Results tagged ‘ David Riske ’
Remembering ’08: March 31st
Throughout the off-season, sprinkled in between posts about current Brewers happenings, will be a look back at the 2008 season. This past season turned into something truly special for the Crew in the final week of the season, but it all began way back when, on March 31st, at Wrigley Field.
Opening Day around the Majors featured the Brewers taking on the Cubs in a heated NL Central rivalry. The Brewers were fresh off their first winning season since 1992, and the Cubs were favored to win the NL Central for the second straight season. Optimism abound on that Monday afternoon, when Ben Sheets took the hill for the Crew.
Thanks to a rain delay and some dominant pitching by both clubs starters, the game remained tied at 0-0 till the 9th. The Cubs trotted out new closer Kerry Wood to shut down the Crew and get the Cubs a shot at winning the game in the bottom half. What transpired over the next two innings was one of the biggest highlight/lowlight twists of the season for the Brew Crew.
On Wood’s first pitch in the 9th, he hit Rickie Weeks, putting the leadoff man on. Tony Gwynn then fouled off the first two pitches he saw from Wood on bunt attempts. On the 0-2 pitch, Gwynn laid down a perfect sacrifice and the Crew now had the go-ahead run in scoring position for Prince Fielder.
Wood and the Cubs elected to intentionally walk Fielder, putting runners on 1st and 2nd with Ryan Braun coming up. Braun watched ball one, then ripped the 1-0 pitch to center for an RBI single to put Milwaukee on top 1-0. But the inning did not end there. After a Bill Hall strike out, Corey Hart delivered with a two-out, two-run double to right to give the Brewers what seemed like an insurmountable cushion at 3-0.
In came the Crew’s new closer, off-season addition Eric Gagne. Gagne gave up a leadoff single to Derrek Lee, and then walked Aramis Ramirez, bringing the tying run to the plate in the form of Kosuke Fukudome. After falling behind 3-0, Gagne got a strike over to make it 3-1. On the next pitch however, Fukudome crushed a 3-run homer to right center to tie the game 3-3. Gagne recovered to get the next two out, and after allowing a two-out single to Felix Pie, he got out of the inning when Mike Fontenot grounded out.
On to the 10th they went, and this time Craig Counsell delivered with a leadoff pinch-hit double. After Jason Kendall sacrificed him over to 3rd, and Rickie Weeks was again hit by a pitch, Tony Gwynn lifted an 0-1 pitch to center for a sacrifice fly to score Counsell and give the Crew a 4-3 lead.
David Riske then came on in relief of Gagne for the 10th. In a much smoother inning, Riske got the Cubs to go 1-2-3, and the Crew had their first win of ’08. They had gone from on top (3-0), to the bottom (3-3), to back on top once more (4-3) in a roller coaster of a game.
This game set the tone somewhat for what the rest of this season would hold. With late inning rallies and collapses, something fans grew way too accustomed to over the course of the season.
Who Needs Experience?
In the middle of this past season, when people were talking about how young the Brewers were, I looked up each player on the roster’s postseason numbers for their career. Now that the Crew has actually made the playoffs, I went back and looked at the NLDS roster and then the postseason experience. Out of the 25 players on the roster, 21 were on the roster when I looked up the numbers earlier this year. The four that were replaced included two who had postseason experience, Gabe Kapler and David Riske. That lowers the number of players on the Brewers roster with experience in October from 10 to eight. Four pitchers and four hitters, that’s all the Brewers have.
These are the numbers for the pitchers and hitters on the roster.
Pitchers
6-6, 4.25 ERA, 27 G, 13 GS, 91.0 IP, 82 H, 44 R, 43 ER, 45 BB, 68 K
Hitters
74 G, 264 AB, 35 R, 61 H, 16 2B, 6 HR, 25 RBI, 31 BB, 64 K, 6 SB, .312 OBP, .231 BA
I was browsing around MLBlogs today and noticed each team in the postseason this year has a player doing a postseason blog. The Brewers representative, Ryan Braun. Here’s a link to his blog.
Ben Sheets has revealed his has a torn muscle in his right elbow and will be unavailable should the Brewers advance past the NLDS. I have been critical of Sheets during his usual early exits from starts, but I give the man credit, he went out there last Saturday and tried to help his team make the postseason pitching with a torn muscle.
The 26 years fans have been waiting for ends in just a couple hours. Here is the Brewers lineup for today.
1. Mike Cameron CF
2. Bill Hall 3B
3. Ryan Braun LF
4. Prince Fielder 1B
5. J.J. Hardy SS
6. Corey Hart RF
7. Rickie Weeks 2B
8. Jason Kendall C
9. Yovani Gallardo RHP
The Young Guns
Over the last few years, pretty much since JJ Hardy broke into the big leagues as the first of the “kids”, people and analysts have talked about how young the Brewers are. The inexperience seemed to rear its ugly head a bit last season when the Brewers faltered down the stretch and missed the playoffs by two games. The Crew jumped out to a 24-10 record and the excitement only seemed to grow. This year, the team stumbled a bit in the early part of the season, but now have been playing outstanding baseball, and currently sit 18 games over .500, eight games better than they were at this point last season.
This season, there have been some rumblings about how the inexperience isn’t there anymore and that this team isn’t as “young” as people think. Well last night I went through the postseason career numbers for all 25 players currently on the roster. Five pitchers (Eric Gagne, Guillermo Mota, David Riske, CC Sabathia, and Jeff Suppan) and five position players (Jason Kendall, Craig Counsell, Ray Durham, Mike Cameron, and Gabe Kapler) have played in the playoffs before. The only problem with these guys and their experience is Counsell, Durham, and Kapler are all bench players!
Here are the totals for both the Brewers pitching staff and hitters in the postseason.
Pitching:
6-6, 4.09 ERA, 30 G, 13 GS, 0 SV, 2 SVO, 94.2 IP, 84 H, 44 R, 43 ER, 46 BB, 73 K
Hitting:
89 G, 291 AB, 37 R, 64 H, 16 2B, 6 HR, 25 RBI, 98 TB, 31 BB, 71 K, 6 SB, .326 OBP, .220 BA
The most experienced and successful player is Counsell, having played in two postseasons (1997 and 2001) and winning World Series rings in both.
This team is learning on the fly basically. They gained experience on how to play in a playoff race from last season, and so far it seems to have paid off. But if they get past the regular season, well that’s going to be a whole new experience in itself.
I’ve kind of been noticing people don’t want to “jinx” the Brewers and are pretty hush-hush when talking about if/when the Brewers make the postseason. It’s time the Brewers fans get a little bit of Ryan Braun in them, that cockiness that is slightly more than just confidence, because we all know this team has the talent.
Cards And Crew: Game 1
We’re nearing the end of July, the series are starting to get bigger and more intense, and the fan base is starting to get excited. With the NL Central shaping up to be a three horse race possibly all the way to September, each series between the division rivals (Cubs, Cardinals, and Brewers) gets bigger and bigger with each passing day.
The first of these huge series’ started last night with the Crew taking on the Cardinals in St. Louis. Entering the series the Crew was a game behind the Cards for the Wild Card lead and just three games back of the Cubs for the division lead.
Because this series is so big, I’ll be doing a recap of each game.
Last night, the 5th starter platoon began with Seth McClung taking the hill. After a two run first inning for the Cards, the game quickly moved along with the Cards up 2-0 till the top of the fifth. That’s when the much maligned and .219 batting Rickie Weeks came through in the clutch with a three-run bomb to Big Mac land in left to give the Crew a 3-2 lead.
McClung only lasted five innings, but Guillermo Mota, Eric Gagne, and David Riske combined to shut the Cards down in the 6th, 7th, and 8th innings. But the Brewers stayed true to form in the ninth, when Salomon Torres blew the save and let the Cardinals tie the game at 3.
The top of the tenth however, the Crew came out guns blazin’, with Bill Hall leading off the inning with a solo shot to left, and the Brewers then tacked on two more insurance runs to give themselves a 6-3 lead. Torres came back for the 10th and picked up the win.
With the win, it tied the Brewers and Cardinals for second in the division and the Wild Card lead, however the Crew has one fewer loss, and lead the Cardinals by mere percentage points. Couple that with the Cubs 2-0 loss last night in Arizona, and the Crew has pulled to within two games of first in the division.
Small side note, with Seth McClung’s hit last night, the Brewers starting pitchers have a six-game hitting streak, and it’s now up to Jeff Suppan to continue it tonight.
Peaks And Valleys: Let’s Climb This Together
Most baseball fans understand that throughout the course of a 162-game season, teams are going to have their highs and their lows. Every fan wants more highs than lows, and as a Brewers fan, it’s about time we get to experience more highs. There is also a rule of thumb on how to make the playoffs in baseball. Win your home series, go .500 on the road. By winning about two of three for every home series, that gives you roughly 60 wins. By going .500 on the road, that adds another 40, and at the end of the season your team will end up with around 100 wins and will be in serious contention for the postseason. Today I’m going to take a more in-depth look at how the Brewers season has gone thus far.
Theoretically, after every road trip, the Brewers record should be about the same number of games over .500 as it was before, and they should move farther above .500 after every homestand.
(Beginning record, teams, ending record, +/-)
(0-0) – @ CHI – (2-1) +1
(2-1) – vs. SF, vs. CIN – (6-3) +2
(6-3) – @ NY, @ STL, @ CIN – (11-7) +1
(11-7) – vs. STL, vs. PHI, vs. FLA – (14-11) -1
(14-11) – @ CHI, @ HOU, @ FLA – (16-18) -5
(16-18) – vs. STL, vs. LA – (20-21) +1
(20-21) – @ BOS, @ PIT, @ WAS – (24-27) -2
(24-27) – vs. ATL, vs. HOU, vs. ARI – (32-28) +7
(32-28) – @ COL, @ HOU – (35-31) 0
Current Homestand
(35-31) – vs. MIN, vs. TOR, vs. BAL – (39-33) +2
The Brewers are currently +11 at home, and -5 on the road. That isn’t horrible, but it’s not the best either. If you take out the extremes (+7 at home and -5 on the road), the team is at 0 for the road and +4 at home. This just shows how big of a swing a hot homestand or road trip can be. A key point, besides the +7 and -5 the Brewers have, every other trip has been between -2 and +2. That is the sign of a consistent ballclub, so long as there are more +2′s than -2′s.
Many fans love the team when they’re winning and toss them aside when they’re losing, but the most loyal are there throughout. It’s such a marathon of a season, that you can’t get too high after a win, nor too low after a loss.
Break Out The Brooms
The Brewers completed their fourth home sweep of the season yesterday, although it was not without any drama. Dave Bush pitched brilliantly, taking a no-hitter into the 8th. After losing his bid for history, he escaped the 8th with a 8-1 lead. That’s where things got ugly. After Tim Dillard got two outs, allowed two runs, and then put two more men on base, he was relieved in favor of David Riske. Riske, who is fresh off the DL, promptly walked the first batter he faced, and then gave up a Grand Slam to Joe Inglett. It was Inglett’s first home run this season and just the third of his career. Ned Yost then called on Salomon Torres, who gave up an infield single before striking out Matt Stairs to end the game.
Just a couple other notes from yesterday’s game. Russell Branyan continues to rake, he is batting .306 with 10 HR is just 62 at-bats. Also, Prince Fielder hit his second career inside-the-park home run, when his double got stuck underneath the padding in right. The ball was still clearly visible, but Alex Rios didn’t pick it up, assuming it would be ruled a ground rule double. When he noticed that Fielder had kept running, he picked up the ball, thus making it live again, but Fielder was already on his way home.
One last note, since Corey Hart was moved back to the 5-spot, so far in three games he is 5-10 with 3 RBI. While he may be a good leadoff hitter, he is most valuable to the Brewers lineup batting behind Fielder.
Crew Goes Deep To Beat Jays
Prince Fielder, Craig Counsell, Russell Branyan, Ryan Braun, and Ryan Braun again. The Brewers scored seven runs last night, all on home runs. A little over a week ago, the Brewers were something like 6th in the National League in home runs. With games of four, five, and five home runs in the past week, the Crew has vaulted themselves up the leaderboard to 3rd, behind only the Marlins and Phillies.
Staying with the theme of league leaders, for the second straight season, it looks as though the Crew may have a player challenge for the home run title. Last year it was Fielder finishing second behind A-Rod. This year Braun is tied for second, two behind the leader. With the season just about 10 games away from the midway point, I think it’s time to look at how the Brewers are doing in some statistical categories.
(All rankings are NL-only)
Batting Average
(30) Ryan Braun – .291
(37) Prince Fielder – 285
(39) Corey Hart – .284
Home Runs
(2) Ryan Braun – 20
(23) Prince Fielder – 12
(30) Mike Cameron – 10
(30) Corey Hart – 10
(39) Bill Hall – 9
(48) Russell Branyan – 8
Runs Batted In
(5) Ryan Braun – 55
(32) Corey Hart – 39
(39) Prince Fielder – 35
Wins
(9) Ben Sheets – 7
(19) Manny Parra – 6
(39) Seth McClung – 4
(39) Jeff Suppan – 4
(39) Salomon Torres – 4
Strikeouts
(18) Ben Sheets – 72
(33) Manny Parra – 61
(50) Jeff Suppan – 47
Earned Run Average
(3) Ben Sheets – 2.72
(19) Jeff Suppan – 3.68
(28) Manny Parra – 4.22
The biggest thing these stats show, is the struggles with the Brewers rotation. Ben Sheets is hands down the best pitcher on the staff, but somewhat of a surprise is where Manny Parra ranks in the league leaders. He is second on the team in wins and strikeouts, and third in ERA. There have been people critical of Parra, I’ve even heard some fans calling for him to get moved to the ‘pen instead of Carlos Villanueva. I’ve been a big fan of Parra ever since he got moved from AA to AAA last season, and tossed a perfect game in just his second start.
In last night’s win against the Blue Jays, Parra threw seven shutout innings. Today, Ben Sheets gets his chance to show him up. The biggest difference between the two is Parra’s inability to go deep into games, and his high walk total. But I’ll take that, since Parra is supposed to be the team’s #4 starter, behind Suppan, Sheets, and Yovani Gallardo. Due to Gallardo’s injury however, Parra has been pressed into the 3-spot, and he has produced. In fact, with his stats so far this season, I would put Parra as the Brewers #2 starter at the moment. Compare his stats with Suppan, who is the #2 with Gallardo out.
Parra – 6-2, 4.22 ERA, 74.2 IP, 81 H, 35 ER, 36 BB, 61 K
Suppan – 4-4, 3.68 ERA, 85.2 IP, 88 H, 35 R, 37 BB, 47 K
If Parra can continue to get better and be able to work deeper into games (he’s pitched into the 7th just three times, along with two out of his last three starts), he will continue to move up the depth chart and become a solid starter for the Brewers for years to come.
The Brewers pitching staff has been through hell and back this season, dealing with the blowup and injury to Eric Gagne, the blowup of Derrick Turnbow, injuries to Gallardo and David Riske, and Dave Bush’s inability to be anywhere close to consistent.
Speaking of Turnbow, here are his stats at AAA Nashville.
1-1, 10.32 ERA, 11.1 IP, 9 H, 13 ER, 30 BB, 16 K.
That’s 34 outs recorded and 30 walks allowed. Notice how he allows less than a hit an inning. Of course, as a batter I wouldn’t swing against Turnbow either. It’s just time to let the man go.
Here’s to hoping the recent power surge continues, and the Crew can start climbing up the standings!
Time For A BrOOers Turnaround.
The Crew is heading back to the comforts of the climate-controlled Miller Park this weekend to take on the St. Louis Cardinals. With the Brewers fresh off a double sweep to end the three-city, nine-game road trip to finish 2-7, many fans in Milwaukee are started to sweat. The Brewers have slipped to 4th in the division and two games under .500 for the first time this season. Is it too early to start panicking?
The Brewers have been dealt a very difficult schedule so far this season, but most importantly with their schedule, is the fact they have three more three-city, ten-game road trips ahead of them. Those 48 games make up a majority of the Brewers road schedule for the season, and it can be difficult, even for professionals, to get into a groove on long road trips. I say, if the Crew can manage a 24-24 record in these trips, they will have been successful. They went 5-4 on the first trip, and have followed that up with a 2-7 clip this past one. That gives them a 7-11 record through the first two and shortest of the three-city road trips.
In other news, Derrick Turnbow cleared waivers today and is headed to Nashville to work out his issues. Hopefully he can work out what he needs to, because when he is on, he’s lights out. While the Brewers bullpen may be a more veteran crew this season, they can be erratic at times. (Evidenced by Eric Gagne’s five blown saves and David Riske’s 5.19 ERA)
Here’s to a series win this weekend against the Cards, a return to .500, and a turnaround for the rest of the season!
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