MJLiverock

I've got a 2009 Fan Information guide for the new Yankee Stadium sitting at my desk right now and the pics of the interior are amazing. Miller Park is pretty nice but the new Yankee Stadium looks unbelievable. The Great Hall (31,000 squar foot banquet room)looks better than most museums and the various suites and restaurants are top of the line. The 2 membership clubs, Audi Yankees Club, and Mohegan Sun Sports Bar look bigger and better than the Gehl Club and Metavante Club. There is also a Hard Rock Cafe and a NYY Steak House, which looks like a very fine steak house. This does not include the Martini Bar and the various concourse eateries and two food courts, one at field level and one in the bleachers. There is also a Yankee Museum and another Banquet facility besides the Great Hall. Party Suites can be combined to hold 400 guests. There are 1,100 Sony LCD tv's located in the stadium. Cell phone use is not permited in the Legends Suites (25 sections behind Home Plate at field level). These suites are unbelievably nice, the Delta Air suite has 1200 cushioned seats with teak arms. Food service at the seats along with an espresso bar, cocktail bar and made to order pizzas. These legends suites have two private clubs, the Ketel One lounge(2 levels) and the Legends Suites Club along with the Left Field Dugout Lounge. There are also the 22 person Luxury Suites and the Club Suites (74 person capacity) Also a unique item is the Preview Center, a 4000 sq. foot replica suite located in Midtown Manhattan in the Rockefeller Center. One wall is a huge floor to ceiling TV screen simulating the view from a suite at Yankee Stadium. It is marketed as a way to enjoy a suite experience without having to actually go to the stadium. Overall the granduer of the stadium is quite impressive. They certainly spared no expense and made luxury one of the focal points. The marble and scale certainly are meant to showcase the Yankees as the premier franchise in baseball. Of course when I go to a game I like to actually watch the game but the Yankees have catered to the large dollar corporate clientele for sure. I have been in the suites at the Kohl Center, Miller Park, the Cell, and Camp Randall and the Yankee Stadium ones blow them all away. Of course the ticket prices aren't cheap but it is NY where everything is 2x or 3x WI prices. Tickets in say the equivalent of the 200 level in Miller Park range from $55 to $150 depending on how close to home plate or the foul pole. Field level seats (not the box seats, more like 100 level seats at Miller) start at $125 in the outfiled corners to $225 as you get close to the 1st or 3rd base, and $375 to $400 to be inside the infield. Upper deck which is a 5th level, are $30 in infield, $23 for outfiled. Bleachers are $14.

Could the rotation equal the Phillies last year? Yes, Gallardo would have to improve and last a full season at the high level to equal Hamels but the Phillies bullpen was much bettter than the Brewers last year and this year's Bullpen may not be any better that last year's middle of pack pen. I still stick by my earlier thoughts that this team will finish around .500 or slightly below say 78-82 wins. The rotation is below average, the pen is below average, and the offense is average. The offense could be slightly above average if Braun is O.K. and Weeks/Hardy improve but the anchor of Kendall, 3B player, and a weak bench will make it tough to be a top scoring team.

I just looked up the BB/9 totals on the MLB site and the Brewers are dead last in the NL at 5.4 BB/9, the Braves are second to last at 5.0. Six teams are between 4 and 5 and 6 are between 3 and 4 while 2 are below 3 BB/9. I didn't take the time to calculate a true league average but it look like the Brewers are averaging about 2 BB/9 more than the rest of the league. The K rate is also among the lowest for the Brewers. Adding in the American league makes it even worse. The highest rate there was 4.6 BB/9 with most teams right around the 3 to 4 range. I dont' think I can just chalk it up to early season kinks and that everyone is struggling. It is early in the season but the Brewers are noticably worse than the league. The walks have really hurt the team and it isn't just bad luck timing, the Brewers pitchers seem to have difficulty throwing strikes when it is really needed, like with the bases loaded, when there already are guys on base, etc. Not just occasional walks with no one on and 2 outs but at times when concentration should be at its highest and they are walking guys on 4 o5 pitches and missing badly. I won't blame it all on Castro, he can't make them throw it over the plate but my fears that this staff is really not very good are not being allayed by the early results. Attempts to make it seem that every team is struggling like the Brewers just don't hold up in my eyes or in the stats.

It's April and a lot of pitchers have problems throwing strikes in April. Last year as an example 107 more BBs were issued in the NL in April than in May and the lowest K/BB ratio of any month was April. Too bad all those pitchers are playing for the Brewers. I couldn't resist.

Can anyone on this staff throw strikes?

I just fired off an email to FSN Wisconsin on their fan forum feedback spot letting them know how I feel. It won't do any good but at least I let them hear about it. When will MLB and FSN realize that no one outside of Milwaukee gets WMLW so they may as well leave the ESPN or MLB feeds on instead of blacking them out like last Thursday and Saturday. The entire state is held hostage because some rinky dink station in Milwaukee picks up the slack for FSN covering the Bucks or for some reason MLB thinks WMLW will lose viewers if people in Madison watch the game on ESPN or MLB when we don't even get WMLW over the air, on DBS, on Fios, on U-Verse or anything of the sort. We may not have a rant thread anymore but this just annoys me immensly.

Once again another game night spent watching DVR'd shows thanks to FSN WI or WMLW or whomever is responsible for putting the Brewers on a channel that no one outside of Milwaukee can recieve and giving the rest of the state the Bucks a team no one outside of Milwaukee and very few in Milwaukee are even remotely interested in watching play out the string of yet another meaningless season. And thank you MLB, way to promote your product by blacking out the game to interested fans all over the state.

I think part of the frustration for me with last night effort was his absolute and utter lack of control. It wasn't like Suppan was getting squeezed or just missing his spots, he was missing the zone by feet not inches. I don't know if it was psychological after he, for whatever reason, decided to groove a BP fastball on the first pitch of the game to a guy who thrives on first pitch fastballs. His pitches to Hill, Dempster, and Soriano in the walkathon weren't even close enough to make the batter think about anything except wondering if they would be hit by the next one. My wife asked me why the Brewers always have pitchers who can't throw strikes. It was pretty funny trying to explain there have been guys but only being able to come up Sheets, CC, Bush (of a few years ago), and hopefully Gallardo. She knew all about the nibbler, Doug Davis, and remembered Gagne's struggles, Vargas, and Turnbow. Of course when Suppan finally came out, Julio comes in and starts spiking balls, hitting batters, and "aiming for the bull". She rested her case as McClung rounded out the walk parade. It actually made me wonder if there is some sort of organization bias against pounding the zone or is it just because the Brewers struggle to develop pitchers so they take chances on guys with live arms and hope to fix them (Turnbow, Gagne, Cappellan, McClung, Julio) or take guys who have been lucky nibbling the edges with weak stuff (Davis, Suppan, Vargas, etc.) Dave Duncan, in St. Louis, has had good luck getting results from what seem to be marginal to average guys and his mantra is pound the zone so how does he get guys like Suppan, Looper, Lohse, Wellemeyer to throw strikes? I just looked at Wellemeyer's stats since has always seemed pretty mediocre to me and until he got to St. Louis he was a 1.5-1.6 WHIP guy, even in AAA he was 1.40. His two years in St. Louis have been 1.25 and 1.27 his BB/9 has dropped from about 6 to around 3.

I noticed during last night's game vs. the Giants the pitch speeds were shown in the box for a split second, and I do mean a split second, if you aren't watchiing the little box instead of the game you will miss it. I only noticed it because I caught the movement as they rolled a graphic over to flash the speed a few times. I didn't notice that they showed every pitch speed but again the flash is so quick it is easy to miss. I would agree with brewtown the SD feed does seem improved this year, not nearly as dark and grainy as past years. I only had this problem with the FSN Wi SD feeds, not the FSN North or the SD feed of WGN games so I am pretty sure it was a FSN WI issue. A friend in Madison who has the MLB package for Cardinal games even commented on how awful the FSN WI SD feed was last year compared to other FSN channels.

I understand the ESPN truck being on the move constantly but what I don't understand is where a truck used by FSN WI goes for one day on like a Wednesday from Milwaukee (just an example) and returns the next day to broadcast in HD again. There just isn't that much HD coverage within a 1 day leave and turn around to come back, especially during most of the summer when there is no NFL, NBA, College Football, College Basketball, etc. I assume the Chicago teams have HD for all games so they wouldn't need to share with Milwaukee. According to that schedule there isn't a HD game on FSN WI until April 24th but the only competition for HD sports coverage would be NASCAR, the NBA, and an occasional golf tourney, Kentucky Derby so where or what are the trucks doing for 2 1/2 weeks?

Most of those shows are also shown in 4:3 format and not widescreen either. In regards to the cost of the trucks and production team for the HD stuff, where does the truck and production team go? I noticed we will have a game or two in HD (like the Twins series in May, Fri & Sat HD, sun no meniton of it) Or one game like in the Marlins series will be in HD. Does the truck pack up and leave for a day or two and drive somewhere else to cover a HD event? Or is sitting idely by in the parking lot because they just don't want to staff it?

I am disappointed the didn't mee their goal of all games in HD but does their SD signal have to look so terrible? The picture is always grainy and washed out on my TV, my TV is calibrated professionally and I have never noticed as bad as FSN WI when watching say the Cubs on WGN in SD or TBS before the HD launched.

I was just looking over the Brewers schedule to start the season and out of the first 34 days there are 32 games scheduled. Not looking like too many days off to skip any starters unless rainouts occur and no double headers or use of the off day are done. Of the 32 games, 12 are at home and 7/20 road games are in domes so no rainouts there.

What are the admissions standards for Kentucky versus Memphis? It seemed Memphis was the type of school that grades, high school transcipts, etc. didn't matter as much as basketball ability. Is there enough of a difference to matter at Kentucky? Also didn't Callipari have some recruiting clouds around him a UMass and there have certainly been rumors of recruiting activitities at Memphis as well with D. Rose and others. Is Kentucky prepared to potentially blow up their legacy if some of the background allegations turn out to be true, i.e. some shadowing figures working at pimping Memphis for Callipari and now "representing" Kentucky. It almost reminds me of the Indiana situation with Sampson. There were plenty of warnings and even a NCAA investigation over him yet the Hoosiers wet ahead and tarnished their program a little in the pursuit of Sampson. Calipari has played his games at a couple levels below Kentucky's perceived standing in the college basketball world so I wonder how it will hold up under heavier scrutiny.

The Big East clearly has a lot of talented teams at the top but the conference strenght gets a little diluted by the sheer size of the conference. Louisville may have won the regular season title but they only played Villanova, Pitt, Uconn, Syracuse, Marquette 1 time each, but they get S. Florida 2x? For the great teams at the top there are some dreadful teams at the bottom, S. Florida, DePaul, St. Johns, Rutgers. Looking at the Strenght of Schedule for the RPI stuff the Big East teams don't rank much better than the Big 10 Teams because the B10 teams play most of the teams 2x. So yes Louisville had 5 tough games versus the top teams but only one time each. I remember a few years ago when WI didn't play MSU 2x just like this year and everyone wanted to discount their B10 seeding because of it but no one seems to mention it with the Big East. UConn and PItt played each other 2x compared to the Louisville 2x playing of S. Florida. To me the Big East is just too big of a conference, a lot of attention is paid to the top teams but their schedule isn't really any tougher because they only play each other 1x. Out of 16 teams of course there are going to be a lot of good teams, but there are also a lot of bottom feeders as well. Minnesota played Louisville and WI played Uconn as many times as most of the Big East conference did. It would be like the B10 adding Kansas, Oklahoma, and Memphis along with Northern Illinois and Indiana State to get to 16 teams.

They take debit cards. My wife uses hers there since I have an Amex and we have never bothered to add her to the account. I think Sams only took Discover cards and added debit a few years agao. It is done because they get better deals on the exchange fees from the credit card company by going exclusive to one brand. Costco should let you walk around the store without a membership. I know when the one in Middleton opened I took my wife around the store because she had never been in one. We ended up with the membership because I can make the $50 back on my addiction to Starbucks coffee alone. (I tried the Kirklands brand coffee but it isn't quite up to my taste but it isn't horrible and and I hate Dunkin Donuts coffee). The meat section is pretty good they have things like lamb (and at good prices) which many local stores never seem to have in stock. If you ever have a party you can probably make the money back just on buying a few frozen appetizers for quick fixes - - for the amount you can get it is cheaper than regular stores. I have found the liquor and wine to be hit or miss - - some of the liquor is cheaper especially if you buy things like Captain Morgan or Vodka by the gallon. Wine isn't that great a deal, but I found Sam's really wasn't that great on wine either. Usually if you know your wine brands you can find just as good of deals at Steve's, Liquor Town, or even occasionally in the grocery stores. We don't have kids so when we buy the metric ton of pasta it last a long time but it is a good deal. If you can buy things in bulk and store them it works out. I tend not to by electronics from the clubs because they are usually stripped down versions of the comparable products at Best Buy or other regular retailers. To sum it up Hawing, you should be able to wander around the store without a membership, they might make you put a sticker on or sign your name in when you walk in but I have done it in Middleton and at other locations outside WI.

I don't know if it was your exact meaning and but this touches on a pet peeve of mine. Just because someone doesn't get up before 6 AM doesn't mean they are lazy or get nothing done or have nothing important to do. I have never been a morning person and never will be nor do I want to be. As a kid, like 5 years old, I would stay awake until 10PM and fight with my mom about bedtime because I wasn't tired. Now as an adult I rarely go to bed before midnight and get up at 7:30 only because I have to be to work at 8:30. If it were up to me I would probably stay up until 2 and get up around 9. My parents are both morning people and my Mom used to worry because during school breaks I would stay up until 4 AM reading, watching TV, video games, etc. and would still be up sometimes when she got up at 4:30. My nephew is 2 and doesn't take naps, he goes to bed at 8 or 9 and sleeps straight through until 8 or 9 and then gets up and plays like crazy all day. I honestly think some people just aren't meant to get up early just like some people can't stay up late at night. My wife could go to bed at 8 PM but she would still hate getting up at 7 AM, she just despises get up at that time. It used to drive me crazy when my Dad's friends' or even a woman I work with would make statments about how much they get done because because they get up 5 AM every day. The thing is they go to bed at 8 or 9 so while they sleep I get stuff done, it is like they think the world shuts down after 8PM. They can't ever go to dinner on a weeknight, see a movie, or do anything because they are wiped out at 8 and have to go bed. So while they sleep I clean house, get groceries, work out, pay bills, etc. all the things they do early in the day and think is so productive to be done with before noon so they can get to bed early. Don't let the world tell you you need to get up early to get anything done, you can do it all at night just as well and with just as few interruptions.

I just hope Suppan doesn't start the home opener. I was mad enough I had to see him trot out to the mound for game 4 of the playoffs, now the next game I attend could be him again vs. the Cubs? I can barely stand being at a Brewer game vs. the Cubs as it is, hopefully not many Cub fans make it in the park.

I agree with Too Live on this one, this seems to be micromanaging and more of a power trip type thing than any sort of productive rule. Maybe a guy has thick calves and doesn't like the constriction around his leg so he wears his pants low, or maybe he hates stirrups so he doesn't wear them. What harm is it, especially if it makes a player comfortable over 162 game season. Are there going to be rules on wearing long sleeves? At what temperature? Can a guy push his sleeves up to the elbows if he gets warm? Does facial hair matter? (I just keep thinking of the Simpsons where Burns yells at Mattingly to get rid of the sideburns). It just seems ridiculous to worry about pant length and bends in hats. Baseball or any professional athletic sport are not comparable to regular work place rules or norms. It drives me crazy when people say, "In my job, I can't do this or that so these guys shouldn't either." Pro athletes are not working a regular job, they are paid a lot of money because they are one of a very limited set of individuals that can perform thier tasks at the required level and that people are willing to pay to see. Just like actors and actresses are not regular jobs, they have all sorts of percs on the set including the ability to show up to work high and not get fired immediately. They can throw tantrams, show up late, not show up at all, curse people out, etc. Why? Because I'll pay money to see Seth Rogen in a movie, I won't pay to see Joe from Payless Shoes in a movie. Same with pro athletes they don't need meaningless controls because they are their own brand as well. Manny being Manny is worth more to the Dodger than Brady Clark ever was and he will be afforded more leeway because of it. I just watched a profile on Jim Brown's career and a teammate talked about how Jim Brown would show up late for the bus occasionally and Paul Brown would scream at one of Jim's friends about being on time but never said a word to Jim because he was the star and he knew Jim came to play and didn't need the yelling. I work in the financial business (not a bank) I only wear a suit when meeting with clients and even then not always because I know some clients just don't care as long as I look presentable. My company doesn't dictate type of tie, color of suit, length of tie, laces or no laces in the shoes, etc. I also know I can get away with more because my production and customer skills are better than others. F bombs and such are not rare in my office I know they are in my wife's company but totally different environment even just in office environs. It reminds me of reading some books about life inside some Wall Street firms, including Cramer's hedge fund. He talked about throwing chairs, smashing computers, screaming profanities that would make a sailor blush. I know of people who work for insurance companies, brokerages, banks, etc. who are borderline physco's at times in the office. How can they get away with it? Because they produced results in a highly specialized game where there isn't a line of equal employees available. I am not implying anything about you or anyone directly but if one is "just a cog in the machine" then yes, one can easily be replaced so toeing the line is advisable. A grocery bagger who throws a tirade or shows up without his work shirt may be fired because it is easy to replace that skillset. A pro athlete who cusses out a coach or wears his pants baggy isn't as easily replaced. Even the NFL has become a joke about their rules, some players do as they please because paying the $5000 fine is worth it to them to do it their way and really no one even notices for the most part. And even unfined things like not wearing thigh, knee, hip pads are common. IBM eventually learned that they had become a joke and employees resented the fashion police and the white shirt blue suit was dropped. Now we have Geek Squad and others making fun of the codes with their uniform but still allow some individualization. I guess my point is work rules that most of us live with don't apply to Pro Athletes, Actors, or anyone paid a ridiculous amount of money for what they do because they aren't replacable and generate way more output than their potetial replacement. Starting fights with them over trivial issues like sock lenght, hair cuts, pant tightness seems like micro managing and counter productive and not likely to produce better results. I'll take a happy productive employee over an annoyed employee, who can't wait to get out and work somewhere else, any day. If Prince Fielder wants to wear baggy pants down to his ankles and hit 50 HR's, I'll take it over TGJ's tight fitting pants to the knees batting abilities every game, especially if I know the team's I'll be competing with for the services of great players can just beat me out by offering the same money and letting a guy bend his hat the way he likes.

I see the Cubs just came in at #7

I wondered about that as well cnycerveceros. They both have similar facial hair but I thought it was Villy as well. I heard Plesac pick the Brewers second in the cental and Hart picked them fourth, I wish Hart would have disclosed who had 2nd and 3rd. I haven't watched all the other teams to see where he had them, I am guessing the Cardinals were one he picked but who else? The Astros or Reds?

The bullpen debate that began here is playing out with Swindle optioned and Morlan DFA'd. Gagne hurt and DFA'd as well. Littleton added to the mix as the grab as many mediocre relievers and see who is left standing roulette wheel continues.

The Progressive Insurance commercials. I want to smack the annoying woman "star" of these ads. I was watching CNBC before work the other morning, one came on I flipped to CNN Headline, the same commercial was running so I hopped to MSNBC and within 5 minutes the same commercial came on.

I just tried to get a new Driver's license when I moved last summer and went to the little quick serve DMV office in Westgate in Madison. They told me all they could do is give me a sticker and wouldn't reprint my license, even though they issue licenses there. It is the same place where I went to renew my license (which resulted in them printing me a new license) just a month earlier. I guess I should have never underestimated the stupidity of bureaucracy that government agencies can come up with. I mean seriously, they have all the means and equipment to print new licenses right there but just can' t do it for some odd reason. (Not to mention the annoying rule of cash only but I was prepared for that stone age concept.) I would have been better off driving with an expired license for a month and later going in and renewing it after I moved so I could get the correct address on it. They also said the sticker would make my license unacceptable by the airport security people. I fly fairly often so I didn't want to risk any extra hassle so I declined the sticker. They did say that if I went to the main office at the Hill Farms building they would give me a whole new card but I am not about to take a day off of work to sit in that place just for a corrected address.

Gorman, I didn't see it answered but I have never been charged an extra fee by DirecTV for not having my DVR's hooked to a landline. I used to run a landline occasionally down to one of them when I wanted to order a pay perview on the remote or when I knew a software update was coming and I wanted to get it right away but not anymore (The old HR10-250 Tivo DVR's had an annoying nag screen if the landline wasn't hooked up, the new (and in my opinion ) much better DVR's don't have this feature and still get the software updates without the land line hook up) I have 3 HD DVR's running and 1 SD DVR and none have a phone line hooked to them, although one HD DVR is hooked to the Internet for On Demand Downloads but this is a recent hook up. The nice thing about DirecTV vs. Cable companies is only 1 DVR fee for unlimited number of DVRs. You still have to pay something like $4 per extra receiver but the DVR access fee of $5.99 is only charged once unlike some cable companies charging up to $10 per DVR. The additional 3 DVR's only cost me like $12/month total. I would say one of my favorite things about DirecTV is their equipment. You can easily hook an external hard drive to the HD DVR's and increase capacity immensely so you don't have to worry about running out of room on the DVR. They are networkable to the internet so you can order remotely, download on demand programming and hopefully coming soom is Multi Room Viewing (meaning stream content from the DVR in the Living room to the DVR in the bedroom).