1. Norichika Aoki (L) RF
2. Rickie Weeks (R) 2B
3. Ryan Braun (R) LF
4. Jonathan Lucroy (R) C
5. Alex Gonzalez (R) 3B
6. Carlos Gomez (R) CF
7. Jean Segura (R) SS
8. Yuniesky Betancourt (R) 1B
9. Wily Peralta (R) P
1. David DeJesus (L) CF
2. Starlin Castro (R) SS
3. Anthony Rizzo (L) 1B
4. Alfonso Soriano (R) LF
5. Nate Schierholtz (L) RF
6. Welington Castillo (R) C
7. Luis Valbuena (L) 3B
8. Brent Lillibridge (R) 2B
9. Travis Wood (R) P
No such thing as a must win this time of year. However, please beat these bozo’s. Thanks.
There is no way I would ever lose my mind over the direction of the Brewers this early in the season. It is a little depressing considering the position they are in.
The thing is other than starting pitching there isn’t anything to get mad at. The relief pitching issues are somewhat fluky past the Axford deal. The three top power bats are gone right now. It is tough to evaluate as a result.
Looking at a lineup that has Alex Gonzalez as the clean up guy would be the depressing part. I do not know who else you would put there given the circumstance but if it was my choice it would not be him. Maybe Khris Davis?
It is obvious Davis can hit but reports that he is below average defensively are reports that are being polite. He has the instinct of a drunken sailor and the arm of a girl scout.
Which reminds me……those thin mints are yummy.
Game 2 is a very frightening lineup. Not good frightening either.
That was a bad loss. The Crew seemed pretty lifeless in this one. I blamed the first Mike Gonzalez “blowup” on bad luck. I suppose you could say the same here. A cross-up with the catcher cost the team the game. I hate making excuses for him as I just do not think he is all that good at this point.
Give credit to Kyle Lohse. He pitched great and it was real comfortable to watch him. TV guy Brian Anderson made me feel good with his explanation as to why he became good once he arrived in St. Louis.
A pitching coach can make changes in a pitcher that makes them good. See just about any closer the Brewers have used since Doug Melvin arrived.
Jean Segura hit his first major league HR. Also was his first extra base hit of the season.
Seems that the injuries to Aramis Ramirez and Ryan Braun are minor. That is good as the team isn’t anything special offensively without them. Not much of an observation as what team is without there best two hitters.
I was not a big fan of the Kyle Lohse signing. The money is fine and he does make the team better today. Just doubt he makes them a World Series contender or puts them closer towards winning a championship long term. So in that event it makes the draft pick loss painful as it potentially harms long term franchise health.
It is very easy for this deal to provide Wolf-pan and Suppan flashbacks. I do think he is better than that but not in a slam dunk way.
His first regular season Brewers start tonight comes in a situation that is the exact reason for which they signed him. They need him to keep the team from suffering a long early season losing streak. The kind that could get real bad stringing three or four inexperienced starters together.
It is not real fair to expect that out of him after making just one spring training start. The thing is I do expect it. This is why he gets $33M for three years at age 34.
Regardless of my beliefs on the signing he is here and he is a member of the Crew. I support him all the way. I just hope he can make me believe in him and start doing it tonight.
Having a successful season is almost completely about winning series. This season I will recap each series as a whole and make those type of observations. The brewers dropped the first series of the season 1-2 and looked pretty bad doing it. Good timing by the offense bailed them out from suffering a terrible opening sweep.
The Crew was outscored 19-12 in the three games and outhit 41-26. The truth is the Brewers were dominated in this series.
Most disappointing part was the starting pitching. The three starters, Yovani Gallardo, Marco Estrada and Wily Peralta accumulated only 15.1 innings. Early in the season that is somewhat expected but the performance was poor in that short time. (no quality starts)
John Axford had a rough series blowing the opener and getting hammered in game three. His three HR allowed is alarming but it is just too early to get all that excited about it.
I do not think RP Mike Gonzalez is all that good and I view him as the weak part of the pen. That said, his meltdown in game two is not of particular concern. They were all soft hits and mostly in the infield. In short, he was extremely unlucky.
Offensively Richard Weeks had a tremendous series. He hit .545 with an OPS of 1.552 adding a HR, 2 BB, 1 SB and scored 5.
Young SS Jean Segura hit .455 with an OPS of .955. (all singles) I do think he is going to show some power this season and in the future. He also played really good defense having a hand in three double plays.
Ryan Braun hit .400 with a HR and 4 RBI and made an awesome throw to the plate late in game three to keep them close.
The Brewers played really excellent defense as a team. They committed just one error. (Aramis Ramirez) Alex Gonzalez looked awkward at 1B but he should as he has no experience there. He will be adequate defensively in short order. Carlos Gomez simply is the best defensive CF in the game. I do not think a smart person would try to debate that. The robbery of Cargo’s would be HR in game three was perfect and astonishing.
It is easy to find a bright spot from a pitching standpoint. RP Alfredo Figaro was awesome in two appearances out of the pen. He pitched 3.1 innings in the series and dominated. He allowed 2 hits and no runs while striking out 4. His fastball reached 97 MPH and he mixed in the softer stuff easily. Although he is mostly new to the big leagues he is pretty decent experience as he had a successful run in Japan’s pro league. He is the only non roster spring training invite to make this years squad. I think GMDM did it again with this dude.
It did not take long to get sick of watching the Rockies pound the crap out of the rest of the Milwaukee pitchers. I would like to make just one observation about them. Remember this guy, C Wilin Rosario is a star in the making. The 24 year old seems to be not well known outside of the baseball nerds but he is pretty awesome. In the series he hit .556 with a HR and 2 RBI (2 GS) He should not be relatively unknown very long as he hit 28 bombs as a rookie last season.
I recommend that you avoid all Wisconsin sports talk radio tomorrow. Some hosts and many callers will be calling for the head of John Axford. While the situation is a little concerning that proposal as stupid as ordering 2 big mac’s and a diet coke.
Chances are Axford will be fine. If he isn’t they will give someone else a shot. They have at least a handful of candidates. In either event it is way to early to care all that much.