August 2011
Brewers vs. Cardinals Series Preview
By Curt Hogg
The St. Louis Cardinals will come into Miller Park for a three-game set starting Tuesday, trailing the Brewers by 10 1/2 games for first place in the NL Central.
Probable starters: Tuesday: Edwin Jackson (3-2, 3.99) vs. Shaun Marcum (11-4, 3.38); Wednesday: Jake Westbrook (10-8, 4.75) vs. Randy Wolf (11-8, 3.37); Thursday: Brandon Dickson (0-0, 0.00) vs. Yovani Gallardo (15-8, 3.37)
Tony LaRussa arguing. Anybody surprised?
Plug Out LaRussa
It seems that every time Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa is in a tough spot, he diverts the attention to the other team. Last time in Milwaukee, he accused the Brewers of stealing signs, changing the lighting in the stadium, and called Brewers fans “idiots”. This upset catcher Jonathan Lucroy, but he may have been the only one to publicly come out and criticize the Cardinals skipper.
Prince Fielder, the leader of the team, has said he is over the fighting and the Brewers are focused on beating the Cards and extending their division lead. I wouldn’t be too worried about LaRussa getting into the team’s heads in this series.
If you want to hear the FUNNIEST thing ever, listen to this.
Keep Albert Down
Of course everybody who has seen a handful of Cardinals games would say that keeping the bat of Albert Pujols is key to winning, but there is more to it this time.
Pujols only has one RBI in the team’s last seven games and is in a rare period of being unproductive. He had a few big hits in Pittsburgh over the weekend, including a triple, but has not homered since August 21 against Chicago. As Pujols goes, so do the Cards. In the last 12 games in which he has homered, St. Louis is 11-1, with the one loss coming in extra innings to Pittsburgh. Dating back to July17, in games in which Pujols has not gone deep, the Cardinals are 10-19.
Does that say enough?
Welcome the New Guy
Brandon Dickson, Thursday’s probable starter for St. Louis, will be making his first Major League start. The Brewers have never seen him before, and typically do well against these pitchers. The first time through the order may be rough for the Brewers bats, but experienced hitters like Hart, Braun, and Fielder will make adjustments.
Dickson throws a good curve to mix in with an above-average velocity fastball. His strikeout numbers in the Minor Leagues show that he could do damage to the Brewers. Statistically, Milwaukee does worst against “power pitchers” that strike out a lot of hitters.
The Brewers need to get to Dickson early on and not give the Cardinals a chance late in the game.
Desco, Yadi, and Schu
You say “what the hell does that mean, Curt”? I say “Look at who did the most damage last week at Miller Park for the Cards. Desco, Yadi, and Schu.” And don’t forget the pitcher.
Daniel Descalso, Yadier Molina, and Skip Schumaker are the X-Factors to the St. Louis Cardinals offense. Sure, we know what the top five in LaRussa’s batting order can do, but holding the bottom of the order down makes the job a lot easier for Brewers pitching. Furcal, Jay, Pujols, Holliday, and Berkman can put up crooked numbers on the scoreboard, and that’s only five-ninths of this lineup. Keep an eye on the bottom three in the Cards’ order, even though Molina will be sitting out Tuesday’s game due to his suspension.
Predicting the Brewers Playoff Roster & Eligibility Rules
By Curt Hogg
With Milwaukee 10 1/2 games up with under a month left now and the team still playing red-hot baseball, it’s a good time to look at who will make the Playoff roster. But before I start, I’ll go over the eligibility rules for the Playoff roster.
At first glance, the regulations seem very convoluted to fans. It turns out to make more sense as September passes, and justifies many moves clubs make throughout prior to the September pennant chase.
The key date is approaching rapidly, August 31. To be eligible for a team’s playoff roster a player must be on either a)the 25 man active roster, b)the disabled list, c)the bereavement list, d)the suspended list as of August 31st at midnight EST. This does not allow teams to keep September call ups that performed well at the Big League level on the roster, nor does it permit post-August 31 waiver wire trades. The Brewers ran into the latter situation in 2008 after acquiring Todd Coffey, who helped the team reach the Playoffs but could not pitch in the postseason.
As for injured players, if an eligible player is injured and unable to play a club can call up any player in the organization regardless of their roster status provided that the replacement player follows suit of position player for position player and pitcher for pitcher, the replacement player was in the organization as of the August 31st deadline and they finished the season in the organization, and they receive approval from the commissioner.
The Brewers currently, as do all teams, have 25 men active on their roster. They would also have Rickie Weeks and Carlos Gomez back from the disabled list in time, with Gomez on schedule to be taken off the DL on September 1 or 2. This would require the Brewers to open up two rosters spots for Gomez and Weeks.
It seems plausible and sensible to leave out third baseman Taylor Green, who was called up to the Brewers from AAA this past weekend and has yet to make his debut. With Jerry Hairston Jr.’s ability to play both infield and outfield, the move would make sense for the Brewers, who, with Hairston, have seven infielders on the roster. Milwaukee almost has to lose one position of its current 25-man roster and cannot leave off two pitchers for the Playoffs and Green seems to be the clear choice, unless he surprises with a great September.
With two players coming back from the DL, another currently-active player for the Brewers will not make the Playoff roster, barring any injuries. I think the clear choice is in reliever Frankie De La Cruz.
Though he has pitched well in his stint with Milwaukee, De La Cruz is still a rookie and hasn’t proven himself. The Brewers are carrying 12 pitchers, which is more than necessary with a four-man Playoff rotation that would see Chris Narveson go to the bullpen. Every bullpen role is locked for the team, and De La Cruz is the odd-man out. It would surprise more people to see him on the Playoff roster instead of off it.
Until recently when reliever Tim Dillard was sent to AAA to counteract the call-up of Green, it appeared that reserve infielder Josh Wilson may be the second man to miss out on the Playoff roster, but with another infielder now on the active roster, Wilson appears to be in good position to play in October. The timing of the move, however, is interesting. The Brewers did not wait until rosters expand September 1 to call up Green, who was hitting .336 with 22 homers and 88 RBI with AAA Nashville, so he is eligible for the Playoff roster. Whether or not their intention was to put him on that roster or simply to give him some more experience at the Big League level is to be determined.
Brewers 5, Cubs 2: Braun Leads Milwaukee to Comeback Win
By Curt Hogg
They say baseball is still a kid’s game, even at the Major League level. After Friday night’s events, Ryan Braun would concurrently agree.
Trailing 2-1 in the 5th, Braun doubled off the right field wall on a ball that, at first, appeared to be a three-run home run. Instead, he hustled into second base, and ended up scoring on Cubs second baseman Darwin Barney’s errant throw that went into the crowd at Miller Park.
“I don’t know if it was a home run or not. I think it ended up being a Little League home run, but either way, same result for us,” Braun said. “We scored three runs, so it worked out well.”
The play was much like one you would witness at your 10 year-old’s first game of the season–a well-struck ball by a star player followed by errors that lead to a skewed inside the park home run.
Barney’s two mistakes in the inning may have cost the Cubs the game.
After a single by Corey Hart to open up the 5th inning, Barney missed the tag of first base on a Nyjer Morgan sac bunt attempt, allowing Tony Plush to reach base as the go-ahead run. Then came the Braun double and two-base error that allowed Morgan and Braun to score, giving the Milwaukee a 4-2 lead.
The Brewers are now 48-16 at Miller Park, improving on their MLB-best home record, and remain 9 1/2 games ahead of the St. Louis Cardinals atop the NL Central. With wins by both the Brewers and Cardinals, the Magic Number drops to 21.
Starlin Castro hit the first lead-off home run of his career off Randy Wolf to open up the scoring and Jeff Baker’s RBI double in the third extended Chicago’s lead to 2-0, but that was all they would get off Wolf (11-8), who won his fifth straight game.
Wolf exited the game with two out and a man on second with a 4-2 lead. Takashi Saito struck out Castro to end the threat, and Prince Fielder added an insurance run with his 101st RBI on the season. Francisco Rodriguez pitched a perfect eighth with a strikeout, and John Axford held on to pick up his 35th consecutive save, 38th overall.
Cubs starter Rodrigo Lopez gave up four runs in six innings, all on two swings. George Kottaras’s solo home run into the Cubs bullpen got the Brewers on the board in the 4th before Braun’s big hit.
Chicago had a chance to tie the game late with Blake Dewitt facing Axford representing the tying run. After a prolonged at bat, DeWitt grounded out sharply to Fielder to end the game at almost the exact same moment that the Packers game ended on a Mason Crosby field goal.
Brewers Beast Mode Pics
LOL at Nyjer Morgan's expression. Priceless.
Here are some of the Brewers best Beast Mode pictures.
The "Sully" of the BrewTown Beasts.
One of the first beast mode sightings.
Hey Casey, why am I not intimidated by that not-so-beast-mode expression?
Brewers SWAT Team Won’t Win World Series, Pitching Will
A look at the Brewers offense would show you that this team could make the Playoffs and beyond on just their lineup and an average pitching staff.
The SWAT Team’s (Nyjer Morgan’s nickname for the offensive attack of the Brewers) sidekick holds the key to reaching the NLCS and the World Series, though let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.
After an abysmal 2009 and 2010 season for starting pitching in Milwaukee, GM Doug Melvin took to the market and traded for former Cy Young winner Zack Greinke and Blue Jays ace Shaun Marcum. In addition, Yovani Gallardo and Randy Wolf returned as the only bright spots from the 2010 rotation. With many skeptical about lefty Chris Narveson, he proved those wrong with a 9-6 record and 4.31 era in 2011.
In any Playoff series, manager Ron Roenicke would send out Greinke, Marcum, Gallardo, and Wolf (not in that order, particularly) with Narveson in the bullpen. The Brewers are trying this move out even in August with Narveson not scheduled to start in over two weeks. With the successes of Wolf and Marcum on the road, even without much road run support for these two, Roenicke should have Greinke, then Gallardo pitch the first two home games.
Not only does the SWAT team match up with any offense in the National League, but the pitching is equal, if not better. While I’m not going to go in depth on why the pitching is better, but Alec Dopp of Bleacher Report did.
Currently atop the National League, the Phillies rotation would be Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, and Roy Oswalt. Earlier in the season, Milwaukee beat Halladay and had Cliff Lee on the hook for the loss, showing they can beat the Phightin’s. A four-game series at Miller Park in September may be an NLCS preview.
They say “pitching wins in October”, and this is very true for Milwaukee. Even with Texas’ explosive hitting last year, their surprising pitching staff carried them to the World Series. This very much could be the case.
Carlos Gomez Injury Update
Brewers outfielder Carlos Gomez took a big step on Tuesday after taking full batting practice and slid into bases. This is the first time he has done so since fracturing his collarbone on July 20 in Arizona after making this phenomenal catch. (Skip ahead to 2:40 in the video)
With rosters expanding on September 1, Gomez insists that he will be back on the active roster by then, providing the Brewers with stellar defense and blazing speed. Whether or not that is true is to be determined, as he still has to be examined and complete a rehab assignment.
His DWAR (Defensive Wins Above Replacement)is a superb 1.1, especially considering he did not play every day and has missed a month. Gomez also has the higest Range Factor among all National League center fielders, further displaying his defensive abilities.
Nyjer Morgan Post Game Interview as Tony Gumble 8/24
After the Brewers 11-4 win over the Pirates, Telly Hughes interviews Tony Plush, who displayed Plushdamentals with a four-hit night, before Plush interviews Prince Fielder (P Dot). I’ll just let the video do the rest of the talking.
WE BROUGHT THAT SWAT!
Why Milwaukee Deserves a Winner
By Curt Hogg
The city of Milwaukee held a parade for the Brewers after the team lost the 1982 World Series in seven agonizing games to the St. Louis Cardinals.
That in itself could tell the whole story about sports in the city of Milwaukee, but we won’t end it there.
"Stinginess: How are you going to lure new talent? Beer and Cheese?"
Following the great run of Harvey’s Wallbangers came the years of mediocrity to misery to torture. Slowly the franchise’s former mantelpieces of Molitor, Cooper, Thomas, Fingers, Simmons, Vuckovich, Haas, Caldwell, and others split. In a 23-season stretch the team only finished higher than third in the division once. Rob Deer struck out a lot. Steve Sparks was the ace for a period of time. They switched to the National League and still lost. A new stadium couldn’t even change the team’s success as they lost 106 games in 2002, the second year of Miller Park.
As a young boy enduring the historically terrible years of 1999-2004, the years when baseball met my eyes and never left, it was hard to claim the Brewers as mine. But I did. Eight games or more a year, every year. Jose Hernandez missed grounders and struck out. Ronnie Belliard hit .200. Glendon Rusch got rocked. Luis Vizcaino blew leads. Hell, our beloved Racing Sausages got whacked. How much of this did I witness in person? All of it, even Randall Simon’s malevolence to the Italian.
Nor did Milwaukee gain the perception of a “baseball town” through those years. Only once did County Stadium, which lasted the first 31 years of Brewers baseball, draw more than 2 million fans in a season. The franchise had only seen eight winning seasons in its first 36 years.
The fans didn’t have a winner to root for; they had the Brewers, simply put.
However, now things are a bit different in the town formerly known primarily for its brewing industry.
CC Sabathia’s borderline-inhuman pitching over the second half of 2008 to lead the Brewers to the Playoffs is migrating to the back of the minds of Brewers fans. No longer does the winner-starving city look back upon 1982 and 2008 in the same light– what were formerly dwelling moments are now just good memories. A new cast of players has brought the national spotlight to Milwaukee and the troupe hasn’t backed away.
Nyjer Morgan, Prince Fielder, and Ryan Braun are on the cover of the August 29 edition of Sports Illustrated. Morgan’s alter ego Tony Plush has not only swept through Brewer Nation, but through the entire nation. Ask a baseball fan last season who Tony Plush is and they would respond like a high school dropout on Jeopardy; ask the same person this season, and they’ll tell you he’s the quirky gentleman alter-ego to Brewers centerfielder Nyjer Morgan.
Forget about the 90′s and early 2000′s rotations featuring forgettable pitchers such as Ricky Bones, Scott Karl, Brian Givens, Jason Snyder, and Paul Rigdon, the new-look, eccentric 2011 team sends out a cast of Yovani Gallardo, Cy Young winner Zack Greinke, Shaun Marcum, Randy Wolf, and Chris Narveson, all proven veterans at the Major League level. The bullpen features LaTroy Hawkins, K-Rod, Takashi Saito, and the dynamite, fu-manchu sporting closer John Axford.
Sitting a franchise-record 10 games ahead in first place in the National League Central, the Brewers appear destined for October baseball for only the fourth time in franchise history. Miller Park will be rocking, as it has been all season. The Brew Crew are an MLB best 47-16 at home and much of their success can be attributed to the fans.
“The atmosphere has been electric, it definitely helps the team out,” said Brewers manager Ron Roenicke after a sellout crowd filled Miller Park.
Tony LaRussa has had an issue with the Brewers’ home success, so much so that he has charged the Brewers with stealing signs and adjusting the lighting at Miller Park depending on which team was batting. Some baseball purists, referred to as “Plain-Jane Wonderbreads” by Morgan, like LaRussa have an issue with this loose Brewers club. The fans don’t.
Axford saves, Brewers fans rejoice.
Miller Park is packed every homestand, regardless of the opponent, with fans that have enamored themselves with their team, not the consistently inferior 90-plus loss teams that have plagued the Brewers history. A new team, bringing a new era to Milwaukee baseball with their winning record.
Milwaukee’s skyline isn’t exactly one whose image stays with those who view it, but the 2011 Brewers seem to have brightened it up more than ever before. The winner the city deserves is now a godsend.
Brewers 11, Pirates 4: Ten Games Up and It Feels So Sweet
Ryan Braun and Jerry Hairston congratulate Casey McGehee after hitting a two-run home run in the second that gave to give Milwaukee a 7-0 lead.
After Milwaukee’s convincing win behind a strong start from Marco Estrada, an offensive explosion, and Los Angeles’ blowout victory over the Cardinals, you can now just barely count the Brewers first-place lead on two hands.
In his best start with the team, Estrada (4-8) went seven strong innings, allowing only two runs with two strikeouts and no walks. The offense backed him up with a seven-run second inning in Pittsburgh.
After a Jonathan Lucroy RBI single to being the outburst, Estrada’s sac bunt turned into a two-base error on catcher Ryan Doumit as Jerry Hairston scored. Following up a Tony Plush RBI single to give the Brewers a 3-0 lead, Ryan Braun doubled over Andrew McCutchen’s head to score Estrada and Morgan, making it 5-0. With two men out, Casey McGehee capped off the pyrotechnics with a two-run home run to left, his second long ball in three days.
Prince Fielder drove in his 100th run to extend his NL lead in that category with a double in the 6th that scored Ryan Braun.
The Brewers will go ten games up in first place, setting a new franchise record for largest margin in front each time they win and the Cardinals lose. More importantly, their magic number will go down to 23, assuming the Dodgers hold on to an 11-0 lead over St. Louis out west.
Milwaukee improves their record away from the confines of Miller Park to 31-37. They have now won 10 of their last 12 games on the road.
Pittsburgh starter Ross Ohlendorf only struggled for the one inning, but he was desecrated by the “SWAT Team” of the Brewers offense enough in one inning to put the game seemingly out of reach against a sharp Estrada.
His changeup kept hitters off-balance but the command of his high 80′s-low 90′s fastball was what kept the Pirates in check. Batters weren’t swinging and missing at the changeup or slider with two strikes and the defense behind Estrada didn’t allow Pittsburgh to have any breathing room.
On the eve of the Sports Illustrated cover featuring Braun, Morgan, and Fielder, the 2-3-4 hitters for Milwaukee had 7 hits (4 for T. Plush), 5 RBI, 11 total bases, 5 walks, and scored four runs. Braun also stole two bases before being lifted after drawing a walk in the eighth inning for precautionary measures.
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