What's up with the Brewers? These guys are stinking up the joint. Ten straight losses and the team looks lifeless on the field. Do you mean to tell me that losing Carlos Lee is doing all of this? I wanted the Brewers to keep Lee, but they couldn't afford it. The rest of the roster hasn't even come close to stepping up.
Geoff Jenkins has been removed as a starter in right field and for good reason, he hadn't produced all season. Other then the fact that the Brewers are now playing some younger guys down the stretch to see what they have, nobody has taken charge. This is a team that finished .500 a year ago and fans were contemplating a wild card playoff run for this season. I know they've been banged up, but how do you go from .500 to 13-games under.
Alright, enough of my wondering what's wrong with the team. Here's what's wrong. They're slow. They're not aggressive. Ned Yost manages the game like he has a power hitting home run team. Now I haven't watched every inning of every game, but other then pitchers, when's the last time you saw a position player move a runner over with a punt? When's the last time they hit and run?
This is a team that isn't hitting a lot of home runs right now. They're a team that has struggled scoring runs, which means the manager needs to find a way to manufacture runs. Move the runners around, teach these major leaguers to bunt, even though they should. Stop playing for the big inning. I don't think the Brewers have had one of those since July.
And if Ned Yost can't be a fundamentally better manager, then he needs to go. This isn't about a 10-game losing streak. This is big picture stuff. Things you do to win games more consistently. Playing baseball the way it was meant to be played. This is the National League, yet Yost acts like he's playing with a D.H. Injuries aside, Yost's team has been a major disappointment and finding a new manager shouldn't be out of the question.
I like Yost, but he needs to find ways to get his team to produce more then what they are and right now, he's not doing it.