Tonight's Matchup: Brewers (Greinke) at Marlins (Vazquez)

by Kyle Lobner on Jun 6, 2011 4:00 PM CDT in Game Previews

By my count the Brewers haven't swept a four game series, home or away, since doing it against the Cardinals in St. Louis on July 21-25, 2008. They have a chance to do it again tonight in the series finale against the Marlins.

To do it they'll have to beat Javier Vazquez (6.02 ERA, 4.91 FIP), who is having a rough season. Through eleven starts in 2011 Vazquez is on pace to set new career highs in both WHIP (1.543) and walks per nine innings (4.2). He has, however, been better lately: He has a 2.84 ERA and has lasted six innings or more in each of his last three starts. He pitched six innings against the Diamondbacks on Wednesday, allowing four runs on six hits with no walks and five strikeouts.

When Vazquez is on he has four good pitches: A high 80's fastball, slider, curve and changeup. FanGraphs says all four have been above average for his career, but only the slider (+2.23 runs per 100) and curve (+0.87) have been so this season.

Vazquez has faced the Brewers 16 times in his career, but only twice since 2005. Three Brewers have seen him ten times or more:

Player	PA	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Mark Kotsay	44	.237	.341	.395	.736
Craig Counsell	32	.300	.323	.633	.956
Yuniesky Betancourt	11	.200	.200	.200	.400

Vazquez will face Zack Greinke (5.29 ERA, 2.73 FIP). I'm not sure what I can tell you about Greinke that we haven't already said lately. He beat the Reds on Tuesday, allowing two runs on six hits and a season-high three walks over six innings while striking out six. On the season he's walked six batters and struck out 45.

Greinke has faced the Marlins twice in his career but not since 2008. Omar Infante is the only current Marlin who's faced Greinke ten times or more, and he's 0-for-13 with a pair of strikeouts. Only Josh Hamilton (0-for-16 with a walk) has more career at bats against Greinke without a hit.

Tonight's lineup:

2B Rickie Weeks
CF Nyjer Morgan
LF Ryan Braun
1B Prince Fielder
3B Casey McGehee
RF Mark Kotsay
SS Yuniesky Betancourt
C Jonathan Lucroy
P Zack Greinke

And in the bullpen:

John Axford pitched one inning (17 pitches) yesterday and has pitched in three straight games.
Kameron Loe pitched 1 inning (14 pitches) yesterday and also pitched on Saturday.
LaTroy Hawkins pitched .1 innings (8 pitches) yesterday and also pitched on Saturday.
Zach Braddock faced one batter (one pitch) yesterday and also pitched on Saturday.
Marco Estrada pitched 1.2 innings (27 pitches) yesterday.
Tim Dillard pitched 1.2 innings (14 pitches) yesterday.
Sergio Mitre last pitched on Friday.

And now, weather: It's another beautiful day for baseball in Florida. Game time temp should be around 84 and dropping into the 70's as the game goes along. No precipitation is in the forecast.

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Comments

Looking at the bullpen usage...

I think it would be a great time for Greinke’s first Brewer CG.

by mls4 on Jun 6, 2011 4:10 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs

Terrible Kotsay is Terrible

Roenicke once again needs a punch to the face. Is there a single other manager in all of major league baseball that would pull Hart for Kotsay ever? Anyone? I honestly believe that Roenicke may be the only manager in all of MLB that would do that. How many teams with a 56% win percentage trot out two negative fWAR players in a starting lineup when there are alternatives at both positions already on the roster?

Since Roenicke has proven he can’t be rational when it comes to Kotsay, Melvin needs to take the decision out of his hands. Either Kotsay or Roenicke has to go. I’d prefer it be Kotsay, but if Roenicke has to go then so be it. Kotsay will ultimately cost the Brewers at least 1 win this season and that could make the difference. Roenicke is costing the team runs, if not wins. I’ll happily take Gomez/Morgan over Morgan/Kotsay 10 times out of 10.

Fortunately, Greinke should assure that even Kotsucker can’t bring this team down.

by ecocd on Jun 6, 2011 4:23 PM CDT reply actions 3 recs

Also Roenicke told Haudricourt that Axford is completely unavailable for tonight's game.

by ecocd on Jun 6, 2011 4:24 PM CDT up reply actions

As he should be

I don’t want him pitching four days in a row.

by Cheeseandcorn on Jun 6, 2011 5:20 PM CDT up reply actions

He's leaving to close for his wife as she delivers their kid!

(per TH)

by MillerParkSouth on Jun 6, 2011 6:02 PM CDT up reply actions

Something weird is going on today.

I don’t know if Roenicke got some bad research or what’s happening, but here’s a line from TH on the JSOnline.com blog today:

Hart is a career .182 (4 for 22) hitter against Javier Vasquez and Kotsay a career .310 (9 for 29) hitter.

Hart has never played for anyone other than the Brewers, and the Brewers have only faced Vazquez twice since 2005. How can Hart have 22 PA against Vazquez? Also, the Kotsay stats are wrong as well. The information in the post here is correct from Baseball-Reference.com. Where did that number that TH wrote for Kotsay come from?

"You need to add a signature line about your sarcasm detector being broken like a Cubs fan’s spirit."
- molitorfan

by -JP- on Jun 6, 2011 4:32 PM CDT up reply actions

I would think that's a JSOnline error rather than Brewers error

We just know that Roenicke has an irrational LOVE of Kotsay. That’s why Melvin just needs to get rid of him citing his amazingly terrible numbers when RR starts sobbing in the corner.

by ecocd on Jun 6, 2011 4:35 PM CDT up reply actions

Rec'd for Kotsucker

by BrewCrewBrian on Jun 6, 2011 4:32 PM CDT up reply actions

The idea of firing Roenicke over it is absurd

But his obsession with Kotsay is getting ridiculous. The beat writers need to call him out on it every day that Kotsay’s in the lineup.

by Cheeseandcorn on Jun 6, 2011 5:21 PM CDT up reply actions

It's not all that absurd

One game can easily make the difference this year and with as many starts as Kotsay looks to make for the rest of the year, that could very well add up to a win, because Kotsay is that worthless. If Roenicke can make Boggs disappear, he can and should do the same with Kotsay.

At this point, I think I’d rather have Sveum as manager as long as he promises to never start Kotsay and seriously reconsider Yuni’s role now that they have someone capable of playing a mediocre SS.

by ecocd on Jun 6, 2011 5:47 PM CDT up reply actions

If the organization really wanted Roenicke not to start Kotsay

They would just tell him, “Don’t start Kotsay,” and then Roenicke would just not start Kotsay. If he didn’t, the team would tell him, “Seriously, don’t start him, or else.” But we all know that’s not happening

You don’t just go, “Hey, you know that player we signed to a major league contract and have kept on the roster all season? You’re fired for starting him.” That’s basically entrapment.

If the team did hate Kotsay that much, then it would make 1000x more sense to just get rid of him than fire Roenicke over it.

by Cheeseandcorn on Jun 6, 2011 10:50 PM CDT up reply actions

Is Kotsay really that much worse than Gomez?

by uwbadgers on Jun 6, 2011 5:22 PM CDT up reply actions

Neither one can hit, but Gomez is one of the best defenders in baseball. Kotsay is... not.

Ryan Braun: He loves it. -- Four pitchers in history with 8.5+ WAR and <250 IP seasons: Greg Maddux (age 29), Pedro Martinez (age 28), Roger Clemens (age 27), Zack Greinke (age 25).

by SRB on Jun 6, 2011 5:24 PM CDT up reply actions

Yes.

Gomez is better than Kotsay in every single facet of the game. Anyone that meets that criteria should retire immediately.

Gomez: wOBA = 0.300, Bsr = -0.2, UZR = 4.9
Kotsay: wOBA = 0.292, Bsr = -0.5, UZR = -2.9

To be fair to Gomez he has, in fact, been quite valuable this year and it’s utter insanity that Roenicke is playing Kotsay over Gomez. Even with his hideous OBP, Gomez’ defense and power (yes, power) means he might even have legitimate trade value at this point in the season.

by ecocd on Jun 6, 2011 5:42 PM CDT up reply actions

Yeah...

Kotsay wouldn’t have even made an MLB roster 30 years ago.

JAB

by John Armbruster Bowen on Jun 6, 2011 6:56 PM CDT up reply actions

why Lucroy behind Betancourt?

noooooooooooOOOooooo

"I don't even know who Bryce Harper is — hah, hah, hah, hah, hah!" -Nyjer Morgan

by JAMOOL on Jun 6, 2011 4:30 PM CDT reply actions

mlb.com's free game today

This... is a simple game. You throw the ball. You hit the ball. You catch the ball.

by TN_Brewer on Jun 6, 2011 4:31 PM CDT reply actions

Shameless Plug

The new game prediction contest is up and running. Check out the FanPost to find the rules & make your first prediction.

"You need to add a signature line about your sarcasm detector being broken like a Cubs fan’s spirit."
- molitorfan

by -JP- on Jun 6, 2011 4:38 PM CDT reply actions

Interesting...

That we aren’t employing the usual shift on Stanton.

JAB

by John Armbruster Bowen on Jun 6, 2011 6:50 PM CDT reply actions

No doubt about it!

JAB

by John Armbruster Bowen on Jun 6, 2011 7:03 PM CDT reply actions

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