Monday's Frosty Mug

by KLSnow on May 5, 2008 9:07 AM CDT Comment 28 comments

There's nothing like a baseball game to make a long road trip seem shorter. Take yesterday, for example. I was just getting in the car in Kansas when the game started, I was pumping gas in Missouri when Mike Cameron hit the home run to make it 6-2, I was scrambling through my errands in Des Moines in the top of the 9th, and I still felt like I had just left home when I damn near drove off the road in the bottom of the 9th. I also have a sore spot on my forehead from banging it against the steering wheel near Iowa City in the 12th.

Win Expectancy Graph
BR Box Score
BDD Recaps
BP Postseason Odds: 79.3 wins and a 8.5% shot at the Central.

I probably don't need to tell you the obvious today, but Tom H. wants you to know Eric Gagne leads the league in blown saves.

Jim Powell also blogged from Houston, with one positive note: Ben Sheets should pass Teddy Higuera for first on the Brewers' all-time strikeout list Saturday.

Phil Rogers ranks the Brewers 20th in his most recent power poll.

Ken Rosenthal, via MLB Trade Rumors, says 4 teams are interested in Derrick Turnbow. The Rangers are not one of them.

The Cub Reporter continues their position-by-position look at the NL Central, and wants your vote. Here are the three that were posted since Saturday, with the TCR rankings:

Left Field: Ryan Braun 4th
Center Field: Mike Cameron 3rd
Right Field: Corey Hart 1st

On injuries:

Twins P Scott Baker left his start early and will have an MRI today on his injured groin.
Royals P John Bale was attacked by THE SPAZZOSAURUS!
Red Sox OF Brandon Moss had an emergency appendectomy Saturday night.
Dontrelle Willis suffered a setback in a minor league game in Toledo, has been called back from his rehab assignment.

Also, best wishes go out to Braves broadcaster Joe Simpson, who had an emergency appendectomy yesterday.

All of a sudden, posts like this one seem relevant here, too: U.S.S. Mariner takes a look at what it takes to work past a deficit and regain a division lead.

Finally, you may have known that Al Simmons hit more home runs than any other major leaguer born in Wisconsin, with 307. But can you name the leaders from all 49 other states, and the District of Columbia? If you can, that's sad. If you can't, Recondite Baseball has the list.

Drink up.

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i don't get

how you can keep linking to phil rogers with no snark. even if you are a cubs fan there is no reason to read phil rogers opinion on anything.

Bring Back The Old Logo!

by jacob on May 5, 2008 9:33 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I wasn't feeling exceptionally snarky today.

Mainly because he rated the Brewers 20th and at present there’s not a lot of reason to disagree with him.

by KLSnow on May 5, 2008 11:16 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

so, you're suggesting

that phil rogers’ power rankings is a legitimate source of information? that by reading it we aren’t instantly dumber?

Bring Back The Old Logo!

by jacob on May 5, 2008 1:08 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

i guess maybe some background would help.

perhaps i’m making the mistake of assuming that you know phil rogers is insane and bad at writing too.

just one example, phil rogers, less than a year ago, proposed that the white sox, cause they were out of the race mind you, should trade joe crede and mark buehrle to the yankees for alex rodriguez, melky cabrera and a “live arm or two.”

a man who follows baseball for a living suggested that.

Bring Back The Old Logo!

by jacob on May 5, 2008 1:13 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

No, I fully recognize

That Phil Rogers isn’t the definition of authority. He’s a guy who routinely puts things that aren’t baseball teams into his rankings of baseball teams. I don’t know if reading his work makes me instantly dumber, but it frequently raises my blood pressure. I read him because, well, I read almost everything.

In this particular case, though, he ranks the Brewers 20th, and given the last week or so, that’s about where I feel they go.

I linked him because he produces a weekly power ranking. Power rankings are easy to link to and people are frequently interested in seeing them, whether they’re written by an expert or a creepy guy at Denny’s at 3 am. They’re a quick read but provide a concrete ranking for a team which can either be agreed upon or ranted about.

by KLSnow on May 5, 2008 1:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

this is fodder for the blogging versus journalism debate

That Phil Rogers isn’t the definition of authority.

This is an incredibly generous overstatement. He’s one of the most ill-informed, anti-intellectually corporate writers out there today. he is the anti-blog.

Power rankings are easy to link to and people are frequently interested in seeing them, whether they’re written by an expert or a creepy guy at Denny’s at 3 am.

One of the great services your frosty mug provides, which i thoroughly appreciate, is making this distinction. The single greatest failure of journalism today, the reason it has lowered itself to where it considers blogging a threat, is to treat all sources as equal. And really, this is a failing of the j-schools. Too much inscribed this notion of impartial observer, that the role of referee is lost. Any hack with a marketing degree can manipulate the pillars of the fourth estate as to actually convey lies in the interest of “fairness.”

There is nothing concrete, nor useful about Phil Rogers’ power rankings. They are just a collection of words. Debating their quality may prove entertaining, but when you start with garbage it is improbable that a useful dissemination of information will occur.

Bring Back The Old Logo!

by jacob on May 5, 2008 1:41 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

i should mention

that i recognize you are not trying to win any pulitzer prizes here, and entertainment is very likely your primary goal in providing this service… thus my request for more snark. :)

Bring Back The Old Logo!

by jacob on May 5, 2008 1:45 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Maybe you're right.

But I don’t blame my decision to include questionable writers on J-schools.

If anything, my decision to include things like Phil Rogers’ power rankings is based on two factors:

1) Even when they’re not very good, I think people may be interested, and
2) I’m lazy sometimes, especially when finishing the Mug is making me late for work.

I tend to err on the side of too much info, because if you don’t like something I include in the Mug, you can easily skip it, but if I decide not to include something you may have found interesting, it’s harder to go back and fix that. I’d never heard of Randor Bierd, for example, before the O’s DL’ed him and I mentioned it in the Mug Saturday. Did I change anyone’s life by doing so? Probably not. Did I create the possibility that someone curious about the O’s bullpen would find some info they didn’t previously have? I did.

by KLSnow on May 5, 2008 1:47 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Did you make Radnor's day?

yes.

Also, cheese.

by Jeff Sackmann on May 5, 2008 2:11 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Can I spell his name right?

No.

Also, cheese.

by Jeff Sackmann on May 5, 2008 2:11 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I wonder

Could this have been the worst weekend in Brewers history? On a related note, were all 3 losses lose-from-ahead losses (i.e., come-from-behind wins for the Stros)?

"I will agree that the attitude [at BCB] is ridiculous and they have done so much to instigate animosity and then block us from responding. Real mature!"

by roguejim on May 5, 2008 9:57 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Yes...

Friday -
Biggest Lead – 1st Inning up 2 – 0.
Come Back – 6th off of Villy (Tons of solo Jacks)
Fell Behind – 6th Inning off of Villy.
Stopped Scoring – 5th Inning, up 4 – 2.

Saturday -
Biggest Lead – 1st Inning up 1 – 0
Come Back – 3rd Inning off Parra (1 – 1)
Fell Behind – 5th Inning off Parra (6 – 1)
Stopped Scoring: 6th down 2 – 6.

Sunday
Biggest Lead – 4th inning 6 – 2.
Come Back – 9th Off of Gagne (2 runs in 9th)
Loss – 12th off of Stetter
Stopped Scoring – 4th up 6 – 2.

Seems BPs have been able to shut us down, and we’ve recently been unable to score past the 5th or 6th inning. Guess I could dig more into when we stopped scoring on wins vs. when we stopped on losses.

by SgtClueLs on May 5, 2008 10:46 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I seem to recall

that this happened last year: that as a team, our offensive stats plummeted from the 7th inning on.

"I will agree that the attitude [at BCB] is ridiculous and they have done so much to instigate animosity and then block us from responding. Real mature!"

by roguejim on May 5, 2008 10:58 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yup, I remember taking a look at that a while back

Last year the 9th inning was our worst offensive inning by far. I think we only scored about 56 runs in the 9th all year last year. (I looked at it at the start of this year, and I am sure without looking I am within several runs on that.)

So far, the inning breakdown from ‘08 is looking almost exactly the same as it did at the end of ‘07. Taking it in thirds, we lead our opponents in innings 1-3 by a score of 43-38. We lead the next third as well by a score of 56-53. However, in the final 3 innings of the game we have been outscored by a robust 18 runs 52-34. That makes sense to me because it seems like we give up a 3 run lead twice a week going back to last April, and it seems like we only rally to win late a few times a year.

Also, the 2nd inning so far has been our worst offensive inning in ‘08 scoring a total of only 7 runs…..yikes. Care to guess which two innings are tied for the next worst offensive innings? Yup, the 8th & 9th with only 11 runs scored in both of those innings this year. That seems especially frustrating since the pitchers spot has got to be much less likely to bat in the 8th & 9th. (right?) By the way, the 1st, 5th, & 6th are all tied for our best innings with 19 runs each.

I remember thinking that this team just needed to win more on the road to be successfull. It seems to me now that they need to focus on finding a way to score runs late. I realize the 9th you are often facing a closer, but the 8th is just a set up guy. It doesn’t seem like other teams are having problems scoring on our setup/closers, and that goes back to ‘07 when we had an all star closer in Cordero. Any thoughts on how a team could even go about trying to change that anyone?

I swear to God I think I could hit a Matt Wise changeup......

by Adam P on May 5, 2008 12:29 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I gave them too much credit above....

We only scored 50 runs total in the 9th inning in 2007. We were outscored 66-50 in the 9th last year. Bad times :(.

I swear to God I think I could hit a Matt Wise changeup......

by Adam P on May 5, 2008 12:33 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I wish it was because we were only batting in the ninth in away games…

Steve
http://nohuddleoffense.blogspot.com

by stigmo on May 5, 2008 1:15 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I wish that were the reason too,

but at the end of the year they play just as many at home as they do on the road.

FYI, last year, the Crew was out scored 274-209 in innings 7-9. We were beaten by 65 runs and we were trotting out an All Star, lights out closer in the 9th pretty often. I’m assuming Cordero was better than league average last year…...

I swear to God I think I could hit a Matt Wise changeup......

by Adam P on May 6, 2008 7:58 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

most thanks to Kerry Wood

And remember, of those 11 9th inning runs we have – 6 came courtesy of Kerry Wood. That means 5 ninth inning runs in the other 29 games this year. Yikes

Brewers fan lost in South Carolina.

by SCBrewer on May 5, 2008 4:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Middle Reliever

Is a Middle Reliever just any reliever that’s not a closer (and maybe a long reliever)...?

He's the round mound of profound

by drezdn on May 5, 2008 10:20 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Typically

Most teams have a Closer (9th inning), a Setup Guy (8th inning), a Long Relief guy (3+ innings), and a Lefty Specialist. With a typical 7 man bullpen that would leave 3 Middle Relievers.

Some people might call the Specialist and Setup guys middle relievers. Semantics.

by grant76 on May 5, 2008 10:27 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

More generally,

I sooo sick and tired of going from one crisis to another with this team.

First (and consistently) is the Problem of Gagne;
Then it was Will Fielder Ever Hit for Power Again?;
Then the rest of the bullpen stalwarts (e.g., Riske and Shouse) decided to follow in Gagne’s footsteps and become hair-raisingly unreliable;
Now, with Gallardo going down, our once promising starting rotation looks third-rate at best.

[sigh]

I’m not saying that any of these issues are actual “crises” (but the Gagne Problem probably is) but I’m just desperately looking forward to the period when this team just puts it together and plays consistently good baseball.

by 400metres on May 5, 2008 11:40 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Well, my only happy thing about baseball today is that Jason Schmidt is the career leader in home runs, actively playing, and born in Idaho.

I can’t see us making the playoffs without Gallardo, and I don’t know if I would enjoy watching them without him. Well, I totally would, for at least an inning or two.

by Braunstalker on May 5, 2008 11:48 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

From Sunday’s JS:

“I’m sore in places I’ve never been sore in before,” said Sheets. “My ‘love handles’ are sore. I think my mechanics probably contributed to that.”

Great, that’s going to be his next freak injury. His love handles are sore.

"My fellow nerds and I will retire to the nerdery with our calculators."

by craigholl on May 5, 2008 11:51 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Would he be the first

player to be listed on the injury report as “Sore Love Handles”?

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

by verno329 on May 5, 2008 3:43 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Gabe Gross

Remember him? So far, he hasn’t adapted to the humidity well, getting 3 hits in his first 21 ABs as a Ray. One was a home run, though, and the Rays are 6-3 in games in which he appears.

"I will agree that the attitude [at BCB] is ridiculous and they have done so much to instigate animosity and then block us from responding. Real mature!"

by roguejim on May 5, 2008 5:39 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Case of the Mondays

with the way this weekend went, I was sure that I was going to log on to the site today to find that one of the Brewers got arrested or suspended. Luckily none of them went boating with the Bears or bar hopping with Clemens.
Hopefully they can turn things around against the fish because the schedule is not too kind after that. Cards (division leaders), Dodgers (just had 9 game win streak broken) and Boston (defending world champs).

Good time for Prince's fifth homer

by molitorfan on May 5, 2008 7:55 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Cubs

lose, by the way, after Cordero works his way out of a bases-loaded jam in the ninth. Is this the appropriate thread for a flag?

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

by Jordan M on May 5, 2008 8:56 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

Absolutely not

Well, OK.

"I will agree that the attitude [at BCB] is ridiculous and they have done so much to instigate animosity and then block us from responding. Real mature!"

by roguejim on May 5, 2008 10:19 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

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NL Central Standings

	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK
St. Louis Viva El Birdos	44	38	.536	0	Won 3
Milwaukee Brew Crew Ball	42	38	.525	1	Lost 3
Chicago Bleed Cubbie Blue	39	38	.506	2.5	Won 3
Cincinnati Red Reporter	39	39	.500	3	Lost 1
Houston The Crawfish Boxes	38	39	.493	3.5	Won 2
Pittsburgh Bucs Dugout	37	43	.462	6	Won 1