Playin' the Blame Game

[GenoSeligPrieb]

Between painting 4 rooms in my basement, a now-defeated Trojan Horse on the home 'puter, and a ridiculously aggressive internet cop at work, this is the first opportunity I've had to freely post here. The rooms are painted, the virus is apparently gone, so once I get a new job, you may get tired of me all over again, fast.

 

Anyway, with a second post All-Star collapse now in the books, in a season featuring 83 wins, there's surprisingly a pant-load of blame to go around, with regard to why we couldn't take a very winnable NL Central in 2007. Limiting it to a lean Baker's Dozen list was tough, but that's what I get paid for, around here...

 

13. Brady Clark. A convenient target of my wrath, all he could bring us was a no-longer serviceable Elmer Dessens, in trade. Then, as a parting shot to the fans of Milwaukee on his way to a retirement villa in the Bahamas, cute lil' Brady drives in a run against us for San Diego in the elimination game. GOT to love that guy.

 

12. Bill Hall. OK, few of us expected another 35 HR season, but 14? And a dropoff of 128 slugging points? $6,000,000 a year for 4 seasons will set you for life, financially, Billy, but it doesn't mean you can start resting right away.

 

11. Ben Sheets. Is it NOW alright to call him injury-prone? How 'bout brittle? Fragile? Frail? I love Thesaurus.com.

 

10. CoCoCordero. Haudricourt and Braun gave him an A-minus. A closer with a road ERA of 6.55? That's a few shades less than god-like. Coco WAS god-like, in one respect, however. When he gave up that key home run at Wrigley Field to Aramis Ramirez, he breathed life into our chief competitor. And when he gave up that ridiculous homer to that sunflower seed-spitter in Atlanta, he brought a little mortality to our season.

 

9. Jeff Suppan. It's OK to pitch like...well, Jeff Suppan, with your usual ERA in the upper 4s, with a buck-fifty WHIP. But to do it while taking 8 figures a year from us?

 

8. Johnny Estrada. I thought we traded for Arizona's catcher from 2006. The guy with the .772 OPS who could at least throw Mike Ditka out trying to steal 2nd on him. Apparently that guy didn't show up. My favorite Estrada moment of 2007 came in August when he scolded the fans of Milwaukee for getting tense about the team's slide. Then he reminded us "We're still in first place!"

 

7. Menchkins. Before the season, both of these aging, overpaid clowns complained that a platoon situation was beneath them. Then they went out in 2007 and proved that their pooled efforts weren't enough to warrant a combined $10.7 million salary. Not even half that.

 

6. Dave Bush. If only the other team would stop hitting his pitches into the bleachers, he'd have been an All-Star.

 

5. Derrick Turnbow. Coughed up key games, multiple times. Got booed. Seems about right.

 

4. Chris Capuano. Unlike Boosh, Cappy WAS an All-Star! But, as it is with Brewer pitchers who get some accolades, after being named an All-Star, he was Turnbow circa 2006-bad.

 

3. Matt Wise. Hitting a batter in the head is not a comforting feeling. But allowing it to consume you, and ruin your career, and letting down millions of people because you feel all melancholy about it, was probably not the right reaction.

 

2. Mark Attanasio. How did our owner assess his team's 2nd disastrous late-season collapse in 4 seasons? Before the damned season even ended, Mark was quick to breathlessly assure his wounded fanbase not to worry: Ned will be back next year! I wish I worked at Trust Company of the West! I could alienate customers, make wrong decisions, let my emotions get in the way, and cost the company productivity and money, and Mark would reward me with a 5-figure bonus.

 

1. Who else? Ned Yost has managed to hoodwink his boss into believing that a talented, yet inconsistently motivated team could hold first place for 5 months, blow it, and get a staunch vote of support, even as the smoke's still rising from the ashes of another season out of the playoffs. Ned's August 30th decision to leave Mench in there, at Wrigley Field in a key momentum-changing game, to face a righty with Jenkins or anyone else, available, was an eye-roller. So was his decision to keep trotting Capuano out there, well after he stopped being an effective starter...so was his bringing in Matt Wise again and again, sometimes in key pennant race situations, after it was apparent to even internet dopes like me, for months now, that the pitcher was anguished and kinda broken...so was his knee-jerk reaction to take Tony LaRussa's bait and have McClung risk a Cardinal rally by plunking Pujols in one of the most meaningful games of the year...so was Ned's stubborn use of Cordero ONLY in save opportunities on the road...so were his decisions to pull Braun too early for defensive purposes, leaving us with Craig Counsell batting in key RBI situations...so was his formulaic, by-the-book handling of the pitching staff, which entailed 5-6 innings from the starters, followed by a designated middle guy, an appearance by Turnbow, then Cordero (but ONLY if there was a save to be had). By September, these same relievers, after 70+ games, were on fumes...and so was our season.

 

To those who argue that managers don't influence a team's record that dramatically, all of these decisions by Yost cost us more than 2-3 games, which was the difference in the season.

 

But how is this most glaring weakness in the Brewer organization addressed?

 

Don't worry, Brewer fans! Ned will be back!

[Iron Chef Napalm]

I don't know Geno... It seems like you're missing all the 07 sunshine and ponies. I really think you should have somehow saved Brady for #1 or worked in the Flying Mouton Brothers.

 

 

Most of your list is spot on and it's nice to see not all of the vitriol solely aimed at Yost.

 

 

However, if CoCo's ERA in road games was so abysmal, shouldn't we be celebrating Nedly's lack of use as a sign of his genius? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Blazer25]

Genius is spelled with a "Ge" Geno.

 

Love it as always. I agree with all of it except maybe the vitriol aimed at CoCo.

 

An interesting read as always.

[trwi7]

6. Dave Bush. If only the other team would stop hitting his pitches into the bleachers, he'd have been an All-Star.

This was by far my favorite line.http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/laugh.gif

[1992casey]

I'm disappointed that Geno didn't say "Booshie". Great work, anyway, though. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[trwi7]

4. Chris Capuano. Unlike Boosh, Cappy WAS an All-Star! But, as it is with Brewer pitchers who get some accolades, after being named an All-Star, he was Turnbow circa 2006-bad.

You must've been skimming casey.http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/smile.gif

[JohnBriggs12]

Way to touch em all Geno!

[bklynbrewcrew]

Fantastic summation of the season.

[TooLiveBrew]

Great

Synical

Perceptive