Ball And Glove

I say cards win first two and Sheets, Sabathia win for a series split. Probably a safe bet, but I'm terrified of the Brewers dropping the first two games in the series in gut-wrenching fashion (like a couple more walk-offs from Aaron Miles or Skip Schumaker), followed by CC having his first bad start as a Brewer. Nothing ever seems to go right for the Brewers at New Busch -- it was a 4-game sweep there in August last year (including a double header sweep by the Cards with 2 walkoff wins, one of which came after the Brewers were winning 7-0 early) that pretty much deflated any hopes of holding off the Cubs last year. I don't think there's a road series I dread more every year than the 4-game set in St. Louis.

I would be all over that deal if I was the Giants. They don't really have many good hitting prospects coming up through the minors and by making that deal they would get a good, young shortstop (Hardy has the third highest OPS by shortstops in the majors this year) as well as a highly touted hitting prospect for a guy who only plays once every five days and who can be very good but is very inconsistent. True, I just think the Giants would hate to give up great young pitching to fix their offensive woes. It's harder to find young shutdown arms like Cain than it is to find guys that can hit, although the Giants' plethora of young arms may make Cain a bit more expendable. It would certainly be a great time to sell high on Hardy for the Brewers (I'm not inclined to take JJ's current OPS as for real, due to his recent hotstreak), but I think he's too valuable for them to give up right now. He is a stellar defensive shortstop that puts up good numbers, but the majority of people in Milwaukee seem to think that once Escobar's bat is ready, he'll become the everyday SS. I think once Escobar is ready, the Hardy trade talk will heat up, but the Brewers will likely just keep him and move him over to 3B. Hardy's current OPS production would be okay from the 3B spot, but anything less and it doesn't make much sense to keep him there. Most scouts seem to think that Escobar has a plus arm and plus range at SS, even if he does have some pretty high error levels in the minors. The errors have gone down, which is encouraging, but a lot of scouts thought Ryan Braun could be a good defensive 3B once he got his footwork down, too. :lol: Here's a short analysis of Escobar that used a few different sources: http://www.sportsbubbler.com/DisplayTopic.aspx?TopicID=697 Here's the Brewers' Baseball America farm report from last November: http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/prospects/features/265240.html

I might as well start bracing myself for the inevitable Cards sweep of the Brewers next, huh? :banghead:

I could be wrong, but I believe the Giants sent Durham home with the "flu" a couple days ago -- he hasn't made a single appearance in the Giants/Brewers series so far. It's kind of interesting that Durham hasn't been with the team since the break and is now likely getting traded, though...it makes you wonder how long this trade was in the works.

Adding Cain and losing Hardy is a lateral move at best for this year. Who would the Brewers have playing SS if Hardy were dealt? Most likely Alcides Escobar, who'd be a defensive upgrade over Hardy, but a huge offensive downgrade. His presence in the lineup would mean a huge black hole from spots 7-9 (Escobar, Kendall, Pitcher). Knowing Ned, though, they would bring up Escobar and make him sit on the bench while Counsell plays every day, since Counsell is such a gritty battling gamer. ](*,)

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is saying the deal is just awaiting Ray Durham's approval, since he's a 10-and-5 player. Haudricourt says the Brewers will be sending Darren Ford and pitcher Steve Hammond, which leads him to believe the Brewers are also getting Jack Taschner. Link: http://blogs.jsonline.com/brewers/archive/2008/07/20/hammond-is-in-the-deal.aspx Since Weeks has been hitter the ball better as of late, it's expected Durham will just be a bat off the bench for now, but he does provide insurance in case Weeks falls off again. From the Brewers perspective, it's better than giving Craig Counsell 2 starts a week.

If the Brewers were going to trade Gamel, I'd prefer if it was for a guy they'd have under control for a few years. Cain fits that bill, but I don't think even Brian Sabean is stupid enough to trade away his young pitchers. The Durham/Taschner deal seems much more likely to me. It wouldn't be a bad move, but it's not going to have a ton of impact, either. Taschner's a pretty average lefty relief arm, and Durham is actually worse defensively than Rickie Weeks these days. Durham does bring a nice .380 OBP that the Brewers desperately need, though, so there's the possibility of him platooning with Weeks down the stretch, with Durham facing righties. Even if he doesn't go into a platoon with Weeks, he'd be a nice bat off the bench.

I completely agree. For every time he thinks outside of the box in a good way (experimenting with the pitcher batting 8th to keep Kendall from hitting double plays, for example), he goes and does something like this. Yost has tried extremely hard to break out of the Bobby Cox Conventional Thinking mold, but he also falls back into it too many times (sticking with struggling players too long to show loyalty to veterans, giving everyone in the bullpen specific roles like publicly saying "Mota is my 8th inning guy", etc.). He claims to read all these sabermetric books in the offseason, but I don't think he really understands the concepts behind them. Furthermore, he only chooses to pay attention to stats that support his decisions. It's maddening. I now know what it was like for you guys when Dusty Baker was in town, except we don't get nearly as many ridiculous striped bass fishing quotes.

Would it kill the Cardinals to lose a game or two? The Padres had 1st and 2nd with 1 out and the Cards get the inning-ending double play. Between that and the bases-loaded chokejob, it's like San Diego is trying to find out how many ways they can possibly screw up a rally.

Sheets really doesn't have his good stuff today -- 8 hits through 4 innings, and 3 or 4 of those are doubles. Powell and Uecker say his velocity is fine, but he's leaving pitches over the plate and thigh-high. He probably could've used another day off after throwing 45 pitches in the ASG, but the Brewers wanted him to start today to be in line to pitch the 4th game in St. Louis next week.

I'm sure Ryan Ludwick will find a way to hit a 6-run HR or something to give the Cards the lead...still good to see the Cards down early, though.

I would doubt you were banned just because you're a Cub fan -- there are Cub, Cardinal, and Astro fans that seem to be able to post there. It seems like there's usually a reason for a banning, so if your IP got banned maybe it's because a similar IP to yours got banned? They do require that you send in a short paragraph to get your account activated, but they say most of the applications they deny come in with just a few words written. I wouldn't call Brewerfan overly sensitive, but they do take pride in making sure the level of discussion stays up to a certain standard -- the last thing they want is for it to become another brewers.com board or the JSOnline comments section.

This is the dumbest thing that Ned Yost has done to date, and that's saying something. I'd be willing to bet that every pitcher on the Brewers' roster has pitched worse on the road than at home. It's normal. It happens. It's not like Dave Bush walks into Busch Stadium and forgets how to pitch well, then walks back into Miller Park and exclaims "Eureka!" as he suddenly remembers how to throw strikes. McClung has been pretty bad at home this year, but I'd be willing to bet that has more to do with Seth McClung being a bad pitcher. This response from brewerfan.net pretty much sums up my feelings: Edit: Here's how each has performed since McClung has been put into the rotation. Dave Bush Jul 10 vs. COL - 8.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 13 K Jul 5 vs. PIT - 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 7 K Jun 30 @ ARI - 5.0 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 1 K Jun 24 @ ATL - 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K Jun 19 vs. TOR - 8.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K Jun 13 vs. MIN - 6.0 IP, 10 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K Jun 7 @ COL - 4.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 3 K Jun 1 vs. HOU - 7.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 K May 27 vs. ATL - 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 K May 22 @ PIT - 5.0 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 1 K Seth McClung Jul 12 vs. CIN - 6.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 3 BB, 7 K Jul 7 vs. COL - 4.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 5 K Jul 2 @ ARI - 5.1 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 6 K Jun 27 @ MIN - 4.2 IP, 9 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 2 K Jun 21 vs. BAL - 6.2 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 5 BB, 6 K Jun 15 vs. MIN - 6.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K Jun 10 @ HOU - 6.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 5 K Jun 3 vs. ARI - 6.0 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K May 29 vs. ATL - 4.2 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 6 BB, 1 K May 24 @ WAS - 5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 4 K These things are pretty clear: - Ned Yost has to be insane to take Bush out of the rotation when he's been pitching well for a solid month. - Seth McClung sucks at home and on the road - With Bush you have the possibility of him pitching into the 7th inning. McClung hasn't done that this year. Wouldn't longer starts be more desirable when you have a bad bullpen? - Ned is incapable of making tough decisions, even when they're not tough Also, for what it's worth, Jeff Suppan's road ERA is 6.04. But since he's an "innings eater" or something, he gets to keep his rotation spot despite a WHIP of 1.60 and the fact he hasn't had a decent start since the beginning of June.

If Ned keeps throwing CC out there for complete games, there won't be any October games for him to pitch in. I realize that Guillermo Mota and Eric Gagne completely suck, but you'd think one of them could get 3 outs before they give up 8 runs to the team that's dead last in the NL in home runs. Hell, throw out Brian Shouse or David Riske for an inning. There really was no reason to have Sabathia go the entire game -- I would've preferred to see Yost keep Sabathia's pitch count under 100 for once.

Considering it is the Brewers' official website and everyone writing there is a team employee, it doesn't really surprise me that they put something like that together. It's a throwaway All-Star Break piece, IMO. Is it possible for the Brewers to catch the Cubs? Sure, but it would probably take a Brewers sweep at the end of July to even get within striking distance of the Cubs -- something that's not likely to happen. Not to mention if the Brewers don't play well in St. Louis July 21-24, that Cubs series is going to mean even less. I think most smart Brewers fans (and yes, there's quite a few of us that are smart) realize that the Brewers' main targets should be the Cards/Mets/Phillies. A division title would be nice, but it doesn't matter how you get into the playoffs (especially when you're talking about an organization that hasn't been there in 26 years).

Brewer fan coming in peace. ;) To answer your question, Sheets has pretty much always been a strict 2-pitch pitcher, but he's experimented with other pitches. Most notably, he's tried throwing a change-up the past couple years, but it's a pitch he'll only show to the most elite hitters (mostly Pujols, but I'm sure guys like ARam and Lee have seen it a couple times). Since he's never really been able to throw it effectively, he only throws it when it's least expected. You'll see it maybe 2-3 times a game, unless he can't drop his curveball in for strikes. he's good enough that he doesn't really need more than 2 pitches Very true -- his fastball and curveball are so good that he can get away with it against most batters. Bobby Cox has said multiple times that Sheets' curveball is the best he's ever seen, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's just kissing Ned Yost's butt in that regard. It was definitely fun watching Sheets make Derek Jeter and Manny Ramirez look silly with that curveball in the All-Star Game, though.

Hate: Bronson Arroyo (sticking the leg straight out) Doug Davis (painfully slow) Dave Bush (just annoying in general) El Duque (high leg kick) Favorites: K-Rod Bradford/Kim submarine-style Johan Santana Randy Johnson Pre-Injury Pedro Hideo Nomo

I don't see this deal ending well for the Phillies, but I suppose anyone is better than Adam Eaton. The move to the NL might help him, but I don't think he'll have the same effect Harden will have on the Cubs or Sabathia will have on the Brewers. Seems to me like they're making a move just for the sake of making a move, and you almost always get burned on deals like that.

Brewer fan coming in peace. ;) To answer your question, Sheets has pretty much always been a strict 2-pitch pitcher, but he's experimented with other pitches. Most notably, he's tried throwing a change-up the past couple years, but it's a pitch he'll only show to the most elite hitters (mostly Pujols, but I'm sure guys like ARam and Lee have seen it a couple times). Since he's never really been able to throw it effectively, he only throws it when it's least expected. You'll see it maybe 2-3 times a game, unless he can't drop his curveball in for strikes.