MJLiverock

He's OK, not great not bad, more of a meh, he's there. He seems to play it so middle of the road he borders on boring but I can live with it since the Brewers are winning. I'd take Vasgergian anyday over him.

You've gotta be kidding. Is this a common condition? http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/roll.gif So, all these guys just have low testosterone conditions? Ok, I'm sorry, I take back everything I said, my bad. Actually David Segui used this very reason for why his name came up in the Jason Grimsley HGH investigation. It has been hinted at that Segui knows of other players who have this low testosterone condition to justify their "prescription". http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/more/03/06/rx.trouble0312/3.html A journalist in another article talks about getting "prescriptions" for HGH as an anti aging device. I can go online and buy prescription drugs like Viagra, Vicodin, Oxycontin, etc. by agreeing to answer a couple questions and provide a credit card number. I am sure a pro athlete can get a prescription for any drug under the sun if they want it. Heck, Johnny Drama got a prescription for weed by claiming he was nervous.http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/happy.gifhttp://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/pimp.gif

sorry I wasn' t clear Rydogg. I was mainly trying to point the posters who say Ankeil is fine because he had some "prescription" and that is OK but and the same time trying to vilify Bonds. I agree with your points Rydogg, baseball in general is like an old uptight Victorian era spinster. A certain segment wants to compare everything to the way it used to be and complains that anything new is bad for the game, or honestly believes the players of yesteryear wear saints. Football has survived steroids and HGH for probably 40 years. Baseball will go on despite the cries of foul everytime a record gets broken, a player watches a HR, or a wild card team wins the World Series.

So you have no problem if Bonds comes out tomorrow and says I was embarrased to admit I have a low testosterone condition so I hid the condition for years but this quack doctor diagnosed the problem and prescribed steroids as the treatment. I think this whole case just points out the hypocrisy of many Bonds haters.

I hear you MadisonBrewer. I have to keep reminding myself that we are right in the thick of things. I used to imagine how great it would be to watch meaningful games in September rather than watch just to see some of the call ups. It has been tough to endure since we fell out of first and into third rather than surging late in the year to pull close. I just hope the law of averages works in the Brewers favor to the upside and the team can play great ball to offset the putrid performances of July and August. A .500 road trip is all I ask and then a nice hot homestand. How about getting hot for the final 23 games. I just hope we don't hear anymore boos at Miller Park, this is probably the best team the Brewers have put on the field since the early 90's when the team pushed Toronto until season's end.

You must have really hated Brady Clark, he was one of the worst CF I have ever witnessed. Absolutely no range, no arm, and can't go back on a ball. I think Hall will turn out to be at least an average CF defensively, he is very athletic and is getting better as the season goes along. He is already an upgrade over what we had last year. Offensively he will be ML average for a CF if not better because of his power. I don't expect 35 HR's every year but he could definately be a 20-25 HR a year guy while batting about .260-.270 and OBPing around .330-340 putting him around an .800 OPS. I am in the boat of not believing in Gabe Gross. He takes a lot of walks but other than that there is just as big of a sample of him struggling with the bat and displaying little to no power as there is with him displaying power. I don't get why people only focus on the period of last year when he was decent while ignoring the sample that is just as big from the previous two years and the entire first half of this year where he was pretty ineffective.

Am I in some sort of Bizarro World? I read people complainig about a guy with a .379OBP,.609 SLG and 38 bombs because he doesn't get a hit in every AB (not to mention hitting a HR earlier in the same game as he basically carries this meager offense). At the same time posters defend a pitcher whose last 5 starts have yielded a whopping 28 innings allowing 24 earned runs as a result of 10 walks and 40 hits?

I have hated the Cubs ever since I started following baseball in the early 1980's. I do mean hated. I would root against the Cubs if they played a pick up game against team of pedophiles, that is how much I hate the Cubs. Listening to Cub fans and that flesh bag Ron Santo in the playoffs would be unbearable so Go Cardinals. I bought a Marlins hat to wear around after the whole Cub meltdown just so annoying Cub fans wouldn't come up to me and act like I should be disappointed for the Cubs. Only a cub fan would be obnoxious enough to just assume everyone roots for the loveable losers when in fact a good portion of the population hates the cubs with a passion.

Cappy's last four starts have been less than stellar. I don't have the pitching charts but could it be that his "bad luck" is due to falling behind in the count and then having to throw a get it over pitch which gets hit resulting in his higher BABIP? The thought came to mind tonight when I noticed how many pitches he threw (96) in just 4.1 innings. His prior start was 90 pitches in 5 innings and only 50 for strikes including 7 hits. Before that it was 90 pitches in 5 innings including only 64 strikes of which 10 were hits. I realize on a night like tonight it seemed as if no Brewer could throw stikes but Parra had the same problem. He couldn't throw a strike and pitched from behind as well with only 2.2 innings and 48 pitches of which 26 were strikes (4 hits). Brewer pitchers may be having a problem of not throwing strikes.

See Geno the problem is I am not apologizing for Bonds. I honestly don't care what juice he took so the whole Balco thing is meaningless. Baseball is full of juicers just as it was full of speed poppers, coke users, alcoholics, wife beaters and all sorts of miscreants for the last 100 years. I choose to accept it and enjoy the game for what it is rather than pull out some false hope that players in the past were some sort of saints and played the game for game and not the money and fame that came with it. Mickey Mantle was raging alcoholic womanizer in today's age he would be on the front page or back page of the NY Post every day but back then the reporters hid it and every kid from the 50's and 60's idolizes him like some sort of God. Players threw World Series games for money in the early 1900's so apparently the idea of getting more money has been around for quite some time. I know of at least 3 players on my high school football team took roids in 1988 and 1989 and this was in a small WI town. Do you honestly think MLB players just started taking roids in the 90's? They were rampant in the NFL in the 1970's, Olympics in the 1960's but somehow MLB has been pure until Barry Bonds ruined it? I have learned more about stats and analysis in the past couple years of reading this site than in my previous 25 + years of watching baseball but I still watch to be entertained and Barry Bonds was good and entertaining. I mean intentially walking a guy with the bases loaded is about as much respect a hitter can get. I don't know if I will ever see another hitter as feared as Bonds has been and I just flat out enjoy seeing someone perform at that high of a level. I don't care if an athlete works out or not or just rolls out of bed and throws a perfect game hung over or takes 100 cortisone shots. Bonds is the best hitter I have ever seen play the game not to mention his Gold Gloves in the field, I don't question why he is good he just is, I could have taken all the roids in the world and not approached his ability. Just like steroids can't make me Michael Jordan or Wayne Gretzky something makes them great and it the performances they put on. Maybe Barry can't be as clean as that other guy Lance Armstrong who we all know couldn't possibly have taken EPO, I mean he is a cancer survivor and had all those yellow wristbands. Barkley said it best, (paraphrase), "I am not a hero." I couln't agree more and add my own, "Don't look for athletic talent to be a precursor for character."

I root for Bonds because he irritates a certain segment of baseball fans that I love to see irritated. Baseball is the one sport where a large segment of writers and fans want to live in the past and glorify every player that came before at the expense of the greats right before their eyes. Baseball has such a long history full of changes to rules, teams, players, etc. that no fair comparison can be made from the early greats to today save that yeah Tris Speaker, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb were great just as Henry Aaron Willie Mays, are great and Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr, and Roger Clemens are great players in history and deserve to be recognized as such. I honestly don't care what Bonds took or didn't take because I know when watching him play he was the best player on the field and that is why I watched baseball to be entertained not cry and whine about who is better, a current guy or a guy played 75 years ago. It is like listening to a guy lament over a girl he dated 20 years ago in high school, I get it she was hot, but geez move on with your life and enjoy what is in front of you today. In 30 years baseball writers and a group of curmudgeon fans will complain about how some new upstart is no Barry Bonds or ARod and the cycle will start all over. I just hope I am not one of them and can look back and say yep, Bonds was the best of his era be it the Steroid Era, or whatever. Just like the great players of the live ball era, or the few Asians era or the low mound era or the high mound era, or the spit ball era, or the Latino Era, or the Whites Only era, or the WWIII era, or the greenies era, or the no relief pitchers era, or the countless other ways baseball has changed over the last 100 years. The greatness of Bonds' ability does not diminish the greatness of those who came before because it is all relative to their era. Greatness is not a zero sum game to me. Giving Bonds credit does not mean I have to lose appreciation for Aaron, Mays, Ruth, Williams. Just like I can appreciate Erin Andrews, I know the boobs are fake, but she is still hot and it doesn't diminish my appreciation for an all natural hottie out there.http://static.yuku.com/v2//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/eek.gif I also like that he is vilified by the media for being a jerk yet I hear very little evidence offered except that is accepted he is a jerk. I don't care about his mistress countless pro athletes have them and don't get ripped for it. All I can recall was some complaining about a leather chair and a big screen TV which after further review didn't bother teammates and isn't really uncommon for a star to get some better clubhouse amenities. Bonds probably is a jerk to reporters but that is his choice just like Eddie Murray or Steve Carlton. I have always wondered about how much of the jerk rep is just because reporters don't like him. I haven't heard much from teammates that says bad about him. Barry Zito just did an article this year about what a great teammate he is. Does he take a rookie under his wing? No, but not many superstars do, it isn't their job. I remember the Jeff Kent altercation but they seemed to get along after that. As we have seen this year and in other years dugout altercations are not unheard of in a 162 game season. I just look at some of the posts after Bonds tore into himself during his slump this year and people vilify him for being critical of himself. He breaks the all time HR record and raises his arms in victory and people complain, I mean come on it was a historical moment but no the purists wouldn't enjoy it. Others complain about his kid's reaction, or his mother or wife, etc. The complainers all just look jealous to me.

Jenkins vs. LHP .217 avg. .294 OBP .435 SLG .729 OPS Estrada vs. LHP .330 agv. .339 OBP .481 SLB .821 OPS I know it is popular to hate on Estrada on this site but he really isn't that bad at the plate for a catcher. I read all the posts ripping the guy but he actually is about the 10th best offensive everyday catcher in the majors, not the best but certainly not the worst. Mench too seems to get a bad rap but he has put up an .890 OPS vs. LHP. Not sure what else he can do in his role as a platoon player. I too wish Yost would use the other late in games when the opposing pitcher has been changed and now the matchup favors the pitcher. I think Yost is afraid to run out of players in some cases or would rather hope to get things going when down by 2 or 3 run with what he has on the field so he can bring in Jenkins or Mench when they are the winning run and hope for the big fly.

Gross put together a decent 2006 but other than that his MLB career has been nothing special. Even looking at his splits in 2005 he didn't dominate RH pitching, with a .337 OBP and .707 OBP. His 2006 success is sandwiched between a not impressive 2004, not impressive 2005, and a disappointing 2007. He has small sample of being good and small but slightly larger sample of being pretty pedestrian and other than last year his HR numbers haven't been that strong either in the major or minors. Gwynn has put up a .350 OBP vs. LH or RH pitching this year, Goss is at .319 vs. RH pitching this year. Gross adds more power than Gwynn (who doesn't?) but Gwynn provides the defense sub, especially if Graffy is going to get OF playing time. I don't think the Brewers future hinges on Gwynn vs. Gross, both of which are 5th OF's. I guess I am trying to say Gwynn brings some things to the table and it is not like losing Gross is giving up all that much. So either way I hope we dont' have to count on our 25th man to spark the Brewers offense because I don't think either one is going to do it.

I won't make to Chicago for the game but some friends of mine in the Wrigley area used to go to the Schoolyard Tavern on Southport. I think the owner is a Marquette grad I know when I was there a couple years ago they actually had some Brewer signage behind the bar. I had a Brewer hat on and nobody even piped up with the derogatory Brewer comments. I think the bar is about 10 blocks from Wrigley, so close but not right in the heart of Wrigleyville. www.schoolyardtavern.com/

Since I haven't really seen it mentioned elsewhere the game tonight vs. Astros (Monday) and tomorrow (Tuesday the 26th) will both be on DirecTV in HD on channel 94. Tonight was only the second time I have been able to watch the Brewers in HD on the big screen and it sure looks a lot better than the old 4x3 image on channel 642.

I was at last night's game so I didn't get to see it on HD, but I wouldn't have even known to check either. I haven't seen any sort of schedule for which games will be in HD and which will be carried on DirecTV or the channel number. A CSR told me channel 96 sometimes carries local HD games as well so we may have to check 94, 95, and 96 in the future. My hope is that next year there will be a dedicated FSN WI channel and the new satellites will allow for the HD feed to be spot beamed into WI. I suppose we also have to hope FSN WI broadcasts in HD everynight like NESN and YES and some other RSNs. Edited to add additional channel.

A friend in Madison said that he watched ast night's game (Gallardo's first start) on channel 94 in HD on DirecTV. I FSN WI occasionaly has an HD game but I hadn't seen one yet on DirecTV.

I have had DirecTV for about 6 years and love it over Charter. The rain fade has only been an issue a max of 1 time a year and then only for a few minutes. The key is to make sure you have a strong signal to begin with. My signal stength is in the 95 to 97 range but reception will work with anything above 70 and even down into the 60's. If you have a poorly pointed dish or a tree or building in the line of sight it can increase instances of rain fade. The FSN North / WI problem is due to bandwith limitations which should be cleared up after the new satellite is launced in early July. I don't know of specific plans for a dedicated FSN WI feed but the company has said they plan on offering more regional sports feeds in HD once they get the bandwith. Right now they occasionally spot beam the HD feed of FSN North into the Twin Cities areas providing on channel 96 IIRC. Hopefully they will be able to cover southerwn WI with an HD FSN WI feed but I wouldn't expect anything until 2008 season at the earliest since the satellite won't be turned over to them until late summer and FSN WI doesn't do much in HD yet. BTW the new HD signals will be in the MPEG4 format which will not work with the Tivo Branded DirecTV HR-10-250 DVR. I still have one those recievers but I have been running 2 of the new HD DVR's for about 6 months and haven't had any problems with missed recordings or reboots. The software relseases in the last 6 months have really improved a lot of the bugs you hear people complain about in the new DVRs. There are also a number of people who won't accept or try anything that doesn't say Tivo on the box and will bash any attempt to say another product works just as well if not better in some respects. So see what you like best for your DVR requirements. Madison and Milwaukee locals and HD locals are both available on DTV as well. If you want over the air reception any old rabbit ears will work if you live close to the stations. My parents live 40 miles from Madison and get all the HD channels over the air thru their old school roof antenna they used to use to get the local channels before they got a dish. There is a site called www.dbstalk.com that has a lot of info and discussion regarding the pros and cons as well anything else you can imagine regarding satellite service.

Clark wouldn't be more than a 4th or 5th outfielder in Colorado. He isn't going to start over Hawpe or Holliday. Taveras is even outproducing him this year, without mentioning the size of that outfield and Brady's lack of range. Brady is not a CF, he plays on the warning track because he can't go back on a ball has to let a lot of hits land in front of him. Spilborghs is probably a 4th outfielder option for Colorado, leaving Brady the 5th option.