OD '09: Drinking 'til we forget we cheer for the Brewers
(Pictured: LIFM catches up on some much-needed rest after being the first to arrive at the Bluemound lot)
Opening Day brings out some of the best traditions in baseball: The parade and first pitch in Cincinnati, the ceremonious announcement of all roster players and coaches, and getting silly, silly drunk to the masterpiece "Come see what's Brewin'". Most BCS contributors will be in attendance Thursday through Saturday for such local traditions as the viewing of Major League, the early arrival at the Bluemound lot, and the consumption of half-burgers.
posted by Brew City Bub @ 10:41 AM
52 comments
52 Comments:
A better caption would have been:
"LIFM reacts to the Reds signing and placing Laynce Nix on the Opening Day roster."
Yeah, but then I'd have to photoshop "Reds" on the guy's Brewers hat.
How long has John Goodman been a brewers fan?
Tonight I am going to grind baseball into a fine powder, place 4 pinches of the powder in a spoon, hold a lighter under the spoon for about a minute until the powder liquifies, then inject the liquified baseball into my arm. I will then repeat that about 50 times tonight alone.
Opening thoughts:
(1) why is Khalil Greene batting cleanup for the Cardinals?
(2) Cardinals closer Jason Motte throws very hard. However, Valerio de los Santos had more movement on his fastball. And Motte has absolutely no offspeed pitch. He's going to make some hitters look bad, but he's also going to look like Derrick Turnbow on a lot of nights...like tonight.
(3) I would rather watch the Cubs caveman broadcast than the ESPN HD Rick Shitcliffe broadcast of the Cubs/Astros game.
Here's the gem of the night from shitcliffe:
9th inning. Cubs up 4-1, no out, runners on third and first. Hunter Pence batting. Pence swung and the kind of pitches he normally swings at. Get behind in the count. Eventually, he hits a soft flyout to medium center, directly at the center fielder. Shitcliffe responds to what is counted as a sacrifice fly as "what a great at bat!" That's profoundly absurd.
What's the face and neck version of a cankle? Because John Goodman is showing off a pretty seamless cheek-to-chest transition.
Baseball last night was such a welcome sight. Not one starter pitched particularly well last night...even Wah Halladwah gave up 5 runs to the Tigers (granted the game was 9-1 before he gave up 4 of those 5 runs).
Verlander is such a shit piece...I expect Scene to trade Matt Cain straight up for Verlander and fade into a battle for the cellar a month or two into the season. The A's got shut out by Joe Saunders last night, not a good start to my World Series prediction.
Good luck to everyone in fantasy beezball and enjoy the beezball watching...I know I will.
What an amateur...everyone knows real, hardcore tailgaters throw up in the stadium.
For those of you not living in WI and too frugal to pay for the mlb package, pretty all of the brewers games are streamed live online: http://myp2p.eu/
Suppan may not have been too sharp today, but he gave his team a chance to win. That's all you can ask for. Right?
Early favorite for April HIAWDA: Jorge Julio
HIAWDA candidate #2: Brandon Lyon
No. This is the year of Suppan. No more expecting and accepting a 5.50 ERA from a starting pitcher in the NL Central, especially one making over $10M. There's no Derrick Turnbow to save his ass this year, and there's no way Hall goes back-to-back Hendy. Well, maybe there is that.
But when Suppan gives up 12 runs in 7 innings (assuming 6 runs in 3 innings against the cubs), he's going to get the HIAWDA.
I agree with Condescendy. George July's contract number makes him expendable; Suppan's just makes him expensive.
Fuck all of you. April HIAWDA will be Rickie Weeks. There will be no voting or analysis.
Why are the Giants intentionally BBing Jason KenDoll?
It's going to seem like I waited until after Gallardo hit his home run. I assure you on Adam Dunn's soul that that post was made after ball 3 was thrown to KenDoll.
That's like the 19th ridiculous managerial move I've already seen this season. I'm really happy we have Ken Macha, who I hope will never do something that stupid.
Walk Kendall to get to Yovani? Haha Randy Johnson you are a stich. Suck on that you acne-riddled old fart.
On a side note, my car got broken into in my work parking lot today. Passenger window smashed, GPS, Radio, and yes, fucking wallet that was in my center console, stolen. This happened in broad daylight at 5:20 pm. I know this because a woman saw the tail end of it.
I bring this up because I had my opening day ticket in my wallet. I will attempt to sort out this fucking mess tomorrow with the ticket office, but let's just say it's been a tough night.
oh, and go fuck yourself, West Allis.
ah Pubic Wig Valdez, quite the prospect for the Giants.
You've got to be kidding me. I hope the thief is dumb enough to use your ticket and sit next to your dad at the game. If necessary, you can have my ticket while I do my best impression of the guy pictured on the front of this post.
Ok, I will admit that nothing catostrophic seems to happen to me (knock on wood), but am I the unluckiest motherfucker in Wisconsin? Seriously.
He really does have the funniest name in baseball, though there are quite a few other funny ones.
We should do the all funny/perverted names team. Let's start with this:
Pitchers:
Merkin Valdez
Dick Harden
Dick Such
Dick Pole
Dick Bass
Dick Calmus
Dick "Master" Bates
Dick McBride
Dick Braggins
Dick Wantz
Dick Stone
Dick Starr
Dick Burns
Position players . . . anybody want to come up with 12 of them?
Kudos to the Brewers for giving Jerry Augustine an announcing gig. I bet he'd have a hard time finding any similar job considering, you know, the whole downsyndrome thing.
情趣用品銷售經驗，用心經營，深得您心。
Jesus Christ, Augustine looks like Corky from Life Goes On. Funny that one of my best friend's brothers is dating his niece (who happens to be bi-racial). What a crazy world.
For position players, how bout Rusty Kuntz?
1. Nelson Cruz
Actually, his name isn't that funny, but as long as we're talking about him, did you know he hit 37 home runs at AAA last year, and hit two more tonight? I don't care if his bat only likes straight ball or he couldn't catch herpes, he's already hit more home runs than Laynce Nix ever did in a Brewers uniform.
ok anonymous, are you the jap that stole my shit? Come forward kimosabe
I was going to wait until LaPorta and perhaps Brantley start playing in the majors before writing the piece: "What happens when you trade advanced prospects."
Eveland rather than Suppan.
Cruz rather than Hart.
You're taking about the difference between a 68-win team and a 91-win team that the Brewers would be with those changes.
Dude, Jerry Augustine must have blown Craig Cashon and the rest of the FSN crew because there is no other way in the fucking world this man would be on TV. Does his family know? He looks like Sloth from the Goonies. his blood vessels in his eyes are literally exploded.
I would like to know how many times Kendall has been intentionally walked in the last two years. I'm going to argue that number is about as high as his home run total and am trying to imagine a situation where a manager wouldn't pitch to him aside from tonight's folly.
Oh, and Kendall and Gallardo have the same amount of home runs over the past three years.
Actually, KenDoll was intentionally walked 7 times last year. On the surface, that seems extremely high, but all #8 hitters in the national league get that treatment.
You see, managers manage to not raise eyebrows. To not get fired. To not rock the boat. The baseball convention is, position players can hit, pitchers can't. If a runner is in scoring position, first base open and the pitcher on deck, 26 of the 30 managers in the league will walk that #8 hitter regardless of who he is and regardless of who is on deck.
Luckily, I believe Ken Macha is one of the 4 that wouldn't walk KenDoll to get to Gallardo, or, more appropriately, Henry Blanco to get to Carlos Zambrano.
I remember KenDoll being IBBed once last year to get to C.C. Sabathia. That didn't work out either.
More on Macha. This is the coolest thing I've seen from a manager in some time. I'd love to see Villanueva, Coffey, and McClung get some 'saves' even after the Hoff returns
While we still haven't really discovered what Ken Macha is going to be like, I'm very optimistic that he will be a good manager.
I have always wondered what kind of difference an unconventional good manager could make over the course of a season. I honestly believe that stathead (for lack of a better term) tactics would net between 5 and 10 extra wins a year. In other words, the manager would be about as valuable as Ryan Bruan at his finest.
The Brewers haven't been the best example to use because all of their bullpen arms have been substantially equal for many years. But a great example is the Yankees. The Yankees have had one extraordinarily good reliever (Rivera) and subpar middle relievers for quite some time. Having Rivera hamstrung to pitching only the ninth inning costs the Yankees many games every year. It's the age-old conflict between conventional baseball "wisdom" and actual wisdom - closers are most valuable pitching in the most important situation, which usually is not the ninth inning.
Beyond the bullpen management, there are the issues of bunting, defensive replacements, stealing bases and other tactics. I wonder how many runs a year a team can create/save by (1) not bunting, (2) substituting Craig Counsell for Rickie Weeks, (3) stealing bases only when there is at least a 75% chance of success and (4) shifting defenses to hitting charts.
What do we expect from Ken Macha? How many wins will he be worth over Ned Yost? Something to think about for certainly long discussions this weekend.
Obviously I can't concentrate at work today.
This is an apt conversation, considering the idiotic decisions in last night's game by Bruce Bochy. First of all, the decision to walk KenDoll was moronic. The decision to pull Randy Johnson after 80 pitches in the 5th inning only to have pinch-hitter Nate Schierholtz ground out on the first pitch was even more moronic. Until he was forced to walk KenDoll and then tried to get cute with Yo, Johnson had 7 strikeouts and no walks. That's an extremely short leash considering your alternative is Merkin Valdez. I realize Johnson is 70 years old, but come on. Merkin Valdez!
I'm not sure how many wins Macha will be worth over Yost, but it's exciting to have someone, anyone, other than Ned Yost or Fred Shost calling shots.
Is anyone else hopeful that Brad Nelson will get some starts in RF against RHP over Hart after Macha realizes that Hart's OBP isn't going to exceed .300 this season?
Holy shit. Nick Adenhart died.
Agree completely on Nelson. I think he can post an .850 OPS in this league, even better in a platoon role. I do worry about his defense, but he's a better hitter than Hart. So is Nelson Cruz though. Sorry.
Darryl Kile.
Nick Adenhart.
Jeff Suppan(?!?) next? They always come in threes, dontcha know...
http://deadspin.com/5205437/espn-brings-out-the-sad-trombone?autoplay=true
Oops.
You forgot Cory Lidle, Blunty. This is definitely shitty news. The guy had a bright future in the big leagues, and was only 22. Really sobering stuff.
and Josh Hancock...
And Tim Crews and Steve Olin.
Terrible, indeed. Let's put sabermetrics aside and pour one out for the fallen talent, the wasted lives, and the families that have to suffer through the losses.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Any rebroadcast, reproduction or other use of my image without the expressed written consent of LIFM is prohibited. Expect to hear from my representation (aka Liz).
Sad news about your loss OldHoss. Maybe it's the same shadow that repeatedly invaded my shit box when I lived over by Ogden and Van Buren. Who says they need jobs or welfare? Working people like us should get bailout money for having to put up with shit turds like that.
Tragic news about Adenhart. Very random.
Have fun at Brewers opening day today folks...I'll be shaking my head in amazement at how half the Tigers team isn't in assisted living by now (Oldie Guillen and Oldie Ordonez are really getting on my nerves...)
One more observation: Anyone notice BP is looking for a writer for columns once a week? Rules and contest details are on their website (submissions due by April 15th) but I definitely think a couple of cats that write here should make an attempt (Condy, LIFM, Blunty)...???
Me? Nahhh.
I'd prefer to have the Bub on BP than myself. It would be selfish of us to not share his half-assed musings with the rest of the free world.
If Bub did it, they'd be pay articles where you could only read half.
If I wrote for BP, I'd suggest signing Kris Benson ASAP. He was a first round pick, dontcha know?
By the way, that guy in the picture clearly has my respect. When he wakes up (mostly likely to a night stick and pepper spray) he'll instantly become enraged because someone:
a.) drank the beer that he carefully placed next to him as his "sober up for the drive home" beer.
and
r.) decided to yack all in his personal space.
Is that any way to be rewarded for bringing your A-game and clearly making big plays? I doubt it.
本站目前上架的情趣用品，約三千至四千多種。
See, that guy agrees with me.
Way to go, Bing Bong!!!
Nice work gentlemen. A very successful weekend it was.
The Bub wouldn't be the first internet author to be made famous by writing half articles. Peter King has done it for years.
Post a Comment
<< Home