05/01/2004 - Pittsburgh (Perez) at Milwaukee (Obermueller)

[squarepusher]

http://www.brewerfan.net/images/igt/wes.jpg

 

The Brewers wasted an excellent Ben Sheets start yesterday, but they look to rally behind Wes Obermueller today as the Bucs take on the Crew in game 2.

 

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Brewerfan.net / Statfox matchup info:

www.brewerfan.net/matchup.jsp

 

MLB.com game preview:

milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mil/news/mil_news.jsp?ymd=20040501&content_id=733071&vkey=news_mil&fext=.jsp

[RyDogg66]

05/01/2004 - Pittsburgh (Benson) at Milwaukee (Sheets)

 

I guess Ned doesn't trust anyone else but Sheets to pitch. Is Wes Helms going to be our only batter today as well? Maybe we can use ghost runners. I hope we can get to Benson earlty today.

[MassBrew]

Hee -- hee.

 

Brian must be in his own version of a Groundhog Day movie.

 

I'll change the subject, but for all those confused, it initially said this (again):

 

05/01/2004 - Pittsburgh (Benson) at Milwaukee (Sheets)

[squarepusher]

Bah... foiled again by cut and paste.

[batman]

Lineups:

 PITTSBURGH MILWAUKEE AVG HR RBI AVG HR RBI Tike Redman CF .226 0 6 Scott Podsednik CF .306 3 8 Jack Wilson SS .369 2 8 Bill Hall SS .290 1 7 Jason Kendall C .323 0 11 Junior Spivey 2B .293 3 16 Raul Mondesi RF .338 2 14 Geoff Jenkins LF .264 3 14 Rob Mackowiak 3B .246 3 7 Keith Ginter 3B .308 4 8 Craig Wilson LF .351 5 12 Brady Clark RF .229 3 8 Carlos Rivera 1B .143 0 1 Wes Helms 1B .214 1 5 Jose Castillo 2B .279 2 6 Gary Bennett C .212 1 5 Oliver Perez LHP .500 0 0 Wes Obermueller RHP .333 0 1 (2-0, 1.74) (1-1, 6.64)

Nice to see Billy, Keith, and Brady getting some action tonight. Helms moves over to first, and down a spot in the batting order, while Clark takes his usual spot and Ginter Overbay's. I think this is the most "tweakage" we've seen from Nedley thus far. Let's hope it doesn't hurt anybody's confidence http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif .

 

~Bill

[endaround]

So does this mean we have the worst starting 1B in the league tonight?

[DHonks]

I don't get why Overbay doesn't start. He's heating up, has had lots of days off (thanks to the schedule), and he needs to show if he can handle lefties. At the same time, Helms is the kind who could use one or two days off now to regroup. Of course, I tend to think the bench should be used for that and for letting backups and tweener prospects earn their playing time, so I might be in the minority in thinking Overbay should start tonight.

[batman]

So does this mean we have the worst starting 1B in the league tonight?

 

Not quite... while I'm not sure if he's starting *tonight*, Ty Wigginton of the Mets is hitting .162 with a .275 on-base average and .496 OPS. Not much worse than Wesley Ray Helms, but he deserves credit for his accomplishment in atrociousness.

 

~Bill

[DuWayne Steurer]

How UGLY was that? 3 run single, thanks Clark.

 

And here we're complaining about Grieve's defense out there.

[DHonks]

I don't agree with the announcers, as I think that was a sure hit. But for anything more than 1 run to score is sad

[DuWayne Steurer]

With 2 outs DHonks, I'm sure no matter what that 2 runs are gonna score, because they're off on contact. Still, the 3rd run is totally inexcusable. WHERE was that throw from Clark supposed to be going? And who was supposed to be catching it?

[Kraft4a3]

So does this mean we have the worst starting 1B in the league tonight?

 

Not quite... while I'm not sure if he's starting *tonight*, Ty Wigginton of the Mets is hitting .162 with a .275 on-base average and .496 OPS. Not much worse than Wesley Ray Helms, but he deserves credit for his accomplishment in atrociousness.

 

Don't the Brewers have a series with the Mets coming up? That will break Wigginton's slump, he'll be batting .300 after a 3 game set against the Brewers.

[batman]

Well, that start was regrettable for one Wesley Mitchell Obermueller.

 

3 IP, 7 ER

 

Nice play by Ginter there. How's that for a weak arm? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

 

~Bill

[MassBrew]

Other than the Fan Fest boys, I realize not many of you saw the Chris Saenz start.

 

But it was as impressive as you're read, and it was so enjoyable to see stuff with strikes.

 

Remember Geoff Jenkins' comments about how could you possibly send Saenz down after that start? It was echoed throughout the clubhouse, and how do these guys feel standing around now watching Kinney and Obermueller limp pitch after pitch out of the strike zone?

 

Curse all these off days, or Saenz would still be up. And I'm counting the minutes, not days, until Ben Hendrickson is here.

 

And we're about to get a Matt Kinney vs. Jimmy Haynes game next week. Oh geez...

 

Man, I'm not a tagline guy, but I've got to come up with something besides "Free Chris and Ben".

 

Doug, do something! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif

[xisxisxis]

Well, that start was regrettable for one Wesley Mitchell Obermueller.

 

Yost yanked him when he walked the pitcher on 4 balls while he was attempting to sacrifice bunt. That's inexuseable and I'm glad Ned went out there and basically symbolically kicked Wes in the ass. I hope every other marginal player on this team understands that if you F*** up that bad you're gonna hit the showers early and maybe the waiver wire. Sheeesh.

[batman]

And we're about to get a Matt Kinney vs. Jimmy Haynes game next week. Oh geez...

 

At the Great American Bandbox, no less. They better have some extra baseballs on hand, 'cause they're going to be flying out of there.

 

I didn't get to see the Saenz start, so I appreciate the perspective. It sure would be nice to see somebody other than Sheets that didn't walk a handful of guys every game. I don't even care if they give up a lot of hits, 'cause watching this parade of free bases is just depressing, especially since our offense has been so promising.

 

And if the next couple guys on the depth chart are Ben Ford and Victor Santos, I have a feeling it's only going to get worse.

 

Our Rotation Is A Traveshamockery.

 

How's that for a tagline?

 

~Bill

[thebruce44]

Well, I'm going to try to take a positive from this game,

 

I am simply amazed at the maturity and composure of Bill Hall this year. It certainly seems like Ned is going out of his way to negatively effect his development, but Billy just keeps remaining patient in his very limited and sporadic PT.

 

We have seen too many young hitters who get over aggressive because they are trying to prove themselves with limited ABs. Billy just keeps making contact, hitting line drives and going the other way. To me, seeing him go the other way is the ultimate sign of patience. Ned simply needs to get him in the game more, as I would really like to see what he is capable of.

 

I know you all agree with this, as its been expressed many times. I guess I just wanted to say it one more time and talk about how much he has matured.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Capuano can't get healthy soon enough. I simply don't know how this team is around .500 with Kinney and Obie at the back of the rotation.

 

Again, we're battling back 7-5 after being down 6 runs. I don't like a lot of what Yost does decision wise, but that's just me. Like David said a few days ago though, you simply can not question his ability to motivate guys to keep playing.

[batman]

Wes Helms needs to go. I don't care where, but he needs to go somewhere other than "The Starting Lineup." Everybody slumps from time to time, but this is pathetic... dude's bailing out on outside fastballs and I don't think he's gotten a legitimate hit in weeks. Put him on the DL with "forgothowtohititis."

 

Yikes.

 

~Bill

[tyguy20204]

I'd like to see Ben Hendrickson on the MLB team.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I'm starting to think service time be damned, Hendrickson will be looking at a callup really soon. We can't keep having these games where our starters are not getting out of the 4th inning. Our bullpen is going to be gassed by July at this rate.

[DuWayne Steurer]

I'm ALL about being patient and taking walks, but it is NICE to see Grieve hacking at a good pitch to hit early in the count and making something happen. Like many others have said, he's ONE guy who might be TOO patient.

[batman]

Hall and Spivey both down looking with a runner on third. That was unfortunate... great opportunity to get the tying run home.

 

If Victor Santos is the next reliever out of the chute, Nedley needs a new medication.

 

EDIT: Good to see him go to Burba. He's old, but in a wily/filthy kind of way. And I'm talking about his pitching, sickos.

 

~Bill

[thebruce44]

Our bullpen is going to be gassed by July at this rate.

 

Maybe we should have signed a knuckleballer this offseason.

[DHonks]

I'm starting to think service time be damned, Hendrickson will be looking at a callup really soon. We can't keep having these games where our starters are not getting out of the 4th inning. Our bullpen is going to be gassed by July at this rate.

 

RoCo, I have been very open in saying that Hendrickson should be given till at least late May in AAA, but I agree with you here. Here's my simple reason. We're above .500 at the moment, possibly about to be .500 entering tomorrow. I'd rather bring Ben up now, because if we wait till June 1st, we might be below .500. The Brewers need to do everything they can to stay above .500 at this point, and buying the kid some time in AAA definitely does not help us out.

Question though...do you send Obermueller to AAA to get things righted, put him in the pen, or keep him in the rotation? I figure since he possibly has a future with the club, we send him down to find himself, whereas once Capuano is back I say we release Kinney.

 

Edit: also, I was wondering if anyone else has begun thinking the idea of letting Kieschnick try starting once or twice is a good idea? I figure if you have one starting spot occupied by the pen (Kieschnick for 4-5 innings and 2 good at bats), Burba for 2-3 innings, then Vizcaino and Kolb, we could do fine. It'd only work if you had them starting the game before Sheets to allow for them to bounce back and be available 2 days later