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.

I have to admit, that with a home-based business starting up, my attention has been split. Luckily for me, the Brewers haven’t lost games at a rate like they have in the past. I’ve been able keep up with the polls and blog updates though it hasn’t always been easy.

I went back and checked today and found that we’ve had over 1300 votes for Goat so far this season.  Traffic is up, even considering the long breaks between losses. -which, believe me, I consider a good thing. Although we focus on losses here, we still appreciate the wins. I’ve been searching for features to add to the site which would bring visitors win OR lose. The addition of Brewfn65’s  Hero of the Game blog will help in that regard.

The cartoons have also helped.

Between paintings I’m doing for others, I plan on doing cartoons for the rest of the Brewers’ TV crew, Bill, Brian, Jeff, etc and emailing them to the booth. Hopefully this will trigger some new visitors. I also thought it would be some good publicity to go to another game with a goat sign. Maybe a sign with a player’s cartoon and a mention of goatofthegame. If we make it on TV, we’d get a boost in traffic I’m sure.

Since I am way up in Oshkosh and not sure when I’ll get back to Milwaukee to take in another game, that seems like a great homework assignment for a regular here. If you’re willing to take the sign challenge on, Email me and let me know when you’re going. I can make up a sign and send it your way.

We’ll have to think up a prize for anyone who holds up a goat sign and makes it onto the FSN broadcast. Any ideas out there?

Free personalized cartoon? Free Goat T-Shirt?

If we can turn a profit with increased traffic and ad placement, I’m planning on returning the money to the website. One way to do that is to give out Goat T-shirts as contest prizes (as well as other prizes such as free Brewer tickets).

One other homework assignment for the fans is to send me ideas on winter content. With the off-season soming up fast, we’ll need something to pass the time until spring training.

I want to continue evolving goatofthegame to Brewer fans’ requests. So far, the Standings page, the cartoons page, and the personalized cartoon option were all created on the suggestion of you guys.  Just keep your ideas rolling in!

Well, this would normally be the hero’s of the week blog but my

account and all of my posts got deleted at the message board so

I decided to write something else instead.

In my opinion, Bill Hall is getting screwed over by the Brewers.

In 2006 he is team MVP with 35 homeruns. So, how do the Brewers

reward him? They move him to center field. Naturally, learning a new

position causes Bill Hall underachieve offensively and he has a down year.

2008 rolls around and just as he’s getting settled into Center field he gets

moved back to the infield. Again, it’s no big surprise that he struggles at the

beginning of the year. Now as he’s starting to pick it up, he gets benched in

favor of Craig Counsell. I mean are you kidding me? Craig Counsell??

I could understand Russell Branyan playing when he was healthy, but that was a platoon and Branyan was on fire so it made sense. This isn’t even a platoon! They just flat out benched Bill Hall. It makes me wonder if he’s not hurt or something.

Anyways, I dont think it is right that the Milwaukee Brewers have basically destroyed Bill Hall’s career. Leave me some comments on what you guys think.

A good week, 4-2 overall with a series win vs. Cincinnati and a couple of wins vs. the nats so here are your heros as voted on by the fans at the brewers message board:

Tuesday 8/5 @ Cincinnati:  HOG goes to Dave Bush who put togeather a solid start.  Runner-up goes to Corey Hart.  Honerable Mention goes to Jim Skaalen for all-around good day offensivly.

Wednesday 8/6 @ Cincinnati:  HOG goes to Rickie Weeks who had 4 hits.  Runner-up goes to Mike Cameron who also had a couple of hits.

Friday 8/8 vs. Washington:  HOG goes to CC Sabathia who pitched a complete game shutout and really wasn’t in any real trouble the entire game.

Saturday 8/9 vs. Washington:  HOG goes to Ben Sheets who pitched a complete game Shutout, back to back games for the crew, he scattered 5 hits and didn’t walk anyone.

yeesh, not a good week for Milwaukee, they lose the last game of the Houston series and then get swept at home vs. the Cubs.  Overall the Brewers go 2-5 this week and here are the heroes:

Friday 8/1:  Hero of the game goes to Jeff Suppan who pitched 7 innings scoreless.  Runner-up goes to Mike Cameron who went 1-3 with a 2-run homerun and he reached base twice.  Congratulations!

Saturday 8/2:  Prince Fielder is the Hero with 2 homeruns and a total of 3 RBI’s.  Runner-up goes to CC Sabathia who pitched 8 1/3 IP giving up only 2 ER’s to earn the Win.

What a great week, the brewers go 6-1!!!!  Plus a sweep of the Cardinals in St. Louis, anyways, here are this weeks heroes:

Sunday 7/20:  Ryan Braun is the hero with 5 RBI’s @ san fransisco.  Manny Parra is the Runner up with an excellent start going 7 2/3 innings.

Monday 7/21:  Bill Hall is the hero with the clutch go-ahead homerun in the 10th inning @ St. Louis.  Runner up is Ned Yost, he managed the bullpen well and put togeather a good lineup.  Honerable Mentions are Rickie Weeks and J.J. Hardy.

Tuesday 7/22:  Bill Hall is the hero, he again hits a clutch homerun late in the game, this time to cap a late inning three run comeback.  Honerable Mentions are Ned Yost, Jeff Suppan, Salomon Torres, Prince Fielder, and JJ Hardy.

Wednesday 7/23:  CC Sabathia is the hero, he pitched a complete game shutout, what more can you ask.

Thursday 7/24:  Ryan Braun is the hero, he went 4-4 and reached base 5 times, he also hit the go-ahead homerun in the 9th inning with one on and one out down a run.

Friday 7/26:  Ryan Braun is the hero again, he hit the key game tying homerun in the 7th inning which kickstarted the offense.  Runner-up is Ray Durham who hit two doubles and scored three runs.

Well because of the All-star game the Brewers only played three games this week, but they won all three of them so we have three heros this week

 7/13 vs. Cincinnati goes to CC Sabathia.  He pitched a complete game and gave up only 2 ER’s in a 3-2 win.  He also hit a homerun.  He was voted the HOG unanimously.

7/18 @ San Fransico goes to CC Sabathia.  He pitched a complete game and gave up just 1 ER in a 9-1 win.  He also hit a double to help his own cause and scored a run.  He was voted the HOG unanimously.

7/19 @ San Fransico goes to Prince Fielder.  He had a good day offensivly, he hit a homerun into the water and he drove in a run with a basehit.  Second place goes to David Riske who pitched a scoreless 8th inning, 1.0 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 3 K.

*Remember to vote on the Brewers’ message board for the Hero of the Game after every win, polls close before the next game or when someone gets a big enough lead and noones voted in a while like tonight.

Well we’ve made it to the all-star break and our Brewers are right in the thick of things, they sit at 1/2 game out of the wild card and 5 games out of the divison lead, not bad.

The team grade is a B+

Now, on to the player grades

Position Players:

 Jason Kendall  A- :  He’s had an excellent season defensivley, teams are starting to learn quickly that you can not run on Jason Kendall anymore, plus he calls a great game, pitchers like Manny Parra would not be as successful if it were not for Jason Kendall, His hitting has been alright, definently an improvement over last season for him, he’s had some clutch hits

 Prince Fielder B:  Compared to last season, this season has been a bit of a disapointment for Prince offensivly, however, 17 dingers at the break isn’t bad and he’s done a good job getting on base with one of the highest OBA’s on the team

Rickie Weeks D:  Rickie has underachieved to this point, a lead off hitter should be hitting close to .300 not hovering around the mendoza line, ned defends keeping rickie in the lead off role because rickie scores a lot of runs, but imagaine how many more runs a competant lead off hitter would have scored by now

J.J. Hardy B+ :  J.J. has been on a tear lately before the all-star break, his batting average is in the .290 range and he has 13 homers, a great job deffensivly as well, he is among the league leaders in fielding percentage.

Bill Hall C- :  Billy has shown that he still has some good power, 14 homers I believe, but he has been terribly inconsistant.  During one of his slumps this season he lost his starting spot and is now in a platoon situation at 3B.  He’s starting to pick it up latly though.

Ryan Braun A:  All-star Starter, 23 homers, and a solid average, braun has definently shown he deserves the big contract he signed.

Mike Cameron D+ :  Cameron has been disappointing this season, his batting average has been around the .220 range for most of the season with many strikeouts, but the biggest dissapointment is that Cameron’s defense in Center has not been very good, he’s missplayed some balls in center and isn’t as fast as he used to be.

Corey Hart A :  Corey is probably the best all-around baseball player on the Brewers, he hits for average, he gets on base, he hits homers, he drives in runs, he steals bases, and plays solid defense, lets lock this guy down to a nice long contract

Gabe Kapler A:  What a great surprise, Kapler hasn’t gotten a lot of starts because of Cameron in Center but when he’s been given opportunities he’s came through with clutch hits.

Tony Gwyn Jr. incomplete:  Tough luck for such a promising young outfielder, he had a great shot at the starting spot in center early but he goes on the 15 day DL and has not been on the 25-man roster since early in the season, hopefully we see him in September

Hernan Irrabarren incomplete:  He’s been up in the majors for two stints this season but has only got a handful of at-bats and only, I believe, 1 start, hopefully we see him in September

Gabe Gross C-:  Gabe became the starter in place of Cameron during cameron’s suspension, Gross got off to a slow start but was starting to pick it up when he was traded to the Rays for a minor league prospect right before Cameron’s return.

Craig Counsell B-:  Counsell has been a solid utility infielder, he filled in nicely when Weeks went on the DL and has come through in many key pinch hit situations this season for the Brewers

Joe Dillon C  :  A utility infielder who has shown he can play just about anywhere, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, LF, who also has had some clutch hits off the bench, his average is not very good at this point though and he’s in a bit of a slump

Russel Branyan B- :  Branyan tore up AAA early this season and with Hall struggling at the plate the brewers called him up to plattoon with Hall, Branyan hit a lot of homers early and had a great average but has gone into a slump as of late.

Mike Rivera B+ :  Rivera hasn’t gotten much playing time with Kendall at starting most of the games at catcher but when he’s been given a shot he’s shown he can hit the ball, good power and a great average at this point, however he is nowhere near as effective on defense as kendall.

Pitchers:

Ben Sheets A:  What an excellent start to the season for sheets, an ERA in the 2’s, 10-3 record, and 3 CG’s with 1 shutout, he’s been an innings eater and to this point has stayed healthy, excellent job!

CC Sabathia incomplete:  He’s only made 2 starts as a brewer, but was very good in both and hey he can hit too, let’s hope he’s worth LaPorta.

Dave Bush  C+:  He got off to a slow start this year and spent time in AAA and in the bulpen, his last few starts have been great though, he’s been locating his breaking ball better and nearly threw a no-hitter.

Manny Parra  A-:  At first he was having trouble eating innings but he’s been dominating for the last couple months and has a great ERA with an 8-2 record.

Seth McClung B-:  He’s been one of the team’s biggest surprises so far, he barely made the team out of spring training but when put in the starting role he’s shown that he’s a solid starter.

Carlos Villanueva B-:  Carlos struggled early this season in the starters role but since being moved to the bullpen he’s been very effective.

David Riske C+:  Riske was an average middle reliever early in the season but in May he hurt his elbow and missed a month on the DL and has never really gotten into a groove since then.

Eric Gagne D :  Gagne has not been what was expected of him, he was supposed to solidify the bullpen by making the ninth inning easier, however he is 10-15 in save opportunities with an ERA above 7.3 and he spent a month on the DL, hopefully he can rebound in the second half and show that he wasn’t a complete bust.

Brian Shouse B+  :  one of the few reliable relievers in the brewer’s pen this year, he’s got a great ERA and is tough on lefty’s

Mitch Stetter B+ :  started the year in AAA then was good for a few weeks in the majors before losing control and ending up back in the minors, he’s back now and he looks pretty dominant.

Guillermo Mota D- :  He started the year as a reliable set-up man but has just completely lost it of late, hopefully he can regain his form from earlier this season and still help this team.

Salomon Torres A :  Another great surpise, since Gagne went on the DL Torres has stepped in and done an excellent job in the closers role 15-18 in save opportunities, he’s also been durable, and pitched a lot of innings.

Jeff Suppan B- :  Had a great start to the season and had a solid ERA through the first two and a half months this season but has not been effective as of late and is now on the DL.

Yovanni Gallardo incomplete : Started the year on the DL and then tore his ACL and is now out for most of the season, his three starts this year were solid though.

Mark DiFelice  C:  Was a decent long reliever in his short stint in the majors

Tim Dillard incomplete:  Was a decent middle reliever, hopefully we see him again in September.

Zach Jackson incomplete:  Made a couple of appearences early and was part of the CC Sabathia trade.

Julian Tavarez F :  Had one good outing for the Brewers, the rest was not very good, he couldn’t find the strike zone at times and got knocked around a lot.

Derrick Turnbow F:  Had one good outing where he picked up a save, the rest was aweful, he just could not throw strikes and we’ve probably seen the last of him, unless he can hit

*If I missed anyone let me know

Well another amazing all star weekend has come and gone and now it’s back to division rivalries and enemy bashing. The message boards are alive with people harassing each other because of the team the choose to cheer for… welcome 2nd half baseball.

 But here’s the thing I want to talk about. Why are Cubs fans getting on Corey Hart about that throw at the end of the game. It wasn’t the world’s best throw (if it was he would have gotten Morneau at the plate) but it was close. The true fact is that you can’t rely on a player to make that throw or any throw for that matter. I’ve heard “Fuky could make that throw” and “If Soriano was healthy Morneau would be out by a few steps.” Well here’s the issue. Fukudome might have a pretty accurate arm but I don’t think he’s that strong. Soriano… Well Soriano probably wouldn’t have even caught the ball.

Then I realized it. These were cubs fans we’re talking about here! The same group of people who have blamed the 100 year drought on a goat. The same group of people who blamed poor Steve Bartman for being knocked out of the playoffs a few years back instead of the players who really cost them the game. Could it be?!? YES! It seems this years all star game has allowed cubs fans to continue the tradition of blaming people except themselves! Geovanni Sotto (whom I am a big fan of) couldn’t seem to throw the ball to second base to get a single runner. Yeah Sheet’s pitches may have been in the dirt, or a curve ball but last I checked the catcher is the one who calls for the pitch, he knew what Sheets was throwing and he should have been able to adjust. Instead what’s he do? Throws the ball everywhere but second base (I believe I read someone say he was “throwing the ball like a drunk”), but yet again all we hear from Cubby nation is “Sheets screwed the pooch with bad pitches, the runners stole on him, not our guy… never!”

Then you got the offense, yeah The Brewers bats seemed to be resting during the ASB but at least we can admit it. I’d like to point out to all the Cubs fans who blamed Hart and Braun for striking out and having O-fers that the Cubs bats didn’t do much better. Fukudome, and Soto both looked horrible at the plate as well and Aramis Ramirez only got on via a walk (OH BOY!). But again… Cubs fans look to The Brewers and blame us, I guess they were watching a different game?