8/8/05 - Cardinals (Morris) @ Brewers (Vampire) - 7:05 CST

[Mike Felder]

I was at the game tonight...most of what I have to say has been beaten and beaten and beaten to death already, so I'll try to be brief.

 

-Everyone in my row groaned in the 4th when Magruder was sent up to PH. We would have liked to have seen a better hitter up there because you only get so many chances with the bases loaded and less than 2 out.

 

-The home plate ump's strike zone was RIDICULOUSLY inconsistent...for both the Brewers and the Cards. He was just awful.

 

-I didn't really see it mentioned on here, but it sure looked like Brady got a terrible jump on that ball in the 8th. If he had made a better read on the ball off the bat, he might not have had to dive for it at all. Instead, he stayed frozen too long and couldn't make the play.

 

That's all. It was frustrating. I really hope tomorrow is better.

[7rebmun]

Can I put "11 ABs is a long, long history" in my signature. I'm going to guess no.

[brewmann04]

Like Melvin said he has to find a way to make the bench Better,

 

but it still seems that we are a way off from beating the top teams.

[Brian the Automator]

[ 5) Brady Clark should not be a leadoff hitter. He swings at the first pitch, every time. And he is not fast. ]

 

On 0-0, Clark's hitting .412.

[naivin]

Quote:

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Can I put "11 ABs is a long, long history" in my signature. I'm going to guess no.

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Nobody ever said it was, but I am guessing that's supposed to be funny.

 

Anyway, if 0-11 with 8 K's is't enough history for you let's take a look back. Over the past 3 seasons, Russ Branyan is 4-41 with 27 K's, 1 HR and 5 RBI as a PH. I guess you're right. With numbers like that, he should have been up there, even though he has barely put a bat on a ball as a PH this year.

 

Is Russell a better hitter than MacGruder? Yes. Is a he a better PH than MacGruder? There is nothing to suggest that's the case. If it was simply a case of who is a better hitter and situation has nothing to do with it, the Brewers would be right there with Houston right now, because we all know how many games the Brewers have dropped because they haven't hit w/RISP.

 

If its close and late and you want to send a guy up there to try to hit one out, Russell is the guy every time. Another reason he wasn't used in the 4th.

[H0FFY]

ok naivin, you have almost convinced me... those are not good stats for PH for Russell; but enough about that I was interested in your comment re the diff between Houston and Milw with RISP batting; so I looked

 

Milwaukee is 6th in the Nat in OPS but 11th OPS with RISP

Houston is 13th in the Nat in OPS but 9th with RISP

 

So, that certainly is a big difference, we are -5 places and they are +4 places with RISP.

 

But their pitching is just too good.

 

Houston is 2nd in era and 1st is era with RISP (by far!)

Milw is 7th in era and 5th in era with RISP (clutch pitching?)

 

So, it is easy to see Houston's good pitching and clutch hitting outdo our average pitching and anticlutch hitting.

 

Now I cannot see how we can catch them. We need a good week NOW.

[transplanted brew]

Living outside of Milwaukee, this is the first time I have been able to watch the Crew since they were in Atlanta. I have a couple of thoughts on the game.

 

1) The plate umpire was very inconsistant. Nothing we can do about that. Jenkins was right to get ticked about that called third strike.

 

2) Dana deserves a chance to start. He did throw quite a few pitches, but he looked a heck of a lot better than the Vampire.

 

3) Speaking of the Vampire, you could see his posture and facial expressions change as he got into trouble. It was like he was thinking, "here we go again." The confidence was gone, and so was he at that point.

 

4) Lyle looked horrible at the plate tonight. Seemed to be pulling off a lot of pitches.

 

5) Despite his performance tonight, I still think that Santana needs to go. Replace him with Adams or Bennett.

 

6) It was good to see 30,000+ in the keg.

 

7) Brantly was brutally honest, and I liked it. The team should be forced to sit and watch that game with the sound on.

 

http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/glasses.gif Too many men left on base. Where was Bill Hall?

 

Just some thoughts...

[brewmann04]

again we are really a 500 Ball Club who very not constant at the Plate and very questionable Bench.

 

I am starting to get worried about our Bullpen .

[JeffSackmann]

For those of you who are interested, I just posted the win probability graph & stats from this game...

 

www.brewcrewball.com/stor...12156/1307

[naivin]

Quote:

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I was interested in your comment re the diff between Houston and Milw with RISP batting; so I looked

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I wasn't necessarily comparing the two teams, but rather just pointig out the Brewers overall hitting vs. situational hitting - ie, Russ Barnyan as a PH. Houston was only mentioned because they are leadig the WC race. I think all would agree the Brewers most consistent problem this year has been hitting w/ RISP. Guys who are good hitters, don't necessarly hit good in certain situations, If they were better w/RISP, they would probably have quite a handful of additional wins and would be up there in the standings with Houston.

 

That being said, those stats you point out, do pretty much tell the story.