Brewers vs Reds notes

I was at that screaming fast game last night where we had spectacular seats. I'll have pics up tomorrow, since I just put up the Badger pics.

*There's a guy on the Reds who's name is Jolbert Cabrera. He's from Columbia. From some reason, his name is pronounced Whole-burt by the PA and on the radio. It's like the name is Spanglish. It's driving me nuts. In Spanish, it would be Whole-bear. In English it would be Joal-Burt. This pronounciation is some strange hybrid.

*The Reds' Wilkin Castillo is 6 for 7 in this series, yet inexplicably was pinch hit for late in the game.

*The Brewers claimed former Red Todd Coffey off waivers today and DFA'd Laynce Nix to make room for Coffey on the roster. Coffey won't be available for post-season use, should it come to that, but he'll be another arm in a fairly sad bullpen right now. His stats are real wonky this season, but he's only got 19.1 innings pitched, so don't read too much into them - it's a small sample.

Home: 2.57 ERA
Away: 15.19 ERA

But over his career, his ERA is 4.62 in 206 innings pitched.

*Eric Gagne looked freakily focused last night and it was a lot of fun to watch. The aforementioned "Warren" kept yelling at Gagne to get angry like he was in LA - presumably to pitch better. Gagne never looked outwardly angry but it sure looked like it was simmering right under the surface. We had GREAT seats last night, about 17 rows from the field, and it was crazy to watch Gagne's heater go past the batter's head. I would NOT have messed with The Hairy Canadian yesterday.

*Jason Kendall is starting today's day game after catching the entire 4.5 hour affair last night. People keep worrying about Ned pitching CC into the ground, but what about Ned's killing Jason Kendall? Jason's not a young man, it's a long season, and we're in a playoff race. Could we possibly make sure that we still have a starting catcher that can walk by the end of the season?

*I texted my boyfriend in the 10th last night that if Counsell came up to bat in that inning, I was leaving. He didn't, but Kendall and Counsell led off the bottom of the 11th when it was score or go home. The same thing happened in the 9th on Monday. Gabe Kapler and Mike Rivera were both available both times. As were every one of the Sept. callups. Why does the lack of power that is a Counsell/Kendall matchup lead off our attempt to get a run? Makes me want to scream.

* Our 3,4 and 5 batters are 19 of their last 102.

* Prince Fielder's "at-bat music" is the THX noise. Strange. And oddly entertaining.
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The aquisition of Coffey combined with the continued trotting out of bullpen arms that have been struggling makes me wonder why some of the callups haven't gotten any love from Ned. Tim Dillard and Mark DiFelice and even Mitch Stetter to an extent have seen very limited action.
Poster TooLiveBrew over at BrewerFan wonders the same thing and imagined what poor Tim Dillard's going through:
I feel like Tim should be calling in from the bullpen phone to the dugout at some point.

Maddux: Hello?
Dillard: Uh, yeah. Hi.
Maddux: Who is this?
Dillard: Um, this is Tim Dillard. I work for you.
Maddux: Oh, hey Tim.
Dillard: Can I talk to Ned?
Maddux: Hang on... he's just filling up his coffee.
Yost: Yeah? Who is this?
Dillard: Hey, skip, this is Tim Dillard. Just wanna to remind you that I can work some innings for you out of the bullpen. I think I can get some outs against righties.
Yost: Dillard? I thought it was DiFelice -- you'll get your innings, kid. Hang in there & just keep battling.
Dillard: No, no -- coach, this is Tim Dillard. Mark DiFelice is out here too, though. He could get some work vs. righties too.
Yost: Ah hell, now I have two 'D' last names to remember. Could you wear goggles or something so I can remember you?
Dillard: Actually, Gagne sports the goggles...
Yost: Right -- how about one of those titanium necklace thingies? I could call you Tim-tanium
Dillard: Ok, sure. Whatever lets me get out there & help the team win
Yost: Ok, kid. You just got yourself moved up in the pecking order. That Dillard kid got bumped down for ya.
Dillard: No -- coach, I'm Dillar--
Yost: Great! Just stay fresh out there kid. We might need you in the 15th inning!