Wednesday, April 15, 2009

This Just Isn't Fun Right Now

New rule: When there is a runner on first base that is threatening to steal second, just let him go. Let him go. Kendall isn't going to throw him out anyway, and it's not worth trying to keep him at first. Why? Because Manny Parra isn't good enough yet to juggle both a runner at first and a guy at the plate. Case in point? Jerry Hairston's two-run shot that helped the Reds beat Milwaukee 6-1, all while Willy Taveras was threatening to steal.

The Brewers had plenty of chances to come up, as they have had in nights before, but Villanueva imploded again in the 9th and the Brewers had no chance to come back. The loss means the Brewers are now 2-6 on the young season, and they've already dropped their third series of the season. The rubber match is tonight at 7pm, and Milwaukee needs a win in the worst way.

I'm not sure what else I can say that I didn't already yesterday, when I walked the line between calmness and pressing the panic button. The Brewers need to step up, both on the mound and at the plate. Parra didn't pitch that terribly yesterday, but the four walks did prove to be deadly. Apparently, walks are up throughout the major leagues, but not every team is 2-6 right now, so that fact doesn't comfort me.

We need help from our offense as well. Ryan Braun is hitting .200, Prince Fielder is batting .176, and J.J. Hardy is at a .156 clip right now. Not very admirable for our 3-5 hitters. As for Jason Kendall, the man who said this offseason that Milwaukee still hasn't seen what he can do at the plate? Yeah, he's hitting .095.

The Brewers are 2-6 after eight games of a long season. That's not a legitimate cause for panic. But the fact that we are losing the games in a similar fashion - walks and poor play from our power hitters - is reason enough for me.


That box score quote is in honor of a fallen character from 24 this week.

Player of the Game: Well look at that, it was J.J. Hardy.

5 comments:

Jonk said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jonk said...

Ryan Braun is hitting .200, Prince Fielder is batting .176, and J.J. Hardy is at a .156 clip right now. Not very admirable for our 3-5 hitters.We all know that these guys are not going to hit .200 or .176 or .156 this year. Everybody cool out. Let's worry about the pitching, not the hitting.As for Jason Kendall, the man who said this offseason that Milwaukee still hasn't seen what he can do at the plate? Yeah, he's hitting .095.Kendall, on the other hand..yeah, he might hit .095.

Jonk said...

For some reason the formatting is screwy today. I didn't get any line breaks in my first message. Deleted it, tried again, and the same problem. Weird.

Anonymous said...

I think the definition of rubber game is that the teams have split the previous games and this one decides the series winner. Just FYI.

Winks said...

The Brewers split the first two games in their first two series, that's what I must have been thinking.

Thanks for the catch.

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