Whatever Comes To Mind

Today is without a doubt, the worst day of the year in sports. There is NOTHING on. Say what you want about baseball, but at least it provides and excuse to look at your fantasy lineup. Today there is NOTHING. I'm for sure not watching the shitty ESPYs. There is nothing on TV. My DVR is blank. Maybe I can read a book? I dunno. Whatever it is isn't going to be fun. The NFL needs to be 365 days a year. And thank (Sports Bottle's) god for British Open and baseball tomorrow.

Speaking of the NFL. The stuff surrounding the Packer's financials, and the background of a separate dispute between owners scares the shit out of me. I'm fairly certain I can't survive a season (or more) without the NFL. Please get this worked out.

Charles Woodson. Defensive Player of the Year. Heisman winner. Life saver. Pretty awesome.

A lot of Corey Hart/Prince Fielder/Rickie Weeks rumors and rumblings. I've heard enough idiots talk about this in Green Bay. Here is another idiot talking about them. Let's do it bullet form, one by one shall we?

-Corey Hart: He's gotta go. The value will never be higher. Take this from a guy who has watched about every game for the last three years. He will hit .200 in August. Mark it down. If you can get anything useful (4 or 5 starter, or a high reward lower-level prospect with #2-ish potential) do it. We don't have anyone great to replace him right now, but OF are generally not that hard to find. We need help in the rotation now, but it is a little unclear if Milwaukee is truly going to contend next season by just adding an above average starter. Especially if they trade...

-Prince Fielder: It is unclear whether the Crew will trade him now or not. I think he has the most value right now, because whatever team gets him is getting him next year too (where they could trade him for value if they tank later). He's got a ton of value overall. I gotta think some team will grossly overpay for him. Also, the Crew has a less than 0% chance of keeping him beyond next year. We are basically the Toronto Raptors with Chris Bosh prior to this offseason. The Crew needs to be careful, because we need something of impact this season or next. I just don't think we can possibly afford to screw around a whole lot and end up with nothing. We have no clear replacement at 1B in the system, but 1B is not an overly difficult position to play on defense (see Prince Fielder), and any good bat will do. I've heard Braun or Gamel to 1B thrown around. Either could adequately replace Fielder's D you would think.

-Rickie Weeks: Are they offering him up? Lots of conflicting reports. On one side, I think we kind of know what we are going to get with Weeks. He is a decent hitter, with decent power, at a position that isn't generally very strong on offense. His defense is below average, and he has the incredible ability to lean into pitches. Because of the position he plays, his offense is a much bigger asset than similar numbers from Corey Hart are in RF. This is because there are very few good hitting 2B. Coincidentally, it appears we have another good bat at 2B in AA in Brett Lawrie. But he's not ready yet. At this point, I think you have to hang onto Weeks until next year at the very least unless you get blown away. The Crew isn't in rebuilding mode exactly. There are some pieces that could compete for a playoff spot at least.

Alot of what happens in the next few weeks is going to hinge on what happens with Prince. If they trade him, I don't see the playoffs next year, and at that point prospects for he and Hart make more sense than guys who are average MLB players that could contribute immediately. But maybe someone will blow us away for immediate, young contributors. It will be interesting to watch at least.

Raped By Twins

I'll admit it. The Twinks fucking own us. Our team is on the borderline of a fullout meltdown. We need our pitching to get hot again, or we are screwed. Sure, we can score 10 runs a game for a week or so. But we can also leave 20 guys on base while we try to hit homers and fail. There are full on cracks showing in the dam. I'm not having a whole lot of confidence right now. Bill Hall should be playing against leftys? Really? Because I'm pretty sure I watched him swing through about 12 fastballs right down the middle last night. He is fucking terrible. There is no excuse for him to start over Gamel, McGehee (who is actually really good) or Counsell. Lets cross our fingers and hope someone named Mike Burns can get out of the 4th tonight. In closing, I would just like to say that .228 hitters make fantastic lead off men, and if Schroeder/Anderson are longing for the return of Weeks the Brewers are fucked.

Semi-Daily Brew Crew Hangover #13

Goddamn Rickie Weeks is making it harder and harder for me to hate him. He still strikes out a shitload, but he has been clutch. And I can all of a sudden trust him in pressure situations. Maybe Melvin wasn't a complete moron for not trading him away.

The Brewers could pick any nine people off the street, slap Brewer unis on them, and find a way to beat the Pirates. It is getting ridiculous at this point.

SATURDAY REVIEW:

I went on this pseudo bus trip thingy on Saturday and thought I would regale you with drunk stories:

- Started drinking at about 1 p.m.

- Arriving at this bar full of drunken strangers could be equated to showing up at Oktoberfest at halftime of the Badger game. Minus a few hundred people. But everyone was ridiculously drunk when we showed up.

- We leave this bar to go to Miller Park and people are puking on the bus.

-More people puke in the parking lot.

-I wish I had my camera along, because I saw a bunch of hilarious things in the next hour:

1) First sight upon entering the parking lot, was a lineup of about twenty guys with their backs to us, pissing into that river that runs through the middle of the parking lot. Just as I was about to join them, the bike cops showed up and disbursed the crowd.

2) The dude that was sitting in front of me on the bus, and was passed out the whole ride, pissed in his pants AT THE FUCKING URINAL. I don't even know how this happens but he started yelling about not being able to get his dick out.

3) 55 year old woman doing a keg stand

- I remember a bottle being passed around by complete strangers and me taking pulls off of it.

- I remember at least some of the game, which I recall was the most boring game ever played.

- At some point, and for some reason, we went into that Friday's in the stadium. I remember it was kind of a cool view.

-After the game, we left the stadium and went immediately to the bus, which promptly left about 80% of the people who came with at the stadium.

-Went to some bar, got even more fucked up.

-We went to some place called Oakland Gyros, and I bought a gyro that was at least the size of my head, and I devoured it, and it was the best thing I had ever eaten up until that point in my life. Actual Greeks worked there. There were a bunch of non-English speaking Greeks there to make sure you didn't steal the cucumber sauce.

- We got to the hotel and I passed out with all of my clothes and my shoes on.

-I woke up and wanted to vomit because all I could taste was that fucking gyro. No amount of teeth brushing could get rid of the taste.

- Alka-Seltzer Wake Up Call saved the day again. It is batting 1000.

- I gained 4 lbs last week.

Semi-Daily Brew Crew Hangover #7

I didn't get a chance to watch the game yesterday. I spent 6.5 hours putting a screen door on my house. I guess I'm not sure what I would have rather been doing yesterday. Gallardo was awesome. Rickie Weeks covering first? He was Rickie Weeks. The Crew is guaranteed to be 3-9 after today's Jeff Suppan start. Not much else to say. Looking forward to getting drunk and getting into a fistfight with Ted Thompson next weekend at the draft.

PS. I've got "Outside the Lines" on in the background. Evander Holyfield should really not be boxing any more. I'm just sayin'.

Semi-Daily Brew Crew Hangover #5

OR: JEFF SUPPAN AIN'T WINNIN' ANY CY YOUNGS.

Yeah, he's really not very good. The first pitch he threw, the one that would still be in the air, if it wasn't for that pesky girder on the roof of Miller Park, was a microcosm of how Suppan has been pitching since August of last year. Is someone going to have the balls to cut and/or demote him before he does to much irreparable damage? I know it is only two starts, but for fucks sake, he isn't giving us a chance. He doesn't even have the control that he could hang his hat on. It used to be, "Well, he throws strikes. Of course he is going to give up alot of hits. But he puts the ball in play." Now he gives up bombs, or walks in 3 runs in a row. He is venturing into Derrick Turnbow territory. We are better off paying him NOT to pitch.

-Dating back to last season, Jason Kendall is 0 for his last 23.

- Reed Johnson is a cockface.

- I dislike Lou Pinella more and more every time the Brewers play him.

- I actually don't have complete and utter doubt every time Rickie Weeks comes to the plate. Although I still hate him.

- Joe Morgan is about the worst announcer ever.

- I'm pretty sure we are going to get fucked out of a game again tonight, because I think the Bucks are playing. Why do they get priority again? Herb Kohl must have naked pictures of someone.

Semi-Daily Brew Crew Hangover #3

Spectacular win. Nice-ish pitching by Looper, great clutchiness at the end by (who else) Weeks. My question is, why did the Cubs infielder not go for the double play? Bruan is fast, but not that fast. I think he may have gotten him. Whatever, I will take it. Soriano fucked that game up royally, and I love every minute of it. Hope to catch the whole thing tonight, if I can actually get out of work before then (last Saturday of work!) One of my dickhead bosses went to opening day yesterday, and rubbed in my face as he left at noon. I'm wearing my Braun jersey as we speak, hoping to spur the Crew onto another big one. And Weeks will only need 150 more of those this year to make up for being shitty the last three.

PACKER NEWS:

I saw Ruvell Martin at a restaurant last night. He was wearing a white athletic/windreakery suit thing (ala Sopranos). It was him and like 5 chicks. There might have been another dude. I didn't get a real good look at the chicks because I didn't want to be one of those guys and stare.

At this same dinner, I was talking to my old man and telling him about Richard coming up for the draft party in two weeks. He laughed at me. He said "So you're one of those guys?" I tried to explain that I wasn't, and that I was just going to get drunk....But I guess I sort of am one of those guys. I won't wear a cheesehead or bring a draft board along with me. And I will get drunk.

Semi-Daily Brew Crew Hangover #2

YO!!!!!!! I'll admit, after working for 14 hours plus yesterday, I had no shot in hell of watching much of that game last night. And I didn't see the three run homer Yo hit off the Old Unit. I didn't even see a highlight. But I imagine that it was a 524 foot blast into the San Francisco Bay that had so much velocity that it put a hole in some asshats kayak causing him to drown. Bask in its awesome glory.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT via Mrs. Juice: "Rickie Weeks is a terrible human being." --after 59 year old Randy Johnson made him look ridiculous on a strikeout. And about 2 seconds before Sports Bottle texted "I will never like Rickie Weeks."

Semi-Daily Brew Crew Hangover #1

Well, here we are again. An opportunity to bitch and overreact about every loss in a 162 game season, and overreact and heap praise (and probably bitch) about every win. Clearly I have an inherent bias against Rickie Weeks (because he sucks) and Jeff Suppan (because he sucks). So know that going in. I'm not going to have much good to say about them. Weeks would have to win MVP and Suppan the Cy Young before they get any credit. Gone are arch nemises of the past: Geoff Jenkins, Matty Wise, Eric Gagne and Ben "Glass Joe" Sheets. And we can't forget Neddy Yost. So much my material is gone, although some of those on the list have been gone for more than a year, I still have occaisonal nightmares about Jenkins trying to hit a lefty, or Ned trying to execute a double switch.

So yesterday, I, like many others, was at "work" while Jeff Suppan was proving he was worth an opening day start. I assume Soup came out like gangbusters, buckling knees with his 82 mph fastball, and 81 mph change up, lets just check the box sc....What the fuck? 4 IP, 6 fucking ER? Jesus fucking Christ. And this comes against potentially one of the worst offenses in the league in one of baseball's least friendly hitting parks. It was 3 to fucking nothing before I even got a chance to put on gamecast yesterday. Unreal. And it wasn't like our other "options" proved to be any better. McClung walked 4 in an inning. Bush gave up a 2 run dong. Jorge gave up a blast on his first pitch. The hitting seemed to be fine, and we even chased Lincecum after THREE. (I'm pretending I didn't see Billy Hall hit into a double play with a guy on third and one out. Even though I mentally said it would happen because he hits in to a DP in that situation 94% of the time. Someone needs to do some research on that. Bear? You seem plenty motivated.)

I think I'm already starting to dislike Ken Macha. That decision to start Soup yesterday was not popular with anyone who knows anything about baseball. The theory to not start your best pitcher against the other team's best is retarded. In baseball, I think it is pretty fair to say that if the pitching matchup is close to equal, there is about a 50/50 chance to win every game. When one team puts their ace out there, their chances of winning generally go up, especially if they are facing a dogshit opposing pitcher. So yesterday instead of giving ourselves an almost even money chance to beat Lincecum by pitching Yo, we basically said, fuck it, we'll take our 25% chance with Soup, and hope to beat the other team's guy tomorrow with our best. We win that game yesterday with Yo, Parra or Looper. We put up six runs, and should win nearly every game with that output. Soup puts us at a disadvantage, and there is no way he is one of the best 25 players we have. How long of a leash do you think Macha gives him? If he does this for two more starts in a row, does he go to the pen? It's not like McClung showed anything today either, but he gives me a LITTLE confidence.

9:15 p.m. start tonight. I'll get home from work for the first pitch, and be out by the 3rd inning.

RANDOM VIDEO GAME STORY:

Game 1 of NLCS, Brewers at Cubs. Brewers take a 8-1 lead into the bottom of the 8th. Parra comes out of the bullpen (5th starter) and gets lit up for 4 in the 8th. Hoffman comes in and give up a pair of 2 run bombs to Aramis and Soto (walk off) and Brewers lose 9-8. I couldn't sleep that night.

No Hockey for Old Men

-I tried really, really hard to make it until the end of the hockey game last night. It was a fantastic game (as far as I could tell). Its just that on a Monday night, when I was up at 6 to go to work in the morning, midnight gets to be pretty late. It fucking sucks fighting with all your might to try to stay up for something, and losing miserably. I was trying to fill my 4 hockey games per year quota, and I made it to the second OT, so counts I guess. What struck me (other than that dude that got hit in the face with the slapshots' face) was how much better Detroit was than Pittsburgh. They were so much faster, and they got off about three times as many shots, and lost. There is nothing better than OT playoff hockey. I just wish it was on earlier.

-I lost a bet yesterday. I had "when velociraptors hatch from my ass" as the date that Prince Fielder would steal third base. I also had "when running my nuts over with a lawn mower sounds like a good idea" as the date that he would steal third and get an infield single in the same game. So congrats.

-In Ned Yost news, he is still a fucking asshole. When questioned on whether he was concerned about Rickie "Windmill" Weeks and Mike "The human auger" Cameron striking out fucking 80 times between them, and batting 1st and 2nd, he responded (paraphrasing): "Russell Branyan fucking struck out 11 out of 22 at bats, so he is striking out fucking 50% of the time, but he's batting fucking .300 so nobody complains about him." Really Ned? Really? A guy could strike out 70% of the time as far as I'm concerned, but if he got a hit the other 30% of the time I would be perfectly fine. He has no argument at all and is fucking stupid. Weeks and Cameron are NOT good hitters.

-HUGE save last night. Despite their best efforts to fuck it up, Torres makes "The Committee" 7-1 v. 11-7 for Gagne. And Gagne TOTALLY would have lost that one last night.

-They call our resident ginger Seth McClung "Chucky". That is funny. He has his first two career hits off of Randy fucking Johnson.

-My wife believes that someone should bring back the term "Janky". I personally believe it is underused.

The Bourne Thievery

-Last night on the Brewers telecast, Bill Schroeder, on more than one occasion, referred to Astros OF Michael Bourn as Jason Bourne. I think this shows that Bill has the same 12 year-old brain that is shared by my wife and I who had been making that joke all season.

-Our "leadoff" hitter is 0-7, 3K, HBP in last two games. I'm just sayin'. And I thought it was interesting to note that Weeks leads the league in HBP, and is second in outs. (To be fair he is 9th in runs too, but that probably has to do with the HBP. And Braun hitting behind him.)

-"The Committee" is 5-1. Gagne is 11-7.

-Did anyone see Ted Simmons and Ned Yost screaming at each other in the dugout? I swear Teddy called Neddy a faggot as he was leaving.

-I am about to run 6 miles. It was nice knowing you.

-I am not at all looking forward to the three week media fellatio that is going to be the Lakers-Celtics NBA Finals. I am openly rooting for the Lakers, even though I hate them too. I just can't stand Boston fan.

-Songs for Twins: Brian Bass: "White Lines" by Grandmaster Flash-- "Bass. White lines, blowing through my mind."

Rickie Weeks Hates Eric Gagne

Look. I don't know what Neddy was thinking last night. But I survived the heart attack and vomiting episode I had in the bottom of the 8th/top of 9th to have an opinion. I guess you can be benched and then just say "I'm ready to have my job back.", and it just magically falls into your lap. I plan to lose my job by punching my boss in the face, and then going back the next day and saying I'm ready to go, and get it back. I guess there are no consequences to anyone. No accountability. Especially if you make $10 million a year. So Gagne comes in, fills the bases with runners yet again, but gets the save to go to 11-7 in these situations, while "The Committee" remains 2-0.

The funny thing I took from the game is how my favorite player Weeks nearly cost Gagne another game by screwing up a routine double play. He has done this at least one other time too. Weeks has been very good in the field until the 9th all season. I think it is safe to say that Weeks hates Canadians.

My platonic boyfriend Ryan Braun continues to stay mental at the plate.

Weeks Watch: 1-4, 11 total pitches, 1 R, 1K, 1SB, E (Season Total: .190, .651 OPS, 7 SB)

Billy "Rob Deer" Hall: hit his 9th HR (1-4 and only struck out once!) (I stole that reference from my brother, and I think it is a fairly clever one)

Actual Text I received last night from a police officer friend of mine: "I am going to use excessive force on someone tonight if Gagne blows this" Truly one of Wisconsin's finest.

2 days 'til Shit In My Eye

Sir Richard Weeks

What is the saying? Even the moon shines on a dead dog's ass? I don't know, I've never been good with those sort of things. Anyways. A win is a win. One hit doesn't make Dick any less shitty. My theory is that everyone on the team got them about 3 slumpbusters a piece, except for Soup who is a born again, and possibly doesn't enjoy the company of such a people.

Big Ben goes tonight. Lets make it two.

Tonight's game against the Marlins...

Tonight we lost again, extending the losing streak to 5 games. I'm not one of those fair weather fans that gets depressed about losing 5 games in May, the baseball season is long and really until August all it takes is one hot month to jump ahead of other teams or to get right back into the thick of things.

However tonight was just terrible. I know Bush was pitching and we probably had an 80% chance of losing anyways because of that fact alone, but our hitting is and has been just atrocious. We had 5 hits tonight and 4 of them were singles. Burke Badenhop came int0 tonight's game with a big whip, a big ERA and a poor record against other clubs. We couldn't shit save for one hit by Weeks. Frustrating is a word I'd like to use...

State of the Brewers

This weekend was terrible, on a lot of levels for the Crew. The way they are playing has me thinking about what the long term effects on the team might be.

This team is built to win now. Or I should say WAS built to win now, because I think the injury to Gallardo is going to put a big dent in that.

Before I get to my apocalyptic predictions, I would just like to say that Gagne got fucking jobbed by the umps yesterday. I know, I know, we got a call earlier, all the bad calls balance out, blah, blah, blah. The bottom line is, Gagne threw 35 pitches yesterday, 18 of which were called strikes, 17 balls. At least 6 of those balls were changeups right down that middle that were strikes. You give a major league hitter an extra ball in an at bat, and they are going to make you pay. Was Gagne good yesterday? Obviously not, but he wasn't helped in any way shape or form by the shitty job at home plate, and it just might have cost them the game.

Now, onto my scorched earth theory:

Manager: I'm not sure if this is the manager or not. But if this team is so good, and so talented, why does it seem like they can never do any of the little things right. They aren't going to cut everyone on the team, so someone has to be blamed at some point, and that falls on Neddy. The powers that be hired Ted Simmons for the sole purpose to put pressure on Neddy, and it obviously hasn't worked. At some point, if things don't change in a hurry, the Brewers will have to rid themselves of their Yost infection.

Closer: Part of me doesn't think Gagne is as bad as everyone thinks. But, he's not doing the job he needs to. They aren't hitting well enough to not need a closer that is reliable, and Gagne probably isn't it. He has 9 saves, and 5 blown saves, which is far too many. He just seems to have awful luck. He doesn't really melt down per se, but he does just enough to give the other team a chance, which they can't afford. We need to give Mota a crack I think.

Bully: As a whole, the bully has been pretty solid (save for Tunrblow who is gone). Problem is, they have to pitch 4 innings every day that Sheets doesn't pitch. They are improved in this area.

Starters: Here is where things get interesting. I fear that this Gallardo injury could cause them to blow the whole thing up. The way I see it, one of two things are going to happen. a) They play pretty well, stay in the race, and make a move somewhere to get a decent starter; or b) They suck, trade Sheets for $.50 on the dollar. I think b) is more likely. What is the right answer here? If Sheets stays healthy, he will cost the Brewers way more than they can afford in free agency. But if they don't spend the money, I don't think they have the pitching in the long term to get to the playoffs next year. When healthy, he is a top 5 pitcher. But he has been extremely unreliable. If we suck and trade him away, we might never make the playoffs.

This is that never ending question in baseball, and that fine line that teams must tread: Do we blow all of our money and hope for the best? (Yankees/Red Sox) or Do we stay conservative, develop from within, and let our best players go when they hit their big payday? (Twins). I sincerely hope they don't go the way of the Twins before they even have the chance of getting their hearts ripped out in the first round like 5 times in 10 years (cheap Twins blast), but I have no hope that will actually happen. The worst case scenario here is: Sheets wins (or comes close to) winning the Cy Young, we lose the division by 5 games, lose Sheets in free agency, but probably should have traded him because we were never really in the race.

Hitting: Maybe we aren't as talented as I (and everyone else) thinks. Right now Braun, Fielder and Hart are the only players I trust at all to come through in the clutch, and even they are a little more inconsistent than I would like. It is too early with Cameron, and Kendall is fairly light hitting and slow, although he has been serviceable. The problem is that Weeks, Hardy and Hall have been fucking terrible. If there is one out and a guy on first, and one of those three are up, you might as well change the channel, because a double play is coming. It is a virtual guarantee. Hardy leads the league in 500 foot high infield pop ups, Weeks leads the league in strikeouts looking. So maybe those three aren't that good. Maybe they aren't the answer. Because they are killing them right now, and they always seem to find a way to kill a rally. Perhaps the answer is to trade one of them for a starting pitcher. Weeks is like a .220 career hitter and he is in the leadoff spot (which goes back to Neddy). On paper, we should be one of the most talented and feared hitting teams in the league, but in reality, if we aren't hitting home runs, we aren't winning many games.

Verdict: I have serious doubts about our long term chances with: Yost, Gagne, and the Hall/Hardy/Weeks triumvirate being so prominently involved.

How Ned Yost chooses his lineup for games...

I pulled this little tidbit directly from the Yahoo Sports news and notes about Bill Hall.

"3B Bill Hall was out of the starting lineup Sunday despite collecting five hits in the previous two games. Manager Ned Yost wanted to give either Hall or 2B Rickie Weeks the day off to let INF Craig Counsell see some action. Yost put the names of Hall and Weeks in a baseball cap and had Hall pick to see who would be out of the lineup. Hall picked his own name, and thus had to sit."

I haven't been too bad of a Yost basher in the past, I've questioned some of his decisions, especially concerning how he manages our starting pitching. The frightening part of this whole scenario is that I'm not even really surprised that this is how he made his decision. Instead of going through his lineup and making a rational decision based on recent stats, who they were going up against and who needed a day off, he just chose to randomly pick a name out of a hat.

Maybe this wasn't the worst way to handle the situation, basically taking away some of the potential backlash from the players who might have to miss a start. At some point however, you are the manager and they are the players, if a player is struggling on the field, shouldn't they understand if they have to sit a day because of it? I wonder how Yost decided which starting pitcher he was going to option down to Nashville, arm wrestling tournament between Manny Parra, Carlos Villanueva, and Dave Bush?

Maybe instead of having his throwing mechanics mucked around with during spring training, Yost should have been having Bush practice his arm wrestling technique to keep his spot in the rotation.