ILuvDaBush

Is it my imagination or does the person batting in front of Prince exude Cooperstown-worthy attributes, yet show the warts of a middling AAAA player when Prince is needed elsewhere in the lineup? My argument is that it would seem that the person in front of Prince has just as many HR's as the gentleman leading the NL in the category. JJ looked like Cal Ripken with both his glove and bat when he had Prince behind him and when Braun was immediately put into the 3-spot, which is where he has done most of his power damage, Prince was moved back to the cleanup spot. I just figure with JJ's surge and Braun's showcase coinciding with the giant behemoth of a drinking buddy behind them in the lineup, cupcake fastballs must be on the menu. Now if only I could explain Rickie's recent adoptation of Estrada's walk-up music... Estrada and Irony. Walk it Out... 3TO, with the walk being just as good as the out, because it seems he was read "The Tortoise and the Hare" once or twice as an infant. I am a big Yost backer, but if you want to question ANY of his moves this year, it should be when he decided that the best protection for the Regal One in the lineup was the spotty snail. It was like asking the pitcher to walk Fielder, HOPING another guy was on, knowing a groundball will MORE than likely get you a triple play...WITH EASE! And yet Fielder continued to attempt to break up the inevitable GIDP... I feel like shedding a tear... Done. The best spot in the lineup for him has always been the #7 (I don't want to imagine how many double plays the pitcher would be privy to if he had to execute a sac bunt to get the guy to third. The bunt could be perfectly down the 3B line, forcing the 3B to field it and vacate, barely getting the pitcher at first, and then you'd see Estrada, stopping at some 8 year-old's lemonade stand set up between 2B and 3B because he's so famished from the heat and the long trek it seems he has been on for days). Let's move on. JJ is obviously again mashing in the #8 spot, which only invokes the JJ we saw 2 years ago, when he may not have looked like Ripken, but he did a pretty good impression of what Khalil Greene was always supposed to be, outside of a surfer of course. And I really like having Gross bat second vs. righties, though I would definitely like to see Hall in the 2-hole vs. lefties (I know we have a lot of lefties left on our bench when we face a southpaw, but the numbers vs. lefties of the guys starting are incredible. Imagine being a lefty and facing Hall/Braun/Fielder/Hart/Mench! And Weeks' OPS is 100 points higher vs. the southies.) And Jenkins...well it seems that he and Hart switched roles today, as Hart was an RBI machine (please, let me remember Geoff as such) and Jenkins decided it is better to jack AND run! Like a Trojan!

Why is it that the two players that I thought did not put the Brewers first (Estrada and Tony G.), were the two players who Ned got into a fight with in the dugout. Estrada has long had a rep of being an abrasive personality and Graffy is the epitome of a mercenary...a bat for hire to the highest bidder. And as for Estrada's replacement, here's hoping Mike Rivera comes up on fire, as he could actually fulfill the 35HR/65RBI mold (with a couple of good winds). And if he doesn't, I could be amenable to taking Jenkins' cash and giving it to Pudge. The Angel needs a role model, with his ADD-iction, and need I remind everyone that his last two teams have gone to the Series in two of the last four years...both times with teams that were considered to be much less prior to the little guy's arrival. He calls a good game, and while his defense is deteriorated from his one BENCH-worthy (in a good way) level, he still would have to be considered one of the top catchers in the NL. Thus...trade the guy for a Japanese outfielder...a gamer with some grit.

Mind you, there is also a hard-slot for what each rookie can and will be paid. If only Bud were so lucky...

Let's be fair, they had to equal out Eveland's weight with Estrada, not Vargas.

BaseballAnalysts.com has an article up today about how Braun's numbers this year are better than any numbers put up by a rookie who didn't hit .400 for a season in their career. That said, I could be amenable to a trade of Braun for Russell Martin/Jonny Broxton/Matt Kemp/Chad Billingsley/Scott Elbert/Clayton Kershaw....and Saito! But even though I know that is probably the sickest trade imagineable, I would still fear a Babe Ruth-type domination of our team. Well, at least we'd be set to see them in the NLCS for the next 5 years.