Results tagged ‘ Hardy ’
Brewers (5) vs. Mets (6) 0/2 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Rickie Weeks–Really starting to swing the bat pretty well lately. 4 for 6 with a lead-off home run to stake the Brewers to an early lead.
Manny Parra-The Batter–An impressive 2 for 2 with 2 RBI and a run scored.
Less Filling:
Manny Parra-The Pitcher–Another short outing for Parra, only going 5 innings. In those 5 innings he managed to give up 6 hits, 2 walks, and 5 runs (4 earned). Manny hasn’t been able to string together multiple good outings in a row in quite a while.
Rickie Weeks–Made an absolutely atrocious mental and heart mistake in the bottom of the 8th. After hitting a ball down the line that would normally be an easy double, he didn’t hustle all out and Endy Chavez made a great play and throw to get him out at second. Also contributed to…
Brewers defense–Failed to make a couple key plays including J.J. Hardy throwing one in the dirt that Prince couldn’t scoop (surprise) that led to an unearned run. Then in the top of the 10th Jason Kendall fielded a bunt and threw the ball into the baseline a bit and Rickie short-armed it causing it to go off the end of his glove, which allowed a runner to advance to third who then scored on a sac fly.
Brewers offense–Hmm…pitching, defense, offense….this is quite a display of ineptitude by the Brewers. They had 19 baserunners but only managed 5 runs as they left a combined 22 runners on base, made outs on the bases, and grounded into a double play.
Prince Fielder–Speaking of that double play ball from Prince Fielder in the bottom of the 10th…Prince hit a chopper to second with a runner on first. Keep in mind its the last chance for the Brewers in a game in the middle of a pennant race. So what does Fielder do…he puts his head down and walks out of the box. Shows absolutely no hustle at all. While he had basically no chance to beat it out unless there were about three bobbles on the play, it still sets the tone for the team and shows the immaturity of Prince as a “leader”.
Umps–The Brewers have seen some pretty bad umping lately, and I’m not just talking about bad calls. I’m talking about poor handling of arguments, laziness, and being out of position. On Rickie’s ball that he was thrown out on in the 8th he slid into second and actually made contact with the second base umpire. This may have caused Rickie to slow a bit coming into the bag and knocked the umpire down right as the play was being made. Despite being on the ground, being blocked out, and being out of position he still found a way to call Rickie out on a play that looked like he was safe.
Brewers (11) @ Pirates (3) 8/30 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Jeff Suppan–Set a Brewes record by winning his 5th game in the month of August. Another 7 strong innings and only two runs allowed. At least he’s earning that $44 million in the key parts of the season.
Brewers offense–6 of the 8 Brewers position players had multi-hit games. When that happens you’re usually going to win. Weeks and Hardy set the table at the top and the bottom of the order was just as good with Mike Cameron making a big contribution with a home run, double, and 4 RBI.
Less Filling:
Seth McClung–Gave up yet another run in a relief role. He’s pitching himself out of the bullpen rotation for the month of September with all the call-ups. It looks like he’ll only be used in blowout and long relief situations for now. A long way from being the third or fourth best starter as he was for a while earlier this year.
Prince Fielder/Ryan Braun–Once again these two went 0′fer, but this time the rest of the lineup picked them up.
Brewers (3) @ Cardinals (5) 8/27 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Manny Parra–After not getting through 6 full innings in his last few starts he managed to make it 6 strong, allowing only one run in that time. You’d still like to see him manage his pitch count a little better to be able to get through 7 innings with 100 pitches.
J.J. Hardy–3 hits today and seems to be putting a full season together unlike when he faded down the stretch last year.
Mike Cameron–Continues his red hot bat with 2 hits today plus a walk. Even stole another base. He’s got a shot at a 20-20 season. Only needs 5 more steals this year.
Jason Kendall–Put together another two hit day. Hopefully Ned can get him some more rest and keep him fresh down the stretch.
Carlos Villanueva–This isn’t for him loading the bases, but more for the way he handled the confrontation with Pujols. After getting a HUGE final out with the bases loaded Villy pumped his fist, let out a little “Yeah”, and started walking to the dugout. The rest will be covered below.
Less Filling:
Albert Pujols–Once again the Cardinals find themselves in the Less Filling column. Pujols took exception to Villy being pumped about getting out of a jam and took it upon himself to be the moral compass of baseball. He started menacingly walking towards Villy while yelling and pointing his bat at Carlos. He continued to jaw with him and make a Poo-hole out of himself.
Phil Cuzzi–During the confrontation he yelled at Villy to get to his dugout despite Pujols being the one to start the whole thing and the one walking towards Villy. And his strike zone left a lot to be desired all day. Cuzzi hates the Brewers and does not hide that fact. He’s the one that ejected Ned earlier this year before Ned even got out of the dugout to argue a call.
Ryan Braun/Prince Fielder–Both went 0′fer and combined to leave 13 men on base. These situations came back to bite the Brewers later in the game.
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 (10) vs. Pirates (4) 8/22 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Brewers offense–Woke up from an early slumber in a big way. Weeks, Hardy, Braun, Hart, and Cameron all had key contributions. One of the great things to see was the opposite field hits. Weeks’ triple, J.J.’s home run, and Cameron’s home run all came to the opposite field. Those three guys are pretty locked in right now.
Ryan Braun–Manufactured a run mostly by himself in the 7th. Doubled down the line, then stole third on the next pitch. The Pirates brought the infield in and Fielder hit a smash right at Pirates second baseman Freddy Sanchez. Braun started back towards third, then when Sanchez loligagged with the ball and took his time getting it to first, Braun took off for home and made it safely without a throw. Impressive baserunning.
Dave Bush–Once again gave up early runs, including a two out RBI by the pitcher, and had me wondering if he was reverting back to his old ways. But he came up big and pounded the strike zone while hitting his spots to make it through 7 innings.
Less Filling:
A 10-4 win….everyone gets a pass. Go Brewers!
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 (2) vs. Astros (5) 8/19 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Jason Kendall–Seems to be picking it up lately. Got three hits today, and has seen his average climb back up to .250 after today’s game. It’d be huge if he could get that up around .265-.270 by season’s end. Its hard to have a hole in your lineup these days, especially since he doesn’t hit for any power.
J.J. Hardy–Doubled in the Brewers first run and also reached on a walk. Looks like J.J. might be getting hot again after a couple cold spells. Hopefully Yost doesn’t take him out in the middle of a hot streak this time.
Mike Cameron–A couple hits including a run scoring double. Gotta ride this hot streak while it lasts. Just hope he has one more left in him before the season ends.
Bullpen–Threw three innings of scoreless ball to keep the Brewers in the game. Unfortunately bats couldn’t do anything to get back in it.
Less Filling:
Ben Sheets–Only made a couple bad pitches, but those ended up costing him. A two-out triple to Michael Bourn on a hanging curveball and a two out home run by Geoff Blum on a meat fastball did him in. If Ben’s given up runs lately it seems like only a couple pitches have done him in. I’m not sure if he’s trying to be perfect, or not focusing in key spots, or just putting too much pressure on himself after CC’s gems but he needs to get it straightened out.
Gabe Kapler–To be fair to Gabe, he shouldn’t be hitting third. But as it is he struck out twice with the bases loaded and stranded 6 key runners out there.
Brewers offense–The Brewers had hits in only 4 innings of the game, but got all 10 of their hits for the game in those 4 innings. They also had a walk and an error by Houston in those innings, yet were only able to come out of it with 2 runs after making two outs on the bases and leaving 9 men on base in those 4 innings!!
Dale Sveum–I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a guy get thrown out by 50 feet like Cameron did on the hit to right. And there was only 1 out with the meat of your order coming up. No idea what Sveum was thinking there. Absolutely terrible decision-making.
Brewers (4) @ Dodgers (3) 8/16 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
J.J. Hardy–Nearly became a goat after an error in the 9th inning allowed an unearned run to score to tie it up. But he was the Brewers offense tonight. His two run home run in the 8th put the Brewers ahead 3-2, and his single in the 10th put them ahead once again. J.J. had struggled lately, so hopefully he’s turning it around and ready to go on another hot streak.
Dave Bush–Had us worried after giving up a two run home run in the first, but settled down and ended up going 7 strong innings. Was in line for the win until the blown save in the 9th. Bush has now lowered his ERA to 4.26. A far cry from the 5+ he was at in the first half of the year.
Web Gems–There were 6-7 good to excellent defensive plays made by the Brewers in this game. They included diving catches, leaping catches, double plays turned, runners thrown out, and good stops by the infielders. The only blemish almost cost them the game though when Hardy blew the grounder in the 9th. Kapler’s leaping catch into the bleachers in left field was the #1 Web Gem on Baseball Tonight.
Less Filling:
Ned Yost–For the first time since Torres took over the closer role, Yost went with lefty Brian Shouse against a lefty to lead off the 9th inning. Shouse walked Eithier, so then Torres came in with a runner on base instead of starting the inning clean. Most closers do not perform as well in that situation. If Torres is your guy, you run him out there regardless of who is coming up. Torres made some decent pitches but had some grounders find holes in the defense and holes in J.J.’s glove. He did also walk one batter. The players (Shouse, Torres, J.J.) had chances to make plays, but Ned did not put them in the best position to succeed there.
Brian Anderson/Jeff Cirillo–I don’t get why the announcers kept saying this was an instant classic and the best game of the year. How does a blown save caused by poor managing, walks, and an error equate to a well-played game? I realize there were some great catches and a couple dramatic hits by Hardy, but we blew chance after chance and tried to blow ‘em some more. That game was 5-6 great plays (catches in outfield and two hits by Hardy) and a bunch of bad baseball (error, key walks, leaving men on base, outs on the bases, grounding into DP’s, bad managing decisions). Not what I would call a great game. Suspenseful yes, but not a well-played game.
Brewers (5) @ Padres (2) 8/12 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Jeff Suppan–Took full advantage of the pitcher-friendly dimensions at Petco Park. He pounded the strike zone and dared the Padre hitters to try to elevate the ball and hit it far enough to go out. He gave up two solo home runs and a couple others that went for deep outs, but only allowed 4 hits in 8 innings. He’s been a much better pitcher in August and September in his career and he is showing that again this year.
Prince Fielder–He hit that ball out to right about as hard as you can hit a ball. He generates so much power when he goes all out like that. He’s been on a tear for the past couple weeks and has increased it even more since that dugout fracas.
Mike Cameron–This blog was quoted on the MLB.com front page only 3 day ago with a statement that Cameron is a streaky player and needs to be playing every day during this hot streak (article originally published 8/6). Cameron’s certainly proving me right on that one. Picked up two more hits including his second home run in 5 games since I made that statement.
Less Filling:
J.J. Hardy–Grounded into two double plays, including one in a bases loaded no out situation in the 7th. The Brewers were only up 4-2 at that time, and tack on runs are huge. Hardy was fortunate the Padres committed an error on the next play to allow one run to score, otherwise he would have been largely responsible for the Brewers not scoring with the bases loaded and no one out.
Brewers (5) vs. Nationals (4) 8/10 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Mike Rivera–Nearly single-handedly kept the Brewers alive in a game they should have lost. Three walks and a couple hits including a three run double to tie it up in the 8th. He’s hitting about 80 points higher than Kendall this year, yet Ned apparently thinks he should play once every three weeks. I don’t think he’d keep up that pace over a full season as a full-timer, but at least one start a week, especially in the dog days of summer, should be the standard.
Gabe Kapler–Well on his way to a Less Filling appearance after going 0 for his first 6 with 3 strikeouts and 6 men left on base. But then he goes and does something like that…..and totally redeems himself.
Manny Parra–He’d struggled in his last handful of starts, but came out and was rock solid today. He certainly deserved a better fate after going 7 strong innings.
Less Filling:
Eric Gagne–Ahh, Eric. He’d been doing so well lately. I was watching the 8th inning today and Gagne had 2 outs with no one on and 2 strikes on Ryan Zimmerman. I went to change my little boy’s diaper and come back to find its all of a sudden 4-1. He’s turning into Turnbow from last year. Go 4-5 outings in a row and be good, and then all of a sudden blow up and allow 3 runs or more. When he blows up, he really blows up. Hopefully he can get things straightened out (again) unlike Turnbow last year.
J.J. Hardy–A very tough 0 for 6 with three strikeouts. And his strikeout with the bases loaded and one out in the 10th could have cost the Brewers the game. Luckily the rest of the bullpen was rock solid and Kapler came through in the 13th.
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