The stache

Agreed. And let's just leave this in the other thread for now. We should be talking about the game only here. That's my bad.

I'm aware of that, thank you. You might have seen my name appear in that thread recently. Does that prohibit us from talking about it here, too?

Nice job, Jean!!!!!! Two rbi triple!!!!

Sure. I'm aware of how the legal system works. I was pre law for three years before switching career paths to stock broker. How often do you see people getting off for their testimony where the accused has previously won arbitration, though? If this were a criminal trial, double jeopardy would have attached, meaning that Braun couldn't be tried for the same "crime" twice. I know that's a bit of a stretch, but it sure seems to me that MLB is ticked off that Ryan Braun made them look foolish, and they'll do whatever is necessary, to "get" him. There's no physical evidence to prove that he used. That's been tried, and basically dismissed. Their whole case now, based on what I've been reading, hinges on a few pieces of paper with Braun's name on it. And a plausible explanation as to why his name appeared has been provided by his defense team. Do you think that Braun's lawyer lied about that?

Nice play at first wasted by a pitcher that couldn't get to first. Sigh.

I don't know what it is, and that's kind of the whole point. When there's reasonable doubt in a court of law, the accused person is supposed to be found innocent. Now, binding arbitration is obviously not a criminal or civil court. But the same logic applies. What if Braun were innocent? Braun's been tested all through his time in the minors, and in the Major Leagues. I've never seen Braun suspended, so it's likely all the tests he's taken in the past have been clean. You can draw two conclusions: 1.) he's been cheating all along, and has somehow been able to cover his tracks so that every test he's taken have come up clean (masking agent, etc). Or, 2.) all his tests have been clean because he wasn't using any illegal substances. Braun gives yet another urine test. Figure this is the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth test, I don't know. Pure speculation. But this time, the collector does not follow procedure as agreed upon by both MLB and the player's union. It is not refrigerated, and is in a private residence for almost two days. It is then shipped, and tested, showing abnormally high levels of testosterone. And not just high, but 2-3 times higher than any test result that's been ever seen. Baseball is, of course, going to pursue a suspension. But the problem is, after the appeals process has played out, the man that holds the tie breaking vote, a man who has almost two months to look over all the evidence, sides with the player. If it were just a cut and dry issue-procedure wasn't followed-and that was the reason for the overturn, it wouldn't have taken Shyam Das seven weeks to reach his decision. There is a very clear reason why chain of custody is so important. Because if a sample is mishandled, it could conceivably ruin a man's reputation, and career. An innocent man could be subjected to unprecedented scrutiny in the court of public opinion. When you take everything collectively-the failure to follow procedure, the leak of the appeals process, which was supposed to be confidential--there are just too many things that stink. Now, is it possible that Braun used? Absolutely. But when everything is examined objectively, I'm seeing a lot of goof ups. The collector of the sample could have taken it to a Fed Ex, as he was required to do. He just didn't. There were several between his home and Miller Park. There was at least one nearby that was available for drop offs 24 hours a day, and he would have known it. I'd be very curious as to why he didn't follow procedure. And it's ironic to me that this man, who has been employed by MLB for so long, just happens to hold a sample for an extra 48 hours (iirc) that later turned out to have a damning level of T.

I'm not blindly backing somebody. If there is proof that Braun used steroids, he should be suspended, as painful as it would be as a Brewers fan, and a Braun fan. But I've seen nothing to sway my opinion that MLB is on a witch hunt. When they're willing to give immunity to a known drug dealer to get their desired outcome, the whole thing stinks. All they have is a few pieces of paper with Braun's name listed, and Bosch has stated publicly that what Braun's defense team said was accurate. Gio Gonzalez was listed on those documents, too, and it's already been pretty much proven that he purchased legal supplements.

Your facts are wrong. The samples were not refrigerated, and the collector's statement said as much. They were kept in the basement, in a cooler on his counter top. That's not refrigerated. And think about what you're saying. If Das overturned because of a procedural issue, that ultimately means the integrity of the sample could not be trusted. Any test result from said sample would be deemed inaccurate. That means you have to throw out the test.

I'm sorry for dragging the whole Braun suspension thing into the game thread, guys. I'm just really down about this. And just my luck, the baseball draft, which I'd normally be psyched about, is coming up in a few days, and we don't even have a first rounder there. Somebody give me a hug, lol.

I wish our lineup could hit our own pitching staff.

Explain how Braun won an appeal then? Das had all the facts, and exonerated him. Would he do that if there were even a shred of evidence he'd cheated? And remember, it was a "banned substance" that he was going to be suspended for, not a PED.

Lohse giving up another homer to Cespedes, who is now batting .236. That's just the cherry on top of the sundae.

I just can't enjoy this game, regardless of the score. This whole Ryan Braun thing popping up again has me bummed out. I'd posted this on the other thread. This smacks of the Salem Witch Trials. "We don't care if we lack clear evidence to support the assertion that Braun is guilty, we're just going to hang him anyway because his appeal made us look bad."

I'm almost certain that Braun had something illegal, per MLB's rules, in his substance. But it wasn't a PED, and that much has been made clear. And if it's not a PED, he's not a cheater, and that, too, should be made public. It sucks that MLB and their little lap dog ESPN are able to try this out in public while Braun has to keep his mouth shut. If he is suspended, and has nothing else to worry about, I hope Ryan Braun spills the beans. Let the skeleton out of the closet, and let MLB be exposed for the petty, vindictive idiots they are.

The thing I am not understanding in all this is--how the hell could they suspend him for 100 games, which would be the penalty for a second infraction. If he won his appeal, does MLB now get to say "we're going after you again, and forget whatever happened before. We don't care if the independent arbiter said you were innocent. We say you were guilty, and so we're going to treat that first infraction as if we won the case." Apparently arbitration is only binding in MLB's eyes if they win.

Does it seem to you guys, too, that we're always playing from behind? I don't know why, but I have a good feeling about tonight, that we're going to score some runs.

Have a safe trip, and a great time in my hometown, MH! I will be watching Taylor's start tomorrow night, and updating my scouting thread. I'm also considering doing the same for Tyler Thornburg.

This is what I was leading towards to their success. Taking those Pitchers they drafted and or acquired in trade and recycling them rather quickly for pitching or other prospects down the road. Stache, no worries. I didn't go back farther in comparison to drafts as we all know we did well prior to 2006 and that nullifies any success Oakland had when suggesting they are beating us through better drafting. The one thing the bother me is you go back in Brewers Drafts and 2005 the Brewers drafted: Brantley 5th rd. Jemile Weeks 5th rd. Andrew Bailey 16th rd. Zach Braddock 18th rd. Jake Arrieta 26th rd. Lorenzo Cain in 2004 17th rd. Future ML Players in later round picks. And at least identified some potential players in the draft that didn't sign in Weeks/Bailey/Arrieta. Where's that been since? Brantley seems to me at least to be a bit overlooked. He's quietly turned into a nice player. A guy that can play darned fine defense, and hit around .300. I'd take him on the Brewers right now, even if he'd be coming off the bench. His numbers aren't sexy, but he's very good in the clutch (.381 with RISP in 2013, .301 for his career in 401 AB's).

I'd hope that Hellweg had the higher ceiling, otherwise at 6'9", he's going to be bumping his head a lot.

You're right. I'm sorry, I should have been more specific. I was referring to the Moneyball era A's, when they drafted and brought up Eric Chavez, Mark Mulder, Barry Zito, Rich Harden, etc.

http://williamgregory.net/images/pointing_up_lol.gif

Agreed. I never question Ryan's effort. He's been jumping up over walls to rob home runs, diving for line drives. He always gives his all.

I sometimes think we need a secret decoder ring to understand what Ron is saying. Come on Jean, pop one out of the park!

LOL, look at Bernie, he's tapping his feet, waiting for somebody to hit a ball into the cheap seats.

I'm the friendliest, most laid back person you will ever meet. I am not an overly negative person, not by a long shot. But when the team is playing at a historically bad level as we are now, like any other Brewer fan attending the game, or watching at a sports bar, I'm going to blow off steam. I'm here to commiserate with my fellow Brewer fans when they're not playing well in much the same way that I'm here to cheer when they do play well. It doesn't mean I don't love the team, or that I'm somehow not hoping they'll get better. I never give up. I've watched this team through a lot of bad years, and they'll be my team until I bloody well die. But I don't need somebody who's posting the same kind of content they're bemoaning coming in here, looking down their nose at us, and assuming some "holier than thou" attitude. If you want to create a thread where everything is rainbows and unicorns, where nary a negative word is said, go ahead, and best of luck to you. But don't gripe about how "bad" things have gotten when a quick search of your post history exposes that you display the exact same type of behavior.