When good process goes bad

Those of you who have watched "The Chappelle Show" may remember a segment called "When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong". The concept was, people are put in situations where they can do one of two things; take the easy, conventional way out, or do the right thing and stand up for themselves. Sometimes, doing the right thing doesn't turn out the way it should. Baseball is full of those moments, moments I like to call, "when good process goes bad". Last night's Brewers-Pirates game included two such moments.

In the 8th inning, the Brewers were put in a situation where Pirates superhero Andrew McCutchen was at the plate with two outs and a runner on second. Manager Ron Roenicke allowed reliever Jim Henderson to pitch to McCutchen rather than intentionally walk him, the "conventional" strategy. Henderson's second pitch (a fastball well outside the zone) broke McCutchen's bat, but the ball still fell into center field for a game-tying single. Fans cried out, "if only they had intentionally walked him!", and mourned what they felt was an inevitable loss.

But the Brewers did the right thing (free baserunners are bad, mmmkay). It'd be one thing if McCutchen had an automatic out behind him, but the Pirates #4 hitter is Garrett Jones. Ignore what your preconceived notions of Jones are and look at his numbers. He's having a fine year, and had the platoon advantage over Henderson. McCutchen is also in one of the worst slumps of his career, and has been dealing with an assortment of nagging injuries. Is Jones as good as McCutchen? Absolutely not, but neither is McCutchen at this point. McCutchen got a lucky bloop and Jones ended up striking out, so confirmation bias (as well as the Pirates getting away with intentionally walking Braun in the bottom of the 8th) taints our view of what should have happened. Fortunately for the Brewers, the baseball gods simply chose to reward them at a later time.

Now, Clint Hurdle has been mocked plenty both on this blog and by people with functioning gray matter. Casual fans look at the Pirates and thing, "they're overachieving, Hurdle for Manager of the Year!" But anyone who watches Pirates games know this isn't true. Hurdle does just about everything poorly, and has put on a clinic of how not to manage a baseball team in games against the Brewers this season. Bullpen management is a thankless job, and managers are often subject to unfair criticism in that regard (confirmation bias again). But Hurdle's bullpen management is often particularly bad, mostly because he pitches poor relievers in high-pressure situations when far better pitchers are available.

Maybe Hurdle is turning over a new leaf, or maybe Closer Joel Hanrahan needed work, but Hurdle brought Hanrahan Gandalf in to a tie game in the bottom of the 9th, save situation be damned. This was the right move. A future save situation means nothing if you can't even get to it, and you can't lose a close game with your best reliever chewing sunflower seeds and braiding his goatee in the dugout. Sadly for the Pirates, Hanrahan threw a beach ball to the first hitter he faced, and Corey Hart hit the ball to the moon.

Alas, when good process goes bad.

                                                              "YOU SHALL NOT INTENTIONALLY PASS"

Braun bombs, Hart slams, Jim Henderson saves, Brewers win 7-4

The Brewers' performance last night against the Phucking Phillies of Philadelphia is generally something we're used to seeing happen against us, not for us. After coughing up a lead in the middle innings, the Brewers started a two-out rally against Cliff Lee, who gave way to Josh Lindblom, thus starting a spectacular bullpen asplosion capped off by a towering Corey Hart grand slam. In fact, home runs accounted for all the runs against the Phillies, as Ryan Braun hit two opposite-field moonshots off of Cliff Lee and Aramis Ramirez added one of his own, a towering tater right after Braun's in the first inning. Braun's homers were a welcome sight, breaking him out of a 9-47 slump during which he seemed really out of sorts at the plate.

Brewers starter Marco Estrada couldn't hold a 3-1 lead in the 5th, loading the bases with two outs and then serving up a bases clearing double to some homeless guy Kevin Frandsen to give the Phillies a 4-3 lead which they would hold until Lindblom's apocalypse in the 8th. Frandsen did his part to give the lead back to the Brewers, committing a two-out error that allowed Rickie Weeks to reach and chase the whiff-tacular Cliff Lee (7.2 IP, 3 ER,12 K) from the game.

It was then that Braun and Ramirez's wonder twin powers would once again be activated, as Lindblom couldn't throw anything resembling a strike to either of them, walking both and setting up Hart's heroics. Despite the three-run lead, the game was far from over with the Brewers bullpen still having to get three outs. I was actually excited to see Manny Parra come in for the save, seeing as he's been the team's best pitcher the last month or so and, in a hilarious turn of events, the Phillies were sending up three straight left-handed batters. Parra made Chase Utley look like a doof to get the first out, then a Ryan Howard single and a Domonic Brown cheapie infield hit off of Rickie Weeks' glove brought in Jim Henderson to try to get the last two outs.

I was hoping Roenicke would stick with Parra simply for the sake of why not, but Henderson made it moot by whiffing the uniquely terrible Ty Wiggington and getting Erik Kratz to ground out (sandwiched around a Frandsen single to load the bases). I'm not sure if Henderson is emerging as the "closer" or if Parra starting the 9th is proof that the committee is still a thing, but it was at least refreshing to see the bullpen get some outs for once, pitching four shutout innings overall after Estrada departed. Jose Veras was nastily wild for two innings, Livan Hernandez baffled three Phillies hitters by throwing strikes, and Parra and Henderson got the last three outs to get a win that felt more reminiscent of last year than this year.

Lucroy is back, Kottaras DFA'd, Jim Henderson blah, blah, blah

The Brewers reinstated catcher Jonathan Lucroy from the disabled list, designating backup catcher George Kottaras for assignment. The team has 10 days to decide to trade him, release him, or hope he accepts a minor league assignment. A trade is the most likely outcome, as a proven backup catcher is something many playoff contenders could use.

                                                  Welcome back, Luc. May the force be with you.

The team also sent IF Jeff Bianchi back to AAA after an uninspiring debut, replacing him with RHP Jim Henderson. The 29 year old Henderson is making his major league debut after putting up some impressive number for AAA Nashville (35 appearances, 48 IP, 56 K, 1.21 WHIP, 1.69 ERA). Despite Henderson's numbers, it's hard to get too excited considering his unsightly 4.13 BB/9 and his flyball profile. The team is currently carrying 13 pitchers, which is pretty ludicrous. Hopefully a trade or two will reduce that number.