bjkrautk

Not thrilled with throwing another pick at a 1st round HS pitcher....but I now have to hope that Covey bucks a trend and becomes the first Brewers 1st round HS Pitcher to pitch in the majors since the 1993 draft (Jeff D'Amico, if you were wondering; Neugebauer and Gallardo were second rounders). Cautiously pessimistic...but I didn't follow the draft prospects well enough this year.

Narveson - right now - is pitching like a LH version of Dave Bush. Same horrible WHIP, similar GB/FB ratios, etc. Bush has the 'benefit' of having given up more unearned runs, which is why his ERA is nearly a run lower than Narveson. About the only thing Narveson has going for him is that he racks up more strikeouts and throws more pitches per start than Bush does. That said, due to his inability to keep his pitch count down (19! pitches / inning), he still can't average 6 innings /start. While Bush's per-start numbers are skewed heavily by the meltdown at Target Field last month, he's still been the more constistent guy, putting up 6 quality starts in 11 chances (compared to 2 QS in 8 GS for Narveson). That isn't the type of performnce I would look to commit to.

I don't have Starz, but I've watched all of Season 1 of Party Down, and all but the most recent episode or two of S2 via Netflix. It's that same combination of funny, entertaining, and occasionally emotionally painful development that Rob Thomas was so good at when writing "Veronica Mars." (The cast features 2 VM regulars in Marino and Ryan Hansen, as well as a majority of the guest cast....including Kristen Bell.) The set-up and subsequent pay-off of one gag in the pilot is one of the best executions of a joke that I have ever seen.

Hard to believe that three stalwarts of network TV will all end within 24 hours of eachother (Lost, Law & Order, and 24....or if you prefer, Jack Shepard, Jack McCoy, and Jack Bauer). I can't help but notice that all 3 shows are well known for sudden and abrupt plot twists that change the direction of events, and inso doing have largely defined the modern, hourlong scripted drama genre. Most series finales - when the writers know in advance that they'll be a true finale - feature callbacks to events, characters, or sequences from the history of the show. That's going to be tough for this show to accomplish, since nearly every character of importance is either involved in the current season, or dead. (Tony, Kim, & Agent Pierce being the exceptions, so far as I can recall). Moreover 24 is so much more about living in that real-time moment doesn't allow much for nostalgia. I guess I'm more curious to hear what fans expect (or, want) out of a finale. Will either surviving President be granted the opportunity for redemption, and will they take it? Does the peace agreement survive? Is Jack Bauer redeemable, given the increasingly gruesome nature of his torture and evisceration of anyone standing in his way. In making the jump to assaulting a former President, and taking out the Secret Service agents protecting him, Jack crossed from shades of gray anti-hero to full-fledged vigilante. Could Kim (or Jack's grand-daughter) talk him down at this point? Is there an ending to the show that doesn't involve Jack Bauer bleeding out?

Almost there, but still not quite. There was no sense of 'when' in the flash-sideways; the experience would have nominally been set in 2004 (when the plane should have landed in LA)...but the characters (once 'activated' - for lack of a better way to say it) came to that world with all the experiences they had in their real lives, before, during, and (in some cases) after their time on the island. Thus, when Jack died in 2007, he didn't come to the sideways 3 years after his father (who died in 2004). This is also why Kate missed Jack so much; she lived the rest of her life without him. Ben and Hurley had served their term as protectors of the island by the time their characters got to the sideways world. They may have lived for centuries like Jacob and Richard Alpert did. They may have died when someone else found the island 6 weeks later. (Probably not the latter, as the two seemed far more complementary of the experience than a 6 week tenure would provide.) We don't really know if the ....let's just say 'others' one last time... crossed over on their own. Ben Linus not being 'ready' at the end is telling in this regard; he had earned Locke's foregiveness in his mind, and possibly even Alex's, but not his own. The same holds true for characters like Michael (still lamenting having shot Libby and Ana-Lucia when we last saw him) and Eloise (still coming to terms with having pushed Daniel into a course that she knew would lead to his being shot by her). We don't have a final sense of resolution for these characters, because the show had to end at a certain point....but I prefer to remain optimistic that they would have found their way.

Some died before (Libby, Boone, Shannon, etc.), some died long, long after Jack (Kate, Hurley, Sawyer, Miles, etc.). There wasn't the same sense of 'now' in the alternate timeline / purgatory. Obviously, I didn't get the ending quite right....but I did guess a lot of the points they'd end up hitting along the course of the episode.

http://brewersfandemonium...st--Cl.html#reply-621688 I blame myself for this one.

Julie Bowen played Jack's pre-island wife, Sarah, during flashback episodes since Season 1 (presumably while working around her schedule on 'Boston Legal' at the time), a patient whose spine he operated on, contributing to her falling in love with him. They did not have a child together. Bowen's current working schedule (on 'Modern Family') may have hindered her availability to appear during this season. The fact that we haven't seen Jack's ex-wife in the off-island scenes with his son have led many fans to believe that Jack's ex-wife in the 'alternate' LA is Juliet Burke (played by V's Elizabeth Mitchell). I'm not willing to jump to the Jack-Juliet conclusion until I see it on-screen.

For as many legitimate gripes as you could have with the starting pitching for the Brewers this year, you managed to pick one that's just not true. So far this month, there would have been one (1) opportunity for a pitcher to come in and work the 4th or 5th inning...and that was Parra coming out of the bullpen to start after Davis went on the DL. The bullpen has been taxed, but that's due to the Brewers' starters inability to pitch past the 6th inning, based on the high #s of pitches/IP. Only twice this month have the starters reached the rarified air known as the 7th inning; it's like the entire squad has developed Matt Kinney syndrome (I think that was the pitcher who would get cuffed around whenever he was left in after the 6th). There are no real "innings eaters" in the rotation right now. 5/20 - 6.0 IP (Narveson) 5/19 - 6.1 IP (Wolf) 5/18 - 4.0 IP (Parra - 1st start out of bullpen) 5/17 - 6.0 IP (Gallardo) 5/16 - 6.0 IP (Bush) 5/15 - 5.2 IP (Narveson) 5/14 - 5.0 IP (Wolf) 5/12 - 6.0 IP (Gallardo) 5/11 - 6.0 IP (Bush) 5/10 - 5.2 IP (Davis) 5/9 - 5.2 IP (Narveson) 5/8 - 6.0 IP (Wolf) 5/7 - 5.0 IP (Gallardo - 10 strikeout game) 5/6 - 5.0 IP (Bush) 5/5 - 5.1 IP (Davis) 5/4 - 6.0 IP (Narveson) 5/2 - 5.0 IP (Wolf) 5/1 - 7.0 IP (Gallardo)

Things I'm hoping for in the LOST Finale: - Tom Friendly showing up in the 'alternate' LA (...since he could go off-island well before it sunk into the ocean -- just saw him in another show and realized he hadn't made a curtain call yet). - Some attempt to explain why the Island is submerged in the alternate world, or when/why the two paths diverged (it had to be before the bomb....otherwise Ben and his father being off-island wouldn't fit.) - Juliet making her coffee shop appearance. (Don't forget that Julie Bowen's schedule for 'Modern Family' may have prevented her availability, before jumping to the Jack-Juliet conclusion) - Some explanation why the island has temples and statues with the incorrect number of toes. - Getting some semblance of payoff for what Desmond is doing (on- and off-island). - Walt (and Vincent) - Some resolution as to what happened to Rose and Bernard on-island. - An explanation for the weird symbols on the counter in the hatch when time expired without the numbers being entered (a longshot, I know). My prediction: The 'alternate' timeline is what would have happened had Jacob not thrown his brother into the light/cave way back when (that being two episodes ago). Off-island, Desmond is bringing the surviving cast-members to their 'constants' to keep them from jumping back and forth between the two worlds. On-island, Desmond does something to cancel out the electro-magnetic powerhouse that is MIB....negating the anomaly. Alternate world becomes reality....end of story.

Not sure how Hoffman can go from looking great Sunday Night (as good as he's looked all year) to getting lit up Tuesday. Really wondering if he's tipping his pitches, since he was pitching in/around the zone as far as I could tell.

Same here, I graduated from the same school as he did. I think I was a year or two ahead of Jay in HS (Bay Port - represent!); hearing he is on the team actually gives me a reason to consider caring about soccer for a few weeks. Good guy; hope he does well.

Live TV users don't have the benefit of skipping commercials, which is why advertisers care more about them. (I'm a TiVo user, so I'm as guilty as most....but I try to watch the shows I really like live.)

You couldn't have wished them luck except for when the Braves are playing the Brewers? Other than that, job well done.

...if they don't pay Steve Carell (and the rest of the ensemble). Betweeen Friends, Seinfleld, ER, etc. - this is how you get paid at NBC.

Per Hoffman himself, the changeup is more of an out pitch than something to throw when he's behind in the count. ...has anyone tried looking into when / how he threw the change last year? Last night, Hoffman fell behind to 6 of the 8 hitters he faced (that's giving Hoffman the benefit of a strike call against Clement, who grounded out on the first pitch). 2010 - 38 Batters Faced - 8 BIP on 0-0 count, 13 1-0 situations (Falling behind on 34.2% of batters faced), 4 @ 2-0 (10.5%), 17 @ 0-1 2009 - 191 BF - 30 @ 0-0, 66 @ 1-0 (34.5%), 22 @ 2-0 (11.5%), 95 @ 0-1 While not telling as to pitch selection, the raw numbers don't make it look like he's falling behind players any more than he did last year....which is what I had suspected (incorrectly) to have been the problem.

The only reason that I didn't mention Lepay is that he worls for Learfield Sports, and not Journal Communications. While I'm sure he'd do a great job of calling Brewers games (assuming he's a baseball fan), it creates an extra hurdle from a contractual / legal standpoint. It wouldn't surprise me at all if Lepay's contract includes restrictive covenants preventing him from doing pbp work for other outlets in the state. Not something that couldn't be worked around, but it's also not something that can be done at the drop of a hat (unless the employer gives their blessing, that is).

I still remember his last extended absense. Without reading the story, I couldn't have told you it was 1991...but it was memorable since there weren't nearly as many games on TV then as there are now. I am curious as to whether Cory could cover a full game (with help from a color guy). Larivee makes some sense, as he's a Journal Communications employee already, but I've never heard him call baseball (basketball & football only). I'm sure Bill Michaels will also have an internal 'audition' for the role (since he has the sports / broadcasting background), and I'd think Drew Olson would also be considered for the role as well. Time will tell. Get well soon, Ueck.

By my estimation, 9 times out of 10, the players involved don't do that much to get out of the way of the ball. If they needed protection, that would be my first recommendation. HBPs are good for the OBP, though....so I don't see that changing any time soon.

Braun is also quietly putting up good stolen base number (4 SB : 0 CS) Could he go 30/30? Knocking on wood as I type this.

Maybe he didn't think that was the kind of "performance-enhancing" drug that the league tested for.

Is that how it works? You can't fill the roster spot of a suspended player? No, that's not how it works. The Brewers definitely had 25 guys during Cameron's suspension in 2008. Thank you of a good example of how I was wrong. ESPN.com doesn't list the transaction, but the MLB page does. Date Transaction 3/30/08 Reassigned RHP Steve Bray, SS Ozzie Chavez, LHP Chris Narveson and IF Abraham Nunez to Minor League camp; Placed OF Mike Cameron on the restricted list, serving a 25-game drug suspension. ... 4/29/08 Reinstated OF Mike Cameron from the restricted listhttp://milwaukee.brewers.mlb.com/team/transactions.jsp?c_id=mil&year=2008&month=4 I honestly didn't know that MLB had a restricted list.

If nothing else, the suspension means that the Reds will be playing with a 24-man roster for nearly 2 months. Losing a guy on either their bench or in the pen can't be great for their chances.

Which one is on FSN-HD? (Guessing it will be the Bucks, but just glad I'm going to be able to watch the game at all tonight.)

Uecker's call of that last out had me scared.