Wednesday, September 26, 2007

That Hurts

Some guy named Brad Thompson stymies the Crew the same night the Cubs once again lose to the Fish. Arrrrgh! The bully once again melts down as D-Bow does his best Ricky Vaughn impersonation.

For the first time all year I must give Ned Yost props. Yes, even I can give him some praise once in a while. Him bringing in McClung to dot Pujols was great! Prince was dusted earlier, so Neddy brings in his biggest (6-6, 260) dude out of the pen and drills Albert. That showed balls and that he's not backing down to anyone...even the "great" Tony LaVodka. It turned out to bite him in the ass as it ignited the Cardinal's 8th inning, but I liked it. Turnbow not being able to hit water if he fell out of a boat, let alone the strike zone, did more damage than hitting Pujols.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I gotta disagree with you on this one, Brad. Your praise for Ned Yost is misplaced. He let his ego cloud his judgement. You're in a playoff chase, down by just one run, with one out in the top of the 8th, at home. That's NOT the time to plunk someone in the meat of the batting order. It's the same as an intentional walk. If they get him out, there's two out and nobody on base.

Yost is a gutless liar too. He claims he didn't hit Pujols intentionally. B.S. You can read his lips as Albert is walking to first base. Yost is saying, "That's right! That's a bitch!."

I recognize that this didn't necessarily lose the game for the Brewers, but it sure didn't help matters. We might have gotten out of the inning still only down 3-2.

The bats went silent after the early innings, and we left a boatload of men on base. Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.

John in G'town

Matt said...

At least McClung did it right - he hit Poo-Holes square in the middle of the back, where it should be. That ball that hit Fielder was up at his shoulder, not far from his melon.

It was great to watch Prince stare holes into the Cardinals dugout as he walked to first...

Anonymous said...

If it is the same as an IBB, you can make a case for intentionally walking Pujols in almost any situation. The rest of the Cardinals lineup was like an AAAA team.

It was the whole series that led to Pujols getting hit, and honestly i stood and aplauded when he got it. Pujols never even got hit on the pitch from Suppan, it was high & tight on a 3-2 pitch; hardly a bean ball. Then Hart gets dotted and prince gets one post marked for his ear with 1B open.

I too aplauded Yost for the rest of the evening....I don't think it's right, playoff race or no race, for a manager to let a young team feel like they are getting run over in their own house and watch their supposed leader dodge a head missle and just shrug it off.

In a different sport, McCarthy had a quote after the NYG game, when Popinga got that stupid 15 yard penalty for shoving Plaxico to the ground after the Giants leveled Hawk. To paraphrase, it was essentially that although you don't want penalties, you can't preach "play tough, hit hard, & play with energy" and then reprimand a player when he does just that. He called it a grey area that sometimes as a coach you just have to support for the morale of your team. I agree with him, and IMHO that was Yost's finest hour this year. He's supported his players all year, sometimes to a fault, and if he'd have allowed that there could've been a "mail it in" attitude the rest of the year.

Anonymous said...

I loved the fact that he had McClung dot Albert. What was even better was seeing Big Bad Tony staring over at the Brewers dugout. I would have liked to see the benches clear so someone could break those damn sun-sensor lenses. Yeah, bitch.. you want to escalate this???

The problem was using Turnbow. How many more times does this guy have to be brought in to blow a game and why the hell is Yost determined on using this donkey? Personally, I hold him (and Yost) responsible for the Brewers meltdown last year and this year Turnbow has cost them what, 10 games? I think he has 5 losses, but how many has he been responsible for blowing a lead, or like last night, taking them out of it. They better either trade him or cut him outright this off season! Thanks Derrick.

Anonymous said...

anonymous, what was he supposed to do, risk a for sure suspension by saying in his interview he hit pujols on purpose? give me a break

Anonymous said...

Suspending Yost might be addition by subtraction for the Brewers...ha.

Anonymous said...

Hey anon,

Yost isn't a liar, it's all semantics. He can say "HE" didn't intentionally hit Pujols, because he didn't, McClung did. It's the same way the LushRussa can say he didn't order the code red on Prince. All the manager does is say something to the effect of "you need to stick up for your hitters". The pitcher interprets that any way he wants. If he comes high and tight and puts the batter on his back, great! If he plunks the batter, so be it. The manager can claim no-culpability because he never said "You go plant one between his shoulder blades".

If Pujols wants to be pissed off (the stare into the Brewers dugout on the walk to first), he should look at his manager. He is the one who put that ball on Albert's number, not Ned.

Anonymous said...

"The ball just got away," McClung explained. "I walk guys. I've hit a few guys. Why do you think Tampa traded me? It happens with me sometimes."

From the stltoday.com

Thats good

Anonymous said...

That was our last chance. Not-so-bold prediction: we don't win another game this year and finish a horribly disappointing .500

- Brad in Oak Creek

Anonymous said...

how depressing is this:

http://shop.mlb.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2874196

Anonymous said...

LOL, that T-Shirt is great!

Anonymous said...

More importantly about last night... Sveum and Maddox proved they do not know how to handle the bullpen either...what's so difficult? Every one sucks and our starting pitchers need to pitch complete games...never take them out!! How hard is that?

Also...McClung's quote...how bad does that make the Brewers front office look..."why do you think Tampa traded me?" They traded you because they knew the Brewers were looking for pitchers that sucked more than the ones they already had...easy decision for the Rays!