The Old Milwaukees

Brewers 9, Mets 2

September 30, 2010

W: Chris Narveson (12-9)
L: Dillon Gee (2-2)

MVP: Chris Narveson (.231)
LVP: Todd Coffey (-.041)

win probability graph and star of the game voting
SBNation coverage

This game turned out a lot better than the game I was actually attending and I really wish I had stayed home to watch this one. I'm actually watching the recording right now.

Chris Narveson pitched something resembling a gem for his final start of 2010. He struck out 9 in 6.2 innings while only giving up one run and also managed a hit (and, as usual, also didn't score.) In relatively meaningless stat news, he finally got enough run support for a win and also got his ERA under 5 for the year. (And Brandon Kintzler got his career ERA under 9....)

Speaking of more meaningless stats, Casey McGehee and Corey Hart joined Ryan Braun in the 100 RBI club for 2010, making the Brewers the only team in the league with 3 players with 100 RBI.

Brewers set rotation for final series

September 30, 2010

Mark Rogers will get one Brewers start, but not where he expected. Chris Capuano will get one more start that he didn't expect at all. And Randy Wolf will make the last start of all.

Narveson in control as Brewers down Mets

September 30, 2010

Chris Narveson struck out nine and lowered his ERA to 4.99 over 6 2/3 strong innings to lead the Brewers to a 9-2 win over the Mets on Thursday.

Hoffman mulling plans for next season

September 30, 2010

All-time saves leader Trevor Hoffman logged another save on Wednesday -- No. 601 -- but still won't offer any clues about his plans beyond this season.

Attanasio renews commitment to Melvin

September 30, 2010

Brewers principal owner Mark Attanasio thanked players for their effort during his annual season-end address Thursday, then renewed his commitment to general manager Doug Melvin.

Game Thread #159: Brewers (75-83) at Mets (77-81)

September 30, 2010

4 more games...it seems like the season started only yesterday. The battle for .500 may be over, but the battle for 3rd place in the NL Central is still on.

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Pitchers, lineups and more after the jump.

If there actually is a game to be got in tonight in New York, Chris Narveson will be facing off against Dillon Gee. I haven't actually watched any of Gee's major league games, but to his (un?)luck one of his minor league starts with Buffalo this year happened to be against the Syracuse Chiefs--namely Stephen Strasburg's last minor league start. I was rather impressed...by Gee. ;) Not saying that he's got blow-away stuff (in fact, in that game, it turned to the fly-ball worse); he's just one of those crafty righty types. His BB/9 was a lot better in the minors, but he's only had 4 major league starts. (BTW, does anyone know if the Buffalo home field has a tendency for home runs? Gee's HR/9 with Buffalo doesn't match with his performance at any other level.)

Narveson hasn't faced the Mets before, much less pitched in Citi Field, so there's nothing to say there.

Hopefully this won't be another one of those nights where the Brewers' offense consists of Narveson getting stranded on first base. I know it's only observer bias that makes the situation seem like that, but it is true that Narveson has reached base on either a hit, walk, or hit by pitch in 17 of his 27 starts this year. It's also unfortunately true that Narveson has only given up more than 3 runs twice in his last 10 starts. The Brewers lost in 4 of those 8 3-run-or-less starts. His average run support this year is 4.04.

Via Adam McCalvy, here's tonight's unusual lineup:

Rickie Weeks 2B
Ryan Braun LF
Casey McGehee 3B
Prince Fielder 1B
Corey Hart RF
Lorenzo Cain CF
Alcides Escobar SS
Jonathan Lucroy C
Chris Narveson P

Bullpen usage tracker:
Trevor Hoffman pitched 1 inning (13 pitches) in the 2nd game yesterday.
Zach Braddock pitched 0.2 innings (10 pitches) in the 2nd game yesterday and 0.1 innings (8 pitches) on Tuesday.
Mike McClendon pitched 1.1 innings (26 pitches) in the 2nd game yesterday and 0.1 innings (7 pitches) on Tuesday.
John Axford pitched 1 inning (14 pitches) in the 1st game yesterday and 0.2 innings (19 pitches) on Tuesday.
Kameron Loe pitched 1 inning (11 pitches) in the first game yesterday.
Carlos Villanueva pitched 1 inning (13 pitches) in the first game yesterday.
Manny Parra pitched 2.2 innings (36 pitches) in the first game yesterday.
Jeremy Jeffress pitched 1 inning (12 pitches) on Sunday.
Brandon Kintzler pitched 1 inning (13 pitches) on Sunday.
Todd Coffey pitched 1.1 innings (25 pitches) on Saturday.

(If it's any comfort, the Mets appear to have run their entire 'pen out there yesterday...at least the Brewers still have Jeffress and Kintzler. ....)

One tidbit from Attanasio on Melvin: “He’s the guy next year. He’s still got two years on his…

September 30, 2010

One tidbit from Attanasio on Melvin: "He's the guy next year. He's still got two years on his contract." #Brewers

Thursday’s Frosty Mug

September 30, 2010

Some things to read while keeping your options open.

All told it was a pretty good day for the Brewers yesterday, as they swept a doubleheader against the Mets (the 52nd such sweep in franchise history and first in seven years). It was not a good day to be Yovani Gallardo, however, as he posted a disaster start in his final 2010 appearance. After pitching two scoreless innings without incident, the Brewer ace allowed two runs in the third and melted down in the fourth, allowing five more runs while recording just one out. After the game, he told reporters he "lost his release point."

Including yesterday's rough outing, Gallardo posted a 6.50 ERA over his last eight starts, raising his season mark from 2.97 to 3.84. The lone bright side for Gallardo is this: He finished with four strikeouts on the day and an even 200 on the season, joining Teddy Higuera as the only Brewer pitchers ever to record two 200 K seasons.

You probably could have made some money betting on Dave Bush to outperform Gallardo yesterday. Bush pitched six scoreless innings in the nightcap and outdueled R.A. Dickey. In response to Dave Bush's last outing, we're seeing roughly the level of faint praise you'd expect for a pitcher who spent a long time lingering around replacement level as a Brewer. Howie Magner credited Bush's professionalism. Jaymes Langrehr of The Brewers Bar says, "There are certainly worse everyday pitchers out there." Jonathan Ede of Brewers Daily says, "He will be missed in Milwaukee, but if Bush makes another start in a Brewers uniform, Doug Melvin will have done something wrong."

Unlikely as it might have seemed a couple of weeks ago, Hang With 'em Brewers! notes that yesterday's wins put the Brewers back in a tie for third place in the Central. The Astros have a game left against the Reds before finishing the season with three against the Cubs.

Other notes from the field:

• As one might expect for a somewhat meaningless afternoon game announced roughly 36 hours in advance, the first half of yesterday's doubleheader was not well attended. Here's a picture showing how few people were inside Citi Field for game one. Jon Heyman tried to count them.
• Corey Hart and Ryan Braun were hit by pitches yesterday, leaving the Brewers four short of the franchise record for most HBP in a season. Plunk Everyone, of course, has more.
• Hart also had hits in both games, extending his hitting streak to 14.
• Carlos Gomez went 3-for-4 on the day with a walk, a stolen base and a key run scored, but was also picked off first base and caught trying to take an extra base on a groundout, producing two outs on the basepaths. Tom Haudricourt said he "just gets too reckless." And apparently he's still focused on hitting .260.
• Alcides Escobar was held out of the lineup in the first game, then went 1-for-3 with a triple and scored the first run in the third inning of game two. Escobar has been working with Dale Sveum to correct a flaw in his swing, and plans to play winter ball in Venezuela to continue to work on it.
• Mets outfielder Nick Evans left game two with a right shoulder injury, and is expected to undergo an MRI today.
• Prince Fielder, Corey Hart and John Axford are leading FanGraphs' Star of the Game voting for game one.
• Dave Bush, R.A. Dickey and Ryan Braun are leading the voting for game two.
• Here are the MLB.com video highlights.
• Jeff Sullivan has a look at another way yesterday could have gone down.

The Brewers managed to pick up a pair of wins yesterday despite being held homerless on the day. The B-Ref Blog notes that the Brewers have won a game where they didn't hit a home run just 16 times this season, which is tied for 25th. Interestingly enough, the Brewers are tied with the Reds and one ahead of the Yankees (15 homerless wins).

They managed to avoid it yesterday, but the Brewers' next loss will mark an interesting, if somewhat sad, milestone: The team is 1808-1999 in the 3807 games played since Juan Nieves' no-hitter in 1987.

There's a good chance we witnessed Trevor Hoffman's final major league save yesterday, as he retired the side in order in the ninth inning of game two to notch #601. Meanwhile, Jerry Crasnick of ESPN listed #600 at #6 on his top nine feel-good moments of the season.

Mat Gamel probably would have gotten some playing time yesterday if he'd been available, but he was in Milwaukee instead preparing to have surgery on his left big toe today. Ken Macha is calling Gamel's season "a lost year," and it's tough to argue with that.

Looking ahead, there's a strong possibility the weather will be a factor once again tonight. The Weather Channel is predicting thunderstorms and strong winds in New York today, followed by heavy rain with more wind tonight. It seems somewhat unlikely they'll get tonight's game in, and even less likely they'll do it without some form of delay.

A rainout tonight would likely lead to some rotation shuffling over the weekend, as Ken Macha still says all three starters for the Reds series are to be determined. Mark Rogers will still likely start tomorrow and Randy Wolf will probably pitch Sunday, with either Chris Narveson (scheduled to start tonight) or Chris Capuano starting on Saturday and the other pitching in relief of Rogers.

Another day, another 2010 post mortem: Baseball Reflections took the time to paint an even coat of blame on three levels of Brewer management.

In the minors: Baseball Intellect has a look back at their preseason rankings of Brewer prospects. They conclude that the Brewers have a few nice pieces to work with, but they're "not crazy about the system's upside." They cite a lack of athleticism as a primary concern.

No transactions today.

Regardless of where you stand on the "pitcher abuse" spectrum, I think this is interesting: Justin Verlander made his final start of the 2010 season yesterday and threw 121 pitches, hitting 101 mph on the gun with the last one. There are only two major leaguers who have thrown 120 pitches in a game more than six times this season. Verlander is one of them: He's done it 11 times, and five times in September alone. He averaged 113.5 pitches per start this season, and he's the only major leaguer averaging more than 110. I know some will define this as "pitcher abuse" and some will call it "the way the game should be played," but I think the fact that Verlander is the only pitcher in baseball to be used this way this often is pretty fascinating.

Every weekday morning I get up at 6:15 to spend hours reading countless baseball blogs and sites while putting the Mug together. It takes most of the morning most days, and I frequently get asked why I spend so much time on it. The answer is simple. If I didn't read everything, I'd occasionally miss posts like this: Braves Journal's rewrite of Hamlet to feature Jeff Francoeur. I might also miss this picture of Blue Jays wearing eye black mustaches on the field to honor manager Cito Gaston before his final home game.

Speaking of the Blue Jays, I feel like they haven't gotten enough attention for this impressive feat: Last night they hit their 247th home run as a team, the most in franchise history and the fifth most in baseball history.

And speaking of great pictures, Babes Love Baseball has a roundup of photos of rookie hazing days around the league.

I mentioned Rob Deer's birthday yesterday, but this note makes it worth bringing up again: Big League Stew notes that Deer was once on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Happy birthday today to:

• Wisconsin Timber Rattler Adrian Rosario, who turns 21.
• 2003 Indianapolis Indian Doug Jennings, who turns 46.
• Former Brewer minor league manager Carlos Lezcano (cousin of Sixto), who turns 55.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've been meaning to learn to make gnocchi.

Drink up.

Bush does it all to seal Crew’s twin bill sweep

September 29, 2010

Dave Bush outdueled former Brewers farmhand R.A. Dickey on the mound and at the plate, too, driving home the only run in the first seven innings of a 3-1 Brewers win on Wednesday that finished Milwaukee's doubleheader sweep.

Brewers 3, Mets 1

September 29, 2010

W: Dave Bush (8-13)
L: R.A. Dickey (11-9)
S: Trevor Hoffman (10)

HR: None

MVP: Dave Bush (+.304)
LVP: Rickie Weeks (-.108)

Win Expectancy Graph and Star of the Game Voting
SB Nation Coverage

This was a surprisingly good day.

R.A. Dickey was good tonight, allowing just one run to the Brewers on six hits, striking out four and walking none. Yet somehow, Dave Bush was better, shutting out the Mets for six innings and allowing just three hits and three walks while striking out one. It was Bush's longest scoreless outing since pitching seven shutout innings against the Pirates in April.

Bush also drove home the Brewers' first run with a third inning RBI single, plating Alcides Escobar. The Crew added two more in the eighth on a Ryan Braun double, and that was all they'd need. Carlos Gomez had one of the more misleading offensive lines you'll see for a while: He went 3-for-4 with a stolen base but made a pair of outs on the basepaths, getting picked off first base and caught trying to advance on a grounder.

With John Axford having pitched last night and the first game of the doubleheader, Trevor Hoffman was called upon to record the final three outs and did so in order for career save #601.