SB Nation - Todd Coffey

Heroes of the Zeros: The Bullpen

Slyde — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:00:28 -0000

As we continue our vote on the Reds All Decade Team, we look today at the bullpen. The Reds bullpen was a strength in the early aughts, but it also had some very lean periods in the middle of the decade before rebounding a bit the last two seasons. Below you will see the 28 relievers who managed to pitch 60 or more games out of the bullpen for the Reds between 2000 and 2009. The survey below will have you choose a closer, 2 right-handed relievers, 2 left-handed relievers, and 2 other relievers of your choice. Please be careful not to choose a pitcher for more than one spot as I will only count a single vote for that player.

One note before you vote, I didn't feel like doing the extra work it would take to separate a pitcher's relief appearances from his starts, so some of the stats below include starts as well as relief appearances. This mainly only affects Danny Graves (30 GS), Chris Reitsma (53 GS), and Matt Belisle (43 GS) with a couple other pitchers having a handful of starts in their numbers. Please try to take that into account when considering a player as best you can. Voting can be done after the jump.

Other ballots: Starting Rotation

Click header to sort table by column
	Years	G	W	L	W-L%	SV	IP	ERA	ERA+	FIP	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SO/9	BB/9	HR/9
Jeremy Affeldt	2008	74	1	1	.500	0	78.1	3.33	133	3.72	.260	.323	.410	.733	9.19	2.87	1.03
Matt Belisle	2003-2008	132	16	22	.421	1	341.2	5.06	89	4.54	.302	.351	.472	.823	6.06	2.53	1.24
Bill Bray	2006-2008	111	7	6	.538	3	89.0	3.84	118	3.40	.278	.348	.433	.780	9.20	3.84	0.81
Jim Brower	2001-2002	68	9	10	.474	1	168.2	3.95	114	4.49	.250	.328	.406	.734	6.30	3.74	1.01
Jared Burton	2007-2009	154	10	3	.769	0	161.0	3.47	128	3.73	.238	.322	.368	.690	7.77	3.91	0.73
Todd Coffey	2005-2008	213	12	9	.571	9	206.1	4.62	98	4.58	.311	.366	.476	.842	5.98	2.75	1.22
Francisco Cordero	2008-2009	140	7	10	.412	73	137.0	2.76	158	3.42	.238	.329	.327	.656	8.93	4.47	0.53
Jon Coutlangus	2007	64	4	2	.667	0	41.0	4.39	105	4.57	.250	.373	.362	.735	8.34	5.93	0.66
Danny Graves	2000-2005	318	29	35	.453	147	526.0	4.16	105	4.62	.279	.331	.451	.782	4.59	2.58	1.16
Daniel Ray Herrera	2008-2009	77	4	4	.500	0	69.0	3.52	122	4.00	.283	.354	.419	.772	6.78	3.52	0.78
Mike Lincoln	2008-2009	83	3	6	.333	0	93.1	5.40	81	5.66	.269	.357	.465	.822	6.36	4.15	1.64
Gary Majewski	2006-2008	88	2	6	.250	0	78.0	7.38	61	4.73	.388	.429	.562	.992	5.31	2.54	1.15
Nick Masset	2008-2009	84	6	1	.857	0	93.1	2.31	186	3.65	.213	.276	.334	.610	7.81	2.80	0.87
Hector Mercado	2000-2001	68	3	2	.600	0	67.0	4.16	111	4.26	.262	.354	.418	.772	9.67	5.10	1.07
Kent Mercker	2003-2008	179	5	4	.556	5	142.0	3.36	129	4.72	.256	.336	.447	.783	6.91	3.99	1.27
Phil Norton	2003-2004	86	2	5	.286	0	80.1	4.59	92	4.10	.263	.359	.380	.740	6.16	4.93	0.56
Brian Reith	2001-2004	73	4	12	.250	1	127.2	5.92	73	6.16	.292	.381	.542	.923	5.99	5.01	1.83
Chris Reitsma	2001-2003	125	22	32	.407	12	404.1	4.52	97	4.57	.280	.329	.456	.785	5.19	2.52	1.20
Dennys Reyes	2000-2001	97	4	7	.364	0	96.2	4.75	98	4.74	.254	.363	.395	.757	8.19	5.96	0.93
Arthur Rhodes	2009	66	1	1	.500	0	53.1	2.53	169	3.14	.198	.276	.299	.576	8.10	3.38	0.51
John Riedling	2000-2004	200	13	12	.520	3	274.1	4.13	104	4.37	.256	.345	.385	.730	5.97	4.43	0.69
Brian Shackelford	2005-2006	63	2	0	1.000	0	46.0	4.11	107	5.20	.229	.333	.388	.722	6.26	3.72	1.17
Mike Stanton	2007	69	1	3	.250	0	57.2	5.93	78	4.26	.315	.374	.462	.836	6.24	2.81	0.94
Scott Sullivan	2000-2003	279	22	12	.647	4	338.0	4.05	111	4.21	.246	.326	.408	.734	7.96	3.49	1.14
Ryan Wagner	2003-2005	108	8	4	.667	0	119.0	4.69	90	4.38	.274	.354	.410	.764	7.64	4.24	0.98
David Weathers	2005-2009	325	20	23	.465	61	336.1	3.56	126	4.37	.239	.317	.390	.707	6.21	3.67	0.96
Gabe White	2000-2004	137	10	3	.769	1	128.2	4.34	98	4.25	.256	.289	.467	.756	6.92	1.54	1.47
Scott Williamson	2000-2003	155	13	15	.464	35	229.0	3.14	143	3.53	.209	.326	.329	.655	10.73	5.42	0.71

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/14/2009.

Monday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:18:55 -0000

by Jim Prisching - AP

Craig Counsell is expected to re-sign today.

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Some things to read while John Tesh rocks the NBA on NBC theme (h/t Amy K. Nelson).

Randy Wolf is expected to undergo a physical this morning and once he does, expect his contract to become official sometime later today. That might not be today's only announcement, though: the Brewers are also expected to finalize a deal with Craig Counsell today. With Counsell, Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, Alcides Escobar, Mat Gamel and Casey McGehee all on the roster, the Brewers' Opening Day infield is probably set, barring injury or trade.

Meanwhile, Mike Rivera is surprised to be looking for work after being non-tendered over the weekend. He thought the decision not to retain Jason Kendall would give him an edge as the only returning catcher familiar with the Brewer pitching staff.

As of this writing, roughly 4% of voters in the poll on your right listed the decision to offer Dave bush a 2010 contract as the one Brewer move from this weekend they would change. That's not exactly a large chunk of the fanbase, but In-Between Hops is taking on that vocal minority, making the case that the Brewers made the right move by giving Bush another shot.

If you missed Morineko's Weekend Mug, follow the link over to it for full coverage of the Brewers' arbitration decisions, and a link to this list of all the non-tenders leaguewide.

Looking back at last week, Jon Heyman ranked the Brewers among the Winter Meeting winners. Meanwhile, Marc Hulet of The Baseball Analysts listed Rule 5 selection Chuck Lofgren in the "Why Bother?" category.

The more I think about it, the more I think Lofgren will have a tough task ahead of him if he's going to make the team out of spring training. With Trevor Hoffman, LaTroy Hawkins, Todd Coffey, Claudio Vargas and Mitch Stetter back, there's only two bullpen spots left that are potentially available (barring injury), and Chris Smith, John Axford, Chris Narveson, Zach Braddock and now Lofgren fighting for them. I like Lofgren's potential and hope the Brewers will get an opportunity to realize it, but right now he might be the third or fourth best lefty in the bullpen competition.

If you have a vague interest in Brewer baseball, but wish there was less analysis and more profanity on this site, then Miller Park Drunk's RUNNING series might be just the ticket for you. Follow these links for bad Prince Fielder jokes, some fan fiction involving Ryan Braun trying to rap, and a vague musical reference to Rickie Weeks.

In the minors: Baseball Intellect has video footage of some at bats featuring Cameron Garfield, Cutter Dykstra and Josh Prince from a Pioneer League game back in July. They're pay-only, but there are worse ways to spend $2.95.

If you were gone this weekend, you didn't miss the opportunity to help select a center fielder and catcher for the BCB All Decade Team. Voting closes at 4 pm today for center fielders and 4 pm tomorrow for catchers. We'll open the voting for the final starting outfield spot later today.

Around baseball:

Blue Jays: Signed catcher John Buck to a one-year deal worth $2 million, signed Joey Gathright to a minor league deal,
Braves: Signed Matt Diaz to a one year, $2.55 million deal, avoiding arbitration.
D-Backs: Re-signed infielder Augie Ojeda to a one year deal, and avoided arbitration with Blaine Boyer.
Dodgers: Signed pitcher Josh Towers to a minor league deal.
Giants: Signed shortstop-turned-pitcher Tony Pena Jr. to a minor league deal.
Indians: Re-signed pitchers Adam Miller and Anthony Reyes to minor league deals.
Marlins: Signed catcher Ronny Paulino to a one-year deal, avoiding arbitration.
Nationals: Re-signed Scott Olsen to a one year deal. Also signed pitcher Ryan Speier to a minor league deal.
Padres: Signed pitcher Kevin Correia to a one year deal, avoiding arbitration.
Pirates: Signed Ronny Cedeno to a one year, $1.125 million deal, avoiding arbitration.
Rangers: Signed infielder Esteban German to a one year deal, avoiding arbitration.
Rays: Avoided arbitration with catcher Dioner Navarro and pitchers Grant Balfour, Rafael Soriano, Lance Cormier and Randy Choate.
Royals: Avoided arbitration with pitchers Brian Bannister and Kyle Davies. They also signed pitcher Bruce Chen and catcher Vance Wilson to minor league deals.
White Sox: Signed J.J. Putz to a one year deal.

Meanwhile, the market heated up immediately for Yankees non-tender Chien-Ming Wang, with Ken Rosenthal reporting that six teams have already expressed interest. He doesn't list the teams, but I wouldn't be surprised to discover the Brewers are one of them.

I promise, I'm not going to mention it every time someone says something new about Jason Kendall. In fact, I might try to go the rest of the week without mentioning him at all. With that said, I thought these three links about him were interesting:

Joe Posnanski has a look at the potential Opening Day lineup for the 2010 Royals, now including Kendall.
He also compares Kendall to a superball on the field at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
Reminding us all how far and how fast Kendall has fallen, Where Have You Gone, Andy Van Slyke? named Kendall the Pirate Catcher of the Decade.

Weeks ago I linked to a post from minor league veteran Garrett Broshuis, mentioning the challenges in finding quality, healthy food in minor league clubhouses. It looks like that problem may be on its way to being resolved: After discussing it at the Winter Meetings, several teams are making an effort to provide healthier options, and remove the constant flow of junk.

If you're a fan of sabermetrics, or just want to learn more about them, I've got two links for you today:

TangoTiger has a look at OPS+, and some minor adjustments that could be made to it to make it more useful than some other advanced metrics.
That post links to this one, Big League Stew's beginner's guide to wOBA. I learned a fair amount by reading that one.

Gorman Thomas celebrated a birthday over the weekend, and while this probably isn't what he had in mind for a gift, David Chalk of Seventh Inning 'Stache has inducted him into the MLB Mustache Hall of Fame.

On this day in 1998, the Brewers acquired Alex Ochoa from the Twins for a minor leaguer named Darrell Nicholas. Ochoa spent one season as a Brewer, hitting .300/.404/.466 before being traded to the Reds for Mark Sweeney after the season.

Happy birthday today to:

Former Seattle Pilot and 1970 Brewer Greg Goossen, who turns 64.
Dave Nilsson, who appeared in 837 games as a Brewer and turns 40.
Marcus Jensen, who appeared in 18 games over two tours as a Brewer and turns 37.

Sean Forman, founder of Baseball Reference, is also celebrating his birthday today. You can help him celebrate by sponsoring a page. I know someone around here will want this one.

Drink up.

Wednesday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 14:03:58 -0000

More photos » by Julie Jacobson - AP

Dear front office: Please don't acquire Gary Matthews Jr., unless the Angels are willing to eat his salary AND take on Jeff Suppan's. Sincerely, Everyone

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Some things to read while getting a new backpack.

So apparently Gary Matthews Jr. wants out of Anaheim, and some Brewer fans (including Al) think he could be a good fit in center field next season, if the Angels agree to pay most of his salary. Meanwhile, Angels management is somewhere hoping and praying that there's one general manager left in baseball who thinks Matthews can be a productive major leaguer next season. Dave Cameron of FanGraphs notes that Matthews has been worth -$5.3 million in salary over the last three seasons. And while he was a pretty good defender at one point, TotalZone ranked him as the fourth worst defender in all of baseball last season. And he's 35 years old. On the scale of center fielders, Matthews is much closer to Corey Patterson than Mike Cameron.

The Milwaukee chapter of the BBWAA has unveiled their postseason awards, with Prince Fielder and Yovani Gallardo surprising no one by taking home Team MVP and Pitcher of the Year honors, respectively. Trevor Hoffman was named top newcomer, Todd Coffey was named Unsung Hero and Craig Counsell won the "Good Guy" award, which may be renamed for him when he retires. Mike Cameron also received two community service awards: one from the team and one from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Congratulations to all of them.

Speaking of Mike Cameron, he's one of two Brewers among the top 6 free agents by WAR. Cameron ranks sixth with 4.3 WAR, a couple spots down from Felipe Lopez, who is fourth with 4.6.

Josh Butler has a new blog post from the AFL. Today's topics include night games, strep throat and his repertoire. Butler has been home for a few days with strep but still expects to make his scheduled start today.

Unless another package of stuff shows up on my doorstep, today is your last chance to enter the Bring Back Seth McClung contest. As of this writing, 401 people have signed up. I'll draw seven winners from the group at 5 pm today.

There had previously been speculation that Doug Melvin could consider leaving the Brewers to become president of the Blue Jays. You can lay that rumor to rest: Interim President Paul Beeston has been given the full time job. Elsewhere around baseball:

Astros: Signed former Red Sox bench coach Brad Mills to be their new manager.
Rays: Signed Gabe Kapler to a one year deal for slightly more than $1 million.

As you may have heard, Mark McGwire is coming out of hiding to return to the Cardinals as hitting coach. Lookout Landing speculates on how his first meeting with Skip Schumaker might go.

Speaking of Lookout Landing, they spent the evening last night watching a winter league game in Venezuela, and have some observations on the experience.

Side note: Lookout Landing also has a link to free live broadcasts of VWL games, but when I clicked on it the first thing I got was a box asking for permission to connect to my Facebook account. Don't fall for it.

Still looking for a replacement for Jason Kendall? MLB Trade Rumors has a list of catchers that may be available via trade. Most of them aren't too exciting, but it's possible all of them would be better than Kendall next season.

So this is how the other half lives: As part of the McCourt divorce, Jamie McCourt has submitted a list of her monthly living expenses, which includes over $30,000 (per month) for clothing and accessories, over $1000 for wine, and $533 per month for a birthday party. Apparently when you're that wealthy, you get a birthday every month. Who knew?

Speaking of birthdays, happy birthday to:

Braden Looper, who turns 35.
Lenny Harris who spent 2002 as a Brewer and turns 45.
Mark Knudson, who appeared in 106 games as a Brewer in the late 80's and early 90's, and turns 49.
And Bob Melvin, who served as Phil Garner's bench coach and turns 48.

Staying on the subject of birthdays, Wezen-ball has compiled a calendar of Top Birthday WARs. So if you've ever wanted to know the best player born on your birthday, there you go. Mine is Joe Judge, who racked up 43.7 WAR playing first base for the Washington Senators from 1915 to 1932.

That's all I have for you today, unless you're someone in need of a list of unacceptable Halloween candy.

Drink up.

Brewers 12, Cardinals 6

KLSnow — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 03:41:03 -0000

W: Braden Looper (14-7)
L: Kyle McClellan (4-4)

HR: None

MVP: Ryan Braun (+.273)
LVP: Braden Looper (-.271)

Win Expectancy Graph
SBNation Coverage

Where was this two months ago?

For the first six innings, it looked like more of the same for the Brewers tonight, as they fell behind 6-0 and looked lifeless against Adam Wainwright, who was cruising towards his 20th win, which likely would have made him the only major leaguer this season to reach that mark.

Then, all of a sudden in the seventh, the Brewer bats came to life and the Cardinals completely imploded. From the top of the sixth on, the Brewers scored 12 unanswered runs, partially fueled by five Cardinal wild pitches and one passed ball, and quickly turned a laugher for the Cardinals into a blowout victory for the Brewers.

Ryan Braun went 2-for-5 in the game, picking up hits #198 and 199 on the season. Felipe Lopez, Alcides Escobar, Craig Counsell and Jody Gerut all also had multiple hits. Prince Fielder went 0-for-2 but walked three times.

The Brewer bats covered up another awful performance from Braden Looper, who allowed six earned runs on ten hits in six innings of work tonight, and trailed 6-1 when he was pinch hit for. Not only did the Brewer bats save Looper from a loss once again, they rallied just in time to get him his 14th win. Todd Coffey, Claudio Vargas and Trevor Hoffman each pitched a scoreless inning to close out the game.

Looper did manage to get through six innings without allowing a home run, so he'll finish the season with 39.

Monday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 14:40:51 -0000

More photos » by Darren Hauck - AP

Casey McGehee congratulates Prince Fielder after Fielder hit a home run against the Astros during the first inning Sunday.

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Some things to read while getting your vitamins and minerals.

Yovani Gallardo came into yesterday's game saying he was still feeling strong and he showed it on the mound, needing just 77 pitches to complete five innings and pick up his 13th victory in his final start of the season. Gallardo says he will accept the role as ace of the Brewers' staff next season, when he will still be just 24 years old.

Perhaps Trevor Hoffman will still be closing out Gallardo's wins in 2010. A few days after Hoffman said he'd like to remain a Brewer, Doug Melvin confirmed his interest as well. Perhaps the two sides will work something out soon.

Hoffman is still projected to be a Type A free agent in the most recent Elias Rankings, as is Felipe Lopez. Here's something I don't think we've discussed before: David Weathers projects to be a Type B free agent. It probably doesn't matter, though, as the Brewers would have to decline his option and offer him arbitration to receive any compensation for him. Weathers is making $3.9 million this season, and likely won't receive much less than that in arbitration.

Speaking of free agents, Matthew Pouliot of Circling the Bases is ranking the 111 free agents-to-be this offseason, and Jason Kendall checks in at #109. David Weathers and Craig Counsell are ranked 86 and 85, respectively.

It was a big weekend for Prince Fielder, who picked up his franchise record 127th RBI on Saturday night, and followed it up with his 40th home run and 100th walk on Sunday. The entire team was on the field for a ceremony honoring Fielder before yesterday's game, as was Astros manager and previous record holder Cecil Cooper.

Seth McClung has been activated from the DL but has yet to appear in a game. In the meantime, he's been passing the time on Twitter (FanShot). He's only been active for a few days, but he's already posted his thoughts on waiting to get into games, nicknames, Prince Fielder, Trevor Hoffman, Todd Coffey's contract incentives, the fans in Milwaukee, living with dyslexia, fantasy football, and this site. He's already much better with Twitter than Nick Barnett.

We might see McClung tonight, but we won't see Milton Bradley. The Cubs suspended Bradley for the remainder of the season for conduct detrimental to the team after he told a reporter "you understand why they haven’t won in 100 years here." Bruce Miles of the Daily Herald says the Cubs feel like a great weight has been lifted off their shoulders.

I looked at these numbers yesterday and can't decide if they're worth anything: maybe you can help me. Yovani Gallardo and Jeff Suppan are among the bottom ten in baseball in percentage of two-strike pitches fouled off. Any thoughts on how/why that happens?

In the minors:

The future of baseball in Huntsville remains in question, but Mark McCarter of the Huntsville Times asked some tough questions of Stars GM Buck Rogers in an attempt to shed some light on it. The interview gives a nice feel of the challenges facing the Stars and the small staff they have facing them. (h/t Rattler Radio)
Caleb Gindl may have vaulted into the upper echelon of Brewer prospects this season, but hopefully he learned something as well. Gindl missed Brevard County's brief playoff appearance with a broken hand, and it was recently revealed that the broken hand was sustained punching a door in frustration after grounding into a double play.

Since moving on with the Mariners, Bill Hall has hit just .221/.262/.379, and now he's starting to draw negative attention from people you don't want to draw it from: U.S.S. Mariner called out Hall for a lack of effort on a fly ball over the weekend.

From a past bad contract to a potential future one: Joel Pineiro is one of the free agent pitchers the Brewers may look into this offseason, but Jorge Says No! thinks he'll get a four year/$40 million deal, which is an awful lot to commit to a guy who's had one good season in his last five tries.

You probably didn't need a reason to be depressed on a Monday morning, but if you did, here's one: MLB Playoff Odds has released their most recent projections, and they give the Yankees and Red Sox a combined 51.2% chance of winning the World Series. Once the Brewers are eliminated and the playoffs begin, I'll be rooting for everyone else.

If that didn't depress you, perhaps your surprising lack of baseball knowledge will. It was pretty early this morning (and before caffeine) when I took this quiz, but I was still only able to name five of the 25 MLB win leaders by last initial. And, after seeing the results, I wouldn't have gotten several of them even if I'd had all day.

Zack Greinke isn't on that list but, as Joe Posnanski notes, he's on a better one: He's one of just nine pitchers in MLB history to pitch 200 innings with an ERA+ over 200 and 200 strikeouts. He's in incredibly elite company in that club.

The Reds have a nice group of young pitchers, and a manager with a reputation for ruining them. So how is it possible that Homer Bailey wants to pitch more? That one blew my mind.

Today we have another sad reminder that, no matter how excited you are about a prospect, and no matter how "can't miss" he is, something can always go wrong. Giants prospect Angel Villalona is a suspect in a murder in the Dominican Republic. Villalona is 19 years old and was given a $2.1 million signing bonus in 2007.

On this day in 1998, Jason Kendall stole his 26th base, setting a new National League record for catchers. The Pirates lost anyway, 8-1 to the Giants.

What do you give the man who could have had everything but smoked it all away? Today is Jeremy Jeffress' 22nd birthday. Also, happy birthday to Doug Davis, who seems like he should be much older than 34.

Oh, and maybe MS Word knows something the Royals don't.

Drink up.

Brewers 7, Cubs 4

KLSnow — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:12:31 -0000

More photos » by Nam Y Huh - AP

Jody Gerut hits a grand slam during the fourth inning Thursday.

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W: Dave Bush (5-7)
L: Randy Wells (10-9)
S: Trevor Hoffman (33)

HR: Jody Gerut (7)

MVP: Jody Gerut (+.412)
LVP: Mat Gamel (-.133)

Win Expectancy Graph
SBNation Coverage

And, after a couple of rough days, the Brewers escaped Wrigley with a split.

They did it, surprisingly enough, behind the power of Jody Gerut, whose grand slam in the fourth inning was the game's only home run, and turned a 2-1 Cubs lead into a 5-2 Brewer advantage. Gerut went 1-for-2 with a walk in the game, and was pinch hit for by Corey Hart in the seventh inning.

Dave Bush was only ok today, allowing four runs on eight hits and a walk in 5.2 innings, but for the second straight day the bullpen had the answer, as Todd Coffey, Carlos Villanueva, Claudio Vargas and Trevor Hoffman combined to pitch 3.1 innings of scoreless relief to close out the game.

Mat Gamel, Mike Rivera and Alcides Escobar started in the 6-8 spots today and went a combined 1-for-10 with a walk, but that single drove in two runs for Mike Rivera, and gave the Brewers some late breathing room.

Cubs 13, Brewers 7

KLSnow — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 03:28:46 -0000

More photos » by Charles Rex Arbogast - AP

Mike Cameron provided a rare bright spot tonight. Everything else pretty much sucked.

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W: Aaron Heilman (3-3)
L: Yovani Gallardo (12-12)

HR: Geovany Soto (11)

MVP: Mike Cameron (+.185)
LVP: Yovani Gallardo (-.350)

Win Expectancy Graph
SBNation Coverage

So much for the wind blowing in.

Despite hitting just one home run, the Cubs managed 13 runs on eleven hits, twelve walks and three hit batsmen tonight and, after keeping it interesting in the early innings, blew away the Brewers tonight. Perhaps tonight's biggest story was the game's painstaking pace: It was played in a brisk 3 hours and 17 minutes.

The Brewers fell behind 4-0 early, but managed to score five in the fifth, capped by a bases loaded single by Mike Cameron to take a brief lead at 5-4. The Cubs responded by scoring a run in the bottom half, five more in the sixth and two more in the seventh.

Yovani Gallardo didn't have much going for him tonight. For the sixth straight appearance, Gallardo threw 100+ pitches but couldn't last past the sixth inning, allowing seven runs on 12 baserunners in just 5.1 innings. Todd Coffey and Carlos Villanueva couldn't do much better. On the up side, John Axford made his major league debut in the eighth inning, and proceeded to load the bases and walk in a run, the Brewers' 19th of the season, one short of the franchise record.

At the plate, Alcides Escobar picked up his first major league triple, and Frank Catalanotto (who briefly played second base) also tripled in the ninth, but the Brewers managed just six other hits, with no Brewer collecting more than one. For the Cubs, two players finished the game with four walks: Derrek Lee and Ryan Theriot.

Wednesday's Frosty Mug

KLSnow — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:05:23 -0000

by Morry Gash - AP

Despite his struggles last night, Trevor Hoffman has still been great as a Brewer this season.

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Some things to read while searching for respect.

Sorry this morning's Mug is a little late: I was at last night's game and got home shortly after 1:30, so my normal 6:15 alarm was out of the question. The Mug will be back at its regular time tomorrow.

It's possible I just have terrible luck. Including yesterday's game, I've attended three this season, and now I've seen Corey Patterson start in center field and lead off twice. Joe Posnanski wonders if batting Patterson leadoff on back-to-back days is a felony. Walkoff Walk has a shirt we may all need to own. Patterson went 0-for-3 with three swinging strikeouts, and still has yet to hit the ball out of the infield as a Brewer. By the way, the Brewers are now 0-3 in games I've attended this season.

Last night's game wasn't big on results but it was high in excitement. Manny Parra left the game after just one inning with neck spasms, and the Brewers ended up tying a franchise record by using eight pitchers in a nine-inning game. Carlos Villanueva pitched three brilliant innings in relief, prompting Casa de Machado to wonder if the Brewers were better off without Manny. It was also the first time I'd seen Trevor Hoffman pitch in person, and no matter what Joe Posnanski says, that's cooler than seeing REO Speedwagon at the State Fair.

With that said, it ended up being just another loss for the Brewers, who now need to win their last 24 games to match last season's 90-72 mark.

Corey Hart was activated from the DL yesterday (and added to the roster along with Mat Gamel), but was unable to start due to "heavy legs" after playing the full game in New Orleans the night before. Hart will likely start today, freeing up Jody Gerut to take over in center. I'm not sure what I'll do if Corey Patterson gets a third consecutive start.

As I mentioned above, Mat Gamel was recalled yesterday, but don't expect to see much of him in the remaining weeks. Casey McGehee will see most of the time at third down the stretch, and while he's probably earned that right, it'd be nice for the Brewers to get Gamel some ABs in an effort to evaluate his ability to contribute next season.

It appears the Brewers won't call up a third catcher after all. Adam McCalvy says the Brewers never had plans to call up Angel Salome, and doesn't feel like he's part of the plans for 2010, either. Every day I feel like we get a little closer to another 120+ starts and sub-.300 slugging percentage for Jason Kendall.

Michael Hunt talked to Doug Melvin, who says he's going to be more aggressive in his pursuit of pitching this offseason. Normally that's the type of information Melvin would keep close to the vest, so I wonder if he's starting to feel internal or external pressure.

Did the Brewers make a mistake by releasing Jesus Colome earlier this week? Zach Sanders of Baseball Digest Daily thinks someone will be happy they gave him a shot in 2010.

Mike Cameron still isn't expected back until Friday at the earliest, but he'll have some work to do when he gets back: Baseball Reference's leaderboards have him 20 behind Jim Thome for most strikeouts this decade. Jason Kendall has a 17 plunk lead on Jason Giambi for most '00 HBPs.

In the minors:

Brevard County finished the season with the fifth best record in all of minor league baseball, but also canceled 13 games this season due to rainouts or wet grounds. With that said, they're down 1-0 in the first round of the FSL playoffs and face an elimination game tonight. Wisconsin finished 58-81, winning just one of their last ten games to finish tied for the ninth worst minor league record.
Josh Butler is the prospect of the week over at Between the Green Pillars.

Around baseball:

Nationals: Designated reliever Jorge Sosa for assignment.
Tigers: Closer Fernando Rodney has been suspended for three games for firing a baseball into the press box over the weekend.

Dusty Baker gets a lot of blame for destroying the careers of young pitchers, but does Nationals interim manager Jim Riggleman deserve it too? Fire Jim Bowden has a look at Riggleman's history with Geremi Gonzalez and Kerry Wood, and more recent statements and actions with Jordan Zimmermann and Craig Stammen.

This is the kind of buy-low opportunity the Brewers should be all over, if it becomes available: DRaysBay thinks the Rays might non-tender catcher Dioner Navarro this offseason. Navarro is having a terrible year at the plate in 2009, but was an All Star in 2008 and is still young enough to bounce back.

As if the Blue Jays didn't have enough problems with baseball's toughest division, financial issues and inept management, new aviation rules have left them seeking alternatives to their charter plane service, and forced them to find alternative transportation to a recent series in Detroit.

On this date in 1992, Robin Yount went 1-for-5 with a single, the 3000th hit of his major league career. On this date in 2007, Rickie Weeks, J.J. Hardy and Ryan Braun went back-to-back-to-back to start the game against the Reds, and the Brewers won 10-5.

Happy birthday today to Todd Coffey, who turns 29, and happy belated birthday to Logan Schafer, who won the Florida State League batting title this season and turned 23 yesterday.

Drink up.

Brewers 2, Giants 1 (12 innings)

KLSnow — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 22:06:22 -0000

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

Felipe Lopez throws to first to complete a triple play during the sixth inning Sunday.

Browse more photos »

W: Mitch Stetter (4-1)
L: Merkin Valdez (2-1)

HR: Prince Fielder (37)

MVP: Braden Looper (+.257)
LVP: Jason Bourgeois (-.333)

Win Expectancy Graph
SBNation Coverage

It took 12 innings and nearly four hours, but the Brewers managed to take one game in this series, as Prince Fielder hit a walk off home run and untucked in the 12th inning, giving the Brewers a 2-1 victory in a series of three one run contests.

Braden Looper pitched well, scattering ten baserunners (eight hits and two walks) over seven innings while allowing just one earned run. He's posted a 3.24 ERA over his last four starts, lowering his season ERA from 5.03 to 4.77. He also benefited from a 5-4-3 triple play in the sixth inning, the fifth triple play in Brewer franchise history and their first since 1999. The Brewers got a scoreless inning each from David Weathers, Trevor Hoffman, Todd Coffey, Claudio Vargas and Mitch Stetter.

Looper received a no-decision for his trouble, though, as the Brewers managed to score just one run through the first eleven innings of today's game. Casey McGehee drove in a run with an RBI single in the sixth, but the Brewers managed just eight hits in the game and left 13 runners on base. Ryan Braun and McGehee each reached base three times, but the starters in the 6-9 spots in the Brewer lineup (J.J. Hardy, Jason Kendall, Jody Gerut and Braden Looper) went 1-for-14 with three walks. Kendall struck out with runners on first and third in the eighth, and lined out with the bases loaded in the tenth.

Giants 3, Brewers 2

KLSnow — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 03:35:26 -0000

W: Brandon Medders (4-1)
L: Todd Coffey (4-4)
S: Brian Wilson (33)

HR: Bengie Molina (17)

MVP: Ryan Braun (+.082)
LVP: Casey McGehee (-.205)

Win Expectancy Graph
SBNation Coverage

Jeff Suppan pitched well, but the Brewers let him down.

Suppan didn't allow a hit until the fifth inning tonight, and left the game having allowed just two hits, two unearned runs and four walks in 5.2 innings of work. The score was tied at 2 into the eighth, when Bengie Molina's solo home run off Todd Coffey gave the Giants the lead for good.

The Brewers managed just six hits in the game but had ten walks, including two each for Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Felipe Lopez and Jason Kendall. A bunch of long at bats early in the game led to an early departure for Barry Zito, who threw 96 pitches over four innings. The Brewers had at least one runner on in every inning, but only scored in the first.