NievesNoNO

What are people's expectations and/or hopes for the upcoming homestand? What would make you think, "O.K., we're on the right track", and what would make you think it's just not happening for us this year (if you don't think that all ready). I know it's early in the season but considering the Brewers record and the standings I believe this is a critical juncture in the season. I'm expecting a strong showing, especially with our rotation flipping over today. I'm hoping for at least 6-3, but a 5-4 mark feels more likely at this point, especially with SF at the end of the stand. They typically play well at home and I think some of the AB's with RISP will start to go our way. It seems like this team is always fighting for .500, but IF they can pull 6-3 over the next week + I'd feel pretty decent going into Cinci. Anything less than 5-4 would pretty much mean epic fail to me, especially considering we're running out of injury excuses.

Glad I'm not the only one! I really don't like Yuni, but there's no way that Boggs is CLEARLY a better choice there. Maybe we can get to .500 over the weekend.

Sometimes reading this board is more frustrating than the actual game. It's not the managers fault they couldn't manage ONE RUN. Yuni, Boggs, whoever, the odds really weren't a whole lot different whoever the batter. Yuni has been respectable with the bat thus far. I don't think it was incomprehensible that he hit there. Has anyone on this board not hated one of the last 3 managers? None the less, a very frustrating loss. It sucks to have built such a big hole that just getting to .500 is a challenge. St. Louis continues to pile up wins and we fall further behind.

Perhaps a bright spot... Gomez draws a walk when there's no reason to care.

Wow, just wow. Pathetic. 11 runs in one game (and counting) to a team that struggles to score 11 in a week. Booooo!!

Nice AB by Boggs.

Prince!! What's the percent of vicory when coming back from 5? I really didn't think they'd get back in this one.

It's just depressing watching him manage and listening to him. Being aggressive is one thing, but being ignorant is another. It's great to be aggressive in the right situations with the right player against the right fielders. To just say your going to be aggressive and run yourself into outs without taking anything into consideration is dumb and shows a lack of preparation IMO. I don't have an issue if it's Gomez, Hart, maybe Weeks or Braun trying to stretch that, but McGhee?? C'mon now! The last time I checked Ludwick has a pretty fair arm as well. There, my first jab at RRR. I feel slightly better now.

Get the bullpen up!!

We'll that's not a good start. Really need a sweep today.

I actually have an odd man crush on Gomez, ever since I went to a game an saw him play in person. I really don't remember the game or situation, just that he ran a ball down deep in center and then uncorked a strike to 3rd base on a line like it was coming from the pitchers mound to home plate. That was enough for me. For entertainment value he's hard to beat. For baseball IQ 101 and hitting competencies I'll give him a D+. His base running mistakes are so inexcusable and mind blowing at times you'd think he had his eyes closed. He kind of reminds me of that kid in Tee-ball that would just keep running around all the bases no matter where the ball was hit and weather or not there was a play to be made. I think him wanting to use/show off his speed so badly blinds him to situations sometimes. Maybe they need to wear him out before the game with some sprints or something or maybe they should do a pregame exhibition where he sprints around the base paths as fast as he can and they put is time up on the big screen and before every game he tries to beat it.

I'll take Greinke on the contract part. I'm not sure it's so clear cut on who has more long-terms success though. I think Marcum might be one of those rare pitchers, ala Jamie Moyer, who could pitch pretty effectively until he's 40. While Greinke has the superior arm and stuff I don't think he'll hesitate to hang it up once he can't dial up the fastball anymore. Not sure when that physical decline will come, but he doesn't strike me as the type that's going to refine his other pitches to compliment his 89 MPH fastball to try and win some more games in his career.

I think the bats wake up today and Gallardo gets his mojo back. Maybe a bean ball war for good measure. 13-2, all will be right for one day.

I doubt they fire Melvin mid-season and I doubt they fire their newly hired manager 1 month in. Let's not get overly drastic here, my goodness. How would any of that help right now??

That would be good!! Gomez would be the one to do it.

I'm pulling for the perfect game. There may as well be something exciting in this game.

I don't agree with Melvin leaving but that's another topic. You have the underlying issue right on though. The hitters are who they are (I really hate that cliche, I wish I thought of a different one). They are not going to magically change with a new hitting coach or manager. In the end I think the offense will be fine. It amazes me how many think that you can just "coach em up" and get different results. To me the hitting coach has to be one of the most pointless positions on a club. I think they can be valuable studying film of the player to find subtle changes in the hands or stance that have changed, but as far as actually coaching on a daily basis to try to change an approach to me that's fruitless. The time to instill an approach to hitting is in the minor leagues. Let me back up a bit by saying I have no idea what a MLB hitting coach or Svuem does on a daily basis, perhaps that's what he/they do, in which case it would still be pointless to swap him out. I think if I was hitting coach I'd just string together some highlights of each player hitting well and have them watch for 15 minutes before the game. IMO, the two biggest problems on this club are infield defense and our bench. I realize we aren't swapping out our whole infield, but I still think it would make a huge difference to somehow get a guy at short to replace Yuni even if he's only a defensive whizz. We have the pitching this year, but having them wonder if every ground ball will be booted or second guessing an attempt to try to get a hitter to ground into a DP will make the staff less effective. Secondly, our bench provides zero value to this team. I know most teams don't have an elite bench but usually theres some reason why they're on the team. I realize there's been some injuries to deal with but guys like Nieves, Kotsay, Almonte shouldn't have a spot on this team. There are better options. Gamel, Kottaras, Boggs, Katin. If Yuni was replaced he'd actually have some value on the bench, as at least he can put the ball in play consistently and has a bit of power.

Tough day today. Norris just dominated, nothing else much to say. Poor defense again doesn't help, but if you don't score any runs it doesn't really matter much. Narveson pitched OK, but the top of our lineup doesn't have any hits. Good to get out of Houston.

Not that I care much anymore because there are much better outlets for sports news and quality writing, but why does ESPN continue to feel like their information is so much better than everyone elses that they continue to charge for Insider? ESPN is generally the last site I visit for info or just for an interesting read and claiming something to be "Insider" info that I can just go read somewhere else just seems like really poor marketing. I just went over there to read some draft coverage opinion and off course anything written by Kiper is in Insider. Fine I can get other people's opinions elsewhere for free and likely better written and more thought out.

Petty much had the same experience with Yahoo/ATT/SBC Global or whatever the hell they are now. They kept adding on service charges, we kept calling them on it and every time we called they tried to sell us more services. We pretty much told them to f' off and dropped their service for Time Warner. Unfortunately all the cable/phone companies are basically the same and I pretty much expect the same thing from T.W.

You could probably drop by your local H.S. team field and pull the best pitcher off the team and get better results than Green can give. He's just not MLB talent.... or shouldn't be at least. Maybe they have another rally in them??!

Not a bad game. A sweep definitely would've been great, but sometimes the other team just beats you. Trying to look at the positive side, at full strength I think the Brewers win today's game. Although, teams are rarely at 'full strength' so I suppose one could say that about almost any game throughout the season, it makes be feel better to think it anyway.

Not a bad game. A sweep definitely would've been great, but sometimes the other team just beats you. Trying to look at the positive side, at full strength I think the Brewers win today's game. Although, teams are rarely at 'full strength' so I suppose one could say that about almost any game throughout the season, it makes be feel better to think it anyway.

After last nights win I'm feeling confident about the sweep, even against Lee. Funny how much two games can make a difference in perspective. It's soo nice to have competent back end starters (or front end guys, depending how you want to look at it). When Wolf and Narveson throw solid games it's going to be really incredible to come back with Greinke and Marcum!! I suspect we're going to see some nice winning streaks this year. Hopefully this can be one of them. Keep it going boys! That lineup is still awful though. Hart can't come back soon enough.

Wood has had some opportunity, but not a consistent opportunity, weather that would make a difference at all I don't know. He's been a beast in the minors, so he has absolutely nothing to prove there. He's probably the best fit on a team that's willing to run him out there everyday at 3b or SS and see what happens for the entire year. Seattle or Pittsburgh maybe?? Best case he'd maybe end up being a Mark Reynolds type. I guess it really shows how much better the pitching is at the major league level is. The Brewers do have a need in the system so I guess he'd fit the bill there. I'm not sure he's a fit on the MLB roster at this point though. If they were willing to let him play SS everyday then I'd say sure, but I don't think that's happening. Personally, I would let him do it as he has way more upside than Yuni and even if he didn't improve at all there really wouldn't be much difference.