Monday's Frosty Mug
by Kyle Lobner on Jun 7, 2010 9:23 AM CDT
in Milwaukee Brewers News
Email
PrintSome things to read while protecting your beeramid.
In the majors' sixth extra inning game of the day, the Brewers managed to find a way to avoid the sweep in St. Louis last night. A fair amount of the credit for keeping the game close belongs to Manny Parra, who allowed two earned runs on four hits and four walks while striking out a career-high ten in 5.1 innings. Here are some notes on the performance:
- Parra recorded four strikeouts in the fourth inning, becoming the first Brewer ever to do so.
- He also struck out the side in the third, becoming just the second pitcher on record ever to record seven strikeouts in two innings. TheJay reports that Darren Dreifort was the other.
- Parra entered the game averaging 7.8 strikeouts per nine innings, and is now averaging 9.2.
Both of Parra's runs allowed came via solo home runs, including one hit by Albert Pujols that hit a young boy in the chest and caused him to burst into tears. Pujols saw the replay and sent the boy an autographed bat. The Happy Youngster is probably working that into his repertoire as we speak.
John Axford picked up his fourth save in the tenth inning, allowing a hit but nothing else and improving to 5-for-5 in lifetime save opportunities. Tom Haudricourt has a look at Axford's somewhat unusual path to the majors, which included a brief stint in the Western Major Baseball League in Saskatchewan.
Trevor Hoffman wasn't used in a save situation again last night as the team tries to figure out what to do with the All Time Saves Leader. At least one NL scout says Hoffman has lost some arm speed this season, which has affected the effectiveness of his changeup.
Other notes from the field:
- John Axford, Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun lead FanGraphs' Star of the Game Voting.
- CoolStandings dropped the Brewer playoff chances to a season-low 0.5% after Saturday's loss, and has them holding steady today.
After the game, the Brewers clarified their rotation a bit for the week to come: Randy Wolf will start on normal rest on Wednesday, followed by Dave Bush on Thursday and Chris Narveson Friday.
Sometime in the next 24-36 hours the Brewers will be making another roster move: Todd Coffey was placed on the DL yesterday with a lingering right thumb contusion (FanShot), and a corresponding move is expected to be made before Tuesday's game. It's possible David Riske could get the call: His rehab assignment expires at the end of the week.
Elsewhere in roster moves, Marco Estrada complained of shoulder fatigue after being optioned to the minors, so his option was voided and he's been placed on the DL instead. Back in May, Estrada became the first Brewer in over 25 years to start a game on zero days rest.
Another day, another story on a potential Prince Fielder trade...except this one is a bit different: Peter Barzilai of USA Today thinks the Brewers should hold off on trading Fielder and wait to see if his value improves.
Meanwhile, Beyond the Box Score notes that Fielder is one of just twelve players ever to account for at least 100 Batting Runs while being below average defensively and running the bases.
The Brewers are off tonight as they get ready to open a homestand against the Cubs tomorrow, so tonight all eyes will be on the first round of the 2010 Draft, which will be televised live on MLB Network. Here's one last roundup of draft notes from around the web:
- MLB.com has stories on the Brewers' high and low-tech scouting and drafting efforts, draft history and potential first round plans (likely drafting a pitcher).
- Frankie Piliere of MLB FanHouse expects the Brewers to select Pennsylvania high school lefty Jesse Biddle. I think that's the first time I've seen Biddle mentioned: Here's a profile from his hometown paper.
- Keith Law has the Brewers selecting Georgia Tech RHP Deck McGuire, and Jack Moore of Disciples of Uecker is pretty excited about it.
- John Sickels of Minor League Ball is projecting the Brewers to select Citadel RHP Asher Wojciechowski.
- In Minor League Ball's Community Mock Draft, the Brewers (with backtocali drafting) selected Ohio State RHP Alex Wimmers at #14, and Ball State RHP Perci Garner and Western Oklahoma JC shortstop Andrelton Simmons in the second and third rounds, respectively.
- Baseball America also has a subscriber-only mock draft.
Elsewhere in the minors:
- FanGraphs has a look back at their top ten prospects for the Brewers before the season and a progress report. With the exception of Eric Arnett (and possibly Mat Gamel), all of them are having pretty strong seasons.
- The Brevard County Manatees have just seven home runs as a team on the season, but Sean Halton hit two of them yesterday. You can read about that and more in today's Minor League Notes.
- Former prospect Brent Brewer, who quit baseball last week, will play safety at Tennessee this fall. (FanShot)
- Brewerfan.net is reporting the Brewers have signed pitcher Sam Narron to a minor league deal. Narron was a Brewer farmhand from 2006-2009, but had been playing for the Camden Riversharks of the Atlantic League this season.
- Lets Go Rattlers has a look at several Wisconsin players that could be bumped up to Brevard County before long.
- The Appleton Post-Crescent has a profile of Wisconsin center fielder D'Vontrey Richardson.
- Brevard County made some headlines this weekend by renaming batting practice: Instead of BP, they're now taking "hitting rehearsal." (FanShot)
If you missed the weekend, then you missed Fatter than Joey's look at some of the worst pitching in Brewer history, and where the 2010 Brewers stand among it. @notkenmacha, if he'd been reached for comment, might have given it "two poppycocks up."
Around baseball:
Athletics: Placed starter Brett Anderson on the DL with elbow tendinitis.
Blue Jays: Signed outfielder DeWayne Wise to a minor league deal.
Braves: Placed pitcher Takashi Saito on the DL with a hamstring strain.
Cardinals: Signed outfielder Randy Winn.
Indians: Designated reliever Jamey Wright for assignment.
Mariners: Placed pitcher Doug Fister on the DL with shoulder fatigue.
Marlins: Designated infielder Mike Lamb for assignment.
Mets: Designated outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. for assignment and placed pitcher Oliver Perez on the DL with knee tendinitis,
Tigers: Are expected to designate shortstop Adam Everett for assignment today.
The Mets' decision to DL Perez is dubious at best, as Perez hasn't been showing any signs of injury and rejected the Mets' request to go get straightened out in the minor leagues last week. MLB is investigating the situation.
In the classic case of the unstoppable force meeting the immovable breakable object, Dusty Baker has rookie sensation Mike Leake, in his first professional season, on pace to throw 211 innings this season. It'll be interesting to see how they handle it: They're clearly in contention and Leake has been their best pitcher so far, but there's no way they can let him pitch the whole season at this pace.
Tomorrow is Stephen Strasburg's widely anticipated major league debut for the Nationals, but Sully Baseball cautions against getting too excited: They have a look at one "can't miss" pitching prospect that missed for every major league team including Tyrone Hill, the Brewers #1 pick in the 1991 draft.
I'm surprised we don't see stories like this more often: 2007 Brewer Elmer Dessens, who is 39 years old and playing in his 14th major league season for his ninth major league team, finally reached ten years of service time over the weekend, qualifying him for a major league pension. Congrats to him. He's also taken over Oliver Perez's locker.
After watching last night's ESPN telecast featuring Joe Morgan, I think a fair number of us can relate to this Craig Calcaterra tweet, which I'm crowning Quote of the Weekend:
Observed: when a writer says sabermetrics "have ruined the game" he really means they have made it harder for him to pass off BS as analysis.
On this day in 1977, the Brewers selected Paul Molitor from the University of Minnesota with the third overall pick in the draft.
And on this day in 1993, Cal Eldred picked up his 20th career win in his 30th game, becoming the fourth pitcher ever to do so.
A weekend worth of happy birthdays:
- Brevard County Manatee Sean Halton turns 23 today.
- 1987 Brewer Jim Paciorek turns 50 today.
- 2006-07 Brewer Tony Graffanino turned 38 Sunday.
- 2003-04 Brewer Brooks Kieschnick also turned 38 Sunday.
- Wisconsin Timber Rattler Damon Krestalude turned 21 Saturday.
- 1989-94 Brewer Bill Spiers turned 44 Saturday.
- 2001 Brewer Mike Coolbaugh would have turned 38 Saturday.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to put on my disguise.
Drink up.
70 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Question
were the brewers investigated earlier this year for doing what the mets are doing? If so, I’m assuming the outcome was in the brewers favor?
Shruggity.
I don't think so... or at least I didn't read about it.
I think the key difference between the Mets’ situation and the Brewers…
“Perez rejected the Mets’ request to go get straightened out in the minor leagues last week.”
Pujols is the Barack Obama of baseball.
Why not?
We’re hearing about the Perez situation because of it… why wouldn’t we hear about it if the same thing happened?
Pujols is the Barack Obama of baseball.
There's a thousand more Mets reporters than Brewers reporters?
Also, reporting environments not the same in NY as in MKE. I’d imagine the brewers get away with far more than the mets do, in terms of what the media does and doesn’t hear about.
Shruggity.
Good point
Still, I would think that if Suppan had a problem with it that he’d let the Commissioner’s office know as well as some media outlets.
Pujols is the Barack Obama of baseball.
Mike Leake
Why couldn’t the Reds let him pitch the whole season at that pace? If he pitches well all year, why not? Maybe he will get hurt down the line, or maybe not.
Also, I remember a few years ago the Marlins made some noise about giving Mike Mordecai a chance to come back and reach ten years of service. I don’t think it happened.
Failure is just success rounded down.
Chad Fox
I think the Cubs were trying to do the same thing for him last year with the 10 years service time.
From what I understand, this is a somewhat common thing teams will do for a player who is a really nice guy, hard worker type of player who has had injuries or really bad luck during their career.
Leake
Did anyone else happen to catch the FOX pregame before our game on Saturday?
No, you have better things to do?
Well they did a profile on Leake and focused on his friendship with Bronson Arroyo. They showed them playing guitar together and single some awful song, want to say it was Goo Goo Dolls. It was awkward and hillarious.
Get a ife broseph
pace
i think there’s concern by the front office (and “experts”) on the jump in innings and the impact on a pitcher’s arm, as well as going from pitching once a week to once every 5ish days may have on stamina over the course of the season.
i thought i read that dusty has some rules for leake. if you look at it, he takes him out around 100 pitches. i thought they also planned to just stop using him when he reaches his season inning limit, not unlike the brewers did with gallardo (though i imagine leake will be shut down much earlier).
by Capt Science on Jun 7, 2010 11:58 AM CDT up reply actions
I'm sure there's concern
But I think saying right now there’s no way they can let him pitch all year is a bit excessive, in my opinion. If they feel he can handle it, why not?
Failure is just success rounded down.
That question isn't really directed at you, by the way
I know and your comment covers that it’s concern about innings on young pitchers’ arms that prompted the original statement. It’s just ridiculous to me. If he hits the rooke wall and struggles, then he won’t reach 200 innings anyway. If he doesn’t, then there’s no reason to shut him down, especially if they are in a pennant race.
Failure is just success rounded down.
Marlins
Are calling up Mike Stanton from AA tomorrow. Strasburg getting the ball tomorrow will win out over him, but Stanton could be a great call up for the fish.
BA mock draft has the Brewers taking Matt Harvey
the write up includes possibilities of nick castellanos, anthony renaudo, derek mcguire, and prep pitchers jesse biddle and luke jackson
"That's not a weird stat. Rickie is a run-scorer," Yost said. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter," Yost told reporters. "See, you guys have no concept. He's a run-scorer. So there's nothing weird about it. That's what he does."
Latest
When did that mock occur? The most recent I see on BA from Callis is from Friday, where he has them taking Castellanos?
Wow
Either these mock draft guys really just dont like him, or his stock has fallen that much in two weeks.
My guy AJ Cole completely out of the first round on BA.
it's his signing demands
he’s looking for top 5 money from what I read. It’s weird if you price yourself oyt of the Yankees range
"That's not a weird stat. Rickie is a run-scorer," Yost said. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter," Yost told reporters. "See, you guys have no concept. He's a run-scorer. So there's nothing weird about it. That's what he does."
Those UNC guys *rolls eyes
Yeah, worked out pretty nicely for guys like Rick Porcello and Tyler Matzek though. They become a steal for the team that is willing to pay top dollar for top quality.
and btw
I would love it if the crew went over slot and took cole
"That's not a weird stat. Rickie is a run-scorer," Yost said. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter," Yost told reporters. "See, you guys have no concept. He's a run-scorer. So there's nothing weird about it. That's what he does."
Reports are
That he is lowering his asking price actually.
Had a bad showing at a scouting event last week and has scared some teams off.
I think I am going to stick with him as my pick. And any team that does take him, just dont use him until instructional league in the fall, give his arm a rest for the summer.
goldstein @ BP came out with his final mock
he’s got the crew getting Ranaudo
"That's not a weird stat. Rickie is a run-scorer," Yost said. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter," Yost told reporters. "See, you guys have no concept. He's a run-scorer. So there's nothing weird about it. That's what he does."
I just think its a bad idea
to spend a high draft pick on a guy who has exhibited elbow problems already. Very risky. If this were before the season, I would have loved to have had him, but not aftter whats gone on this year.
If they go college, I would like to see Deck McGuire, Brandon Workman, and Alex Wimmers, if HS Cole, Covey, Karstens, if bats, Colon, O’Conner, Cabrera
sickles just came out with new fin mock
he’s got the crew taking jesse biddle purely on the fact that he likes when guys who aren’t mentioned as first rounders suddenly start coming up. He also mentions harvey, asher woj (my fave on first name basis alone), and dereck mcguire.
"That's not a weird stat. Rickie is a run-scorer," Yost said. "It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter," Yost told reporters. "See, you guys have no concept. He's a run-scorer. So there's nothing weird about it. That's what he does."
I've never seen that spelling of Deck...:)
"The Milwaukee Brewers' line score is starting to resemble an international phone number" - Pittsburgh Pirates Radio during 20-0 shutout - 4-22-10
What's the over/under?
For the # of promos MLBN will run during the draft for Strasburg’s debut? 50?
MLB highlight of Rickie Weeks
Someone who labels highlights had waaaaaay too much time on their hands:
Was he a non-roster invite?
If so, the Mets media guide could confirm that number. I wonder if DL time is subtracted for pension calculations.
Failure is just success rounded down.
"He also struck out the side in the third, becoming just the second pitcher on record ever to record seven strikeouts in two innings. TheJay reports that Darren Dreifort was the other."
TheJay: can you confirm? Your tweet says it’s the first time since Dreifort, implying that there may have been others before that.
Yeah, I tweeted again later saying Parra & Dreifort are the only ones
Unless one of the five guys before 1920 did it – http://twitter.com/TheronJay/status/15598610214
Failure is just success rounded down.
My favorite part of the list linked in that tweet is that Chuck Finley struck out four in an inning three times in a calendar year
Failure is just success rounded down.
Mike Coolbaugh
Is that the incident for which now all base coaches are required to wear helmets? I spent a while reading about the incident that killed him in AA, as well as about the aftermath on both him and the guy that hit the ball.
His wife was pregnant 6 months when he was killed. So incredibly sad.
Yes, that's it.
Sad situation for everyone involved as well as their families.
Pujols is the Barack Obama of baseball.
I thought they stopped untucking because they stopped winning.
At least that’s how it feels.
Applying Simpsons and Star Wars quotes to Brewers discussions since 2009.
Oh whoops I knew that
I was trying to link this one, which is funny:
http://twitter.com/AdamMcCalvy/status/15638783438
E: George 4 (5, throw, throw, throw, throw).
i'm a spiteful person sometimes
and i was really hoping they’d untuck after the win last night (despite no cameron) just to spite albert.
by Capt Science on Jun 7, 2010 11:55 AM CDT up reply actions
As much as I don't like Pujols
It was a nice thing of him to give a bat to the kid that got hit by his HR.
TW-S's on BCB since 5/9/10: 65
Acceptable: 1
Yeah.
I mean, I’m sure he’s a great guy and all that. And when it comes to baseball, he’s one of the best. But his judging of other baseball players is what makes him a jerk. Otherwise, I’m sure he’s a great guy.
TW-S's on BCB since 5/9/10: 68
Acceptable: 2
Hell's Bells just came on my iPod.
Sad to think what this song used to mean…oh well. What’s more intimidating, Hell’s Bells, or Snidely Whiplash?
Applying Simpsons and Star Wars quotes to Brewers discussions since 2009.
A better question...
what’s more intimidating, a 95+ mph fastball or an 86 mph fastball?
Pujols is the Barack Obama of baseball.
Yeah
back up a 95 mph heater with an 86 mph slider that breaks 4 feet and drop 2 and there aren’t many still standing in the batter’s box
"The Milwaukee Brewers' line score is starting to resemble an international phone number" - Pittsburgh Pirates Radio during 20-0 shutout - 4-22-10
Of course they're not standing.
They’ve been tied to the railroad tracks!
Applying Simpsons and Star Wars quotes to Brewers discussions since 2009.
by Yar Nivek on Jun 7, 2010 12:19 PM CDT up reply actions 2 recs
Additional data re: the RISP discusson from earlier
Someone was talking about our performance with runners in scoring position, and as a team we look about the same as last year, but the people doing the damage is different so far
w/RISP BA OBP SLG OPS BAbip
Braun .375 .426 .729 1.155 .400
Kottaras .278 .556 .556 1.111 .250
McGahee .386 .449 .632 1.081 .367
Counsell .391 .417 .609 1.025 .471
Weeks .356 .483 .489 .972 .441
Escobar .276 .323 .431 .754 .319
Gomez .290 .333 .419 .753 .320
Hart .213 .328 .383 .711 .258
Edmonds .179 .303 .321 .624 .222
Fielder .161 .347 .214 .562 .195
Zaun .182 .282 .242 .524 .188
MLB draft
What’s the point of splitting up rounds 2-30 and 31-50 on Tuesday and Wednesday? I thought those selections were made by conference call. They used to do that in one day.
Failure is just success rounded down.
Negative Thinking
Who signs him and has him go all ’10 Carlos Silva for them for the rest of the year.
i actually saw Axford pitch for the Staten Island Yankees team back when he was there.
I was in Baltimore with a night to kill, and on a whim myself and my father decided to borrow a car and drive up to Aberdeen to see the minor league team up there. The game itself was somewhat unmemorable (except that there were a ton of foul balls) and, like most minor league baseball, you could tell the players were pretty unpolished.
The game was pretty high scoring (I think 8-7, but I can’t quickly find the box score) and Staten Island brings in a pitcher who was memorable for 2 reasons. Because he was tall and because he was significantly better than any other pitcher that took the mound that night. I thought very little of it until I recognized his name when he signed with the Brewers.
I wonder if I could get him to sign the program I have from that game.
Axford's pitching line
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Brew Crew Ball
Related FanShots on Brew Crew Ball
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
