3/19/05 - Brewers (Ben H) @ Cubs (Z-bro), 2:00 CT, WGN

[brewers19]

Yay, Adams is in.

[DHonks]

Come on Hall. You got him out, but stop showboating. If he slides over and gets that or charges it he gets the batter by more than half a step. I hate it when he waits back and it costs us

 

Edit: then that next one from Hall. Billy, that's why JJ is starting over you

[brewers19]

Wow, Hall is looking stellar out there.

[ja002h]

And that was just a plain ugly error on Hall

[Shootkick1000]

Of all the Brewers that Brenly has to choose from to gush about, Brenly chooses...Pat Borders. Sigh.

[ja002h]

Yeah, I think Adams is gonna do just fine for us this year.

[ja002h]

Of all the Brewers that Brenly has to choose from to gush about, Brenly chooses...Pat Borders. Sigh.

 

But he's such a gritty veteran!!

[Shootkick1000]

Actually, maybe I shouldn;t complain...the more Brenly gushes over his gritty veteran-ness...the more Likely Dusty'll want to trade for Borders and make him his Starting Cather for 2005.

 

Oh come on, you can't tell me you;d be surprised if that happened...http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif

 

oooh...the Brewer-hating Chad Fox! Now'd be a good time for a screeching line drive up the middle...

[Frank Mallon]

Here comes everyone's favorite, Chad Fox.

[endaround]

Could someone tell Brenly that Borders will be enjoying the summer in Nashville and not Milwaukee?

[DHonks]

Wow, Cirillo looks just as young as the day he left

[molitor fan]

With everyone including myself finding this new Cubs announcing team to be the epitome of banality, I find it very interesting that everyone in the media thought this new duo was going to be excellent, and a good change from Stone/Carey....

 

Then, the question is, what happened? Is it just the mix, is it just a bad day, or what. I think Stone is amongst the best in the business, and the fact that Dusty ran him out of town (he truly did) for these clowns is proposterous, and shows just how venomous Baker's influence is.

[hardytheman]

top 1- zambrano pitching- should be a good test today.

 

Krynzel- U3- dave tripped on his way to first.

Weeks- K- three pitches

Prince- K

 

bottom 1- Lil Ben

 

Hairston- 3B off LF wall, fastball down the middle

Macias- 3-1 nice change up , down 2-1 in count, runner held

Nomah- HR- hung a change up on a full count. 2-0

Lee- HBP

Hollandsworth- broken bat 1b to right.

Kelton- 2 run double, smacked into LF down the line

Murray- 4-3, Kelton to third

Blanco- 6-3

 

4-0 Cubs

 

top 2- zambrano still in

 

Jenks- 4-3, smoked to second, but Hairston knocked it down and just got Jenks, bad call

Miller- K swinging

Helms- K swinging

 

Ugly

 

bottom 2- Lil Ben tries again

 

Zambrano- K

Hairston- 1b- chopped into the ground, no play really(CS, perfrect throw by miller, pitch was a ball outside)

Macias- 6-3, routine play for Hardy, left the throw a bit low.

 

Top 3- Zambrano in

 

Hart- F9

Hardy- K- called, outside corner, bad call IMO

Lil Ben- K swinging

 

Bottom 3- Lil Ben in

 

Nomah- 1b- shot through the left side between hardy and wes

 

Lee- 1b, same spot, just out of JJs reach.

 

Hollandsworth- 4-6-3 dp. Weeks did a nice job on a tough hop. Ben with some better curves.

 

Kelton- 6-3, routine, nice curve again for Ben, he is tightening it up, more bite to it.

 

 

 

top 4- Calos K is still in

 

Dave- K swinging in dirt, Carlos is filthy

Weeks- K swinging- two straight FB's down the middle, and week was late both times.

 

Prince- F8- not hit hard.

 

Sure am glad I drafted Carlos the other day, his stuff is real good.

 

No hits so far.

 

 

 

Bot 4- Obermueller in the game, wouldve liked to see Ben still in.

 

 

Murray- 1b to right field

Blanco- another 4-6-3 DP, real nice turn by the future. They remind me of Trammell and Whitaker, looks wise.

 

Carlos- F-8

 

 

 

Top of 5- carlos still in

 

 

 

Jenks- 1b to right- nice at bat. no hitter broken up.

Miller- 6-4-3- miller=moeller

Helms- hard hit 1b up the middle

Hart- same thing as wes. was down in the count

Hardy- Hard hit flyout to right.

 

 

 

Bottom 5- Obie in the game still, Bed Selig in the booth(whining about the hearings)

 

 

Hairston- F-8

Macias- 4-3, easy chopper for Rickie

Nomah- popup to first. Nice pitching for Wes O.

 

 

 

Top 6- Zambrano in still

 

 

Wes O- solid basehit past Lee at first.

Krynzel- K- check swing in dirt again- 9 Ks so far for Carlos.

Weeks- Fly ball to right.

Prince- lined to second, robbed of at least a base hit. Good at bat, fouled off a few pitches.

 

Even though our young guys have struggled, it is against what I think is a legit ace pitcher on his game. its great experience.

 

Its also evident that these guys still need work, and seeing 4A and other top prospect players at Nashville next year will definately help.

 

 

Bottom 6- Wes O still pitching.

 

 

Lee- F-9- Jenks looks comfortable in right.

Hollandsworth- JJ with a great play up the middle on a sharp ground ball, just got the runner.

Kelton- 1b to left.

Walker in for Murray- 1b into center

Blanco- K- long at bat, fouled off a lot of 3-2 fastballs, wes threw a slider and got him swinging.

 

 

 

Top 7- Russ Rohlicek Sidearm lefty

 

 

Jenks- basehit towards second, defender too far over and missed on the throw.

 

Miller- Broken bat grounder to short, jenks to second.

 

Helms- Crushed to left center, just missed HR. 4-1

 

Hart- BB- pitcher all over the place (WP, helms to third, WP, Helms scores, 4-2)

 

Pitching change Michael Wuertz

 

Hardy- F-8 (hart SB, tagged on flyball to third)

 

Hall PH for Wes O- 5-3

 

 

 

 

Bottom 7- Bottalico pitching. Some Cub changes made an inning or so ago.

 

 

Kopitzke©- 5-3, cirillo at third

 

Ransom(SS)- BB (moves to 2nd on throw to first, got by PRince, wasnt that bad of throw.)

 

Mcclain- out, K I think

??- F7, lazy fly for Hart.

 

 

 

Top 8- Weurtz still in

 

 

Krynzel- chopper to second.

Weeks- Foul out to C

Prince- 1b up the middle, down 0-2 in count( SB for Prince!)

Drew Anderson PH for jenks- K, called on full count

 

 

 

Bottom 8- This game is zoomin along. Adams in the game.

 

 

Merton?- 6-3, nice play by hall.

Rojas- hot shot to Hall, he booted it, ruled error

Harvey- K- long at bat, lots of foulled off pitches. Nice job by Mike not giving in.

 

Walker- weak grounder to 2nd.

 

 

 

Top of 9- last chance - Chad Fox in the game, boo! jeesh, almost hits borders on the first pitch.

 

 

Borders- K- nasty slider

Cirillo- F9- semi hit hard ball

Hart- K looking- the strike zone magically grew in that at bat, pretty sick, sliders were way outside.

 

Game!

[ja002h]

Well, that's all she wrote. 4-2. Fun to see it on TV at least.

[DHonks]

who would have thought...No Carlos Lee and No Overbay= no offense

[ThePurpleStorm]

yeah, what a shock.

By the way, why was Overbay scratched from the lineup?

[RyDogg66]

He fouled a ball of his foot yesterday - he is fine, just a litte sore.

[clancyphile]

Don't tell me about fouls off the foot...

 

Loretta missed a MONTH after doing that once... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif

[colbyjack]

I didn't see this mentioned, but the pinch runner for Jenkins was Drew Anderson. He also got an AB, and showed a patient eye that any OBP fan would like. He did K looking on an outside pitch that did grab the corner of the strike zone.

 

Thanks to DHonks for his observations prior to this game. Watching Krynzel & Hendrickson today mirrored what I imagined with those descriptions.

 

I like Krynzel's stance a lot better. With his old stance he looked really stiff and upright. This new stance would seem to allow him to make adjustments better.

 

And I agree with pretty much everyone else already said. Hendrickson's pitches were not fooling anyone, although it always helps when you're throwing strikes, which he obviously wasn't. He really seemed to telegraph his pitches with his new delivery, which seems to have a lot of long, deliberate movements. His curveball is really loopy, and similar to another DHonks observation & comparison to Sheets' young career, he is going to have to tighten that up while throwing strikes with his fastball to have any success. At least he showed a promising curveball today, as I don't remember seeing it when he was up with the big league team late last summer.

 

Plus, watching Hendrickson he just doesn't seem to have that swagger that all big-leaguers have, from the best to the worst players. It could just be my perception, but I wonder how confident he is. He really needs to believe that he belongs out there.

 

I've seen him play briefly before, but I was reminded by how much I like Hardy on D'. He is textbook, and he's going to be a rock in the middle of the infield for years, almost regardless as to what he does at the plate.

 

I think FSN would be pleasantly surprised at how many people would watch the Brewers if they chose to televise more of their games. In fact, I'm surprised that WGN doesn't show more Cubs/White Sox games, or why ESPN doesn't even televise that many games.

 

And I agree, watch on TV, listen to Bob & Jim if you can, even if Darron & Bill are doing the game.

[mothershipconnection]

Anyone else getting tired of this Honda lawn mower commercial?

 

"This changes everything."

Awful. I had thought of Honda a an innovative company committed to quality, but the quality of that commercial was akin to something a local restaurant would run, kinda like those cheap Degree commercials. I never get persuaded to buy a product based on a commercial, but my opinion of a company can be lowered by one, and this spot did it.

 

Hart looked somewhat uncomforatble at the plate at times today, nothing too discouraging, but enough to raise a little concern.

 

Cirillo looked the same, but didn't it seem like his pants were jacked up a little bit? Sure sign of old age.

 

I used to agree wholeheartedly with Brian's mantra of "Hendrickson has nothing left to prove in AAA", but now may have to rethink that. As much as I want the guy to get in the groove and I believe that his minor league performance was the real deal, I just don't want to take a bunch of automatic losses waiting for him to fulfill his potential.

 

Prince didn't handle that pickoff attempt so well, but both he and Weeks looked competent in the field, while Hardy looked pretty awesome.

 

Obie frustrates me so frickin' much. He puts up numbers like he did today, and you think he's finally coming around, and then he'll go out and get rocked in his next appearance. I still think his best use would be in the pen, but I'd sadly rather see him grab the #5 than Hendrickson when they break camp. I have no doubt that Hendrickson will be WAY better than he's shown so far, but he just may need to do some tinkering in AAA before rejoining the Crew.

[DHonks]

First off, thanks Colby...good to know I was able to communicate the changes well. As for Hendrickson, you're right about getting a bit long at the top of his motion. What's weird is that in person you don't see that. In person you see a nice patient delivery. Heck, even the picture of him on the front of the Brewers' website doesn't make his arm seem as high and behind him as it did on TV.

 

Secondly, I think Colby nailed it with the swagger thing. Maybe he's really quiet out there. But he has the look of "I'm gonna try to throw a strike" rather than "here's a strike, I dare you to hit it."

[brewmann04]

not sure but have to say obby and glover have overtaken ben.

Hopefully maddox can work on ben toughness

[brewcrewkid14]

Well I have had a busy night so finally I am able to give you my perspective. Lil Ben got rocked in the first inning and didn't impress me at all. Kind of scared me to tell you the truth. Hopefully Maddux can work with him on his mechanics.

 

Obermueller probably earned the fifth spot unless Glover is just lights out the rest of spring. I talked to Obie before the game and he said that he was hoping to get the fifth spot which isn't really unexpected but let's hope he can do as well in the regular season as in spring. He did impress me with his stuff though. He has improved over last year.

 

Weeks and Fielder struggled at the plate. Weeks' batting stance is a lot like Sheffield's as you guys probably noticed. Fielder is a lot shorter than I expected. I was thinking of him being like 6'5 or so and 250 but I was surprised. Also, for his size he is really quick which is good to see. All four prospects that were in the lineup today showed speed which is a really good sight for the future. It's always nice for teams to have speed spred out. On side note Weeks and Fielder seem to be everywhere together. When you see Fielder you can expect Weeks to be right by his side. Kind of a good sign for future decisions on both players' parts.

 

Helms showed a lot more stability at third base. I was down by the side of the field during infield warm up and he seemed a lot more sure of himself, but it helps that he knows it is coming to him.

 

I talked to Branyan before the game and he said that him and Wes get along really well and whichever person gets the job the other will be hoping the other does the best for the team. I am still expecting a platoon between the two of them, even though a lot of people won't wanna see that.

 

Well I am off to Maryvale tomorrow and I am going to walk around the minor league section and look for some action. I'll give ya the report tomorrow.

[squarepusher]

Thanks for the insights!