the new scheduling model.  What are they thinking about changing?

One thing i wouldn't mind seeing change, the over-scheduling of divisional games.  I understand the importance of divisional games, but the schedule can get boring just playing such an insane number of games versus divisional opponents.  If we play the Cubs 19 times and the Mets 7, you could change that to 16 and 10 and still have a higher proportion of divisional games.  Teams in dismal divisionals can pad their record as compared with a team in a competitive division.

[Austin Tatious]

15 minutes ago, MVP2110 said:

I believe the Brewers and Twins will continue to face off 4 times every year which is what it has been in recent years so that part isn't changing

I have always found the Brewers-Twins rivalry to be contrived.  The Twins have never been on my radar as a team to care about.

I am old enough to remember the late 70's teams so you can still get me to recall battling the Yankees, Orioles and Red Sox.  The Twins?  Not at all.

[Eye Black]

14 minutes ago, Austin Tatious said:

I haven't heard about the new scheduling model.  What are they thinking about changing?

Here is a brief explanation of the new format taken from Jayson Stark's piece in The Athletic:

The 2023 schedule will cut back on rivalry games. And in their place, teams will play an NBA-like schedule that involves facing all 29 other clubs, including every one of the 15 in the other league. Here’s a breakdown:

DIVISION GAMES (56): Clubs play all four teams in their division 14 times. (Current total: 19) So that means one three-game series and one four-game series each, both home and road.

OTHER 10 LEAGUE OPPONENTS (60): Those non-division teams within your league? You’ll play them six times apiece — three at home, three on the road. (Current total: six or seven apiece)

INTERLEAGUE SCHEDULE (46): Here’s how this works: Every team plays its interleague “rival” (Mets-Yankees, Cubs-White Sox, you know the deal) four times — two at home, two on the road. (Current total: four or six games, depending on the season)

As for the other 14 teams in the opposite league, you’ll play three games against every one of them. Half are at home. Half are on the road. Then that will flip the following year.

[owbc]

Will be interesting to see how that new left field wall plays. No more short porch home runs for righties in Baltimore. 

 

[Eye Black]

Today's lineups have been added to the opening post. 

[owbc]

11 minutes ago, Eye Black said:

Today's lineups have been added to the opening post. 

Rougned Odor is still in the big leagues? Who knew!

[Eye Black]

The Brewers will face Luis Urías' brother Ramón Urías today. The Brewers lineup going up against a southpaw this afternoon would look even better with the younger Urías at second base in place of Kolten Wong. Get well soon, Luis! 

[TURBO]

These weekday day games are pissing me off!

[Eye Black]

1 hour ago, owbc said:

Will be interesting to see how that new left field wall plays. No more short porch home runs for righties in Baltimore. 

 

Here's a slider from the Baltimore Sun that shows the before and after photos overlaid: Camden Yards Left Field Renovation

Looks like they moved it back a little over 20ft. Might impact a few “would’ve been” home runs, but I assume also may increase extra base hits. 

[SomewhereInTime]

I'm not a fan of four platoons in the lineup with three strict R/L and one because Cain can only play every other day.

[MVP2110]

5 minutes ago, SomewhereInTime said:

I'm not a fan of four platoons in the lineup with three strict R/L and one because Cain can only play every other day.

The platoon at C & 3b are self explanatory. The CF one I think isn't cause Cain needs every other day off moreso cause Taylor killed lefties last year. I am not a fan of the platoon at 1st especially since Hiura has reverse platoon splits