batman

I think Jose is settling in... he's dropped his release point a bit and he's starting to find the zone. His first couple pitches were straight over the top... I have a feeling that's what he does when he's trying to throw the ball through his catcher. *** Davis now up in the pen along with Jorge. We sure have an impressive late inning setup corps, huh? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif ~Bill

He's everywhere, man. He can't seem to find a consistent arm slot and as a result he's got zero command. *** Chad Moeller needs to buy Billy Hall dinner... that throw was destined for center field. ~Bill

Telemundo just split their screen for a little while to show a futbol game. Wait till the Brewers are over, amigos! *** Is anyone getting the Reds' feed? Does it have a radar gun reading? I'm curious to see how fast Capellan is getting it up there. ~Bill

Hart hit that ball about as hard as humanly possible, but it hooked right to the shortstop. *** Roto-Mag-Ruder is pinch-hitting for Davis. Capellan is gonna pitch the eighth. ~Bill

Great job by Helms to elevate that low pitch... he almost got it out. *** Right before they went to commercial (El Caballo loves Braeger Ford, BTW), the Telemundo feed showed Coffey sprinting in from the bullpen. Dork, thy name is Coffey. Were you afraid that Narron would change his mind before you got to the mound? ~Bill

I think I'm with you, WV Brew. If we had a healthy Wise or Santana, I'd feel better about removing Doug... but as it is, I think he's a better bet to pitch well in the eighth than anyone in the pen not named Turnbow, and he's gotta throw the ninth. How aboot we just get a bunch of runs and make the decision easy, eh? ~Bill

This game is cruising along like crazy... the pitchers are working quickly and both teams are playing solid defense. Nice catch to end the top of the seventh by Billy Hall... for those not watching on TV, he charged hard from short and made a feet-first slide, barely gloving the popup before it hit the ground. Very smooth. *** So is Davis done? He's set down nine or ten in a row but is between 100 and 110 pitches. Send him back out for the eighth? ~Bill

Davis is gonna be at 100 pitches very shortly... I think he just threw #98. It will be interesting to see who Yost turns to out of the pen with his two setup men out of action. ~Bill

Making fun of people because of their real or perceived sexuality is lame. *** That catch by Kearns was outstanding... he didn't give up at all despite knowing that he would bang into the wall. Great catch. Freel's play wasn't bad, either. ~Bill

Doesn't most of the thickness come from tape? That's what it looks like to me. It's hard to say... it doesn't look like they taper much from the barrel to the handle. I'm not sure how much of the handle bulk is from tape and how much is from the wood. *** More good work from Double-D... he's pitching awesomely today. ~Bill

I can't believe Rickie broke his bat... that thing is like a tree trunk. ~Bill

No problem, cirillo26... it's just that the "fat Helms" stuff got old a long time ago and we try to keep personal insults off the boards (e.g. no calling players gay, no making fun of players' race, etc.). If you wanna make fun of someone, make fun of something they said or something they did. / Administrivia *** Davis is dealing... nice inning. Eight strikeouts already. ~Bill

Seriously, cirillo26, stop with the fat jokes. ~Bill

It sucks that he did it against us, but Ken Griffey, Jr.'s home run swing is a beautiful thing. It's great that he has stayed healthy this year and is playing well... I hope he can keep it up for a few more years. Just no more hits against the Brewers, Junior. ~Bill

Rickie is fast. Who would win in a race: Jeff Gordon's NASCAR or Rickie Weeks? ~Bill

Moeller had no chance on that SB. I like to dump on him as well as the next guy but be fair. I was simply refering to the tendency of opposing teams to run wild when Moeller is behind the plate. When the sacrifice failed, Narron had no qualms about sending Olmedo because he knew there was a very small chance that Moeller would be able to throw him out. *** Nice job, Doug. JP just said that the last pitcher to triple as a Brewer was Jeff D'Amico against Octavio Dotel. That's awesome. ~Bill

That was a terrible throw by El Caballo... Olmedo was just rounding third when he caught it. Slow release, bloopy trajectory, and well wide of home (up the first base line) = not good. The fact that Chad Moeller couldn't throw out a basestealer to save his life didn't help matters, either. ~Bill

The Telemundo TV and WTMJ radio feeds are aligned nicely this afternoon. If you have access to Telemundo, turn the volume way down and turn on Bob and Jim. *** Is it wrong to be dreaming of Corey Hart in center field for the next ten years? ~Bill

Eveland is getting smoked tonight. Bill Schroeder just said that he is the team's #1 left-hander, ahead of De La Rosa. Is that true? It doesn't seem so based on their recent assignments, although tonight Dana got a high leverage appearance. ~Bill

Yost probably brought in Eveland because he thought he could get a ground ball. The fact that Lopez is so much worse against lefties was just icing on the cake. Too bad Eveland couldn't keep him on the ground. Good idea by Ned, though, I think. ~Bill

Poor defense there by Magruder. Cruz took a big swing and Rooter didn't break in on it right away. That's a tough way to end Ohka's night... he pitched brilliantly. Great job, Tomo! *** Eveland now gets to face the top of the Reds' lineup. Good luck, kiddo. *** EDIT: I didn't realize Ohka gave up so many hits... it sure didn't seem like it while it was happening. He sure is crafty. ~Bill

Not sure why that proves anything. I have zero problem with a hit and run in that situation with Weeks on and JJ at bat. Why not just let Rickie try to steal? All the hit-and-run accomplished was lessening Rickie's jump and forcing J.J. to swing at a bad pitch. Even if they had thrown him a strike, J.J. hits a lot of balls to the left side and there is probably at least as good a chance of a double play that way (on a line drive) than on a ground ball had Rickie not stolen. I understand "trying to make things happen" but a straight steal with a great base stealer (or at least a good one) makes a lot more sense to me than the monstrosity that is the hit-and-run. And before someone jumps down my throat, this isn't a Yost-hating thing. All managers (or most of them) do this. I just don't think it's an intelligent play. ~Bill

The hit-and-run is the stupidest play in baseball. Argh. ~Bill

Speaking of my injury paranoia, the wrap on J.J.'s right wrist keeps getting bigger. Before we know it, the dude's gonna be in a body cast. I would really like to know what is wrong with (a) Rickie and (b) J.J. Chances are that they're fine and it's nothing serious, but it would be nice not to have to worry about their health. *** Watching Sean Casey run is painful... he has a lot of trouble accelerating and decelerating. He reminds me a bit of Richie Sexson when he was having trouble with his knees. ~Bill

Well I figured out where Daron is... doing the (ahem) ANGELS game. From the Ventura County Star: Saturday baseball switch: Fox again this week is bring both the Dodgers' and Angels' Saturday afternoon baseball games to the L.A. market, but things will be a little different. The Dodgers' game at home against the New York Mets will be on KTTV (Channel 11) while the Angels' game at Seattle will be on KCOP (Channel 13). Both games start at 1, a Fox spokesman said. In previous weeks when Fox has shown both games, the station assignment has usually been reversed. Kenny Albert and Steve Lyons will broadcast the Dodgers game while Daron Sutton (son of Don Sutton) and Jose Mota will do the Angels. So Daron skipped town this weekend to do the Angels game on Fox. Sure seems like he's on the Vasgersian Fast Track , no? *** EDIT: Here's Craig Coshun's bio from the Brewers' site: Craig Coshun begins his fifth season covering Brewers Baseball as a pre-game show host and sideline reporter for selected games on Fox Sports Net. During baseball's off-season, he performs the same duties for the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks on FSN. Coshun is a veteran sportscaster in the state calling several events for the University of Wisconsin, including Badger football and basketball games since 1990. He also does college football and basketball play-by-play for the Big Ten Conference. Coshun has worked at NBC affiliates in Eau Claire (WEAU) and Madison (WMTV). He was the sports director at WMTV from 1992-2000. Coshun also called several sporting events for Midwest Sports Channel. He is a graduate of UW-Whitewater and resides in Verona with his wife Pam, a news anchor at WISC-TV in Madison, and sons John and Jacob. ~Bill