Fielder quote- "6 runs should be enough IMO"

[BillScottCanRake]

As a MLB player with your team in the middle of a pennant race, in the middle of a close game I find it inexcusable to "not be thinking about any of those things". It's baseball 101 and to have two ABs like that, at this point of the season, in this situation, is unbelievable. The pitch he swung at on 2-0 in the 5th inning was not anywhere close to the strike zone.

 

It happens. These guys aren't robots they mess up from time-to-time mentally, just like every person. Is it magnified a bit because this team in in a race? Sure, but it does happen, and it will happen again. I can almost promise you that in the next seven days Fielder and Braun will have at-bats that make you wonder how they ever hit the ball much less hit like they have so far. And so will A-Rod, and Manny, and Soriano and maybe even Pujols.

 

I think instead of wondering why guys like Fielder and Braun haven't been perfect all year, every AB, we should wonder why they've had to carry the offense for so much since June. It sure would be nice to see this team score 6 runs without Braun and/or Fielder driving in four of them.

 

I don't know, maybe you're right, maybe outrage is a little strong, but it's still very frustrating.

 

Yeah, it's frustrating and it sucks. But I'd still rather have Fielder that just about anyone else up in those situations, because over the long haul he's gonna be more successful than most anyone else on the roster.

[Patrick425]

The last AB didn't bother me as much as the AB in the 5th when he had a guy on 3rd with a 2-0 count and then struck out swining at 3 pitches in a row outside the strike zone. As mentioned, the 2-0 pitch was not even close. You don't just look for a certain pitch in those situations, you look for a certain pitch in a certain location.

[tomwopat]

This sounds an awful lot like:

 

"640K should be enough for anyone."

 

We now return you to your regularly scheduled venting.

[Patrick425]

These guys aren't robots they mess up from time-to-time mentally, just like every person.

Ok, well, I guess I'm just not as forgiving as you. This isn't September 30th with the Brewers out of the race by 20 games. This is more than just "messing up mentally", this is like forgetting how to walk. If your team just lost 5 out it's last 6 games and pennant hopes are slipping away shouldn't the coaches, players, and everyone involved in the organization be stressing fundamentals. Getting on base is key. Shouldn't that have been the key thought on his mind?

 

God bless Fielder and I would hate to think where the Brewers would be without him and I also think he's shown a lot more emotion (which I like) than some of the other players on the team. But he screwed up royally yesterday (Two 2-0 counts in crucial situations and he swings at bad pitches) and I'm calling him on it. What's wrong with that? Wisconsin fans love to make certain players untouchable. They did it for years with Favre.

[brewers19]

Call me crazy, but I suspect that most batters don't (or at least try not to) go up to the plate thinking about anything outside of the current game; thinking about the playoff race when you're in the batter's box can't do much for one's concentration. I'd rather they be focusing on what the pitcher's repertoire is, how each of the pitches are working for him today, what kind of pitches he's going to receive in this particular at-bat and game situation, and so on.

[BillScottCanRake]

God bless Fielder and I would hate to think where the Brewers would be without him and I also think he's shown a lot more emotion (which I like) than some of the other players on the team. But he screwed up royally yesterday (Two 2-0 counts in crucial situations and he swings at bad pitches) and I'm calling him on it. What's wrong with that?

 

I guess I have different expectations for people in general and baseball players specifically. I'll always be disappointed when a player has a bad at-bat but with an understanding that no matter what the situation it is going to happen once in a while. Because everyone will make a mistake and no one is perfect, so long as it isn't a habit I'll shrug it off as "something" that happens and move on. I'll save my outrage for players grounding into double plays because they didn't run and serial killers.

[Thurston Fluff]

I go along with Prince trying to do too much with the two ab's in question. That isn't an excuse though. He's in his second year and has a lifetimes worth of background to draw off of so in his case trying to do to much is totally his fault. He should know better than anyone what type of approach he should take into an ab. Prince is right in that 6 runs should be enough. I'd be fine with it if he also says holding a team to 3 runs should be more than enough as well. There have been plenty of times this team has allowed some very questionable pitchers dominate them. All in all it evens out thus there shouldn't have been anything said on this particular occasion.

[JJHardy7]

Can we stop mentioning Fielder and MVP together? There's no way he's the MVP unless we win the division. The free fall we've had won't go unnoticed unless this team really turns it around. Let's just call him the 1st half MVP.

[brettac1]

Prince is dead on, like he was with the booing thing.

 

I'm so sick of hearing about these stupid "tack on" runs. When you score 6 runs in the first two or three innings, that should be ballgame.

[MJLiverock]

Can we stop mentioning Fielder and MVP together? There's no way he's the MVP unless we win the division. The free fall we've had won't go unnoticed unless this team really turns it around. Let's just call him the 1st half MVP.

---

Prince the last guy I blame for the 2nd half collapse of the Brewers.

 

------------------G AB R H 2b 3b HR RBI BB K AVG. OBP SLG OPS

Pre All Star 87 324 62 92 22 0 29 70 41 72 .284 .376 .620 .996

Post All Star 36 131 20 37 8 2 9 22 18 27 .282 .386 .580 .966

 

 

I would say his production has stayed right up there it is not his fault the pitching staff has imploded.

---

[crewcrazy]

Fielder is .296/.324/.704 this year with a guy on 3rd and less than two outs -- ridiculously small sample so far in that situation (27 AB's), but he's been very, very good in situations like the one he faced in the 5th. I have a hard time getting too hard on him there, since he usually comes through.

 

As for the bottom of the 9th, he's 23 years old. He was trying to be the hero when he didn't need to be. I really don't think there's much more to it than that. All this finger pointing at Prince for losing yesterday's game is confusing me a little because he's one of the few guys who's hit consistently all year. Even though Prince is a .285 hitter this year, he's going to fail to get a hit a little more than 7 times out of 10...it just stinks that two of those 7 times happened to be at crucial points yesterday.

[Diskono]

man, I'm so tempted to make a sign for tonight that reads, "Six Runs Should Be Enough!" but I'm not a sign kind of guy.

 

I think I need to make a sign reading:

 

640k RAM ought to be enough for anybody.

-Prince Fielder

[Brian the Automator]

Can we stop mentioning Fielder and MVP together? There's no way he's the MVP unless we win the division. The free fall we've had won't go unnoticed unless this team really turns it around. Let's just call him the 1st half MVP.

Why?... It's certainly not a prerequisite that your team makes the playoffs to be an MVP. Ryan Howard, Ichiro.... I'm sure if you went through the MVP winners for the past 50 years, you could find several.

 

[BillScottCanRake]

Robin Yount was an MVP in '89 when his team was 81-81.

[rluzinski]

It's baseball 101 and to have two ABs like that, at this point of the season, in this situation, is unbelievable. The pitch he swung at on 2-0 in the 5th inning was not anywhere close to the strike zone.

 

Batters sometimes swing when they are ahead in the count because they have success when they do so, as the above numbers indicate. Batters know that when a pitcher is behind in the count, they will be more apt to throw a fastball in the zone and a guy like Fielder can often take advantage of it. What you are suggesting is that a batter should never swing when ahead 2-0, which is pretty much ludicrous, since a pitcher would then just always throw a strike in that situation.

 

And if you expect any batter to never swing at a ball, you better stop watching baseball. Batters guess all the time (some more than others, obviously). Fielder probably decided to swing even before the ball left the pitcher's hand. He wouldn't be the first major leaguer to do that and he's not the first to have success doing it, either. Of course, this is all baseball 101, so I don't need to tell you.

 

As for Prince's comment, I don't think it's a big deal. He said 6 runs should be enough and it generally should.

[Patrick425]

What you are suggesting is that a batter should never swing when ahead 2-0, which is pretty much ludicrous, since a pitcher would then just always throw a strike in that situation.

You are completely not understanding what I am saying. I NEVER suggested that a batter should never swing on 2-0. I said that you look for a certain pitch (probably a fast ball) in a certain location. I can't understand why he would swing at something that was on the outside corner or farther away in that situation.

 

Fielder probably decided to swing even before the ball left the pitcher's hand.

rluzinski, usually I have great respect for your posts. You have great knowledge of stats. But if you think it's baseball 101 or a smart thing to decide to swing at a 2-0 pitch before it leaves the pitchers hand when you have a runner in scoring position in a one run game with a hitter like Ryan Braun hitting behind you, then I have to scratch my head a little at that.

[rluzinski]

You have great knowledge of stats. But if you think it's baseball 101 or a smart thing to decide to swing at a 2-0 pitch before it leaves the pitchers hand when you have a runner in scoring position in a one run game with a hitter like Ryan Braun hitting behind you, then I have to scratch my head a little at that.

 

Major leaguers do it all the time and since I'm sitting behind a computer screen, it's hard for me to tell them they shouldn't with a straight face. Looking at the results of those swings, it looks like they have good reason to guess on occasion. I don't think you are appreciating the success batters have swinging at 2-0 pitches. Here's the MLB line from 2006 at 2-0:

 

.364/.363/.655/1.018

 

I think it's fair to assume that batters are getting a heck of a lot to hit with a 2-0 count and they know it.

[logan82]

I wonder if Capuano said something similar on May 28th, June 2nd, July 18th, or July 23rd when he pitched 7 inn/2 runs, 7/2, 7/2, and 8/1, yet the team lost every one of those games. Hey I am not saying that Cappy has pitched very well or even good for the last couple months, but when your starting pitcher goes 7 or more innings and gives up 2 or fewer runs and you still lose, then you are not donig your job.

[Patrick425]

I don't think you are appreciating the success batters have swinging at 2-0 pitches. Here's the MLB line from 2006 at 2-0:

I completely appreciate it and it makes a lot of sense that hitters would have good stats in a 2-0 situation. However I don't think it's smart for any hitter (especially in a close situation with runners in scoring position), to make a decision to swing before pitch is even thrown. As I said (for the 3rd time), it's more likely that you would look for a certain pitch in a certain location, if it's there you go ahead and rip. To just decide to swing at anything the pitcher throws in a 2-0 or 3-1 or 3-0 situation is foolish. I don't think that there are many coaches at any level that teach that philosophy.

[RightFieldCoder]

Does anyone know the exact conversation between Fielder and Hardicourt? Maybe Hardicourt was questioning the teams lack of tacking on runs and he was defending the offensive production for the day.