TooLiveBrew

You never assume anything. If you don't see the tag, you have to act as if it didn't happen. Why it's a 'coin toss' in my eyes is that you have to make the choice on that kind of call to assume something you didn't see -- either direction. If you call him out there, you definitely second-guess yourself as to whether or not he was tagged. If you go 'safe', you second-guess whether or not he was tagged. Crappy call for an ump to have to make. Love the work by Bush so far.

That was another 'ball beat him, therefore he's probably out' call. I swear those are coinflips as to safe/out. If I had the access, I'd love to run those results. Don't know where I'd get that video access. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif ROCK WITH THE VADER REFERENCE! I don't care that he applied it terribly, that will be remembered!

The ump had to be basically in the coach's position to see that particular play. On the replay, his positioning didn't look as bad, but I still think his view was obscured

There's no way the ump could make that call from that position. Not the best umpiring.

Nice shot Prince! Nice job Bush. Walk a guy who had 10 walks all season. Hey, he had to get #11 off someone!

So you want to beat the toughest competition as long as it's not a rival?

TWR... "The same reason I'd rather have more challenging tasks at work rather than easy ones. The benefits and rewards are way better if you conquer the bigger challenge." Why root for other teams' injuries?

Dang, wOOgiE! I sure don't get tired of saying that your IGTs are simply gorgeous. Every time I check them there seems to be something new/different/better. Let's go Crew!

I still love that he stared down the ball he hit that barely missed being a HR. Kendall, the penultimate 'doesn't watch his HR' type of ballplayer... of course the one time he posed, the baseball gods punished him. I understand the Crawford box complaint, I just wish they would jettison deeper quicker if that makes sense. Overall it is a nice park however, not exactly the circus some make it out to be. Yeah, I get you & agree on that. The RF corner is god-awfully short, too. I think most baseball fans in general would share those two gripes with you.

The only team I see religiously hustle every play out is the St Louis Cardinals. And I don't put that [one] on the manager, its on the players. Further eveidence that David Eckstein is more powerful than 1,000 LaRussas! Now, like Melvin said, changing the culture is what he may have accomplished. Changed it from a laughing stock circus to a competitive atmosphere. Even on this one, I'd point to how the 'culture' changed from crappy players to talented ones. I think the best quality Ned has at this point is that he's very familiar with the vast majority of the Brewers. There is something to be said for that, though probably not much.

Of course, when Cole Hamels and Nick Markakis made similar remarks in the days following Prince's comments, they went largely unnoticed, and you rarely hear bad things about those two. Plus, whether true or not, I'm sure Prince could see one clear difference in his exterior from those two players and say, 'Hey, what the heck?' It's nice to think that race isn't a factor (for me personally it isn't), but then again I'm a white guy.

I do think that the outrage in this thread that anybody would dare drag Joe Dillon's name through the mud by comparing him to Mark DiFelice is pretty revealing. I was only responding to him (yet again) making the glib comment that Dillon 'never made an MLB club for a reason' -- like that reason was 'lack of talent', while excluding the relevant fact that he had career-ending (then) back surgery. I don't mind for a second someone comparing the two or even saying, 'Hey, this Dillon guy's no star'. I just dislike when people gloss over relevant facts in order to make a neater-sounding post.

I wonder how much of Prince's "attitude" is the imagination of the fans and the media though? I mean, Prince's comment wasn't nearly as bad as we hear from players in other sports, and yet people treat it like constantly complains about it. Is it coming up because of anything that we really know of? Great post. This is every bit as much imagination as it is reality, imo. I think you're right for the most part, but he's not the first guy to come on our show to talk about Prince's attitude. Maybe Prince doesn't like the media/MSM (or Rick Justice) -- he wouldn't be the first or last. Perhaps he could have asked one of his peers who cover the team all the time to get a better idea of what the clubhouse is like. [insert TH/AW joke here]

Actually, two -- Hustle, & be on time. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Ok, so now the 'hustle' policy = playoffs? Sign me up! Something tells me the 5 guys with 20 or more HR, & team OPS of .812 (.354 OBP) had more to do with them making the playoffs than the threat of being benched if you don't run out a pop-up. I know fans like it, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it (I actually like guys being held accountable for being lazy/jerks). I just don't think it is a 'culture of winning' kind of thing.

On this we'll just have to agree to disagree. I can live with that. I believe it's down near the bottom of managerial 'doings'/impact. Sexon didn't always run to first, Hernadez sat out the season's final series two consecutive years to avoid setting the k record, Sanchez, well don't need to mention his work ethic. Prince doesn't always run to first -- MLBers tend to pick their spots very, very well. If the play is in doubt, the hustle is there almost every single time. When you've chopped one to an IF who handles it cleanly, and you're as slow as Prince/Richie, not busting your butt to 1B makes a bit more sense. Also, you've pointed out several players -- I don't know that any manager would have had an impact on whether or not Richie (or Prince) would not hustle all-out on every grounder... or make Alex Sanchez not suck at life. Iirc, Hernandez was kept out by Royster (is that right?). I just don't think there's much a mananger can do to get a guy that doesn't hustle to do so, or to get one that does hustle to not do so. One reason I think we've seen an upturn in player 'character' is that the F.O. has made it a priority to not take just any ol' jerkwad that can play. We aren't those Brewers anymore. Yost's 'clubhouse attitude' is much more likely an example of the F.O. placing a priority on 'character' than it is that they brought Ned in to make sweeping changes to guys' personalities. Boy we sure love to debate this Yost fella, huh? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif EDIT: Even though these guys are paid millions of dollars to play the game and execute, there is a reason a manager is in place. I agree -- to manage the game, player substitutions, keep the guys fresh & as healthy as a mgr. can. I just don't think benching your SS for not running out an IF pop-up sends any kind of message, other than it gets the media salivating all over you, because it makes them feel good. I know when I played, I hustled my butt off (lack of talent will do that for ya) -- but I also got yelled at for not hustling out a handful of IF pops in my years. Every single time I 'didn't hustle' on a pop, it was because I was mad at myself for putting a crappy swing on a ball I should have smacked. It had nothing to do with my character, or my attitude... I just got frustrated & kinda lost where I was. I was not benched, and it didn't spiral into a perilous pit of laziness. I still hustled my butt off, because it was up to me, not my coach.

I think he was in the Brewers clubhouse. Yes, > 10 minutes surely gives him all the information he'd ever need to know.

My question is at what point do we call up either LaPorta or Gamel (or both) to inject some life into our offense? 2009 or later. (ibtm)

Furthermore... Estrada isn't with the team after one short season. It seems very consistent to me in comparison to how he dealt with Sanchez. His contract expired, he sucked with us, and he didn't hustle. I see two causes there that'd probably trump the third one (in terms of whether or not to re-sign/release a guy). I just don't think that a manager should get credit for guys hustling & playing the game 'right.' There just aren't enough MLBers that don't hustle to make me think any one type of manager does anything to 'get that' from his players. As fans we just remember the guys that don't hustle. Yes, Yost has 'benched' guys due to lack of hustle. Many managers do this, and I just don't think it has that much of an effect. Tony LaRussa will bench a player for striking out when the H&R is on... does that make him a great manager, or does it make his players better? All I think it serves to do is make guys feel heat for the sake of feeling heat. Hey -- I'm a tough manager! I'm glad Yost doesn't pull stunts like that (also see John Gibbons). Yost has never been anything but supportive of his players publicly, other than to ocassionally say player X has to get it going. Or that Braun missed a sign... there are other examples of Yost throwing his guys under the bus.

Except that razzzor was referring to the Brewers' clubhouse

It's really not that... It's just that we think know we're better than you. There ya go...

Brian the Manualmator, evil twin of BtA, from the 9th dimension?

Principessa has had some nasal surgery... I'll see if I can steer her here.

Wow -- did not see that one coming. Sheesh. he definitely one of the few reporters who treated politicians from both parties fairly. He was a great journalist. Seconded. The truly objective reporter seems to be a dying breed http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif "Tim Russert, NBC News' Washington bureau chief and the moderator of "Meet the Press," died Friday after a sudden heart attack at the bureau, NBC News said Friday. He was 58. Russert was recording voiceovers for Sunday's "Meet the Press" program when he collapsed, the network said. He and his family had recently returned from Italy, where they celebrated the graduation of Russert's son, Luke, from Boston College."

But, prior to Yost's arrival it was a problem with the Brewers. And it is one thing that he has singled players out for very consistently throughout his tenure here Prior to Yost, the problem was crappy players, not whether or not they hustled. I'm a bit confused, though -- if Yost so consistently 'singles guys out' for lack of hustle, it would seem that the example of Estrada points out that it hasn't been consistent. I don't think a manager has much impact on hustle or lack thereof more than a feel-good story when the team's winning, and an extra ounce of blame when the team struggles. I think some fans are taking for granted that the vast majority of MLB guys hustle; the ones that don't just stand out in the memory more.

If by "Milwaukee beer", you mean Miller products, I don't think there's much argument that they're anything more than swill/cheap beer. If you want to over-generalize & include all the great brews from Milwaukee, then I disagree.