Tidbits: Rotation, McClung/Colome, Parra, Escobar, Hart
Some tidbits from manager Ken Macha's pregame chat with reporters:
-- Macha will announce his probable pitchers for the upcoming St. Louis series on Sunday. He's considering ways to monitor right-hander Yovani Gallardo's workload, but bumping him back a day in this case would mean Gallardo would miss the series against the Cardinals. Since the Brewers still publicly consider themselves contenders, that would be a tough move.
"Maybe some guys will get extra time and some guys won't," Macha said.
-- Injured relievers Seth McClung (elbow) and Jesus Colome (forearm) are scheduled to throw 30-pitch bullpen sessions on Sunday morning. McClung has been on the disabled list since July 25 and is trying to rehab his elbow without succombing to a second career Tommy John surgery.
-- Left-hander Manny Parra is introducing a cut fastball to his array of pitches, Macha said. It's a work in progress; Pittsburgh's Steve Pearce hit one Friday for a two-run double.
Macha offered some words of support for Parra, who is 6-2 over his last nine starts despite a 6.49 ERA and a .341 opponents' batting average.
"He does have nine wins, and he has a chance to get into the teens, too," Macha said. "Everybody has hopes for him to take a couple steps forward. But looking at the cup half-full, he has nine wins."
-- For now, Macha has scrapped batting the pitcher eighth and shortstop Alcides Escobar ninth. Escobar batted eighth on Saturday for the second straight game.
"If we're going to have [a position] player batting ninth, he needs to get on or you don't have any benefit from it," Macha said.
Escobar entered the weekend with a .292 on-base percentage.
-- Corey Hart, recovering from his Aug. 2 appendectomy, threw in the outfield on Saturday and took batting practice. He appears to travel with the Brewers to St. Louis next week before joining postseason-bound Double-A Huntsville for a rehabilitation assignment. The Brewers don't yet know how many Minor League games Hart would need to be ready for the big leagues.
-- Macha will announce his probable pitchers for the upcoming St. Louis series on Sunday. He's considering ways to monitor right-hander Yovani Gallardo's workload, but bumping him back a day in this case would mean Gallardo would miss the series against the Cardinals. Since the Brewers still publicly consider themselves contenders, that would be a tough move.
"Maybe some guys will get extra time and some guys won't," Macha said.
-- Injured relievers Seth McClung (elbow) and Jesus Colome (forearm) are scheduled to throw 30-pitch bullpen sessions on Sunday morning. McClung has been on the disabled list since July 25 and is trying to rehab his elbow without succombing to a second career Tommy John surgery.
-- Left-hander Manny Parra is introducing a cut fastball to his array of pitches, Macha said. It's a work in progress; Pittsburgh's Steve Pearce hit one Friday for a two-run double.
Macha offered some words of support for Parra, who is 6-2 over his last nine starts despite a 6.49 ERA and a .341 opponents' batting average.
"He does have nine wins, and he has a chance to get into the teens, too," Macha said. "Everybody has hopes for him to take a couple steps forward. But looking at the cup half-full, he has nine wins."
-- For now, Macha has scrapped batting the pitcher eighth and shortstop Alcides Escobar ninth. Escobar batted eighth on Saturday for the second straight game.
"If we're going to have [a position] player batting ninth, he needs to get on or you don't have any benefit from it," Macha said.
Escobar entered the weekend with a .292 on-base percentage.
-- Corey Hart, recovering from his Aug. 2 appendectomy, threw in the outfield on Saturday and took batting practice. He appears to travel with the Brewers to St. Louis next week before joining postseason-bound Double-A Huntsville for a rehabilitation assignment. The Brewers don't yet know how many Minor League games Hart would need to be ready for the big leagues.
Yo' tends to have good outings against the Cardinals, right? I think the teams we are playing make a difference in the choices Macha should look at. He can work quickly against them. One thing I've observed with Yo is this; when facing the more dominating pitchers and those with in the division, they often times work faster. The pace of the game, overall, has a big impact on his effectiveness. I don't have the numbers for the situations when his outings have been delayed, but has he won any of those push-back starts?
In addition, we've got Matt Holliday and Mark DeRosa. The tougher the challenge, the better Gallardo is. Going back to the pitching duels, though; he really has gotten the short end of the stick with Santana, Verlander etc... But he beat Carpenter! I think he should pitch against the Cards.
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when will jj hardy be back
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