bernieh

I’ll be with two of my buddies (Mets fans, but hey, what else are they gonna do this time of year?) at Tempest Bar about a half hour before game time. If it were a weeknight we’d go to Kettle of Fish but they’re gonna be overrun tomorrow by the Packers crowd. About Tempest Bar, my buddy found this – you gotta respect that! So we figured we’d give it a shot. Anybody wanna join us? Or anyone know if the action’s gonna be better somewhere else?

I just thought I'd try to start up a post that helps us out-of-market fans that don't know (m)any other nearby Crew fans hook up with each other and revel in each playoff win together! I'll start it off with a quick intro - I'm a born-and-raised New Yorker who grew up a die-hard Yankee fan but got bored with them somewhere during the late '90s, and now I'm a HUGE Brewer fan. Naturally, I'm a rare breed around these parts, so I usually cheer the Crew on by my lonesome in my action-figure adorned man-cave. Now that the Brewers are on their UNSTOPPABLE MARCH OF DESTINY I'm lookin' to get out and catch some playoff games with other NYC-area fans! I'll start it off in the replies below for Sunday's NLDS Game 2. Everyone feel free to organize your viewing parties too, from wherever you may hail... (If there's a better way to do this, uh, lemme know) FEAR THE BEER-THEMED BASEBALL TEAM

Anybody in Manhattan interested in getting together for Thursday's Game 2 (6pm ET)? I haven't picked out a place yet (I'm thinking south of midtown tho) and I'm open to suggestions.

I know I'm alone in this, but since I'm personally rooting for a Mets/Brewers NLDS (all my buddies are Mets fans here in NYC and it'd be a blast), I was able to enjoy that 10th inning for what it was - great, great fun. I woulda been bouncing off the walls had we won it, but the Mets needed this win more than we did.

Yost, match-up managing in the 6th! I LIKE IT. Way to take advantage of the expanded roster.

I would LOVE to see a YouTube compilation of the top 10 most egregious (or most awesome) HR watching moments ever.

Totally agree. If it ever comes back to bite him/us in a crucial situation, I'll be muy muy mad. And I can see every other team we play hating his guts. BUT OTHERWISE I LOVE YOU RYAN BRAUN

Yeah, Rickie was out even to the naked eye at game speed. ... geez, JJ with the double. STEROIDS.

I called JJ's jack 3 seconds before he hit it. Then immediately I second-guessed myself - no, that'd be just silly. Mark Grace said it best all through the D-backs series - why throw this man fastballs? Good to see Braunie hustle out that double on his texas-leaguer; nice to see him not relax after being named to the All-Star team, just like he went on that tear after he signed his contract extension.

I didn't say he IS like Vlad, I said his ability to crush balls out of the zone is like Vlad's. And he's only 24. Aside from that, I agree with everything else you said.

I'LL tell you why Big Russ isn't perfect. His swing is too easy, too smooth. For him to embody the true spirit of 3TO, his strikeouts should all come with brutal, violent hacks that shake the centerfield camera with a mighty gust of wind.

Objectively, a .319 OBP is not good. But subjectively, where one might take it as cause for concern, I almost look at it optimistically as likely room for improvement. If opposing pitchers do catch on and stop throwing him strikes, I have a good amount of confidence that he'll learn to adjust and start taking those walks. I think he's the exact opposite of a mistake hitter. He gets base hit after base hit on balls nowhere near the strike zone, a la Vlad Guerrero. Is that necessarily a good thing? I dunno. But those are pitchers' pitches he's whacking.

A bit of a vanity post, but I thought some of you might be tickled to know not only who Randall Simon's playing for these days, but that they run a hot dog race during every one of his home games. http://www.sportingnews.com/blog/bernieh/156161/

I'll second that report. I definitely took note that Billy was not only one of the first, if not the first, one out of the dugout, but he was fired up. Also, regarding the term "video game numbers": am I the only one who strove for realistic results when playing video baseball games? If a game was too easy, I'd handicap myself to bring my numbers down, i.e. always take 2 strikes, etc. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif Lastly, I'll one up all the Russell supporters - I've been a fan of his since forever, and I was beyond thrilled when I heard we'd signed him before the '04 season. He averaged around an .860 OPS in 360 AB for those two years with us. He used to do that everywhere he went - what's a guy gotta do to earn a starting job? Anyway, I think I deserve some award. Okay thanks. Edit after reading brewcrew00's response: Both reports are certainly believable and understandable - that while he's somber in the clubhouse, he's still a cheerleader in the dugout.

Sweet pitch to get Aramis! Whatever the ump's strike zone is today, Yo's definitely nailin' its corners.

(Same disclaimer as last time: I work for SportingNews.com, so this technically qualifies as a plug, but it also constitutes a baseball lover/Brewer fan's desire to share a cool thing with his favorite and only message board he frequents. You can see from my profile I have over 200 posts here, so I hope this post is welcome. If this violates any policy, or is in the wrong place, I apologize) Back in November I posted here to let you know about our "official" re-creation of the 1986 baseball season using the Strat-O-Matic Baseball Online game engine, with personalities like Curt Schilling, Doug Glanville, and the Howard Stern Show's Baba Booey managing each team. As expected the Brewers (helmed by Brew Crew Ball's Jeff Sackmann) aren't really a factor in the AL East race, but there's some terrific division battles raging with just a month left in the season. You can check in on the action here. But the new news is that for a limited time we're offering a full season of the publicly playable, 1986 edition of our Strat-O-Matic Online game, for absolutely free. No strings attached. This means you'll draft a team, make trades, and set your lineups, pitchers, strategy preferences, and each night a 3-game series is simulated by our system. Each morning you can go through the recaps and boxscores, scout your next opponent and make changes if necessary. Since 3 games are played a night, you get through the 162-game season in about 2 months, and if you're good (and/or lucky) enough, you'll play in a 2-round postseason. Again, the entire season is absolutely free, as long as you get in right away. I thought it might be fun to get some Brewerfan leagues going. Whaddaya say? Ain't nothing to lose! Get your free 1986 team here! Thanks a lot, Bernie

I'm there! I won't be wearing Brewers gear though. Message me your seat number, I'll send you mine when I get it from my buddy. Maybe we can have a beer.

Let's just get it out of the way and make it clear that none of us takes pleasure in another human being's physical pain. With that said, let's not tiptoe around the fact that this is nothing but great news for us. If you said to me before the season starts let's put our best roster up against theirs, with no injuries to either, I would've said bring it on. But the reality is we lost/are losing time from Hall and Sheets so I'm not gonna cry that they'll be without Soriano for a little bit. The only way I wouldn't be celebrating is if the man really got seriously hurt, or had to go on bereavement because of a loss in the family, but he didn't, the man's gonna be fine, so I say AWESOME.

The Brewers are in a legit pennant race for the first time in roughly 25 years and it seems like few are enjoying it,i don't get it. Well said. Honestly, when we were up by 8.5 or 9.5, I felt myself not needing to catch every game. I got complacent and was just waiting for the playoffs. Now, with the gap narrowing, I turn on Cubs games as well as our games, yell at every Prince groundout, curse at the gods that made Rich Hill, Jason Marquis and Ted Lilly competent, and go to bed sobbing after yet another game comes off our lead. AND I'M LOVING IT. BRING IT ON.

Guys, thanks to all of you for all the help and advice, and especially to Menotti80 and his clan for having us at their tailgater. Everyone I met everywhere in Milwaukee was SO. RIDICULOUSLY. FRIENDLY. Hats off to you and your great city. And to the Crew, for doing as they're told and winning the game. Here's some of my pics (click each one to get a bigger view). I'm the Asian guy; I did my best while I was there to convince Yi Jianlian to stay and play for the Bucks... Brewers Block Party Thanks again to Brewsinga2 for tipping us off to the block party. It was cool being like 10 feet away from all the players, but all I wanted was some beer and brats and there was NEITHER there. There was a mile-long line for hot dogs, but we heard they'd already run out. At least I got some decent pics... http://planetavp.com/alienlovespredator/brewers/200/block_mc_bill.jpg Bill introduces the guys http://planetavp.com/alienlovespredator/brewers/200/block_hardy.jpg Actual exchange: M.C.: "Any more questions? Doesn't anyone wanna ask if Gallardo is single?" Girl: "J.J., are you single?" http://planetavp.com/alienlovespredator/brewers/200/block_corey.jpg Corey: You must be this tall to go out with me http://planetavp.com/alienlovespredator/brewers/200/block_estrada.jpg Actual Q: "Johnny, what made you want to become a catcher?" Actual A: "I was too fat and slow to be anything else" http://planetavp.com/alienlovespredator/brewers/200/bernie_sausages.jpg I was so hungry I almost took a bite outta one of these guys http://planetavp.com/alienlovespredator/brewers/200/bernie_schroeder.jpg Me n' Bill The Game Miller Park is gorgeous. The retractable roof was open, and the weather was perfect. We had 4th row seats, and if we wanted to we could've spit on the players in the Rockies' on-deck circle. This is the game where Rodrigo Lopez no-hit us for 5.2 innings, but we pulled it out at the end with Graffy's walkoff bloop in the 10th. http://planetavp.com/alienlovespredator/brewers/200/cheerleaders.jpg There's no cheerleaders in baseball!? These were Miller-sponsored; not sure what they were doing there before the game, or why we can't have 'em on the dugout during the game. http://planetavp.com/alienlovespredator/brewers/200/bernie_bernie.jpg Meeting my namesake And here's the video of Graffy's walkoff single. I'm the one filming this. You can see: 1) me high-five my brother on my right (he's wearing the foam finger I'd bought), 2) me high-five the random guy on my left, 3) a guy hold up his kid in triumph, 4) me yell at the kids sitting 2 and 3 seats to my left, and 5) the left side of my body, as it would look if you were passed out on the floor.

Hey thanks for the hospitality guys. I had no doubt I was comin' to the right place. Menotti80, thanks a ton for the invite! I'm gonna send you a private message with my email address. It'd be great if you could either PM or email me back with your cell phone # so I can get in touch with you. And Brewsinga2, holy mackerel, thanks for the heads up about the block party. Pretty awesome luck that it's happening the one day I'm in town. We'll be there! (BrewCrewRising) When I went to Shea in May, I ran across a born and bred New Yorker who had converted to a Brewer fan after having been a Yankee fan. How many of you are there? Or were you in section 141 on May 12th? Get outta here, I thought I was the only one in the universe. Indeed I grew up as a die-hard Yankee fan, and at the turn of the century I kinda got bored with their insane spending. It wasn't a conscious decision, but my heart eventually left the Bronx and found its way towards Milwaukee; the only possible explanation for it was I had a lot of Brewers on my Strat-O-Matic teams (Jaha, Nilsson, Seitzer, Listach, Valentin, Burnitz, etc.). I just never expected to get THIS attached to the Crew. ... and I guess that answers jhart05's question too. So I guess here's my 3 follow-up questions: 1. Where's a good bar or place to hang out after a fine Brewers win? It'll be only 9 or so when the game's over. 2. What should we do for the few hours between the block party and Menotti80's wild tailgater? 3. Where's a good place to buy Brewers swag? Thanks again...

Although I'm a born-and-bred New Yorker and don't know anyone in Milwaukee, I've been a die-hard Crew fan for about 8 years now. I even ran a forum game here on BF.net a few years ago. For this past Christmas, my brother (also an East Coaster, but not a Brewer fan) said he would foot the bill for a trip for both of us to catch a game up at Miller Park! BEST BROTHER EVER. The game is this Saturday (7/14) vs. the Rockies; we got our tix, the flight and hotel are booked... now all I really wanna know is... who here's tailgating that day? Can we crash your party? If we're gonna make the trip half way across the country just to catch a baseball game, we thought it'd be great to get the full MP experience. Just a quick bit about me... My favorite 3 current Brewers are Jenks, Big Ben, and Prince, my favorite 3 past Brewers are Branyan, Deer and Bob Hamelin (yeah really)... I believe in OPS, closer by committee, and of course, 3TO. And I'm the creator of the official online game of Strat-O-Matic Baseball. So if any of you're planning to break out the grill and coolers in the lot and would like to hang out with a couple of friendly, down-to-earth stat-heads, please let me know. We'll bring some beer, or brats, or whatever you want. Multiple responses welcome! Thanks! (edit by bernieh: title)

Sorry if this was obvious already, but I just noticed something about that celebratory hop-bump that the outfielders do while trotting in after a win. It looks like it's "outfielders only". Because on the high-five line, I saw Gwynn and Jenkins both hop-bump Gross and Mench each, but just gave regular high-fives to everybody else. Anyone else notice this? I thought it was interesting. Sorry if it was already obvious.

The Cubs are down 7-2 going into the 9th so they're about to fall back under .500. That's all I really care about. Not the Cubs per se, but our division lead.

Easy fellas... let's not panic. We're twenty-four and ten. Keep Soup in. The Mets are a good-hitting team, it's not like he "doesn't have it."