TooLiveBrew

What I think is weird is that fans actually 100% believe that what an announcer says has any bearing on the outcome on the field. I'm tired of his inability to know what is a "deep drive to left center field". It's similiar to 90% of fans who stand up and scream. Now this is a very legitimate beef. I've been guilty of this myself one time at a game, and I sat with my head buried in my hands as soon as I realized that Prince had merely hit a towering fly ball to medium RC. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/embarassed.gif before the guy even throws to first, he'll say something like "And the Brewers get out of it." He's gonna get burned on that eventually. Yeah, many baseball announcers do this, and I agree. Just wait to see the result. It's like an ump making a call before he's certain of the play. The vast majority of the time, it doesn't matter, but when it does... um, whoops.

This is sort of a common misconception about Howard. At age 23 he put up an .883 OPS in A ball and a lot of that came later in the season. In 2004 he put up good numbers in AA and AAA as a normal level of development. It wasn't until he was 25 that he was held down and then he was up after 61 games. It had nothing to do with keeping him cheaper and everything to do with him being blocked by Thome who went down with an injury. He also couldn't hit lefties at all for quite some time so still had holes in his game to exploit. NDOGG, I was wrong, & I'm sorry. I guess I got caught up a bit in the drama of the story -- you were correct, sir. I still feel that the Thome signing was in spite of Howard, though it looks pretty clear that there were no evil intentions. Howard was ready to mash at worst by age 25, and the Phils seemed to be concerned that he wouldn't be. There's some funny irony to me in this (yes, different organizations, but...) -- I remember that when Thome came up with the Indians they brought him up & platooned him. So the guy that blocked a slugger who still had work to do on facing LHP was himself brought up prior to being polished v. LHP http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif As for Weeks, the whole 2nd pick in the draft thing gets way overblown. Agreed -- it usually does get overblown. It's hard to wrap the mind around baseball sometimes, but even a #1 'sure thing' pick is not guaranteed to even be a MLB player, let alone the star that being selected that highly would seem to warrant. I think the worst-case scenario with Rickie in terms of 'what we have' is a player that's going to put up a line around .250/.350/.400+, playing good enough defense at 2B. While it can be frustrating to see Rickie make some mistakes with the leather, that play from last night's game where Durham couldn't get the ball back up the middle should help put Weeks's defense in perspective. It's simply exaggerated here at times how bad he actually is.

I loved it, and I'm not normally all about that stuff. Same here. i can go forever with this list becouse every soccer player in the world has now a personal way to celebrate a scoring. I know there's a ocean (well, actually there is..) between soccer and baseball, but i have no problem at all with (baseball) players posing a bit and/or showing excitement That really made me chuckle. I think the celebrations you've described & the passion are part of what makes football 'the beautiful game'. The players do so much hard work, and a goal is something that is so relatively rare... it's just human nature to feel elated when you break through. No matter how many HR a guy hits in a season, it really is a similarly rare & special occurance. When you add in that it was a come-from behind, late-inning blast to jump ahead of one of your rivals & biggest competitors (to complete a 4-game sweep at their house!!!), I'd definitely feel pretty dang good about it too. I know for a fact that if the Brewers were swept by the Cubs and Ramirez did the same thing this board would be up in arms. Well, he did that. Last year. I don't recall the board being up in arms. In any event, I would most certainly not be up in arms. My feelings on this don't have anything to do with what team Braun is on. Sure, it makes it that much sweeter to do it against StL, but I just feel differently about it than you do homer. Have the Cards even mentioned anything? That's the funny thing... no. It's the fans (some of StL & Mil.) that are up in arms. Unless the Cards' players have strangely done a complete 180 from what they told their color commentator after game 2, they didn't feel any slight. He asked a bunch of the players, and the color commentator said they had no problem with Hall's gazing. The players agree with each other; fans seem to be the ones that think it's despicable. That makes sense -- the guys that go out there & have to compete against one another understand how good doing what Ryan did feels. -- And can we please stop talking about how it barely got out? The home park noted it at 407 or 410 feet. Visiting teams typically see their HRs fly 'shorter' rather than 'farther' when it comes to the measurements. This was a bomb. The TV broadcast didn't do it justice -- it looked like it was hit almost as high as it was far. Can anyone that was at the game give us a description of what it looked like? Jhart?

And he promptly posted a 1.021 OPS in AA, before being promoted to AAA (.956 OPS) at age 24. He was drafted #5 overall out of college, and was MLB ready. At best, the Phils signed Thome in spite of Howard (idioctic, given their market size). At worst, they signed him to keep Howard down & cheaper (dirty pool & shameless tactics). If the Phillies didn't have scouts that could tell them that Howard was MLB-ready, they should have hired new scouts. He posted a 133 OPS+ the next season. Like I said, at best, the acquisition was made in spite of Howard.

Actually, that's pretty much what Howard thought. That's why he was really, really pissed at the Phillies.

Runs & RBI have much more to do with his teammates than Braun. That said, obviously it looks nice to finish with those numbers http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

Thanks crewcrazy -- the HR was not 'close' -- it was an absolute bomb

It was a HUGE home run. I think the idea that it was a wall-scraper (or somewhere near that) is skewed. I hope someone that TiVo'd the game can go back & watch, but I think the idea that it wasn't way gone is only due to the camera switch. FSN-WI shot out to the camera, which didn't have a bead on the ball, and what we saw was mainly the fans reacting. But the ball looked to bounce off the concrete stairs about 8-10 steps up, not off the first or second row of seats. Braun clobbered it, and the ball was a moonshot to boot. He got it, he knew he got it, and he was unashamed to take a long look at it. Given how classless the Cards have played against us in recent memory, I relished in Ryan's gaze.

No, the Phillies traded for Jim Thome when they should have just gone with Howard, who was MLB ready. It was a strange move.

Beltre has a .259 BA/.762 OPS, which is below average for a 3rd baseman. Right, playing in a park that supresses his numbers about as much as any park can, he's been vastly superior to Hall at the plate, and puts Hall to shame in the field. For some reason, you decided to single him out. You're projecting what's valuable to you by saying money is all that should be necessary to satisfy Bill Hall. That's ridiculous. Completely taking what I said & manipulating it to fit your agenda.

I think a decent amount of his horrid start this year was bad luck. Don't get me wrong, he didn't pitch great or even good, but he was not a 7 ERA pitcher. Well said, cwolf. I've been very encouraged by Eric's results & execution of late.

TLB - do you honestly believe there would be this much buzz about Ledger if he wasn't dead? This misses the entire point. I've already said 'No' to this question. Irrelevant to what most people in here have been discussing Denzel won the Academy Award because he was black. This comes off as an incredibly bigoted comment. You appear to think that Denzel & Berry winning had only to do with their skin color, which to me seems silly. Perhaps the reason he is receiving so much attention is that he played such a quality role in a summer blockbuster. That is pretty unusual. Yes, unusual to be sure -- it certainly could play a role in influencing people, including me. However, I strive for objectivity in all things, and I feel that Ledger's performance was stellar... regardless of genre.

Branyan had been strug-gul-ling before Yost demolished the platoon. He was 0-7 0-7... that's an acceptable reason to "demolish the platoon"? Branyan's D is better, and he's a far better option against RHP. Hall is owed somewhat of an apology. Again, Hall didn't even have the guts to come out and say he should be traded. He did so through his agent. He is owed no apology. Something tells me the millions of dollars he's owed will do just fine. I think he should be applauded if anything for not being satisfied with a paycheck like Adrian Beltre probably would. You mean the Adrian Beltre that's posting a line of .330/.432/.762 in one of the most extreme pitchers' parks in MLB, and playing arguably the best defense at 3B of anyone in MLB?

Pretty insane... taken the first 3, with the guy that I still feel is our most effective pitcher due up for tonight's contest. Great time to be a Brewers fan.

He is getting a lot more attention because he plays a very dark character shortly after he died in a strange/upsetting manner. I really do not think you can deny that TLB. I'm not denying that... never have. I feel that, dead or living, Ledger's performance would be (rightly so) garnering Academy Award talk. I certainly disagree that another actor would have matched the performance, and with the notion that it's 'easier' to play a psychotic character. To do that convincingly imo is a daunting task -- Bale put in a great performance in A.P. Ledger was good but I do not think he was epic. Well I don't think you have to be 'epic' to win an Oscar -- nor do I necessarily think he was. We disagree on his performance... that's fine. I thought it was a brilliant interpretation of the character, and that came by far mostly from Ledger from all accounts I've seen (as opposed to incredibly strong direction).

That will be key. If they cast it wrong (should it be Catwoman), the movie might very well suck. Given the great casting thus far (save Katie Holmes), I'll give Nolan the benefit of the doubt. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

Al, just good evidence that you shouldn't have held back -- say it loud & proud: "Justice is an idiot!" http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif I wonder why the newspaper business is in such sad shape...hmmm. Wait... are you trying to say that writing a story to say something sensationalistic is poor journalism!?

Just saw it last night... late-night... and walked home... creepy Eckhart was excellent. His character was rushed at the end, but with what he was given, I thought he was great. I agree -- I'm extremely disappointed with how the character was utilized near the end of the movie -- especially since Eckhart was so good. --I just don't get how anyone can say things like 'the oscar buzz for Ledger is because he died'. That's so off-base to me -- that was as good a performance as I've ever seen on film, & I genuinely don't think that's overstatement. I agree with the sentiment that he was creepy, hilarious, & terrifying... often in the same scene. I felt a very guilty pleasure for the entire film, as I was enjoying every bit of Ledger's performance. I think Gobias hits the nail on the head: "I think he'd be the favorite if he were still alive. Just a jaw-dropping performance." --To the question on the next/future villain(s), there was that seemingly throwaway line when Fox is reviewing the new batsuit with Wayne... Fox replies (paraphrasing): 'It'd do pretty well against a cat'. Instantly made me think Catwoman was in the on-deck circle. --D-Bow! I didn't shout the name, but I leaned over to the gf & 'whisper-shouted' it. Great superhero movie, and a good movie overall. That's a fair review -- I'd rachet it just a tad higher in both cases, but I mostly agree. I also didn't like the 4 Act structure of the film, as the first act was almost totally worthless and the 4th is badly rushed. I admire Nolan for attempting such an experiment, but it simply doesn't work. I, too, appreciated the attempt, but agree that it didn't fully work. Especially the first act's parking garage scene. I felt like it was included just to set up the Joker's later media ruse regarding Batman, and they threw in a random, confusing, token cameo to boot. (I hope that was vague enough to not be a spoiler) ** I previewed & edited my post numerous times, in a careful attempt to not have any spoliers. If anyone thinks I've got any in here, any mod please feel free to hide the segment(s) in question.

kalle8, how did you become a Brewers fan? Also, is your avatar picture Brandon Webb?

Iirc he was sent there to work on something specific in his mechanics... not that he's toast (necessarily)

Didn't Hart & Braun get picked off in the same game a couple days back? The Brewers have got to be the dumbest team in the league!

Iirc since SS is valued as the most important defensive position, he'd stand to make a significant amount more there. He wouldn't exactly be going hungry by moving to 2B, though. There's a bit to be worried about in pairing Hardy's avg. to below-avg. range with Prince on the right side of the diamond, though (I'd imagine)

I don't suggest anyone do a google search for "Enrique Cruz" from a work computer... You piqued my curiosity... yeah, RK'sFG is right... just don't bother

"how bad is rfk stadium and its baseball team?" Nationals Park is a gorgeous new stadium... in fact, the first 'Green' MLB park.

To paraphrase BtA, if Guillermo Mota can find work, Turnbow can find work.