FanPost

Sunday Sundries - August 2-15

Those Cincinnati Reds...they keep playing good baseball, breathing down the Brewers' - well, not exactly necks, but perhaps some other rear side of the team. But guess what! In the two weeks since we last sundried Milwaukee has increased their NL Central lead from seven games to eight. Acceptable.

The Crew went 9-4 over the last 14 days, with three tough close losses and a not-so-close loss Saturday afternoon. The Brewers had only one day off scheduled over those two weeks, but ended up with three due to two rain-outs. That meant that they played a couple of those really cool seven inning game double headers, which did help ease the starting pitching burden a bit - and Milwaukee won three of those four games, so there's that.

What with a couple of blow-outs each way, the Brewers still managed to outscore their foes by 15 runs over the two weeks. Does that mean they should have won all of their games according to Pythagoras?

TOP HITTING STORY: The Brewers have more than eight "regular" players. Two of the slightly irregular ones led the way at the plate this week. We'll go first with one of two Brewers who tied major league records this week: Luis Urias had five extra base hits in Milwaukee's rout of the Cubs on Thursday, with three doubles and two homers. Over the two weeks, in 34 plate appearances, he collected four doubles and three dingerz, scoring eight and driving in eight. Only two k's! His 1.140 OPS, though, was second to...

Honorable Mention: Jace Peterson, who only had 22 plate appearances, but walked twice, had two doubles and a homerun, and OPS'd 1.222. He grabbed PT when Avi Garcia couldn't keep his left pinkie away from pitched baseballs vs the Cubs and Rowdy Tellez slightly tweaked his knee (although the knee was good enough for Rowdy to hit one into the Allegheny River for a pinch homer vs the Buccos). It's easier to list the positions that Jace hasn't played (catcher and centerfield) in 2021 than those he has. Yup, he got a game finished pitching when all of the Pirates' luck for the month coalesced into their 14-4 drubbing of Milwaukee in game one of Saturday's DH. Think I'll skip his pitching line.

TOP PITCHING STORY: Corbin Burnes was the other Crew member that tied an all-time MLB record this week. Against the hapless Cubs (who actually have a Happ, so perhaps it's unfair to call them hapless) Burnsey fanned ten straight Northsiders, tying the immortal Tom Seaver and mere mortal Aaron Nola for most consecutive k's ever in one game. Corbin had eight scoreless on four hits in that one, and ended the week with two starts going 15 innings of one run ball, giving up just eight hits with a walk and 20 k's. C'est incredible'!

Honorable Mention: The Vulturaptor is back at it. Brent Suter saw action in six games in the two week span, and of course got wins in three of them. He's second, with twelve, in the bigs in wins. He found time for a save, too, but that seems like such a waste. And should you think he's just lucky, he pitched well too! In 7.1 innings he allowed five hits and a walk while fanning eight, with just one earned run. WHIP of 0.82. In his post-game presser today, after Suter picked up said twelfth win, Craig Counsell was asked about all the wins. He gave his CC Smirk (patent pending) and talked about how yeah, the team is aware of it - especially the pen - and seemed to insinuate that Suter ain't done getting chances to win games. This is computer game stuff right there, Craig.

IMHO: From the Getting Ahead of Ourselves Dept: I'm giving away money-making ideas for free tonight! When the Brewers capture their first ever World Championship this October (or early November), BCB has my permission to steal this idea: All Platinum Members of Brew Crew Ball can purchase a genuine fake platinum World Series ring, loosely similar to whatever design the franchise comes up with...skirting all copyright laws, of course. I figure enough of us would be willing to fork over $25 or so, and figure the rings couldn't cost more than a buck each to make. I mean, jeesh, I've purchased some of those cheap-a$$ t-shirts that occasionally pop up. Whaddaya think?

To those that say I'm getting way ahead of myself, I say: PHOOEY! The Bucks won, so it's obviously our year, and getting ready to cash in on opportunities takes foresight and planning. Hard work, too, but I'll leave that part to somebody else.

COMMENT OF THE WEEK: Sundries loves to have themes, so...Junked has somehow also noticed that Suter is getting wins, and in this age of advanced analytics he has developed his own way to measure wins by MLB pitchers, in an effort to make them relevant again. I'm not sure if INN/W is innings needed per win or just innings per win (innings needed per win sounds cooler), but here you go:

RAPTOR QUOTIENT

Suter now sits at 4.89 INN/W

2nd Civale (who has been out injured) sits at 9.77 INN/W

3rd Hendricks 10.67 INN/W

Posted by Junked on Aug 15, 2021

If you haven't ck'd out all of the trackers following game summaries, you are really missing...something.

The Quest for the Central continues this week. Following an off day Monday, the Brewers travel to St. Louis for three against the resurgent Cardinals before returning to AFI Field to face the Nats in three weekend tilts. Then the second place Reds come to Milwaukee for a midweek three game set. A short jaunt to The Land of 10,000 Lakes vs the Twins closes things out.

The NL Central tilts give the Brewers a chance to put a stranglehold on the division. Counsell has set up the rotaion so that Peralta, Burnes and Woodruff not only start the three against the Redbirds, but will also get the Reds. Good planning!

Enjoy your weeks!