SoCal Brew Crew Fan

I love Cam, but I wish we had a better option at #5 behind Prince. That being said, we don't.

Prince has been a little off since that Javier Vazquez game...hope he gets back on here.

Heckuva call by BA...big night for the 8 hitters.

The Rays are making a living off picking up our castaways. They seem to do quite well there too. Hmmm.

More from TH: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/52599912.html Very interesting that Fielder put the kibbosh on retaliation last night. He probably was feeling some remorse after the national scolding he took from the media, ill-informed as they may be. I disagree with you phx. I put out an earlier post on this, but I don't think Macha has much to do with this. Much like with the Pirates, it was the players' call whether or not to do the beanball dance.

No suspension for either side... http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/52591697.html Mildly surprised on Prince, very, very surprised on Mota. If MLB isn't going to take care of it, the players will. This is basically a message from Watson to go ahead and throw at the Dodgers next time they play...and they will.

The Lakers just signed the biggest LA villian on the planet in Ron Artest and everyone is fired up about it. The Dodgers fans even found a way to cheer for Jeff Kent the last couple years. The cheapness of their owner is a bigger issue. Series - To answer your question, it does get loud in there. It's not Metrodome loud or Miller Park with the roof closed, but they get big crowds every night. Everyone was really on Fielder and it was loud. It got louder as the game went on. The funniest part was when they had the "kiss cam" going so everyone was watching the scoreboard between innings. Then it turns off and was replaced by a picture of Prince. They went from laughing/cheers to booing in a heartbeat...it was really funny. I listened to the postgame show and they were quite happy Prince had a rough night at the plate. I was also impressed that most fans stayed until the end of the game. Maybe it was waiting for a fight that everyone thought was coming, but with Manny around nobody wants to leave. Even a three run lead would have cleared the park a year ago. LouisEly - Thanks to dlks I was able to pick you out in the crowd. I was down by the Brewers dugout after the game, but there is quite the barrier between the Field seats and section LaDeeDah so I couldn't say hi. I hope you had a great time, those were some sweet seats. You were sitting among quite the set of local Hollywood hitters. I also liked the way the Brewers handled it last night. Prince running on Martin was classic. They couldn't afford to get Looper or a real reliever tossed and needed the win more than sending a message. These guys have long memories...it will happen at some point. BTW, Russell Martin is a shell of his former self and really fell off quick...a lot of speculation on that from my Dodgers friends. EDIT: Added last paragraph

So I come back home from the game and the entire IGT is on the kid who sang the anthem...you guys crack me up. I will say that my group was all full of Dads and we all looked at each other then one simply says, "well that was uncomfortable". Aside from that...sure nice to get a series win especially after last night. We definetly have a new villian in town and it's Prince. They were really letting him have it. I'm ordering a jersey tomorrow. Your turn Houston Brewers fans...let's keep it going.

Unless Witrado changed his blog post, I believe the direct quote was "Fielder just smirked and went to first base, rather calmly." That seems fairly accurate to me.

That's the one hole in the theory. Someone on another site pointed out Mota was at 40 pitches and they may have just had Troncoso soft tossing in case. I wasn't really paying attention to the bullpen. Did they show him throwing on FSN?

I spoke to a couple friends who had played minor league ball way back. They mentioned "the hit" rarely comes from a manager. They both felt something like that is usually handled between the players or possibly ordered by the pitching coach. Case in point was our issue with the Pirates. I think it's safe to say that Macha had nothing to do with that. It was probably Kendall given his horizontal finger pointed right at Karstens. I thought too this probably came form Torre, but they were pretty convinced it was probably Martin. These guys have been hearing quite a bit around here about not repsonding to the Phillies last year and were probably looking for an excuse to send a message to the league. To understand the "baseball code" that Kruk refers to, it takes about 60 less IQ points than most normal people possess...right about where Kruk is. I guess the way it is supposed to be "handled" is Martin takes one in the back tonight and if he's a man about it, he simply jogs to first. However, that probably means a Brewers pitcher gets tossed that we really can't afford. I'm also not sure that Prince hasn't raised the profile enough to where if Martin does wear one, he may feel the need to retaliate...and so on and so on... Isn't this how wars start?

Cory Provus mentioned in the pre-game show yesterday that Manny cut his fingernail the day before he pitched and had to "superglue" it together in order to throw. He mentioned that caused him to throw fewer split fingered pitches which helped him set up his strike out of Ramirez that was on a nasty splitter. TH also mentioned on the Homer show they've been trying to reduce the number of splitters he throws. Maybe they've stumbled on to something. Sounds like they should consult Brian Bannister for some tips on mixing up pitches.

I was on the first base side so I didn't see that until I read the IGT after the game. It's Olympic week out at Dodger Stadium this week so every day they have been honoring former medal winners. Not sure how Seau fits into that, but he is an SC guy.

Hey jason, out of curiosity where were you sitting? I've found the people in the field and loge sections to be pretty mellow, it's when you get in the third deck where you can hear some chirping. I've been going to games out here for 18 years and never had an issue. Maybe a comment here and there, but nothing too bad. The fans in Anaheim and SD are more mellow, but LA isn't bad. The only time I've ever felt threatened at a game in my life (and I've seen the Crew in at least a dozen cities) was a couple drunk Padres fans at the Murph were trying to start something once. It was very random. The stadium itself has had a minor makeover and the food has really been upgraded, but I would agree the stadium is getting a little dated in comparison with the newer parks. The biggest issue is just getting in and out of there during rush hour traffic. I'd go to more games if it was easier. That being said, the scene in the Ravine with the palm trees in the background is pretty nice. I also like how they've tried to keep it old school with the organ and things like that. While not perfect, I still give Dodger Stadium a thumbs up.

Tough part for the Brewers is there will be warnings before the game. If Looper hits someone right away he will get tossed and our pen has nobody down there in a long role to keep it remotely close. It will have to happen when he's running out of gas in the fourth inning. Hopefully Martin or Manny is up around then, but he'll probably get stuck firing one at Juan Pierre.

Lost amid all the Fielder hubub, funny story from last night. I'm with a local buddy from LA. We had seats a few rows behind the Dugout Club by the Brewers on deck circle. My buddy sees 4 people walk in wearing some rather loud T-shirts. He points them out and makes a joke...I look over and you guessed it...Remetee shirts. I had to fill him in on the backstory. They go all the way down close to the front row and seemed to know a couple of the players including Rivera. One big guy was rather tatooed up. Those shirts are hilarious. We has a small Braun contingent a few rows in front of us as well...no Remetees there.

I would agree with most of you...this isn't going to all of a sudden make our pitchers become good or even mediocre. The local news mentioned Manny has been hit 3 times in the last 10 games and the team had become unhappy with their star being continually pitched inside or plunked. Martin basically admitted to doing it in the LA Times, also referring to last year's loss to the Phils. From their point of view, this was a message to the league not neccesarily the Brewers: "It's protection," Martin said of the pitch. "It's just about keeping the team unified and pulling the wagons together." Martin said the Dodgers didn't want to repeat the scenario they had in the National League championship series last year against Philadelphia, when they were intimidated by Phillies pitchers and refused to retaliate. http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-dodgers-brewers5-2009aug05,0,4350802.story After the game I mentioned to my buddy that Prince really took it well and seemed to have lost the angst he was carrying when he first came in the league. I mentioned now that he's a Dad and has his first decent contract he's really mellowed out and that if this was a few years ago, they would be digging a 6 foot hole for Mota after Fielder charged the mound...then I read what happened. Guess he still has a little rage under there. My guess is this isn't finished.

Well that was a fun night at the ballpark. Bigger crowd tonight and they had plenty to cheer about. Yo was just flat out off, but Kuroda wasn't sharp either. As silly as it sounds a few plays here and there early and maybe it stays a ballgame. Everyone around me was wondering why they hit and then put Gallardo back out there when he obviously didn't have it. I mentioned they hadn't seen how bad our bullpen is...next thing you know it's 17-4. Part of me wanted to rip Macha, but the guy is trying to plug holes on a sinking ship. I thought we might be 1-1 after 2, but didn't expect Kershaw and Yo to struggle that bad. Not sure what Mota was thinking or if he was ordered to do it by Torre. Completely classless. I wouldn't read into the drunks behind homeplate. The couple people still around us at the end had the same reaction Fielder had. There was no way Smith was throwing at Manny nor did anyone around us think he did. I checked the replay on my DVR and even Vin was puzzled. With the Dodgers cruising to the playoffs do they really want to get start a beanball war with a team going nowhere. I'm afraid there will be blood tomorrow night. Manny will get hit. Just stupid.

When looking at your blog yo, you mentioned two teams that won as the Pirates and Indians, the ones that traded for prospects. I agree they did what they had to do. I do think there were winners among those that received talent as well. The Cards with Holliday and the Phils with Lee really improved their teams. There should be two categories...the best dumpers and and the best buyers. I would agree that the Reds acquiring Rolen was a head scratcher. Reminds me of the Astros acquiring Randy Wolf last year. The Reds should be sellers, but Jocketty and Baker might be too old for that.

The thing we were trying to figure out was if he was doing something so terribly wrong, why did they show him on the big TV screen twice and with the label underneath of "The Creature". It was almost if they had it planned. That's why I don't think he got tossed. BTW Series, you are right on Vin. The guy is 81 and still as pleasant to listen to as anyone in the game. He's old school, but not hokey at all. Calls it as he sees it and is always gracious to the opposing team. I like BA/Rock quite a bit, but we're talking different leagues here. If you have the MLB package, definitely take in a game with Vin. They just announced he's coming back for one more season next year. Expect it to be an entire year honoring him. Well deserved.

Not sure what they showed on TV, but there was a guy dressed exactly like that at the game. He was way out in the Pavillion (their bleachers) and he put on that costume and started dancing. They showed him on the scoreboard labeled as "The Creature". When the inning was over, security went up to him and escorted him out as he was changing back to street clothes to a loud chorus of boos. They said on the radio after the game security told him to remove the mask which is against the rules. He may not have been kicked out of the game since he had a ticket to the reserved level as well and may have just gone back to his better seat. It was also not the same guy who wore the same costume at the Buick Open. It was pretty funny.

Well that gave a new name to Mannywood. I kept thinking if Manny could just get through the 6th, 7th, 8th...and he kept doing it. I sure could have done without that ninth. The Dodgers fans around us were looking for a reason to cheer and it sure got loud when their Manny came up. Very un-Kershaw like outing. He's the one guy on their staff I'm a big believer in as Billingsley regresses to his mean. He couldn't get that curve over early and fell apart from there. Plenty of Brewers fans at the game...locals and from Milwaukee. My daughter is now convinced that Ryan Braun likes it when she comes to the game since he hit another bomb with her there. This gave her a chance to show her Braun shirt to everyone around us...very fun. She was screaming her head off at the end of the game for Trevor too. Great night at the ballpark...I'll be back tomorrow. Go Brewers.

Beautiful night here for baseball in LA. Only problem...they rampur of brats at the two stands I went to. Must be the Brewers fans!!!

No doubt Series. I've been going to Brewers games out here since the early 90's in LA, SD & Anaheim. I've never seen the crowds of Brewers fans like I have the last 2 seasons at the Dodgers games. I'm hoping the next three nights will be similar. The excitement in Milwaukee has definitely caught on among the Wisconsin diaspora. I'll be in Section 8 Field row G. My daughter voted for the Yount road jersey tonight. I'll look for you Louis...although you'll be in your own section in those sweet dugout seats.

I still have an extra parking pass as well. It's free to anyone that can swing by Century City before 4PM.