Brew Crew Hangover

A few random thoughts from last night's tenth inning sexual assault:

- Does anyone REALLY think Mat Gamel is any worse at third than Billy Hall? Even if he may fuck up a routine play here or there (which he really hasn't done), is it worth the clear dropoff offensively? I think that any thoughts Macha may have had about whether he could hit a lefty changed last night with that bomb in the 8th. McGehee probably is still the starter until proven otherwise right now though.

-Jody Gerut is fucking useless. He really is a waste of space. He has established himself as Bill Hall's outfield twin. We now have to guys who can't hit at all on our everyday bench. We don't have some random utility guy in AAA that can hit .200? Hernan Irribarren wouldn't improve the club? I understand not bringing up Escobar right now, because there isn't room to play him, and he should play every day.

- The only thing that would've made last night's meltdown better is if either Matty Wise, Eric Gagne or Derrick Turnbow had come out of the bullpen after Villa refused to get anyone out, and they gave up like 5 more runs. Oh, and if 2008 Rickie Weeks booted one. We did get a Billy Hall boot at least.

- Can we safely say that Villa isn't good? He now has a 6.41 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. How can he be relied on in key spots? I know there wasn't much choice last night. He really should be about the last one trotted out there until he goes on a long stretch of not sucking. We've got some really decent arms in the bully right now, that probably aren't given enough respect by Macha (DiFelice, Stetter, Smith). Personally, I think Stetter should be a set up guy, and not just a lefty specialist. Coffey/Stetter in the 8th, DiFelice 7th, Smith 6th, Villa/McClung/Burns when we are down/up by 7 runs.

-The highlights of the game for me last night were: 1) Brian Anderson and Bill Schroeder making fun of Telly Hughes for being fat; 2) Macha refusing to even look at Villa when he came to take him out. He might have murdered him last night.

-We are closer to 5th place than 1st place in the division right now.

-How the fuck did the mildly terrible Jonathan Sanchez throw a no-no? He is almost the exact same pitcher as Manny Parra (young, Hispanic, lefty, great stuff, taken out of the rotation for sucking). Maybe that is a good sign?

WANTED

For kidnapping! Someone has stolen Manny Parra! Either that, or he switched uniforms with the entire bullpen while we weren't looking, and Mitch Stetter was actually the one that pitched 7 shutout innings, while Parra burned down Miller Park with 5 runs in 2 innings. Those are really the only two logical explanations for yesterdays game. Also fun from the game yesterday was the line on ESPN BottomLine this morning: Fielder 2-3, 2B, R....Rest of team 1-25. Yikes. Are we SURE that starting pitching is the problem here? Or is it just a maddening lack of consistency by everyone?

You certainly can't give a break to the lineup. Hardy, Hart and Kendall have been borderline fucking terrible all year. Only Fielder, Braun and McGehee (and maybe Weeks for a month) have arguably exceeded expectations. I would say Counsell and Cameron are what they are for the most part. Hall has been a waste of oxygen. Gamel gets an incomplete.

Of the starting pitching I would say Yo has met or slightly exceeded most expectations, Bush has probably slightly exceeded (other than a few bad starts), Looper and Suppan are what they are, Parra has sucked.

I would say that this is the same thing that most MLB teams face. You have a bunch of guys who weren't very good to start with, continuing to not be very good, you have a few stars, and a few guys that bomb out or get injured. I'm starting to feel like unless there is a fire sale somewhere, you stand pat if you are the Crew. Although, I wouldn't hesitate to get rid of Hall, Hardy, Hart or Kendall if you were getting something good in return that would improve your team right now.

Miami Is Burning!!!

Where to start on last night's game. Well, I think I've found my new least favorite Brewer, and another rekindled my hatred. Both gave me something to bitch about today. Public Enemy number one is Jorge Julio. Wanted for one count of arson for single handedly starting the fire that burned down Joe Robbie Stadium (Landshark is not good), and then making matters worse by dousing his own fire with the gas can he has been carrying around all season. See, I hadn't been able to fully appreciate how much he sucks because he is so bad that he only pitches like once every two weeks. Like one of my bosses said to me today, "Who is that pitcher the Brewers threw out there last night?" And Julio has been on the team all season, which just goes to show how much he sucks. Here was his line last night: 0 IP, 2H, 4 ER, 5 R, 0K, 2 BB, 2HBP. Now THAT is major league quality. We really don't have anyone else in the minors that can do better? I realize he's got a high 90's fastball, but if he can't get anyone out with it, who cares? SportsBottle said he is Derrick Turnbow, which is a pretty apt comparison. Give me anyone that can throw a strike at 90 mph, even if the guy has no future with the organization, that can give me an inning or two of mop up every few weeks. Which is all Julio was ever fit to do. What the fuck was he doing pitching in a 2 run game?? At least Yost isn't still the manager, or you would be guaranteed to see Julio again tonight. Bad decision by Macha, worse pitching by Julio.

Public Enemy number two is Billy Hall, wanted for attempting to fan Julio's flames with the wind from he bat as he managed to swing through ball four, three times in an at bat with nobody out and the bases loaded, even though Miller had just walked two straight on 9 pitches, and then fell behind 3-1. Oh, and Miller is a lefty whom Hall is supposed to murder. I realize Hall has to play on occasion, but fuck. Give me SOMETHING. And by something I don't mean killing an early inning rally by swinging at pitches at your eyes.

"THE HANGOVER"

The first few times I saw the preview for this movie, I thought it looked fucking terrible and stupid. However, I just saw an extended trailer last night, and now that I understand the premise/plot a little better, it looks like it could be spectacular. I thought it was just going to be a goofy getting drunk and doing stupid things movie, which usually doesn't work. But actually, it is the guys waking up hungover and trying to piece together what happened, which we've all done, and could be fucking hilarious. The fat dude carrying around the random baby is great.

NYC TRIP

The wife and I are going to NYC in a few weeks. One of the few relevant things to discuss right now is the fact that I made a deal with Satan and bought New York Yankee tickets last night. I'm surly going to burn in hell for giving Stienbrenner any of my money. At least it was on the secondary market, so the Yankees already have their money. We are going to the June 18th Thursday afternoon game against the Nats. It will in all likely hood be a terrible game, but tickets were only $15 (ask my brother how good the seats are since I bought them), but the main thing is going there I guess. A tour was $20 each, so we might as well save $5 and get murdered rooting against the Yanks. Does anyone have a Nats hat I can borrow? We discussed going to a Mets/Rays game at Citi Field, but a) the tickets were a little more, b) seeing a good game between two teams I don't care about isn't that important and c) for some reason going to a game at Yankee Stadium seems cooler. So it should be pretty fun to get blackout drunk at a new stadium (note: probably won't actually get blackout drunk). This furthers my eventual goal in life to see a game at every MLB and NFL stadium before I die. The count will be 3 MLB (Milwaukee, KC, NYY) and 2 NFL (GB, MIN). So I've got a ways to go. (note: will probably never fucking happen).

Jesus.

Let's all celebrate the return of a convicted serial arsonist! Wheeee! If he makes the club, the Crew is fucked. My day is ruined. Tomorrow I'm going to find out that we brought back Ned Yost.

America's Most Wanted

Turnbow now terrorizing minor league cities.

Kerry Wood: Arsonist

The Brewers, Cubs and 40,000 fans were all equally lucky to get out of Wrigley alive yesterday afternoon as an inferno raged. The arsonist Kerry Woods struck again, burning Wrigley down. I personally and thoroughly enjoyed the wailing and gnashing of teeth of Cubs fans burning alive, from my perch 300 miles to the north.

Seriously, does anyone REALLY thing Gagne is that much worse than Wood? Admittedly, Gagne has made a few games a little more exciting than he needed to, and blew a couple, but I think overall he's been pretty effective.

Wood is a mere apprentice. He could only hope to be half as good at what he does when compared to Mr. Gas Can himself Derrick Turnbow. Actually, Turnbow is beyond combustible. He causes cancer. It's true!