Wouldn't It Be Nice?

Shoeless Joe: Man, I did love this game. I'd have played for food money. It was the game... The sounds, the smells. Did you ever hold a ball or a glove to your face?
Ray: Yeah.
Shoeless Joe: I used to love travelling on the trains from town to town. The hotels... brass spittoons in the lobbies, brass beds in the rooms. It was the crowd, rising to their feet when the ball was hit deep. Shoot, I'd play for nothing!

- Field of Dreams, 1989

Much has been written lately about how the Brewers will be unable to keep Ben Sheets and CC Sabathia next season when they reach free agency. I know this is true, because teams are paying ridiculous money for pitchers these days.

It seems to me more and more that players are forgetting why they started playing baseball in the first place. All they care about is their payday. (see Prince Fielder temper tantrum back in March) It really makes me wonder, how much money does one person actually need?

Ryan Braun knew how much more he could make if he went year to year, but he wanted to make a commitment to this team and the fans in this city, and I applaud him for that. It's not often you see that kind of integrity in sports, especially in a kid his age. He has slowly replaced Prince Fielder, at least in my opinion, as the leader of our Brewers, and he has become the face of the franchise. I, for one, am proud of that, and of Ryan. I can't think of a better representative.

He said it best when questioned about the fact that he could have made tons more money. "What can't I buy with that much money?"

Sadly, it seems more and more players care less about winning and for whom they play, than they do about how much money they are going to get. Francisco Cordero bolted to the Reds for a mere $3 million. I say mere because that's peanuts when you're talking $44 million. Now look at Cordero. There is no All-Star appearance for him; no record setting saves; hell there's barely any appearances for him because the Reds stink. But he's getting paid. He's getting paid to sit on the bench and pick splinters out of his butt.

Wouldn't it be great if players showed a little bit of loyalty to a team and/or a fan base? Milwaukee has sold out every single game since CC came on board. That says something.

Personally, I would want to play for a good team, a team that actually has a shot at doing something special for the next few years. But of course, no one is banging on my door offering me megabucks to play a child's game.

Seriously though, in the grand scheme of things, what's the difference between $85 million and $120 million? Yes I can do the math and say $35 million dollars. But what in God's name can you get with $120 mil that you can't get with $85 mil?

So that's my rant for the day. I'll be sending out some good vibes for the Brewers as they take on Houston again tonight, and hoping and praying that a little bit of Shoeless Joe, or at least Ryan Braun, will rub off on Ben and CC. Go Brewers!

Not Too Upset

It seems the Brewers weren't too upset by their loss in San Diego yesterday. Several of the Crew, including Eric Gagne, Mike Rivera, Ryan Braun and CC Sabathia were caught partying at an LA night club last night. Maybe they should have been back at the hotel getting ready to take on the Dodgers?

http://www.tmz.com/2008/08/15/eric-gagnes-still-got-juice-in-la/

Meaningless Stat

I was just checking out the probable pitchers for the next few games, and the last line of Ben Sheets' little bio says he is 2-3 lifetime against the Nationals, with an ERA of 4.21.

Can someone please tell me why the "lifetime" stat matters? I've seen sportswriters and heard our own play by play guys use this same stat, and I think it's stupid. Ok, so in his whole career, Ben Sheets is 2-3 versus the Nats. Big freaking deal. Probably every time he faced them it was a different lineup.

I could see how this stat might matter a little if the pitcher was facing the same batters every time he faced a particular team. But when you have teams changing players more often than Madonna changes her hair color, this stat is completely irrelevant.

And while I'm bitching about sportswriters, I'll just throw this in. SPELLCHECK IS FREE!!! Use it, or for the love of Babe Ruth, have someone else read your stuff before you post it. I can't find it now, but a writer posted a story about Ken Griffey Jr. the other day, and wrote about how there was nothing left in his locker but some 'hangars.' Hangars are where airplanes are parked. Hangers are what's in your closet.

I just wanted to get that off my chest. I feel better now. Go Brewers!

UPDATE - Another prime example of lack of proof reading. Today's article about the Brett Favre trade on Yahoo! sports by Chris Jenkins stated that the Packers decided to move forward with Aaron Rodgers as their new 'starer.'

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-brettfavre&prov=ap&type=lgns

I know this is petty, but these are the kinds of things that drive me nuts!