Results tagged ‘ Counsell ’
Brewers (2) @ Padres (3) 8/14 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Mike Cameron–Accounted for the only two runs on a RBI single in the 7th and a solo home run in the 9th. You absolutely have to ride him while he’s hot. The Brewers are a little more limited in their options with Braun out, so it will make the decision easier for Ned to leave him in………hopefully.
Craig Counsell–He’s taken some abuse lately, including some from me. Coming into today he was hitting .182 for the month and only 1 of his last 21, yet somehow had managed to start 9 games. He stepped up today though. Was on base 3 times. Unfortunately Nix behind him was unable to do anything.
Less Filling:
Ned Yost–This idea of running a lineup out there based on positions instead of individual players is absolutely ridiculous. I’ve never heard of another manager doing this. So this causes guys like Craig Counsell and Lance Nix to be in key positions at the top of the order, and have more opportunities to bat than better hitters like Fielder, Hart, and Cameron (lately). Just asinine in my opinion.
Another thing I’ve harped on several times with Yost is his poor in-game managerial decisions, including his failure to utilize pinch hitters in appropriate positions. Several times lately he’s left Jason Kendall in to hit in late game key situations, despite having much better hitting options on the bench. Kendall has done nothing to deserve the chance to hit in those situations. He’s hitting under .250 on the year with a sub-.650 OPS. You’ve got to put your team in the best position to win games as a manager, and by leaving Kendall in there Yost is not doing that. There’s a good chance it would have made no difference on the outcome, but it certainly would have increased the chance of his team. You can’t afford to give away at-bats and games at any point down the stretch here. Yet Yost manages like its ok to not put your team in the best position to win by not pinch-hitting, using ridiculous lineups, and not managing with a sense of urgency. The Brewers may very well win the Wild Card and make the playoffs, but it won’t be because of Yost. It will be because of their raw natural talent and more in spite of him than anything.
Brewers (6) @ Reds (3) 8/6 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Rickie Weeks–I am an admitted Weeks apologist. I do like the addition of Durham though and am fine with a soft platoon. That being said, I think Weeks is breaking out of his slumber and about to get it going. His stats have improved over the last month or so. Continuing to bench him is not going to allow him to blossom and improve. I’m fine with Durham playing 1-2 times a week, but not more. Especially if Rickie is starting to play well. A big 4 for 5 today including some clutch hits.
Mike Cameron–Cameron has been swinging the bat well lately, so you can bet Ned will have him on the bench the first game of the Nats series. I’m hoping not, but that’s been Ned’s MO. Cameron hit the ball the other way with authority, which is always a sign of a hitter that is locked in. He’s a streaky hitter and you have to ride him when he’s hot. He should start every game this series.
Jeff Suppan–Started out kind of rocky, but got out of the damage early and pitched 7 strong. Need that kind of performance out of him down the stretch. His ERA in August and September is much better than the other months.
Eric Gagne–He only threw three pitches. But they were all quality pitches in a tight spot. That last fastball to Encarnacion was 94 on the black. If he can do that a little more, watch out.
Less Filling:
Craig Counsell–0 for 5 with 5 men left on base.
Ned Yost–Regardless of what Kendall did today or the day before he should have been out of those games. One of Kendall’s hits Tuesday was a weak flare into right, and today he had a standard grounder up the middle that the pitcher missed. Ned will continue to land here until Kendall gets a day off like he should have a week ago. Also, JJ finally broke his 0 for 28 slump with two hits on Tuesday, so what does Ned do? He benches him. Are you kidding me? Then he’s played Craig Counsell 5 games in a row now. And on the fifth day Counsell goes 0 for 5. Craig is in good shape for his age, but his talent level and age should dictate him to be a 1 to 2 games a week guy if that.
Brewers (3) vs. Orioles (2) 6/21 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Seth McClung–It would have sounded crazy before the year started, but I feel better about getting a good pitching performance when Seth is on the mound than any pitcher on the Brewers not named Ben Sheets. 6 2/3 strong with only 3 hits allowed. The 5 walks is a bit worrisome, but McClung pitched out of it.
Craig Counsell–On three times and scored the Brewers first run.
Corey Hart–A big 2 run homer in the third staked them to a nice early lead.
Less Filling:
The offense–I really thought that once we let Cabrera settle in and didn’t make him throw good pitches and attempt to draw walks that we’d be in trouble. It had all the makings of a typical Brewer game where they score a few runs early then can’t tack any on. That did happen, but thankfully the pitching staff held tight. With 9 hits and walks you really should score more than 3 runs.
Brewers (5) vs. Blue Jays (4) 6/18 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Ben Sheets–Another solid outing by the club’s ace, despite him not having great stuff. As I’ve said before, that’s what separates Sheets from the rest of the guys; his ability to get the job done time after time even when he doesn’t have his A-game.
Craig Counsell–3 hits out of the leadoff spot.
Corey Hart, Mike Cameron–Both used their legs to create runs. Hart got a double then advanced to third on a shallow sac fly. He scored on a 10 foot dribbler by Cameron that required excellent speed and baserunning ability. Cameron then stole second and ended up scoring on a sac bunt attempt by Sheets. Cameron also knocked a home run.
Salomon Torres–Had to come in for Mota and get a 1 1/3 inning save. He’s 8 for 8 in save chances since taking over for Gagne.
Russell Branyan–Yet another booming homer.
Less Filling:
Braun, Fielder–Combined to go 0 for 8 with 4 strikeouts and 8 men left on base.
Guillermo Mota–He’s cracked a few times in recent weeks and had to be bailed out last night after only getting two outs but giving up 3 hits and a walk.
Brewers (7) vs. Blue Jays (0) 6/17 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Manny Parra–Was able to go 7 innings, allowing only 4 hits. The 4 walks isn’t a good thing and he did get in trouble a little in the 6th and 7th, but unlike earlier in the year he was able to make quality pitches late in the game to get out of it. It helped that the offense provided him a cushion so each pitch wasn’t for the game. Like McClung, I am now feeling comfortable with him on the mound; that leaves Bush as the only one that I cringe at.
Ryan Braun–Man Crush alert!! Two more jacks and he’s now at 20 on the year. He also moved up to 4th in the All Star balloting. He definetly deserves to start, and hopefully will get voted to do so. If he doesn’t, he almost a shoe-in to be added by the manager.
Counsell, Branyan, Fielder–Each hit homers and Branyan narrowly missed another when he hit one into the 4th level in right field that was just foul. It was one of the highest hits I’ve ever seen that traveled so far.
Less Filling:
The offense–Yes they scored 7 runs and hit 5 homers, but where was the rest of the production? Despite what Ned thinks, you can’t simply rely on home runs to score. We saw what happened last year and early this year if there was a bit of a drought in home runs: the offense sputtered and had no consistency.
Brewers (4) @ Pirates (1) 5/21 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Ryan Braun–Shows off his speed tonight. Legs out an RBI Triple, beats out an infield single, and makes a nice sliding catch after a long run into foul territory.
Corey Hart–Another 2 out RBI with a man in scoring position.
Rickie Weeks–2 for 5 with a homer, 2 runs scored, 1 RBI, also reached on an error and stole a base. Made a nice pick on a bad hop ground ball to start a double play in the 6th also. Seems to be coming around; hitting .304 with a .464 OBP in his last 6 games.
Mike Cameron–Is hitting the ball hard lately as well. Also made a nice catch crashing into the wall. Still continued his strikeout streak though.
Ben Sheets–Thats’ what an Ace does. He had good, but not great stuff tonight and went out and plugged away and ate up innings. Pitched a complete game when the bullpen definetly needed a night off. And he got another hit plus moved a runner over by hitting the other way.
JJ Hardy–1 for 2 tonight with an RBI and also showed patience in drawing a couple walks.
Less Filling:
Prince Fielder–Just seems uninspired out there. Finally breaks through and gets a hit today, lining the ball past the right fielder to the wall, but somehow only gets a single out of it. Either he realy is that slow or he just wasn’t hustling. Rickie was close to scoring from first on a ball Prince only got a single on!?!
Craig Counsell–Yost finally admitted today that Bill Hall is not getting it done and will be spending time on the bench against righties. Counsell promptly goes out and is 0 for 4. Counsell is a great guy and a decent 5th infielder/utility type, but he really shouldn’t be getting platoon at-bats at this point in his career. Its amazing a guy with a .257 career batting average and no power or run-producing potential has gone this far and played this much in his career.
Brewers (3) @ Red Sox (5); Brewers (6) @ Red Sox (7) 5/17 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
**Doubleheader**
Tastes Great:
Prince Fielder–He was the only player for the Brewers that had a hit in each game. Went a combined 4 for 8 with 3 doubles. Maybe Braun’s signing and subsequent attention was the kick in the pants Fielder needed to get going.
Ryan Braun–Had a good first game, but not-so-good second. Hit his team-leading 11th home run of the season off Jonathan Papelbon in the first game.
Rickie Weeks–Was on base 4 times in the two games and had a huge 2 run single in the second game.
Craig Counsell–His 2 out, 2 RBI double in the second game gave the Brewers a lead they should have maintained.
Less Filling:
Bill Hall–I don’t care if he had two hits in the first game (didn’t have any in the second), he made 3 errors in one day and each one hurt the Brewers big-time.
Defense–Besides the aforementioned Hall, the Brewers other fielders struggled mightily as well. The Brewers committed 5 errors in two games. The 4 errrors in the nightcap led to 3 of the 7 Boston runs being unearned.
Starting pitchers–Suppan and Bush both got in trouble right away with two out, bases empty walks that came around to score. Didn’t get much better after that. They somehow gritted out 12 innings combined but gave up 14 hits, 4 walks, and 9 runs (8 earned).
Just when you start to think the Brewers have found out how to be consistent in their losing, they find new ways to not score runs and new ways to lose. If the pitching is ok, the hitting sucks; if the hitting is ok, the pitching gives up a bunch of runs; and today neither did very well plus they played pourous defense. So very frustrating.
Brewers (0) @ Marlins (3) 5/6 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Matt LaPorta hit his 10th homer of the season and is now batting .342. In his last ten games he has 4 homers and 14 RBI. Oh wait, he’s at AA Hunstville.
Catching prospect (when was the last time we had one of those?) Angel Salome is batting .356. Oh wait, he’s also at AA Huntsville.
3B prospect Mat Gamel is hitting .372 and also has 4 homers and 14 RBI in his last ten games. Yeah, AA Huntsville.
Jeff Weaver pitched 7 strong innings last night giving up only 4 hits, 1 run, 0 BB, and 1 K. Shoot, he’s in AAA. I wonder if he’ll get a call pretty soon. If he isn’t brought up by June sometime he has to be released.
David Riskie–ah, finally a major leaguer. He pitched out of a bases loaded-no out jam. Pretty sad when the only good thing from your team is a middle reliever.
Less Filling:
2 hits………2 FREAKING HITS!!!!!!!
Suppan–blows a great chance to show himself as a stopper for this young team. Didn’t pitch terribly but couldn’t get an out in the 6th inning before loading the bases and having to be removed. Needed 7 strong out of him, although if the offense doesn’t score it doesn’t matter how few runs he woulda gave up.
Ned Yost–way to show some creativity after getting swept and running the same lineup out there. Might make one change today with Counsell in for Weeks but God forbid we go outside the box and put 3 or 4 bench guys in to try to ignite something. Also, that toss out seemed a little scripted just like the ones you got tossed 3 of 4 at the end of last year.
Brewers (9) vs. Cardinals (8) 4/22 (12 innings) — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
What slump? Weeks, Braun, and Fielder all break out with solid games. They go a combined 7 for 13 with 4 walks, 3 runs, and 6 RBI’s.
The Gabes have it–Gabe Gross and Gabe Kapler spark a 12th inning rally as Gross draws walk, then steals second. Kapler follows with yet another key hit as his single into center scores Gross easily. Gross is then summarily shipped out of town in a trade to the Tampa Bay Rays (not Devil Rays you satanic monster) in exchange for a minor league reliever. Thanks for the good days Gabe and good luck.
Seth McClung–after being nearly run out of town he’s responded with a couple nice outings in a row. Went 3 scoreless the other day and had a strong 1 inning today. Looks like his mechanics are better, and therefore his location as well.
Only 5 strikeouts in 12 innings today by the offense. Maybe Yost and Skaalen do actually talk to them about being patient and finding a good pitch to hit.
Less Filling:
Quite a list today considering a win, but with that many poor performances, its hard to ignore.
Manny Parra–this guy has to learn to be able to pitch deep into games and not get his pitch counts so high. He threw 106 pitches in only 5 innings today and on the year is averaging an alarming 19 pitches per inning. All this does is require him to come out of games earlier, even if he is doing ok, and further tax the bullpen. If he goes 7 or even 6 today we shorten up that pen and use only 2-3 guys instead of 7.
Ah, that bullpen. 7 pitchers used, with only the above-mentioned McClung not allowing at least one baserunner. You know what’s even more ridiculous? Both Shouse and Riske are credited with holds despite giving up a combined 6 baserunners and 4 runs while facing 10 batters in only 1 1/3rd innings. And then there’s Gagne. Despite the fact Weeks should have made that turn, he still put himself in a 1st and 3rd with no one out situation. Just can’t continue to allow that many runners and expect to get out cleanly.
Weeks’ D–He’s made big strides this year on his defense, but he missed a couple plays today that should have been made. None bigger than that nonchalant turn of a can of corn double play that should have ended it in the 9th. Gotta maintain the focus all the way through a game.
Another 0′fer for Hall. He’s now batting .185 on the year, lower than Weeks. And he’s only walked twice, so his On Base Percentage is .205. Ouch. I addressed him enough yesterday, hopefully he’ll turn it around and quick. I don’t know what the option would be if he needs to come out. Counsell isn’t an everyday player and Braun is firmly planted in the outfield now.
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