Go Crew! and playoffs

Asian reporter Trisha Takinawa: "What bring you good luck Turnbow?"
Derrick Turnbow: "I guess this," as he comes through the mop of hair on his head.

The crew with an amazing comeback tonight has shown that they mean business. I'm proud of them for not having a losing season, but I still want them to have a winning season (and Turnbow to break Kolb's record from last year). Who cares about a single draft pick. This isn't the NBA. There's like 100 rounds anyway. The crew needs this "phase shift" in the minds of the fans and the media. It's all about having a winning attitude (and a few hundred million dollars if you're in the AL East).

Tonight worked out well for the playoff situation too, (depending on the CWS/CLE game). Ideally, for me, the Indians sweep the Bite Cox (as John-E calls them) and clinch the wildcard. Meanwhile both games in the remainder of the $$ series go into extra innings and it still splits so that there has to be a playoff game on Monday and that goes into extra innings, including bench clearing brawls that not only injure half the teams, but land the other half in jail. That way, no matter who wins, neither the Bankees or Red Sux will make the second round of the playoffs.

As much as I hate to see the cwbs win, although I admit I was cheering for them, just so the Phillies can possibly stop the Asstros from making the playoffs. I practically hate them just as much as the Red Sox and Yankees, just because of Clemens and Pettite. So I have to cheer for the cubs. But even if they do win the next two, and the Brewers lose the next two, the Crew will finish ahead of the cwbs, because they won the season series between the two.

So, congratulations to the Brewers for clinching 3rd place. Although I have yet to see Mr. 3000, this is apparently a big thing. And congrats for breaking the losing streak. It's funny to think that the Braves' streak of winning the NL East is actually longer than the Brewers' winning streak. Ideally, I prefer to see a rematch of the 1995 world series this year. Maybe I'll even be able to go to some of the games, since the Braves don't even sell out half the time.

Ok, fuck, the Bite Cox just took a 3-1 lead. That sucks. So we might have a three way playoff come next week. We'll see. Or the Indians may just call it a year. It was a nice run while it lasted. Ok, hm, tough to decide who I'd want to see in the World Series from the American League then. The White Sox would have the lowest payroll. But they are from Shitcago and I'm sure plenty of chubs fans would jump on that bandwagon, even though they are supposed to be bitter enemies. Shit, whatever happens I want the NL team to go all the way. Fucking stupid all-star game. Oh well, home field isn't that big of a deal, is it?

Alright, that's all from me. Holla at Jenks moving into a tie for 1st in the NL in HBPs tonight and to adding another pickoff to their major league leading total.
Peace!

Why 2005 has been so great

I love what the Brewers have accomplished this year, but nothing has been more enjoyable than what the cubs have done this year. With a payroll more than twice the Brewers', the cubs have been the worst run, most annoying team for their "fans" to watch this season. A couple days ago, Neifi Perez and Jose Macias batted 1-2 in the team's lineup. Buried down in the lineup was Corey Patterson. Dusty Baker has completely run this team into the ground. Any "prospect" the team had has received no playing time. He is still throwing Prior and Zambrano until their arms fall off despite the team being out of contention for the last 2 months. Kerry Wood's arm actually did fall off. Relievers have been used by Baker just as poorly as Ned Yost has used his bullpen. The team is a complete joke. Baker has absolutely no concern for the future of the franchise because he knows he won't be there for it. He'll be managing somewhere in MLB until the statheads completely take over the game, so he has no concern for job safety. One more year of Dusty in Chicago and he will completely destroy the team. Keep in mind that I don't think managers really affect things in baseball all that much. This isn't the NFL. But, Baker is an exception. My God, this guy is bad!

What's funny is that I honestly did not know a Cubs fan that didn't think the team would win the World Series when this season started. That is a level of unwarranted cockiness the likes that even Red Sox fans have never reached. Well, that's not true. They're tied.

And then, I find www.northsidebaseball.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?t=25447

The Cubs will again invest a ton of money into the team next year. So, chances are that they have a legitimate shot to make the playoffs and take their 1/8 chances of winning the World Series from there. But, do you think this season has been so bad that the cubs "fans" don't think the cubs are cool any more, at which point I can stop caring about the cubs altogether and just enjoy baseball? Will the media stop hyping this team? Can Dusty stay on one more year?


P.S. If the Brewers do get swept and the Cubs finish with the same or better record than the Brewers, it is not all bad. That would likely mean that the Cubs would finish in the top 15 teams in baseball. This would mean that when the cubs sign their big name free agent this winter, the team will lose it's first round draft choice next june. Likewise, if the Brewers do not finish in the top 15, they can sign anyone they want and lose at most their second round choice next june. The Brewers finishing as the 16th best team in baseball might make a big difference. Just something to think about.

Who is THIS Dick?

I am, of course, talking about Dick Glover, who pitched seven strong, shutout innings (i dont remember anybody getting to third) with TEN strikeouts. kudos. not much to report on the brewers, but an observation: how fitting is it that the Brewers play the Pirates this weekend. For starters, the pirates officially have the longest losing streak in pro sports if the brewers win any games this weekend. More importantly, it seems like every year the Brewers had a shot at putting together a decent run, one series against the Pirates killed all further momentum. yup, thats all the baseball i got. on to gambling . . .

After roaring back to respectability last week with a 5-1 record, I plan to pad my stats with these fine weekend picks

Saturday, Rocktober 1
Notre Dame (+3) @ Purdue
Notre Dame has been competitive in every game they've played thus far, and have been playing very well on the road to date. Straight up: Notre Dame

Ball St. @ Boston College (-38)
As much as I hate Boston College, both of my principles apply to this game: I dont know why they're getting all those points, so the real gamblers know something I don't, and the line moved. Three points. Thats a shitload.

Indiana (+17.5) @ Wisconsin
Wisconsin is not as good as advertised

Sunday, Rocktober 2nd
Green Bay (+7.5) @ Carolina
We're one of the biggest underdogs of the weekend, but for whatever reason I feel the first win of the year comin on. Straight up: Butt Packers

Philadelphia @ Kansas City (-2)
Philly looks like a sucker's bet. no input, just a gut feeling here.

San Francisco (+2.5) @ Arizona
San Francisco is not as bad as advertised.

Season Record: 7-5

Turnbow fans

By popular demand, I'm posting this little excerpt here that I found on the Brewers website. Sorry for the absence, but I've been having some issues with this site the past few weeks. Things seem to be ok now. Anyway, here it goes...

" Wardrobe malfunction: Eveland was certainly not the only Brewers reliever who had trouble throwing strikes in Monday's win. Wise and Justin Lehr struggled to find rookie umpire Travis Reininger's ultra-tight strike zone, and closer Derrick Turnbow struggled to find anything at all.
Turnbow has not had a serious haircut all season, and his mop has become so shaggy that he has to wet it down before going into the game to keep his cap in place. His hair dried out in the cool air Monday night, and as he wound to deliver every pitch, his cap slid down over his eyes.
"I had no clue where I was throwing," said Turnbow, who fired at least one pitch to the backstop. "It was crazy."
Is a haircut in order?
"Nah," he said. "Maybe I'll just get some hair gel and grease it up." "

I know I'm probably the only one who posts on this site who actually finds the thought of Turnbow's hair getting even worse absolutely disgusting. Most of you are probably thinking he'll be even sexier...Jbeast, I'm looking in your direction ;)

Hey, was anybody else (besides the obvious, Jbeast) really hoping Dunn was going to rip a 2-run homer off Obermueller tonight???

The Bub, sorry you were at that ND game two weeks ago. Tom and I were in attendance as well. Did you also want to rip the tiny heads off of those piles of human trash as they pranced around their gay flag in the center of our field??? Maybe I was the only one.

Who is this Dick?!

I really do not understand how Dick Helling is doing what he is doing. After another fantastic performance last night, his best one of the season, Helling is now sporting a 2.39 ERA, with 42 strikeouts, 18 walks, and a mere 2 home runs in 49 innings. At first, I dismissed Helling's performance to small sample size. Now, I don't know if I can still completely do that. Helling has always had pretty good control and a hammer curve that allows him to strike people out. He put together a nice major league career on those assets. However, Helling has never, and I mean NEVER, been able to keep the ball inside the ball park. His 2 HR allowed in 49 innings is ridiculously far off his career norms. Granted he pitched in Texas for most of his career, but even when he wasn't there he gave up shot after shot. So, what gives? Is it just luck? Did Doug Melvin know something we didn't for the last three years when he tried to get Helling back?

Helling's resurrection is even more profound when you look at what he has done in AAA the past two seasons. Last year, 13 HR in 69 innings leading to about a 7.00 ERA. This year, a good bit better but still not too great: 12 HR in 130 innings, which is very respectable, but 74 runs allowed in those innings is not great, even if 14 were unearned. Helling did show a little bit of potential as a reliever with the Marlins in 2003, but he only threw 16.1 innings that year. How do we go about explaining the improvement from that awful 2004 AAA performance? Furthermore, how can we explain this year's major league performance when his numbers weren't great in AAA this year?

Well, 49 innings is still a small sample size. But, maybe Helling just doesn't try very hard when he is in AAA. After all, he is an old pitcher who is likely tired of the minors. It's understandable. Maybe when that bat chunk severed his arm at mid-season this year it knocked some sense into him. His numbers have had a huge turnaround since the beginning of this year at AAA. When the bat got stuck in his arm, his ERA was at about 6.00 in Nashville. Perhaps. Or, maybe this is the Maddox factor. I don't know for sure, but I think he has gotten lucky with the home runs. His peripheral numbers (walks and strikeouts) mean that he could have some success. But, he is still giving up more than two fly balls for every one ground ball. I just don't know how long this can continue. And, I don't think we should be depending on Helling to be the magical fifth starter next year. But, I would have said the same thing about Doug Davis a couple years ago.

Helling may be the best pitcher in the world. What do you think?

Extra Extra: Brewers beat Reds 4-3

ok, Elias will probably record this as a 12-9 victory for the crew, but, lets face it, against any other team you have to divide the final score by three, at least. anyway, there's too much for me to talk about, so i won't say much at all. the pen sucked, way way way too many walks, especially to a team like the reds. but you can tell the offense wasn't throwing in the towel like they very well could have done. not to suggest they don't try normally because that's foolish, but a few players (hall) turned up their amps to 11 tonight, and have been for the past week or so. losing wise will hurt. however, correct me if i'm mistaken, but i think the brewers are 5-2 since the pcl championships ended. how big a difference has that made? anybody have any input? does anybody read this any more? am i the only one that cares about baseball any more? side note: the game ended just in time to catch a great overtime frame between tennessee and lsu. ahhhhhhh, i love sports. i'm entering my sports christmas next week, the heart of the football season and mlb playoffs. that and bowl week are my favorite times of year.

Friday night's affairs

I was unable to watch the whole game, but watched parts of it and concluded that ned yost's head is firmly up his ass. WHY ON EARTH is he leaving in a pitcher who has given up EIGHT walks and six runs in the game for another inning. Yes, the bats bailed out both yost and capuano, but the manager of a major league baseball team should not be so fucking interested in getting a meaningless stat. Not to mention, they're going to have to really fuck up the rotation to get crapuano two starts anyway. all of these moves are going to end up costing the brewers wins in the end. Ned: who gives a shit if capuano wins 20 games, or only 18 or 19. your focus as manager of the milwaukee brewers should be winning baseball games period, and putting your team in position to do so. period. there should be no deviation like we saw last night. you are extrordinarily fortunate that the offense showed up last night when it did. Your boobery has caused us to miss out on runs before, but there's just no excuse to leave in our #2b pitcher for 120 pitches with runners in scoring position. and capuano, oh dear capuano. anybody else remember taking batting practice with erik when he would try to direct throws instead of just throwing the ball? did capuano remind you of that last night. he was trying to make a perfect pitch every time and just ended up walking a kazmirian amount of batters last night. on the bright side, the offense did look fantastic last night. hard hit balls to holes and gaps, and a very lucky play where jj hardy swung at a ball that hit him that may have been the difference in teh game (clark was caught stealing on a hit and run and was sent back to first as a result of the swinging hbp). no chance we win tonight with glover on the mound. either he'll give up five runs in three innings, or yost will try to keep him in to try breaking the single game strikeout record, or some other stupid shit. can you tell i'm mad about last night? oh well, only five wins to go, thats two losses we've been afforded in the last week of the season.

football betting week two

I promise all of you, substantive brewers and packer analysis is coming soon. I've only been able to watch a game and a half of baseball since my last post, so i'd have little to talk about. I'll give a brief synopsis of the packers though: we suck. the defensive backs are not good. the enforcement of the illegal contact rule starting last year eliminated us from playoff contention this year as our 5-9 corners can't cover me right now. the offense doesnt look like it can carry this team on its own, the real problem being on the interior of the line. more on that to follow.

time to get down to business. as jimmy so eloquently pointed out, saturday's games did not treat me well, particularly the one i attended in south bend. but i'm a gamer, a fighter, a hard worker (ok, maybe that last part isnt true because if you look at the time stamp, i'm actually at work right now). irregardless, I mounted a comeback and went 2 for 3 on sunday, improving the season record to 2-4. without further ado, my picks for the weekend ahead.

Saturday 9/24
Notre Dame (-13.5) @ Washington
I watched Tyrone Willingham coach enough games with talent to know that he won't be able to win Saturday without talent. Look for that 14+ point victory i was talking about last week.

Iowa State @ Army (+17)
I am following two principles here: 1. the line has moved two points this week towards army, meaning the smart money is going towards army. 2. I have no idea why army is getting only 17 points, which means there's probably a good reason they are. Straight up: Iowa St.

Purdue @ Minnesota (-4)
Again, I dont know why Minnesota is giving up four points, and the line has moved since it opened. we'll see how this strategy works out this weekend. I suppose minnesota is playing at home undefeated, and i'm pretty sure purdue isn't the 10th best team in the country.

Sunday, September 25

Tampa Bay (-3.5) @ Green Bay
We're bad. line moved. we're 0-3 bad.

New Orleans @ Minnesota (-4)
The saints are going to struggle playing in san antonio this year when they have to share it with the texans.

Carolina @ Miami (+3)
Just a hunch. I've got a 50-50 chance anyway if you believe the odds. Straight up: Miamolina

Bright Spot as the Season Comes to a Close...?

So really now, how can we look upon the last few weeks of the Brewers 2005 campaign? They did lock up the series against the Chubs today, which is always solid, but the question is, where is this team heading for 2006...

It's tough to tell because Yost really isn't using a few guys that probably should be benefitting from an expanded roster, mainly Prince Fielder, who as actually been with this team for a good portion of the season.

The question Jimii posted about the Brewers rotation for '06 is an interesting one because of the status of a few Brewer mainstays. Is health a concern for Big Ben Sheets? Is Doug Davis' walk total something to be alarmed about (I'll answer this one with a quick YES)? And what to do at the end of the rotation!?! Obermueller is still awful and that won't ever change, but can Gary Glover be a 4.2 ERA type guy? Can they trade young talent like Corey Hart who seemingly won't see much of a chance in participating as a starter for the Brewers in the foreseeable future?

But the true point of this post...what has been the biggest bright spot for this team as 2005 is coming to a close?

1) A chance at finishing with a .500 record
2) The second-half surge of J.J. Hardy
3) Chuck Lee
4) Jenkins' second half
5) Bill Hall's ability to play 3B/SS/2B
6) Russ Branyan's striking masculinity
7) Turnbow's great year (and his likeness to Sam Eagle)

I'd like to know what all the Milwaukeeans think on this one...

Ya Know, and I'm Glad Ya Did

Ya know, I'm glad the Brewers won this series and the season series against the Chubs. Ya know, and I'd be even more glad if they swept the Scrubs tomorrow. It's almost a lock given that Dick Helling is starting. (Side Note: I do not think Helling is a good pitcher).

Anyway, I was just wondering who everyone here thinks should be in the Brewers starting rotation next year. Because we are getting so little feedback, except from my friends at personal loans and the Goodfeet Store, I thought I'd give this thread a catchy title.

I have been a huge proponent of not signing a free agent pitcher because they are unbelievably overpriced. But, given the weak back end of the Brewers rotation for the last 40 years, I can understand why people want a free agent starter. So, how should the Brewers fill the three available rotation spots (three because we can safely assume one of the five starters will be hurt)? If the Brewers bring back Ohka, which it likely will, how should the team fill that last spot or two?
1. Free Agent Signing(s)
2. Prospects and Waiver-Wire Signings Fighting for the Spot(s) in Spring Training
3. Trade for Pitcher(s)

Good old Baseball Prospectus

tells me that the Brewer's chances of making the post-season are sitting pretty at about .55133% today. I'd put the Brewer's chances of finishing above .500 right at about .96753%. I say this primarily because of Nashville's refusal to end their season. The Crew could use the arms. Oh, and is there anyone out there who doesn't think Nelson Cruz would be a better in relief of Jenkins than Hart/Magruder? I do have to say that I like use of Vamp Santos in the 9th inning when it was plenty dark and the crew had a 12 run lead. Hopefully the Brewers have figured out that they should either
A) deal Santos at the All-Star break in 2006 when his era is sitting at a cool 3.5
or
B) Stop relying on him in the first place because he must be the luckiest pitcher in mlb
or
C) Banish him to the bullpen as soon as he begins to fall off next year, and for the love of God, only let him out at night

Chad Pennington look-alike

Who looks more like Chad Pennington, $lash or Chad Pennington?

Football WeekeND

Before I get to the meat of my article (pig, to be exact), I want to congratulate the Brewers on a job well done today. It seems that this team is at its best when overcoming a shitty outing the night before. Only giving one run of support through 12 innings at Arizona was horrid. We really could have used a few of those 14 runs last night. Game balls go out to Bill Hall and (arm) Tumor Ohka. Now for why I'm really posting. For those of you that know me well, you know that outside of baseball season I really only enjoy two things: football and gambling. However, I am really bad at gambling on football, though I haven't tried it much. What I plan to do on Fridays (and thursdays for weekends that I go to South Bend) for the rest of the season is handicap three college and three pro games, both straight up and against the spread and always including Notre Dame and Green Bay. Those of you that care to join me can add comments to my post, and either pick your own games or give your opinions on my games. We can turn it into a little contest. Without further ado . . .
Saturday, September 17

Michigan State @ Notre Dame (-6.5)
Notre Dame is playing their first game at home under Charlie Weis after starting the season 2-0 on the road. I would be surprised by a victory of fewer than 14 points.

Tennessee (+6) @ Florida
Florida is still learning Meyer's new system and faces a tremendous challenge in a talented Tennessee team. Straight up (keep in mind, this is only necessary if i pick the underdog in the spread): Tennessee

Virginia Tech @ Ohio (+34)
Lets face it, 34 points is a lot to be spotting anybody, especially at home. The Pittsburgh team that Ohio beat may have been vastly overrated, but they're still not bad. Straight up: Virgina Tech

Sunday, September 18

Cleveland (+6.5) @ Green Bay
Before you all go getting your undies in a bundle, this doesn't mean I'm picking Cleveland to win the game, just to lose by fewer than seven points. Straight up: Green Bay, though I wouldn't be shocked if They lost.

Atlanta (+1) @ Seattle
Quite Frankly, I don't understand why Atlanta is giving up points in the first place. They may be the cream of the crop in the NFC and are better on both sides of the ball than Seattle. Straight up: Since you can't win by fewer than one point, I will never again list a straight up, 1 point underdog winner.

Pittsburgh (-6) @ Houston
Six points seems like a lot to give Houston, especially at home, but the line has moved 1.5 points since it opened (that almost never happens) and I tend to follow the money.

Season Record: 0-0

Outside Opinion of the Brewers

One of my favorite baseball writers, John Sickels, has written a couple of blogs today about the Brewers at www.minorleagueball.com . I think Sickels was fired from ESPN, which should tell you that he writes at an intellectual level far too great for them. Actually, I think he left ESPN voluntarily because of John Kruk.

Here is the link to a 9/15/05 blog on Chris Capuano:
http://www.minorleagueball.com/story/2005/9/15/13478/8898#commenttop

And a link to one in a series of blogs called "You're the G.M.":
http://www.minorleagueball.com/story/2005/9/15/122615/997#commenttop

Also, the good folks at Baseball Prospectus wrote a piece on the Brewers today. It is right after a piece on the Royals at:
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=4443

I always enjoy reading Sickels's comments and the comments added by other readers of his blog, as well as the stuff on BP. It's fun to see what outsiders think of the Brewers.

Wednesday's Madness

Let's get some feedback on this one folks....what was the worst tactical move made by the brewers in wednesday's game?
I'll throw some options out there, but by all means feel free to say something else. Was it....

1) I don't know who to blame on this one, Lee or manager, but Lee trying to steal and getting picked off/caught stealing with no one out in the top of the seventh?
2) Bringing in Dana Eveland to face a lefty in the eighth?
3) Not pinch hitting for Weeks with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth?
4) Bringing in Magruder at all/exhausting all other outfielders so that Magruder would have to replace Jenkins and hit fifth/bunting with Magruder in the 11th?
5) Bringing in Kane Davis in the 10th and 11th?
6) Sending Brady Clark to steal in the 12th?
7) Bringing Justin Lehr in to pitch the 12th?
8) The numerous intentional-unintentional walks issued to the Diamondbacks during the game?
9) Other ____________?

I want to get your input on this. I won't answer the question. Without a doubt, though, the most annoying thing in the game was Yost's bullpen usage; although the fact that, like Homer Simpson continually grabbing for that electric-charged Butterfinger bar, Ned Yost continues to send Brady Clark despite his 43% SB efficiency is rather annoying. However, you'll have to tell me what the worst tactic was, not what was most annoying. And, you cannot simply say "not bringing in Turnbow." You have to pick either (2), (5), or (7) for that.

Tonights game

Please note that I am writing this during the top of the ninth because I want to get to bed before 1 AM. West coast games and a real job don't mix well. Anyway, my thoughts on the game thus far. I am shocked at how similar these two offenses are. overpaid right fielders, overrated left fielders, their first basemen may actually be the same people (daron mentioned a sheets quote saying they look alike, and they sure as hell play alike (tracy that is . . .)) glaus is exactly what russ branyan could be, only right handed. the main difference? we don't have clayton playing short. Each team hits for power, has higher than average walk rates, and lower than average batting averages. So what is the difference between the clubs? it comes down to the quality of pitching, pitching coaching, and defensive alignment. defensive alignment??? Maddux gets a lot of accolades for the work he's done with this staff, and very deservedly so. Coming into the season, the pen looked like a glaring weakspot, but they've been spectacular (much, much better than arizona's) and the rotation is developing well, particularly Wopuano, ohka, and, most recently, helling. but he shouldn't get the sole credit for keeping the brewers more competitive than their arizona alter egoes. Doug Melvin's special assistant, whose name escapes me at the moment, concerned mainly with statistics discovered that the Brewers have gotten to 8% more balls than any other team in baseball. not 8% more than average, 8% more than anybody in baseball. Granted we don't have the best fielders in the majors-quite frankly our defense sucks-and aside from weeks nobody has particularly outstanding range, but dauer deserves credit for his wacky defensive shifts in lowering the team era and the cumulative runs allowed. this makes winning games easier for a team with a sporatic offense. sorry for the diatribe, back to tonight . . . JJ Hardy's girlfriend is downright smokin hot. seriously gorgeous. at first i thought she was with papa Hardy, who, as a result, i would have deemed the luckiest man alive. way to go jj. also of note, in the third inning, Daron Sutton called Albert Pujols (pronounced: POO-holes) Albert Poolhouse. Bold Prediction: Melvin will spin Chris Magruder AND Bob Brainerd to the Giants for minor league pitching. thats about it. oh yeah, and I'm really damn tired of fly-ball-out-double-plays. thats all for now. crew wins. 1 down 9 to go.

Corey Hart

Does anybody else think that Corey Hart totally looks like he should be in a comic strip. I can't help but notice that he looks like he should be a bully in a remake of Archie. Not that I sit there and think about who each Brewer looks like, but there is just something about his boyish face, his freakish height, and the fact that he looks like he's 12 years old. It just screams, "Hey Archie, I'll trade you a knuckle sandwich for your cookies"
I don't know, maybe it's just me.

** JBeast edited this post **

Matt

matt (or anybody else having problems posting, for that matter) email me at dbaumgar@epicsys.com so i can figure out what's wrong. i'd really like to get this forum going again now that everybody is settled and w/internet connection.

with a mere 19 games to go

The Brewers need only ten wins to reach 81 on the season. If any professional organization needs to have the faith restored immediately, its the Brewers. If all goes according to plan, we'll pass the torch on to the pittsburgh pirates as the band of bumbling fools in professional sports. Their organizational management mirrored the Brewers' own in abysmal-ocity over the last dozen years or so. What is it, then, that Milwaukee needs to do to get over .500? why is that so important? Well, I'll start by addressing the importance of .500. we had a home series this weekend with a legend of the game on the mound and a legitimate cy young cantidate and neither game drew over 20,000. Of course, there was a packers game sunday, and I'm sure gas prices had some effect, but milwaukee needs to remain a big draw in the area if they have any hopes of being financially competitive over the long haul. a .500 season isn't going to be some magic cure for this problem (although more acl injuries may help . . .), but it will (should) remind people that our baseball team plays games after september 1, and they're not even that bad. playing games after October 1 will be the real cure for sluggish late season attendance, but metinks that may be a couple years away, especially if we reach atlanta/oakland levels of 23 year olds on the major league roster. Now, how will they reach this .500 stepping stone? I have no goddamn idea. there has to be productivity from the bottom of the lineup, because this team is still getting on base below league average, and it becomes difficult to score runs with weeks hurting and Swinglos Lee not walking ever. Also, we can't have any more pitchers go santos on us because, especially with sheets out, we have nowhere left to turn. if ohka or helling melts down, we can really only turn to a triple-platoon of sarfate/santos/o'mueller/whoever broke down as we can't afford to put a lot of strain on young arms this late in the season, lest we become the Cubs . . . or the Brewers minor league system. I am confident that the Maddux/Dauer combination will keep us in games on the RA side, they just need some run support. If Guice Jenkins and Juice J. Hardy can maintain second half improvements, look for the brewers to at least flirt with .500.
*Editors note: If this analysis sucks, I apologize. I haven't had as much time to watch games and do extra reading due to work, and football season. my message board and article reading has nearly tripled, but my brewers reading has declined, to say the least. I promise a better effort in a few days.

Simulated Game...

So Barry Bonds took place in a "simulated game" the other day...would anyone mind really explaining what a simulated game REALLY is?! I have my ideas, but I don't know if I'm really right...

Back end of the rotation solver

Hello all. Sorry for letting this board go so long without posting, but being without the internet was a major problem for a number of contributors.
Anyway, before Packer season officially starts on Sunday, I thought we could get in a good discussion about what the Brewers need to do to reach .500.
To me, the answer is clear: abandon the fourth and fifth starting spots in the rotation. There is just no way to win more than half the remaining games when the Brewers are throwing Victor Santos, Wes Obermueller, and Dick Helling in 2/5 of the games. What's more, the usage of these pitchers is curious at best. Yost will keep each one in until he fails.
Nashville is currently tied 1-1 in its playoff series. When Nashville loses, which let's hope it does soon, the Brewers will inherit Mike Adams, Jeff Bennett, Nelson Cruz, Trent Durrington, Ben Hendrickson, Dave Krynzel, Brad Nelson, and Dennis Sarfate. There are simply too many arms, AND TOO MANY OFF-DAYS, to be trying to get 7 innings out of terrible starters. But, what is killing me is that keeping these pitchers in is costing the Brewers 2 at-bats a game. Those are two ABs that could go towards getting a talented prospect some big-league experience and helping out an oft impotent lineup. Considering that opposing teams seem to intentionally walk our number-8 hitter every time there is someone on base, the pitcher is hitting in an extremely high-leverage situation. So, how long should the starting pitchers stay in?
My answer is, "until he has to bat." So, in road games, where one can reasonable expect the pitcher to hit in the top of the second inning, start a good relief pitcher. Home games would not be much different. Here's how my ideal home game would go (note: I won't push things too much and say Turnbow should start, though I firmly believe he should): Kane Davis pitches innings one and two. In the bottom of the second, Nelson Cruz pinch hits for Davis. In the third inning, Mike Adams pitches. In the fourth, Jorge de la Rosa comes in to face a couple of good lefties. Corey Hart pinch hits for de la Rosa in the bottom of the inning. Then, Dennis Sarfate comes in to pitch the fifth and sixth. In the seventh, Dana Eveland comes in to face a couple of lefties, and if he gets into any trouble, Matt Wise comes in. Then, Prince Fielder pinch hits in the bottom of the inning. If he gets on, Trent Durrington runs for him. After that, Wise comes in, or, if he is used/tired, Jeff Bennett or Jose Capellan comes in. Then, Turnbow. Brewers win.
Now, I know a lot of players are used in the above scenerio, but consider how many the team still has left on the bench. Obviously, the better pitchers cannot pitch every day, but do you at least see why Dick Helling, Santos, and Obermueller should not be used so much?
If anyone can make any points as to why pinch-hitting for your pitchers in the second inning is wrong, I'd like to hear them.