It was a big day for the Brewers, even though they didn't play. The Cubs came through for us and beat the Mets 9 to 5, thanks in part to a grand slam by Jason Marquis. No, I'm serious. We are now just one game back on the Mets with 6 to play. If we're going to crawl into the playoffs, we need to win at least one more game than the Mets. Here are the relevant projected pitching match-ups:
Tuesday, 9/23: Cubs (Marshal 3-4, 3.62 ERA, 50K/19BB) at Mets (Santana 14-7, 2.65 ERA, 187K/58BB); Pirates (Karstens 2-6, 4.37 ERA, 17K/12BB) at Brewers (Bush 9-10, 4.22ERA, 106K/44BB)
Wednesday, 9/24: Cubs (Zambrano 14-6, 3.77, 128K/68BB) at Mets (Perez 10-7, 4.10ERA, 168K/97BB); Pirates (Maholm 9-8, 3.68ERA, 137K/57BB) at Brewers (???)
Thursday, 9/25: Cubs (Harden 10-2, 2.03ERA, 117K/56BB) at Mets (Martinez 5-6, 5.50ERA, 78K/40BB); Pirates (Duke 5-14, 4.96ERA, 85K/47BB) at Brewers (???)
Friday, 9/26: Marlins (Volstad 5-4, 3.10 ERA, 48K/33BB) at Mets (Pelfrey 13-10, 3.70ERA, 107K/64BB); Cubs (Dempster 17-6, 2.99ERA, 183K/75BB) at Brewers (Sheets 13-8, 2.98ERA, 157K/45BB).
Saturday, 9/27: Marlins (???) at Mets (???); Cubs (Lily 16-9, 4.17ERA, 180K/63BB) at Brewers (???)
Sunday, 9/28: Marlins (???) at Met (???); Cubs (???) at Brewers (???)
It's probably a safe bet that Wednesday and Thursday will be Suppan (10-10, 5.04ERA, 85K/66BB) and Sabathia (15-10, 2.85ERA, 233K/56BB). The only question is the order. If Sabathia goes first, on short rest, he could pitch the last game of the season if we needed him to. Otherwise, they'll both be pitching on regular rest and we probably wouldn't have CC for the last game, but may have him for a play-off. That's a tough call. Saturday will probably be Bush again. It's definately possible that the Brewers will be back in control of their own destiny by the time the Cubs come to town. Go Crew!
In Monday Night Football action, the New York Bretts took on the San Diego Chargers. And lost. He played a lot like Brett, complete with big plays and crucial picks. He was 30-42 with 271 yards and 3 TDs. He actually looked pretty solid in the 4th quarter when the passing game was really needed. Something to build on perhaps?
Just to add some unami to this post, here are some links:
Tyler Maas of Bugs and Cranks takes us through a day in the life of Craig Counsell. It had me in stitches.
Former Brewer Zack Jackson scored a win against Josh Becket and the Red Sox last night.
Fellas, with the Bucks season approaching, it's time to meet Energee!
There's a woot-off today.
Today's Hair of the Dog is brought to you by 21st Amendment Bitter American, because I leave for the Bay area today and will need to be watching some baseball over there.
1 hour ago
28 comments:
I cannot stand Tyler Maas. Not the guy, just his writing. It's terrible.
I actaully agree with you for the most part. Most of what he writes at B&C is pretty annoying, but I found the Counsell thing hilarious.
And he's WAY better than Adam Charles, the other guy that writes about the Brewers at B&C.
I can't think of anything worse than forcing a playoff and being stuck with Suppan pitching.
How many takes on "Dougie's goin' deep!!!" do we really need?
Call me crazy, but I don't want CC pitching the weekend. The Cubs have just owned him throughout his career.
I'm game for a 6-man rotation for the rest of the season, with Gallardo handling the Sunday duties and CC available for any possible playoff or game 1 of the NLDS. However, I noticed that the probable pitchers list at brewers.com has TBA listed for Friday instead of Sheets.
ESK,
Who's Dougie?
Steveegg,
MLB.com had Sheets listed when I wrote this, but now it's TBD. That's not good.
No, that's not good. This end to the season is crazy. No one knows if/how 2 of our best pitchers will be used, our other best pitcher does kind of stink against our final week opponents, and I could see literally anything happening.
"I can't think of anything worse than forcing a playoff and being stuck with Suppan pitching."
If only we still had Zack Jackson.
I predict a Seth McClung perfect game.
Doug Mirabelli. I cannot believe you've never heard of that brilliant piece of internet literature.
http://quinnmedia.blogspot.com/2006/07/day-in-life-of-doug-mirabelli.html
It's too bad the form came into being because of Doug Mirabelli. Surely Manny would have been more fun. Or Turk Wendell.
A 6-man rotation? Key-rist, that's crazy talk. Suppan and Parra must not see a baseball again this season unless it's to eat innings vs a big lead. I say start CC Wednesday just to give yourself an option for Sunday or for a Monday playoff on regular rest. If you go into Sunday with a one-game lead, start Bush.
I wouldn't read too much into them taking Sheets down for Friday. Sveum is clearly keeping a lot of options open.
I don't know, I think Mirabelli is fitting.
It should have been Moises.
how many "3 pm, Moises pees on his hands" jokes can you really do?
Guy next door says he just heard on the radio that Pinella has jumbled his rotation so that Lilly, Zambrano and Harden all start this weekend, and skip turns vs. the Mets.
Aw shit, really? Why would he do that?
Wouldn't that screw up his playoff rotation?
From the Trib, this morning:
Piniella said on Monday that left-hander Sean Marshall will start Tuesday's game in place of Harden, who is being pushed back to Thursday's series finale. Zambrano, who no-hit Milwaukee on Sept. 14 but got pounded for eight runs in 12/3 innings by St. Louis on Friday, remains in his Wednesday slot.
So the Mets will still see Marshal, Z, and Harden. We'll see Dempster, Lilly, and Marshal or Marquis? That would give the Cubs a play-off rotation of Z, Harden, Dempster, and Lily, all rested. Which makes sense.
For Moises I'd write about 4 of these:
X:00 - "Toughens up hands."
How about Ozzie Guillen?
X:00 - Consults the entrails of slaughtered chicken to determine starting pitcher. The chicken was likes Vasquez.
I think my guy got it half-wrong. We'll get Dempster, Lilly and Marquis.
This is probably better for us, making Marshall a sacrificial lamb vs. Santana, and setting up Zambrano and Harden in more winnable games vs. Perez and Pedro.
Sucks that Zambrano no-hit us.
Yeah, I didn't even realize Zambrano was pitching for the Phillies last week.
That's why he writes for a newspaper and we're just bloggers.
BTW, BP has our playoff odds up to 1/3 from 1/4.
Very noted, Danny. I saw Sheets listed as Friday yesterday, and when I checked again this morning, that day went to TBD. I forgot to mention that Sheets' name popped up as a possible Thursday starter, which I don't particularily like as I'd rather use his last regular-season start against the Cubs.
Tracker, since we're going to see Suppan one more time despite your wish (and honestly, mine), I want to burn him tomorrow on regular rest in a favorable matchup rather than against the Cubs.
How does this pitching lineup the last 6 days grab you - Bush, Suppan, Sabathia, Sheets, McClung and Gallardo? It would put the unhurt regulars on normal rest, Sheets against the Cubs, give Gallardo maximum rest, and set up Sabathia for a 3-days'-rest Monday playoff or a Sabathia/Sheets 1-2 punch in the NLDS on longer-than-normal rest. The only tweak I could see is moving Sabathia up to tomorrow and set up a normal-rest playoff possibility, but as I said earlier, I do not want to see him pitching this weekend.
I don't like Soup tomorrow because we're facing their best guy in Maholm. If any of the three vs Pittsburgh requires a top performance from a starter, it will be Wednesday.
The unknown, of course, is Sheets' health, but more rest won't stretch Yo out. He needs more work. So if I'm Sveum, I send Bush, Sabathia, Gallardo, McClung.
After that, I think you gotta look at the race and see what you need to do. Do you need to win two? Is Sheets available? Do you only need one of two? If you're in desperation mode and your options Sunday are CC or Bush, I don't see how you can sit CC.
Cause you're just suuuuuuch a gooooooood writer ESK, huh? I mean check out all those awesome blogs of yours that are frequently updated.
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