Blurb Potential Pitching Rotation Part 4: Randy Wolf

Today is part four in a four part series highlighting Brewers pitchers. Sorry that this is so late.

Once again the stats I made up are the same, if you want to know what they are, look at previous Blurb's from this week.


Overall: Starts: 32, 13-10, 3.61 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, Short Starts: 2, Complete Games: 0, Quality Starts: 21, Bad Starts: 8
Home: Starts: 15, 7-3, 3.40 ERA, 1.36 WHIP, Short Starts: 1, Complete Games: 0, Quality Starts: 11, Bad Starts: 4
Road: Starts: 17, 6-7, 3.81 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, Short Starts: 1, Complete Games: 0, Quality Starts: 10, Bad Starts: 4

Wolf's is a good pitcher to have in your rotation because he has similar stats at home and on the road. Wolf has the second most quality starts (21, second to only Gallardo with 22) of the top four starters, but he also has the most bad starts (8).

Wolf will also be valuable to the Brewers because he has prior postseason experience. In two prior starts for the Dodgers, Wolf has had two no decisions where he pitched 9 IP, and gave up 5 ER, for an ERA of 5.00

If the Brewers play the Braves in the first round Wolf is a very valuable pitcher because of the Braves inability to hit lefties (.229 vs. .252 vs lefties). Good thing we have an abundance of lefties in the bullpen, oh wait...

Wolf would be a good #2 starter vs the Braves at home, but because of Gallardo and Grienke road troubles Wolf will have to be pushed down to #4. I would like to see him maybe being used in the bullpen for game 1 or 2, if the opportunity arises. The Braves struggle vs. lefties, and lefties are an endangered species in Milwaukee.

If the Brewers play the Diamondbacks with homefield advantage, I would consider pitching Grienke on 3 days rest if the Brewers are down 2-1. That would and move Wolf, and set up Gallardo pitching Game 5. Although the Diamondbacks aren't as bad hitting lefties as the Braves, another lefty in the pen wouldn't hurt.

The Blurb's Suggested Playoff Rotation:

vs. Braves Home
1. Grienke
2. Gallardo
3. Marcum
4. Wolf
5. Grienke

vs. Diamondbacks Home
1. Grienke
2. Gallardo
3. Marcum
4. Wolf (Unless Brewers down 2-1 then Grienke pitches)
5. Grienke (Unless Grienke pitches Game 4 then Gallardo would pitch)

vs. Diamondbacks Road
1. Marcum
2. Wolf
3. Grienke
4. Gallardo
5. Marcum

No Blurb tomorrow, but one will be up by Tuesday.

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Milwaukee Brewers at Chicago Cubs Series Preview

The Milwaukee Brewers begin a three-game series with the Chicago Cubs today.

Player to watch:

Milwaukee Brewers: Ryan Braun

Can Braun keep up his MLB leading batting average (.336)? Can he get a few home runs, and some RBI's and contend for the triple crown? Probably not going to happen, but you can't count him out.

Chicago Cubs: Bryan LaHair

This 30 year old first baseman only had one other stint in the major leagues, with Seattle, where he hit .250. This year he is hitting .424 for an OPS of 1.300 (But only in 33 AB's) Obviously, he isn't going to be a 1.300 OPS hitter the rest of his career, but he is on a tear right now.

Pitcher to Watch:

Milwaukee Brewers: Shaun Marcum

In his last two starts, Shaun Marcum has a 8.04 era. Both of those starts were at home.Marcum is a better pitcher on the road where he will get his start this week, so maybe this is just what he needs to bounce back.

Chicago Cubs: Matt Garza

Garza is on fire. In his last nine starts, he has a 2.54 era with a 4-2. He is a tough pitcher to hit right now, and should present the Brewers with their toughest challenge of the series.

Pitching Matchup's

Note: The Bold text isn't the game prediction, it is just showing the better pitcher right now.

Game 1: Chris Narveson (10-7, 4.40 era) vs. Casey Coleman (2-8, 7.06 era)
Game 2: Shaun Marcum (12-7, 3.40 era) vs. Randy Wells (7-4, 4.93 era)
Game 3: Randy Wolf (13-9, 3.45 era) vs. Matt Garza (8-10, 3.51 era)

Prediction: Brewers win series 2-1

Chris Narveson should win the first game, although I am a little bit worried because this is his first start in a while. But I think that the Cubs will win one of the two other games. But still, winning a road series isn't to bad. Lets Go Brewers and get a 5-1 road series.

Sorry no preview today.

Prediction: Milwaukee 6 Cincinnati 4

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Milwaukee Brewers 6 Cincinnati Reds 3 Full Recap

Here is the in-depth recap:

First Inning:

3-and out for the Brewers. Nothing special here.

Wolf gets off to a bit of a dicey start, but some nice defensive plays save him from a lot worse. Braun makes a nice running catch, and Weeks made a nice play to stop the bleeding. I still think though if Weeks was 100% he wouldn't have to dive there.

Second Inning:

That was a shot on that curveball for Fielder. Enjoy your Fielder bombs while you can, because we're running out of them. Rickie Weeks fly out. Then the two outs in the lineup follow suit.

Wolf starts to settle in.

Third Inning:

Wolf gets robbed by Dave Sappelt. Morgan Walks (Hell has frozen over)! Kotsay makes him pay for it with a two-run homer to deep center (Who would have guessed those two at-bats). Not to be outdone, on the very next pitch Braun goes the other way for a solo shot. Arroyo really does give up homeruns. Fielder walks, then Weeks pops up and Arroyo lazily makes Votto run all the way over from first to catch a pop-up that lands a foot in front of him.

Green makes a nice effort, but can't get Brandon Phillips on an infield single. Wolf gets some payback on Dave Sappelt, with a buetiful curveball for strike three. Weeks starts a double play with two on to get out of the inning.

Fourth Inning:

The two outs do what they are supposed to do, then Kottaras mimicks them.

Wolf strikes out Heisey on an inside fastball. 1-2-3 inning #2 for Wolf.

Fifth Inning:

Kotsay doubles but Braun can't drive him in on a nice save by Votto on a bad throw by Janish.

Wolf strikes out Janish on a high fastball. Arroyo does the same.

Sixth Inning:

Fielder strikes out. Weeks walks and is lifted for Schafer. Schafer does a nice job to avoid a double play, but Betancourt strikes out to render that action useless.

Another 1-2-3 inning, another Wolf strikeout.

Seventh Inning:

Kottaras goes yard on a breaking ball. It will be nice to have some power off the bench in the playoffs. After getting Wolf, Arroyo is taken out.

1-2-3 Inning, 1 K. This getting repetative? I'm not complaing, Wolf has retired 13 in a row.

Eigth Inning:

Braun goes the other way again to join the 30-30 club. Fielder bloops a single, but then the three outs come up, but Betancourt isn't given an oppurtunity to get an out because Green gets two for him.

Hairston almost makes a great play, but it drops in for a single. There goes 13 retired in a row, nice job Wolf. Two more singles bases loaded. K-Rod comes in for Wolf. After getting Alonso, my player to watch of the series for the Reds, to fly out. Votto does his thing with a two-RBI single. Nice job by K-Rod remembering to back up Kottaras. Bruce grounds into another double play.

Ninth Inning:

Betancourt does his thing. Kottaras walks. Lucroy grounds into a double play ball, but Kottaras forces Phillips to jump so he can't complete the play. Morgan has two walks in a game, I've seen it all. But Gomez is Gomez and the inning is over.

Axford is in the building.

Once again Betancourt does his thing with an error. But he makes up for it by starting a double play. Fielder does a nice job of picking up the throw from the dirt. Single. Out. Game Over.

Axford gets his 40th consecutive save. Brewers beat the Reds. Magic Number down to 7. Brewers up one game on Arizona, now if only the Cardinals could have lost.

No game preview today, but there will be a late blurb sometime before the game where I will give the game prediction.

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Milwaukee Brewers 6 Cincinnati Reds 3 Rapid Response

Every games recap here at the Blurb will be done in two phases:

1. The Rapid Response will usually be posted within one hour of the completion of the game (Player of the Game finalists will be named)
2. The Full Recap will be posted the next day. The point of this is to sleep on the game before I write a full recap, so as to better objectively cover the game (Player of the Game named)

Here is the Rapid Response.

Brilliant move by Ron Roenicke by starting Mark Kotsay today. Kotsay probably should have gone 3-4 today if it weren't for Brandon Phillips amazing catch.

The sixth spot contained two players with sizable hitless streaks Jerry Hairston Jr. (0 hits in his last 18 AB's), and Taylor Green (0 hits in his last 10 AB's).

I wish they would let Logan Schafer bat sometime, or at least let him play in the field (maybe they did and I missed it) instead of always only having him pinch-run. It would be refreshing to see him instead of Carlos Gomez in one of these garbage games.

Interesting decision to let Lucroy catch the 9th, either Roenicke has confidence in Lucroy's catching ability to let him catch in the 9th instead of Kottaras, or he just wants Lucroy to get some more practice. Maybe all of this speculation about Kottaras being a better catcher than Lucroy is wrong?

Congrats on entering the 30-30 club Ryan Braun. You are only the second player in Brewer history to accomplish this tremendous feat. The other player was Tommy Harper who did it in 1970.

Also congrats on 40 consecutive saves for John Axford only two more to get to half of Eric Gange's 84 consecutive saves.

Pre-Game Prediction: Brewers 5 Reds 4

Result: Brewers 6 Reds 3

Record: 1-0

Hey, at least I got the winner, and the runs scored correct

Finalists for Players of the Game

Ryan Braun, Randy Wolf, Mark Kotsay, John Axford

Sorry this is up so late, more coverage from tonight's game tomorrow, including the Player of the Game award.

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Milwaukee Brewers at Cincinnati Reds Preview Part 1: Pitching

Randy Wolf (12-9, 3.44 era) will pitch for the Brewers tonight. He is coming off a fantastic last two starts (8.0 IP, 1 ER vs. St. Louis) and (7.0 IP, 2ER vs. Philadelphia). As with all the other pitchers in this rotation, Wolf is fighting for positioning on the playoff rotation. He is establishing himself as a good postseason option, but he is often vulnerable to a bad outing (He has given up five or more earned runs in two out of his last five, and three out of his last eight starts).

Wolf throws a 88mph fastball around half of the time. He also throws a 84mph slider and a 68mph curveball about 20% percent of the time, and a 79mph change-up the rest of the time. His two plus pitches are his fastball (8.2 runs above average), and curveball (5 runs above average. His slider is 3 runs below average, and his change-up is 2.4 runs below average.

Bronson Arroyo (8-11, 5.28era) is pitching for the Reds. Arroyo has given up five or more runs in two of his last three starts. His last start he gave up 6ER in 1IP. Arroyo will give up a few homeruns (2.05 HR/9) which should play into the hands of the Brewers.

Bronson throws five pitches. He throws his 87mph fastball 47% of the time and it is more than 22 runs below average. He also has a slightly above average 85mph cutter, which he throws 3% of the time, and a below average 80mph change-up pitched around 18% of the time. His two best pitches are his slider (75mph, thrown 16%, 3 runs above average), and his curveball (72mph, thrown 12%, 3.4 runs above average).

Advantage: Brewers

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