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Are They Really That Bad in Interleague and Nationally Televised Games?

Of course last night's game went a lot better than anyone expected based on the recent lack of Interleague success and how bad the team plays when the game is nationally televised - especially after going down by five runs - twice.

But if you take away last night's rousing success, Interleague hasn't seemed to be going so well for the Brewers.

Not sure about anyone else, but I've got a really low opinion of Interleague games, mostly because it feels like the Brewers never perform well, so I compiled a list of the team's record each season since Interleague play started. 

Year W L Runs Scored Runs Against
2009 2 5 34 45
2008 7 8 72 81
2007 8 7 82 74
2006 6 9 58 91
2005 8 7 58 64
2004 8 4 57 36
2003 5 7 67 60
2002 2 10 45 79
2001 5 10 65 77
2000 6 9 68 84
1999 8 6 86 78
1998 8 6 74 68
1997 (in AL) 8 7 48 56
         
Total 81 95 814 893

 

Turns out, it's not that bad. Clearly, it's not great, but it's better than I thought it was going to be. I didn't remember having a winning record in 2007 and I lived in another state in 2001 and 2002, so I missed out on the pain that was a combined 7-20 record. But overall, my impression that the Brewers have been complete crap in Interleague was easily proven false, no matter how hard it was to believe.

So maybe it just seems so much worse than it is – and for good reason. Interleague losses have been some major heart-breakers. Though the series in Boston last year ended up being a catalyst for the team to break out of their slump, it was also some of the worst, ugliest, most painful baseball of the season.

You’ll remember the loss to Minnesota in 12 innings in July of last season despite a 455-foot Braun homer and a pinch-hit Russell Branyan ninth inning homer to send the game to extras, where Prince was robbed of a home run by the umpires, all before the Twins scored five runs in the 12th for the win.

How about the loss in Minnesota on June 17, 2007 when Prince hit an inside-the-park home run, Corey Hart hit two homers, including a back-to-back with Hardy, and the team still lost 10-9?

Or CoCo Cordero’s first blown save in 23 tries on his return to Texas as the Rangers had four-straight two-out RBI singles to snatch the win 4-3.

Or getting no-hit in Detroit in ’07?

Yeah - Interleague hasn't been kind to us over the past few seasons, no matter what the W-L record says. 

On the other hand, the Brewers really ARE as bad as they seem to be when playing in a nationally televised game. Admittedly, figuring out the record here is an inexact science – the schedule was difficult to find and piece together.

But the best I could figure, the Crew is 4-11 in nationally televised games over the past season and a little more than a third.

Here’s the games I compiled:

March 31, 2008  4-3 win over Cubs

April 30, 2008 19-5 loss to Cubs

May 10, 2008 5-3 loss to St. Louis

May 17, 2008 5-3 loss to Boston

May 18, 2008 11-7 loss to Boston

August 2, 2008 4-2 win over Atlanta

September 13, 2008 7-3 loss to Phillies

October 1, 2008 3-1 loss to Phillies

October 2, 2008 5-2 loss to Phillies

October 4, 2008 4-1 win over Phillies

October 5, 2008 6-2 loss to Phillies

April 12, 2009 8-5 loss to Cubs

May 24, 2009 6-2 loss to Minnesota

June 13, 2009 7-1 loss to ChiSox

June 16, 2009 14-12 win over Cleveland

I know I missed some games in there, but I was doing my research while watching last night's game and understandably got a little side-tracked at times. If anyone else has some to add to the list, please do, but I doubt any other unearthed wins will help dull the pain of the performance of this team when all eyes are on them.

0 recs  |  Comment 22 comments |

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Do you mean 4-11?

Your list has 15 games on it… maybe it just FELT like we lost 15.

by bernie h. on Jun 16, 2009 10:08 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

yes I did

I’m telling you, writing this thing while watching last night’s game was not EASY

by tristarscoop on Jun 16, 2009 10:14 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Not to be an anal bastard

, but an anal bastard is what I am.

Above the list of games it still says 4-15.

btw, thanks for the research and post

by bernie h. on Jun 16, 2009 10:50 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

No, I am too, so thanks

I actually just erased one of the sentences because it was redundant. HATE making mistakes and I’ve had quite a few in my posts so far, which is embarrassing. Thanks for catching that.

by tristarscoop on Jun 16, 2009 10:57 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

not nearly as anal as I am

“especially after going done by five runs – twice.”
down, not done ;)

by PagsBrewCrew on Jun 16, 2009 1:17 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

it's bad, but not THAT bad...

keep in mind the context for both of these sets. Since we are the Brewers and nobody cares about us, the few times we’re nationally televised, it’s because we’re playing a team people DO care about. Like the Red Sox or, in the playoffs last year, the Phillies. Most of the teams lots of people care about are much much better than average. It still would’ve been nice to do better than 4-11, but think of it like a really tough roadtrip: 6-9 would’ve been respectable and 7-8 would’ve been as solid as could be expected.

For interleague, the AL has been better every year, or close. Last year only 3 NL teams had winning interleague records. We can debate about the causes all we want, but it’s pretty clear that the AL is quite a bit better. I’m guessing that 81-95 is actually better than would be expected, especially for a team that was that bad or worse in their own league for most of that time.

Also, cheese.

by Jeff Sackmann on Jun 16, 2009 11:25 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

8-4? Wow, that 2004 team must have been really good

On a related light note, what is our record in nationally televised games not started by Jeff Suppan?

by Brew Angel on Jun 16, 2009 11:40 AM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Since I'm bored at work, I looked it up

Suppan took the loss on April 30, May 17, and Oct 5, 2008, plus the April 12 game this season. He’s
0-4 in nationally televised games since the beginning of last season.

by Brew Angel on Jun 16, 2009 12:22 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Interleague

I know the NL doesn’t seem to fair well against the AL, but am I the only one who enjoys watching the Brewers play teams like the Twins, White Sox, Red Sox, Yankees, Angels, Indians, etc?

Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, ""That’s all they need is another home run hitter".

by tcyoung on Jun 16, 2009 12:26 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Probably not the only one, I just think it's silly...

… and that NL teams have a clear disadvantage no matter where the games are played, so it makes the NL look inferior, when, in reality, it’s a totally different game.

by Mykenk on Jun 16, 2009 12:37 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

So they shouldn't play the world series, either?

Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, ""That’s all they need is another home run hitter".

by tcyoung on Jun 16, 2009 12:44 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Roster construction is different in the playoffs than the regular season.

Full disclosure: My personal opinion is that they need to phase out the DH in the AL or phase it in in the NL. Don’t particularly care which one, but, having a championship between teams playing different games is somewhat silly, in my opinion.

Maybe they could raise the mound in AL parks to counteract the DH?

by Mykenk on Jun 16, 2009 12:50 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Interesting

I agree, there’s no reason to have different rules for either side

Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, ""That’s all they need is another home run hitter".

by tcyoung on Jun 16, 2009 12:59 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

I agree. The rules should be the same for both leagues – then we can play all the teams every year.

by Saberilliterate on Jun 16, 2009 1:06 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

Other nationally televised Brewers games

2009-04-09 7-1 loss to Giants (notable for the first and only David Riske appearance of ’09)

2008-07-21 6-3 win over Cardinals (it was a McClung start; I watched it at work)

by morineko on Jun 16, 2009 12:22 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

The Brewers had a midweek game against the Astros late last year on ESPN2

And I’m pretty sure they won. I believe it was either this game or this one.

Also I’m pretty sure this loss to the Dodgers last August was on TBS.

by Cheeseandcorn on Jun 16, 2009 12:23 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

Weren't a couple of the last week of games last year televised nationally?

I live in South Carolina and I remember seeing a few of those Pittsburgh games, including Braun’s walkoff

Brewers fan lost in South Carolina.

by SCBrewer on Jun 16, 2009 1:06 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

That's odd

those were midweek games. I’m pretty sure they werne’t ESPN games, either, so IDK

Cards Announcers On Gamel's First Career HR, ""That’s all they need is another home run hitter".

by tcyoung on Jun 16, 2009 1:48 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

nationally televised?

If it makes you feel any better, most all of the FOX games aren’t ‘nationally’ televised, only regionally televised (unless you’re playing a NY or LA team; then maybe).

by robertearle on Jun 16, 2009 6:01 PM CDT reply actions   0 recs

yep

the mets yankees was top billing this past weekend
second was cards vs someone

we were the third regional game, probably only enjoyed in wisconsin and northern Illinois. Iowa if we were lucky.

by PagsBrewCrew on Jun 17, 2009 10:08 AM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

and Minnesota

popular AL Central opponent, remember.

by morineko on Jun 17, 2009 12:46 PM CDT up reply actions   0 recs

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