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Brewed Blues (KTE)

TransMonk Jul 05 2013 11:42 AM

2013 has been a down year for the Milwaukee baseball club. A 34-50 record is good for last place in the NL Central. Key injuries have left them without major players on offense and sub-par starting pitching has not been able to provide any spark. Their star outfielder has been implicated in another possible steroid scandal and their farm system boasts very few impact players on the horizon. On the bright side, a couple of their young offensive trade acquisitions (Carlos Gomez and Jean Segura) have been having great years, which provides Milwaukee fans some hope for the future. The Brewers are 11-6 vs. the NL East so far this season (and 23-44 vs. all other opponents). The Brewers have faced all of the other NL teams at least once this season…the Mets will still have the Giants remaining after Milwaukee. The Mets went 2-3 against the Brewers in 2012 and have not won a season series against Milwaukee since 2008. The Mets are 58-42 all-time vs. the Brewers. Fri., July 5 RHP Zack Wheeler (1-1, 5.06) vs. RHP Johnny Hellweg (0-1, 20.25) 8:10 p.m. (SNY, WFAN, ESPN1050) RHP Johnny Hellweg is making his third appearance and second start tonight. Hellweg made his Major League debut in a start last Saturday at Pittsburgh in a 10-3 loss (1.2 IP, 6 H, 7 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 1 K). Hellweg was recalled on 6/26 from AAA Nashville, where he was 7-4 with a 2.82 ERA in 14 starts (76.2 IP, 55 H, 31 R, 24 ER, 44 BB, 50 K, 3 HR). He held Pacific Coast League opponents to a .204 batting average and led the league with his 2.82 ERA at the time of his recall. Johnny was drafted by the LA Angels and came over along with Jean Segura in the Zack Greinke trade last season. Sat., July 6 RHP Shaun Marcum (1-9, 5.03) vs. RHP Yovani Gallardo (6-8, 4.78) 7:15 p.m. (FOX, WFAN, ESPN1050) Gallardo has long been considered the ace of the Milwaukee staff (69-43, 3.63 ERA in 148 starts from 2007-2012), but he has been a disappointment in 2013 as his strikeouts are down and runs are up. As we approach the trade deadline, rumors have surfaced over the past few days about a deal between Arizona and Milwaukee that may include Gallardo. His salary increases to $11.25M in 2014 and the Brewers may be looking to re-stock the farm system. Sun., July 7 RHP Jeremy Hefner (3-6, 3.54) vs. RHP Wily Peralta (5-9, 5.27) 2:10 p.m. (SNY, WFAN, ESPN1050) Peralta is one of the young arms that Milwaukee is hoping develops into a strong starter for them. He allowed just 3 hits and zero runs on 07/02/13 in a win against Washington, but he was pulled early with a strained left hamstring. He is day-to-day and if he is unable to go on Sunday, the Brewers may turn to Tyler Thornburg (9 IP, 0 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 6 K…all out of the bullpen) to make the start. Probable Lineups: RF - Norichika Aoki (L) - .292/.364/.373/.737, 4 HR, 18 RBI, 43 R, 9 SB Aoki is a Japanese import who has become a fan favorite and a sparkplug at the top of the Milwaukee lineup. He finished 5th in the 2012 ROY voting and has showed no signed of slowing in 2013. Aoki has been consistent with his OPB, but has not hit a HR since May 11th at Cincinnati. SS - Jean Segura - .323/.359/.497/.856, 11 HR, 33 RBI, 48 R, 26 SB Segura has been everything that the Brewers were looking for when they dealt Zack Greinke to the Angels last summer. Segura leads the league in hits and all NL shortstops in OPS and WAR this season. With legitimate five tool ability and at just 23 years old, Milwaukee looks to have found a shortstop to rely on for years to come. CF - Carlos Gomez - .311/.350/.562/.912, 13 HR, 39 RBI, 48 R, 17 SB Ex-Met Gomez has been having a remarkable season for the Brewers in 2012. After a few years of great defense and speed but less than desirable offensive numbers, Gomez has blossomed into a player with many skills. His power numbers are up and he leads the league in triples and WAR. 3B - Aramis Ramirez - .227/.358/.424/.782, 5 HR, 25 RBI, 21 R, 0 SB After hitting .300 and finishing 9th in NL MVP voting last season, Ramirez’s numbers have taken a sharp dip this season. He was brought in an attempt to replace some of the power lost when Prince Fielder left for Detroit, but since June 1 his SLG is only .356. C - Jonathan Lucroy - .269/.313/.427/.740, 8 HR, 43 RBI, 22 R, 2 SB Lucroy has cooled off after hitting .320 in 2012. He is batting .295 with 19 RBI since June 1, but has just 4 walks to go with 18 Ks during that span. 2B - Rickie Weeks - .226/.324/.387/.711, 9 HR, 20 RBI, 34 R, 4 SB Weeks was off to an Ike Davis-esque start hitting only .183 with 3 HRs through the end of May. However, since then he is hitting .329 with 6 HRs and a 1.061 OPS. Weeks has always been a streaky hitter, but when he is on, he provides speed and power to the Milwaukee lineup. 1B - Juan Francisco (L) - .240/.322/.493/.815, 5 HR, 14 RBI, 10 R, 0 SB Francisco was acquired via trade from the Braves on June 3rd. The Brewers have been struggling to find a regular first-baseman as neither Mat Gamel nor Cory Hart has played a game this season due to injury and Yuniesky Betancourt being ineffective. Francisco may not be a long-term answer, but he has been slugging .493 since joining Milwaukee. LF - Logan Schafer (L) - .209/.259/.291/.550, 0 HR, 13 RBI, 12 R, 2 SB With Ryan Braun on the DL with a thumb injury, Schafer has been forced into filling the All-Star’s shoes. Schafer was a 3rd round pick for the Brewers in 2008 and made the team out of Spring Training this season. Schafer has not been able to answer the call so far in Braun’s absence. He is batting just .195 in 31 games as a starter in 2013. Braun is not expected back until after the All-Star Break. Bench: IF - Yuniesky Betancourt - .206/.236/.352/.588, 9 HR, 33 RBI, 20 R, 0 SB C - Martin Maldonado - .192/.254/.333/.587, 3 HR, 15 RBI, 9 R, 0 SB UT - Jeff Bianchi - .241/.259/.304/.563, 0 HR, 7 RBI, 5 R, 1 SB OF - Sean Halton - .250/.286/.350/.636, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 2 R, 0 SB Bullpen: Jim Henderson: 3-2, 2.05 ERA, 31 G, 30.2 IP, 22 H, 7 ER, 2 HR, 9 BB, 31 K, 1.011 WHIP, 10 SV Burke Badenhop: 1-3, 3.66 ERA, 41 G, 39.1 IP, 34 H, 16 ER, 4 HR, 9 BB, 29 K, 1.093 WHIP, 1 SV Brandon Kintzler: 2-0, 3.72 ERA, 34 G, 36.1 IP, 29 H, 15 ER, 2 HR, 11 BB, 34 K, 1.101 WHIP, 0 SV John Axford: 3-3, 3.86 ERA, 40 G, 35 IP, 36 H, 15 ER, 6 HR, 14 BB, 37 K, 1.429 WHIP, 0 SV Mike Gonzalez (L): 0-3, 3.30 ERA, 43 G, 30 IP, 29 H, 11 ER, 4 HR, 16 BB, 40 K, 1.500 WHIP, 0 SV Tom Gorzelanny (L): 1-1, 2.43 ERA, 33 G, 40.2 IP, 25 H, 11 ER, 5 HR, 19 BB, 38 K, 1.082 WHIP, 0 SV Donovan Hand: 0-1, 3.10 ERA, 12 G, 29 IP, 28 H, 10 ER, 2 HR, 6 BB, 18 K, 1.172 WHIP, 0 SV Francisco Rodriguez: 1-1, 0.92 ERA, 20 G, 19.2 IP, 14 H, 2 ER, 1 HR, 7 BB, 21 K, 1.068 WHIP, 7 SV Tyler Thornburg: 1-0, 0.00 ERA, 3 G, 9 IP, 7 H, 0 ER, 0 HR, 1 BB, 6 K, 0.889 WHIP, 0 SV If there is an area of strength for Milwaukee, it seems to be their bullpen…especially in the eighth and ninth innings. Gone are the days of closer John Axford who has been replaced by Jim Henderson. However, K-Rod is having a very nice season, and while he has not yet been named the team’s regular closer, he is available to back up Henderson when needed and picked up his 300 career save a couple of weeks ago. Ex-Met Brewers: Carlos Gomez Francisco Rodriguez Ex-Brewer Mets: LaTroy Hawkins Shaun Marcum Ricky Bones (Bullpen Coach) Both the Mets and Brewers are having disappointing seasons. The Mets have a young bright spot in Harvey and the Brewers can say the same about Segura. Both teams would be happy to see some of their injured/underperforming players return and contribute to a strong second half in an effort to build toward next season.

Frayed Knot Jul 05 2013 04:08 PM Re: Brewed Blues (KTE)

We're going to have to hit to win this series. Even minus Braun the Brews can still put some runs on the board so it's not likely that either side is going to be pulling out 3-2 wins.

Zvon Jul 05 2013 06:28 PM Re: Brewed Blues (KTE)

Great job,thank you Monk.

Fman99 Jul 05 2013 07:49 PM Re: Brewed Blues (KTE)

Nice work. The Sunday game is on WPIX, not SNY, as I know because I miss those games because Verizon FIOS can suck a barge full of cocks.

Swan Swan H Jul 05 2013 07:53 PM Re: Brewed Blues (KTE)

Fman99 wrote: Nice work. The Sunday game is on WPIX, not SNY, as I know because I miss those games because Verizon FIOS can suck a barge full of cocks. I'm getting an image of crates stenciled with 'USE NO HOOKS. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NO HOOKS.'

Edgy MD Jul 05 2013 10:01 PM Re: Brewed Blues (KTE)

I like to think most of the brutal part of the schedule is falling behind the Mets now. They seemingly lost yesterday on fatigue alone. Gomez, with his .039 walk rate and his triples-dependent slugging percentage, seems poised to come back to earth. Somebody is going to find a pitch he can't touch and it's going to get around the league in five minutes.

G-Fafif Jul 06 2013 01:03 AM Re: Brewed Blues (KTE)

Good KTE'ing, Monk (won't hold against you your implication that the Brewers are a major league-caliber team; they might prove they are in the remaining two games of the series). Jonah Keri goes Brew deep at Grantland. Two years removed from a 96-win season that was their best ever and ended just two games short of the World Series, they're now hanging with the likes of the Marlins, looking up at the Cubs and Mets. Riding a five-year attendance streak in which they've averaged just less than 3 million fans a season but also dealing with gaping holes both on the major league roster and throughout the farm system, the Brewers need to decide what to do next: write off this season as terrible luck and stick with what they've got, make a few tweaks but keep the core intact, or blow it all up and rebuild, with the hope of fielding a winning team a few years down the road. Thing is, no one's quite sure how to proceed. Also, if you can get your hands on the July 1 SI, with LeBron James on the cover, there's an excellent profile of Mr. Baseball, Bob Uecker, written by Luke Winn, a Brewers fan who probably gets Uke better than anybody not from the Wisconsin Dells (I like when the magazine has its reporters who have sentimental ties to a team write about that team from that perspective). No link available at the moment, but an excerpt: ••• INNING 1 ••• Understand this about the Bob Uecker Experience: Even if you're observing him in his natural habitat, matching his radio voice with his vantage point, you're not sharing the same view. Here he is in the bottom of the first inning of the 53rd game of his 43rd season calling the Brewers on WTMJ, sitting in the visitors' booth at Citizens Bank Park, peering out into a hot haze at dusk. "Looking out at downtown Philadelphia here in the background," Uecker says to listeners on 36 stations in Wisconsin and one on Michigan's Upper Peninsula, as well as on MLB.com and Sirius XM. "Looking alllll the way up the shoreline. Atlantic City, people in the water up there. Boy, what a sight." Uecker's pitch recognition skills were such that he batted .200 in six seasons as a major league catcher, but at 78 he apparently is telescopic, able to spot details more than 60 miles away-or decades back in time. "500 Club in the background," Uecker says, name-checking the classic A.C. nightspot that burned down in 1973. "Boats. Sailfish.... Octopus." Gonna have to take your word for it, Uke. "The pitch, swing and a bouncer hit to first. There's Betancourt. Yuni B. takes care of Ben Revere." I can confirm, from over Uecker's shoulder, that Milwaukee's Yuniesky Betancourt, undistracted by mollusks, logs the out 3-unassisted. "Amazing," Uecker says, "what you can see when you want to." Sometimes Uke makes you see things you'd prefer not to, such as on April 2, shortly after Rockies catcher Yorvit Torrealba required a repair tool for his busted mitt: "I think it's called an awl. It's a pointed tool with a hole at the top. And you can stick the leather thong in there. I wear a thong once in a while. Leather kinda gets-swing and a fly ball, foul-little testy sometimes." Uke can also pretend not to see what displeases him. On April 19, when shortstop Jean Segura committed one of the greater baserunning gaffes of all time-he went backward to first base in a rundown after thinking he had been picked off second, then was thrown out trying to steal the base he had just been occupying-Uecker, who does not as a rule make jokes at the expense of his employer's ballplayers, sighed and said, "And this one will be talked about for a long time. Not by me." It's a shame that you can't see him talk, can't watch the ripple effect words have on his face, the creases and folds and that bulbous schnozz, the whole cartoony lot of it framed by a swept-back, polar-white mane. In the Philly booth Uecker is a festival of facial animation, while the rest of him is placid. His head stays level. His back and disproportionately broad shoulders stay tilted toward his tabletop microphone. He taps his black loafers slowly, soundlessly, as he speaks. Uecker wears an earpiece in his right ear, attached to a clear cord that curlicues behind his neck. He sits on the right side of the booth, with highlighted game notes and a scorebook. His 36-year-old broadcast partner, Joe Block, is on the left, a modern straight man juxtaposed with an irreverent treasure. Block wears headphones with a wraparound mike, and the screen on his laptop rotates between Microsoft OneNote, a Twitter interface and browser windows with MLB GameCast, FanGraphs and Baseball Reference. Fact-checking is an occasional requirement of his job. Uecker has remarkable recall, particularly about the peculiarities of great ballparks, but will concoct alternate histories if he desires. On April 30, 2012, in Block's first regular-season month on the job, Brewers slugger Ryan Braun hit three home runs at the Padres' Petco Park, the second one reaching the upper balcony of the Western Metal Supply Co. warehouse beyond the leftfield wall. Uecker served listeners this backstory: "They used to furnish rifles to the Union Army back in the 1800s. And automobile rims to the Henry Ford company for the first automobiles that were ever made. Western Metal Supply. None of that is true." As odd as his on-air material can be, Uecker's off-air material is a source of greater intrigue, in part due to a story comedian Artie Lange spilled in 2009 on Letterman about a visit he and Norm Macdonald made to the Brewers' booth during spring training. With deep reverence, Lange described Uecker as a "jazz musician" alternating between game commentary and, with his cough button (a muting device for his mike) depressed, fantastically dirty subcommentary. Uecker, a staunch believer in the separation of public fun and private filth, was not pleased that it leaked. Block says that at least 10 broadcasters have prodded him for cough-button stories, assuming that a Dirtier Harry Doyle-the loutish Indians announcer Uecker played in the Major League movies-lurks beneath the surface. "There's a lot of Uke in Harry Doyle, but that's clearly a character," Block says. "If Uke is being playful about something, Harry Doyle is bombastic about it. If Uke enjoys one Miller Lite, say six times a year before a game, Harry Doyle is drinking an entire bottle of Jack Daniels. Is Uke an everyman? Absolutely, but is he this crass drunk like Harry Doyle? Not from what I've seen." I don't receive the Artie Lange treatment either, but Uecker also knows I'm there to write about him. I do hear him, between innings, express genuine excitement over Milwaukee bullpen catcher Marcus Hanel's having eaten seven cheesesteaks that day. ("The record," Uke says to Block, "is 15 for a three-game trip.") Uecker messes with his producer of 28 years, Kent Sommerfeld, by no-look chucking advertising script cards in his direction. Suspecting that he's been excluded from a pregame ice cream run, Uecker stands up and yells, in the loving way that men who've been working in close quarters together for decades are wont to address each other, "Kent, you had some, didn't you, you c---------!" Uke then stomps out of the booth, returns with his own cup of ice cream and sits eating it while Block finishes a pregame spiel of lineups and out-of-town scores, building up to his big handoff: "Once again with you on the call, HERE'S BOB UECKER!" ••• INNING 2 ••• Lately, I listen to get lost. It's preferable to just listening to the losing, something my Brewers, 31-43 through Sunday and tied for last place in the National League Central, have done often enough to make Uecker turn water-park ads into suicidal ramblings. "Enjoy Mt. Olympus in Wisconsin Dells," he says on April 14, while Milwaukee is in the midst of a 32-inning scoreless streak. "That's where I'm going-to jump off." This is my 33rd year of existence and 27th of Uecker immersion, so I am familiar with his primary law of broadcasting: If the game merits locking in, he locks in. You hear every bender down low for ball one and bouncer wide of third and fastball right down Wisconsin Avenue. You get a golden-age baseball call with a few dollops of nonsense-an aside, perhaps, about sunscreen's potential as a condiment (on June 10: "It's good on chicken sausage-use the 30") or guidance on Mother's Day (May 4: "Give mom a gift that's brewed for her-a 24-pack of Miller"). If the cause is lost, Uke tries to get you lost in something else. Sometimes he starts early, such as on July 4, 2007, after Uecker stumbled upon a convention of animal-costume fetishists at the Pittsburgh Westin, where the Brewers were staying. Uecker, his then partner Jim Powell recalls, "was like a kid on Christmas morning." The game had barely begun when they went on a 15-minute digression: "Furrier Society, I believe it is," Uecker said. After putting the topic on hold to call a Braun home run, he resumed: "That's no big deal, that's what they feel. They wear animal costumes because they feel a little animalish. And I've felt that way myself a couple of times. I haven't dressed up for it. I've worn a fig leaf or two." Later Uecker emitted a sort of bird whoop and directed Powell to provide listeners with a website for more information on the Furry movement. Presumably this is the first time "alt dot lifestyle dot furry" was said during a major league broadcast. In the fifth inning on May 5 against St. Louis, the occasion of the Brewers' wearing throwback uniforms to honor their 1913 American Association predecessors led to a deep exploration of farm clubs in the Cream City: how Uecker, who grew up near the old Milwaukee Zoo in the '40s, would hound a first baseman named Heinz Becker for autographs, hanging on the bumper of his car, and how those Double A Brewers had a manager, Nick Cullop, who was known as Tomato Face, even in the newspapers. Then Uke was off to the Hollywood Stars and the Pacific Coast League in the '40s. He informed Block: "They wore shorts, did you know that? They did. They wore like Bermuda shorts, knee-high. One ball, two strikes. Check 'em out. Some guys with some decent-looking legs." (Block: "I'll work on that.") "Yeah, take care of that, will ya?" In the ninth, as part of the "Ask Uke" segment for which listeners submit questions, he told a story about rooming with Eddie Mathews on the Milwaukee Braves in the 1950s. He then dipped into the Uecker Self-Deprecation Collection, which accounts for about 75% of his shtick: "I think we led all roommates, in the National League only, in home runs. As a room. [Mathews] had like 430, and I had two." When the Ukeship landed and listeners were reacquainted with inning, score and reality, the Cardinals were up 10-1, about to complete a four-game sweep. It was rock bottom for the Brewers. It was my favorite Uecker game of the season.

Frayed Knot Jul 06 2013 05:56 AM Re: Brewed Blues (KTE)

Edgy MD wrote: Gomez, with his .039 walk rate and his triples-dependent slugging percentage, seems poised to come back to earth. Somebody is going to find a pitch he can't touch and it's going to get around the league in five minutes. Mebbe. 'Guys' made reference to his high 'BaBiP' rate the other day, and certainly his home ballpark helps more than a bit (20 of his 32 HRs since the beginning of 2012 were in Miller Park). Still, he's a vastly improved player both from what we saw and what the Twins sent away for a SS (JJ Hardy) who they then dealt away for even less. Funny thing about those Twins. They have a rep for a consistent organizational strategy that their almost extreme continuity* keeps alive. But I think sometimes that sort of thing can breed a kind of narrow-mindedness where players like both Gomez and Big Papi were banished fairly quickly after Minnesota couldn't mold them into the type of player they thought they should be and wound up stifling what turned out to be each player's better assets. * Since 1987 have had TWO managers and just three GMs with both the previous mgr & GM still on the staff as senior advisors and each replacement GM was promoted from within. Also, if you can get your hands on the July 1 SI, with LeBron James on the cover This is confusing. Don't ALL SI issues have LeBron James on the cover?

Edgy MD Jul 06 2013 08:27 AM Re: Brewed Blues (KTE)

So, if Braun survives his Biogenesis associations, he's almost certainly going to the Yankees, right?