SoCal Brew Crew Fan

I disagree with that. I think her regime should actually be looked at as the one that stabilized the ship. Maybe I'm glossied eyed, but for the most part I think our ownership groups have done their best and played an important role in getting us to where we are at including Wendy. In my mind there have been several eras in Brewer ownership, that were also heavily influenced by MLB events - 1) Fighting Bud - The Braves moving from Milwaukee was pure robbery. Bud fought to keep the dream alive after they left and through numerous disappointments mainly MLB shunning the city for a 1969 expansion team. 2) Building Bud - Taking a floundering expansion team and simply trying to make it viable in a city that was understandably upset with baseball after what happened with the Braves. Bringing Hank Aaron back may have mended some fences even though the team was poor. 3) Winning Bud - Bringing in Harry Dalton and attacking the new free agent market with the signings of Larry Hisle and Sal Bando and building a winner on top of it. It all culminated in 1982. 4) Scrapping Bud - The 1982 Brewers got old, but the Brewers kept trying to come back. 1987, 1989 and 1992 showed promise. 5) Reality Bud - A combination of horrendous management of the team by Bando's regime and a changing economic climate in baseball that gave very little hope to small market teams. Selig comes to the reality and focuses on baseball's problems in general, eventually becoming Commissioner. 6) Wendy - Left with a completely barren cupboard from the mismanagement of the team and a difficult MLB environment, the ship is stabilized and begins to point in the right direction. Commissioner Selig makes progress in revenue sharing and battles the players union. The long battle for Miller Park is won and financial collapse is avoided. The team stays in Milwaukee. Dean Taylor comes in and while performing poorly on a major league level, puts in many of the building blocks to rebuild the horrendous minor league system. Eventually Doug Melvin is brought in, further upgrading the baseball management side. She guides the franchise through a sale process and not only secures a more stable financial future for her family, but places the team in solid hands for the city of Milwaukee. 7) Mark A & the next level - Attanasio has been smart enough to realize after careful evaluation that things were actually progressing in a positive manner prior to his arrival. His decision to stay the course is an active one. He has brought further financial stability to the organization and is doing his best to balance the long and short term interests of the team. While it is still early, the excitement surrounding the current team has been unmatched in 25 years. As the article states, the fact Mark being a New Yorker/Angeleno has tried to be more than just an absentee owner is admirable. He has shown not only a commitment to the team, but the community. Right guy at the right time. It took a great deal of work to get here from the abyss of the mid-90's. We owe Mark a lot for his work, but we shouldn't forget the hard work and tough times that the Seligs had to endure to get us where we are at.

Tbadder - I guess I disagree with your reasons of why the Crew might make the playoffs. I think it has very little to do with how the Cubs perform, outside of our 10 head to head matchup games, and more about how the Brewers play. If the Crew plays up to their full potential, we'll be there regardless of what the Cubs do. I think the Cubs are good enough to make the playoffs. If we do overtake them, it will be because we play that well, not so much a huge collapse by the Cubs. That would put the Cubs in the wild card at least. It's tough for me to see both the Phils and the Mets getting on an epic roll...one of them might win 92+, but I doubt both will. That puts the wild card at a minimum in reach if we play well.

The Cubs, Mets and Dodgers win their divisions...Brew Crew & Philly duke it out for the WC. The season for the Brewers comes down to the final weekend versus the Cubs. Wanting to keep the Brewers out of the post-season despite having clinched homefield throughout at the end of August, the Cubs throw Harden, Zambrano & Dempster at the Brewers in the final series. The Brewers blast all three and Pinella brings Marmol in to finish all three games...beginning in the 3rd, 5th and 6th respectively. The Brewers nip the Phils by a game, but face the Mets after the Cubs flame out in LA. Sam Zell then sells the Cubs to Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim who promptly moves the team to Mexico City...renaming the team the Mexico City Centurians in honor of their 100 year World Series drought. I guy can dream can't he?

Great point FV. I agree 100%. In the wake of not re-signing Coco...the Brewers went out and deepened the bullpen with a quantity of arms, hoping a couple would stand out. So far that's been Torres. Riske was the "safe" choice among the group. Very steady career stats, and an ability to pitch multiple innings with consistency. Maybe it's been the injury so far, but he could really become the key in the second half. He has looked better recently. Someone needs to step up in that setup role...Riske is our best shot. It truly appears the Mota and Gagne experiments have unfortunetly failed. My guess is Mota is gone after Soup comes back from the DL. They'll keep trying to get Gagne back, but he has a long way to go before he can be placed in a high leverage situation. That leaves Riske.

An interesting question for the Cubs is - Could the Harden deal backfire on the Cubs? Harden is a huge talent and IMO gives the Cubs a big leg up in a playoff series where they were somewhat vulnerable. Zambrano is their only legit ace...now they have Harden. The Cubs look like a certain bet for the playoffs, probably the division, but at worst they slip to the wild card. However, in an effort to save Harden by throwing him out there 5-6 innings per start or a 90-100 pitch count...maybe even skipping some starts, could they burn out an already vulnerable bullpen? Look what they've done to Marmol already. The Cubs bullpen has been a strong point, but so was the Brewers pen at the beginning of last year before the overuse cam back to bite them. That could really hurt the Cubs as the season goes on, even if Harden delivers consistent 6 inning quality starts. For the Brewers, the CC effect was no more evident than yesterday. The guy goes 9 in a huge effort to get the win with the bats slumping late in the homestand. Even if Harden is as effective as CC in a one time start in October, CC greatly improves the Brewers chances of getting there...a taller task for the Brewers given the 5 game deficit to the Cubs and a four way battle for the wild card. Maybe each team made the proper move given where they were and the higher realtive price the Brewers had to pay for CC, but I'm much more sure CC will help us and I could see a scenario where they Harden trade backfires.

Hilarious...what a first half highlight that was. Way to go Ben...well deserved. In a year where there are 3-5 guys all neck and neck, including Ben, hats off to Hurdle for going with the most experienced guy. Ben deserves this honor, not only for his accomplishments this year, but for what he has done over a stellar career. First Brewer ever to start the all-star game...huge honor for Ben and the franchise.

I'd love to see three innings each from Marmol & Z in the all-star game...let's burn them out.

1) Rickie Weeks has over a .400 OBP between the break and year end. 2) Suppan doesn't return to rotation until September. 3) Hall/3TO platoon ends with Hall playing everyday in August/September.

I'd probably go unders on all but the steals. I do think Rickie will heat up after the all-star break. He's looked a little better recently. Maybe I'm just a Rickie believer and kidding myself, but I see no reason he couldn't do what he did the last 8 weeks of last season. However, from a statistical standpoint he's way too far behind those targets that were laid out.

Gorman...I respectfully disagree with that comment. Here's why...this is a young, aggressive, fired up team already. If anything, they need to stay calm. Guys like Ski, Simba, Sedar, Billy C are all mellow guys. Ned is more firery, but I think keeps himself in control to send that signal of confidence to his team. I think that's a smart move on his part. When he does need to get fired up, it will carry more weight.

I thought in tonight's game bringing in Torres when he did was a clear example of Ned changing. He didn't just bring him in for the save, he brought him in for the highest leverage situation. It almost worked...but I think credit is due to Yost for making that move. Correct me if I am wrong, but this has been one of TLB's big arguments that I wholeheartedly agree with...bring the best pitcher in at the most critical point in the game regardless of inning or save situation.

So if things go as planned...we'll see Cy Fogg tonight and then crush Volquez tomorrow?

My daughter just asked me this morning to start TiVo-ing this...coincidence...I think not.

While I do think the Simmons effect is having a positive influence and can be attributed to some of his better managerial performance this year, don't get me wrong here...I do give Ned full credit for bringing him in. I think Ned and especially Melvin felt there were shortcomings in his performance last year. I believe there were even some public statements about bullpen usage. He also frankly lost his cool a few times...the umps in the Braves series and the LaRussa incident. Both times he was bated into it...yet his baseball machismo got the best of him. Sveum was right there with him egging him on. In that respect I do give Simmons a great deal of credit...and to Ned for realizing he needed the help. The coffee is a huge untold story too...how many people do you know drink 14 cups of coffee per day and are normal. Ned - get some decaf in the clubhouse, you'll feel better, trust me.

Wouldn't bringing Gamel & Escobar up start their service time clock? My guess is they want them under contract as long as possible. I bet they bring them along like they did with Braun last year. Maybe Gamel next year, but probably 2010...Escobar 2010 for sure. June 1 callups?

Sal Bando...even though he helped us start winning in the 70's, his GM skills sent the franchise into the abyss. The Molitor non-signing kick started a 15 year tailspin. They had a better team than the Blue Jays the year before and should have won the division. The economic realities of the 90's probably wouldn't have helped, but he was so bad it was mindboggling. Franklin Stubbs anyone? How about Teddy Higuera's 4 year contract? The Manning/Thomas trade while emotionally tough, involved a bunch of players who were shadows of their former selves. With Bichette, I wonder if he could have been good anywhere else but Colorado at that time. Trade was still horrible. Hammonds...both flaps down on a permanent basis...ugh (ooops...meant to say Leonard, i kinda liked it too...but he wasn't very good)

Would he like to stay...yeah, why not...he seems pretty happy right now. He was happy in Cleveland too. He would also have to take a huge pay cut to do it...maybe $40-50mm over the life of the contract. I won't blame him one bit for getting the big dough. He'll be in pinstripes next year.

That was an awesome celebration...really showed the camraderie of the team...but as a father of a couple little girls myself...geeze guys, use your heads...dousing a little girl with beer. Didn't anyone think, hey this might not be such a great idea at this time???

If the season ended today and we were the wild card...would we play the Phillies? Does the wild card play the top division team outside their own? Am I making this up? If so, winning the division would be a big boost...homefield throughout and a whack at the West in the first round.

http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/images/breaking-down-berlin-wall-1989.jpg Mr. Hall, tear down this wall...and that pitching staff.

Does anyone else think Simmons has helped the Yost stubborness factor? He was extremely stubborn last year, but has been less so this year. I think Sveum has a similar personality to Ned and it compounded the issue. Since Simmons has a more calming personlity and has nothing to gain or lose by being brutally honest with Ned, I'm guessing he's been able to make progress on Ned.

Could McClung & Bush be the designated reliever in each other starts? McClung has been pitching well, but gasses a little earlier. 5 solid innings from Seth with 4 from Bush on the road and 6 solid from Bush and 3 solid from McClung at home? That might make 3/5 games where the bullpen gets little action...unless they keep using Mota.

Is there some curse or strange power that lousy ex-Brewers have on us? The Wes Helms curse?

I give Ned a solid B. I could be guilty of inflating his grade since his improvement seems so dramatic from the end of last year, maybe he just went from awful to average. I do give him credit for a number of things. They seemed more prepared coming into the season...especially defensively. He has not overworked his bullpen as he did last year. The aggressive base running has paid dividends. The clubhouse and attitudes of the team seems very good. They continue to bounce back well from devastating losses...like the meltdown in AZ, followed by a sweep of the Pirates or the run they have had since Boston. This is a team where expectations are high and the players are young...that can often be a frustrating period. I think Simmons has had a nice calming effect on his baseball machismo...hopefully that keeps up in the second half. Plate discipline remains an issue...although youth plays a role. This 7/8/9 inning pitcher stuff, while not as strict as last year is overboard. Put the best player for that night in the highest leverage situation. I know there are reasons to the contrary, but I disagree with them. The second half will be very interesting. This is now a team of very high expectations and the time is now. They are still a young team, although hopefully the pressure of last year will help. The last few days was a little concerning how over-pumped up the team was. JJ Hardy starts swinging at bad pitches, Sheets was too amped up and burned out early...these guys really care and really want this...that's very admirable, but they need to play within themselves. That's how Ned will be judged at year's end.

The Umpiring Crew of Death umped the Brewers/Braves series last year That was the Cuzzi, Lane crew I was referring to. When I heard Sandy Alderson was in charge of the umpiring, and that Bruce Froemming was going to be involved this season, I naively hoped for better umpiring. Unfortunately I was wrong. I think we all want to believe Froemming is a good egg since he's a Milwaukee guy, but I have heard enough anecdotal evidence that he had that little man syndrome himself when he umped to believe it.