Results tagged ‘ Hall ’
Brewers (7) @ Pirates (0) 8/31 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
CC Sabathia–SHOULD have pitched only the second no-hitter in Brewers franchise history. A boneheaded move by the Pirates official scorer kept him from earning that distinction. CC was absolutely locked in and allowed only 4 fly balls all day. Flashed some leather (and skin) as well with a couple nice plays including a bare-handed stab that ended up being a double play.
Braun/Fielder–After struggling a bit yesterday and in the last few games these two came up with 2 hits apiece. If these two can get hot over the last month you might as well book the playoff tickets now.
Bill Hall–Hall got a rare start against a right-handed pitcher and came through with a couple hits and a walk. He’s going to be key coming up here as we face a bunch of lefties in the next few weeks, including three straight against the Mets.
Less Filling:
Pirates Official Scorer–Absolutely should have ruled that play an error in a no-hitter situation. Give the benefit of the doubt to the players on the field. If the Pirates get another hit then you can go back and change it. In a regular game that scoring play makes very little difference, but here it made a huge difference.
Brewers (12) @ Cardinals (0) 8/26 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Wow, just a good old-fashioned butt-whooping. Any time you score double digits and throw a shutout you’re usually going to have a pretty good chance of winning (channeling my inner Madden with that one;)
Ben Sheets–Found his curveball in the 2nd or 3rd inning and that allowed him to pitch out of some early trouble and go 6 strong.
Offense–Wow, 16 hits and 12 runs. Hopefully we didn’t blow our wad in one game though. Everyone in the offense contributed, but special shoutouts go to Braun, Fielder, and Hall.
Less Filling:
Cardinals fans, players, staff–For the first time an opposing team finds itself in the Less Filling section. This isn’t because of their play (although losing 12-0 doesn’t help them), but moreso the talk coming out of St. Louis. They were a little upset the last time we went in there and swept them in a key four-game series. And they apparently took exception to what they perceived as “posing” and “unprofessional behavior” by the Brewers, specifically Ryan Braun and Bill Hall. Those guys did nothing wrong in that last series. They knew they hit home runs and did not just stand there and admire, rather slowly get down the first base line. Albert Pujols does the exact same thing nearly every time he hits a home run. Apparently the Cards announcers were going off on the Brewers and how “unprofessional” they are for untucking their jerseys after wins. They failed to do their homework and see that Mike Cameron started this as an homage to his father, who would come home from work and untuck his shirt in honor of a job well done. Just goes to show that the Cardinals fans and organization aren’t quite as “classy” and educated as they’re made out to be.
Brewers (12) @ Cardinals (0) 8/26 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Wow, just a good old-fashioned butt-whooping. Any time you score double digits and throw a shutout you’re usually going to have a pretty good chance of winning (channeling my inner Madden with that one;)
Ben Sheets–Found his curveball in the 2nd or 3rd inning and that allowed him to pitch out of some early trouble and go 6 strong.
Offense–Wow, 16 hits and 12 runs. Hopefully we didn’t blow our wad in one game though. Everyone in the offense contributed, but special shoutouts go to Braun, Fielder, and Hall.
Less Filling:
Cardinals fans, players, staff–For the first time an opposing team finds itself in the Less Filling section. This isn’t because of their play (although losing 12-0 doesn’t help them), but moreso the talk coming out of St. Louis. They were a little upset the last time we went in there and swept them in a key four-game series. And they apparently took exception to what they perceived as “posing” and “unprofessional behavior” by the Brewers, specifically Ryan Braun and Bill Hall. Those guys did nothing wrong in that last series. They knew they hit home runs and did not just stand there and admire, rather slowly get down the first base line. Albert Pujols does the exact same thing nearly every time he hits a home run. Apparently the Cards announcers were going off on the Brewers and how “unprofessional” they are for untucking their jerseys after wins. They failed to do their homework and see that Mike Cameron started this as an homage to his father, who would come home from work and untuck his shirt in honor of a job well done. Just goes to show that the Cardinals fans and organization aren’t quite as “classy” and educated as they’re made out to be.
Brewers (4) vs. Pirates (3) 8/24 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Mike Cameron–Set a career high with 5 hits, including the go-ahead home run in the bottom of the 8th inning. Has absolutely been on fire the past three weeks. As an incredibly streaky hitter over the course of his career he has gone on 4-5 week hot streaks, so hopefully he can continue this as long as possible and get back on another hot streak before the year ends. Also stole a base for good measure.
Bill Hall–One day after questioning if he should even be in the lineup anymore, I have to give Hall his props. He collected three hits today but hitters behind him couldn’t pick him up and drive him in.
J.J. Hardy–On J.J. Hardy Bobblehead Day, he came through in the clutch once again with the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the 12th. He also had two hits earlier in the day. After a couple lengthy cold spells in July and early August, J.J. seems to be on a pretty good hot streak.
CC Sabathia–Pitched well enough to win, although he wasn’t perfect. Gave up 8 hits in 6 innings and had to pitch out of trouble a few times. But he proved his worth in doing so. I feel he should have been left in to hit in the bottom of the 6th and then (hopefully) pitched the 7th and 8th. Even if he would have gotten an out there, the game was tied and the Brewers had three more innings to score. And CC on the mound would have given us the best chance to keep the Pirates from scoring.
Rickie Weeks–Was only 1 for 5 at the plate, but had his walk in the 12th and subsequent stolen base set up the game winning run. I feel Rickie needs to utilize his speed better and should be in the 25-30 stolen base range instead of only 17 on the year.
Guillermo Mota–Really came into a tough spot with the bases loaded and no outs, but somehow Houdinied his way out of it without allowing a run. He’s been surprisingly effective in his last 10 games or so.
Less Filling:
Ryan Braun–Somewhat unfamiliar territory for Braunie, but he was about as bad as could be offensively. He went 0 for 5 with three strikeouts and 2 grounded into double plays before being lifted in a double switch in extra innings. Everyone has days like that and hopefully he bounces back with a vengeance against the Cardinals.
Prince Fielder–Struggled right along with Ryan. Went 0 for 4 with a couple K’s and a grounded into double play. Left multiple runners on base as well.
Brewers offense–Collected 15 hits and 4 walks, yet only managed 4 runs. Outs on the bases, 4 double plays, and way too many men left on base allowed this to happen. Not collecting clutch hits have been a bit of a problem in recent weeks.
Riske/Torres/Villanueva–None of them did their job out of the pen as the Brewers blew two different late inning leads and tried to give it up in the top of the 12th. Its amazing how much Riske throws the ball down the middle of the plate on average fastballs and expects it to work. So far this season it hasn’t too well to the tune of a 4.08 ERA. Not the results the Brewers expected when they gave him that 3 year deal in the off-season, and probably why they placed him on waivers this week (although he wasn’t claimed).
Brewers (6) vs. Pirates (3) 8/23 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Jeff Suppan–Soup always seems to flirt with danger whether its allowing early runs or allowing leadoff baserunners. But like he has the last month or so Suppan made it work. He allowed 3 runs in 7 innings and looks to be continuing his career-long improvement the last two months of the year.
Ryan Braun–Came up big hitting a solo home run after getting buzzed up and in and then later doubling in two runs as well.
Hitters 1-4–In addition to the aforementioned Braun, the rest of the top hitters in the order produced big as well. This foursome produced 6 hits, 6 runs, and 5 RBI.
Less Filling:
Bill Hall–Gotta start asking yourself why he’s still in the lineup. His average has dropped to .219 despite playing significantly against lefties, who he has killed throughout his career. Not only did Billy go 0 for 4 (again), he struck out two times as well. Oh how I wish we would have traded him in the off-season.
Brewers (5) vs. Astros (2) 8/20 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
I got to go to my first Brewer game of the year finally. Went with my dad and two younger brothers. We grilled out before and played catch in the parking lot. Had pretty good seats down the third base line. A fun day was had by all.
J.J. Hardy–Pretty much the lone bright spot on the day for the Brewers. Had 2 of the Brewers 4 hits, including the 7th inning home run that gave them some breathing room.
Rickie Weeks–Did exactly what you ask of a leadoff hitter: got on base. And scored 3 of the runs, including manufacturing one with a stolen base and then taking a base on a sac fly.
Bullpen–Again came up big today. 4 innings and only 1 hit allowed. Gagne got in some trouble, but you really can’t blame him for a bunt single, a phantom HBP call, and an error. He came up big and pitched out of it.
Less Filling:
Bill Hall–Mr. Golden Sombrero himself. For those that don’t know (like my wife, Hi Honey), a Golden Sombrero is when one player strikes out 4 times in one game. Which is exactly what Hall did. Billy has now struck out in 6 straight at-bats over the past 3 games and seen his batting average fall to .223. He’s hit .143 with a .464 OPS in the month of August. Just terrible.
Manny Parra–Manny got the win and allowed only 2 runs, but that didn’t tell the whole story about how he pitched. 94 pitches in those 5 innings and 10 baserunners (6 hits, 4 walks). Not good. He has to be able to pitch through at least 6 in these kinds of games to save the bullpen. Manny may be running into the wall a bit as he’s pitched a lot more innings this year than he has in the past. Unfortunately it looks like the Brewers won’t really be able to limit his starts being in the middle of a playoff push. People talk about skipping Bush or Suppan’s start, but I think it is Manny we need to look at. His innings need to be limited so that when he does pitch he can be sharp and maintain his health going into next year.
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 (6) vs. Astros (4) 7/26 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Ray Durham–Welcome to Milwaukee Ray Ray. A couple doubles, a walk, 3 runs scored.
Ryan Braun–Stud! Only went 1 for 2 but had a couple sacrifice flies and then of course the big fly in the 7th to tie it up.
Corey Hart–Awoke from his week long slumber to finally do something positive for the team. Doubled in the 8th to set-up the winning run.
Bill Hall–Had a nice approach trying to hit the ball the other way to move the runner over, and managed to get a hit to score the winning run. Later scored to give the Brewers an insurance run.
Less Filling:
Dave Bush–Coming off multiple quality outings in a row, wasn’t nearly as sharp. Credit Ned Yost some for screwing him up with this whole “pitching platoon”.
Brewers (4) @ Cardinals (3) 7/22 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Jeff Suppan–Sure looked like he was heading to Less Filling territory once again after giving up 3 early runs, but was able to settle down and work 7 innings and not give up any more damage.
Prince Fielder–A couple hits including an opposite field single to give the Brewers their first run in the 7th.
JJ Hardy–A couple more hits today including a big run-scoring two-out single that tied the game in the 8th.
Rickie Weeks–A day after struggling in the field, Weeks made a couple really nice plays defensively and drove in and scored key runs in the 8th inning.
Bill Hall–Looked like another tough night for Billy until his two-out home run in the 9th put the Brewers on top. One of the bigger moments of the year for the Brewers.
Less Filling:
Cameron/Kapler–Both went 0 for 4 with a couple strikeouts. Cameron looked terrible on multiple swings.
Brewers (6) @ Cardinals (3) 7/21 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
JJ Hardy–4 hits today with an RBI, but somehow didn’t score a run as Braun, Fielder, and Hart didn’t have very good days.
Rickie Weeks offense–His 3-run homer was huge obviously. He also got a key hit that ended up scoring Kendall on a throwing error. Did leave men on base two other times though. But all in all gotta be happy with his performance. We’ll take 2 for 5 with a walk, 3 RBI, and 2 runs scored any day of the week.
Jason Kendall–Just when it looked like he was running out of gas and going way downhill he comes up with 3 hits and scores a run.
Bill Hall–3 for 5 with that HUGE home run in the 10th. Gotta love the result, but I would prefer to see him hit that outside slider to right-center instead of hooking it into left-center. He has been heating up quite a bit lately though.
Mota/Gagne/Riske–I’ll admit, I was pissed and nervous when Mota came into a close game but he and the others got the job done.
Less Filling:
Ned Yost–I feel Ned cost us a tack-on run in the 8th when he didn’t have Cameron bunt Hall over to third with no outs. Kendall up next drove one into right-center that Ankiel misplayed, but Hall correctly was going back to tag up and couldn’t get in. The Brewers proceeded to strand runners on second and third and weren’t able to get that tack-on run. Ned needs to realize one run is as big as 3 in that situation and play it accordingly.
Rickie Weeks defense–Didn’t get charged with errors, but had two plays he should have made in the 9th that would have closed it out instead of having to go into extra innings.
Braun/Cameron–Went a combined 0 for 11. Ouch.
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