Heard the Birds are Turds series thread

Brice Turang has had 142 plate appearances since July 26th. He has one extra base hit in that time period (a double).

He'll fall just short of qualifying as a full-time player (he needs 502 plate appearances and he'll get about 460). If he had reached 502, he'd be the third worst position full-time player on offense in baseball.

I guess there is no one any better and he plays great defense, but he should be a late-inning defensive replacement and a pinch runner, not your starting second baseman.

And that is why he should bunt when a runner is on 1st and 0 or 1 out.  If he is assured of making an out at least make it a productive out.

@ammo posted:

And that is why he should bunt when a runner is on 1st and 0 or 1 out.  If he is assured of making an out at least make it a productive out.

Fair point. But the fact you have to treat him like a pitcher when he is batting is a major problem.

I think the Brewers were hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with Donaldson as Monosterio was wilting at the plate a bit. Donaldson was hitting below .200 for a reason.

I would bunt in that situation with a few Brewers hitters but definitely not Taylor. Players don't work on bunting anymore and Taylor has enough pop in his bat to turn the score around as the go ahead run.         

I don't think Taylor was assured of making an out and sacrificing with one out is never going to happen with a position player.

No Yelich. No Tellez. No Turang.   

Turang and Tellez are going to mostly be in platoon mode. Yelich might be hurting more than what's being said. His production has fallen off drastically over the last 30 games and that's probably why.

Down 2-0 in the first.  Insurmountable lead??

Contreras is 3 for 9 in the last two games and so far tonight. Canha is 4 for 6. Frelick is 2 for 5.

The rest of the hitters are 5 for 54.

Holy hell - 4 straight doubles for the lead!

An offensive explosion. 4 consecutive doubles.

@PackerRick posted:

Yelich might be hurting more than what's being said. His production has fallen off drastically over the last 30 games and that's probably why.

Yelich's back was a problem well over a decade ago in the Marlins minor league system.

https://www.mlb.com/news/chris...rewers-injury-update

He's got 5 more years and 130 million due on that contract.

I'm not sure he is ever going to be a full-time player again.

Brewer pitching has done a great job on Brewer killer Goldschmidt.  He is 0-7 so far in the 2 games.

Brewers play small ball beautifully in the 8th to get a big insurance run.

Taylor walk, stolen base, Frelick grounds out to right side to move Taylor over, Monasterio with a sac fly.

Another small ball run in the 9th, now up 7-3.

Walk, stolen base, single.

They are going to need to play small ball well and often in the playoffs to have any chance of winning a series - especially against the Dodgers in the second round if they get that far. The NLCS is their ceiling this year - I don't think anyone is beating the Braves.

3 scariest words in the English language :

”It’s Chafin time.”

Chafin time up 4.

Big to save Williams (hopefully) for another day.

@Blair Kiel posted:

3 scariest words in the English language :

”It’s Chafin time.”

Up 4 in the bottom of the night, he strikes the first guy out, but then walks Goldschmidt. Always, always avoid walks in that situation. Make him hit the ball somewhere, even out. Don't walk him.

Chafin made it slightly interesting but a double play ends it.

Nice win. Magic number down to 6 with 11 games to play.

Big win tonight. Great job crew

@MichiganPacker posted:

Brewers play small ball beautifully in the 8th to get a big insurance run.

Taylor walk, stolen base, Frelick grounds out to right side to move Taylor over, Monasterio with a sac fly.

Gee, wouldn't that have been great Monday night?   6

It makes a little more sense to attempt a stolen base with a 2-3 run lead than when it's the tying run.

Congrats to Craig Counsell on his 700th caareer win as Brewers manager.     

@PackerRick posted:

It makes a little more sense to attempt a stolen base with a 2-3 run lead than when it's the tying run.

I'm so glad I'm being schooled in baseball strategy here.   Who knew small ball only worked when you had a 2-3 run lead but won't work when you need 1 run to tie a game late.  And small ball only means stolen bases and not sac bunts.

I believe the situation as described involved a stolen base yesterday.

In the previous game, a sacrifice is not in order when trailing by a run and one of your hottest hitters is at the plate. Taylor probably never had a sacrifice in his career, also. Those things matter. Substitute a stolen base with a sacrifice attempt and see how many runs are manufactured last night.

You are correct, he has never had a sac bunt. But he has also grounded into 21 double plays over the last 2 years 10 just in his limited action this season. That is terrible.  I would at least try a bunt on the 1st strike. 1 out is better than 2.

Same line up as last night. Hope to get the same result.     

@ammo posted:

You are correct, he has never had a sac bunt. But he has also grounded into 21 double plays over the last 2 years 10 just in his limited action this season. That is terrible.  I would at least try a bunt on the 1st strike. 1 out is better than 2.

There are only 2 Brewers I would sac with and in only one situation. Perkins and Turang are the two and only with the winning run on 2B, no outs, and at home.

That's just my opinion and I'm not asking anyone to agree with it. Bunting is a lost art and most players can't do it.

I saw Monosterio try earlier and it wasn't even close to fundamentaly sound. It was obvious nobody is working on bunting in Venezuela to get to the big leagues.

Taylor does hit into an inordinate number of DPs for a guy with his speed. But he's raised his average from .160 to .230 with power since he returned from injury so take the bad with the good.

St. Louis - e

E - team has been eliminated from playoffs.         

Pirates beating the Scubbies 7-1 top of 5.   

8 6 now

Grand slam by Happ after a couple of singles and a hit by pitch.   

Now back to 11-6 Pirates.

Canha clears the bases with a 2 out, 3 run double in the top of the 9th.

8-2

Pirates up 13-7 headed to the bottom of the 9th.

Todays Brewer's magic number is brought to you by the  NUMBER  4!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A L wild card will really be wild.  Seattle  and Texas currently tied for last playoff spot.  They play 7 games yet, 3 in Texas and 4 in Seattle to close out the regular season.  Texas currently leads the season 5-1.

Looks nice.

The radio guys were saying last night that the magic number to clinch a wild card is now 3.

@H5 posted:

Looks nice.

Why can’t I find the Cardinals on there?