"Not so fast" #ThisIsMyCrew pic.twitter.com/hVHfcebOQo
— Milwaukee Brewers (@Brewers) August 23, 2022
Live look at every Brewer fan watching Yeli gun down a runner at home plate last night:
If you would have asked me to give you a percentage chance that Yeli was going to throw that runner out as that play was developing I would have said -10%. Yeli just doesn’t have the arm anymore and we’ve seen it time and time again over the last few seasons. I’m not diagnosing him with Khris Davis ‘Noodle Arm,’ but it’s close. At the very least his throwing arm looks like one of those wacky inflatable tube men at a used car dealership:
Actually quite a night for Yeli! He made that throw, had a diving catch, and collected two hits with a double and a tack on RBI late.
All of that and the Brewers dealt the Dodgers their first shutout at Dodger Stadium in almost a calendar year. I said on the air yesterday that it would be perfectly Brewers to lose a series to the Cubs in excruciating fashion and then go to Los Angeles and win a series against the best team in baseball. That’s just the way the season has gone for the Crew. Well, one part of that was completed last night.
The problem the Brewers have right now is that the Cardinals have hit the stage of their season where they just decide to stop losing altogether. I have to tell you, it’s a plan that is as annoying as it is effective. 1-0 win at Wrigley with Albert Pujols accounting for the only run of the night: Career home run #693.
Side note: When the season started and Pujols headed back to St. Louis for ‘one more year,’ 700 career home runs felt like a bit of a pipe dream (given that he was going to be a part time player). But lately he’s returned to his ‘Machine’ form, and is playing like it’s 2006. My question is, if he falls short of 700 home runs, will he come back for another season? I mean he has to, right? He’s stood by his statement that he’s done after this year, but I can’t imagine him retiring with 698 or 699 career home runs. At that point you have to come back not only to get to 700 but to likely try and track down Babe Ruth for 3rd on the all time list. As much as I despise the Cardinals and am haunted by Pujols and want them both to go away forever, in the interest of baseball history it would be a travesty if he didn’t make it to 700 or more.
Perfect world scenario: Pujols gets to career home run #700 as the Cardinals lose 12 of their next 15 games.
PS: We’ve been begging for this on the blog for weeks now but Keston Hiura simply cannot be benched right now. ANOTHER home run last night, 13 on the season and his OPS is sitting at .867. I love McCutchen, and maybe he finds more playing time in the outfield, but leaving Hiura on the bench (for weeks at a time!) at this point is malpractice.
