Wednesday's Frosty Mug

by KLSnow on May 21, 2008 9:16 AM CDT

Before yesterday's game, Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke? posted the following:

I don't know if there's a team in baseball in a worse tailspin than the Brewers are right now. They've lost five in a row, their rotation is in shambles after Yovani Gallardo's injury, their bullpen is mostly a mess, and players are openly criticizing each other in the media. A sweep at the hands of the lowly Pirates may very well be Ned Yost's last stand. Today they're sending Manny Parra out to the hill. He's a decent prospect, but he's been really bad so far this year. He'll face off agains Paul Maholm, who always benefits from the giant left-field at PNC Park. Ready to be tantalizingly close to .500 again?

Apparently they weren't.

Win Expectancy Graph
(BR Box Scores are having technical difficulties this morning)
BDD Recaps

Still more reaction to the firing that wasn't: Apparently Ned had a conversation with reporters yesterday that was somewhere between a "mild tirade/venting session" and "a furious Ned Yost," depending on who you ask. Two-Fisted Slopper also has a reaction that should not be missed.

As noted in the Fanshots, Seth McClung has been moved into the rotation, taking the place of Carlos Villanueva. I'm not arguing the decision, but it's proof that baseball can be a funny game sometimes. The Brewers opened camp with Ben Sheets, Jeff Suppan, Yovani Gallardo, Dave Bush, Carlos Villanueva, Manny Parra, Claudio Vargas, Chris Capuano, Zach Jackson and others on the roster, and have since signed Jeff Weaver. Less than a month ago there were those arguing that McClung shouldn't even be on the roster. Who would've guessed he'd start a game before the All Star Break?

We probably won't know more specifics until later today, but Eric Gagne left last night's game with ~~an inability to throw strikes~~ shoulder stiffness.

Jim Powell's most recent blog covers the "PNC Curse," Gagne, McClung, Dale Sveum, Ryan Braun, salmon and Braveheart.

Beyond the Box Score says the Brewers have played a much tougher schedule than their NL Central rivals, and should not be counted out.

The Brewers remained steady at 17 in the most recent Bugs and Cranks Power Rankings.

On injuries:

Gary Bennett hit his home run off Ben Sheets while suffering from plantar fasciitis, which has since landed him on the DL.
A's reliever Andrew Brown is on the DL following an emergency appendectomy.
Mets OF Ryan Chruch got his second concussion of 2008 last night sliding to break up a double play.
Derek Jeter is day to day after being hit by a pitch and being gorilla press slammed by a Bizarro Ray.
Twins IF Matt Tolbert had surgery to repair a torn ligament in his thumb and will miss 4-5 weeks.

This was the first thing today to make me laugh out loud: Hire Jim Essian is not impressed with Mark DeRosa's blog and has some fun with the comments it generates, like this one, for example:

Mark,
I believe.

Another thing you do is "suck."

Earlier this week, Jon Lester, a cancer survivor, pitched a no-hitter. On Friday, Doug Davis will become baseball's newest cancer survivor when he returns to the D-Backs rotation.

Mike Piazza announced his retirement yesterday. UmpBump is encouraging us all to enjoy, one last time, his unfortunate facial hair.

Oh, and here's a story from Paul Depodesta about scouts being top secret by reporting on players from porta potties.

Drink up.

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Good piece on the schedule

We have had a brutal schedule so far while the Cubs and Cards have been have it much easier. Makes me think that the Brew Crew can get back into this race as long as we start hitting and can get some nice pitching from our starters. I think our bullpen will be ok (minus Gagne) if they aren’t as overworked as they have been so far. I’m really intrigued by the idea of trading for a starter sometime before the deadline. It will be a bit before we get to that point but it will be an interesting situation.

Can't pitch Gagne in rain. He’s like the B-2 bomber of baseball.--TheJay

by verno329 on May 21, 2008 11:36 AM CDT 0 recs

I'm not ready to accept the schedule as an excuse.

I’m just not. Right now, this team has:

A) 2 regulars hitting under .210, including one batting leadoff.
B) 2 members of the starting rotation with an ERA of 6 or more (counting Villy).
C) 9 blown saves as a team.

If you were to rank the problems facing the Brewers, would you say “strength of schedule” is more important than any of those three stats? I wouldn’t.

by KLSnow on May 21, 2008 1:42 PM CDT up 0 recs

but the schedule isn't independent

certainly, those .210s wouldn’t become .310s against an easier schedule, but they might become .230s. Same with the others.

No one thing is an all-encompassing reason or “excuse,” but the schedule is certainly a non-negligible factor.

Also, cheese.

by Jeff Sackmann on May 21, 2008 2:01 PM CDT up 0 recs

I agree those problems are much more important

The tough schedule to me isn’t a reason why we are struggling but something that can give me hope for the future. If we can solve at least some of the issues that you highlighted then all is not lost. A weaker schedule can mean that ground can be made up once we get good consistent hitting throughout the lineup and better performances from our starters. The bullpen is doing ok (again, minus Gagne) and will be better if they aren’t getting overused. Hopefully Villy can give us some of the same performances from the ‘pen that he did in the first half.

Can't pitch Gagne in rain. He’s like the B-2 bomber of baseball.--TheJay

by verno329 on May 21, 2008 2:28 PM CDT up 0 recs

And

isn’t it possible that playing “weaker” opponents, with worse pitching staffs and less successful hitters, would lead to better performances by our own struggling hitters and pitchers, thus driving up our stats? I mean, super small sample sizes be damned, last night against the Pirates seemed to provide a major cure for whatever was ailing (again, aside from Gagne). Well, and Prince who put up an 0-fer…

by Oakland Brewer Fan on May 21, 2008 2:35 PM CDT up 0 recs

very good piece on the strength of schedule

there really is an enormous disparity

"Cubs fans boo again – 99% of these people can’t see the plate." -Ueck

by dux2bux on May 21, 2008 11:45 AM CDT 0 recs

Collectibles

A Mike Piazza game-worn Marlins jersey has to be only a little behind the Rasheed Wallace game-worn Hawks jersey.

Obscure baseball records and more at my blog, Recondite Baseball.

by TheJay on May 21, 2008 11:48 AM CDT 0 recs

Cubs Luck

I don’t want to say that the cubs don’t deserve their record, because they are playing pretty well. In fact, they remind me a lot of the brewers start from last year. However, especially of late, they have been pretty lucky with the starting pitchers that they have faced.

They missed Santana against the Mets. They missed Webb against the D-backs. They’ll miss Oswalt this series, but faced him when he started the year pretty horribly. They did face Peavy, but he hurt himself in the second inning of the game he pitched against them. Finally, they have faced a ton of lefties from the pirates.

Cubs definitely have looked good, but it would have been interesting to watch them against these pitchers.

by brewfan2 on May 21, 2008 2:41 PM CDT 0 recs

WOW

Cubs and luck in the same sentence. You make some nice points but regardless of whether or not Peavy got hurt he didnt come out of the game until the Cubs knocked him out of the game. Dont forget theyve faced, Volquez, Harang and some other decent pitchers. They are #1 in runs scored and #1 in run differential. Like it or not but the games against the crappy teams and crappy pitchers DO COUNT. The Cubs are capitalizing. The detroyed the Mets in that series BTW, I was at both game.

"Hey.....Cubs win!!!" ---Harry
"Swung on belted!!!"---Chip

by Hammer on May 21, 2008 3:50 PM CDT up 0 recs

Like it or not but the games against the crappy teams and crappy pitchers DO COUNT.

Very true. When the Brewers and Cubs schedule difficulty evens out, I would assume that the Brewers will be playing against easier teams in easier situations and the Cubs will be playing harder games in harder situations. That’s the point, and it’s one of the reasons there is a discrepancy right now that should even out over the course of the year. Here’s the Cubs schedule in Home vs. Road games:

April- 16 11
May- 17 12
June- 10 17
July- 10 16
Aug- 19 9
Sep- 9 16

Whenever prince is at first, he should charge the mound and yell "MEAT!"

by jihad on May 21, 2008 3:59 PM CDT up 0 recs

Agreed.

Whats alarming is the Brewers being 15th in the NL in ERA. I have a feeling it will even out. I like the Brewers teams (more so their home uniforms are money) they just seem to be underperforming---ALA the Cubs last year.

All in All, baseball is a great roller coaster ride.

"Hey.....Cubs win!!!" ---Harry
"Swung on belted!!!"---Chip

by Hammer on May 21, 2008 4:09 PM CDT up 0 recs

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