Sorry Axford... but...

TomM · April 09, 2013, 10:06:13 PM

Pitchers .............IP H R ER BB K HR ERA
John Axford 0.2 1 3 3 2 0 0 24.30

Ouch...

Todd · April 09, 2013, 10:20:59 PM

The only one that should be sorry is his crappy you know what. Loadem up blowem up Axford. Pathetic. Braun's talent is being wasted by crappy closing, relief and managing. Roenke has some blame in this.

This season is looking very dismal. Is it Packer season yet?

Drivingforce · April 09, 2013, 10:21:06 PM

The Axford experiment is needs to end. Send him down to the minors for a month or 2. The Brewer pitching staff is bad enough without their closer coming in and giving up 2-3 runs every outing. He had a great year 2 years ago and he's been pretty much awful since. Until the crew get some live arms they're pretty much doomed. Gallardo is a 3rd or 4th starter on a a decent staff. Frustrating to watch...

Ghetto · April 10, 2013, 07:35:43 AM

The Gas Can Cometh

Ghetto · April 10, 2013, 07:38:06 AM

Gonzales can't get anybody out either. I thought I saw his ERA was like 81.00 or something.

Not sure I agree on the Gallardo thing. He's the 90-120th best pitcher in baseball? Not so much.

TomM · April 10, 2013, 08:13:53 AM

http://www.twincities.com/twins/ci_22993572/milwaukee-brewers-john-axford-fails-again?source=rss

Todd · April 10, 2013, 11:04:11 AM

Quote from: Drivingforce on April 09, 2013, 10:21:06 PM
The Axford experiment is needs to end. Send him down to the minors for a month or 2. The Brewer pitching staff is bad enough without their closer coming in and giving up 2-3 runs every outing. He had a great year 2 years ago and he's been pretty much awful since. Until the crew get some live arms they're pretty much doomed. Gallardo is a 3rd or 4th starter on a a decent staff. Frustrating to watch...

And now Narveson went from a blip on the radar injury to having lengthy DL time. Ugh!

Todd · April 10, 2013, 11:04:54 AM

Quote from: Ghetto on April 10, 2013, 07:35:43 AM
The Gas Can Cometh

I like that!

Wisconsin Wrestling Fan · April 10, 2013, 11:29:54 AM

Axford threw 16 pitches, 12 balls, 4 strikes. Also, two of the strikes came on bunt attempts and the pitches were way out of the strike zone. That was about as horrible of a relief appearance as I can remember.

Scourge · April 10, 2013, 01:42:29 PM

1st of all, you can't send Axford down to the minors. He'd be put on waivers.
2nd, he obviously shouldn't be closing games right now and he looks awful, but it's a little too early to take him out of the lineup.

He blew 9 saves last year which is obviously a lot, but if you consider that Mariano Rivera blew 7 saves in one year, Fingers blew 14 in another year...

Axford's save pct was about 80 pct last year.
Fingers is around 75 pct for his career.

So when you take the last two years as a whole, he's been an exceptional closer. Most closers go through what he did last year.

This year however he absolutely looks terrible. He was dominating in his first outing save for one pitch, a 96 MPH fastball that was hit out. But since then he's just been terrible. The only real option however is to move him out of the closers role, put someone else in it, and hope, that like last year he can bounce back.

As for Gallardo, he didn't say he's between 90 and 120 overall of starting pitchers, he said on a good team. I think 3-4 is pushing it, but when you take the teams competing for a playoff spot, he's a solid #2 and a great #3.

He's one of the top 35-40 starters in baseball and he's extremely reliable and consistent, but he's not dominant....at least at this point.

Last 4 years though, combined;
3.68 ERA, 60-38 W/L Record, 200 IP, 200K's....etc..etc...

Not a guy like Felix Hernandez by any means or Verlander, but obviously not a #3/4 pitcher.

Ghetto · April 10, 2013, 01:54:58 PM

Rollie Fingers also had to go more than one inning many times to get saves. Not apples to apples.

I know he didn't say he was the 90-120 best pitcher but that is the general statement when you call someone a 3 or 4. He's top 20-30 in my mind and when you go around the league, that makes him a 1/2.

When Axford can't place the breaking pitch he can't pitch. His fastball is straight as a string. Doesn't matter how fast it is coming in.

Scourge · April 10, 2013, 02:22:07 PM

Quote from: Ghetto on April 10, 2013, 01:54:58 PM
Rollie Fingers also had to go more than one inning many times to get saves. Not apples to apples.

I know he didn't say he was the 90-120 best pitcher but that is the general statement when you call someone a 3 or 4. He's top 20-30 in my mind and when you go around the league, that makes him a 1/2.

When Axford can't place the breaking pitch he can't pitch. His fastball is straight as a string. Doesn't matter how fast it is coming in.

Yeah, he has a slider and a curve and if he can throw either one for a strike, he's fine. But his fastball IS straight as can be. You watch Wily Peralta's fastball which at 96 MPH looks like a changeup. But that's obviously the key with Axford.

I just can't believe how bad he's been after how good he looked on opening day.

We have to have a reliable closer. We can't keep blowing games late. There is nothing worse than watching a team winning for 8 innings only to see your closer completely blow it up.

Todd · April 10, 2013, 04:26:34 PM

Quote from: Scourge on April 10, 2013, 01:42:29 PM
This year however he absolutely looks terrible. He was dominating in his first outing save for one pitch, a 96 MPH fastball that was hit out. But since then he's just been terrible. The only real option however is to move him out of the closers role, put someone else in it, and hope, that like last year he can bounce back.

I was at that game and I was thinking the same thing after the end result but was he really dominating that first outing? Yes he struck out 3 that inning but on top of the Gopher ball he gave up his first two batters even though he struck them out, he had to battle back from I believe 1-3 for both of them. He pitched from behind the whole inning. I don't call that dominating, I call it doing what he needed to do to get back and strike them out. That inning could have been worse. Now he's god aweful.

DrSnide · April 10, 2013, 04:34:44 PM

There are few things in sports as painful as watching a closer who has "lost it" but clearly Axford has. While he has bounced back before but sometimes closers never get it back (Turnbow being a prime example but hardly the only one). I'm just not sure what you do with him at this point.

Scourge · April 10, 2013, 04:39:55 PM

Quote from: Todd on April 10, 2013, 04:26:34 PM
Quote from: Scourge on April 10, 2013, 01:42:29 PM
This year however he absolutely looks terrible. He was dominating in his first outing save for one pitch, a 96 MPH fastball that was hit out. But since then he's just been terrible. The only real option however is to move him out of the closers role, put someone else in it, and hope, that like last year he can bounce back.

I was at that game and I was thinking the same thing after the end result but was he really dominating that first outing? Yes he struck out 3 that inning but on top of the Gopher ball he gave up his first two batters even though he struck them out, he had to battle back from I believe 1-3 for both of them. He pitched from behind the whole inning. I don't call that dominating, I call it doing what he needed to do to get back and strike them out. That inning could have been worse. Now he's god aweful.

Well I wouldn't call it dominating because he gave up the game tying HR, but yes, I would absolutely say he LOOKED dominant vs the other 3 batters and in 16 of his 17 pitches.

He got ahead of all three of the guys he struck out. He got deep into counts, but he wasn't battling back from being down 3-1 in that outing vs those three guys. He was getting ahead and trying to get guys to chase.

I don't really see how that inning could have been much worse since they weren't even touching him. He was blowing it by them or they were laying off the curve when he got ahead in the count.