The blog will feature real life baseball stories and analysis as well as LISG tabletop baseball. For example I will soon be putting up a poll over there as to folks preferences when doing a season replay. I may post in this 'old' blog from time to time, but the new blog will be much more active.
-James
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The thing is the Brewers are putting their best lineup out there everyday. The only starter they are currently missing from injury is Lucroy. Scooter Gennett was sent to the minors not because of injury, but because of ineffectiveness. Once the Brewers have their fire sale after the All star break, they could start to lose at an even faster pace. Its more likely though that they will improve slightly because often times prospects surprise when called up and play better than expected. Also, there really can't be much drop off from the current Brewers starters.
The Brewers will also have trouble moving players because none of the starters are performing well. Milwaukee's 16-34 record translates to a .320 winning percentage. There is a saying in baseball .......'that no matter how bad you are you will at least win 1/3rd of your games.' Well that doesn't apply to Milwaukee. Looking at history, teams that have a .320 winning percentage are usually expansion teams in their first few years, like the 1970 Brewers. Either that or they are teams that are rebuilding and have traded off 1/2 their starters for prospects. The real scary part is the Brewers are not rebuilding this year, this is the best they have to offer as they have one of the weakest farm systems in all of baseball. In part because they traded most of their best prospects away already fro players like Greinke and Shaun Marcum.
Unfortunately, I do not have a cable package that allows me to view games outside Milwaukee (except the national game of the week). I live near Milwaukee and I can say that the Brewer games are not entertaining because they are no longer even competitive. Once the opposing team has 3 runs, the game feels over. It is partly because of the Brewers struggles that my attention has turned to baseball in the 1800's. In 1884, 'Old Hoss' Radbourn started over 70 games as a pitcher and won 59 of them. That was when real men played baseball. In 2015 Ryan Braun makes 14 million and asks the manager for a day off about every other week. Guess he doesn't make enough to play full time.
If your discouraged with baseball in 2015 try out the 1889 season here: Pine Tar Baseball - 1889 version.
]]>At this level, players are professional, if not, then they don't need to be here. Already Counsell pulled Broxton and brought in a left hander to face Rizzo in the 8th inning of their most recent game. That is something the Brewers previous manager would not have done.
The team just looks more relaxed now with a chance for a fresh start.
]]>The Icing on the cake is that the Pirates went on to win the game. Lets take the series tomorrow and start realing the Cards back in!
]]>While I have "finished" the Grays and Metropolitans, the players error ratings will be tweaked slightly before release. This play test and those done by others will help fine tune the season set.
Game 2
@ 
6 3
R H E BB LOB
Providence Grays .......... 0 0 0 3 0 0 2 1 0 6 11 2 3 10
New York Metropolitans 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 3 8 3 2 9
Winning Pitcher: Radbourn
Losing Pitcher: Keefe
Home Runs: None
Triples: None
Doubles: Denny x 2, Radbourn, Esterbrook
Stolen Bases: Orr
Caught Stealing: Irwin
Grays
Carroll 1 for 5, ROE, 1 rbi
Gilligan 1 for 5, 1 run
Start 3 for 5, 1 run, 1 rbi
Hines 1 for 4, BB, 1 run, 1 rbi
Denny 2 for 5, 2B x 2, ROE, 1 run, 1 rbi
Irwin 0 for 3, BB x 2, SF, 1 run, 1 rbi
Farrell 0 for 5
Radford 1 for 4
Radbourn 2 for 4, 2B, ROE, 1 run, 1 rbi
Metropolitans
Nelson 0 for 5, ROE, 1 run
Roseman 1 for 4, BB, 1 run
Esterbrook 3 for 5, 2B, 1 run, 1 rbi
Orr 3 for 4, 2 rbi's
Troy 0 for 3, BB
Brady 0 for 4
Holbert 0 for 4
Kennedy 1 for 4, ROE
Keefe 0 for 4
GAME SUMMARY: New York jumped ahead scoring twice in the 3rd. After Roseman walked with 2 outs, Esterbrook hit an RBI double. Orr then drove in Esterbrook with a single to center. The Grays answered with 3 runs in the top half of the 4th. They had 3 hits in the inning and Keefe walked 2 batters, both of whom came around to score. The Metropolitans tied the game in the bottom of the 5th. Nelson led off and reached on an error by Denny. With 1 out, Esterbrook's single putting runners on the corners. Orr followed with an RBI single to right and Troy worked a walk to load the bases. Radbourn then struck out both Brady and Holbert to strand the bases loaded and end the threat.
The Grays would get the decisive runs in their half of the 7th. After 3 consecutive hits, the 3rd by Hines scoring Gilligan, Irwin lifted a sac fly to right to give the Grays a 5 to 3 lead. The Grays tacked on 1 more in the top of the 8th making the final score 6 to 3 Grays.
]]>I still recall a game I attended in 2011. The Brewers pitcher, Chris Narveson had a 1 hitter going into the top of the 7th inning. The Brewers led 1 to 0. By the time Roenicke finally pulled Narveson 2 outs later, the Brewers trailed 7-1. I had never seen a pitcher left in to get pummeled like that when his pitch count was mounting and there was really nothing to be gained by Narveson getting 1 more out in the 7th.
So when the reliever came in, he gets the 1st batter he faced to make the final out. Yes I know, Roenicke was trying to save his bullpen. However, it was obvious to anyone that Narveson had hit the wall and leaving him in didn't save the bullpen or help the starting pitcher's confidence either.
Having watched Roenicke manage since 2011, I have to say he never learned from mistakes. He would just keep doing the same things over and over. The Brewers had reckless base running under him and poor fundamentals. Towards the end, even their fielding had gone south. I hope that this new hiring takes some of the pressure off the team and they get back to the basics.
]]>While I have "finished" the Grays and Metropolitans, the players error ratings will be tweaked slightly before release. This play test and those done by others will help fine tune the season set.
Game 1
@ 
4 1
R H E BB LOB
Providence Grays .......... 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 4 10 1 3 14
New York Metropolitans 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 11 5 2 13
Winning Pitcher: Radbourn
Losing Pitcher: Keefe
Home Runs: None
Triples: Orr
Doubles: Hines, Roseman
Grays
Carroll 1 for 5
Gilligan 1 for 4, BB, ROE
Start 2 for 5, 1 run
Hines 2 for 5, 2B, 1 run
Denny 2 for 5, ROE, 1 rbi, 1 run
Irwin 0 for 5, ROE x 2
Farrell 0 for 3, BB, SF, 1 rbi
Radford 0 for 4, BB, ROE, 1 run
Radbourn 2 for 5, 1 rbi
Metropolitans
Nelson 1 for 5
Roseman 3 for 5, 2B
Esterbrook 1 for 5
Orr 3 for 4, 3B, BB
Troy 0 for 4, BB, ROE, 1 run
Brady 1 for 4
Holbert 1 for 4, 1 rbi
Kennedy 0 for 4
Keefe 1 for 4
GAME SUMMARY: The Grays stranded the bases loaded in the top of the first. Gilligan, Start, and Denny all singled with Denny's being an infield hit. With 2 men out, Keefe got Irwin to pop out to shortstop to end the threat. In the bottom of the 2nd, the Metros had runners on 1st and 3rd with nobody out. Orr had led off with a triple to left field. Troy followed with a walk, but both runners were left stranded when Brady popped out, Holbert struck out, and Kennedy flied out to left field.
The Grays broke the lid off in the top of the 4th. Denny led off with a single and advanced to second after Irwin reached on an error charged to Keefe. With 2 outs, Radbourn drove in Denny with a base hit to left. Keefe got Carroll to strike out to end the threat. The Grays would tack on single runs in their half of the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. The Metropolitans lone run came in the bottom of the 8th when Troy reached on a 2 base error and was driven in by Holbert's RBI single to left.
Note: Radbourn pitched all 3 games of this series for the Grays, while Keefe did the same for the Metropolitans as Lynch was injured.
]]>What ails the Brewers is 2 major issues. First, the players are minding the store. Brewers GM Doug Melvin hired Ken Macha as manager for the 2009-2010 seasons. Macha had managerial success with Oakland compiling a 368-280 record with them over 4 years. As the manager for the Brewers, the players didn't like his stoic mannerisms and Ryan Braun essentially called Macha out. What happened is that Melvin had to replace the manager because the Brewers players didn't want to play for him. Ron Roenicke, the manager that the Brewers signed to replace Macha, is nothing more than a baby sitter for over paid divas like Braun. Braun tells Roenicke when he can and can't play instead of the other way around. Its like Ron is walking on egg shells and doesn't want to hurt any players feelings when he makes out the lineup.
If you look at successful organizations, they sign professional players that play where they are asked and don't call out management publicly. When Rickie Weeks was a Brewer, he was asked to play a position other then 2nd base. He refused. Now that he is with a different team, he plays positions other than 2nd base and has even bunted. He never bunted in Milwaukee because he didn't want to and Roenicke lets the players run the ship.
The 2nd major issue is rather simple, the Brewers have 26% of their payroll taken up by just 2 players. Those players are Ryan Braun and Aramis Ramirez. With Brauns mega contract extension going through 2020, don't look for the Brewers to be competitive until they are able to shed Brauns contract which drags the team like a 1 ton anchor.
]]>Rick Ferrell was another ball player that was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1984. His career spanned 19 years, from 1929-1947. He player catcher and had a career batting average of .281 and made 7 appearance in the All Star game.
Wes Ferrell made 2 all star game appearances and was 2nd in MVP voting for the 1935 MLB season. So players named Ferrell made a number of contributions to the history of baseball. There were a number of ball players with a similar name, only spelled Ferrill.
]]>What is unique about George Bausewine is that he played MLB for 1 season an umpired MLB for 1 season. He played in 1889 for the Philadelphia Athletics and umpired in 1905.
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Just how do folks deal with this? If you put the actual error chance on the batter's card, the team from 1883 will 'force' the 2014 team to make 8 times more errors than then actually would. The only thing I can think of is to give an across the board defensive bonus to players from 2014 and a negative bonus to players from 1883. Of course the bonus/penalty would vary from decade to decade.
When I rate players, what the average defensive rating is depends on what the league average was for that particular year. So pitting an average defense from 2014 vs one from 1883 is a huge wrench in the works.
Then there is the matter of stolen bases. No records of SB's were kept in the 1880's. When they were 1st kept in 1900, they counted a runner going from 1st to 3rd on a single as a stolen base. So there is no way of knowing actual stolen bases. Even then, caught stealing were not tracked yet either. I'd like to hear ideas on this.
]]>Bond was the only dedicated pitcher. Jack Manning was the only other player to pitch for Boston that season. He was primarily an outfielder who only pitched in 3 games. I'm guessing they didn't have a disabled list back then. Nobody got hurt back then, or when they did they played anyways.
Pre 1900's baseball has sparked my interest. Have to look into it more as its fun to see how the game evolved. Without the Boston Red Stockings there probably would never have been the Boston Red Sox. Actually The Red Stockings are considered to precede the Boston Bean Eaters and are part of the heritage of the Braves. Still the Red Stocking franchise moving out of Boston made room for the Red Sox eventually.
Boston Bean Eaters, now there was a good name for a baseball team.
]]>Year Runs/Game
2006 4.86
2007 4.80
2008 4.65
2009 4.61
2010 4.38
2011 4.28
2012 4.32
2013 4.17
2014 4.07
These stats come from Baseball-Reference
Each year, except for in 2012, the run averages went down. Is this because maybe the sport
has finally gotten cleaned up from PEDs? Is it perhaps more from defensive shifting that reduces
base hits? In 2006 the league batting average was .269, while in 2014 it was .251.
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I know there are organizations that track defensive range by each play. They look at video and decide, for example, if the fly out that dropped in front of the center fielder would have been caught by an average center fielder. This introduces human judgement into what is an average center fielder. You also have to define what is a good jump for an outfielder. Maybe it looks like he had no chance to catch it cause he was 12 feet away, but maybe he got a bad jump on it instead.
I think defensive range has value if done with the opportunities per 9 innings method, but only over several seasons. Then using the average from at least 3 seasons. In a single season, its too easy for defensive stats to get scewed. Also, the 1st baseman gets so many put outs, that his defensive range value has little use.
In a way, any baseball sim designer that rates his players is doing a form of WAR calculations. In my version of 'True to Life Baseball' I give all players a 2 digit value ranging from 20-60. It isn't meant to be a WAR stat but could be so converted by finding the average player score, then use that as the baseline and assign a certain +/- run value to each point above or below the average player rating.
In my system I take offense, defense and base running into account for position players. Pitchers are only rated in pitching categories.
Please check out other topics in my baseball blog
]]>The replay is being done using the TTL Baseball game.
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Now you can't take too much from ERA but it is useful as a first look comparison. What really stands out is the difference between 2014 and every previous year for Jake. The question is, has he found his groove and will now be dominant going forward, or was 2014 his career year? I have listed his ERA's from 2010 to 2014 below.
Year ERA
2010 - 4.66
2011 - 5.05
2012 - 6.20
2013 - 4.78
2014 - 2.53
In 2014 his WHIP was under 1 and his SO/BB ratio was over 4. He only allowed opponents a .203 batting average. That is dominant stuff for a starting pitcher. I will be following him more closely next year.
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There is actually less parity in baseball now than in the 90's and here is the nail in the parity coffin. Counting this year, the Cardinals will have now been in the last 4 NLCS. The Giants will have been in 3 of the last 5 NLCS. That means that out of the possible 10 teams that could have played in the last 5 National League Champion Series, The Cards or Giants have accounted for 8.
Is this good for baseball? It must be or those in charge would make changes. In all sports there is often a dominant team or figure and it seems to help ratings. Take NASCAR where it has been either Jeff Gordon or Jimmie Johnson winning 85% of all championships since the turn of the century. For myself, I tune out competitions that feature the same person or team year after year. To me, the sport loses its entertainment value when who gets into the NLCS is predictable.
I still recall the due or die WC playoff game that Atlanta lost to the Cards in part because an umpire called an infield fly on a flare that dropped uncaught in the outfield. I also note that the Cardinals take more pitches than any team in baseball and get rewarded by having borderline pitches called as balls. The umpire could shorten the games down from there current 4 hour marathons by calling pitches 1/4" off the plate as a strike. I'll leave that topic for another day.
To sum up, there is no parity in baseball and the powers that be want it that way. They want to see the Giants play the Cardinals in the NLCS for the next century. Yawn! I say, thank God for the American League and the Kansas City Royals.
]]>I honestly would like to see the Royals make it to the World Series to face the Pittsburgh Pirates. That would really annoy ESPN because apparently ESPN has never heard of either of those teams before.
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Normally in this blog I give out information, but tonight I man up and just say I don't know. It seems overly complicated. Baseball should be kept simple.
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Not all the bad karma comes from Braun. Carlos Gomez brings his own karma to the team by being incredibly high strung. When most batters get hit by a pitch, they just take first base. Too often Gomez stares down pitchers or jaws at them or at the opposing teams dugout. Some of the confrontations with Gomez and opposing players is from guys misinterpreting his high energy. There are times he should tone it down. When the play is over is one of those times.
I'd even say that the promoting Lucroy as an All Star was another bad karma move. The ad poked fun of the Cardinal organization and Molina. Surely they could have promoted Lucroy without making fun of the Cards. After all, look where the 2 organizations are now. The Cards have secured a playoff spot and the Brewers may just make it to .500 ball.
Of course not all of the Brewers troubles are from bad Karma. At least 50% comes from lack of offense from having a number of players with poor plate discipline. The thing is, what team has ever succeeded that has so many non baseball related issues hanging over their heads?
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During this offensive disappearing act the Brewer pitching has been stellar with the exception of Broxton's last 2 outings. Broxton was so new though that he might have thought that he was still under contract with the Reds. What does it all mean? Well for one, the Brewers season is over. Not officially of course, but its over, trust me. Going forward for next year, the Brewers look to have nothing in place for 2 or 3 years. They look to be a 4th place team next year unless their entire roster has a career year and that won't happen.
Lets move on because funerals aren't fun. Well not usually. The Pirates and the Giants are 2 teams that are still standing and the only thing to decide for now is which team goes on the road for the WC playoff game.
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In back to back games the Brewers starting pitcher had gone at least 7 scoreless innings only to have their potential win vanish. Both times the Brewers manager, Ron Roenicke called on his new setup man Jonathan Broxton to preserve the victory. Broxton, recently required from the Reds, had not allowed a run as a Brewer until yesterday when he gave up a 2 run lead to the Cardinals. Tonight he not only gave up another 2 run lead, but allowed 4 Pirate runs to record the loss. In his last 2 appearances, Broxton pitched 1 and 1/3rd innings and allowed 6 earned runs. That works out to a less than stellar 40.6 ERA.
Given Roenicke's history of sticking with guys in spite of performance, Broxton should have several more opportunities to try to work out of his current funk. Yes everyone has an off day, even an off week, but this is the time of the year when a manager needs to have a short leash and go with whoever has the hot hand. Anyone with 20/20 vision could see that Broxton's fastball has been straight as a string over his last 2 starts.
The Brewers will get no respite in the next 2 games as their 3 game set with the Pirates wraps up.
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The Pirates are now 9-2 over their last 11 games after defeating Boston 4-0 last night. Since going 12-20 from April to early May, the Pirates have posted a 68-50 record from May 6th through today. That is playing at a .576 clip and is the best record of any NL central division team over that time frame. That included the front running Cardinals. The only question that remains is if the season is long enough for the Buccos to overtake the Redbirds.
During Pittsburgh's latest hot streak, Josh Harrison has raised his batting average another 5 points from .312 to .317. Pittsburgh would not even be in the division or wild card race without the play of JHay this season. If the Brewers can take care of the Cardinals in their current series, the upcoming Pirates/Brewers series could decide the division title.
My personal belief is that the Pirates have an overall better team than the Cardinals. Some may point out that the Cards swept Pittsburgh in their last meet. Yes, but the margin of victory was all by just 1 or 2 runs. If they should meet again in the playoffs, the only difference between 1 run games is usually a broken bat bloop somewhere. Over the last 2 years, the Pirates have played the Cards tougher than the Brewers have. For that reason, I'd like to see another Cardinal/Pirate match up. That could only happen if both teams advance into the playoffs and everything lines up for them to face off. Should be a great race to the finish!
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In fairness, they are a small market team competing with teams with bottomless purse strings, such as the Yankees or the Dodgers. I guess the reason it really stings, is the fact that they were successful for so long and then hit the wall. Just how were the Brewers able to mask their gaping flaws for so long?
Well for one, if a couple guys were in a slump, there were always 2 or 3 guys that were still raking. Then in the blink of an eye, the entire team essentially shut down offensively. In the last 14 games the Brewers have been outscored 86 to 35. Over that span they are averaging only 2.5 runs per game. Now I realize that this was inevitable for a team built for power at the sacrifice of contact. Power hitters are streaky, we all know this. So when a team has more power type hitters than pure contact hitters, they can go through maddening dry spells.
I talk about the Cardinals a lot and its because of their continued success. They now lead the Brewers by 6 games and the Pirates by 4 and 1/2. In spite of, or maybe because of the fact that they hit fewer home runs than any other team in the National League. They win by simply making contact frequently. Put the ball in play more often and your chances of success increase. Losing to the Cardinals is frustrating because they don't knock you out, instead they simply harass you to death. Its like a death of 1000 cuts. A typical Cardinal rally goes like this: A lead of walk, then a broken bat blooper followed by a seeing eye single. Then a chopper off the plate bounces high enough that everyone is safe. Then a pitch fools the next hitter but he muscles it for a flare to left field. Before you know it, they score 3 runs and you realize they never squared up a ball, yet they always put them in play.
They are also disciplined at the plate. In that regard they are complete opposites of the Brewers. They do this all without any show boating. Its strictly business to them. They are relentless. So yea, the Brewers are built all wrong. They are built for home runs and when they don't homer they only score 2.5 runs per game. That has led to their 1-13 record over the last 14. Oh sure, you could argue that the pitching has gone south but I would disagree. Take away 2 games where they gave up a combined 28 runs and they have only given up 4.83 runs over 12 games. Ok not stellar, but that is counting unearned runs, of which there have been many. To me the lack of offense has put undue pressure on the starting pitchers to throw shut outs and nobody is relaxed anymore.
Everyone is pressing and so the collapse may continue as it has for other teams in the past. If the Brewers miss the playoffs, this September will be remembered for a long time for all the wrong reasons.
Enough about the Brewers. Unless they turn the tide in a hurry, they will be irrelevant in another week.
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Year Runs per game
2013 4.00
2011 4.13
1963 3.81
1961 4.52
1953 4.75
1951 4.46
1943 3.93
1941 4.23
The peak for runs per game was in the 50's and 60's. I need to point out that during the height of the steroid era runs per game spiked. For example, the year (2001) Barry Bonds set the HR record, average runs per game was 4.7
It appears the runs per game is now close to the level that it was in the 1940's. So why has current run production dropped off from the mid 1990's to the early turn of the century? Its fairly obvious that Steroid use was rampant during that period and the the new testing system has cleaned up the sport. Still, run production is now lower than it was in the 1950's. I believe that is due in part to more refined pitching techniques. I'm not old enough to have seen pitchers in the 1950's, but I suspect that they did not spend as much time being coached about mechanics and working on a 3rd or 4th pitch. Today pitchers are monitored closing and watch video. There is now endless data available about any holes a hitter may have in his swing.
Add to that the amount of defensive shifting possible due to extensive spray charts and a fair amount of hits with RISP are taken away, leading to fewer runs. I have done a lot of testing in a baseball simulation I recently developed ('True to Life Baseball' by Life is Sports Games) and found that even just a 1/2 run higher average per game makes a huge difference in how game play out. With more runs scored per game, there are significantly fewer 1 run games. Because of this, I think keeping average runs per game near 4.00 to 4.20 is in the best interest of baseball. It creates tighter games, which in turn have more drama. This may also be why we now seem to have more parity in the league than ever before.
Check out the authors tabletop baseball simulation here.
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The Brewers fall to the Cards 5-3 as the Carinals got to Kyle Lohse early. My gut feeling was that the Cards seem to have Lohse's number, but I wanted to check the stats before posting an article to that effect. According to ESPN the current Cardinal players have a lifetime batting average of .338 vs Lohse. You can see all the stats here: Cards vs Lohse. Just to give you a comparison, Lohse has allowed a .256 BA vs all teams these year. Lohse and Gallardo are two Milwaukee pitchers that the Cards just seem to have the numbers on. This is part of the reason the Cards moved to 9 wins and 6 losses on the year vs the Crew. Both teams now have 4 games vs each other, and the only way I see the Brewers competing for the Pennant is by going 3-1 in those meetings. I just don't see that happening. The Cards have a 6th sense about the post season this late and they know what they need to do to get there. The only way the Brewers get back in the chase is if the Cards give them an opening and that will not happen.
It now looks to be the Braves, Brewers and Pittsburg to compete for the final WC spot. Who would I pick to come out ahead? I'd say its a coin flip, but there are 3 teams and only 2 sides to a coin. How about a 6 sided dice roll then? The Brewers get in on a roll of 1-2, Pittsburgh on a roll of 3-4, and the Braves on a roll of 5-6. I rolled a 6, so the Braves get the 2nd wild card slot. Remember, you heard it here first!
Check out the authors site for baseball resources, quotes and anything and everything baseball.
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The Milwaukee Brewers finally ended there 9 game skid by beating the Cardinals on Friday 6 to 2. Even though they lost their previous game, they had begun to show life at the plate in their opening series loss to the Cards on Thursday. I don't have stats to back this up yet, but it seems as though Scooter Gennett is a major spark plug leading off. Scooter is a true lead off hitter and it might actually be a good thing that Gomez's injury forced manager Ron Roenicke to pencil Scooter in at the top of the lineup. Not that you ever want to lose Gomez's bat and it was unfortunate that he was injured. Hopefully Gomez heals up in time to be a factor for the playoff chase. If he does come back, he would be better suited batting 3rd or 5th.
In Fridays game it was the bottom of the order that started things. Segura had 3 infield hits and the pitcher Mike Fiers twice sacrifice bunted to perfection, setting things up for Gennett who went 2 for 4 with 3 rbi's. The Brewers took the lead in the 3rd inning and never relinquished it. It was the first time the Brewers had led a game in 67 innings. Took me a while to do the math, but that is 7.44 games worth of futility.
Can the Brewers now go on a roll? Sure, why not? This is baseball and the one thing I have learned about baseball is that anything can happen and usually does. I saw Maldanado hit the cover off a baseball earlier this year. I saw Segura steal 2nd base, then get caught in a run down only to end up safe back at 1st base. Then get thrown out again at 2nd base in the same inning, even though he only was on base once in that inning. I know that makes no sense and it even violates a baseball rule, but the umps allowed Segura to move backwards from 2nd to 1st. I saw the Brewers score 3 runs vs the Rockies on a single wild pitch. All this happened this year, so if all that can happen, then the Brewers winning the next 6 games would kind of sound routine.
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Does that title sound a bit over the top for a game with a final score of 3-2? If it is, then only a little. How does a team seem to dominate while only winning by 1 run? Well it was the defense, then the defense again and still more defense. Very few outfielders make the play Peter Bourjos does in the late innings on Logan Schafer's deep fly out to center field. Throw in a couple of stellar catches by Jon Jay, one coming in and the other over the shoulder, and the Cardinals kept squashing what appeared to be promising innings by the Brewers.
On the other side it was a missed opportunity to advance a runner on a bunt play by the Brewers with no one out that helped seal their fate. Maybe that is just how things go when your trying to break up an 8 game losing streak that is now extended to 9 games. I kept thinking that Roenicke might put on the butcher boy play and let Maldy swing away. Maldonado is a decent hitter, .258 BA with some power, .433 SLG with 4 homers in only 97 at bats. Once he popped the bunt up, one could sense the Brewers would not bring a run across. They have now averaged 2 runs per game over the last 9 games. Scoring more than 2 runs only 1 time over that span.
Some are calling this a great collapse. Cardinal trolls exclaim it to be the biggest collapse sine the 1964 Phillies. I don't think of it as a collapse, rather, it is just a poorly timed losing streak. All teams go through them, they just get magnified when they happen in September when you were at least 2 games up on everybody. If the Brewers are to compete for the Division title, they need to win the next 3 games against the Cards. If not, they are still in it for a Wild Card spot, but they need to turn things around fast. If they continue to fade I think there will be some serious questions about team leadership.
The thing is the Brewers played well tonight and still lost. I think that says a lot about the Cardinals.
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