Brewers Game Reviews Archives

I will sum this game up in one word: UGLY. In line with a common theme, it wasn't the lineup's fault tonight. It was the fault of the pitching and defense. On the board you'll see 3 errors, 2 wild pitches, and 1 passed ball. However, these numbers missed a few errors, and I am again left speechless as to what the Houston official scorer was watching. Two of the actual errors, botched grounders by Helms and Durrington, didn't help all that much. The passed ball and wild pitches stung a little. Podsednik not quite getting to balls over his head due to poor positioning and fundamentals wasn't fun to watch. The pop-up missed by Hall in the first inning was a killer. The inability of Ginter to turn a double-play hurt a bit. And the play that I cannot fathom why it wasn't an error, when Helms and Bennett mixed up a rundown and the ball was thrown into left field, was a dagger in the Brewers' chest. Add to this defense the baserunning blunder by Jenkins and Overbay leading to a routine 1-2-5-4 double-play, and you'll see what I'm talking about when I say "UGLY!" (Jenkins hit a triple and stood on third with no one out. Overbay hit a grounder back to the pitcher and Jenks got caught off of third due to terrible baserunning. Jenks didn't stay in the rundown very long, Overbay tried to take second, and he was gunned down without the play being even close. On my "bad-baserunning meter of the year," this is only the second bad out made on the basepaths and easily the worst.) Anyone who watches Baseball Tonight or Sportcenter will see many of these plays. There were too many to remember and I probably neglected to mention a couple more.
Now, let's really talk about why this game was UGLY...Matt Kinney. He made the defense look like a divine bunch of professionals. He has to go folks. 5 walks, 5 hits, and a homer in 3 innings of work isn't good in case you didn't know. Walking the pitcher on 4 straight pitches isn't funny any more. Neither is 10 guys coming to the plate in the first inning. Neither is wasting starts that could be going to better pitchers. You can't blame the defense for this loss; you can blame Kinney. I hate to break it to people, but I don't think Kinney has the mental abilities to stay in the majors, at least not as a starter. I've always wanted him to be in the bullpen, but I don't even know if that will do now. I realize this review is going to be a long one, but I have a lot to talk about here. All you "Moneyballers" out there know how much the mental game affects players. From what I know about Kinney both from personal testimonies and from what I observe on the diamond, he is a bitch. He gets all shaken up by anything that goes wrong. He is intimidated when a good hitter comes up, when he has given up runs before, and when people are on base. You can see how he reacts just by looking at him on the mound. I'm sick of Yost, Stache Maddux, the catchers, and everyone else having to coddle him on the mound. He needs to grow up.
And the thing I'm really sick of is people saying, "but he has such good stuff." Let's address this issue right now. The three fundamental things that make "good stuff" and how much of it Kinney has.
1) Velocity = slightly above average.
2) Movement = pretty good.
3) Control = one of the worst in the league.
Ask most people and they'll rank control first on the list of importance. Kinney has none. Do people think that he can just develop that over night? You can't go anywhere without control, and Kinney's movement and velocity are in no way good enough to make up for that control problem. I could understand constantly giving him another chance if he were to say, throw 98 mph with a killer slider and splitter. He doesn't do that. His "tools" make him a good candidate for a strikeout pitcher coming out of the pen. However, his being a complete "tool" (i.e. his bitchiness and mental instability) mean he couldn't handle high-pressure situations late in games, nor could he handle the demotion to the pen. I say, give the pen a try, and if doesn't work, which it probably won't, then get rid of him to the Giants or Cardinals.
Staying on a negative side, the bullpen was awful tonight. Vizcaino looks like his stint of goodness is over, and Vizcaino 3 is not getting the job done. It might be time to try to get him down to AAA. Kieschnick looked alright. Burba looked great again...what a surprise. And lastly, TRENT DURRINGTON, who came in for a mercy out, looked awesome. My man Durrington threw one pitch and got a lazy, fly-ball out. Compare that to the 78 pitches from Kinney for 9 outs and 7 runs, and you'll see why Durrington should be starting. I love Durrington and I love the move by Yost to pitch him down 9 runs in the ninth. Maybe Jimy Williams should have done that instead of throwing Dotel in the ninth...hmmm, who am I to second-guess that mastermind? Durrington's pitching was the saving grace of this game.
I must also give some serious compliments to the Pod, Brady Clark, and Keith Ginter for very good games at the plate. I am really happy to see Podsednik putting up great numbers. His two homers tonight really helped the ole fantasy teams. Clark had another good game, another homer, and has played well in every start he has had. I love his approach at the plate, as he was the only one able to work a walk from an Astros staff intent on throwing strikes. Ginter smoked the ball every time, but he needed to hit one out of the park for it to not be directly at a fielder. I'll say it again, the Crew has to find a way to get him into the lineup.
Tomorrow is another day, and today's loss was to our beloved Astros. For happy, optimistic thoughts, think of Durrington, the Pod, Stumpy, Brady Clark, and the fact that Kinney's next start will be skipped because of this game.

On to the pitching....Sheets looked awful. He wasn't locating his fastball at all, and that's the most important thing to do. Even his unearned run was his due to his own throwing error. He seldom broke out his changeup and had moderate success with the pitch. He also rarely used his curveball, which did have some good bite to it. On a good note, he was regularly hitting 96 and hit 98 a time or two on the radar gun today...but then again, maybe that's a bad sign and the reason he couldn't locate anything.
The bullpen pitched pretty well, and I keep getting this feeling that it will be a pleasant surprise this year. Of course, we know Dave Burba is a man-God, and he was again today. Though he was missing the zone early, he got out of a jam and helped Sheets out. Ben Ford looked a little shaky, but was somewhat unlucky to have given up the two runs he did. Vizcaino looked really good. He kept busting out this splitter that made bad hitters look even worse. We'll have to see how he does against the middle of the Cards lineup instead of Matheny, Cedeno, and Woblack. On the other hand, Kolb had to face the middle of the lineup, and he was perfect: two ground ball outs and a soft liner to Counsell. The win went to Burba. Oh gee, what a surprise. Ha.
So, in summary, until the opposing team throws strikes and stops putsin' around on the corners, the Brewers offense will do alright. On a similar note, the Brewer pitchers have to get ahead in the count more than today. One last thing, Podsednik hit a ball and didn't know where it went, so he just stood in the batters box looking around for a second or two. Then, he noticed the ball down the third base line and had to run to get his double and not look like an idiot. He made it in plenty of time. It was one of the funnier things I bet I'll see this year. Watch for it to maybe be on Sportcenter tonight.
Go Crew!! Lord Davis on the mound tomorrow!