Pi-Rats @ The Crew

[Turk Nowitzki]

How the **** is it 6-0 before I even remember to turn the game on? What the ****?

Davies is throwing 90 mph junk which is exactly what I was afraid of when we traded for him.

Suppan mode activated.

[wichmae]

Davies is leaving pitches up which has been his problem all year. No matter how much salt Twirly has for Davies he's still a much better pitcher than weve seen this year. Something mechanically must be wrong. Probably wouldnt be a bad idea to have him go down to Biloxi and work on things.

[Prickle]

Davies has been garbage this year. Is it purely mechanical, or is it because MLB hitters are now on to him? Probably a mixture of both. Garza is sh*t, always was sh*t, and will continue to be sh*t for as long as he's on the team, as far as I can see. The jury is still out on Guerra this year, but it wouldn't be a stretch to think that he (like Davies) benefitted from his anonymity last season, and will face his share of struggles this year as well. So far, it's been the Anderson and Nelson show - they both have been very pleasant surprises, and key contributors to the team's success thus far. Can they keep it up? We better hope so, because none of the other starters seem capable of consistently getting past the 5th inning. And we all know how great our bullpen is....

[Prickle]

Something must also be said about the team's situational hitting of late - it's been atrocious. Hits with RISP are great, but useful outs with RISP are equally important. The Brewers have had so many runners at 3rd, with 0 or 1 out, that have failed to score, it's becoming an epidemic. I know this team is in love with the long ball, but sometimes you just need to swallow your pride, shorten up, and do whatever it takes to put the ball in play. It's pretty annoying to watch batters continue to swing for the fences and strike out, when all they need to do to score a run is MAKE CONTACT. HIT IT ANYWHERE!!!

[El Duderino]

Something must also be said about the team's situational hitting of late - it's been atrocious. Hits with RISP are great, but useful outs with RISP are equally important. The Brewers have had so many runners at 3rd, with 0 or 1 out, that have failed to score, it's becoming an epidemic. I know this team is in love with the long ball, but sometimes you just need to swallow your pride, shorten up, and do whatever it takes to put the ball in play. It's pretty annoying to watch batters continue to swing for the fences and strike out, when all they need to do to score a run is MAKE CONTACT. HIT IT ANYWHERE!!!

This is a high strikeout team as assembled. They lead the NL and by a comfortable margin.

It has nothing to do with the players being in love with home runs or not being able to swallow their pride to make contact more often. High strikeout hitters are high strikeout hitters, just as impatient low walk hitters are impatient low walk hitters.

Part of the reason guys like Santana and Thames K so much is that they take pitches a lot of pitches, especially ones on the corners because they are hard to hit. So they end up in lots of 2-2/3-2 type of counts, which leads to both a high amount of walks and strikeouts.

Broxton has struck out a ton everywhere he's played. If he could make contact more often he would. Has nothing to do with him being to selfish or a pride issue. This is who he is.

The Pirates who the Brewers just faced have the fewest strikeouts in the NL, but are 10th in runs scored. The Brewers are 5th in runs scored, but lead the NL in strikeouts. So yea, it would be nice if they didn't K so much and especially in certain spots, but this is a high strikeout roster and overall, it's been an effective offense.

[Prickle]

Something must also be said about the team's situational hitting of late - it's been atrocious. Hits with RISP are great, but useful outs with RISP are equally important. The Brewers have had so many runners at 3rd, with 0 or 1 out, that have failed to score, it's becoming an epidemic. I know this team is in love with the long ball, but sometimes you just need to swallow your pride, shorten up, and do whatever it takes to put the ball in play. It's pretty annoying to watch batters continue to swing for the fences and strike out, when all they need to do to score a run is MAKE CONTACT. HIT IT ANYWHERE!!!

This is a high strikeout team as assembled. They lead the NL and by a comfortable margin.

It has nothing to do with the players being in love with home runs or not being able to swallow their pride to make contact more often. High strikeout hitters are high strikeout hitters, just as impatient low walk hitters are impatient low walk hitters.

Part of the reason guys like Santana and Thames K so much is that they take pitches a lot of pitches, especially ones on the corners because they are hard to hit. So they end up in lots of 2-2/3-2 type of counts, which leads to both a high amount of walks and strikeouts.

Broxton has struck out a ton everywhere he's played. If he could make contact more often he would. Has nothing to do with him being to selfish or a pride issue. This is who he is.

The Pirates who the Brewers just faced have the fewest strikeouts in the NL, but are 10th in runs scored. The Brewers are 5th in runs scored, but lead the NL in strikeouts. So yea, it would be nice if they didn't K so much and especially in certain spots, but this is a high strikeout roster and overall, it's been an effective offense.

"It has nothing to do with the players being in love with home runs or not being able to swallow their pride to make contact more often."

First of all.....you don't know this. Every player is looking to put up numbers - it's the nature of the beast. This may be especially true for young players looking to make a name for themselves (basically the entire Brewers roster). A sac fly or groundout will never be as appealing as a HR or RBI double to a young player. Sometimes you need to put the team ahead of your own personal stats, and this may not always be an easy thing for players to do, especially young players. Judging by some of the swings I'm seeing......it isn't.

The point is: Situational hitting requires players to take a different approach to the at-bat. This shouldn't be too much to ask from Major League hitters. I get that this team is a bomb or bust type squad, and they K at a high rate. It's called shortening up your swing, and it's nothing new to people who've played baseball their entire life. A high strikeout hitter can greatly reduce his strikeout probability by simply focusing on making contact, as opposed to trying to hit the ball hard. This approach might reduce his chances of getting a hit, much less a homerun, but can GREATLY increase the chances of the team scoring a run in that particular SITUATION. Yet I'm seeing way too many huge swings and misses during at-bats where all that is necessary is to simply put bat on ball - where even a soft grounder to short or second will score the run. Yes, the Brewers offense has won a lot of games this year by mashing, but they've also lost a number of games because of failure to execute situational hitting - they've failed to manufacture runs. They've failed to cash in on runs that were basically given to them. Anyone that knows baseball, knows that your outs can be just as productive as your hits. Many times, how you get your outs has an even greater effect on the game than your hits.

Mashing the ball and manufacturing runs are not mutually exclusive traits. The great teams do both. The Brewers already have a team that can crush the ball - which is the hardest part to find. The ability to cash in on runs (with situational hitting) that are there for the taking? That's the easy part - it's all about fundamentals.

[Iheartfootball]

I'm bracing myself. This series might be the Brewers regression to the mean.

Or not. I'm a crazy fan so I have to temper my first place expectations.

[blazza18]

Why not just use pinch hitter for Guerra there?

[trwi7]

Brian talking about the Pirates heading to Potawatomi with how lucky they've been. No mention of Guerra going there. He's pitching like complete **** and has only given up one run.

[Iheartfootball]

Trotting out Drake over Hader? Hmmmm...

[Iheartfootball]

Dude. Barnes is such a meathead.

[Ryan5UW]

Damn that kid can play some defense.

[blazza18]

Arcia with a hell of a play to win it.

[BUCKnation]

holy **** Arcia

[ReasonablySober]

That was insane.

[Flap Jackson]

I heart Arcia!

[LittleRooster]

Wow


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[H2tObes]

He makes a great play every game. Love Arcia

[bizarro]

Man, just saw that play to seal the 'W'. Arcia is incredible in the field. What a play!

[treego]

Well, we are pretty close to clinching the FIRST-HALF-Pennant! This is 1981, right?