brewers4eric

Being a barrel chested Iowa farm boy myself, I've been rooting for Brad Nelson ever since he was drafted. I have my doubts that Catalanotto will ever see time in a Brewer uniform, but if he tears it up in the minor leagues, he gives us another option for the bench. Our bench is weak, but as long as our starters stay healthy and hit a generous amount of three run homers, the number of at bats they get is going to be limited. The last two years, I felt that a key indicator of the team's success was limiting Counsell to 150 plate appearances over the course of the season. Currently, he is one of our best pinch hitting options. With that in mind, I think it is obvious that some changes will be made sometime soon.

I believe that some of DeFelice's success is due in part to the situations that Macha has used him. Without examining the statistics closely, it seems like Macha has limited his exposure to lefties. Macha has also been careful about where he has used Coffey.

My experience with mortgages is limited to one, but you will want to shop around as much as you can. Lower rates with the big companies sometimes come at the cost of customer service. Odds are that you will need to make some changes at least a couple of times over 30 years. Our local bank has offered to drop a percentage point off our mortgage for $300. In our case, it would take 7 months off of the term of our loan. The question we have to ask ourselves now is whether or not there is a $300 investment that we could make today that would pay off better in 10 years. I'll let you know how it turns out in 2019.

We went to Jamaica for our honeymoon 5 years ago. I remember it because tt was around the time that the Brewers promoted Chris Saenz for one game and he shut down the Cardinals. One of the side trips that we took was a catamaran ride to Dunns River Falls. The catamaran made a stop for snorkeling. You may have seen the "wet" climb on the Falls, where you join hands with your group and walk up through the water. There is also a "dry" climb, as there are steps next to the falls with overlooks at several locations. It is worth the cost of a side trip. The taxi rides are crazy down there. You weave in and out of traffic and there are people and goats wandering around everywhere. It is equivalent to a rollercoaster ride at an American theme park. One of the other side trips that we took was a raft ride down the great river. You sit on a bus seat strapped to about a dozen tubes of bamboo while your guide points out the flora and fauna along the river. The tour included lunch at a banana plantation and a presentation on the rum trade. We were the only ones on the tour that day and the lunch by the river and the personal tour was one of my favorite memories from the trip. We booked all of our side trips through our resort, which you will want to do. Things get scary as soon as you leave secure areas. Your resort is also likely to have a shuttle to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. I can't remember a Red Stripe tour. I do remember an option that included a tour of Bob Marley's mansion. The whole island runs on tips. You can spend as much or as little as you want on the side trips. Otherwise, the all inclusive option covers about everthing that you'll need in the way of food and drinks. We flew in to Montego Bay. It seemed like the airport was bereft of any functioning emergency or rescue equipment. The whole island is a lesson in contrasts. You'll compare the luxury of the resort to the poverty of the tin shacks (kind of like comparing Miller Park to Wrigley Field). Have a great trip.

I didn't quite remember the name of another obscure Brewer minor leaguer that got a similar callup in 2005. After a look at Baseball Reference, I came across Julio Mosquera. He got one plate appearance. I can recall some of the articles from spring training that mentioned that Corporan was a good receiver.

Congratulations: We've got a girl and a boy. My daughter stuck her tongue out at me in the delivery room. My son let the urine stream fly. My wife asked me what I wanted for my birthday and I told her, "A good night's sleep". I haven't had one since the kids were born. Start your family traditions as early as possible. Hang some Brewers memorabilia on the wall above your changing table. I've got some autographed baseball cards in a frame above ours and my son points to them after a fresh change and we go through the names: Cecil Cooper, Gorman Thomas, Ben Oglivie.... When he learns to talk we'll review their stat lines. Have fun. I've survived being a parent for almost four years. If I can do it, anyone can.

I'm not a mushroom eater, but hunting morels is very common in NE Iowa. I know a few spots where you can do a "trifecta", which includes turkey hunting, trout fishing, and mushroom hunting.

I usually opt for the general admission seats in the outfield. Most of the seating is so bad in the Metrodome that we kind of gave up on the mid-range options where your neck hurt after the game. If you choose general admission, just scout out the section numbers and arrive early so that you are in line when the gates open. Parking around the dome is over priced and it lacks the ambiance of the Miller Park tailgate crowd. The light rail option is probably the way to go. Otherwise, the streets around the dome are backed up for blocks following a game. I didn't make a trip to the dome last year, but they used to have a general admission ticket that included a voucher for a papa johns pizza. Its not a bad deal, but you are limited to certain vendors and there is usually a line until the late innings. I've sat in the right field section before. There are usually only a few people in the area. Other than not seeing the right fielder, its not too bad. My wife snagged company tickets for a game in 2002. We sat about eight rows behind home plate and had a nice view of the Brewers dugout. Matt Stairs blasted a couple of bombs and Jose Cabrera survived a few innings to get a win.

lcbj68c I created a thread to ask for a club level seat recommendation and a message appeared in my inbox the next day. User "lcbj68c" offered me his two club level seats free of charge. I originally figured it was some junior high school aged cubs fan sitting in his basement messing with brewerfan members, but over the course of several email exchanges, we arranged to meet in the parking lot on the day that we made our annual 3 hour trek to the keg. We put some extra Iowa sweet corn and a smoked pork chop on the grill for Luke and enjoyed talking with him about Brewer history before the game. The guy was a class act and I wish him the best. Bring Back the Stein The prose within his posts sometimes brings me to tears. Mass Haas The Daily Link Report has made me a better educated fan of the Brewers. Molitorfan Like most new users, I was somewhat wary about writing posts when I first joined the site. Getting some positive feedback from Molitorfan kept me coming back.

The 2009 Brewers should hit enough 3 run bombs to manage 87 wins.

The team is likely to use at least ten different relievers in 2009. Someone like Dillard may not make the team out of spring training, but he is very likely to see time in a Brewers uniform at some point due to injuries or inefectiveness from someone else. Its going to be more of a numbers game for the Brewers in 2009. Our starters aren't spectacular, but I think we've got 6 guys capable of throwing 150 innings and we've also got a closer with a nice resume. We're going to burn through a bunch of names between innings 6 and 8 over the season and the charter flight from Nashville to Milwaukee is going to be busy. The more candidates that we can stash at AAA the better.

Without seeing the numbers, I like the signing. In most years, you'll use at least 8 different starting pitchers. Given the relative inexperience of the starting candidates, we're also likely to burn through a long list of relievers over the course of 162 games and the playoffs. Looper isn't spectacular, but he has experience in both roles. Send him out to the bump and see how he does. The pitching staff is a question mark, but the team is going to live and die by the three run bomb. The list of candidates is deeper than it was yesterday, and the charter flight from Nashville to Milwaukee is going to be busy. I'm probably more interested in the corresponding move to clear a spot on the 40 man roster. I would think that Gwynn would be the easiest skill set to replace. I would like to retain Rottino, as his versatility is nice to have as a third catcher, but my guess is that he is the odd man out.

A buddy of mine made a road trip to help a guy haul home a load of Playboy magazines that he bought via an ad in a newspaper. His friend was deep into collecting them, he had a few issues that he had sent to Hef for autographs. The trunk filled up fast so they ended up stacking them in the back seat. They lived in a small town and when they made the return trip with their booty, their boss at the bank saw them drive by waving with beers in hand and the load of porno in the back seat.

I liked Fryer, but I also liked Brian Banks when he was with the Brewers. I'm sure that there will be more moves like this toward the end of spring training, especially if there is an injury to any of the key pitchers. I would compare this move to picking up Richie Gardner last year.

The names in the lineup haven't changed much since last year, but it will be interesting to see how Macha aligns the batting order. Yost seemed very rigid, but I also didn't agree with the move that Sveum made when he led off with Mike Cameron. The team is still built for the three run bomb, but I wonder where Macha will put Hart, Hall, and Weeks based on his initial impressions from spring training. Bill Castro is likely to have the biggest impact as a coach. The bullpen roles outside of closer are up for grabs and the talent in the rotation lacks experience outside of what is provided by Jeff Suppan. Macha got the closer that he wanted, but he will need to lean on Castro and Kyles and their familiarity with the other pitchers in the system over the long haul.

My first karoke attempt was during a bachelor party in 1992. A group of drunken idiots attempted to scream their way through "Welcome to the Jungle". We were booed off the stage and left the bar out of embarrassment. I mostly specialize in word substitution. Johnny Cash's "Burning Ring of Fire" is easily performed as "Burning Crotch of Fire". My wife and I actually had karoke at our wedding dance. The video of one of my buddies singing Shania Twain's "Man, I Feel Like a Woman" has served as excellent blackmail material. The groomsmen really nailed Devo's "Whip It" that night.

Scully's call of the Gibson home run in the 1988 World Series is one of my favorites. I was in college and was following the game with a friend of mine who was a Dodgers fan. By the time Eckersley came in he had fallen asleep on the couch. He woke up when the crowd went wild and asked, "what happened". I could only tell him that he would be seeing the highlights for the rest of his life on ESPN classic. My personal favorite radio broadcast is actually the closing ceremonies at County Stadium. I was listening in the tractor as I was picking up hay bales on the farm. As the players were announced it brought back so many great memories that it brought me to tears.

With the mention of Eddie Mathews, I'll note that one of his teammates from his rookie season works at the car dealership down the street from where I work. Former Milwaukee Braves second baseman Jack Dittmer is a local celebrity. He looks quite a bit different than he did from the picture on his rookie card, which one of the convenience stores in town has on display beneath their glass counter.

I ruined my arm as a kid trying to emulate the delivery of Gene Garber. This was the early callup have your back to the batter and pivot with a near underhand arm slot Gene Garber. I now avoid picking up a baseball at all. If I throw one, my arm will hurt for three days.

As it is currently constituted, I am nervous about the starting rotation. While I believe there is talent among the candidates, my basic philosophy as a pseudo general manager is to assemble 5 guys that can throw 200 consistent innings. Injury and ineffectiveness will most likely require at least 3 additional starters for the big league roster over the 162 game long haul. I think we've got 5 decent candidates, but it is doubtful that any of them are a lock for 200 innings. We are likely to need 3 plus innings of bullpen work for 60% of our games with Parra, Suppan, and McClung in the rotation. My guess is that this means that we'll need about 15-20 candidates for the bullpen for 162 games. We've got the market cornered on left handed relievers with funky deliveries and a couple of solid 8th inning guys. Doug Melvin has his work cut out for him from now until the end of spring training. The Baseball Reference.com page won't be as long as it was in 2002, but I think that we are going to burn through a bunch of arms.

One of my favorite appetizers is the bacon wrapped smokie. Take a package of bacon and slice it into thirds. Wrap each 1/3 slice of bacon around a little smokie and secure it with a toothpick. Place the bacon wrapped smokies on a foil covered jelly roll pan and sprinkle liberally with brown sugar and allow the pan of artery clogging gel to cure in the refrigerator overnight. Bake at a low oven temperature of about 250 degrees for an hour, turning each smokie once during the baking time. They are good by themselves, but if you want to take a few more days off of your lifetime, make a dipping sauce of an equal ratio of grape jelly and barbeque sauce. This recipie came with a coupon for a free angioplasty.

This is the first time that I've seen Guttenberg, Ia mentioned on the forum. There are surely some treacherous paths on the great river road. Drive safe.

You may want to look for a guided fishing trip. I've seen some reasonable ones auctioned off at our local pheasants forever banquet. Sometimes some of the local DNR personnel will give you a recommendation.

I believe that we could do better than Cabrera and Igawa for Cameron. Igawa reminds me too much of one of my least favorite Brewers of all time, Takahito Nomura. I don't think he ever threw two consecutive strikes during an appearance with the Brewers.

I grew up in the professional sports black hole of northeast Iowa. Like most kids in 2nd grade, I latched on to whatever team was winning, so I was a Reds fan in 1976, partly because I found a book about Johnny Bench on my classroom book shelf and they had just swept the Yankees. I read the box scores religiously each night to the point where the ink from the newspaper would rub off on to my elbows. My family never drove anywhere, partly because I lived on a dairy farm. In 1978 my dad signed us up for a bus trip to Milwaukee to see the Brewers take on the Tigers. It was a four hour ride for a 10 year old kid that had never been more than 50 miles from home. The atmosphere in the parking lot was great, I can still smell the brats on the grill and see the tailgaiters throwing the football around before the game. Mike Caldwell pitched a gem and the Brewers beat the Tigers 2 to 1. Don Money was a fan favorite. Paul Molitor got on base constantly and tried to steal home unsuccessfully. Robin Yount was a light hitting shortstop at the bottom of the lineup. I can remember that some guy named Johnny Wokenfuss played for the Tigers because I taught myself to keep score in my game program. I started the trip as a Reds fan and got off of the bus as a Brewers fan. Shortly after the trip, my brother informed me that Brewers radio broadcasts were carried locally and we started listening to games in the barn each night during milking. The 4 in my avatar is for Paul Molitor. I now only live 3.5 hours from Miller Park. I'm proud to say that my kids are catching on. My three year old daughter has already made the trip. On her first trip when she was six months old, she did a power vomit in the parking lot after eating two many peaches during a lunch stop in Oconomowoc. My 18 month old son admires the signed baseball cards that I have on display in a frame above our changing table. His favorite seems to be Gorman Thomas, although he was named after Ben Sheets. Put as much Brewer information in your kids hands as possible. We live in an age where information is much more accessible. Who knows, I might have become a Twin fan if the bus was headed to Minneapolis that summer. Turn on the radio broadcast and introduce the kids to Bob Uecker. Instruct them on the finer points of preparing a tailgate. Buy a print of the first game at Miller Park for the spot above your mantle and get them a yuku account for brewerfan.net as soon as possible.