Here we are the start of June and the Brewers are in first place?? I guess I didn’t expect this out of the crew this early. Playing great and winning series is the type of baseball that I expect out of my team, whether that happens is another story. I was a little harsh in my previous entry at the beginning of the season, but I do like to be proven wrong from time to time. A couple things I wanted to touch on now that were just over 50 games played, starting pitching, offence/defense, and new additions to the ball club.
Pitching can make our break a franchise. An offence can help you win games by producing runs, but pitching wins you games by stopping the opposing team from scoring runs. To be honest, our pitching has been great. We have the second lowest ERA in the majors right now and were getting great starts and going deep in ballgames. Our bullpen has been on fire with Todd Coffey and the Hoff shutting people out in the later innings. Each one of the five (Guarrado, Suppan, Looper, Parra, Bush) have had rough outing during the season, but what pitching is going to be perfect all the time. I’m rather pleased with the performance of our pitching staff. I’m hoping that it does not start to fade and people start talking about trading Prince Fielder for pitching help again. I know I was one of those naysayers but I have changed my mind on that ship.
Our offence took a major hit a couple weeks back when Ricky Weeks injured his wrist and is done for the year. Major hole was created at second base. Ken Macha has done a nice job of rotating Counsel, McGhee to fill that spot. I am starting to really enjoy watching Casey Mcghee hit the ball, he’s got a nice future if he can hold his own at 2nd. Future is uncertain on how this situation will resolve itself. Weeks was staring to have the kind of year he was talked about having for 4 years now. His bat was on fire and his fielding was improving, thanks to Willie Randolph working with him. Hopefully with weeks gone, Randolph will focus his attention on up and comer Matt Gamel. Although his bat speaks for itself, his fielding speaks louder. I hope to see good things from the Gamel this year and maybe find his way onto the field more as the year goes on, he is our future 3rd baseman for now. Defensively were doing fine, an error here and there won’t kill a ball club.
Newest additions to the crew as of last May are, obviously Matt Gamel, pinch hitters Jody Gerut and Frank Calamanotto have been brought on to fill in that pinch hitter role that was craig counsel. Brad Nelson was given the option to AAA and am uncertain what happened after that. And as of today, reliever Jorge Julio was released by the team, they brought up reliever Mike Burns from AAA. We shall see how this pans out.
Until next time, Go Brewers!!!
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Brewers, brewers, brewers....Season is finally here!
So I know you can’t judge a book by its cover, and that’s how I am looking at the start of this Brewers season. Off to a rocky 4-8 start, the crew seems to be showing the flaws that we all picked apart in the off season. Starting pitching, bullpen, and offence are the issues that come to mind. Now I know as well as anyone that it is way too soon to be making the ultimate decision on where the crew is going to be in the standings at the end of the year, but surprisingly I’m kind of happy about the way things are going right now.
The starting pitching is exactly what I thought it would be, average. Suppan, Gallardo, Parra, Looper and Bush are how they line up, not in that order. They all have shown signs of greatness but no consistency. The only exception so far is Gallardo. The game he pitched against the Mets on 04/18 was the best I’ve seen him pitch in a while, but lets not get so excited, one game means he can pitch, when he starts putting together 3 or 4 good outing in a row is when I will know he is comfortable. The other 4 are easily replaceable. Suppan needs to be let go and the Brewers can eat his contract. I don’t think he was worth the money that he is getting. Parra is still young and needs work. Bush, again signs of greatness, but he gives up the big runs early and then settles down, how about the other way around son. Looper is another case of the Suppan’s. We picked him up because he has start under his belt. He still can pitch and will put up decent numbers, but not a guy you can count on. If I had to grade them right now, C-
The bullpen is my other troubled area of the team. We have a great group of guys who work hard and want to improve and help there team win. Villenueva was a guy last year who you could count on in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings if needed, this year he has been given a new role until Hoffman gets back from the DL, closer. Well, the brewers haven’t had many opportunities to get saves because it seems like there down every game, but the times that Villenueva has been in the game, he has not pitched well. My guess is that he has a little added pressure because of the title he has been given or expected to be given, his problem right now is all mental. He’s thinking about it too much in stead of going out there and just pitching. Once he realizes that, I believe he will be back to that guy that the crew can count on. Seth McClung is the other guy who I believe has a huge upside, that’s not a pun on Seth, he really is a huge guy. He is literally a presence on the mound, he’s big and tall and very inconsistent. When he got the opportunity to start last year he had some games where he was lights out. Since coming out of the bullpen this year, there are no lights flashing or even on right now. He’s been nothing short of terrible. His walks are defiantly troubling, I don’t know if he can’t find it or what, but right now when he’s in the game, I worry. On the up side to the bullpen, newcomer to the Brewers but not a newbie by any means is Todd Coffeey. This guy has been stellar. The past couple games that he has entered, the man has just been awesome. Last night he went 2 1/3 innings and recorded a save. Closer maybe??? Who knows, we shall see when Hoffmann gets back.
The Brewers offence is easily describable in one word, streaky. In baseball you’re considered a good hitter if you get a hit 30% of the time. The highest batting average ever was Roger Hornsby, who had a .403 average over the span of 4 years back in the 20’s, but the point is, ball players are not machines, everyone expects them to hit a home run or a base hit every time at the plate. Granted your going to have a 4-4 game once in a great while, but lets be for real. I guess the thing that bothers me for the most part, and this is why I love being a fan because I’m not the one standing at the plate, but I would give just about anything to be able to have that much talent to be able to be a ball player, but what bothers me is the strikeouts. The crew was just about as bad as you could get last year in this category, but I guess when you’re a home run hitting team, your going to have strikeouts everyday. Back to the topic, the Brewers have as good as a team as anybody, they just are very streaky. One week there hitting the seams off the ball and the next their hitting themselves on the way back to the dugout for striking out. I would really like to see them formed into more of a base hit small ball club. I really think that’s what wins ball games. Sure everybody likes the home runs, but to be honest, you live or you die by the long ball. So, while the offence finds itself, the crew needs to do a better job as a team to find other ways to score runs to compensate for the pitching this year. I think Dale Suavme is going to need to work hard this year. That’s why they kept him around.
As I mentioned earlier, I’m rather pleased on where we are 2 weeks into the season. I’ve said it before, I would much rather them struggle out of the gate and find themselves down the stretch and have momentum to make a run, than to start fast and fade late. I’m looking forward to a great season. Until next time…..
-Brewers fan for life
The starting pitching is exactly what I thought it would be, average. Suppan, Gallardo, Parra, Looper and Bush are how they line up, not in that order. They all have shown signs of greatness but no consistency. The only exception so far is Gallardo. The game he pitched against the Mets on 04/18 was the best I’ve seen him pitch in a while, but lets not get so excited, one game means he can pitch, when he starts putting together 3 or 4 good outing in a row is when I will know he is comfortable. The other 4 are easily replaceable. Suppan needs to be let go and the Brewers can eat his contract. I don’t think he was worth the money that he is getting. Parra is still young and needs work. Bush, again signs of greatness, but he gives up the big runs early and then settles down, how about the other way around son. Looper is another case of the Suppan’s. We picked him up because he has start under his belt. He still can pitch and will put up decent numbers, but not a guy you can count on. If I had to grade them right now, C-
The bullpen is my other troubled area of the team. We have a great group of guys who work hard and want to improve and help there team win. Villenueva was a guy last year who you could count on in the 6th, 7th and 8th innings if needed, this year he has been given a new role until Hoffman gets back from the DL, closer. Well, the brewers haven’t had many opportunities to get saves because it seems like there down every game, but the times that Villenueva has been in the game, he has not pitched well. My guess is that he has a little added pressure because of the title he has been given or expected to be given, his problem right now is all mental. He’s thinking about it too much in stead of going out there and just pitching. Once he realizes that, I believe he will be back to that guy that the crew can count on. Seth McClung is the other guy who I believe has a huge upside, that’s not a pun on Seth, he really is a huge guy. He is literally a presence on the mound, he’s big and tall and very inconsistent. When he got the opportunity to start last year he had some games where he was lights out. Since coming out of the bullpen this year, there are no lights flashing or even on right now. He’s been nothing short of terrible. His walks are defiantly troubling, I don’t know if he can’t find it or what, but right now when he’s in the game, I worry. On the up side to the bullpen, newcomer to the Brewers but not a newbie by any means is Todd Coffeey. This guy has been stellar. The past couple games that he has entered, the man has just been awesome. Last night he went 2 1/3 innings and recorded a save. Closer maybe??? Who knows, we shall see when Hoffmann gets back.
The Brewers offence is easily describable in one word, streaky. In baseball you’re considered a good hitter if you get a hit 30% of the time. The highest batting average ever was Roger Hornsby, who had a .403 average over the span of 4 years back in the 20’s, but the point is, ball players are not machines, everyone expects them to hit a home run or a base hit every time at the plate. Granted your going to have a 4-4 game once in a great while, but lets be for real. I guess the thing that bothers me for the most part, and this is why I love being a fan because I’m not the one standing at the plate, but I would give just about anything to be able to have that much talent to be able to be a ball player, but what bothers me is the strikeouts. The crew was just about as bad as you could get last year in this category, but I guess when you’re a home run hitting team, your going to have strikeouts everyday. Back to the topic, the Brewers have as good as a team as anybody, they just are very streaky. One week there hitting the seams off the ball and the next their hitting themselves on the way back to the dugout for striking out. I would really like to see them formed into more of a base hit small ball club. I really think that’s what wins ball games. Sure everybody likes the home runs, but to be honest, you live or you die by the long ball. So, while the offence finds itself, the crew needs to do a better job as a team to find other ways to score runs to compensate for the pitching this year. I think Dale Suavme is going to need to work hard this year. That’s why they kept him around.
As I mentioned earlier, I’m rather pleased on where we are 2 weeks into the season. I’ve said it before, I would much rather them struggle out of the gate and find themselves down the stretch and have momentum to make a run, than to start fast and fade late. I’m looking forward to a great season. Until next time…..
-Brewers fan for life
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
March Madness 09'
The Dance:
It’s that time again, my favorite time of the year for sports. There’s nothing like March madness. 65 teams battling for supremacy, does it get any better? Personally I get giddy like a child when this time comes around. I love filling out my bracket and contemplating who is going to go far, who is going to get upset and who the sleepers are, and then talking with everybody about it. There’s a lot of buzz out there this year on who’s going to win. In many ways this year is kind of cool, there’s not a clear front runner to win. I guess we will see.
Every year I try to watch more and more basketball during the season so when tournament time rolls around I will be more prepared and could make better educated decisions. Well like years past, I tried, but to no avail, I didn’t watch enough. I did however watch enough to have a pretty good opinion. So here is my bracket in a nut shell and my pick to win.
My final four are as follows: Louisville, Memphis, North Carolina, and Villanova.
Louisville has flown under the radar this year even though they are the #1 overall team. Not much has been said about them, they will be the team to in the Midwest.
Memphis lost 5 seniors and still went undefeated in conference play this year. Granted they are in the conference USA which we all know is not as strong as the BCS schools. Watch out for them to get hot and a rather weak West division. They will meet there match in Louisville and there tourney will end. They were also the first school to go undefeated and not get a #1 seed.
North Carolina is the team to be in my opinion. If Ty Lawson is healthy, watch out. With the combination of Tyler Hansborough, I think the two can carry this team to a national title.
Villanova is my surprise in the final four this year. They too have flown under the radar and have not generated much buzz. There guard play is exceptional and I believe they are the best team in the East region.
My surprise teams: Purdue, Kansas, Xavier.
-Purdue has had a good year, but no one ever gives respect to the Big Ten conference so this year people will know who Purdue is.
-Kansas has had a lot of pressure, being the defending champs and all, but they will make a good showing getting to the elite 8 before getting knocked out by Louisville.
-Xavier is my sleeper this year. Being a 4 seed, there not too much of a sleeper, but watch out for them to knock Pitt off their undeserving pedestal and reach the elite 8.
Here is this year’s disappointment: Michigan State, Pitt and I hate to say it but Uconn.
Michigan State had a great year. Winning the Big ten conference. There loss to Ohio State in the conference tourney was not biggie for Izzo and friends. They knew they were getting a good seed anyways. Good seed or not, MSU is not getting past USC in the second round. USC is another good team and even with the loss of OJ Mayo, they are a team to watch out for. Better luck next year Spartans.
Pitt, what do I say about Pitt? Everybody is jumping on their bandwagon. They play in a very good big east conference and they rightfully deserve that # 1 seed that they have, but I don’t think they are all that great. If Blair gets into foul trouble early, Pitt may be watching in April. I have them losing to Xavier in the sweet 16 round.
Uconn, I guess we can start with that there overrated. I bet Uconn’s women could beat these guys. Big east conference is tough and they had a great year, I just think they don’t have enough stamina to get to the finals. I also having them losing in the sweet 16 round to Purdue.
A lot of speculation on this years snubs, how does St Mary’s California not get into the field of 65?? I know that every year there is always one cry baby, but Arizona did not deserve to get in over St Mary’s. Arizona lost 5 of 6 down the stretch and somehow they got in. Name recognition is why. They’ve made the tourney some 16 years in a row, and the committee didn’t want to break that streak. Granted the Pac 10 is stronger than west coast conference, but oh well. The other snub that is worth mentioning is Penn State. The big ten had enough mediocre teams make the dance, one more was not necessary. Hell, they almost lost the other night in the NIT to George Mason.
Now this would not be a WI blog if I didn’t mention our teams that our in the tourney. WI is a 12 seed and they play Florida State on Friday night at 9pm CT. Marquette, a 6 seed, plays at 11:15 am CT and they play Utah State. Its hard for me not to want either to win, but knowing that each team has there up’s and downs I had to make decisions. I’m not one of those guys who have Marquette and WI playing in the National title game, because that just would never happen. I have WI losing to Florida State in the first round. They were just not that good this year. They seem to fade in every game they play. They are actually lucky they even got in this year. They were I think the 5th last team to get in or something. Marquette is just unlucky with Dominic James getting hurt. I really thought that they were a final four team, but after the loss of James, they just aren’t the same with Maurice Acker. It’s actually sad because it’s extremely rare that you have three 4th year seniors play all four years with each other and have a real chance at being a contender, and to fall short because of something unexpected is horrible. My heart goes out to Marquette and I’m extremely grateful for the 4 years that James, McNeal and Matthews put in. You will be missed.
Along with the buzz of the tourney itself, people have been griping about what changes need to be made to make the tourney better. The only suggestions I have is that the whole regular conference season, teams battle each other for a conference title. Great, you won the regular season title. Now you get to play in a tournament to see who gets an automatic bid to the tourney. To me, it kind of seems redundant. For example, Michigan State won the big ten championship. They in turn have a bad day and lost to Ohio State. Granted MSU was going to the dance anyways, but where is the incentive to win the regular season, other than bragging rights. I don’t know, just a thought. I guess it gives every team a shot to get into the tourney. Just seems backwards to me. But that is my only suggestion.
So with that said, have a great tourney season, and go Badgers, and Golden Eagles.
It’s that time again, my favorite time of the year for sports. There’s nothing like March madness. 65 teams battling for supremacy, does it get any better? Personally I get giddy like a child when this time comes around. I love filling out my bracket and contemplating who is going to go far, who is going to get upset and who the sleepers are, and then talking with everybody about it. There’s a lot of buzz out there this year on who’s going to win. In many ways this year is kind of cool, there’s not a clear front runner to win. I guess we will see.
Every year I try to watch more and more basketball during the season so when tournament time rolls around I will be more prepared and could make better educated decisions. Well like years past, I tried, but to no avail, I didn’t watch enough. I did however watch enough to have a pretty good opinion. So here is my bracket in a nut shell and my pick to win.
My final four are as follows: Louisville, Memphis, North Carolina, and Villanova.
Louisville has flown under the radar this year even though they are the #1 overall team. Not much has been said about them, they will be the team to in the Midwest.
Memphis lost 5 seniors and still went undefeated in conference play this year. Granted they are in the conference USA which we all know is not as strong as the BCS schools. Watch out for them to get hot and a rather weak West division. They will meet there match in Louisville and there tourney will end. They were also the first school to go undefeated and not get a #1 seed.
North Carolina is the team to be in my opinion. If Ty Lawson is healthy, watch out. With the combination of Tyler Hansborough, I think the two can carry this team to a national title.
Villanova is my surprise in the final four this year. They too have flown under the radar and have not generated much buzz. There guard play is exceptional and I believe they are the best team in the East region.
My surprise teams: Purdue, Kansas, Xavier.
-Purdue has had a good year, but no one ever gives respect to the Big Ten conference so this year people will know who Purdue is.
-Kansas has had a lot of pressure, being the defending champs and all, but they will make a good showing getting to the elite 8 before getting knocked out by Louisville.
-Xavier is my sleeper this year. Being a 4 seed, there not too much of a sleeper, but watch out for them to knock Pitt off their undeserving pedestal and reach the elite 8.
Here is this year’s disappointment: Michigan State, Pitt and I hate to say it but Uconn.
Michigan State had a great year. Winning the Big ten conference. There loss to Ohio State in the conference tourney was not biggie for Izzo and friends. They knew they were getting a good seed anyways. Good seed or not, MSU is not getting past USC in the second round. USC is another good team and even with the loss of OJ Mayo, they are a team to watch out for. Better luck next year Spartans.
Pitt, what do I say about Pitt? Everybody is jumping on their bandwagon. They play in a very good big east conference and they rightfully deserve that # 1 seed that they have, but I don’t think they are all that great. If Blair gets into foul trouble early, Pitt may be watching in April. I have them losing to Xavier in the sweet 16 round.
Uconn, I guess we can start with that there overrated. I bet Uconn’s women could beat these guys. Big east conference is tough and they had a great year, I just think they don’t have enough stamina to get to the finals. I also having them losing in the sweet 16 round to Purdue.
A lot of speculation on this years snubs, how does St Mary’s California not get into the field of 65?? I know that every year there is always one cry baby, but Arizona did not deserve to get in over St Mary’s. Arizona lost 5 of 6 down the stretch and somehow they got in. Name recognition is why. They’ve made the tourney some 16 years in a row, and the committee didn’t want to break that streak. Granted the Pac 10 is stronger than west coast conference, but oh well. The other snub that is worth mentioning is Penn State. The big ten had enough mediocre teams make the dance, one more was not necessary. Hell, they almost lost the other night in the NIT to George Mason.
Now this would not be a WI blog if I didn’t mention our teams that our in the tourney. WI is a 12 seed and they play Florida State on Friday night at 9pm CT. Marquette, a 6 seed, plays at 11:15 am CT and they play Utah State. Its hard for me not to want either to win, but knowing that each team has there up’s and downs I had to make decisions. I’m not one of those guys who have Marquette and WI playing in the National title game, because that just would never happen. I have WI losing to Florida State in the first round. They were just not that good this year. They seem to fade in every game they play. They are actually lucky they even got in this year. They were I think the 5th last team to get in or something. Marquette is just unlucky with Dominic James getting hurt. I really thought that they were a final four team, but after the loss of James, they just aren’t the same with Maurice Acker. It’s actually sad because it’s extremely rare that you have three 4th year seniors play all four years with each other and have a real chance at being a contender, and to fall short because of something unexpected is horrible. My heart goes out to Marquette and I’m extremely grateful for the 4 years that James, McNeal and Matthews put in. You will be missed.
Along with the buzz of the tourney itself, people have been griping about what changes need to be made to make the tourney better. The only suggestions I have is that the whole regular conference season, teams battle each other for a conference title. Great, you won the regular season title. Now you get to play in a tournament to see who gets an automatic bid to the tourney. To me, it kind of seems redundant. For example, Michigan State won the big ten championship. They in turn have a bad day and lost to Ohio State. Granted MSU was going to the dance anyways, but where is the incentive to win the regular season, other than bragging rights. I don’t know, just a thought. I guess it gives every team a shot to get into the tourney. Just seems backwards to me. But that is my only suggestion.
So with that said, have a great tourney season, and go Badgers, and Golden Eagles.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
