DuWayne Steurer

That was 4-5-and 6 years ago. I don't think it's prudent to say he can do it again until he does.

It would be one thing, if it was one injury that was nagging that kept coming back to haunt him, (ala Weeks and his wrist for example) but with Benny, it's one different thing after another. That more than anything really leads down the path to the "injury prone" label. And yes, 23 starts of Sheets is better than 32 of most pitchers, but the fact of the matter is the impact of losing him for those other 11 starts (plus the starts he left early in) can't be overlooked. Ben isn't being paid to be a 23 start pitcher, and the team isn't counting on him to be a 23 start pitcher. He's a 32 start pitcher, and he's not living up to that. This will be the third straight year he's missed significant chunks of time, and a team with a limited payroll really can't afford to have a large percentage of it tied up into a guy who can't at all being counted on to be there. I'm fully aware that any pitcher is an injury risk, more so than position players. But there are guys who are durable (Our own Jeff Suppan being such), and there are guys who continually find their way onto the DL. Everyone's definition of "down year" is going to differ, but this is definately a down year for Benny in that he hasn't been able to stay on the mound down the stretch when the team really needs him to take the ball every 5 days and go 7 strong innings.

Should Yovanni Gallardo, arguably the future of the franchise in the rotation, have been extended beyond his prescribed innings limit? Not by much, but there should be a little bit of "give" there. Should we have given up Will Inman, Steve Garrison and Joe Thatcher for Scott Linebrink? No. Did not bringing up Ryan Braun at the start of the season have any impact on this team? No. As others have pointed out, the team was at 24-10 without Braun. Granted, several were playing over their heads, but I don't think even Braun's bat could have made the team more than a win or maybe 2 better than it already was. Has Ned Yost cost this team a playoff spot with his moves? At this point, obviously, it's hard to say, as they may still make it. If they don't, then I will certainly answer yes. It's easy to sit and armchair quarterback on the internet, but.......... Were the Brewers smart to keep Ben Sheets despite his propensity to miss games, which well may have proven crucial in this race, or were the games he actually pitched in too valuable to give up? Yes. He was a stopper early in the season when they stopped winning, and he's going to be crucial down the stretch and possibly, in the playoffs. I will feel much better with a Sheets/Yo/Suppan rotation in the playoffs than I would with a Supp/Yo/Bush rotation. How many games has the bullpen cost this team? Too many to count. I know that the board statisticians will point out that the runs scored/against means that the team is right about where it should be, according to the pythagorean theorem. That's fine and well, but the fact of the matter is the Brewers lead the majors in the amount of games lost when leading by 3 or more runs. I know that some of those are attributable to starters, and I know that every team has bullpen problems, but when you lead the majors in "come from ahead losses", that's a MAJOR problem.

Islands, I strongly suspect that he was being sarcastic there.

I was working in Milwaukee as a cable sweep tech, contracting for Time Warner. I more or less set my own hours, got up and went to work and left work when I wanted. I got up that morning, came out to the living room, and snapped on the tv about 20 seconds before plane #2 hit. Of course, at the time, I thought it was a terrible accident, and then they were showing footage from hit #1. Now at this point, I'm confused as heck, thinking "WHAT are the odds that TWO planes accidentally hit the same building?!?!" The guy we reported to from TW called me shortly after (as if I had intentions of going to work at this point) and said we were shut down at least for the day, because when we're sweeping, all cable downstream from the location we're working is out, and they wanted people to have zero interruption from the news. I think it was 3 days later we were back to work, and I remember driving to Milwaukee (from Janesville), being ultra paranoid about driving past semi trailers on the interstate. Irrational fear, yeah, but just the same, I couldn't help feeling it.

If that's true, then I don't think I'd be as excited. What I had originally heard (and granted I probably heard it over 2 years ago) was that Lucas wanted the series to have a much more mature and "darker" tone than any of the movies. How you can get darker than Part III (graphic decapitation, multiple limb severances, a person being burned to a crisp while alive) I don't know.

the only real decent team they have to face on the road the rest of the year is Atlanta. The only problem is that it doesn't take even a decent team to manhandle the Brewers away from Miller Park.

According to the message board on IMDB (taken for what it's worth), primary filming has begun. Set to debut in 2009.

I would think without Encarnacion and Rolen, things are going to be tough for the 'Cards. Not counting them out, but they are playing without a few key pieces. I'd love to call it the Brewers over the Cubs, but with the way the bullpen (and starters, frankly) has really struggled to hold onto even big leads, I'd give a slight edge to the Cubs. Hope I'm wrong of course.

I've tried to stay rational, I have. I can't do it anymore. This team is toast. Only 2 1/2 back, blah blah blah. I've lost all sense of ever believing that this team can win any game that they have a lead in, no matter how big, no matter how late. Mathematical LOGIC suggest the odds of blowing as many 3+ run leads as they have in the last 2 months should be impossible. Impossible. Yet they continue to mystify in the ways that they can lose any game, at any time. Playoff races are supposed to be fun. This isn't fun at all.

I'd say that from an ownership perspective, it'd be a heck of a lot easier to fire a Ned Yost than it would be to fire a Robin Yount or Paul Molitor. The Packers had to go through firing a head coach who had been a star player (Bart Starr). That sucked. Great point. But I question whether that was a strong reason for hiring him originally. It certainly didn't hurt from a PR perspective, but I think there was a fair amount of agreement around MLB that he was a logical up-and-coming manager. Along those lines, I know Molitor and Yount are occasionally mentioned (I'm assuming as sentimental favorites). Does anyone know how they're viewed around baseball? Are they really future managerial material? Yount doesn't seem to have the commitment and I've actually seen Molitor mentioned more on a future GM/President/Commissioner path. I know this is going off on a tangent, but I hope neither of those guys ever gets seriously considered. Yount clearly didn't have his heart in Milwaukee for the season he was here, and Molitor seems like he'd be just another "link to '82". I lived it, loved it, but after this season, we really need to let that go. IF Melvin thinks the team needs to go in a different direction, I really hope at this point he brings in a guy with some managerial experience. I know everyone has to start somewhere, but I think this team could benefit from playing for a guy who's been around the block awhile. The talk was that Ned, being Bobby Cox's bench coach, would know a thing or two, but I don't think there's any substitution for being "the guy".

I can see how the question is dumb, and how it might not be understood, but she stammered on for over a minute without actually completing a sentence, let alone a coherent phrase or two that might have had something to do with something.

I would have to think about this one for days before I could pick ONE favorite. Books I would consider on my short list. Catch-22 The Lord of the Rings (Not the best, favorite) Ender's Game The Fountainhead (powerful message in this one, for sure) The Stand As an aside, I think it's relevant to point out that while Stephen King's early stuff, plus stuff like Shawshank and the Green Mile were excellent works, his recent stuff is pure crap, seemingly churned out to make a buck. The last 3 books of the Dark Tower series (especially part 6) were bad, with the ending being a brutal, hollow letdown. The last 2, Lisey's Story, and The Cell.......just plain crap.

By the metrics that Baseballreference.com puts on their player pages, Kenny is short in each one. Black Ink: Batting - 15 (148) (Average HOFer ? 27) Gray Ink: Batting - 64 (378) (Average HOFer ? 144) HOF Standards: Batting - 42.7 (119) (Average HOFer ? 50) HOF Monitor: Batting - 93.5 (164) (Likely HOFer > 100) Overall Rank in parentheses.

I'm absolutely certain that Yost is under the gun right now. But I can see many reasons for not firing a manager in-season. A change could make a difference, it might not. The players might respond poorly, they might not. Being only a game and a half out, despite how poorly they've played, I'm sure, makes a big difference in the thought process behind a managerial change. Not being privy to any of the facts, I'd still bet that this is a conversation that has taken place between Mark A and Doug Melvin. IF they truly believe firing Yost is the right thing to do, from a business stand point, I'm 100% certain that that is what they'll do. Not because the fans want to see it, or because it's not gutless, but because it makes sense in the W/L column.

The original poster specifically used the term "gutless", which in that context, makes it an emotional decision, rather than a business based one. The point being, that if Melvin and Attanasio believe firing Yost is the right thing to do, they won't be "gutless" about it, they'll fire him. I'm certain that's what Russ is saying. WE thinking Yost should be fired doesn't mean Melvin and Mark A feel that way.

While I think Melvin has put a good number of the pieces on the board that are required to put a winning team on the field, I hear the word "genius" used more than a little bit when referring to Melvin's roster building skills here in Milwaukee. Having not yet had a winning record in his 5 year tenure, I think calling him a genius might be premature. I'll grant that the cupboard was pretty bare when he got here, and he had a lot of work to do right out of the gate, but some of his trades and signings are still to young to really even fully evaluate. I think the next 2 years (08 and 09) will tell the story of what Melvin's done here. If they're still on the wrong side of the .500 ledger at that point, then I'd suspect he'd be in a small spot of hot water. I think, like most, that we're set up pretty well for a decent 3-4 year run at playoff contention, but thinking it could happen and having it actually happen are of course, 2 different things.

I think the point Russ is making is that IF they decide to fire Yost, it needs to be for the right reasons. If they don't feel like firing Yost is the right thing to do, then it is not "gutless" to do so. If they think firing him is the right thing, I'm sure they will, regardless if it would be a popular move or not. Baseball executives don't have the luxury of making emotionally fueled decisions, or they won't be employed long.

He did look like he was throwing ok, which I won't disagree with. I was more commenting on the "aside from 2 bad pitches, he was fine" post. I think in most starts where a pitcher gives up 4 or 5 runs, it usually comes down to 1 or 2 bad pitches that turn it from a good or average start to a bad one. The problem (as Russ alludes to) is when those one or two bad pitches (or more) come back to haunt you 16 starts in a row. I'm sure Cappy will be back in the rotation soon, and justifiably so. He has the track record that certainly indicates he's more of a #3 than a mop up guy, and frankly, the team will need him if they're to make the playoffs.

Little is scum of the earth. I can't even bring myself to watch a game in which he participates in.

the million slow-mo action shots were already done so well in the Matrix, and the large-scale battle scenes were far better in LOTR. While I don't necessarily disagree with this, as excellent as the visual style of 300 was, I really feel like the way the story was told, and the performances of the actors are what took it from a "pretty good action flick" to "just a really excellent movie overall." At least that's my take.

Are people really walking in front of you that much that it makes you consider not buying tickets? I'd tell people to sit down. And yeah, even if so, it's the playoffs.

I don't think Arizona has "figured anything out" that the Brewers don't already know. Our pitching is atrocious right now, and you can't win when your pitching gives up 7 runs a game for a solid month running.

Such is often the case in a bad start. 2 bad pitches. Except both of them were with men on base. Fact is, Cappy allowed 5 ER in 6 1/3 inning, which is not anything close to a good start.

In the month of August, the Brewers starting staff is averaging 5.5 IP per start, down from 5.85 average on the season. That's a drop, but it's not a hugely significant one, as some might have expected. I think a big part of that dip is the 2.2 inning start from Yovanni during the blowout in Colorado. I'm not cherry picking, but suggesting that aside from one blowout loss, our starters have generally been going just as long as they have all season, and that the IP our starters are giving us is no worse than league average. I'll say it once again, I think bullpen mismanagement has a lot more to do with the relief staff being burnt out than it does with the starters not going enough innings.