Steve isn't the only one that can have fun . . .
After last night's mysterious 493 pitch outing for Chili Cheese Sabathia, Brewers fans are wondering if any surgeon will be able to reattach the Brewer ace's arm. You may recall me saying that the Brewers should absolutely abuse Sabathia, using him as often as possible and in as big of games as possible. Last night is not what I had in mind. Trotting Sabathia out to pitch a ninth inning when the Brewers had a 7-run lead was nuts. Keeping Sabathia in for the whole inning, after a couple of defensive blunders and with the game still well in hand, well, that's just fucking crazy.This shows very little foresight by the Brewers manager, Red Yost. Planned properly, Sabathia could have pitched on 3-day's rest against Pittsburgh on Friday. Why is that important? Because then he could have pitched on 4-day's rest against the Cardinals on Wednesday. Sabathia will now very likely miss the two-game Cardinals series. Remember that the Cardinals have by far the best chance of beating the Brewers for the wild card. And remember what Sabathia did against the Cardinals last time he faced them. What should have been Sheets and Sabathia going against the Cardinals is now quite certainly Sheets and Parra. Not bad, but certainly not Sheets and Sabathia. It's little shit like that (oh, and the big factor of fucking with Sabathia's arm for no good reason) that may make the difference in what should be a very close finish for the wild card.
And I'll spare you all the need to ask the question. Yes, it was easier to draw Sabathia's arm falling off than Braun's rib falling out. And yes, Braun should sit every game until Tuesday against the Cardinals.
Labels: Extreme Injuries
posted by Condescendy @ 9:46 AM
9 comments
9 Comments:
I think it's common knowledge that Sabathia sucked in the playoffs last year because he was so terribly abused in September to get his team there. It's probably a good thing San Diego didn't make the playoffs last year because the same thing would have happened to Peavy.
Now, Ned Yost should absolutely abuse Sabathia...but as Condy said, do it at the right time. Yes, Cecil predicted sweep...the Brewers bats stuck that in his ear and yes that's always fun to do. BUT...
Ned Yost had CC bat in the top of the 8th and walk out to pitch in the 9th with a 7 run lead and 110 pitches already AGAINST THE NON-CONTENDING ASTROS.
Not the Mets, not the Phillies, not the Cardinals, and not the Cubs (good teams they play in August/September) but the fucking .500 Astros.
Ryan Braun's situation might make me even more angry. Management/Yost refused to 15 day DL the guy and had him sit day to day for half of that (7 days) for a very obnoxious injury. They should have 15-day DLed Braun the first time around and should absolutely do that now. Yes, he'll miss two games against the Cards and the Mets, but the Brewers also play the Pirates and Astros during this time as well.
The fact that Yost didn't do this initially shows that he has no faith in the batting lineup without Braun. Truth is, good teams (the Cubs) manage to win despite injuries to their All-Stars. To do this, one must simply play disciplined, smart baseball and not leave runners in scoring position every other inning...but Yost hasn't gotten to that chapter in "Baseball for Dummies" yet.
Not to mention, it's not like Sexy Gabe is an inadequate replacement...in fact, there is just nothing inadequate about that man.
The Brewers are quickly doing what they did last year, just a bit later in the season. It's time to ease off the throttle a little bit and save up the energy for the absolutely daunting month of September the Brewers have.
My hats are off to you condy, I was thinking about producing a similar picture. Nice work on the blood effects. I also remember Nedly using Sheets in a similar situation in april or may. 4+ run lead going into the 9th against a poor team. I mean seriously what the hell. Ned "red commie bastard" Yost needs to go.
Condy, you were onto something before...
The Brewers should sit Sabathia on Sunday, too. It's a home game against the fucking Pirates...let the McClung/Villanueva tandem lose that one and have CC/Sheets take on the two-gamer against the Cards.
That'd give CC 7 days of much needed rest and give the Brewers their best shot at putting away their last series against an important wild card contender.
I'd say that is the more reasonable of the alternatives between not starting Sabathia against the Cardinals. Still, you'd rather not have to start McHung and bump everyone back, but it'd certainly be worth it to have the two top pitchers face the Cardinals.
This goes further than the Cardinals series. Should Sabathia and Sheets face the Cards, they are on the perfect schedule to both start against the Mets, Phillies and Cubs in the next three big series. They would also be on schedule to choose between pitching on 3-days rest against the cubs in the last series of the year or having Sabathia start game one of a playoff series. The schedule would be absolutely perfect. Red Yost will not be looking ahead. As a result, I expect Sabathia to miss the Cardinals, Mets AND Phillies series.
I suppose I shouldn't pass judgment just yet. These are all assumptions at this point. But I'm pretty confident that Red is going to miss these factors.
Know what? I'm fine with that. Start Sabathia fresh against St Louis. You're carrying six starting pitchers, might as well use it to your advantage. Pitch Sheets today, Parra tomorrow, Suppan Friday, Bush Saturday and spot start McClung Sunday. Then Sabathia and Sheets Tuesday and Wednesday at St. Louis. What does this ultimately garner the Brewers? Sheets and Sabathia would lead off the Mets series in September, they would lead off the Phillies series in September, they would both pitch the series at the cubs in mid september, and then for the last cubs series, they have many options:
Option 1: pitch Sabathia on five days rest for the last game of the season, sheets is ready for game one of the playoffs
Option 2: Pitch Sheets and Sabathia on four games rest on Saturday and Sunday against Cubs, make playoffs
Option 3: Sit them both for the Cubs series, lead off playoffs with Sheets and Sabathia.
The wrench in the ointment here is that Parra's pitch counts are approaching uncharted territory and he will need to be shut down soon. Thankfully, the bullpen half of McBush can take his spot.
What Yost did last night was miserable, but if either Sheets or Sabathia pitches in the Pittsburgh series, we should just cash in our chips right now and call it a year.
Condescendy, there's really no need to have both of us around anymore. I'm gonna go get some work done or something.
And 'Parra's pitch counts' should be interpreted as 'Parra's innings counts'
Shit Condy, good thinking. Even though the Brewers would have to start a shitcan pitcher in front of a sellout crowd (game sold out and has 2,000 standing room tickets sold according the ticketing folks) it'd be worth it to put the final two nails in St. Louis's coffin and to stay competitive with a hungry Mets team.
Thinking about starting pitching in the playoffs and how to handle the Cubs series is really based on the situation come September.
Even if by some miracle the Brewers and the Cubs are playing for the division come the end of September, I'd happily give the Cubs the division and give up the opportunity to put up a "2008 Division Champs" sign in Miller Park if it means Sheets/Sabathia pitch the first two games in October. And I say this knowing full well that I'll be at all three of those games.
I'm going to give Nedly some credit here and expect this to happen...they will announce it on Thursday, even he can't ignore the media skepticism after 130 pitches.
In the meantime, I'm still concerned about Braun. I don't want to see him swinging a bat until the Cards series.
The real question is why didn't the local media get on Yost for this? I don't think this issue was even addressed after the game, and it seems as though CC made it clear he was pretty surprised to be ushered out there. Fucking stupid decision that deserved to be questioned publicly.
The real question is why didn't the local media get on Yost for this? I don't think this issue was even addressed after the game, and it seems as though CC made it clear he was pretty surprised to be ushered out there. Fucking stupid decision that deserved to be questioned publicly.
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