BillScottCanRake

It probably will be Gwynn, for a couple of reasons. First, the Brewers are going to need as many pitchers as possible with their doubleheader on Saturday. Second, Gwynn is going to miss time going to see his dad get inducted into the HOF.

Hollywood is a form of entertainment, whether it be movies or the crazy and stupid things they do out in public. Same can be said for athletes. Any time a well known athlete does something stupid, it is all over the news. Because it's entertainment for us. Also important to note is that there are thousands of atheletes and Hollywood types that lead normal lives and don't do stupid things for everyone to see. I think the difference is that when Michael Vick gets in trouble off the field, that's news, or when Tony LaRussa gets arrested, that's news. It's generally not news when Brett Favre gets a haircut, or Prince Fielder buys a t-bone at the grocery store, or Ned Yost buys a new car. When Lindsay Lohan gets her mail, that's "news". When she goes to a bar, that's "news". When she looks like she just woke up and it's noon, that's "news." When she's eating a frozen pizza, that's "news", and more than likely there will be pictures of it all. I can understand athletes and entertainers making news when they do something truly stupid or outrageous or illegal. What I don't understand is why their everyday, humdrum activities are "news" and why so many people eat it up.

I don't think they do it every game, but they play "Sweet Caroline" a lot.

If he's close, it is possible that Yost might move him up to second to get him a few extra plate appearances. It probably depends upon the teams position in the playoff race and just how close Braun would be to winning a batting title.

Phillips d/t Weeks' What's d/t mean? It's probably obvious, but I don't always get those things. Will Weeks get to the point of producing Phillips type numbers, or are we going to have to watch the up and down rollercoaster that we've seen out of Weeks thus far? I think that once Weeks gets healthy he could put up very good numbers. I like to think his 2006 numbers before he got hurt are an indicator of what we might see from Weeks over the course of a full season.

I think 4-3 means they'd be in first place yet when the trip is done? I'll take that...

Well, let's see where this thread takes us in a couple of days. If Weeks lead off again tonight and tomorrow, and goes 0-8, the tone of this thread will change significantly. It sounds as though many agree Weeks should be at the top, mainly because our short term memory shows us he's been on base 6 out of 8 times. I don't get that impression at all. What I see people saying is if Yost is going to bat Weeks first, they want Hart to hit second. If Weeks hits someplace else, they want Hart to hit first.

I imagine that were Koskie be ready to resume baseball activities, we'd hear about it, not because he'd be in any position to help the team this year, but rather because that would be a heck of a story. I assume no news is bad news for Koskie, who we last heard was still having trouble with everyday life. After what happened to Mike Coolbaugh (p092.ezboard.com/fbrewers...26.topic), I sort of hope that Koskie retires and recovers enough to have a normal life.

I want him hitting first or second. If Weeks is going to lead off, I'd really like Hart to hit second and put Hardy's 330 OBP someplace else (5th or 6th). The Brewers should be getting as many base runners as possible on in front of Braun and Fielder, and Hart's OBP is a fully .030 points higher than Hardy's.

Crewin07, try to use the quote, italic or bold tags when you quote someone. It helps make the quote and reply easier to distinguish.

Did anyone here someone on Fox's pre-game show (Kennedy, I think) state that Dunn was not going to Milwaukee, almost in a sarcastic, I-can't-believe-anyone-would-suggest-that sort of tone?

The Cubs started their little hot-streak on June 3, the day after Pinella was ejected for going slightly nuts. Since that day, the Cubs are 29-13 (.690 winning pct), which over the course of a full season is 112-50. If they continue to win at that rate for the rest of the year, they'll end up with a 97-65 record. During that same span, the Brewers are 23-17 (.575), which over the course of a full season is 93-69. If they continue to win at that rate for the rest of the year, they will finish with a 92-70 record. The first thing that jumped out at me is the Brewers are not playing poorly, but rather they are playing very well. If they finish with between 90-95 wins, that is an incredible season for a team that only won 75 games the year before. The second thing I noticed, which sounds obvious, is the fact that the Cubs gained five games on the Brewers is much more the result of the Cubs incredible run than anything the Brewers have done. When a team wins nearly 70% of their games over the course of 42 games it would take a small miracle to not lose ground to them. Am I real happy with the Brewers lead shrinking like it has? Not really, but I am also not all that upset with how the Brewers have been playing. It would have been nice to get a few extra wins here or there, but overall this team is still winning at a high rate. Either the Cubs will cool down some, or, if they don't, they will probably win the division (unless Milwaukee can go something like 44-22 over their last 66 games to get them to 98 wins). But, if the Cubs stay hot and do win the division, and the Brewers continue to win as they have, I do believe that 92 wins will give then an excellent chance at the wild card. That's a nice little consolation prize for a team that hasn't had a post season game in 25 years.

You just need to seize the opportunity that is in front of you, and give yourself the best possible chance to win this division. It's been 25 years, I don't want to wait any longer, and you just never know what can happen in the future and if you'll ever have a chance like this again. And trading for Griffey guarantee's nothing. If there aren't any guarantees about next year (and I agree there are not), there is nothing guaranteed about this year, except they will win at least 54 games.

wouldn't it make more sense to say that because Parra didn't pitch something could be in the works for him. Is there a better scenario to make your major league debut than the 9th inning today? There isn't. If Spruling is ready to go, and if Parra is going back to Nashville's rotation, it's possible they didn't want to use him in an inning or two now because they want him to start Sunday.

If we don't (see Parra), I'm thinking that means he's going to be sent back down very soon. I suspect that Parra may get sent down when Spruling is activated.

Havent Willis' last 2 years been his best 2 years? No- his walk rate his up, his k rate is down, his ERA is up... not good signs at all. sports.espn.go.com/mlb/pl...yerId=5470

I knew I'd get that kind of reply. But I still think it's not completely without merit. So if your a GM, you should never be worried about what your fans think? That doesn't seem to make financial sense to me. GMs are worried about what fans think- they just realize what matters to fans better than most fans themselves. Good GMs know that winning will bring fans to the park, will get fans to spend money, etc, not signing Jeffery Hammonds or something like that. GMs know the best way to please fans is by putting a team on the field that fans want to see, and they know that fans really want to see a winning team more than individuals that play on a bad team. GMs also know that trading a player, no matter how popular, will only result in short term angst if said transaction makes the team better.

Dunn to Milwaukee rumors are just that, "Dunn." Not as in Dunn deal, but not Dunn... not happening. I called Cincinnati's Radio 1530 studio line and they haven't heard any speculation regarding Dunn to Milwaukee. To be fair, a radio station not knowing about a trade doesn't mean it won't happen. At this point I am leaning towards it being unlikely, but I'd never say never.

Looking at this, we get Dunn, unload Wise and Gwynn, does that mean Hall is ready to come back? Do we go a man down in the pen? It could mean that Spurling is ready to return from his leave, too.

Does anyone know, if Gwynn played for the Brewers today, and was traded after the game, if he somehow could make it to Florida for the Cincy game, could he play for them tonight? Can you play for two different teams on the same day? I think he could play in both games. I seem to remember players being traded between doubleheaders playing in both games for both teams.

See p092.ezboard.com/fbrewers...994.topic.

I agree with Ajay on this one. We hit for power just fine (second in HRs only to Cincy, I believe, unless we have passed them). The problem this team has had on offense this year has been driving guys in without the homerun. We leave tons of RISP. Another power hitter who swings and misses too much is not the solution. I think OBP is a bigger problem than RISP. Milwaukee is 9th in the NL with a team OBP of 330 and 11th in the NL with RISP. The thing is, RISP situations only accounts for roughly 25% of the teams plate appearances. Yes, those situations are important, but for a team that hits as many home runs as the Brewers do, I don't think it is as important as just getting on base. Replacing Jenkins' 320 OBP with Dunns 360 (combined with moving JJ from the two spot in the lineup) wouldn't be such a bad thing.

If his finger is fully recovered in 4 weeks, it will take 2-3 rehab starts to extend his arm again. You can't sit around that long and not lose stamina in your arm. I wonder if the Brewers would give any thought to pitching Sheets out of the pen in Milwaukee when he comes of the DL? Or maybe they could piggy-back Sheets and Gallardo? I know it will be hard for him Sheets to stretch himself back out to a 7 inning guy working from Milwaukee's pen, but I hate to waste him in the Nashville when he might be of value in Milwaukee. I'm sure he'll get the rehab starts in Nashville, but it would be interesting to see Milwaukee do something like that.

I agree with giving Parra at least two starts. Does anyone know if HE is on a pitch limit this year, and if so how close he is to reaching it? Melvin said he is, but I have no idea what it is, as I haven't heard any number. I'd guess it might be more than the typical +25 innings from the previous year, but no more than 130-150 range, but that's just a guess.

Parra is the long man, at least for now, and we haven't seen a scenario in the last two nights warranting the use of a long man. Wasn't last night Balfour's first game? And wasn't he the one warming in the 8th when Villy was in trouble? Ned stuck w/ Villy, and it paid off, but I don't see any evidence that he's worried about using either of these guys. Just to confirm, Balfour wasn't in Milwaukee on Tuesday, and he was up in the 8th inning. I imagine that Carlos was going to get one more hitter and then it would be Balfour.