Goat of the Game Blogs

Watching the Brewers this season under hitting coach Jim Skaalen has been brutal at times. While our current rank of 12 in the NL in strikeouts is actaully an improvement from recent years, we still seem to sit back and wait for the home run. Gone is the strategy of a real baseball game. In its place is a bunch of statues on the bases and no plan B when there is a power outage.

It might be somewhat disheartening to know that over the last 10 years, the Brewers average rank in the NL for team strikeouts is 15th of 16 NL teams. In fact, we finished 15th in 5 of those 10 years. -Finished dead last twice, finished 12th twice, and finished 10th once way back in 1998. Like I said, so far this year we’re ranked 12th, but with our recent slump, strikeout totals are soaring as players try to homer themselves out of it. –And while we’re talking league rankings; we’re second to last in sacrifices this year.

In a recent loss to the Reds, we fell behind early and then promptly switched into solo-homer mode to try to get back into it. Needless to say, it didn’t work. The Brewers have a total of ZERO home runs in the last 4 games. Since this is really the only way we know how to score runs, it’s no surprise that we lost 3 of those 4 games.

Fans love the home run. We all know that. The trouble is, home runs don’t always equal wins. Consider this: you have to go all the way back to the 1984 Detroit Tigers to find a team who won the World Series AND lead the league in home runs in the same year. That was 24 years ago.

If that’s not enough to convince you, the consider that in the last 5 years, only 2 teams (the 2004 Yankees, and the 2003 Braves) have lead the league in homers and actually made it into the playoffs (neither made it to the World Series).

We haven’t had a playoff team dead last in strikeouts since the 2004 LA Angels. At least that proves that it CAN be done though. It’s not likely however. The average ranking in strikouts for a playoff team over the last 5 years is about 8th. The Brewers haven’t even sniffed 8th in the well over a decade.

We can look at numbers all day though. The real problem with this team isn’t hitting home runs or not hitting home runs - it’s the failure to attmept anything else. Sure, we are 5th in the league right now in stolen bases, but with the speed up and down this lineup, we should easily be 2nd, if not 1st. Our team batting average is .253, good for 12 in the league. 3 of the 4 teams below us are cleear-dwellars.

..But I’m looking at numbers again.

Next season I’d really like to see a shift in the type of player we put in the starting lineup, as well as the type of coaching staff we hire. Strikeout kings Rickie Weeks, Bill Hall, and Mike Cameron should be let go one way or another. That’s 364 strikeouts between the 3 of them. We really need to reaplce those guys with someone who can put the ball in play.

As for the coaching staff, we really need someone who will institute a better philosphy and get the guys to buy into it. A good part of coaching is getting your players to listen, and with that in mind, we’ve had a string of failures as hitting coaches. Certain players like Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder should be able to hack away until they get two strikes on them. Others should probably never “hack away”. Once you have 2 strikes though, you just worry about hitting the ball!

Maybe the Brewers front office should start fining everyone who hits a homerun when they have two strikes on them. Round the bases and get a bill as you cross home plate. Give the money to charity.