Results tagged ‘ Shouse ’
Brewers (3) @ Pirates (1) 8/29 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Dave Bush–Another solid outing for Bushie. He’s now lowered his ERA to 4.12 with his strong second half. I have to admit, I didn’t think he had it in him.
Ryan Braun–Starting to carry the team a bit. His first inning three-run home run provided the only offense for the Brewers.
Bullpen–It seems like they’re either rock solid or blow up with crooked numbers. Tonight they were rock solid with Shouse, Gagne, and Torres getting the job done.
Less Filling:
Brewers offense–Thank God for Ryan Braun in this one or it would have been a 4 hit shutout. The Brewers offense has been madingly inconsistent this year as evidenced by the last three games. Go off for 12 against the Cards in the first game, then get three early against them the next only to go in a hole, and then do the same thing today.
Prince Fielder–His average has dipped to .268 and despite hitting 6 home runs this month, he hasn’t hit one since August 13th. He’s been chipping in with RBI’s periodically, but he’s still not on pace for 100 RBI on the year all of his numbers are down considerably from last year. I didn’t expect another 50 home run season, but this year’s numbers would have been on the low end of what I’d expect. Also, his defense continues to be attrocious and he committed yet another error last night, his 13th on the year
Brewers (7) @ Giants (4) 7/20 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Manny Parra–Took a shutout into the 8th inning with a pretty low pitch count, but ran out of gas a bit and ended up going 7 2/3 allowing only 2 late runs. Also picked up a hit, marking the 5th straight game in which a Brewers pitcher has gotten a hit. Who knew!?!
Ryan Braun–I feel a heat wave coming on and it shall be called Ryan Braun. Finished off a series where he went 6 for 13 with 2 doubles, 2 triples, and a home run to go along with 5 RBI. Stole a base, walked once, and made a nice sliding catch in yesterday’s game also. What Derby hangover??
Rickie Weeks & JJ Hardy–Were on base a combined 5 times and scored 4 times. It really helps when the top of the order can get on to set up the boppers.
Less Filling:
Bottom of the order–At a time when the top of the order is heating up (Weeks, Hardy, Braun, Fielder), the bottom of the order is cooling off considerably. Kendall’s average has dipped into the .250 range, Cameron is still struggling along around .235, and Branyan’s average has nosedived to .243. Good thing the pitchers have been producing at the bottom lately:)
Brian Shouse–Once again the bullpen, Shouse in this case, took what should have been a relaxing day for Solomon Torres and turned it into a save situaiton. With a 5 run lead in the 9th the closer should be able to rest and get ready for a huge 4 game series against the team directly above you in the standings. Instead he is forced to throw 15-20 pitches in the bullpen and come into a stressful save situation. Granted he only had to get one out, but it was a stressful out nonetheless. That’s about 3 or 4 times that’s happened now since Torres took over. I know he’s got a rubber arm, but it’d still be nice not to have to worry about over-working him. Plus the more times you put yourselves in that situation, the bigger chance something like 5-0 turning into 6-5 happens.
Brewers (5) @ Diamondbacks (6) 7/3 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
JJ Hardy–What a streak!! Another home run and a couple scorched doubles to go along with a single.
Mike Cameron–Starting to swing the bat better lately. He’s always been a slow starter, and hopefully he’s ready to heat up again.
Parra–Pitched pretty well and obviously should have gotten the win. Once slight complaint though is he managed to get his pitch count up there and had to be pulled after 6 innings. That meant the bullpen needed to be stretched out and we saw what happened.
Gagne, Stetter–Both have had their issues earlier this year, but it was nice to see them both pitch good and hopefully get back on track.
Less Filling:
Mota/Shouse/Torres–I know its kind of something you just gotta chalk up to a once in a million time and move on, but this was a disgusting loss. You have a chance to beat one of the best pitchers in the league, have a winning road trip, and rest your closer. But instead the unthinkable happens. These three combined for face seven hitters and gave up 6 hits, 1 walk, 6 runs, and got NO FRICKIN’ OUTS!!!
Brewers (7) vs. Diamondsbacks (1) 6/3 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Seth McClung–rebounded from a rough outing last time out and pitched 6 strong innings, allowing a few hits but no walks. Also picked up his first two Major League hits–off Randy Johnson no less. Seems to have cemented his spot in the rotation. Now just needs to build up the arm strength to go 7+ innings on occassion.
Ryan Braun–his towering home run sparked the once stagnant Brewers offense. Also made a nice catch in the left and threw a guy out on a very nice play at second.
Prince Fielder–Prince is heating up with the weather. 10-12 homers is a possibility this month.
JJ Hardy–He’s starting to get back to what I would expect out of him: .255-.265 batting average, ending up with 12-15 homers, 60-70 RBI, and playing solid defense.
Bullpen–Dillard and Shouse combined to go 3 innings and allowed only 1 walk with no hits. Shouse picked up the two-inning save.
Less Filling:
Bill Hall–Oh Billy. I find it hard to understand how a guy that is hitting and fielding terribly, and has been for a year and a half, can complain about being platooned. Rather than acknowledge his problems and actually correct them, he has his agent go to the media and complain about reduced playing time. I said in the off-season we should have traded him when he had value and we could have gotten rid of his salary. Now we’re stuck with a guy getting paid like an All-Star who is producing like crap. I and others shouldn’t have been surprised though; outside of two seasons he hasn’t produced on the professional level in the minors (.264 BA in minors) or the other 4 years in the majors. And then of course he goes out yesterday and ingratiates himself well to the already non-impressed crowd by striking out in his first two at-bats.
Mike Cameron–0 for 3 with 3 strikeouts and a walk. Ouch. As a total streak hitter though I’d still expect him to be at his career averages by the end of the season, plus he’s playing great defense.
Brewers (7) @ Red Sox (11) 5/18 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Ryan Braun–Braunie is here not only because he hit two more homers and drove in 4, but also because he finally spoke up when others (including the manager and the “team leader” Prince Fielder) wouldn’t. Braun called the Brewers out for having defeatist attitudes and not playing up to their potential. He said its time to quit talking about trying hard, its time to win. A pretty damning indictment of the clubhouse and Ned Yost, but it needed to be said long ago.
Mike Cameron–Hit the ball well, but did continue his strikeout streak.
Rickie Weeks–Was on base a couple times and hit the ball hard on another out. Looks like he is starting to come around.
JJ Hardy–Broke a pretty long homerless streak and a pretty long RBI drought as well. We can’t have JJ going 5, 6, 7 games without a RBI like has happened multiple times this year.
Less Filling:
Prince Fielder–He finally hit a home run, but did nothing else to help the team and hurt them multiple times. Dropped a very easy throw from JJ that set up a big inning by the Sox. Booted another ball later that could have gotten the lead runner, but instead had to settle for an out at first but not before almost getting Shouse steamrolled. Oh, and in his three other at-bats that he didn’t hit a home run…..all 3 strikeouts. He is not providing the leadership he did last year when the team was rolling. Its easy to be a leader when things are going great, its a little harder when things aren’t going so well.
Carlos Villanueva–Like many of the Brewers players, just when he starts to show that he can get the job done, he reverts right back to his crappy ways. Allowed only 5 hits in his 4 innings, but also allowed 3 walks and wasn’t able to make pitches when it counted. Two more home runs allowed raised his number to 12 homers allowed in only 9 starts. On pace for 43 homers allowed on the season!?!
The rest of the pitching staff–The rest of the staff allowed 5 earned runs in 4 innings of work led by feel-good story Mark DiFelice. After toiling in the minors for 11 years he finally got the call………and proceeded to allow 5 hits and 3 runs in one inning of work. He won’t be very long in the majors if he keeps that kind of stuff up.
Tony Gwynn, Jr.–After a solid start he has tumbled. He is hitless in his last 11 at-bats, and only 3 for his last 24. His average has dropped to .219 on the year and he is in danger of joining the .200 Club.
Bill Hall–Pretty much a constant here. A couple more strikeouts yesterday including another backwards K. Also ole’ed a ball hit to third. A tough play on a hot shot, but didn’t even attempt to get his body in front of it. As Lou Brown so eloquently put it: “Come on Dorn, get in front of the damn ball! Don’t give me this “olé” bullshit!”
Brewers (5) vs. Cardinals (3) 5/11 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Happy Mother’s Day to my mom, my wife, and all the mother’s out there!
Jeff Suppan–That’s the kind of effort we needed out of him last time out and going forward. He needs to step up and pitch like the Number 2 starter he now is. 7 innings and only 1 run. He did flirt with danger a bit by walking 5 in the first couple innings, but the Cardinals made 4 outs on the bases to help him out of it.
Ryan Braun–35-40 homers a year looks like the rule not the exception. He seems to make such good contact so often, even if he gets under the ball a bit sometimes.
Corey Hart–Just keeps producing.
JJ Hardy–3 for 4 yesterday and has quietly raised his average to .260 after starting the year out pretty poorly. Starting to settle into that 7 spot.
Less Filling:
Bill Hall–His average did finally dip below .200 and he becomes a full-fledged member of the .200 Club, joining Rickie Weeks (.193) and Mike Cameron (.174). Billy did make a very nice play on the Glaus liner to double off Pujols.
Bullpen–Even though Gagne has been removed from the closer role, the last couple innings still provided too much excitement. Riske, Torres, and Shouse had been pretty solid lately but allowed a couple runs and too many baserunners before closing it out.
Brewers (1) vs. Phillies (3) 4/24 — Tastes Great, Less Filling
Tastes Great:
Gotta start with the starter…Jeff Suppan. Pitched an excellent game. Was pretty efficient despite not having the greatest stuff today. Went 7 strong innings and threw only 92 pitches. Only threw 51 strikes though, so again didn’t have his best stuff. But gutted out a nice performance that should have put his team in position to win. 3 double play balls always help of course.
Ryan Braun–seems to be breaking out of his slump. Was 3 for 4 today with a double, raising his average to .270.
Bill Hall–welcome to the positive side of Tastes Great, Less Filling. After dropping his average into the .170s he came back with 3 for 4 game today. Need production out of his spot in the order.
Less Filling:
What’s going on on the basepaths lately. Three runners thrown out on the bases today, including Hart making the first out at third and two guys getting picked off. And somehow in the 4th inning we had a double, single, and walk and ended up not scoring while leaving only one guy on base. Two outs on the bases in one inning just can’t happen.
Speaking of leaving guys on, 17 left on base today. In the 7th we had 1st and 3rd with no outs and later bases loaded with one out and couldn’t score. Just unacceptable for Gwynn to K there and for Rickie to take a 3rd strike. That was the swinging point in the game.
Riske–Gets two strikeouts and looks like he’s cruising only to give up the dreaed two out walk. And guess what, it comes around to score after he gives up a single (although Yost shoulda put Shouse in to face Utley there) then a 0-2, 2 out double to Burrell. And that’s your ballgame folks.
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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