Friar Watch

Greg Maddux: Maddux bounced back from a poor outing with 5 very strong innings. Unfortunately he faltered in the 5th and didn’t make it out of the inning. The Padres jumped out to a big lead in the bottom of the fifth and watching the game I thought that Maddux may have decided to just try to throw strikes with the big lead. The Brewers are loaded with aggressive young hitters and they took advantage, jumping all over everything Maddux threw up there in the 6th.

A chart of Maddux’s pitches does indicate that he was grooving some pitches in the 6th, whether by design or accident:
Green = Innings 1-5, all pitches
Red = Inning 6, all pitches

The main point of interest here is the vertical line of pitches along the right edge of the strike zone, outside to a right handed hitter. Then in the 6th inning we see 8 pitches right in the heart of the zone, as well as two that missed badly low and away. It’s not surprising that Maddux got hit with that kind of location.

Doug Brocail: Brocail has been pretty good in mop up situations this year but the Brewers continued the assault when he came in for Maddux. With Kevin Cameron stagnating on the bench the last two weeks he might have been a better choice to start the 7th.

Heath Bell: Bell ended the hit parade, shutting down the Brewers to the tune of 3 strikeouts in 1.2 innings.

Scott Linebrink: Linebrink was the surprise choice to start the 9th in a save situation even though Trevor did not pitch the previous night. Showcasing for a trade? Possibly, or maybe just a night off for Trevor. Linebrink was fine, a 1-2-3 9th to earn his first save of the year.