H0FFY

Say goodnight to this game. Davis sitting in the dugout sees that his team has somehow bet on the Braves in Vegas (based on the last inning debacle)... and Doug decides why the heck do I bother. Interesting how Atlanta get two hits in an inning and have a rally. The Crew gets two hits and have a joke. What a team.

re Hall v Marte, I am only going on MLB stats to date. But I believe Billy Hall out performed Marte in Pee Wee league. Honestly, it is what stat heads do. They grab the stat the justifies their predetermined judgment.

Like I said a million times - the problem with this team is MENTAL. And it is spread all across - players AND coaches. I can coach third base better than that. Actually it will be better to not have a coach.

I was compelled to look at the opposing team lineups today, because I keep being told how talentless we are. Heck, Atlanta has less talent up and down the lineup than we do... Here we go, by batting order Clark v Furcal - Clark ave .311 with 27 walks, Furcal .243 ave with 29 walks, HRs are 7 to 6 in Clarks favour; Furcal big advantage 29 to 8 in stolen bases (but remember they are overrated) Weeks v Johnson - Weeks ahead in all categories except walks ave .266 to .258, home runs tied at 5, but Weeks 94 at bats Johnson 120 Actually, I will not do this full for each position, but we are incredibly alike down the lineup, in fact we are a wee bit better Overbay v Giles Lee v Andrew Jones Jenkins v Methusala Hall v Marte (big time Crew advantage here) Miller v Estrada Hardy v Francouer So, our lineups are incredibly similar. Our pitching is better (well, it was last time I checked). C'mon Crew

We have a thread about how Atlanta keep winning even with so many guys on the DL and rookies and all that. I wonder how much Bobby Cox has to do with that. They seemed to have put the finger on Weeks' D, with those couple of bunts toward first.

I love this team. They always fill me with expectations. (good and bad!) Today is a big time game. I hardly ever say something like that. But these guys need to play baseball. They need to put on a show. I have a darn feeling they will. By the way, I did predict Jenks would become 'decent' Jenks again, only minutes before he had his three double game. If these guys play like a team... I mean really care (sorry, I dont want to go there, because they probably do really care)... I mean really, really care.... C'mon Crew, put your best foot forward. C'mon

Poor Huntsville. Nashville demote a guy (Pratt) that should have been cut and he promptly causes Huntsville to lose a game and lose the lead in their division. I wish the Crew would start being more hard on their older under-performers. They should start axing a few to send the message out: this is no longer the relax and who cares franschise. You perform or you are out. I am not saying one thing BAD about any moral character of any individual. But if you are not a ball player, you are not a ball player. You should be gently shown the door.

Talent wise and coaching wise this team is ok. It is EXECUTION-wise they fail. It is MENTAL-wise they fail How can can Jenks miss a cutoff guy TWO times in a game. Are you kidding me!!! I am trying to find the post that I nominate as post of the year. It was something like: This is a .600 team talent-wise. and a .400 team brain-wise. (Actually it was more clever than my paraphrase) It is TRUE TRUE TRUE What can we do to make these bumbleheads play NORMAL. We only ask they play NORMAL with their talent. Now guys who say the talent is low, the payroll is low, the expectations should be low... I just do not agree with you. In EVERY position we are OK. And our pitching is better than OK. I feel we should scare the last playoff spot. But mentally we are blowing it. We are very close to being sellers at the deadline. We have a big decision to make. Remember Ned and Doug and Mark were talking how we should be way above .500 and in wild card hunt. The management of the team thinks this. And this is correct thinking.

Why are you people watching the games then and wasting time on the internet? It is one of the few things to fill my days here in prison.

Man, it is like talking to a statue. The ONE non-pressure, non-CHOKE, 'you have time to think and guarantee the right decision' happening in this game was what reliever to go to. To be honest, Botts should have done the job or we should not have made three errors and we shold not have struck out 20+ times. But all those events happen in the twinkling of an eye and well, they guys are a little tight around the collar in close games. So, the managers need to show the way. For the manager - given all the time and information he has to make a stupid call sends WHAT KIND of message to the teammates. If this was the 7th game of the world series who would Ned have put in there. It would have been Wise. So, yes, it is obvious that this one decision should be discussed. Heck we deserved to lose the game. But many, many times we deserve to WIN but we lose. So we need to snag a few games that we do not deserver. Our leader, Mr Ned, should be a magician to these guys. They should know that Ned will do all he can to overcome any problems the guys are having (mentally or physically). If we had won this game, it would have been a huge boost. If we had won making so many blunders and chokes, the guys would stop being so afraid. Ned missed a big, big, big opportunity. So, the players, instead of reading how they stole a game and their manager played brilliant tactically, leaving nothing in the bank... instead of that they read how they blew a lead and could not get it down and struck out like nobodies and were 28 up and 28 down. If I was 28 up and 28 down I couldnt care less if we still won. I would laugh about it. But given our leaders' ineptitude (they are shopping Botts) to the detriment of the team couple with the 28 up and down, would make me want to hang my head in shame. So, yessir, this is one decision that should be discussed a lot.

You know it is completely illogical to say because we did 'A' badly, therefore wrong decision 'B' does not matter. That is just silly. It is the same logic that simply says 'oh, we are the Brewers, so we are bad, that is just the way it is, accept it'. I refuse to accept it. We should have got away with a win, if Ned had pulled the right strings. To be honest, he would have had to pull EVERY right string as the guys seemed to be doing their best to undo their 3 run lead and their run at .500. I want Ned to be so bloodly brilliant that even his frightened children (the ball players) will end up winners. Again, I explained clearly the choice Ned had. Ned made the wrong choice (logically) just like the players made some bad, bad mental choices throughout the game. It is impossible for this team to have 28 up and 28 down against middle relievers! That can only happen if some mental meltdown is occuring. What amazes me, is that day in and day out, this mob has enough talenet that they need to make many, many mental mistakes and Ned must make many, many mistakes for us to consistently lose. But the players and Ned working together overbalance the talent this squad has. And we are 4 games below .500. To recap, the logic I dislike the most is stuff like: because Billy Hall made a brilliant play in the 2nd, we should expect it to balanced by a passed ball in the 8th to lose the game. Sorry, guys the two are unrelated events. If the events were BALANCED (50% wow good, and 50% oh yuk) I can accept that. But I reiterate. This mob must make multiple gaffs a night in order to overcome (in a bad way) their talent. If they would bloody well relax and have some fun and stop CHOKING they would understand their sporting lives can be better.

C'mon all you managers to be: you are in a one run game in the 7th inning. All your relievers are available. You have one guy that can go two innings, that has been absolutely lights out. Just brilliant. You also have a guy you are trying to trade who was ok earlier, but lately has stunk up the joint, and last time you were on a start of a winning streak this guy lit the fire and poured petrol on it - leading to a loss and huge headaches. So, managers-to-be, which way do you go. There are only two reasons you go with the fire-maker-man. The first is you want to trade him, so you care more about a trade than your team winning. The second reason you can choose thr recent fire-make-man is because you follow the school of Davey Lopes, which is: if you fail in a decision, just keep making that same wrong decision over and over again until it works. Then you can thumb your nose at the world and say 'seeee, I am right'. Again, Nedster does have this trait that Lopes has, which is: DO NOT LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES Damn shame to lose a game we were in front of late. Damn shame.

they are one step away from being a legit playoff contending team The problem is, that step is a mental step. I dont know how the heck you make winner out of perennial losers. They have the talent, just not the ???? non-frightenness ????

As we can see, every time they almost want to step into manhood, they fall back to babydoom. Darn, darn, darn. We are going to be the only team in baseball to finish with a 100 loss season and score more runs than give up. These guys need a psychologist. They are just plain old scared to win.

I bet in the history of baseball, that is the first perfect game INSIDE a game. By the way, www.sportsline.com is working fine re the ball by ball.

why was Hall replaced, please?

Can I predict a leadoff walk. Or a couple of balls then a canner or two for a hit. C'mon, Crew. Be REAL MEN. Dont be gutless.

Let me say it again, sorry to be a bore, but this team needs to actually mentally learn how to win. All the SABR numbers in the world cannot handle this mental torture the team is going through. So many years of ineptitude is just a monkey on our backs. Only these guys can get the monkey off. They need to do it. But they are making it tough on themselves. I guess it must be tougher on us. We dont get paid millions of dollars for ineptitude.

I am happy to see this crazy game. But maybe Florida is not a good team to steel ourselves with. They do more screwy things than we do. But, in the process of becoming a .500 team you have to NOT BE AFARID to win. These guys are playing like they are afraid to win. They completely blew the sweep chance a few days ago. CHOKED. They are trying to do that now again. If they get through this it could be worth a LOT MORE than one game. C'mon Crew.

Why is Ohka out, He's had 86 pitches. Ned started learning?

Is this what heads up baseball looks like. Now bunt to third, sac fly, and win game. How simple.

If a team won 62 games by an average of 6 runs, but lost 100 by an average of 1.1 runs, would they be FUN to watch. Hello BREWERS. Mark my words, this team is going to take a big, big jump soon. (Either they will or I will).

Sometimes it is too painful to be a winner. You are then expected to perform more and more. And give more and more hope to your fans. It is much, much easier to simply give up. Collect your pay and go home and sleep and invest. It is only Milwaukee. It does not matter. Look at it. There were many, many guys that could have put a stop to this... Davis, Botts, Phelps, Sanatana. So you have four guys who, for some unknown reason, suddenly performed from the 7th inning onwards at all time lows. What are the odds of four MLB, decent, pitchers giving up the ghost to one of the weakest batting lineups in the league. Well, you do the calculations. It is pretty much impossible, unless you factor in the human 'dont care', 'choke', 'loser' mentality. Not that the mental side has anything to do with baseball.

So it comes down to this... Mr Moeller and Mr Helms.

Let me add, Ned and Dougie are showcaseing Botchalism to the detriment of the team. What kind of management is that, when your overriding goal is to showcase a guy for a trade. It simply means they have given up on the season (someboby let Mark know, please). And, also, amazingly, when you manage for the wrong reasons, you lose games and disenchant your players.