3/22/06 Brewers (Ohka) vs. Rangers, 2:00 PM, MLB Audio

[plowjockey]

Hall doubles 4-2. Pitching change.

[bork]

Does he have the option to refuse a minor league assignment?

 

No, since he isn't on the 40 man roster. He only has a minor league deal.

[scoop53714]

Man if Koskie can rake like this in the regular season and OPS in the mid .800s this lineup will look awfully sweet. Jenks appears ready to start the regular season too. He looked really comfy at the plate last week when I was down their.

[DHonks]

agreed Scoop. Based on his comments this spring, he's finally learning. There was a stretch of 2 or 3 years in a row when Jenkins would show up to spring training and work on his own swing. Everyone would wonder why he was tinkering, since the last months of the previous years were usually his best months. Then he struggled to open the years, and finally got it going when he had an "ah ha" moment.

 

I believe two years ago the moment was when he claimed he'd been watching JD Drew's swing, and noticed how still he was. So he went and stopped the movement in his swing, and finished strong.

Then last year he went back to the bigger bat wave, and struggled. His leg kick threw off his timing. Then he admitted that he had to simplify his swing due to the injuries, and it worked. And now this spring he's openly talked about cutting down on the bat wave and the leg kick. I don't recall him ever "toning down" his swing in spring training, but rather usually making it more complex. This is a good sign.

[plowjockey]

Mark Johnson pinch hit single to make it 5-2.

[1992casey]

♫♫ Keep Turnin' Up The Heat! ♫♫

[brettac1]

Brian, I think Abernathy's a better hitter, though. I don't think either of them belong in the bigs, though, heck, I'd rather have one of Johnson or Rivera as a third catcher than one of those guys.

[BREWCREW5]

Ever since Jenks has used Weeks' bat wave toned down a bit, he has raked the ball.

[plowjockey]

5-3. Jenks misses a shoestring catch for a triple with 2 outs and DeRosa drives him in.

I can't wait for DM to sit down with Sutton during the broadcast. They had their big roster shaping pow wow this morning and we should hear some scoops. Sutton mentioned Krynzel and Hendrickson sent down today.

 

Rocket for a single. Sac fly. 5-4.

[plowjockey]

Jenkins with a double, but score stays 5-4.

[plowjockey]

Good outing for Ohka today. Real sharp thru 5 innings.

[diomedeh2]

♫♫ Keep Turnin' Up The Heat! ♫♫

 

Anyone on here know where to get an mp3 version of that song? It'd be a great song to loop over and over again at some tailgating parties.

[plowjockey]

Gabe Gross with a MONSTER home run. 6-4. DM next inning.

[plowjockey]

Bits from DM. - He really likes Fernandez' versatility. Sheets looked real good today, was bouncing around with alot of energy, but they are guarded in their optimism. Sorenson's versatilty is his big opportunity to make the roster. Abernathy has a real strong bat, can play 2 spots. Emphasis is leaning toward more players that have a lot of versatility because of the way past injuries have affected the Brewers and as DM becomes more familiar with the National League. Really pleased with Koskie's bat and is impressed with his consistent, strong accurate throw to 2nd base. (Koskie homers to left just as DM is talking about his opposite field power.)

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! My feed just dropped. And we were only up to 9 "and that's" (unofficial count. I'll wait for the official "and that" count to come in the the box score.

[Ralph Wiggum]

Quote:

---

(Koskie homers to left just as DM is talking about his opposite field power.)

---

 

Wow, that's why the man is a general manager of a major league baseball team, and I'm stuck wondering what it would be like to be a general manager for a major league baseball team.

[honuswagner21]

I never knew what the "and that" was all about until just now. And now that I am listening to Melvin talk, it is rediculous and that

[plowjockey]

Feed's back. Weeks seems good hitting off the tee today, but won't see any action this week. This can be a real pesky injury, so they are being overly careful. Looks like JDLR will not be passed thru wavers. They're happy with Eveland and Jackson waiting in AAA should they need another starter. Koskie told DM that Koskie was real impressed with JDLR in the WBC. Looks like they will again try to give JDLR meaningful innings early in the year to see if his great talent will "click". He really like Gross, but is waiting for him to step up and play even better. Justin Thompson has pitched extremely well, but does take longer to recover from a start than others. Does not look like a reliever. Thompson will give it one more year, if it works, he'll stick, if not he's going to retire. Justin Lehr throws several pitches and they are starting to think that he may be a starter, but if he's a reliever, he will keep using more of his repetoire. 9-4 Crew. 9 more "and that"s.

[plowjockey]

Big focus on 27 outs with the bat. Caught stealing or double plays, or bad base running that gives away an out is the same as a turnover in football. Villanueva has really caught DM's attention, compares him to Doug Davis. Says he just gets people out. They like him a lot. That's it. 2 more "and that"s. What's the total? 10 to 4 crew at this point. Man the Rangers need pitching.

[ja002h]

You know, I never really thought about this, but Doug just made the brilliantly obvious observation that Carlos Villanueva = Doug Davis.

[BrewCrewRising]

Somebody made the comment that Ohka looked sharp today. Were all 4 of those runs earned? I haven't been listening, so I'm wondering how Ohka is sharp after giving up 4 runs in 5 innings.

 

I'm not being sarcastic either. Really just wondering what Ohka did, because I can only see 4 runs and it looks pretty underwhelming.

[plowjockey]

Mark A now on. How cool is this? They were talking about Rottino, and MA mentioned Vinnie was one of the first guys that caught Robin Yount's eye. Big compliment. Talking about what a big positive effect Robin is already having on the young players. Mentioned that the national press is starting to pay more attention to the Brewers (Sports Illustrated is there today.) The LED board is over a thousand feet long and they are pretty excited about it. Says the picnic area is really cool. You're right on the field.

10 - 5 now with Thompson pitching.

[plowjockey]

Quote:

---

Ohka Sharp?

---

2 unearned runs on a bad play by Hall with 2 down. Another run when Jenkins goes for a shoestring catch with 2 outs and it turns out to be a triple. Next guy singles. He struck out 7 of the first 9. He had 2 down with no one out in the 3rd. A pop up that should have been caught, then a double, then Hall's error. Ohka should have been out of the inning twice. A lot of little things, like the pop up that lands between Gross and Hardy while they are standing there looking at each other. Little things that won't happen in the regular season.

[vamac53]

<<<<<<<<

 

I'm not being sarcastic either. Really just wondering what Ohka did, because I can only see 4 runs and it looks pretty underwhelming.>>>>>>

 

because he struck out alot of guys today. 2 of the runs were unearned, which doesn't hurt your era, but its still 2 runs. Which brings me to why era is a bit overrated:

example 1: Say Dan Kolb starts the 8th inn. first 2 guys get out, the next guy hits a comebacker, Kolb throws ball past 1stbaseman for an error. the next 6 guys get hits and score, his era for that inning is .000. does that make him a good pitcher?

 

Example 2: relief pitcher comes into the 8th inning of a game his team is getting killed10-0. mop-up situation, which any pitcher knows is a tough situation to succeed in, he gives up 4 earned runs, which kills his era. do that 2 times a year, and his other outings were good. with approx 40 innings pitched for year, those 2 bad outings in mop up keep him from having great era for the year...but if you subtract those 2 outings, his era would have been around 2.00 instead of 4.00...

a pitcher has to be able to overcome an error...

[plowjockey]

Kolb has a solid 1-2-3 inning. Nice.

[Blazer25]

Actually his ERA for that inning would not be 0.

 

Errors by the pitcher are earned runs...