Walk This Way!!!!

For those of you who followed the Brewers closely last year, weren't you constantly wishing the Crew had a player or two who could slap singles to all fields or who walked a ton in order to set the table for some of the big boppers (Fielder, Braun, Hart, Hardy)? It seemed as though the Brewer's hitters were all or nothing... a towering SOLO shot or a strikeout. And those strikeouts...what killers. When a player strikes out, it is such a huge loss. The runners on base don't advance, and the defense is not forced to make a play on either a ground ball or a fly ball. Anything can happen when a ball is put into play. I remember listening to a game earlier this year when the Brewers had two outs and Corey Hart was at the plate. He hit a grounder to the infield and it was bobbled, so he reached first on the error. The next batter hit a two run home run. This was a glaring example of how strikeouts can be killers, and putting the ball into play is so important.

Again, putting the ball into play is critical, but so are bases on balls or walks to the lay-person. Working the count and getting walks is important in driving up the pitch count of opposing pitchers, having runners on base forces the defense to react differently, and more men on base means more runs when the one of the Brewers jacks a ding dong. Looking at this year vs last year it is almost night and day in terms of the amount of walks the Brewers are taking. Let's look at a few examples:

The Brewers are second in the majors with 175 walks as a team. The top 5 teams in order are:

LA Dodgers 186
Mil Brewers 175
Wash Nationals 167
Bos Red Sox 166
NY Mets 165

By comparison, the Brewers as a team had 550 walks all of last season. Projecting this years stats over 161 game season, the Crew would end up with 742 walks, a 35% increase over last year.

What do all of these teams above have in common? Well, the Dodgers and Brewers each lead their respective divisions, while the Red Sox and Mets are 2nd in their respective divisions. The Nationals, well....

Of course walks do not determine championship teams, but they certainly help.

Here are some of the Brewer's individual players who are showing a lot more plate discipline this year:


Player, Total Walks Last Year, Walks This Year (38 Games)

Ryan Braun 42, 23
Prince Fielder 84, 34
Mike Cameron 54, 25
Corey Hart 27, 19

Let's also take a look at the most recent series the Brewers played in St. Louis (a 3 game sweep):

The Brewers won game 1, 1-0 (4 Walks, 2 Hits)
The Brewers won game 2, 8-2 (8 Walks, 7 Hits)
The Brewers won game 3, 8-4 (11 Walks, 8 Hits)

The Crew had 23 Walks and 17 Hits in the 3 game series. Pretty impressive!

Well, the Brewers just beat the Astros 4-2 as I am finishing writing this post. That's 7 in a row for the Crew, and 21-5 in their last 26. Amazing!!!! They are on fire, and it is so fun to be a part of.


BCBB

Brewers Sweep Pirates...Again

The Milwaukee Brewers have now beaten the Pittsburgh Pirates 17 straight time with a meandering 8-5 win over the Bucs Tuesday night. The last time the Pirates beat the Brewers was May 22, 2008. This is the longest winning streak by one MLB team over another in 4 decades. Baltimore won 23 consecutive games against Kansas City in the 1969 (11) and 1970 (12) seasons.

Why I am writing this blog...

As a forty-something citizen of the state of Wisconsin, I have spent all of my years living in the "burbs", following the ups and downs of both professional and college sports teams that represent the great badger state. As many of you know, it is not easy being a fan of teams in Wisconsin. It almost seems as though we have more ups and downs to endure than the fans of most other states. But, if you were to travel to Michigan, or Pennsylvania, Texas, or Colorado, you would probably find fans from those states saying the exact same things about their sports teams. That's both the beauty of sports, and the curse...trying to "stay" with your teams when times are bad, and jumping on the bandwagon when things are good. For those of you that can stay the course no matter what your favorite teams are doing, congratulations! That's quite a feat. I guess some of the time I just don't have the patience or mental fortitude to ride the roller coaster. I am tremendously emotional, and I often can find myself turning to other activities in my extremely busy life when things are going badly for my teams. However, in the end, I root hard for the local teams, and I would like nothing more than to see a number of championships in the upcoming years for Wisconsin sports teams. That would be awesome.

Although in this blog I will mainly touch on topics related to the Milwaukee Brewers, I also will from time to time address other local sporting events or accomplishments. However, I may begin another blog to address the many local sports outside Brewers baseball, and I will announce that when it happens.

I feel that I am a knowledgeable sports fan with a good deal to say. You may agree with me, and you may disagree with me. However, that is why this forum was established...to have intelligent, thoughtful, and in-depth dialogue regarding the Milwaukee Brewers, their players, coaches, former players, opponents, etc. I am very opinionated, and I expect you will be too.

Expect to read about hard-hitting topics that I feel are on the minds of the great Wisconisn sports fan. I look forward to serving you well in this capacity, and I look forward to some great dialogue today and into the future.

BCBB