Dodgers 7, Brewers 3
by morineko on May 7, 2010 12:51 AM CDT
in WPA Game Recaps
Email
Print
W: Jonathan Broxton (2-0)
L: LaTroy Hawkins (0-3)
HR: Andre Ethier (10)
MVP: Craig Counsell (.349)
LVP: LaTroy Hawkins (-.375)
Win Expectancy Graph and Star of the Game Voting
SBNation coverage
The Brewers had their usual issue with facing rookie starters for the first time. It wasn't just that, though. John Ely was locating everything right where it should be tonight. He threw 108 pitches in 6.2 innings, 72 of those for strikes, and didn't give up a walk. The Brewers couldn't do anything with him until the 7th inning, when Gregg Zaun singled in Prince Fielder. Hong-Chih Kuo pitched a perfect 8th, but then Jonathan Broxton came into the game...and ran into a wee bit of trouble, giving up hits to Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder, Gregg Zaun, and Craig Counsell, tying the game up. Despite all that he ended up with the good ol' BS win.
Dave Bush, Claudio Vargas and Jeff Suppan combined in a decent performance. This game could have been finished a lot earlier if not for an uncharacteristic error from Prince Fielder in the bottom of the 2nd inning; he didn't reposition himself on a throw to first from Casey McGehee, missing the throw, scoring a run, and causing Ely to reach second base. Bush ran up his pitch count, however, with only 56 of his 95 pitches going for strikes. Vargas came in in the 6th and quickly loaded the bases with a walk, a single, and another walk. Luckily he still carries his escape kit with him and got out of the inning completely undamaged. Suppan pitched two innings of nearly-perfect baseball, only walking 1. LaTroy Hawkins came in for the bottom of the 9th and lost the plot and the ballgame. Zaun had his work cut out for him behind the plate blocking errant pitches, but it was the two hits and a walk loading the bases that led to a game-winning grand slam by Andre Ethier.
79 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Is it OK to question Hawkins' effectiveness now?
"If we want to sign a Type A free agent, we would lose a second-round pick, but we don't have a way to get picks back. Our whole Draft process needs to be redone."
~Doug Melvin
he threw that one pitch
into the dirt about twelve times
by nullacct on May 7, 2010 1:12 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
Trippingandy likes this comment
facebook’d
"This one means 'Kill Kirk!!!!'... And also, 'hallelujah'... Depending on the context."
He owes Craiggers a Capri Sun, that's for sure.
Ryan Braun: He loves it. -- Zach Braddock Watch ('09-'10): 53.7 IP, 1.34 ERA, 0.838 WHIP, 14.2 K/9, 13 BB, 85 K
Oh, no no no
Apparently it’s only one game
Yeah, well, sometimes I drink.
by Dikembe Meiztombo on May 7, 2010 12:54 AM CDT up reply actions
Ahh, you also get frustrated with the Hawkins love fest
When is a good time to add up all the small sample sizes and say “Here. Look. Sample size!”?
My Cubs friends were ELATED when this signing happened. He is now known in my circle of friends as “My Boy LaTroy.” Ooof
"This one means 'Kill Kirk!!!!'... And also, 'hallelujah'... Depending on the context."
YES YES YES IT'S OK
Effective? Yeah, at providing lousy pitching, he’s been very effective. At stopping the other team from scoring, he’s not doing the job….but that’s apparent to anyone who is awake. Hello, front office? You there? Lucky for us he has a multi-year contract. 1) Did we really think other teams were going to keep him on board for two years? 2) Did we really have to bid that much for his services to compete in the marketplace? 3) Am I just on a post-lousy-game Blatz-induced rant?
1) Decline comment
2) Decline comment
3) Most assuredly
You know, a cold long-neck Blatz isn’t bad. Try a few sometime.
by PlusorMinusThree on May 7, 2010 1:02 AM CDT up reply actions
A few? a game like this requires more than 3…
by BrewCrewBrian on May 7, 2010 8:36 AM CDT up reply actions
Also an onomatopoeia.
At least, that’s the sound I heard after a night of drinking Blatz.
SRS BSNS
by Rubie Q on May 7, 2010 8:44 AM CDT up reply actions 3 recs
ha
"If we want to sign a Type A free agent, we would lose a second-round pick, but we don't have a way to get picks back. Our whole Draft process needs to be redone."
~Doug Melvin
by Charlie Marlow on May 7, 2010 11:03 AM CDT up reply actions
After a game like this, I dont feel like I deserve better.
by BrewCrewBrian on May 7, 2010 8:45 AM CDT up reply actions
Although, we really do deserve better than this as fans.
At least we made it close in the 9th. It was still an exciting game.
http://www.mlbsoup.com
I hate this bullpen
and I hate my life. Only 5.5 back, with 6 losses from the ‘pen, all of them in pretty devastating fashion (even Manny’s was off a blown Hoffman save). In fact, this is the first time all year that the loss went to a bullpen guy without somebody picking up a Blsv. Impressive.
At least the starters are starting to come around, though. And tonight we finally got to see some clutch hitting late in a close game against a team not named Pittsburgh. This is encouraging.
by Vee Sanford's Next-door Neighbor on May 7, 2010 1:02 AM CDT reply actions
Zaun came up big a couple of times
and craiggers came though there too.
P.S. it’s late, so baseball rules escape me. was the sub of counsell defensively for escobar legal? Since escobar batted after counsell in the inning that counsell ph for the pitcher.
P.P.S. Jeff suppan had our highest pitching wpa.
PPPS
what’s with not using the closer in the 9th? Isn’t the leverage index as high as it’s gonna be to start off an inning when you’re tied? ie, why not use hoffmannnnn at any earlier point than a later point? Being the closer, he should theoretically give us the best shot of not allowing any runs and keeping us in the game to give us another opportunity to score. unless of course, they were planning on hawkins pitching until his arm fell off (ie 3 innings)
Some replies
a) Counsel came in to PH for Hart, Hawkins took Escobar’s place in the field so everything was on the up-and-up.
b) I will choose to view this as a good thing given the rest of our bullpen
c) The decision is different at home vs. on the road. Assuming we’re not playing the “use your best pitcher in the most high leverage situation” strategy, the closer only comes in when there’s a chance to “close out” the game.
If you’re at home with the game tied and unless you have no faith in the batters coming up in the bottom of the 9th, you’ll throw your closer in the top of the 9th inning to get to the bottom-half with your best chance of closing out the game with a single run.
To belabor the point, when playing on the road there will necessarily be one more half-inning to pitch if the closer comes in with the game tied rather than coming in with the lead. Then your manager will be left without a closer to close out the game which is an untenable position for a manager that believes with blind faith in the role of the “closer.”
You're exactly right on the strategy, but just think about how illogical it is
Saving the closer in a tie game on the road is the single dumbest thing managers do. Every single inning in a tie game is higher leverage than an inning with a lead. What kind of logic makes a manager think that having a lead is a better situation to use your best pitcher than a tie game, when 1 run is a loss, against 1 run just making the game closer or tying it.
E: George 4 (5, throw, throw, throw, throw).
Thought Process:
Nornal Manager’s internal thought process:
1. Is this the 9th inning? If no, dont use closer. If yes move to question 2.
2. Is this a save opportunity? If yes, use closer. If no, move to question 3.
3. Could there be a save opportunity next inning? If no, use closer. If yes, don’t use closer.
-There could have been a save op in the 10th so Macha didn’t use him.
I am not saying it is right. But it is.
by BrewCrewBrian on May 7, 2010 8:57 AM CDT up reply actions
And it can be even more situational
Hawkins is a glacially slow pitcher. There isn’t a catcher in the majors that can throw out a decent runner trying to steal second on Hawkins. For Hawkins, you could make the case that a single is often going to be the same as a double. Hawkins could very well be in the bottom 2 or 3 pitchers in the bullpen in trying to avoid giving up a single run (i.e., tie game or 1-run lead late).
If we make the generous assumption, however, that he has his great stuff going, Hawkins is probably one of the best pitchers in the ‘pen at preventing a big inning. He’s not going to walk or plunk guys and give the opponents free bases that lead to big innings.
I think an argument could be made that Parra isn’t a great guy to have out there when trying to protect a big lead, but since runners are going to have a hard time stealing on him (as a lefty), he’s a decent option for holding a tie game.
It’s crazy to say it, but if a rested Suppan is available, I would put him nearly on par with Hawkins as guys I want to see on the mound in a tie-game.
That would have been cool, but unlikely
He hasn’t had an appearance go longer than one inning since 2004. I think he’s a one-inning pony, no matter how well he pitches.
Failure is just success rounded down.
the second best pitcher
and if HE can last more than one inning, if he can’t…
you use your third best pitcher in the next…. (excluding starters and people that have already pitched in the game of course:P)
I need to go to bed
Abbey Road will drift me away tonight.
/deep breath
Yeah, well, sometimes I drink.
by Dikembe Meiztombo on May 7, 2010 1:10 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs
Perfect innings
“Suppan pitched two innings of nearly-perfect baseball”
" Hong-Chih Kuo pitched a perfect 8th"
kuo pitched much better than soup – got ahead on the first pitch against all batters (I think) and only got charged with 2 balls or so (making batters chase a couple out of zone)
soup was horribly off-target, unless the target was significantly out of zone. In other words, he got lucky
Perfect is defined as no hits and no walks. Therefore, I am guessing morineko really only meant that, Suckpan only gave up one walk, therefore he was nearly perfect.
by BrewCrewBrian on May 7, 2010 8:42 AM CDT up reply actions
yeah...i know that
and i know he got a DP so he faced the minimum. I just don’t like the “perfect inning” terminology. Sure…use that standard for “perfect game” (no hits no walks), but I think when breaking down to a smaller sample you have to be closer to godliness to be “perfect”
that was the shorthand I was using
and Kuo indeed did a heck of a lot better than Suppan. However, I’m not a professional sportswriter, I wrote that at nearly 1 AM, and I had been up since 5:45 AM. I do appreciate the criticism and I’ll write better next time (when I will, hopefully, be awake and also not dealing with fushigi mystery health problems—yeah, I feel like Loki’s on my case, if you get the reference. >_<)
sorry...
wasn’t a gripe against you, but a general gripe. You caught me in a particularly nasty week.
It's funny...
While he was in the rotation, they never really had anything bad to say about him. They might say he was struggling a bit, but they never went on about how badly he was doing.
Now that he’s been demoted, it seems that they have no qualms about criticizing his pitches.
Awesome game to be at
except for the loss. Although if we had won that game, I probably wouldn’t have escaped the stadium with my life. From the first inning on, security kept coming up to us saying “if anyone throws anything at you let us know”. Gave us a card with the usher’s name and phone # and everything.
By the 9th we had an usher in the isle standing next to me and my friend, one sitting behind us, and they followed us to the doors to make sure we didn’t get messed with. Granted, I am one loud cheerer.
Was up for the rally to tie it
and as soon as I saw Hawkins I went to bed. Good choice.
Get well soon Ueck
Same here Molitorfan
In my opinion, Hawkins in a Gagne of the Brewers pitching staff this season. He can find his way out of a paper bag. He obviously lost it.
Facts are stubborn things, but statistics are more pliable. ~Mark Twain
If you read his postgame interview Hawkins wasn't taking it very well
He didn’t come out with the fan-appreciated, “I blew it” statement, but he did at least say he was “puzzled” but his lack of speed. According to McCalvy this morning (I had gone to sleep long before), his fastball topped out at 91 mph last night when he’s traditionally thrown at least 96 mph.
Clearly there’s something mechanically wrong with him which our vaunted pitching coach should be able to correct before his next outing.
It’s a real bummer Macha choose to use Coffey the previous two games when his high leverage arm clearly wasn’t needed. Hawkins was the only arm left in the pen other than Hoffman. We all know Hoffman is physically unable to throw the baseball unless it’s the 9th inning or later and the Brewers have the lead so he clearly wasn’t an option.
This $20 million bullpen is pretty sh*tty. I’m pretty sure someone (Jordan M or TheJay?) put up an article in the offseason about successful expensive bullpens. The point of the article was that multiple contracts in the 3-5 (2-4?) million range makes for a sh*tty bullpen when viewed from a value standpoint. It looks like the Brewers have a sh*tty bullpen.
Hawkins has been having trouble for several weeks.
I’m starting to wonder what our famous pitching coach is doing during the workday. Why is Hawkins giving post-game interviews stating how “puzzled” he is? Is Peterson actually coaching, or is he sitting in his office waiting for Hawkins to come in for a consultation?
Probably
working with the starters, who have been much improved over the last few games. Currently six straight games without giving up more than 4 runs. And five of those six have been 3 or less.
We’re getting there. It’s taking a little time, but we’re getting there. I actually think Peterson has done a great job roping in the starters from what was a disastrous start.
by Vee Sanford's Next-door Neighbor on May 7, 2010 8:59 AM CDT up reply actions
If one wanted to be an a$$, one could point out that the pitchers couldn't be any worse
There was bound to be a regression at some point regardless of the pitching coach.
That said, I’d like to think our pitching coach has had something to do with the turnaround so I’ll choose to believe that. If Gallardo can go 6 innings on a 100 PC tonight, I’ll be sold.
I'd like to think you are correct.
I just think it is weird to have a pitcher talking to Anthony Wiltrado about his inability to figure out where his fastball went. Since his fastball is why the Brewers signed him, that’s a pretty big deal. Why did he air that to the hometown newspaper, when he could go talk to his coach about it? That’s a sign of frustration. I don’t know what it means, exactly, but I don’t like it.
by RobertArthur on May 7, 2010 10:42 AM CDT up reply actions
Andre Ethier =
Good for my fantasy line
BAD for my heart….
Goooooo-mez!
by Drew C on May 7, 2010 6:39 AM CDT via mobile reply actions
Hawkins
At least he had the decency to give up a grand slam and get tagged for four runs rather than just one.
Failure is just success rounded down.
by TheJay on May 7, 2010 7:11 AM CDT reply actions 3 recs
Only Bright Spot is Bush did not get another L hung on him
I did not get to watch the game but looking at the box score he had another decent start with little support.
As for Hawkins I am sorry let Coffey have important innings like the 9th last night. Someone made a great point if the pen is doing its job we are right on the Cards heels.
At least they won the series if they can start doing that again the ship will right itself.
Wow I am quite upbeat and positive this early on a Friday morning ;)
kumbaya my lord kumbaya :)
I know Coffey pitched in the last two games
He may have pitched in the last 3 games, I’m too lazy to check. The bullpen management was about as good as it could have been last night, but we can still ding Macha for using one of his best relievers for clean up duty over the past two games. Maybe if he didn’t throw every single eff’ing reliever only one inning he might’ve had a good reliever available last night.
Bush had a rocky first inning and it looked like it might be his signature Bad Inning, but got away with only 1 ER. Fielder dogged a routine play in the second inning by not repositioning himself to catch a relatively poor throw by McGehee (under some pressure). It went into the dugout and Bush gave up 2 unearned and about 15 pitchers.
It’s never fair to say any one player “lost” the game, but it was one of the highest leverage points in the game and it rippled through the rest of the game by cutting Bush’s start short.
15 pitchers = 15 pitches
I just meant to say Fielder’s error essentially cost Bush an inning on the mound.
While the throw wasn't great (A bit down the line)
It should have been caught by Fielder with a decent stretch. I disagree with the scorers decision to over turn.
That's awful.
It was shoulder-high, just a little stretch. Extremely routine catch, Fielder didn’t have his feet right to make it at all, just stuck an arm out.
by Archibaldcrane on May 7, 2010 1:25 PM CDT up reply actions
NULLACCT!!!!!!!
It’s all your fault.
http://www.mlbsoup.com
by tcyoung on May 7, 2010 8:27 AM CDT reply actions 1 recs
I wasn't around for the gamethread, but it's seriously the first thing that went through my mind
when Hawkins loaded the bases. Kind of sad, I know..
http://www.mlbsoup.com
Lies, damned lies, and statistics
I was undone by this man
by nullacct on May 7, 2010 9:32 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
I was wondering where he was this year
But I guess he’s hurt. He’s like a regular fan, getting hurt throwing 55 mph.
Failure is just success rounded down.
Try 55 mph
If you’re gonna lose anyway, might as well make someone on the other team look stupid in the process.
http://www.mlbsoup.com
Heh...
They’ll look stupid maybe the first time around… but everyone in the league knows what he’s got, so it won’t take them long to adjust.
Did anyone notice Hawkins' velocity?
He was throwing about 89 mph on average with his fastball.
That’s 5-6 mph slower than usual.
That's what he is "puzzled" about.
Apparently, Hawkins can’t figure out where the 5-6 mph went.
Post-game interview: Hawkins’ mind uneasy
by RobertArthur on May 7, 2010 10:45 AM CDT up reply actions
Pre-injury
losing 5 MPH? Has to be injured.
"If we want to sign a Type A free agent, we would lose a second-round pick, but we don't have a way to get picks back. Our whole Draft process needs to be redone."
~Doug Melvin
by Charlie Marlow on May 7, 2010 11:07 AM CDT up reply actions
Pregame:
Macha to Melivin/trainer: If Hawkins has one more shitty outing you know that we are going to have to Suppan him right?
Trainer: I guess his velocity is down, but the guy is almost as old as Hoffman.
Macha: His velocity is down?
Trainer: Yeah he used to throw like 96.
Macha: You’re kidding me.
Melvin: Why do the old pitchers I sign always suck?
Macha turns to trainer: Well you know what to do.
Trainer: What injury do we use this time?
(Melvin pulls out the wheel of fortune style “Fake Injury spinner”)…
by BrewCrewBrian on May 7, 2010 12:07 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
NL Central Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cincinnati
|
25 | 20 | .555 | 0 | Lost 1 |
|
St. Louis
|
25 | 21 | .543 | 0.5 | Lost 2 |
|
Houston
|
22 | 23 | .488 | 3 | Won 4 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
21 | 24 | .466 | 4 | Won 1 |
|
Milwaukee
|
19 | 26 | .422 | 6 | Won 2 |
|
Chicago
|
15 | 30 | .333 | 10 | Lost 10 |
(updated 5.26.2012 at 11:59 AM CDT)
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recent FanShots
Baseball Nation Recent Stories
In Association With
Big League Stew - MLB - Yahoo! Sports
- The Juice: Nelson Cruz matches career high eight RBIs, Pujols stays hot in Seattle
- Benches clear at Fenway as Red Sox-Rays rivalry heats up
- Keeping good company: Albert Pujols becomes fourth-youngest player to hit 450 home runs
- Giancarlo Stanton misses cutoff man, and Logan Morrison is thankful he did (Video)
- Snoop Dogg delivers memorable first pitch at U.S. Cellular Field
