How Cool Is This?

It's nice to see the Brewers finally getting some love! This article, as you can see, is on the front page of Yahoo this morning, as well as the sports tab, and was the featured article on Yahoo MLB yesterday. Good job Mark!

I'm Back!

A friend of mine asked me recently why I hadn't posted anything new this season. I originally started this blog so I would have somewhere to vent, and lately I haven't had anything to bitch about. Ken Macha hasn't pissed me off the way Ned used to, and our guys are playing well. (knock on wood!)

I have lots of new photos on my Facebook page if you'd like to check them out. There's trips to Cincinnatti, Arizona and San Francisco, shots from the Brewers On Deck event, and a few random fun shots.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/photos.php?id=762939661

Enjoy, and go Brewers!

Brewers On Deck

So like an idiot, I drug my butt out of bed on a beyond freezing Saturday morning to go down to the Midwest Airlines Center for Brewers On Deck, only to find that there were even bigger idiots who had been lined up since 5 am. 5 am!! In sub zero temperatures! All for a chance to pay $25 for a Ryan Braun or Trevor Hoffman autograph. Everything was set up on the third floor, and the line was already down to the first floor when I got there at 9:30. Across the first floor, across the second floor, across the skywalk and back, then across the third floor.

So I finally make it through the gate on the third floor. Just like last year, there was little to no organization, no clear demarkation in terms of where lines started and ended. Lines were jumbled all up together, and signage was minimal. Do the Brewers employ anyone with any kind of event planning experience??

I went to the food court area to get some lunch and there were, I think, four vendor windows, and some carts selling food. After waiting for 10 minutes for a burger in a line that never moved, I finally went and bought a hot dog from one of the carts. $6 for a hot dog and a canned soda. Then I went looking for somewhere to sit. There might have been 100 tables set up. There were over 10,000 people at that event, and they set up maybe 100 tables. Most of them sat four, but a couple could hold 6. So at any one time, about 450 could sit and eat. I wasn't one of them.

Next year, for the love of God, pony up some money to pay someone with event planning experience!!

Enough of the bad stuff. The coolest thing this year was was the photo stages. So instead of waiting in line for hours to get a couple of autographs, I bounced around the photo stages all day and got tons of shots with most of the guys there. You can see the album here.

So that's it for now. 69 days till Opening Day! Go Brewers!

Ryan Braun

Once again, Ryan Braun amazes me with his character. Geoff Jenkins took out a full page ad in the paper, after he left, thanking the fans of Milwaukee for all their support during his tenure here.

CC Sabathia did the same in Cleveland.

Ryan Braun just took out a full page ad on Friday thanking the fans for all their support during this season, and acknowledging that the team wouldn't have made it to the playoffs without us.

This kid, at 24, realizes that without us, they wouldn't have a job. Without us, Attanasio couldn't go out and sign Sabathia.

Nice job, Ryan. You are truly a class act.

Playoff Summary

Game 1 - Gallardo - good
Defense - garbage
Offense - garbage

Game 2- Sabathia - tired
Defense - better
Offense - still garbage

Game 3 - Bush - surprisingly very good
Defense - spectacular
Offense - patient

Game 4 - Suppan - garbage
Defense - not really needed
Offense - garbage

Bottom line - We lasted longer than the Cubs!

Update: To make things even better, it turns out that the Cubs were the only team to get swept in the first round. Yeah, no curses in Chi town!

May I Just Say...

Yum!

If all the guys look like this under their jerseys, I vote for shirts/skins games next season!

If God Likes Baseball...

If God likes baseball, then he must be a Brewers fan. The Brewers just got swept in a three game series by the Met,s, and lost only one game in the wild card standings, and no ground at all in our division.

The Phillies lost two of their three games against Washington, and St. Louis dropped two of three against Houston.

So yes it sucks that the Crew got swept at home, but the good news is that no real damage was done.

Oh, and Carlos Zambrano has 'dead arm.' Rich Harden is suspected of having arm issues, but someone on the team said he's just being rested. Yeah right. Could this be the collapse we've all been hoping for?

Fingers crossed the Brewers will turn it around tonight against San Diego. Go Brewers!

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!

??

I'm very curious as to which game Ned Yost has been watching for the last 20 minutes or so. The game I'm watching has our starting pitcher facing 10 batters in one inning, giving up 7 runs, and being allowed to continue through to the end of the inning. Why, in the sweet name of all that is holy, did Ned Yost let Suppan stay in there for so long when he was getting hit all over the place?

Oh, well they've only scored 2, we can let him finish. They've only tied it now, he can still finish. We're only one behind, he can do it. Three run homer. Shit, maybe I should have pulled him.

I just wonder if these were the thoughts going through Ned's head as we all watched Suppan melt down in that 5th inning.

This is a constant issue with Ned. He is so in love with his starting pitcher that he keeps giving them a long leash and they inevitably hang themselves. Now our offense has to make up four runs because Ned is an idiot.

At least it's only the 5th inning. There's still time. Go Brewers!

As Promised!

Finally I'm taking the time to upload some shots from Boston.

First off is Yawkey Way before the game Saturday night. The street is closed off to the public and actually becomes part of the park. Everyone is cleared off the street and the ticket turnstiles are set up right in the middle of the street. It's actually pretty cool.

Here are a couple of shots taken from my seat on Saturday night. Because of the rainout Friday night, and several college graduations Saturday night, I was able to pick up tickets to the rescheduled game for face value!

The link to the rest of the pics from Boston should be here. Go Brewers!

I'm Famous ....Again!

There is a column on Yahoo! Sports called Big League Stew, and a columnist named 'Duk. He mentioned his next stop was Miller Park and asked for tips. He used all of mine!

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/BLS-Big-Ballpark-Review-Milwaukee-s-Miller-Park?urn=mlb,92416

First the interview in Boston and now this. I'll take over Trenni's job before too long! Just kidding. Go Brewers!

Thanks Journal Radio Network!

Every time I listen to a game on the radio, I always hear about the contests in the different innings. The three bagger inning, the home run inning, Pays Big 21, etc. Listening to the game on Sunday, I thought, I really need to enter these contests. You win money or something just for being selected.

So either Sunday night or Monday morning, I can't remember which, I got online and went to Sportsbubbler.com and signed up for all the contests, including the Midwest Airlines contest. I thought they were going to give away plane tickets.

Imagine my surprise when I got a call from the Brewers Radio Network telling me that I had won the Midwest Airlines Fly Away grand prize, a trip for two to San Francisco next weekend to see the Brewers play the Giants at AT&T Park. Needless to say, everyone in the reception area of my chiropractor's office was looking at me as if I were nuts, until I squealed that I had won a trip to California.

I thought I was entering for plane tickets. I entered on the last possible day. What are the odds? So now my good friend and I are going to be spending next weekend sight seeing and watching the Brewers in San Francisco. East coast and west coast in one season. And yes, I will eventually get photos from Boston posted on here!

Our seats at the game are in section 202. Not great seats, but they are on the Club Level. I'm still debating about trying to get tickets for Friday night's game too. I doubt the Giants sell out very often!

So I just thought I would share my exciting news. Oh and how about CC Sabathia last night? He wasn't lights out, but he'll get there. Welcome to Milwaukee! Until next time, go Brewers!

What a Coincidence!

So I'm at work today, and I need a quote on some boxes for a client. I find a place in Pittsburgh that has the right size, so I give them a call. The girl who answered the phone told me that all of the salesmen were out to lunch, so she routed me to someone's voice mail. I left a message with my name and number and waited for him to call me back.

I actually just got off the phone with him. I mentioned that I was heading to Pennsylvania for the 4th, and he asked me where I lived. I told him Milwaukee and he said that he knows a guy who plays for the Brewers. It turns out this salesman, Kevin, lives in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, and grew up with Zach Jackson.

He said that he and Zach used to play ball together, and that Zach's dad coached him in high school. He also told me a little known fact about Zach, that he holds the record for home runs at his high school. He said Zach hit 36 home runs, but I couldn't find anything to corroborate this. What I did find was that Zach hit .368 in high school, with four home runs, 22 RBIs and 18 runs scored. Not bad at all.

Anything, I just thought it was interesting that of all the salesmen at this company, I get routed to the one who went to high school with Zach Jackson. What a small world!

Speaking of Pennsylvania natives, Mark DiFelice got sent back down to Nashville today to join Zach on the Sounds' bench, and Dave Bush takes on Doug Davis tonight in Arizona. Go Brewers!

Very Classy

Maybe all MLB ballparks do this when their teams play the Blue Jays, but having never seen Toronto play before last night, I don't know. Before the National Anthem, the stadium announcer asked us to rise as we honored Canada with its National Anthem, and there was a Canadian flag flying over right center field. The singer even sang the first half of "O Canada" in French. Then our National Anthem was sung and the game began.

Like I said, maybe all ballparks do this, and if they do, great, because I thought it was totally classy to honor Canada, as well as the United States. I wonder if they play both anthems before every game in Toronto?

Something to ponder. I know the Blue Jays play in Toronto, and that Toronto is in Canada, but somehow I always forget that MLB, America's pastime, has a team based in a foreign country. And while Canada is just a few hours north of us, the fact remains that it is still a foreign country. Anyway, just thought I'd share.

Until next time, go Brewers!

I Wonder...

Does anyone else think that Prince Fielder is deliberately tanking plays a la Gary Sheffield in an effort to get traded? It's quite obvious that he's got contract on the brain this season. He got his panties in a twist to start because he didn't get the money he thought he should get, and now he's playing like crap. He's regularly pulling O-fers at the plate, and his defense has been absolutely atrocious lately.

He made stupid 'mistakes' in Boston, and he's made two errors in the game against Pittsburgh tonight, even though they scored one as a hit. Watching him throw to third when he had no chance to get McClouth just got me wondering if maybe he was doing it on purpose.

On the up side, it's going to be pretty funny in the off season when he and Scott "show me the money" Boras try to go to arbitration talking about "we want $10 million" when Prince is batting .225 with 25 homers. At this point, I say last season was a fluke. Either that or his body is seriously missing the cheeseburgers.

Personally, I say trade his fat ass for some decent pitching. If he doesn't want to be here, he's not going to give it his all. He's built for the DH. He's already been mouthing off about how his time is coming and it's going to come big. So trade him to the Yankees; they like big fat paychecks. Joe Dillon can play first in the interim, and we've got Matt LaPorta coming up soon.

In my book so far this season, Fielder is the Prince of Pout. I say offer him to the first team with good pitching that starts a fire sale. I'm tired of his attitude, errors and lack of production. Ryan Braun has taken up that leadership position that Prince once filled, as well as the power production at the plate. He wants to go? Fine, don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya!

Go Brewers!

I'm Famous!

Ok, not really, but I was interviewed by Adam McCalvy before the game in Boston on Sunday.

Ryan Rocks!

I guess you have all heard that Ryan Braun has just signed an 8-year, $45 million contract with the Brewers. Holy bargain deals, Batman!! I am absolutely amazed. That is a steal. Ryan could have gotten $10-15 million a year once free agency kicked in, and he chose to take less money, and stay in Milwaukee.

This deal frees up money now to sign Prince, Corey, JJ, Rickie or Ben to long term deals. Did Ryan realize it would take a truckload of money to get Prince to stay here, and cut his own contract to make it happen? Did Ryan actually put the future of the team ahead of his own bank account?

If so, then this kid is even more amazing off the field than on. Imagine a player actually caring more about the good of the team than the state of his checkbook. For once in my life, I think I am at a loss for words. Suffice it to say that Ryan's actions have more than justified the $85 I just spent on my new "Braun" jersey. (Thought it would show up nicely on TV when I wear it in Boston on Sunday!)

Kudos to you, Ryan Braun, for bringing class and integrity back to baseball. You truly are a 'Superstar!'

When Will He Learn?

Can someone please explain to me what Ned was thinking last night, sending in Derrick Turnblow in a tie game, in the 9th inning, against the Cardinals?? Is he seriously smoking crack? He said after the game, when asked why he sent Turnblow in, "He's an All-Star pitcher."

No, Ned, he was an All-Star pitcher. Lately, all he's good for is mop up duty. Why not send in Riske? He hasn't pitched since Friday and is much more reliable than Derrick. Or Torres? Yes he pitched yesterday, but he's a sinkerball pitcher, so it's almost better for him to be over used. When his arm is 'tired,' he gets more sink on his pitches and pitches better. Why not leave in Shouse, or Mota, or use any of the other 34 pitchers we have in the bullpen?? In that situation, absolutely needing to win that game, Derrick was probably the absolute worst choice.

So now the freaking Cubs are in first and we're two games back, instead of only a half game. And I know it's only April, but the farther back we get, the more games we have to win in the long run. We need to stay close all season if we're going to seriously make a run for the division.

The only good thing about the fact that we're not playing great, is that this is how the Cubs got started last season and they won the division. (I just threw up in my mouth a little bit having to type that.)

Ok one other good thing is that the guys are battling back and winning some games coming from behind, not just laying down and giving up. It's encouraging to see timely hitting and smart baserunning.

Now if only Prince and Ryan would start hitting like they need to be maybe we can start kicking some butt and winning ball games! Oh, and if Ben Sheets could possibly man up and stop being such a pussy!

Today's your day, Manny. Get out there and show those Redbirds what you can do! Until next time, go Brewers! (and go Mets! - they're playing the Cubs!)