H0FFY

Thanks much Colby. Your work is so much appreciated. You are the bringer of hope. Well, you are the MESSENGER of hope.

go go go to the top of the queue, thread. After following our minor for a week I need a fix of the 'other minors', the DFE guys. Are there any with Bondsie OPSs or Clemens's ERA?

Geoff should come to Australia and play cricket. They you are required to hit balls that bounce in the dirt. And if they bowl (throw) to you without the ball bouncing in the dirt then that is bad sportsmanship.

Careful, Scoop. You know what happens when you taste a little success in the predicting / wagering world! I will help you: 1) World will come back to normal (no one can be lucky all the time) 2) Your friends will 'remind' you mercilessly when the world is back to normal. As Cher would say 'Are you strong enough?'

I really think Wes should start tomorrow. His last couple of years v lefties should earn him that start. Good luck to him. I dont think he is a good player. And I think Ned, by showing favouritism, really hurt him. But I sure hope Ned does not now show ANTI-favouritism. Let Wes start. Actually, if he does not start, is there any reason to keep him on the team? Note that we know for sure Wes will be gone after this year. And I will bet for sure Cirillo is back next year and the year after (note in his interview today he said he wants to retire here, be it next year or in three years). I would love to see Branyan as the 90% guy at third next year with Cirillo as the backup and old head from the bench... let us just think of him as The Weapon II.

In the HISTORY of baseball can anyone find a worst conversion of offense into runs as follows: Team collects 16 hits, and 3 walks and two error AND in the hits are three home runs and... team scores 5 runs. You have to admit. In the HISTORY of baseball, I find it hard to believe that there can be even 5 more occurances of such ANTI-CLUTCH. By the way, I agree with poster who said how we stole the first game from the Cubs. So, I kind of feel stole one and gave one away. But, amazingly, the good teams somehow manage to steal more than they give away. I am always interested to see how the Brewers will face up over a month or two. I am sick and tired of being 'happy go lucky, good guy LOSERS'. I am sick and tired of being ANTI CLUTCH. I did see a SABR-type analysis of how good teams manage to win more of the 'close games'. And the SABR dudes could not explain it. In fact they were dumbfounded. But, of course, if you forget that baseball players are human - or you exclude that from your analysis - you will be dumbfounded a lot. I am really sad after today's loss. But, like many said here, I almost am not distraught. We come to expect exactly this from our organisation. IT MUST MUST MUST change. By the way (again) I get a feeling that this Hardy is NOT ANTI CLUTCH. So, I am so hopeful the young guys we bring up are indeed capable of producing their expected numbers in all situations. I feel so bad for Mr Jenks. He is amazingly a wreck. To have your brain completely change your game for the worse, because you won a home run derby is amazing. He must not be the most gifted intelligent man. But I sure want him to do good and go back to what he WAS. HE SHOULD BE BETTER AT 28-29-30-31 THAN 24-25. C'mon Geoff. C'mon.

Scoop you ask: ------------------------- this begs the question... IF there is no such thing as "clutch".... can there exist "anti clutch"?? --------------------------- Did you not catch my eloquent proof BOTH the non existance of cluth and the FOR SURE existence of ANTI - CLUTCH. It has been proved. No need to hypothesis anymore. I am just waiting for Bill or Vroomos to steal my work and sell it as pay-per-view on some Mathematarian site.

To be honest, the anti-sabre-metric of ANTI CLUTCH does exist. Just because someone named Bill or Vroomos did not come up with it is ignored. But it does exist. And it appears to live best in a Brewer uniform. I would actually think it would be a good idea to chart minor leaguers performances in 'clutch' situations. I know that CLUTCH does not exist (these MLB guys really perform in the standard situations - that is how they got to the majors). But I know that ANTI-CLUTCH exists.

Thanks for the running comments guys. I had to go away in the 10th inning. I did read the entire thread. And one post actually made sense. Truthfully, you all make being part of our diverse clan enjoyable. Now, onto the minor league links!

I have a simple question. How can a guy that was so, so darn good when he was 24 and 25 not improve but get much, much, much worse as he goes through his best age years. I just do not get it. But he did manage a half year of decency to pick up is 7 mill x 4 years contract. How, how disappointing.

Gwynn has been mentioned in the same breath as Weeks and Fielder for his 1.5 years with the team. I'm sure many folks think he's a top prospect, rather than a speedster who projects as a reserve. Why would the Brewers waste a 2nd round draft pick and a million bucks on a guy who projects as a reserve?

I cant find it anywhere in the southern hemisphere either!

I think there is quite a difference between diving kamakazi style in the outfield and hustling for a ground ball. If Weeks made a mistake by being lazy.... ouch. Is Weeks the new Ronnie Belliard??? I am really interested if Weeks would be a good third baseman. I read (I dont know if it is true) for over a year about him being defensively challenged at 2nd. And we seem to have 2nd baseman coming out of our ears. But my preference is to have Branyan swatting 50 a year at third base and Richie Weeks playing super at 2nd. *edit* sorry, I mean , Ritchie Weeks.

Aren't the three Johnson's triplicates? They may, in fact, be considered three duplicates: AB, AC, and BC

It would be nice to know the truth. The 'rumour' is he is hitting 92-94. Perhaps the rumour can make it way toward triple digits. Anyway, if we are now talking about a guy with low 90s fastball with great movement, and a killer curver, and and decent changeup, we are talking about a number 1 or 2 starter... or maybe even an ACE. So, rumours aside, can somebody give sustainable, factual info that we can make judgements on.

I cannot figure out why you need spring training to figure out you throw to first base to get the out when you have a 3 or 4 run lead. If an eight year old tried to get a guy at third (ala Hall) in that situation I would ask the parents for an IQ test. When I learned to play ball, you are always talking to yourself BEFORE the play. I find it hard to believe that major league players get a ball hit to them, then begin to think, 'oh gee, where are the runners, what is the score, what should I do'.

"small sample of viewing" This is going too far, isnt it? When we first viewed J-Lo or Halle Berry or Beyonce, how may viewings did we need before we were convinced?

ANTI-clutch

Way to manage Ned. You have a superior defensive replacement on the bench at CF. You have a lefty-lefty disadvantageos at bat. This at bat is incredibly important. But you sacrifice the TEAM to protect your toy boy Helms. If Helms has any business being on the team, he should have pinch hit for Pods. Yost you are a joke or Helms is a joke or you BOTH are a joke. Neddie, you can decide which one it is, and let us know.

I am pretty impressed with Nedley game day roster management. Now every position play has been onto the field. This enables Krynzel to watch all of thse professionals ply their trade. I cannot imagine how great it must be for Dave to learn, learn, learn. In 6 or 7 years, when Dave has learned all he can from the Bennetts and Clarks he will be ready to have a go at playing on the field. By the way. Dave did a great job on my shoes. He doesnt always just sit there. He must have had a lot of practice on the other guys shoes. Nedley you are master. How many outstanding defensive center fielders are around that can clean shoes wonderfully. I am sure other managers do not see the value in having the young guys clean shoes and watch a few thousand games before they break into the lineup. Thanks Ned. You are a September master.

We need Kolb to blow this one. We save money in arby and we can have him for another year. Ha, ha. Isnt it great to be a Brewer fan.

What is the delivery address for the Brewers? I am wanting to send a couple of pair of shoes to the dugout for Krynzel to polish up for me.

Wow, it is going to be a grand finish to secure a really high draft pick. Let us compare from the Mets to the bottem. Mets are at 65 - 85 Tampa .5 games worse Colorado .5 Milwaukee 1 game back Montreal 1.5 gb Toronto 2 gb Seattle, KC, Arizona we cannot catch (or fall back to) We could get as good a pick as 4th and as worst as 9th. Wendy may actually pull out all stops here to win a few games. I would guess the difference between the 4 pick and the 9 pick must be half a million dollars. Wendy could give some of that half a mill to her cabana boy.

but my sportsline game tracker says (with Helms on third and Moeller on 2nd) Podsednik singled to center, Helms out at home... score remains 2 - 1 Of course, my f-bomb did not go down here well at work. Can I calm down, did Helms manage to make it home from third on a single to center field?

re Hall in the two spot... Yes I can agree he is the LEAST suited there. In fact, EVERYONE agrees. So, the important question is, and do not take this lightly.... Why does the leader of our team, the manager, Nedster, not know what EVERYONE else in baseball knows? Should we worry about that lack of knowledge? Is this glaring lack of simple knowledge just the tip of the iceberg? Man on third... nobody out... these guys should be ashamed to collect the pay cheques every month. They are indeed a complete disgrace.