Results tagged ‘ Sabathia ’
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 (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 (9) vs. Astros (3) 8/18 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
CC Sabathia–Had to work a little harder to get outs, but came through with another sparkling performance. Plus he added a couple big runs with his bat. Not something that you plan on with any pitcher, but when they can make positive contributions at the plate it is only a good thing.
Corey Hart–Narrowly missed a two home run day but “settled” for three hits including a double and home run, 3 RBI, and 2 runs scored. His average is slowly creeping back up toward .300. If Corey can pick up some of the slack if Braun misses more time that would be huge.
Ray Durham–3 hits including a couple doubles and also drove in 3 runs. Its good to know that if Weeks can’t go, we don’t have to rely on Counsell every day at second.
Jason Kendall–2 for 3 with a walk and 3 runs scored. His hits weren’t exactly screamers, but they got the job done.
Less Filling:
Ned Yost–Apparently he’s trying to maintain a permanent place in the Less Filling section. I hate to bring it up since we’re winning, but is Ned Yost’s brain freezing up like it did down the stretch last year? First he brings Shouse in to start the 9th inning on Saturday instead of your closer Torres. Then he inexplicably pitches to Manny Ramirez in the 7th inning yesterday. And now he throws CC out there to run his pitch count up to 130 in the 9th inning of a 7 run game. I mean what benefit comes from putting CC out there again? It saves the bullpen? Haven’t we heard over and over how rested they are lately? So you’d rather have CC run the risk of getting burnt out than Mota pitching on a ton of rest? He allowed CC to load the bases twice in the 9th inning of a blowout win, yet didn’t take him out. Its these kinds of in-game decisions that he started screwing up last year when the pressure got on in August and September, and it looks like its starting again.
Brewers (7) @ Padres (1) 8/13 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
CC Sabathia–Starting to run out of superlatives to describe the job CC has done this year. This is the first time since his first start (perhaps the Cubs game as well) where you could say CC didn’t have his A+ stuff. He had more like B+ stuff today, but that is good enough for 7 innings and only 1 run. The way he’s pitching right now you just wonder how anyone can score a run off him.
Corey Hart–Picking up the slack for his injured outfield mate Ryan Braun. Came through big with 3 hits, including the bases clearing triple that broke the game open in the 5th.
Prince Fielder–Somewhat quietly he’s catching up to Braun for the home run lead on the team. You get the feeling he could hit 12 or 15 home runs this month or next. He just needs to keep making solid contact and not worrying about killing the ball every time. You just hope he doesn’t fall into the trap of trying to hit home runs every at bat and lose sight of being a good hitter.
Less Filling:
There were a few guys that struggled, but when you win 7 to 1 on the road it is a pretty good overall team effort.
Brewers (5) vs. Nationals (0) 8/8 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
CC Sabathia–With every win down the stretch this year he’s adding a couple million dollars to the contract he’ll sign in the off-season. The Brewers have basically zero chance of re-signing him, but it sure is fun to have him while we can. His 4 complete games in only 7 games with the Brewers already puts him in first in the National League.
J.J. Hardy–Good to see him stay hot despite a poor decision by Ned to give him a day off after breaking his long slump. Also good to see that home run coming to right center. Usually a sign a hitter is pretty locked in and perhaps ready to break out.
Mike Cameron–The two walks with no strikeouts are just as encouraging as the home run in my opinion. He needs to play every day for a while here as he is a very streaky hitter and you gotta ride him while he’s hot.
Less Filling:
Ned Yost–As promised, he’ll remain here until Kendall gets a day off. Kendall by the way went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts and 4 left on base.
Brewers (4) @ Braves (2) 8/2 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
CC Sabathia–The Fox broadcasting team of Marty Brennaman and Eric Karros referred to him as the best pitcher in the game right now. I agree. Who is better than CC right now? No one. His acquisition by the Brewers looks more and more like a coup, especially how early they were able to get him.
Prince Fielder–Provided basically all the offense tonight with his pair of home runs. Both were huge as the first one tied it at 1 and got the Brewers off the schnide, while the second one provided needed insurance. It was only a week ago I made the following observation: “Prince Fielder–Is heating up; is a home run binge far behind?” Prophetic!
Jason Kendall–Came through with a big 2 out RBI double in the 7th to put the Brewers on top. I still think he needs a day off (and should have gotten one 2 or 3 days ago), but it was good to see him actually hit the ball hard.
Less Filling:
Brewers offense not named Prince Fielder–Combined to go 3 for 29 and make a guy with a 7 ERA look like the second coming of Walter Johnson. Also only drew 2 walks as a team. As I’ve said before, the inconsistency of this offense (4, 1, 2, 4, 9, 4 runs in last six games) will be its downfall.
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 (3) @ Cardinals (0) 7/23 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
CC Sabathia–One of the most dominating performances of the year for any pitcher. The Cardinals had no shot against CC tonight. It was a pretty significant package we gave up for him, but he sure has paid off so far.
Ryan Braun–Oh how I love thee, let me count the ways. There’s certainly been no post All-Star/Home Run Derby slump for Ryan. He’s gotten stronger. Showed incredible power and ability to hit to all fields. Also showed the speed that could make him a 30/30 performer if he ever learned how to be a base-stealer and wasn’t kept in place by hitting in front of Prince.
JJ Hardy–In a tight battle with Braun to see who’s the hotter hitter since the All-Star break. His home run opened the floodgates a bit and you could feel that with CC on the mound he’d make it hold up.
Rickie Weeks–Has really been heating up lately. Maybe the Durham trade will serve as the kick in the pants he got last year by being sent down.
Less Filling:
Corey Hart–Not often that he appears here, but left 7 men on base. Doesn’t look good since the break.
Brewers (9) @ Giants (1) 7/18 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
CC Sabathia–Has been flat-out amazing since coming to the Brewers. Threw his second complete game and collected another extra-base hit.
Brewers offense–Every single player collected at least one hit, including the pitcher CC. Knocked out 11 hits total, also drew 5 walks, and delivered 8 extra-base hits.
Less Filling:
None–Sure there were mistakes, but this was just a well-rounded baseball game. Need more like that.
Brewers (3) vs. Reds (2) 7/13 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
CC Sabathia–That’s why we got him folks!! A true ace, a stopper, a stud. And he also hit his second home run of the year. What’s next, is he gonna lime the field before the game and rake the infield?
And we’ll end the first half of the year with no Less Filling entry. The Brewers did a nice job staying with this game and manufacturing the run at the end when they needed it. 5 games out of first place, and only half a game out of the Wild Card. Consistent hitting with higher on-base percentages is going to be the key to the second half. Look for some individual player breakdowns and a first half recap in the next couple of days.
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