04/07/04 Brewers (Kinney) @ Cardinals (Williams)

[DHonks]

In all seriousness, it's going to take Sheets several weeks to catch up to Kinney in the batting race.

 

and if Kinney has indeed learned to finish batters, then Sheets will have to start hitting well to do it. The thought of Matt having only 10 starts meant Ben had 33 starts to get his hits in.

[AJAY]

8-4 Cardinals.

 

It was nice while it lasted.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Nice start for Hernandez. Every strike he threw got hammered.

 

Hey, Kinney got a quality start anyways.

[gregmag]

But isn't the loss (if it ends up that way) really Kinney's fault, because he didn't have enough stamina to go more than six and couldn't inspire his teammates to score more runs?

 

On a serious note, what was Hernandez' problem, other than the Cardinals? All I know is what comes over the game tracker. One inning is a small sample, of course, but five runs is almost a medium-sized sample for a reliever. Are we worried about him, or does he just take a mulligan and move on?

 

Damn . . . I guess we're going to lose occasionally this season.

 

Greg.

[Katuluu]

I'm sure Harold will find a way to pin this on Kinney and shift all blame away from Hernandez.

[xisxisxis]

Damn! There goes my dream of the Brewers going undefeated in 2004.

[MassBrew]

What a bunch of wimpy chat room participants.

 

Dissolved pretty quickly from 22 chatters to zero in the eighth -- great job with the rally caps, guys http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/ohwell.gif

[DuWayne Steurer]

Just listening on the radio, so I can't say WHERE the pitches were, but Hernandez was behind just about every hitter. That's no way to live. Can't start out 2-0 on a lineup like the Cards (or any major league lineup) and expect to get a whole lot of guys out.

[rluzinski]

adrian definetely gets a mulligan.

 

Kinney didn't look pretty, but he got the job done.

 

Hall at #2, and bennett starts? Good Yost stuff....

[mothershipconnection]

Just listening on the radio, so I can't say WHERE the pitches were, but Hernandez was behind just about every hitter.

He just didn't seem to have a whole lot of life on his pitches and didn't work the zone very well. He kinda reminded me of a guy coming back after an inury that just looked flat and rusty. Let's hope he's still trying to find his groove or had first game jitters or he'll be known as "El Rummycito" before long.

[clancyphile]

No - Kinney can't get the blame for this one. My beef isn't that he can't be a good pitcher, it's that he is so inconsistent about the outings. OK start, bad start, good start, bad start, OK start, rocked.

 

As rluzinski says, Adrian Hernandez get a mulligan. Every reliever sometimes has an outing like this. Even the good ones like Mariano Rivera (remember how he blew a couple of games for the Yankees in the 2001 World Series?).

 

Also, the Brewers should get a better #2 catcher if Moeller's only going to play 60% of the time. Otherwise, Moeller ought to start for four of the five starters.

[JohnBriggs12]

Unlike most of you in Wisconsin, I did get to see the game. Here are my impressions.

 

As one of Kinney's detractors, I have to admit I liked what I saw out of him. He got in trouble in the first by locating pitches down the middle but managed to extracate himself nicely which was something he had trouble doing in the past.

 

Once he got settled in, he was threw the ball very well. His fastball consistenly was hitting 92 and he painted the corners on several occasions. His control was very good.

 

Most impressive were his two hits. Both were solid line drives.

 

Offensively, Helms put nice swings on the ball. After watching Spivey go 0 for 5 and bobble another ball in a key situation, I have to wonder why he is batting 3rd and why he is playing ahead of Ginter. Take one of those offers Doug before they all dry up.

 

Hernandez looked rusty more than anything else but he got no help defensively either. The first two hits he allowed were not hit all that hard. Then Bennett had an opportunity to field that bunt and make a play at first but he opted to see if it would go foul when it obviously was not going to even come close. After Pujols tied the game with a sac fly, Edmonds hit a ground ball that Spivey couldn't handle in short right (I couldn't help thinking that Gantner made that play countless times and perhaps Ginter or Hall would have too).

 

I have feeling of impending doom with Rolen up and I was correct.

[Kraft4a3]

have I have noticed something when the Brewers knock a starter out. Once again I thought the Brewers did a fine job of being patient at the plate against a starting pitcher. However, it seems everytime the Brewers knock a pitcher out pretty early they can never get to the relievers.

 

I had this thought last year, and know in the 3rd game of the year it has popped up again.

 

Do they not scout and game plan for the relievers as much as they do the starters?

 

Is their goal every game just to knock the starter out and then say job well done?

 

Do they change there approach at the plate after they have knocked the starter out?

 

I love how they do work counts and there are not too many unproductive at bats when the starter is still in. That was the Yankees plans when they won all the WS. (Now they have just formed the NY Allstars).

 

But the Brewers cannot seem to feast on relief pitching.

 

Maybe its just my view after a loss and there could be some stats go either way.