Results tagged ‘ Cubs ’
Brewers (2) @ Cubs (8) 7/5 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Prince Fielder–One of the few constants this year.
Ryan Braun–One of the other few constants this year. And after the game he once again stepped up and said what others (including management) were too chicken to say. He was right on in his critique, and unlike what many people fail to acknowledge, he did call out the offense in addition to the pitching. But that doesn’t make as good of a soundbite.
Casey McGehee–Holy cow, where would this team be without his surprising play?
Less Filling:
Mike Burns–I should have known someone with the same name as my dad’s shady former business partner wouldn’t be any good. I guess I don’t blame him a whole lot, he just shouldn’t be pitching here.
Doug Melvin–Which brings us to today’s big loser, Doug Melvin. How could you think it would be a good idea to go into the season with Mike Burns as your sixth best starting pitching option. You know you’re going to need a fill-in at some time, and a castoff from other team’s minor league squads (he’s not even a major league castoff) is the best you can do? Terrible drafting, and terrible system management.
Chris Narveson–Why is he still up? He’s been terrible in most outings, and barely ok in the others.
Bill Hall–Why is he still on the team? Seriously, trade him for the lowest level prospect you can, pay half his salary and say good riddance to a team cancer.
Brewers (11) @ Cubs (2) 7/4 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
America!!–Happy Birthday ya ole dog. Let’s just hope the current administration doesn’t screw it up.
Casey McGehee–Whether he had extra motivation to play well against his old team or not, he certainly was outstanding today. Also, he has quite the penchant for re-deeming his mistakes and
quickly. There was of course the grand slam following the error on
Monday, and today he’s done it twice. After not being quicker getting
the ball to first on Harden’s bunt he hit a triple off the top of the
wall. Then, after throwing away a ground ball he hit a homer in his
next at-bat. If McGehee can continue to take advantage of Prince getting walked so much, it would be huge.
Mike Cameron–Apparently reports of his imminent turnaround being premature were in fact premature perhaps. As the Official Mike Cameron Streak Barometer, I am moving the current level to “Breaking Out Of It Finally.”
Prince Fielder–He’s trusting his teammates to pick up the slack when teams pitch around him, and his on-base percentage is reflecting it. And when teams do make mistakes in pitching to him he continues to make them pay.
J.J. Hardy–As the Official J.J. Hardy Streak Barometer, I had already correctly predicted his break out. And his hot streak continues as he keeps pounding the ball. And that diving stab that turned into a double play was a thing of beauty. I have always been baffled by people that said he’s not a good defensive
player. He’s a very good to great defensive player, and the real (read
not outdated and inaccurate Range Factor and Zone Rating, but rather John Dewan’s Plus/Minus rating as well as fielding percentage) statistics
back it up.
Ryan Braun–Heck, why not. He got a couple hits and made a nice sliding catch followed by a little flair/fun with his teammates. Apparently (big shock) the Cubs broadcasters thought it was a little too much. I guess they didn’t know that Ed Sedar has actually been teaching that move as an effective way of reaching and catching those balls. And the fun at the end was just that, fun with his team. But what can you expect from Cubs broadcasters, especially that ******* Brenly who railed on Braun after he hit the homer off Dempster and understandably stared him down earlier this year. I’m glad the Brewers didn’t hire that idiot.
Braden Looper–It wasn’t always pretty, but his defense made it difficult on him a few times too (in addition to bailing him out a few times though). But six solid is certainly acceptable in light of some of the Brewers recent starts.
Bullpen–Two of the recent strugglers down there (Villanueva and Narveson), along with stalwart Coffey made it through three shutout innings.
Less Filling:
I really want to be nice in an 11-2 win, so I’ll just make quick mention of Corey Hart’s ridiculous blunder in right and Macha’s decision to trot an already overworked Villanueva out there yet again today. Oh, and also for the decision to start McClung, which continues to wreak havoc in the bullpen.
Brewers (1) @ Cubs (2) 7/3 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Jeff Suppan–Dare I say…a great game by Suppan. He didn’t throw a ton of strikes (only 48 of his 90 pitches were strikes), but the ones he did throw were well-located. It’d be easy to complain about the one run he did allow as it was off the bat of a pitcher, but all in all he was great. A shame the Brewers offense screwed him out of a win. Who’da ever thunk Suppan would be the only guy in the Tastes Great column?
Less Filling:
Bill Welke–A disgraceful way to end the game. That pitch was a strike as it caught several inches of the plate and when Fox took his normal batting position it was right at the belt (he scrunched down as the pitch got there so on TV it looked higher than it really was; and F Jake Fox for saying he thought it was high and inside). Welke’s zone was all over the place all game, and even the Brewers run scored on what appeared to be a strike that was called a ball.
Ken Macha–Wow, he’s making a lot of appearances here lately. Let’s see:
Bad lineup management? Check –Really, Jason Kendall leading off? He’s the guy you want getting the most at-bats in the game? It’s appearing that Macha is a bigger blind Kendall lover than Yost almost.
Bad bullpen management? Check –Trotting Villanueva out there in the 8th was downright stupid. The guy’s been overused, and as a result has been increasingly ineffective. Also, the Brewers lost an extra inning game when their two best relievers (Hoffman, Coffey) did not pitch despite good rest.
Bad in-game management? Check –Jody Gerut gets an at-bat but Cattalanato (or Gamel and even Rivera for that matter) doesn’t?
Bad team management? Check –Macha should have stormed the field after that last pitch, but he barely raised a fuss. Then in the post-game he pretty much glossed over it. Way to stick up for your guys in a huge situation there Kenny. Obviously arguing wouldn’t have changed anything, but it would set a tone for the next game with the umps and with your team.
Craig Counsell–Failed to get a sac bunt down on two occasions and then struck out in what turned out to be a huge situation. Then he blew what should have been a catch in the 10th that ended up scoring. It wasn’t an error in the scorebook, but it should have been caught.
Brewers offense–For the second game in three days (and third time in less than a week) they leave their starting pitcher out to dry. 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position (with that one hit not scoring a run) is embarassing, just like their performance in general.
Mike Cameron–I guess reports of his eminent turn-around were exaggerated. He looked terrible today, striking out three times.
Brad Fischer–Twice in the last week he has sent pitchers to the plate when they were going to at best be involved in a bang-bang play with the potential for a collision and injury. As it was, both were thrown out fairly easily (in addition to still risking injury).
Brewers (4) vs. Cubs (11) 7/31 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
What a disaster of a series for the Brewers and their long-suffering fans. Once again there will be no Tastes Great feature. The Less Filling feature will examine the problems with this team in general (all of which were painfully exposed in this series), and what needs to be done to correct things.
Less Filling:
Offense–We knew coming in to this year that the offense would be predicated on hitting home runs. What we didn’t realize was that the team would be so inept at getting runners on base and also at failing to drive in runners in scoring position, particularly with two outs. Not getting many runners on and failing to drive in the ones that do get on puts even more emphasis on the home run. It also is a recipe for long cold streaks and a high level of inconsistency. Having so many guys with low On Base Percentages and high strikeout totals is the number one problem for this team; moreso than defensive liabilities, bullpen issues, or poor managerial decisions. And so far the players have not shown the ability and/or desire to make necessary changes.
Doug Melvin–I think Melvin can be blamed for bringing in a poor mix of players, specifically the Mike Cameron signing. The last thing we needed was a right-handed hitting high strikeout guy. Yet here he is. Also, Melvin and Yost failed to recognize that Bill Hall was and is nowhere near the player he was in 2006. His approach, attitude, and swing are totally different from that time. As I’ve said many times on here, he continues to pull off pitches on the outside part of the plate instead of using his natural right-center field stroke.
Ned Yost–It certainly is easy to second-guess many of Yost’s in-game managerial decisions. He makes enough of them between poor bullpen management, leaving starters in too long, not pinch-hitting anyone, not bunting or stealing enough, lineup changes, and the list goes on and on. But the biggest problem with Yost is the atmosphere of unaccountability, excuse making, and not playing with a sense of urgency he has created.
Even after this series he’s still talking about it still being early and even had the gall to make this statement, “It doesn’t matter what happens in this series”. There certainly is a point to it being only 4 out of 162 games, and I don’t think this series means EVERYTHING. But to say it means nothing is ignorant and downright insulting. You’re playing the team directly in front of you in the standings at your home ballpark. There is a brewing rivalry between the teams and even more of one amongst its fans. It is without a doubt the biggest series for the Milwaukee Brewers since 1982. It doesn’t mean everything, but it certainly means more than nothing.
Jim Skaalen–As I said in my mid-season write-up, Skaalen certainly deserves a lot of blame for either 1) Not trying to get things corrected with these guys, 2) Not knowing how to get things corrected, 3) Not being able to get through and communicate with the players to get things corrected. No matter what the reasoning, he isn’t getting the job done. The Brewers sit at #5 in the NL in OPS, yet only #8 in runs scored. Again, low OBP numbers, lack of timely hitting, and reliance on home runs are the big reasons for that discrepancy.
Brewers (2) vs. Cubs (7) 7/30 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
This is not a typo. This is the same entry from yesterday. Apparently the Brewers don’t want me to work too hard, so they thought they’d play the same uninspired crap of a game so I could do the same entry.
Tastes Great:
None, not a single damn thing. An embarassing performance on the biggest stage in 25 years. They were outplayed and embarassed in every facet of the game. Every single person in the organization deserves blame from owner Mark Atanassio to GM Doug Melvin who assembled a team of low OBP/high K right-handed hitters, to the players who sucked it up, to manager Ned Yost and his no accountability environment, to the bullpen catcher Marcus Hammel.
Less Filling:
Again, every person in the organization deserves blame for this embarassment in front of multiple national media outlets and the eyes of the baseball world.
Brewers (1) vs. Cubs (7) 7/29 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
None, not a single damn thing. An embarassing performance on the biggest stage in 25 years. They were outplayed and embarassed in every facet of the game. Every single person in the organization deserves blame from owner Mark Atanassio to GM Doug Melvin who assembled a team of low OBP/high K right-handed hitters, to the players who sucked it up, to manager Ned Yost and his no accountability environment, to the bullpen catcher Marcus Hammel.
Less Filling:
Again, every person in the organization deserves blame for this embarassment in front of multiple national media outlets and the eyes of the baseball world.
Brewers (4) vs. Cubs (6) 7/28 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Ryan Braun–What a stud.
JJ Hardy–His home run got the Brewers off the schnide and into the scoring column.
Russell Branyan–Had been awful to terrible the last month, but had gotten a couple hits lately and finally put a good swing on the ball to tie it up in the 7th.
CC Sabathia–Other than a couple missed pitches to Soriano and bit too much nibbling in the 7th he did good. Its not bad when your “off” day consists of going 6 2/3 and allowing what should have been 2 earned runs.
Less Filling:
Rickie Weeks–0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. Credited with one HUGE error on the double play that didn’t get turned. Somehow wasn’t credited with an error on Fukudome’s grounder that he should have made the play on.
Official scorer–Needs to be fired. There’s been 6 to 8 times this year with Weeks alone where there’s been plays that should have been made quite easily yet he wasn’t given an error on. Hey, scorer….DO YOUR JOB PROPERLY AND DON’T BOW DOWN TO THE PLAYERS!!
Salomon Torres–Got ahead of the hitters ok, then wasted pitches and nibbled allowing consecutive walks. Then it only takes one hit to score runs, which of course occurred. Gotta go after people at some point.
Bottom of the order–Has been terrible lately. Hall’s got the three game winning hits but hit sub-.200 overall since the all-star break. Cameron we all know about, but has been even worse lately to the tune of .206 since the break. And Kendall, God bless his heart, has been great with the staff and throwing guys out, has hit only .212 since the break (and .187 with 4 RBI in July). Throw in the pitcher’s spot and that’s 4 pretty sure outs at the bottom of the order. Its hard to get anything going consistently when you have to rely so much on 3 or 4 guys in the lineup.
Ned Yost–Sometimes I wonder why Ned even stays in the dugout during the game for the lack of actual managing that he does. We’ve discussed the lack of bunting, hit-and-running, and overall movement ad nauseum. And I think most would pretty much agree he does not know how to manage a pitching staff. So in the other key game management area, pinch-hitting, he does nothing either. How many times do we get to see Cameron strikeout late in games, or Kendall fly out weakly to right? When did these .250 and below hitters become too good to be pinch-hit for? Its ridiculous.
Brewers (4) @ Cubs (3) 5/1 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
What a comeback huh? Good to see them find a way to win.
Ryan Braun aka The Who’s In Right Field? blog has a man crush on him –Starting to heat up. 3 hits today with 3 RBI’s. Good to see. And it started and has continued with a bunch of hits the other way. Plus he hit the cutoff man for about the first time this year that allowed an out at home.
Yovanni Gallardo –I admit, when I saw him go down and saw the replay I thought he was done for the year. But coming back and working was huge. Ned should have pulled him when he got in trouble there in the 6th though.
Jason Kendall- a couple hits today. I can’t tell you how happy I am to have him instead of Johnny Estrada.
Less Filling:
Winning covers up a lot. But there were a number of mistakes today.
Starting with the offense pre-9th inning. Got some runners on but couldn’t do anything with it. And multiple strikeouts in big situations.
Mike Cameron –Honeymoon’s over already buddy. Striking out twice with runners in scoring position just doesn’t cut it. Then again, I’m not sure why so many people saw you as a savior. A career .250 hitter with a ton of strikeouts but a guy that can get hot for a couple weeks and carry a team. Expect .250 to .260 with a lot of strikeouts and the occassional home run binge; anything more is just not being realistic.
Dale Sveum –Two runners thrown out by a wide margin at home. Happened way too many times in the past when Sveum was at third, but he’s been ok this year until today. Weeks and Fielder were both out by 15 feet. Can’t give away outs in big situations like that.
Brewers (5) @ Cubs (19) 4/30 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Ummmm………….everyone gets one mulligan per round right?
The only thing I will say is that Turnbow should never see the field in a Brewers uniform ever again. Trade him for a box of balls, wave him, I don’t care. But he should never pitch again for the Crew.
Brewers (10) @ Cubs (7) 4/29 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
What hitting slump? — The Brewers erupt for 17 hits and 10 runs. Every position starter had at least one hit. They also only struck out 3 times and delivered five 2 out RBI’s.
Mike Cameron –What a way to ingratiate yourself to the new ballclub. 3 for 5 with a walk, two runs, and two RBI’s. If he can hit .270 with a .340-.350 OBP it will be huge for this offense.
Ben Sheets –Dropped down a nice sacrifice bunt even though the defense knew it was coming and was about two feet away from him.
Less Filling:
I’m giving Sheeter a pass since he’s come out on the wrong end of great games he’s pitched many times over the years.
I’m giving Torres a pass as well since he had three ground balls that weren’t hit very hard but managed to find holes, then one legitimate hit. That’s just the way it goes sometimes.
Defense–After starting the year playing excellent defense and committing very few errors, the Brewers have softened up lately. Two errors last night plus a double play that wasn’t turned that should have been. Can’t keep giving the other team extra chances and making your pitchers throw extra pitches.
Eric Gagne–Look, I’m still confident he can get the job done effectively. But at some point it’d be nice to get some 1, 2, 3 innings out of him so it’d be less nerve-wracking. He’s had only 4 “clean” (no hits or walks) outings out of his 14 appearances this year.
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