Jim Edmonds: Just Brings It

I remember when the Milwaukee Brewers' signed Jim Edmonds.  I talked to a variety of my buddies and we were all really excited for the signings.  The reason was because he always hit the ball well at Miller Park plus he seemed like a class act. 

He had a great Spring Training and earned himself a starting spot on Opening Day with the struggles of Corey Hart.  Edmonds looked okay throughout the first couple of months but nothing special, just a bench player who hit the ball once in awhile.  He went on the disabled list for awhile and guys like Eric started to be very negative about him.  I think he said something like 'of course now that he is on the Brewers, he struggles.' I don't blame with the example of Jeff Suppan.  But ever since the All Star Break, Edmonds has been on fire.

He is seeing the ball like he is 28, making those Gold Glove catches that we all remember, and as he announced his retirement on Saturday, he said he was going out with a bang.  Forget the fact that Edmonds is banged up with an Achilles injury but he pulled a Russell Branyan tonight who just came in to hit a home run Monday night. Even with the bum Achilles, Edmonds continues to rake in any way he can.  In addition, everyone has got behind him and is one of the fan favorites of the 2010 season.

As he rides into the sunset like Solomon Torres and others did after a successful final year with the Brewers, I would like to personally thank Edmonds for bringing it every day even when some of the team doesn't. I believe some day he will be an excellent baseball coach and could be valuable for an organization.

The Expected Rant

Are the Milwaukee Brewers the most unwatchable team in Major League Baseball? 

People would probably say no because of teams like the Arizona Diamondbacks, Baltimore Orioles, and the Pittsburgh Pirates but here me out on this one.  The Brewers are like the hot girl at school who always wear sweatpants and a hoodie on most days never showing off their true assets that God gave them.  Then there are those stretches where she actually looks hot and turns heads.  That is exactly what the Milwaukee Brewers do to their fans.  For the most part, we are an underachieving team but there are those instances where the Crew appears they can make the playoffs.   

Right now, we look like the girl who added 15 pounds from her first year of college, just ugly, unattractive, nothing like we were two years ago.  The Brewers' starters have given up 10 runs in their last three of four starts, which is something that has only happened one other time (1937!) and nobody can just flat out say "Look we suck right now."  The worst part about this was reading about how Randy Wolf who leads the league in runs allowed, walks, and tied for home runs given up (29 million right there boys!) says he would rather be out there than murder the bullpen. Yeah that sounds about as good as herpes, let's keep a guy out there who is hanging curveballs and let's really get our asses kicked instead of trying to salvage a game. Good thoughts all around.

 Everyone is just stroking everybody else's egos in that clubhouse with nobody wanting to be the asshole as my dad said last night. No one (Macha/Melvin/Attanasio) in the management has ripped this team like they need to. All we can resort to is hearing on the various sports talk radio shows about how angry the fans are right now on this team.

Why are we angry?  Let's see forget about the stuff above but how about designating a guy like Lorenzo Cain who has the chance to outplay Carlos Gomez who is Willie 'Mays' Hayes from Major League II when he is up on the plate.  I mean it's understandable but what about cutting our ties with somebody else? I mean I get Cain will get everyday playing time down there but he still could get some experience up here. I have a feeling we will see him again soon because Jim Edmonds' Achilles seems like it's more of a problem than it needs to be. 

Another reason why there is anger from the fans is the fact Manny Parra gets more chances than a cheating boyfriend.  Chris Capuano pitched his ass off on Monday night and has been the only bright spot this week, therefore it makes the most sense to send him back to the bullpen.  What is going with this team, every move feels like the wrong one and I believe most of us are fed up with the Brewers' decision making right now.  Parra still in the rotation after multiple bad starts in the month of July doesn't make any sense to me at least. 

They better hope Yovani Gallardo can give them a great performance because if not, ruuuut rooh. Big time changes will be coming on Friday before the home stand. I have no idea what they will be but I have a feeling there will be a Black Friday just as there was a Black Wednesday last season.  But knowing the Brewers, they will prolong this until it really gets out of hand. 

-Charlie.  

6. Brewers At The Break

Today when you watched the All Star Game and see that your Milwaukee Brewers have the two corner outfielders starting for the National League, you have to figure the team has to be at least be .500 or maybe even better.  Nope. They are nine games under .500 and need a remarkable second half to get to the playoffs.

It has been a frustrating season but there are some bright spots like Corey Hart. A player whose jersey I had in 2007 and loved him as a player because he could pretty much do it all. In addition, I tried my best not to give up on him but I did take a lot of shit to the point, I couldn't wear my jersey out in public. I didn't feel like having to defend and I really couldn't say anything positive about him. I am glad I can now wear it with pride and glory. 

Another player that has a great season is John Axford. A guy everyone seemed to fall in love with because of his tremendous mustache including myself because I understand a good stache.  Then when the Crew was losing 10 straight games, Ken Macha decided to throw out Axford for shits and giggles in the 9th inning to close out a game against the Pirates. Now, he is our closer and has been a great one since that time. I hope the Ax man can keep it up for the rest of the season. 

I mean sure it's great Prince Fielder has a bunch of homers, Rickie Weeks is doing well, before the DL Yovani Gallardo made a name for himself, and Casey McGehee isn't suffering the sophomore slump.  Notice, most has been about the offense, the pitching has been the cause for concern and the reason why ball games have been lost at an alarming rate.

Pitching was a problem last season as well when the Brewers finished a disappointing .500.  This led to Doug Melvin busting out the wallet to get Doug Davis and Randy Wolf, which worked out about as good as the Bay of Pigs. Wolf has been alright but he hasn't been a game changer for the Brewers, which I thought he would be. But it's the classic thing about getting excited about a signing your team makes when you probably should just take it for what it is. I was never excited about Davis, I felt we could have done better like the time you see your buddy dating a 4. Granted, he did pitch well in his last start and hopefully he will showcase his talents in the coming weeks for the trade deadline because I would rather see Manny Parra/Chris Narveson than Davis. 

The back end of the bullpen is the reason why we are nine games under .500. If we had cut the cord with Trevor Hoffman earlier in the year, we might not be where we are today.  The Crew have a stunning 11 blown saves already, which is extremely high for this time of the year. I expect about five or six games by now to go wrong in the 9th or later but eleven? They could be right in the thick of things if they stayed the course. I mean when people at the Clubhouse and Twitter joked about how Trevor Hoffman could have cost the National League the game tonight.

I have no idea what will happened in the months of July, August, and September yet I am guessing it will not be how we all want it.  Either Hart or Fielder will be gone by July 31st plus the Brewers will keep hanging around third through fifth unless of an amazing second half run.

-Charlie.

White Towel Has Been Waved.

I just want to let everyone know before they read these next two posts that I am very angry and probably will say some things that I regret yet I do not care.  And if you think I sound like prick then you are probably right, just in a bad mood about the world of sports right now.  First, we will start with the Milwaukee Brewers.

A team who has scored 3 runs in the last three games, has kicked the ball around like a Little League team, replaced their All-Star ace with Doug Davis, in the series against San Francisco they have went a masterful 0-16 with runners in scoring position, and they face Tim Linecum tomorrow night. Fuck me right?  

They have fallen to 10 games under .500 and the team who looked so good in a three game sweep against the Minnesota Twins is ready for the bottom to fall out.  They are the most frustrating team in baseball this year and maybe in history, one week we will have pitching and no hitting/defense, then the next week we tear the cover off the ball with no pitching and probably a leaky bullpen. I really believed after Seattle series that the Brewers had turned the corner and even after a split in St. Louis I saw some promise. 

Then the unclutch skills of the team came out to play.  My dad calls them a bunch of gaggers (not like Sasha Grey) because he feels none of them want to rise to occasion.  He doesn't think they want to be 'that guy' and hope that 'other people step up'.  I tried for a long time to dismiss this theory but it keeps happening where the Crew cannot advance a runner who begins on second base with a leadoff double.   I cannot understand it.

I will admit my knee jerk reaction for the Brewers to fire Ken Macha in May was the wrong one because I haven't seen enough bad baseball to say he deserves to be fired.  I don't know anymore, I believe a commenter or a buddy mine talked about how it was more Doug Melvin than anybody else.  I have trouble with that one because he has done so many good things but could it be the Major League Baseball version of the Detroit Pistons where the little guy leaves (Jack Z./John Hammond) and the boss falls apart without him? I need more time for that one.

So yes I am done thinking this team will get to the playoffs and accept the fact that this isn't our season. I also accept that Prince Fielder, Corey Hart and others might get dealt. I hope not but I understand if it happens. Look at this way, you can all print this out if something great happens in the next three months and prove me wrong...

But I doubt it.

-Charlie.

Bucks Here To Win Now

I talked about being pumped for the NBA Offseason and it basically was for the LeBron extravaganza but also it had something to do with the Milwaukee Bucks. I wanted to see what the Executive of the Year was going to do.  He has made an impact and it appears to make a dent in the Eastern Conference. On day 1 of the NBA Offseason, they signed Drew Gooden and John Salmons, I couldn't be happier.

While five years for both is a lot, these are two players that are in their late 20s that want to win now and know the Bucks started something last season with their sixth place finish in the Eastern Conference.  Both of these players get that the Deer have a fan base coming back and people that will support them like they wouldn't believe.  So with these two signings and the other stuff that Hammond has done, is it fair to call the Bucks a top four team in the Eastern Conference?

Sure we have to wait to see what all the free agents do this summer, but if you look at their starting lineup with Jennings-Salmons-Maggette-Gooden-Bogut that equates to four guys who can get 20 on any given night and two guys who can definitely get 10 boards a game.  Then you look at their bench, Mbah-Moute, Douglas-Roberts, Ilyasova, Sanders, and there are more players after that.  The Bucks all the sudden have a deep bench with a bunch of guys who can score plus they all have good size making them deep inside, which was something we needed last season. 

The other thing that speaks volumes about the two early signings from two veterans, I believe the entire team really loves what Scott Skiles preaches and his bulldog demeanor works for this group of players. The reputation on Skiles is that everyone gets tired of him by about the third or fourth year, and with players willingly knowing what they are signing on for, it shows they want to make a deep run in the playoffs. If you need proof, read the Journal's piece on Brandon Jennings where he talks about Corey Maggette talking to him about work outs and that he loves that Sanders can run the floor.  Jennings appears to be 10 years older than he really is.

Trust me, just like last season you will want to Fear the Deer and trust me, it will be with homecourt advantage in the playoffs.  The Bucks are ready to make their leap. 

-Charlie.

How to Solve a Pitching Log Jam

I wrote last week about how the Milwaukee Brewers recent home stand was the biggest part of the year so far and they have risen up to the occasion. Now with one pitcher hanging out in Nashville awaiting his fate, the Brewers can officially say they are in a logjam.

I think the Crew is happy with the team they have right now and really do not want to ruin the chemistry especially when they have won the last six of seven playing their best baseball.  They are hitting with runners in scoring positions, the pitchers are making it past the fifth inning, and the bullpen is rock solid. I don't think any of us expect this at the beginning of June, and now I am beginning to read that the Brewers might even be buyers during the trading deadline.  What kind of alternate world am I living in right now?  A team that still is seven games under is going to be a buyer?

That tells me the Brewers believe the turn is being made and now the question remains what will they do about their starting staff with Doug Davis ready to come back?  My dad's theory was the Crew is keeping Davis down there as long as possible because they are trying to work out a trade. I tend to agree that might want to deal Davis but no one is safe right now amongst the lefties. Dave Bush is probably safe because he is the lone righty other than Yovani Gallardo who we all know is safe. I will be level five pissed if Davis is immediately inserted into the rotation because Ken Macha says 'the players make the lineup' and if that's the case, Davis doesn't deserve to start.  My plead to management is they learned from the Jeff Suppan mistake that they shouldn't reward pitchers with a start just because they have a larger contract than a guy like Chris Narveson or Manny Parra.

Both of those guys belong in the rotation due to their great performance. I personally love that Manny had 5 wild pitches, why?  He is throwing his splitter with confidence, something that he has never done before. So far this month, we haven't seen Manny lose his shit as he has done in the past.  Narveson just gave his best performance of his career and with a big start against St. Louis this weekend, he can really make a name for himself.  Like Parra, Narverson's confidence is getting higher and higher by each start.  No reason why they should ruin confidence of two young pitchers. 

The Brewers have had to make these decisions before and usually they have been the wrong choice.  Please do not let it happen again because that turn you think is happening will hit a stone wall.

-Charlie.

The Time Is Now.

The Milwaukee Brewers are coming off a 3-3 road trip on the West Coast, which usually would mean I am optimistic for the next couple of weeks because we tend to be turrible out west and the road is always an adventure.  Sadly, I have the same feeling I did Friday morning when Mali dicked the US worse than offshore banking.. 'I really like being .500 but damn they are better than that.'  The Crew could have won 5 out of 6 with the way they played this week. But the first bullpen blow up in awhile, and no timely hitting led to a couple defeats in Denver.

Starting Tuesday night, the Brewers begin 16 games at home out of the next 20 and if they want to put themselves back in the playoff race, this is when it needs to happen.  Let's remember that the Brewers have been much improved at home compared to the beginning of the year.  The other thing that is encouraging is the Brewers face a couple teams that are very beatable.  The beginning series against Minnesota is the biggest one. They get two out of three against a good team, the ball will get rolling and maybe start making a push.

People probably reading this believe that I am drinking the ultra-optimistic 'Tim Allen Kool-aid' but if the Crew cannot garner a series win against the Seattle Mariners, Houston Astros, or the Pittsburgh Pirates then we are just a bad team that I will accept. But cue up the #1 overplayed 80s bar song, Don't Stop Believin' in this team for the reason that haunted our nightmares like Rosie O'Donnell in a thong, pitching.

The Brewers have either started smoking more of Ric Peterson's weed or just completely ignore him, no in between from that but they are locked in.  Chris Narveson is struggling a bit but I feel if someone can get figure out his early inning problems he will be good. Manny Parra's 1-5 record is agerious with the way he has pitched in the month of June and Yovani Gallardo has developed into the ace pitcher we all wanted. This team couldn't be pitching better and if our hitting comes around a bit more the Brewers become so dangerous.

Our buddy Jon over at Brewers Daily hinted at bringing up Mat Gamel who is T.J. Lavin-style killing it and giving the slumping Casey McGehee some time off. I think this is an excellent idea but in the mean time, I wouldn't mind seeing Jonathan Lucroy in the two spot and moving Corey Hart down to the 5th spot, maybe even send Prince Fielder to that 5th spot. Then McGehee bats six, I think the pressure of getting the big hit might be off of him somewhat.  In addition, I am willing to bet Alcedes Escobar has a huge finish leading to the All Star Break, I can tell he is seeing the ball as good as he ever has and could become a real threat. 

Tuesday will begin the biggest 20 game stretch for the Brewers and I didn't even mention the big weekend series with the St. Louis Cardinals on the road. The Crew could do some real damage and hope they do so I can invite everyone back on the Brewer bandwagon.

-Charlie.

Why Do This To Me?

I am not kidding you if I had time or diligence today, I would have told you that I was ready to start re-building the Milwaukee Brewers and after listening on the radio about the same thing, I bought in even more. Then I discussed it with my dad and told him I am not ready to let go of this pipe dream because I invested so much in this team and after the Casey McGehee walk-off base hit against Carlos Marmol, there is a sense of belief in me.

The last three games I have seen the Brewers lose in 11, which they fought back after being down 4-1 quicker than Hank Moody can get a girl into bed, then the bullpen bails out the team winning 4-3 in extras with a big sac fly from Corey Hart, and tonight, the walk-off winner.  Tell me, you aren't started to buy into the fact that this might be the run we've been waiting for. 

I hate to play 'what if' but let's say the Brewers cut Jeff Suppan before the New York Mets series, do the Brewers lose the final game of that series?  Who knows, I mean Zach Braddock still blew up in the 9th inning and then the Brewers' bullpen once again blew up in the first two Florida games. Since they went 5-1, they had two games where I could admit they flat out lost the game (Josh Johnson and Adam Wainwright) but other than that, they have been close yet one part isn't working. 

The other reason why I feel this sense of optimism is because the Brewers are winning ugly. They aren't hitting the ball that well right now, okay that's fine we win two straight games with good pitching and timely hits. I know it's insane to be this excited about a two-game winning streak and Carlos Zambrano could end up pitching a gem that would send us in another tailspin, but can't a guy dream?  

I want to believe the last two nights were the beginning of a special summer for all of us as Brewer fans where we are glued to every moment.  Sadly, this isn't Entourage where everything works out at the end and the Brewers end up prevailing. But we aren't even half way in this marathon of a season and something tells me... the Brewers aren't dead.

-Charlie.

The Soup is Off The Stove

A movie has came out recently titled the Human Centipede where an evil doctor does some pretty gruesome grizzly stuff to people where I think I couldn't handle watching it the whole way through. There are some horror movies that are like that where there is just too much gore to handle for one person and they must shut it off. Brewer fans feel like they are in that kind of horror movie when they watched Jeff Suppan pitch in the last couple of years and today he was released by the club.

Suppan signed a big Christmas day deal and I remember being fairly excited for the deal. Suppan had just came off an excellent performance in the 2006 MLB Playoffs and he seemed to have the leadership we needed at the time.  I wish Santa would have slapped me in the face to remind me that it indeed was Jeff Suppan not Nolan Ryan.  To take a look at what Suppan did for the Crew in his years, his stats say it all...

Not once did Suppan have an ERA below 4.50, I can understand being in the fours with how people hit the ball but 4.5?  That is not even giving your team a chance to win.  Not to mention, Suppan gave up over 200 hits and 100 runs in his three full seasons with the team.  Therefore you get the high ERA but still, just unacceptable numbers for a guy who got over 40 million dollars. The one thing I am happy about is Doug Melvin and Mark Attanasio admitted his mistake and moved on from it because it took awhile to finally own up that we made a mistake bringing this guy in.

Granted it took awhile, Suppan started over 30 games for the team in three years and not once did he get regulated to the bullpen even though he had above a 4.5 ERA going for him.   Soup needed to be benched last season but the Crew were too hasty to admit fault for their actions especially after they swallowed Bill Hall's enormous contract like Jenna Jameson. Soup never deserved to be out there after his 10 run disaster against Washington. Yes, he did go on the DL with a phantom injury but we all know they needed that opportunity to do that so he wasn't a part of their rotation. At least, this year they realized Soup wasn't heading anywhere and only gave him two chances to start.

The beginning of all of it, they gave Suppan the role of the garbage reliever and actually he didn't do a terrible job at it.  Then, Ken Macha felt more comfortable with putting Suppan into different relief roles and that's when the wheels came off.  I cannot blame Macha for this because he thought Soup had got it together and maybe became a reliable arm out of the bullpen.

Finally, I do want to thank Soup for being a class act. I know we rip on you a lot Jeff but trust me, it's not you, it's the contract.

-Charlie.

It's About That Time.

Dan Patrick does something on 1250 AM WSSP where he gives his two cents on some thing and today, he was talking about successful small market teams so far this season and compared the Major League Baseball season as a three act play and June 1st is the start of Act II.  Maybe, that will be a good thing for the Brewers this season but my expectations are low.

I am starting to talk myself into the fact that the Brewers just aren't a good team and that I shouldn't expect this team to go off on a 10 game winning streak or win something crazy like 14 out of 16.  I want that to happen and there were times these first two months I believed that would actually happen. Any optimistic Brewer fan believed that they could make a run and putting themselves back into the NL Central race. 

Currently, they have the NL league leader in RBI (Casey McGehee) even though thats becoming an irrelevant stat, still shows how much production the Brewers are putting on the base pads. Also they have the NL league leader in triples (Alcides Escobar) and home runs (Corey Hart).  I think if you looked at the offensive stats, people would believe the Brewers are in the NL Central mix. But sadly, they have no pitching and things will probably not get better.

I tried to think of a team they remind me of and all I could think of is the 2008 Green Bay Packers who could score a ton of points but their defense couldn't stop anyone partly due to the monumental amount of injuries.  Thankfully, they fixed the next year and got to the playoffs making a four win turnaround with heighten expectations for this upcoming year. The Brewers aren't dead just yet but can they really win ball games with three starters that have above 4.50 ERAs and the real disturbing thing is the Crew only has four guys who are under four.  I know that if you don't have pitching, you won't win many ball games, simple as that.  I have no idea how I would fix it and who knows maybe Chris Capuano lights a fire, baseball is a crazy game sometimes.

In January, I buried the Marquette Golden Eagles and they made an unreal run where they figured everything out putting together one of the more incredible seasons I have seen. Looking at their schedule, it's pretty daunting but they just need to keep winning series. The focus shouldn't be the top, just getting to third first by playing better than the Chicago Cubs.  If we as fans think of smaller goals and be more supportive (minus Jeff Suppan), it makes things easier.

This team isn't dead but the expectations have been lower.  Now it's the Brewers turn to raise the bar again by having a great June. Only time will tell if things will improved but you bet I will watch every game with hopes of a win.  

-Charlie.

Wearing My Sunglasses At Night Again

Nothing bothers me more than at a professional sporting event where people wear jerseys of guys who aren't on the team or they suck that bad, almost like it's embarrassing to wear the jersey.  After the month of April, I thought that was going to happen to my retro Corey Hart jersey.  Like the LeBron thing, I finally bought in that maybe Hart wasn't the same player as the guy who got to the All Star Game.  Now, the last three weeks have been awesome for all the Hart fans as he has went off like never before.

He is currently leading the National League in home runs with 13 and he is doing it in ways to assist his team such as the walk-off he had Friday night and the first inning Grand Slam on Saturday night. As my buddy Doz texts me "Your jersey keeps looker better and better by each day."  I couldn't agree more and the next chance I get I am wearing my Hart jersey out to show support for him. The guy deserves it from his believers.

Let me take you back to April where everyone wanted him to be shipped out of Milwaukee after a horrendous Spring Training and people were already pissed at him for winning 5 million in arbitration.  The fans jumped on him faster than three fat girls fighting for the last couple Twinkies.  Now, Hart got a standing ovation from the fans on Saturday night before hitting his grand slam. It's fair to say that everyone is on his bandwagon again and hoping for big results from him the rest of the year.

I still think that the jersey might get retired either in July or December.  I mean right now Hart could be a valuable assist to trade if the Brewers are still struggling and it appears they will not make the playoffs.  Then I believe he is a free agent, and if the Crew inks Prince Fielder then there will likely be no money left for Hart. This worries me as a fan but I understand that baseball is a business, sometimes your favorite player will not be back to the team. But I hope that Hart stays as long as he can so I can keep wearing that #1 proudly.

-Charlie.

Happy for Cappy

The Brewers blog announced today that the Brewers will purchase the contract of Chris Capuano who has been fighting a long battle with Tommy John Surgery and is now finally back in the big leagues. I couldn't be happier because Cappy really did seem like a class act and has really fought when nobody really believe he would be in a Brewer uniform.  Now this raises two questions...

1.) Does he start?- I will go with a solid maybe. I think it might be a big hasty to throw him to the wolves right away therefore possibly taking the place of Marco Estrada who pitches after Manny Parra's three or four innings of work would make more sense for the start at least. I think if he does well in the first two weeks, you could see him starting in Parra's place. One commenter on the Brewers Blog mentioned taking Chris Narverson's spot but I really don't see why that is necessary. I think Narverson has done a good job in the starting role and it's been proven he really isn't that great in the bullpen.

2.) Who Leaves?- In a perfect world, it would be Jeff Suppan. But honestly, that cannot happen. We already have the Bill Hall Contract on our hands, and the Crew doesn't need to have two useless contracts when they are trying to sign Prince this summer or fall. I would like to see them send Claudio Vargas to waivers because it's starting to feel just like the last time around with him, just does enough to get by and it usually doesn't satisfy the Brewers needs. Right now, the Crew has a good thing going winning the last four of five and maybe the infusion of young talent is giving this team some chemistry it desperately needed. I think getting rid of Vargas is the ultimate solution.

The one thing I hope Brian Anderson brings back when Capuano takes the mound is discuss feverishly about Capuano's great pick off because I miss hearing about it.  Good for you Cappy.

-Charlie.

It's About That Time Ken.

No matter what happen today in the Brewer game, I was planning on writing something because going 1-5 or 0-6 is godawful at home and really should never happen.  But now the Milwaukee Brewers go from winning five of six and now lose six straight at home nonetheless.  The Crew are currently 4-14 at home, which is something you cannot have in a year you want the fans to come in droves so more money is available for Prince Fielder in the coming off-season.  A message needs to be sent and that message is firing Ken Macha.

I think you cannot tell me why this man deserves his job right now. This team is underachieving big time and I really do not think it is all the players fault.  Macha's horrible job at the lineup, which was still producing but not having Alcides Escobar in a position to steal bases is ridiculous.  Further having Gregg Zaun hitting six is like asking for an out.  When Arizona intentionally walked Casey McGehee to get to our six hitter than should be a clear sign to Ken. Not to mention, does Zaun suffer some of the blame here? What's there to prove that he calls a great game and maybe it's not a coincidence that Randy Wolf hasn't had a bad start with Kottaras back there.  The offense is just the tip of the iceberg of problems, the majority of their Titantic-size iceberg is pitching.

Macha decision making with the pitching has been more than puzzling.  The starters have been decent for the most part but Doug Davis has been less than stellar plus Jeff Suppan should have never started. He showed time and time again last year that he just doesn't have it to start a game and I swear to Uecker if he takes Davis' spot in the rotation, I will be really pissed.  (Checked, it's Manny Parra... I am in between on that one). I think the starters can stop nibbling and just throw pitches plus get good defense they can start stringing together longer starts.  

 He seems to trot out a laughable bunch of pitchers back-to-back and they led to more runs coming in. For example, a couple weeks ago he went with Claudio Vargas (8.04 ERA), Jeff Suppan (6.20 ERA), and LaTroy Hawkins (9.26 ERA).  Hawkins was the only one who let in any runs but still that is asking for trouble.  Right now, Todd Coffey and Carlos Villanueva are the best relievers right now plus they are durable guys who can pitch multiple games. If I were Macha, I would try my best to throw one of those guys out every day, that needs to happen without any question.  By no means, am I throwing Suppan/John Axford/Mitch Stetter/Vargas all together. I like Stetter for the left-handed role to get the job done, but he isn't guy I am recommending for an entire inning. In addition, I cannot make out whether Trevor Hoffman can close anymore, probably not but there is no one on our team right now could close. 

Since the Brewers didn't fire Macha today, I think he has been given a vote of confidence for the road series to see what happens. I think there is a good chance that Macha could be gone if the Crew get swept in Cincinnati especially if the Brewers put up an awful effort in a park they have good success. If Macha goes around 4-3 or better he will be there for the home series against Houston Astros/New York Mets.  The only reason I called for his ousting is because all you have to look at is the Colorado Rockies of last year around the same record, fire their manager and hired an experienced intern manager (Jim Tracy), then resulted in the NLCS.  The Brewers probably won't get there but who knows, the NL Central is wide open right now and the Crew need to find a way to capitalize. 

-Charlie.

The Milwaukee Brewers: The Cheating Husband of Baseball

Just when you think you can write something positive about the Milwaukee Brewers, they come back and get swept by the Atlanta Braves. Not to mention, Ryan Braun got hurt in game one but that still doesn’t excuse the fact the pitching staff decided to lay a stink bomb in the form of Manny Parra and Carlos Villanueva. I cannot understand how the pitching staff could give up five or more runs in three straight games to a team who is 14th in batting and an awful road team. As I did with Marquette in the middle of the season, I cannot put too much stock in the Brewers because they always seem to let me down. 

Can someone give me another reason to go Miller Park other than enjoying a tailgate and a couple beers?  I mean the Crew right now are the worst team at home so far this season.  They have played good teams at home but still that doesn't excuse putting a bad performance at home. If you are still reading, my title can be explain perfectly from my recent watching stint of the Sopranos... When the Crew is with their mistress (on the road) they play pretty well and seem to loose out there. But when they are back with their wife (the fans) the team looks tired, disinterested, and have no desire to be there. In addition, this is the same thing that happened with Tony Soprano when he is with his Russian mistress he doesn't have a care in the world and then at home he just seems pissed all the time ready to whack somebody on sight.   

Also I am starting to lose faith in Ken Macha. I am not saying I am ready to call for his head but some decisions he has made in the past couple of days makes it appear that Macha might pulling a Griffey Jr. and sleeping in the clubhouse between innings.  I already discussed the decision to bring in Parra on Monday, and then on Wednesday, the Brewers had a big inning started in the six inning, already run in (2-1 ATL) and runners on first and second.  Prince Fielder flies out again which has become natural occurrence for the big fella, then Casey McGehee comes out who is the hottest Brewer right now comes to plate....

In what way would it be a good idea to steal Jody Gerut to third?  I could understand maybe if Gregg Zaun/Corey Hart/Alcides Escobar, but McGehee?!  This guy has hit everything in sight in the past week and is really hitting the ball.  After sending Gerut who is called out, the Brewers had two outs and wouldn't you know McGehee drives in the lone run on the base with a deep double.  I understand Macha trying to create offense but it makes no sense when the middle of the order is up to the plate. 

My confidence level for the Brewers against the Phillies this weekend: 3.  The Phils always have our number and seem to dominate us every time they play the Crew.  I expect 1-2 or even a sweep leaving them with a pathetic home stand.  I wish I had listened to the anonymous commenter who told me the Brewers finish no better than fourth, I had too much faith and now I have none.

-Charlie.

Momentum Guides the Brewers

I am still going to write something nice about the Milwaukee Brewers after they came off a sweep to only get blown out last night because I even know better not to put Manny Parra in a bases loaded situation. That's like picking on a guy three times your size, you are just asking for it.   Anyways, I believe that I have figured out what drives the Brewers this season, it's not Prince Fielder like I said last week rather it's a little thing I like to call momentum. 

I know that seems like an easy answer, but really except for the 3-2 victory Saturday night when have you seen the Crew grit a game out?  They don't.  Simply put, I will head to beautiful Miller Park in the end of May hoping that I see Bernie Brewer sliding down a bunch of times and a crooked number on the scoreboard.  I doubt I will come to the ball park and see a pitcher's duel, this doesn't appear to be that kind of team.  There is a lot of guys who deserve credit for playing well and I think even with the next five being brutal, the Crew could find themselves above .500. 

The momentum thing is pretty obvious if you ask me.  The Brewers have put up 10-plus runs more than anyone else in the major leagues right now and it appears that when one person starts hitting everybody does. I mean the first two games of the Los Angeles series were clear indications of that and the second Arizona game also showed what one player can do to power the team (see Jody Gerut who wins the "Most Unlikely Brewer to Hit for the Cycle Award.").  The whole momentum thing basically was my point about Fielder last week, once he starts really hitting the ball and not just the occasional homer (hit two in six games, promising! haha) the Brewers will become really good. But it's not just the hitting, the pitching seems to be settling in.

Doug Davis had a pretty solid performance last night, which makes a second straight start that DD has looked good in.  Yes, he did hit a "Dave Bush Wall" in sixth but the Rickie Weeks' error had a lot to do with that inning continuing the way it did.  Like I said before, the decision to bring Parra in was mesmerizing and the wrong one at that.  The way Davis is pitching gives me hope that the Crew can get things going in the right direction. 

Another guy who deserves a ton of credit for his work on the mound is Chris Narveson. He has done work so far replacing Jeff Suppan and a guy who definitely has a bright future.  Narveson seems to be the kind of guy who gets into a groove and once he is there, no one is touching him.  I would also add that if he doesn't find that groove, things turn ugly quick.  We saw that once this year in the first inning of his first start, which Bill 'the Rock' Schroeder has reminded us a million times about already.  I do wonder what might happen in two months when teams start to have a book on him though, could be a different story. 

Who knows, I sounded down and out about the Brewers who then rattled off five out of six games to prove me wrong therefore they might lose that same amount just to spite me.  Whatever the case may be, I still believe in a good Brewer season.

-Charlie.

Prince Needs to Shoulder Some Blame

Tom Hardicourt, the Brewer beat writer and an absolute must follow on Twitter if you are a fan of the Crew pointed out that the Brewers have scored 128 runs, but half of those runs have been scored in 5 games. If you are not a math major, take away those five games and the Brewers are averaging 3.2 runs. I think the biggest reason why the offense and maybe the pitching is to is Prince Fielder.

Let's take a look at Prince Fielder's stats this year.  .234 BA 2 HR 9 RBI for the month of April.  That is a huge fat rut-roh.  I mean I understand that Fielder is a slow starter and when it's all the chips are down in September, he will be probably end up something like .275 35-43 HR 100+ RBI.  So in no way thing this is a post to diss Fielder, rather I am just making the point that this team will not win without Fielder hitting the baseball. 

People can bitch all they want about the pitching staff and the horrible numbers thrown up by the starters plus the four wins that Trevor Hoffman surrendered (cannot blame anyone else about those).  But I believe that pitchers are at their best when they are getting run support, only the true aces of Major League Baseball can do the 2-1 1-0 games like its their job. Doug Davis, Randy Wolf and others try too hard when they are involved in tight games and it leads to bad things.

Baseball is a funny sport where you need more than one player to carry a team but at the same time, Fielder's performance has been known to propel the team.  To bust out the advanced stats, Fielder's Wins Above Replacement (WAR) meaning how many wins is Fielder's play worth.  5.1 in 2007, 2.8 in 2008, and an all-time high 6.8 for Fielder. I believe the team sees Prince as a leader and when he does well, it somehow inspires the team to play better.

The Crew sits at 10-15 right now and we all agreed that the beginning of the schedule would be tough.  I would say like to see the Brewers try to take the series from either the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Arizona Diamondbacks. I do not expect both but if the Crew could gain some momentum heading into a six game home stand, it could be a sign of good things.

-Charlie.

Trying Not To Get Too Excited

I would really like to believe that the Milwaukee Brewers will keep this hot hitting and dominate this weekend against the listless Chicago Cubs.  But I feel like I am falling in a trap if I believe that the Brewers will do well this weekend.  The reason?  Well it's pretty simple when you throw Jeff Suppan and Doug Davis back-to-back, I really cannot see it turning out well, the pitching matchups for the weekend...

Friday: Ryan Dempster vs. Jeff Suppan
Saturday: Ted Lilly vs. Doug Davis (Slow left-handed pitchers rejoice!)
Sunday: Randy Wells vs. Dave Bush

The Brewers will probably need to put up 7 to 9 runs on Friday and Saturday to win those games.  Which I do not doubtr the Brewers can do this, but it's hard to believe that the Brewers will continue to kill the baseball.  I mean everyone is hitting... Weeks/Gomez/Edmonds/Hart/Escobar to name a few and especially, Ryan Braun.

Usually, Braun is a guy who gets going come May and he really goes off for a couple months thus the reason why the Brewers have struggled in the past couple years in April.  But Braun has found his stroke already, and it's beautiful.  He is playing so well, and is T.J. Lavin level of killing it. I expect him to go on a cold streak some time in the middle of May but right now, it's scary time to face Braun. 

The two positives that can be taken away from this series is Ted Lilly is making his first start of the season so you never really know what you are going to get from the first start. I believe Lilly's numbers against the Brewers is pretty good but with the way Braun is hitting, he might hit three homers off his candy ass.  The other is I smell a Carlos Zambrano meltdown because if you didn't hear, he is going to the bullpen.  Fantastic news, I expect him to struggle there this weekend with the rowdy crowd tonight or tomorrow.  Cubs fans and the Brewers can both boo him mercifully this weekend... fun times.

Brewers-Cubs series are a ton of debauchery and a lot of drunken fights.  Add in a  "Fuck the Cubbies" and other chants that are pretty sweet.  But when it's on the weekend, all of these things get amplified about ten-fold.  Add to the fact, the Brewers are hitting the ball well the crowds will be on full tilt.  It should be an exciting weekend. 

-Charlie.

Where Did the Old Times Go?

Last night before I headed to bed, I checked my Facebook and see the Daily Dose's main man Mitch say that he heard boos for Trevor Hoffman tonight who blew his second save in as many days. I understand why some Brewer fans would be upset but I cannot believe how early the boobirds have started.  The new Brewer fan base shouldn't be known as loyal rather a bunch of over reactors.

I am not talking about the guys who have seen many games at County Stadium when the likes of Ricky Bones, Matt Mieske, Dave Nilsson, and Jamie Narravo to name a few where trotted out and there was a beer mug for Bernie Brewer.  I and others my age endured many years of shitty baseball yet we still stood by our team. Even into Miller Park in the first couple years, the Crew struggled and people like my friends and I would just go on a whim to get tickets because we knew they would be available on any night plus all we wanted to do is watch baseball.  Those days are gone, and so are seeing the Brewers as the awkward kid in our professional family, so there goes the full on support we once had at County Stadium. 

I would say this all started when the Brewers made their original run to the playoffs in the summer of 2007 and people really started to support the Crew in droves although when the collapse happened there were only a few of us to catch them showing the support.  The next year the Brewers made the playoffs and everyone was taking their family to the games, the JJ Hardy shirt jersey girls with short skirts were all over the place (Can't say I didn't love that part), and the obnoxious fans that do not know baseball. I realize that in any sport there will be those people but this is getting ridiculous, I just want to see the Brewers' fans get behind a guy when he struggles for a couple days or a week.  

I completely get booing a guy if he sucks for more than two weeks because in my opinion, that is much more than a slump.  I saw it out of J.J. Hardy, and Bill Hall, but I think the fans expect so much that the pressure these guys are under is tremendous. People need to relax a bit and realize that it's very rare to have everyone hitting at the same time.  Drastic changes are not needed right away because these guys are professionals who will figure out how to rite the ship.

-Charlie.

NL Central Preview

Here is the final preview for the Major Leagues and now I read Bill Simmons' column about all of the advance stats. I am intrigued by all of this and Teddy P recommended to me that I buy Baseball Prospectus which I might have to do. Anyways here are my basic opinions about the NL Central.

1. St. Louis Cardinals- KEY ACQ: SP Brad Penny  I LIKE: Colby Rasmus- Here in Brewer land, we give him a bad rap because he is a poor man's Ryan Braun yet I think he is a really good player for the Cards. I could see him having a big year.  I HATE: Chris Carpenter- Even though he is the ace of the staff, is anyone worried that he might break down again?  He never is a sure thing for an entire year so that worries me. PREDICTION: They have the ability to make the World Series and Dave Duncan is the master of reshaping guys like Penny so this could be all the making of a three pitchers dominating. Also Albert Pujols will not be pitched around anymore.

2. Milwaukee Brewers- KEY ACQ: CF Carlos Gomez, SP Randy Wolf,  C Gregg Zaun  I LIKE: Yovani Gallardo- I think Yo's numbers were bit down because his walks plus little run support. I think he could have a huge year if he doesn't nibble the corners.  I HATE: Doug Davis- Honestly, I want to see everybody do well but I worry that Davis will just nibble like a small mouse around the corners. He eats innings I like that but he is just an average pitcher. PREDICTION: I will talk more about this in the next days, but they will win the Wild Card... More to come later.

3. Cincinnati Reds- KEY ACQ: SP Aroldis Chapman, SS Orlando Cabrera. I LIKE: Jay Bruce- Still a young guy and another player who is their team version of Braun nonetheless, he could have a big year. If he works out being patient at the plate his average could go up by 15 points. I HATE: Joey Votto- No real reason for this only because my buddy Mike has the same last name and it gets pronounced Joey's way instead of him. This one for you Mike. PREDICTION: They could be flip-flopped with the Cubs because both have gaping holes in their pitching/batting. I like Cabrera, he is a great clubhouse leader and he might be able to set the table for the big bats.

4. Chicago Cubs- KEY ACQ: SP Carlos Silva, CF Marlon Byrd. I LIKE: Geovanny Soto- I cannot believe they project him hitting eighth, I don't like the guy but I think he is a valued talent poised for a big year. I HATE: Carlos Marmol- I might be the only one but I feel like teams are figuring out Marmol slowly. I cannot see him being a dominating closer for the whole year.  PREDICTION: Silva and Tom Gorzelanny as your fours/fives?  That doesn't impress me at all and I cannot see Byrd doing well hitting in the five spot, he is an upgrade only in character to Milton Bradley. 

5. Houston Astros- KEY ACQ: 3B Pedro Feliz, SP Brett Myers, RP Matt Lindstorm I LIKE: Wandy Rodriguez- He pitched so well against the Brew Crew for years and he now is pitching well against everybody. I HATE: Myers- I have no idea what this guy has left and a part of the Ed Wade All-Stars who could be awful this year for the Stros. I expect an ugly season from him.  PREDICTION: I could see the Astros possibly finishing last in the NL Central, they have a lot of questions plus a ton of guys prone for injury.

6. Pittsburgh Pirates- KEY ACQ: 2B Akinori Iwamura, RP Octovio Dotel I LIKE: Andrew McCutchen- I don't know if he qualifies for Rookie of the Year but he might be a strong nominee for that award. He does it all for their team and is the future of the Pirates. I HATE: Ronny Cedeno- I mean all of these Pirates could be woeful this season but Cedeno is notoriously bad on offense. PREDICTION: The Pirates have all young guys so they could be bad but I think they will grow as a team and like the Lions, they can be a better team in a few years.

-Charlie.

Joe Mauer Helping or Hurting Prince's Stay in Milwaukee?

One of the things that I noticed in the past couple of days was Joe Mauer, arguably the best catcher in my generation and your older brother generation signing a monstrous eight year, 183 million dollar deal with the Minnesota Twins.  I, for one am applauding this decision by both sides of the spectrum. 

The Twins side of things I am glad that they realized that even though the money is pretty steep, they knew they had to mortgage the future on Mauer. They didn't go cheap on him and they went for it. The city would have burned down had Mauer left because the Twins didn't give him enough. I believe personally that Minnesota would probably rank baseball second in professional sports fandom (1. Hockey 2. Baseball 3. Football 4. Basketball).  

I praise Mauer for staying in his home town of Minneapolis/St. Paul and staying with his best buddy Justin Morneau is just awesome. I love that Mauer said "I could get 10 years 250 million this summer on the open market, but this has always been my home so screw it, I will be okay with making 23 million a year." To me that speaks volumes of the type of person that Mauer really is.  But the subsection of this story for me as a Milwaukee Brewer fans, does this now put pressure on the Brewers to get Prince Fielder to a long term deal?

Tom Hardicourt, the Prince of Darkness wrote a blog post asking the same sort of questions but I never really think it covered whether this helped the Brewers' chances or hurt them. For Hardicourt, it's hard for him to ask that question because you are going to get the politically correct answer rather than the real answer.  

I feel like the extension depends on how the season goes honestly. My Brewer stuff will not come out until right before the season by the way so I really do not want to let you in on what I am predicting for the upcoming year. I really want to believe that Fielder doesn't buy into the bullshit that Scott Boras is selling right now about how he will make x amount of dollars from the big markets if he has a mega-year. Am I probably naive for thinking this way?  Absolutely, but do I think Mauer saying "I like where I am, and I don't need to leave this place for more money" gets into Prince's head a bit?  Yeah it does. 

He sees the dollar signs that Mauer made and it would be shocked if it's over 135 million dollars for multiple reasons... The sudden influx of so many good first basemen, the weight issue, and the perceived attitude that people feel Fielder has. In my opinion, Prince knows if he has a huge year like he has done the last two years, the money increases.  He knows that, I know that, you know that, Scott Boras knows that.  I just worry (sad I have to think this way) that maybe Fielder wants his own spotlight.

No one can argue that Fielder/Braun share the spotlight like Manny/Big Papi did for a bunch of years. When will Fielder say, "Hey I want my own spotlight in Baltimore, or some other average team" or hopefully that never is the case.  To me, I think the Fielder contract will show the true colors of Prince himself.

-Charlie.