Some things to read while zooming in.
A week ago today, we were talking about a six-game stretch that would go a long way toward defining the Milwaukee Brewers’ 2014 season. The Brewers went 2-4 during that span, capping it off with a 1-0 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday, and their playoff hopes are now all but over. Noah Jarosh of Brew Crew Ball has a recap, if you missed it.
The Brewers’ best chance to score a run Sunday may have come in the ninth inning, when Carlos Gomez led off with a single and got to second when Rickie Weeks reached on an error. Gomez was thrown out trying to take third on the play, however, and the Brewers were shut out for the 10th time this season. After the game, Gomez told Adam McCalvy of MLB.com he got caught between bases because he stopped briefly when he should have kept running.
Looking back another day, the Brewers’ lone win in the series came on Saturday and was not without controversy. Matt Garza was ejected from the game in the fifth inning for hitting Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen with a pitch for the second time in the contest. In between the plunkings, both teams had been warned when Pirates pitcher Edinson Volquez buzzed Ryan Braun. There have been accusations that Jonathan Lucroy called for the second pitch by tugging on his sleeve, but Lucroy told reporters that he does that all the time. Garza also said the pitches were unintentional.
Other notes from the field:
- The Pirates only scored runs in two innings in the series, and still won two games.
- Francisco Rodriguez’s save on Saturday was the 347th of his career, moving him into a tie with Randy Myers for 10th place on baseball’s all-time list. Troy Percival, who was a teammate of K-Rod’s on the Angels, is ninth with 358.
- Saturday night’s game took over three and a half hours to play despite the 1-0 score. It was the longest nine-inning 1-0 contest in the last 100 years (h/t @joe_block).
- @MLB has a gif of Khris Davis wearing a gum bucket on his head in the ninth inning on Saturday.
- Sunday was the Pirates’ final regular season home game and their 23rd sellout of the season. They set a new PNC Park record with 2,442,564 tickets sold in 2014, a mark the Brewers have surpassed at Miller Park in each of the last eight years.
Rickie Weeks will probably start the finale of the Reds series against lefty David Holmberg, and it’ll be interesting to see how the Brewers use him in the final home series of the season over the weekend. These are likely Weeks’ last six games as a member of the Brewers, and Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel talked to him about the approaching end of an era. Weeks’ 1,137 games played as a Brewer are the ninth-most in franchise history.
Carlos Gomez has already set career highs this season in plate appearances (618), runs scored (91), hits (155), doubles (32) and walks (44), but his season may not end when the Brewers wrap up their schedule. Gomez is considering an invitation to join a team of MLB players on a tour of Japan for five games in November, and would join All Stars Robinson Cano, Adam Jones, Albert Pujols and Yasiel Puig on the trip.
It would be interesting to see Carlos Gomez take his high-energy game to Japan. On Friday, David Manel of Pirates site Bucs Dugout talked to Gomez about being the visiting player fans love to come root against.
Jonathan Lucroy was also invited along on the tour of Japan and declined. He still needs just one more double to tie Lyle Overbay for the single-season franchise record with 53, and Tom Haudricourt talked to Overbay about what might be his final days atop that list. Meanwhile, the Brewers’ late slide has likely cost Lucroy an opportunity to be the National League’s Most Valuable Player. Jayson Stark of ESPN left Lucroy off his latest list of candidates.
Overbay started at first base on Sunday and went 0-for-3. Brewers first basemen are hitting just .210 with a .291 on-base percentage and .364 slugging on the season, and their .655 OPS (on-base plus slugging) is the worst in the National League by 35 points. Grant Brisbee of SB Nation looks at the possibility that struggles at first base have cost the Brewers an opportunity to contend this season.
Mark Reynolds has received the largest share of playing time at first base this season and is tied for the team lead with 22 home runs, but has hit just three in his last 36 appearances. Tom Haudricourt talked to Ron Roenicke about how the Brewers’ recent struggles to hit home runs coincide with their late-season slide.
Unless Reynolds or Davis (who also has 22 home runs) get hot in the season’s final week, the Brewers are going to have a team home run leader with less than 25 for the second consecutive season. It would only be the third time in franchise history that’s happened in back-to-back full seasons, and the first time since 1984-85.
In the minors:
- Congratulations are due out this morning to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, who won the Midwest League’s 2014 community service award and have been nominated for the national John H. Moss Award. The latter award will be given out at the Winter Meetings in December.
- Brad Krause of Miller Park Prospects has a recap of the Helena Brewers’ 2014 season. The rookie Brewers went 27-49 this season but got a nice campaign from center fielder and 2013 eighth-round pick Brandon Diaz.
- Brew Crew Ball user PioneerSkies has an introduction for Brewers fans to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, the organization’s new Triple-A affiliate.
Today in power rankings:
- Mike Beisbol of Beisbol’s Org has the Brewers as baseball’s 12th-best team.
- Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times also has the Brewers 12th, up three spots from last week.
- Nats Insider has them 12th as well, up one spot.
- Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the Brewers as the National League’s sixth-best team.
Around baseball:
Blue Jays: Pitcher Marcus Stroman has dropped his appeal of his six-game suspension for throwing at a batter, and the suspension was reduced to five games.
Dodgers: Pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu will likely miss the remainder of the season with shoulder irritation.
Reds: Starting pitcher Mat Latos will miss the season’s final week with a bone bruise in his right elbow.
Yankees: Designated pitcher Chaz Roe for assignment.
Let’s go around the NL Central:
- The Cardinals took two of three from the Reds over the weekend but missed a chance for a sweep Sunday night, losing 7-2. Jay Bruce had a pair of home runs in the game for Cincinnati.
- The Cubs lost two of three to the Dodgers, including an 8-5 defeat on Sunday. Shorthanded due to injury, the Dodgers had former Brewer Jamey Wright start a game for just the second time in seven seasons.
- The Brewers, as you likely know, lost two of three to the Pirates and were defeated 1-0 on Sunday.
| Team | W | L | GB | Today | Matchup |
| Cardinals | 87 | 69 | — | @ Cubs, 7:05 p.m. | Adam Wainwright vs Travis Wood |
| Pirates | 84 | 71 | 2.5 | @ Braves, 6:10 p.m. | Francisco Liriano vs Aaron Harang |
| Brewers | 80 | 76 | 7 | OFF | |
| Reds | 72 | 84 | 15 | OFF | |
| Cubs | 69 | 87 | 18 | vs Cardinals, 7:05 p.m. | Travis Wood vs Adam Wainwright |
Meanwhile, winning a series over the weekend allowed the Pirates to tie the Giants for the right to host next week’s Wild Card game:
| Team | W | L | GB | Today | Matchup |
| Giants | 84 | 71 | — | @ Dodgers, 9:10 p.m. | Jake Peavy vs Dan Haren |
| Pirates | 84 | 71 | — | @ Braves, 6:10 p.m. | Francisco Liriano vs Aaron Harang |
| Brewers | 80 | 76 | 4.5 | OFF |
Baseball Prospectus has the Brewers with a 1.9 percent chance to make the playoffs as of this morning. The Brewers’ loss on Sunday clinched a postseason berth for the Cardinals, and their loss on Friday allowed the Dodgers to claim a spot as well.
Meanwhile, the postseason window closed for several more teams over the weekend. The Mets and Rays were eliminated from playoff contention on Friday, the Marlins ducked out on Saturday and the Braves faced the final curtain on Sunday. The Blue Jays are one of four teams currently outside the playoff picture but not mathematically eliminated in the American League, but they could be knocked out as early as today. The Brewers are the only remaining National League team with a chance to climb back into the postseason.
The Astros have been eliminated from contention for several weeks, of course, allowing everyone to turn their attention to second baseman Jose Altuve’s assault on the record books. He collected his 219th hit of the season on Sunday, the most by a player at his position since 1936 and the most ever for a Venezuelan-born player.
Today in former Brewers:
- Craig Calcaterra of Hardball Talk has a link to this piece by Bob Hohler of the Boston Globe discussing the Red Sox’ history of racism with longtime player and coach Tommy Harper. In a related note, today is the 43rd anniversary of Harper becoming the first Brewer ever to hit 30 home runs in a season.
- Michael Trzinski of Reviewing the Brew listed the 1972 Evansville Triplets as the seventh-best minor league team in Brewers franchise history. That team won the American Association championship behind catcher Darrell Porter, pitcher Jim Slaton and infielder Pedro Garcia.
- I found three former Brewers (and one current one) on AZ Snakepit’s Sporcle quiz asking you to name the Diamondbacks’ career leaders in triples.
- 2014 Wisconsin Timber Rattlers pitcher Tyler Alexander, who turns 23.
- 2014 Nashville Sounds reliever Arcenio Leon, who turns 28.
- 1994-98 Brewer Mike Matheny, who turns 44 (Today In Brewer History).
- 1989 Brewer Jeff Peterek, who turns 51.
- 1988 Brewer Jeffrey Leonard, who turns 59.
Plunk Everyone notes that Matheny’s 45 career HBP are the third-most ever for a position player born on Sept. 22, and Leonard is fifth with 23.
Today is also the 39th anniversary of first baseman George Scott collecting 11 total bases in a 7-6 loss to the Indians in 1975. Follow the link for that event’s entry in Today In Brewer History at Brew Crew Ball.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to find a safer way to celebrate.
Drink up.
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