Brewers 7, Astros 3: Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Road?
by Noah Jarosh on Aug 7, 2011 4:11 PM CDT
in WPA Game Recaps
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Win: Zack Greinke (10-4)
Loss: Bud Norris (5-8)
HR: Fielder (26)
MVP: Zack Greinke (.181) and Prince Fielder (.181)
LVP: Ryan Braun (-.064)
Fangraphs Win Expectancy Graph
OK, so this "road" might not be as treacherous as others (and certainly not as fraught with danger as the next one they'll be on), but a road sweep is a road sweep and the Brewers came out of Houston with three straight wins.
The Brewers got off to a nice start, scoring two runs on a Prince Fielder home run, then scored two more in the third inning via RBI singles by Felipe Lopez and Mark Kotsay. Then they score two more in the fifth, this time on a Yuniesky Betancourt single. Finally, Yuni singled in Prince Fielder to give the Brewers their seventh and final run.
Betancourt somehow just keeps hitting and had a 3-5 day today, along with a double and the three RBI. I keep trying to wrap my head around it, but my brain won't let me accept that Betancourt has been a (very) valuable hitter over an extended period of time. Now if only the coaching staff could advise a change to how he plays defense. Yuni also picked up the Brewers tenth hit today which, as SRB pointed out in the gamethread, ties the franchise record for most consecutive ten-hit games.
Also contributing to that record today were Mark Kotsay (3-5, double, run, RBI), and Prince Fielder (3-4, BB, 2 RBI, 4 R, 2R HR). Only two other Brewers even picked up a hit (Nyjer Morgan and Felipe Lopez).
Zack Greinke was all sorts of wonderful as he allowed just one hit through five innings and finished up with a line of 7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, and a meager 6 K. And no home runs, which is great to see. By my count, Greinke also made three fantastic defensive plays including knocking down a liner and throwing over to second to start a double play.
The Brewers are heading over to St. Louis after a day off, so start getting your hate generators fired up. They should still be primed after last week. Pitching matchups are Marcum vs Jackson, Wolf vs TBA, and Gallardo vs. TBA.
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Gallardo acting as translator for Yuni.
He seems really tentative speaking spanish, like he didn’t grow up speaking it. Strange.
Didn't his family move to TX when he was really young?
Though I’m assuming there was still spanish spoken in his house, at least at times.
I’ve got a friend who was born in Mexico City and whose family came to the US when he was little, and he was always very uncomfortable speaking spanish, though he appeared to do so fairly well. He said he was more comfortable speaking english and he was always afraid of making mistakes when he spoke Spanish, even though he learned Spanish first.
by Ted Simmons Speed Camp on Aug 7, 2011 4:25 PM CDT up reply actions
Maybe.
I would assume with native speaking parents and living close to the border (I think) that he would have it spoken around him fairly frequently, especially at home. I could see him maybe being ridiculed in school for being Mexican and thus learning to be more embarrassed about speaking Spanish perhaps. Which is a shame.
It's Dallas
basically
The Brewers at Miller Park: "ALL WE DO IS WIN, WIN, WIN NO MATTER WHAT"
The Brewers on the road: Something witty I haven't thought of yet
That's actually very common in Hispanic immigrants
There seems to be a fear that if they are not perfect with their Spanish, they’ll be made fun of for being “too white.”
I aim to misbehave
Yo isn't normally a translator
I wonder if he came off as tentative because he had to think about the translation instead of it coming naturally to him.
Pujols is the Barack Obama of baseball.
a milkshake and a burger
to congratulate itself on a job well done.
i'm fighting all the french people i can find. happy cinco de mayo!
by sowingwildoats on Aug 7, 2011 4:32 PM CDT up reply actions
Nice game by Zack Prince Yuni Kotsay and the Crew
He’s always open. He catches a lot of balls. He’s un-guardable, no matter how old he is
My sense is that this team is better than the 2008 squad
No matter what the run differential has to say
Rock made a good point... (wait what?)
Yuni isn’t just hitting. His entire approach at the plate is 100% different and his swing looks less of balance.
Streak Breakers.com
by Flanyboy on Aug 7, 2011 5:30 PM CDT via mobile reply actions
I commented to my wife today
That I don’t even recognize the guy at the plate when Yuni is batting. I was only half kidding.
Greinke: "It’s not about the guacamole itself. I just don’t want to let them win."
by GoGregGo on Aug 7, 2011 5:39 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
It's worth pointing out though that his recent average is much less impressive considering he never walks.
"We’re here to win, man. All that fighting stuff, that’s for the birds." - Prince Fielder
by SRB on Aug 7, 2011 6:47 PM CDT up reply actions
I'd agree if he wasn't getting so many multi-hit games recently...
some people hit, some people walk.. some people do both…… Yuni is (apperently) in the first category.
That is highly unlikely
his recent success is almost assuredly a product of a small sample (less than a month of baseball – he was hitting .237 as recently as July 10) as opposed to a new, more successful, approach at the plate. He makes a lot of contact, and from time to time that is going to result in a lot of balls falling in for hits. It doesn’t mean he’s all of a sudden a good player.
But that simply isn't accurate... I'm not saying he is good but it is mis leading to say that he has been disasterous until July 10th...
The Following is Yuni’s BA per month…
March/April: .261
May: 178
June: .284
July: .299
August: .409
Obviously August is a sample size issue but he has been a decent hitter when it comes to Batting Average. May was a disastrous month, so much so that it really sabotaged his Batting Average.
I don’t think Yuni is a GOOD SS but I think everyone given how bad he was in May would take a .261 Yuni the rest of the way. We all know he wont walk much but if he at least hits .261 that is about what most would consider what was expected and things certainly could be worse… With that said Yuni has only had one month where he has had a BA lower than .261 and two full months where he hit significantly higher.
Yuni has had one disastrous month at the plate. He has had one month where he hit about his career average, and two full months where he was significantly better.
Streak Breakers.com
by Flanyboy on Aug 8, 2011 2:30 AM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
Both teams are hot.
The Cards haven’t lost since they played the Brewers.
The Brewers haven’t lost sine they played the Cards.
Both teams solidly hate each other.
The division is quite possibly on the line for this series.
If you love baseball, COULD IT GET ANY FRICKIN BETTER THAN THIS?
Point of information!
The Cardinals suck and got lucky in like all four games against Florida.
"We’re here to win, man. All that fighting stuff, that’s for the birds." - Prince Fielder
by SRB on Aug 7, 2011 7:13 PM CDT up reply actions
still too early
I think there are still three more series against the Cardinals this season after this one.
2 more - we play them six times in nine days in early August
But point taken, there’s still a lot of baseball left.
Dont' look now, but Greinke hasn't allowed more than 2 runs in his last 6 games.
And he’s gone 6-7 innings in each of those outings.
http://www.mlbsoup.com
We're now 2 games up on San Francisco for the 2nd best record
While it’s still a long way from being something to worry about, I’d like to avoid the Phillies in the first round of the playoffs if possible.
I aim to misbehave
So would I
Would really suck to have this team run into the buzzsaw that is the Phillies in the first round again.
I’m still a lot more concerned about making the playoffs in the first place, though.
by Cheeseandcorn on Aug 7, 2011 10:59 PM CDT up reply actions
Phillies stink.
"We’re here to win, man. All that fighting stuff, that’s for the birds." - Prince Fielder
I think it would almost be better to face them in a 5 game series
More variance. But, I’d really like to see the Brewers make the NLCS, so finishing 2nd would be pretty nice too.
Brewers have a better offense, and in a playoff series you can run Greinke/Gallardo/Marcum out there, taking away a lot of Philadelphia’s advantage (their SP). Also worth noting that Lee and Hamels are LHP and Corey Hart is a monster v. LHP.
"We’re here to win, man. All that fighting stuff, that’s for the birds." - Prince Fielder
I wouldn't say that the Brewers are better but they did manage taking what 2 outta 3 earlier this year in Philli? Just something worth remembering...
Streak Breakers.com
Will be interested to see
how that four-game September series in Milwaukee shakes out. Would also love to see us pitch Greinke-Marcum-Wolf-Gallardo and match up against their starters.
by Vee Sanford's Next-door Neighbor on Aug 8, 2011 7:05 AM CDT up reply actions
I wonder why the Brewers are only 12-14 vs lefties?
They are pretty right handed heavy, and Fielder hits lefties pretty well.
As a team they hit righties better than lefties...
vs. LHP = .255/.318/.398/.716
vs. RHP = .264/.324/.427/.751
Pujols is the Barack Obama of baseball.
casey has had a freaky bad season against lefties
hopefully between him and hairston the crew can start to perform better against lefties
Every man must believe in something, I believe I'll have another drink.
McGehee's dismal line v. LHP this season isn't helping. He's been horrible.
Strangely enough, he crushed LHP the last two seasons though.
"We’re here to win, man. All that fighting stuff, that’s for the birds." - Prince Fielder
by SRB on Aug 8, 2011 9:40 PM CDT up reply actions
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NL Central Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cincinnati
|
26 | 20 | .565 | 0 | Won 1 |
|
St. Louis
|
25 | 22 | .531 | 1.5 | Lost 3 |
|
Houston
|
22 | 24 | .478 | 4 | Lost 1 |
|
Pittsburgh
|
22 | 24 | .478 | 4 | Won 2 |
|
Milwaukee
|
19 | 27 | .413 | 7 | Lost 1 |
|
Chicago
|
15 | 31 | .326 | 11 | Lost 11 |
(updated 5.27.2012 at 12:11 PM CDT)
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