If we could just shorten the games to five innings...

[rotoherb]

I noticed over at baseballreference.com that you can get runs scored/allowed per inning for each team so I took a look at the Brewers. This is how the Brewers stack up vs. the league average in runs allowed in each inning.

 

Inning	Lg Avg/9IP	MIL Avg/9IP	Diff
1	5.27	5.02	-0.25
2	4.27	3.03	-1.24
3	4.78	4.3	-0.48
4	4.87	3.82	-1.05
5	5.1	4.54	-0.56
6	5.26	5.81	0.55
7	4.55	5.5	0.95
8	4.64	4.94	0.3
9	3.92	5.1	1.18

Basically, it turned out exactly like I thought it would, and this was before Tuesday's game. The Brewers pitching staff is better than league average until the sixth inning, when it falls apart. I'm not sure what it all even means, other than the Brewers give up more runs than most teams late in the game. Is the bullpen that poor? The Brewers have a bullpen ERA of 3.95, which is better than league average, so are the starters getting into the sixth and seventh innings and just losing it? I'd chalk it up to randomness if they weren't worse than league average in every single inning past the fifth. Any ideas why the Brewers give up so many more runs after the fifth inning? I'm sure this will add fuel to the "Yost can't manage a pitching staff" fire, but should it?

[Fatter than Joey]

I think games should be shortened to 5 Innings and Innings to 2 outs.

[cruiserx43]

Unfortunately this is part of the microcosm that is now becoming the Brewers downfall. Outside of Gallardo and Shouse there hasn't been any reliable arms on this team. Ned seems to mismanage the bullpen even when everyone is pitching well, now he is wondering who he can trust. Burnt him again last night trying to squeeze a few extra outs out of Cap. All in all what was supposed to be the backbone and strength of this team is right now its biggest hole.

 

If this team can just get a string of quality starts I think it can right the ship, but quality starts have been sparse and when they do occur the team appears to have a recurring bullpen implosion. What to do what to do? Ben Sheets can't come back soon enough.

[Ennder]

If by mismanage the bullpen you mean it seems like no matter who he uses they suck, I would agree with you.

 

There have been times that Yost has used a guy I wouldn't for sure, but most of the bullpen problems are just the bullpen failing to get the job done. Very little of it has anything to do with Yost.

 

My guess is the SP's have failed to pitch well after 5 IP so much this season that now the bullpen is worn out.

[Diskono]

Lots of our relievers have been having trouble lately, but Villanueva has been worse than anyone lately. Last night, Ned for some reason decided that it would be a good idea to let him work out of his funk at the most critical point in the game. Is there some rule that says we have to save our best set up men for the 7th and 8th? Why couldn't we put in Linebrink or Turnbow to get out of a huge jam, and then let Villanueva pitch to the bottom of the order in the 7th? I think Melvin needs to sign 6 Eric Gagnes in order for Ned to manage the bullpen correctly? (edit: make that 8 Eric Gagnes, I forgot we need a 13 man staff)

[jhpc12]

Our bull pen as been terrible lately. We basically manufactured 3 runs last night which ususually is a good sign.

 

Getting on by errors, walks or hits. Sacrificing them to second, stealing a base, hitting behind the runner moving him to thrid, and sacrificing home. GOOD BASEBALL.

 

We are not going to always win with the long ball, so to me it's a good sign to see us score runs these way.

 

I believe that our starting eight match up as good or better than anybody in our division. Starting pitching for the most part as been exceptable, but our bull pen which early on seemed to be one of the better in baseball now has to rank towards the bottom. You know that clubs thimk if they can get our starter out before the sixth inning they have a chance to win the game.

 

I don't know if Yost is mishandling them, if he has doubts about how long to leave the starters in (early in the year he gave them a little more leash to try and work their way out of trouble), and he has complete gone away from any set pattern in the pen. I don't see match ups to try and get out one hitter and then bring someone else in to face a couplke of batters. It's like this reliever didn't do this so let's let him face a couple more then maybe one more, and by then we've had a 3 or 4 spot put on us.

 

Now you have a young offensive team that gave you a lead and has to re group and try and get us back in the game. They become to aggressive and that ususally means a loss. I don't have the data, but I wonder how many games we have lost after leading going into the 6th or 7th inning. I bet it's at least 10 or more. Win half of them and we are 65-49 and one of the best teams in baseball instead of the 60-54 that we are.

 

I'm not a coach, but to me changes have to be made bull pen, coaching, or postion players. Something has to be done while we still have life.

[RightFieldCoder]

The problem is that we were manufacturing runs in Colorodo. I turned off the game in the 8th. We had all of 3 hits at Coor's field in 8 innings. I have trouble blaming pitchers or a coach when that happens.

[brains and braun]

I agree and would like to point to the starting pitching as a primary factor in the Brewers' meltdown. Many of us thought that the SP would be a strength, and even without the loss of Sheets it has been anything but. The trickledown effect has turned our bullpen from one of the better ones to the godawful mess we have now.

[Brily0204]

According to baseballreference, NL batters hit for their best OPS ub the 6th inning: .803. (The second highest is the 1st inning at .776.) Hitters against the Brewers in the 6th inning are OPS'ing at a .901 clip; for the sake of comparison, Carlos Lee's OPS right now is .900.

 

On an equally depressing note, batters facing a Brewer pitcher for the third time or more have an OPS of .891, as compared to the NL average of .831.

 

Other than suggesting the the Brewers piggyback every starting pitcher as is often done in the low minors in April, I have no solutions.