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April 2009 - Posts
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Pedro Lambertus was suspended 50-games by Major League Baseball on Thursday for testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. The Brewers tacked on their own 10-game suspension, according to
general manager Doug Melvin. Lambertus, a 20-year-old right-hander who
had been pitching for Class A Wisconsin, tested positive for
metabolites of Boldenone, an anabolic steroid developed for veterinary
use, mostly for the treatment of horses, in violation of the Minor
League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
Lambertus struggled to start the 2009 season. He owned a 4.91 ERA in 3.2 innings. His control was below-average, as he had three walks and three strikeouts. Obviously, those steroids were not helping too much. A year ago in West Virginia, the right-hander posted a 5.12 ERA over 38.2 innings.
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Geez, the poor kid's favorite player is Chipper Jones. Ian Snell is jealous. Big League News: Let the rivalry begin or the whining. As I mentioned before, I really enjoy reading the opposing team's coverage after a Brewers victory. This time I was disgusted by how much whining is going on in the Pittsburgh locker room. It starts with Adam LaRoche, who essentially blamed umpire Marty Foster for Gallardo's gem yesterday. He then goes on to say that when you're hitting your spots, you're going to get balls called off the plate. So let me get this straight, you know he's going to get the calls but you don't swing? Oh, well I guess it's only okay when you're the team getting the calls. The fact of the matter is Foster was pretty consistent yesterday, though his zone was quite large. When you watch the highlights of his 11 K's, I see one curveball that wasn't a strike. The rest looked just fine.
In the same article Ian Snell, who got just as many calls, decided to bring up the plunking Ryan Braun yet again. He says, "Be professional about it... Don't go [speak] out in the paper... It's not good because karma comes right back and bites you in the butt." Wait a second. Is that veiled threat? If so, isn't tht a contradiction to you calling out Braun for speaking to the media about it? This is starting to build up and I hope it doesn't boil over because the Brewers really cannot handle any suspensions. If we do legitimately retaliate on Monday, let Julio do it. The Post also has a nice little article about former Pirate Chris Duffy, who got his first chance to see his old buddies this week. Duffy, who got his first hit of the season yesterday, reminisces about how he was removed from his role in center field for the Bucs, and shows no hard feelings, especially for his replacement, Nate McLouth. Chuckie Hacks asks us how high Gallardo's ceiling is. I don't know about a Cy Young Award as has been suggested by some experts, but Chuckie says the 'ace' word is allowed. I couldn't agree more.
My home paper, The Green Bay Press-Gazette, got the chance to speak with Ken Macha about his return to coaching. It's weird how much more well spoken Macha is than Ned Yost. Macha says that he had some doubts that he would ever coach again because of the way he left Oakland. Unfortunately it took him three long years to overcome the perceptions imprinted on him by Billy Beane and that Athletics squad, but he overcame them nevertheless. The important thing is he's comfortable now and is clearly getting the respect of his players. Mike Rivera hit the DL yeserday after spraining his ankle covering home plate on Tuesday night. The play had me reminiscing of a couple of years ago when Sal Fasano covered home plate with his leg with Hardy on his way home. JJ slid feet first right into Sal and was never the same the rest of the year. Mike's play went the exact opposite way and looked almost as painful. Thankfully the x-rays were negative. To fill the active roster spot the Brewers brought up back up AAA catcher Carlos Coroporan. I'm sure every one would like to see Angel Salome up, but he's still not 100% after a back injury and needs every day ABs if the Brewers want him to make the progression to the bigs next season. Bleacher Report wants to know why JJ Hardy is getting a free pass. I have to disagree with that. We went after JJ the last couple of games because of some poor defense and every one has been complaining about his rough bat. On top of that Ken Macha pushed him down in the line-up. Trust me, it was more of a demotion than a promotion. But here's the thing. JJ was awful early last year. In his first 19 games he hit .214/.276/.300 with just one HR. Compare that to this year's .174/.247/.319 with three bombs. It's not that far enough. You can't boot JJ for a rough 80 PAs. He's one of the streakiest hitters this team has and carry the offense for a couple of months when he's on. Moreover, Escobar is still a closed door when it comes to his Major League ability. Do we really want to risk that? Baseball Prospectus agrees with me when it comes to JJ's slow start. In this Fantasy Beat, they take a look at slow-start bargains. Both JJ and Weeks make the list. The big thing is that Rickie is starting a little bit ahead of where he was despite his low walk rate. BP suggests this is because Weeks is swinging at a lot more pitches as a result of seeing more first pitch strikes. It sounds like the league is trying to adjust to Rickie's patience by hitting the zone more and Rickie is adjusting back by swinging more. Ah, the ebb and flow of baseball. Speaking of patience, Adam McCalvy points out the welcomed walk rate of Corey Hart in his game preview. It contains my favorite quote of the day by Ken Macha: "It's OK to way." You bet it is. Macha knows that taking walks makes you a better hitter. It means you're swinging at better pitches, which often leads to much better production. Keep it up Corey.
Lastly, our good friend Radio at The Junkball Blues takes a look at the runs created by Rickie Weeks this season and in season's past. He found it a little surprising that he's on par to match last season despite his low OBP. This is a good example of showing that high average and low OBP is just as valuable as low average and high OBP. If Weeks can get the walk rate back up without sacrificing average, he'll have his most valuable season yet. Minor League News: The Post Crescent catches up with Timber Rattlers new catcher Corey Kemp. Kemp recently just joined the team after being activated from the disabled list. The former East Carolina catcher hit a first run three run blast on Wednesday and has moved up Rattlers' manager Jeff Isom lineup over the past week. Kemp hit .253/.345/.343 last season in the Pioneer league suggesting he's not much of a prospect, but the team will keep riding him while he's not. At the very leaston his intelligence behind the plate at East Carolina should be helpful to the Wisconsin pitching staff. Other Big League News: Edinson Volquez is doing everything he can to prove he's not a one year fluke. In fact, he out did Yovani on the mound by giving up just one hit over eight innings in a 3-0 victory over the Houston Astros last night. Volquez is 3-2 this year with a 4.45 ERA, but that's mostly due to a sky high walk rate. If Volquez can get that down, he'll be back to ace status. Remember how the Mets said their new and improved bullpen was going to push them over the top? My fantasy team disagrees. Johan Santana went seven innings and gave up just two first inning runs to the Marlins yesterday. However, JJ Putz allowed to walks to score in the eigth and the Mets fell 4-3. That's got to be frustrating for Santana, who's carrying a ridiculous 1.10 ERA over his first five starts, but only three victories. He should have five but the offense failed him in a 1-0 loss and then the bullpen failed him in this one. He's still the Cy Young front runner if he stays healthy. Kansas City Royals ace Zack Greinke is 5-0 and the MLB leader in wins. Yes, that's right, a Royals pitcher. Greinke was riding a 43 consecutive inning streak without allowing an earned before giving on up in the first last night. But his offense picked him up and destroyed Blue Jays starter Brian Tallet in an 11-3 route. With that win the Royals pulled to 11-10 and are in a three way tie for the AL Central. Are they legit? Maybe. They have a young squad that could push through in such a weak division.
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Nashville Sounds (11-9), 2.0 GB Did not play.
Huntsville Stars (10-10), 0.5 GB | Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | | R | H | E | Huntsville
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | | 6 | 10 | 0 | Chattanooga
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | | 7 | 12 | 2 |
RHP Mark Holliman: 4.1 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K -- 7.79 ERA
LHP Casey Baron: 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K -- 1.69 ERA
CF Freddy Parejo: 2-3, 2B, K -- .172 AVG
LF Drew Anderson: 1-2, 2B, 2 RBI, R -- .286 AVG
Brevard County Manatees (13-6), -- GB RHP Mike Jones: (W, 3-0) 7.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR -- 3.27 ERA
RHP Rob Wooten: (S, 5) 1.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K -- 1.08 ERA
DH Steffan Wilson: 1-2, HR (2), 2 RBI, BB, K -- .317 AVG
RF Caleb Gindl: 1-3, RBI, BB -- .403 AVG
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (8-10), 4.5 GB | Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | | R | H | E | Great Lakes
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 3 | 11 | 1 | Wisconsin
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | X | | 6 | 8 | 2 |
RHP Cody Adams: (W, 1-1) 5.0 IP, 10 H, 3 R (2 ER), 0 BB, 2 K, 1 HR -- 3.38 ERA
RHP Wily Peralta: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K -- 1.69 ERA
RHP Jim Henderson: (S, 5) 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 K -- 2.45 ERA
C Corey Kemp: 1-3, HR (1), 4 RBI, K -- .333 AVG
2B Brett Lawrie: 2-3, 2B, RBI, BB, SB (8), R -- .290 AVG
3B Juan Sanchez: 2-3, 2B, BB, 2 R, K -- .289 AVG
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As I speculated this morning, the Milwaukee Brewers placed Mike Rivera on the 15-day DL and called up Carlos Corporan from Triple-A Nashville. Corporan is not known for his offense, but has hit .333 in limited time in Nashville thus far in 2009. He is widely regarded as the best defensive catcher in the Brewers' system and has an absolute cannon behind the dish. Rivera saw the doctor today and was diagnosed with a sprained left ankle. It was obviously bad enough that Milwaukee thought it prudent to place the backup catcher on the 15-day DL. Corporan will join the Brewers in time for tomorrow night's game against Arizona.
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W: Yovani Gallardo (3-1)
L: Ian Snell (1-3)
S: Carlos Villanueva (2)
Home Runs:
MIL -- Gallardo, Y (2)
PIT -- n/a
Key Player:
RHP Yovani Gallardo: 8 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 11 K, B
RHP Yovani Gallardo: 1 for 3, HR, RBI
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Game Summary:
Where would the Brewers bullpen be without Yovani Gallardo? Five days ago the native Mexican hurler tossed a complete game en route to a 5-2 victory in Minute Maid Park. Looking to match that today at Miller Park, Gallardo didn’t get all nine, but provided more than his fair share. The Brewers ace went eight innings and didn’t give up a single run, all while scoring the games only run on a solo blast towards a 1-0 victory and series sweep over the Pittsburgh Pirates
YoGo, which I think works better than YoGa, started the game out flawlessly. He retired the Pirates lineup the first time though in just 32 pitches, and he did it with essentially one pitch: the fastball. Just five of the pitches recorded in the first three innings were off speed pitches, and yet the Pirates struck out four times and managed no baserunners. The key: Command. It wasn’t inside and outside command though. Gallardo essentially stood on that mound and hit the same corner over and over again with his fastball, jamming righties and confusing lefties with his two seam movement. Then when he had the hitter looking fastball, he’d spike his curveball.
But as Gallardo went through the lineup a second time he started to switch things up a bit. He began to scatter in the change up and throw the curveball a little more often. When the Pirates’ hitters started fouling those off, he’d hammer them with the slider. It was legitimate no hit stuff. In fact, Yo had a perfect game going with two outs in the fifth before hanging a curveball to Andy LaRoche, who hit a double into the gap. But Gallardo came back to strike out Ramon Vazquez to end the threat.
The Pirates would manage just three more baserunners the rest of the way, and really only threatened once after an error by JJ Hardy let to lead baserunner on. Gallardo finished the day giving up two hits, both doubles, and one walk while striking out eleven Bucs in eight scoreless innings. And yet going into the bottom of the seventh inning, Gallardo was still not up for a win.
That’s because Ian Snell was practically able to match the Brewers ace pitch for pitch. The Crew had the Pirates starter on the ropes right off the bat, taking more than 25 pitches and two walks in the first inning. But Snell would find his command thereafter, pitching around a couple of doubles from Chris Duffy and Corey Hart towards six scoreless innings.
He couldn’t get through the seventh though. Unlike Gallardo, Snell needed a lot of pitches to turn around the lineup a couple of times. Going into the seventh, he had already tossed 107 pitches, but because the Pirates bullpen was so taxed from the last two evenings, Pirates’ skipper John Russell needed to push him a little further. It seemed like a good decision on the surface, but it would back fire.
Snell got ahead of Kendall early, but made a mistake that the Crew’s low slugging catcher nearly pulled out of the ball park. This should have been hint one, but against, Russell didn’t have many options. This is where I became a bit surprised, though.
It took Gallardo 100 pitches to get through seven innings of baseball, and while the bullpen is quite a bit taxed with Coffey, DiFelice, Stetter and Hoffman probably all unavailable, I thought Macha would still bring in Brad Nelson to take some hacks. Instead Macha sent up his pitcher, indicating he was going to let him pitch in the eighth. Gallardo got behind 0-2, but on Snell’s 115th pitch, he left a changeup elevated in the zone. The Brewers ace threw his team on his back and hit a second deck solo home run to give the Brewers the only run they would need.
Macha turned to Carlos Villanueva in the ninth, which I’m sure scared a ton of fans. Thankfully he was able to toss a clean inning for the save, despite throwing just two fastballs. That needs to change.
But the real story, hell the whole story was Yovani Gallardo. Today’s performance not only extended the Brewers winning streak to 15 against the Pirates, but also pushed the Brewers above .500 for the first time this season. The most important thing though is the effect it will have on the team.
Jim and I mentioned this a while ago, but the Brewers are on a 20 game, 20 day stretch. After Yo’s last start Brewers’ starters have gone 6, 5, 5 and 5 innings. This forced Mitch Stetter to toss four days straight, Mark Difelice to pitch three days straight and Todd Coffey and Trevor Hoffman to pitch back to back days. With those eight innings and a nice outing by Villanueva, the whole staff comes in fresh for a four game set against the D’Backs. That is the definition of ace. Records: Brewers (11-10); Pirates (11-10)
Player of the Game: Yovani Gallardo
Do I really have to even write this part of the recap? Every word that you can think of for brilliant isn’t enough to describe Gallardo’s performance this afternoon. He pounded the strike zone with 64% of his pitches over eight innings to save a taxed bullpen and saved an offense from completely destroying yet another one of his best performances. Those who thought this team didn’t have a number one on their staff may have changed their mind today.
On Tap:
The Brewers get to stay home for a few more days before heading off to the east coast to face the Pirates and Reds. They finish their seven game stand with four against the Arizona Diamondbacks, who just finished taking two of three off the injury riddled Chicago Cubs. Jeff Suppan takes the ball for game one and is looking to finish the month strong after two quality outings. Taking the mound for the visitors is the young fire baller, Max Scherzer. The D’Backs haven’t seen sustained success from their best pitching prospect, but it is undoubtedly on the way. Unfortunately shoulder soreness has hampered him early this year and is making just his third start. First pitch is under the lights at 7:05 CST.
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