And That

There was something about last night's episode that rubbed me the wrong way... it was fun and well acted, but all that stuff about "The Light"/"The Source" had me shaking my head. I thought Yoda was going to suddenly appear and start talking about The Force. Not that I was ever expecting Lost to have some groundbreaking philosophical twist, but that was lame. Maybe it'll grow on me after I think about it some more. So... is the MiB dead? Is the smoke monster actually the fake mom? Is Jacob guarding good or evil?

Figgins has been vastly superior to Beltre at the plate over the past 3 years and Beltre is generally regarded as one of the best defensive 3B in the game, so I'm not sure what that comment about defense means. Branyan to Kotchman is probably a downgrade, though Kotchman's doing better so far this year and Branyan has a bad back.

Assuming that Davis finishes with an ERA of around 5.00 over 190 innings, which is entirely plausible IMO, that means his ERA the rest of the year will be about 4.50. I can live with that.

Is Brandon Kintzler a man or a machine? He hasn't allowed a hit or a walk yet against a lefty in 8.1 IP against them, and he's struck them out 7 times. Is he throwing a good changeup, or is it something else?

The Brewers' average margin of victory this year is 6.2 runs (!) and their average margin of defeat is also impressive, 4.63. Besides a number of tight games early, it's been almost all one way or the other and that can be extremely frustrating. But... we're a game under .500 for all of that luck swing. That's why I can't get demoralized this early in the season, especially with an offensive that can be this potent. Just for comparison sake and fun, the rest of the NL Central's margin of victory/loss: Cardinals: 3.35 (W) / 2.25 (L) Reds: 2.38 (W) / 3.60 (L) Pirates: 2.64 (W) / 7.00 (L) Cubs: 4.36 (W) / 3.83 (L) Astros: 2.30 (W) / 4.00 (L)

No... unless there is some uncertainty that said batter will come to the plate. When Weeks leads off the game and Gomez is on deck, there is very little reason to believe anything other than that Gomez "will" be next. It's an extreme likelihood. Yet Anderson, for some reason, wants to add some mystery to it, much like his fly ball calls. And I like Anderson, except for his incorrect and confusing use of the word "would" and except for his often confusing calls of anything hit in the air.

Every time I see Jacob, I'm reminded of Mulholland Drive.

If Miles, Linus and Alpert are still headed for the plane and if there are still explosives on the plane, I could see one or more of those three having a bad episode next week.

Jin is almost certainly dead. The shot of their hands listlessly drifting apart under the water strongly suggests that. I dunno about Lapidus, though. They only showed him getting knocked out.

All teams have average and below average players on their roster, even the best teams. The problem is, a lot of teams have overpaid to obtain average or worse players. Systems that can produce cheap "filler" around star players are very valuable systems. That's why I'm encouraged by the present state of our farm system, top heavy though it may not be.

Mulch hands do not smell good.

Steve Carell has a legit movie career, he doesn't need the payday from The Office. And I don't think anyone would be too sad to see The Office go after 7 seasons. It had a good run.

We should reward the Bucks' success this season with a new thread for the team's next season.

The United States won a bronze medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics today.

That's almost a 40% drop and easily the lowest % since they started tracking these things. Something is amiss. His fastball velocity is the same as it has been. What injuries disallow you from throwing a changeup? A finger injury?

Outscoring a team 53-4 over a four game period may be the strangest thing I've ever seen in baseball. Just weird.

The It's Garry Shandling Show's theme song was phenomenal.

You have to keep in mind that Scott Boras is pretty loathe to have one of his guys sign an extension when there is even the slightest chance there might be something better on the open market. Boras might even be willing to have Fielder sign a big 1 year deal with someone and then go it again the following year.

The 2012 free agent market for first basemen just got appreciably weaker. If either Pujols or Gonzalez come off the market too before Fielder signs an extension, I think it becomes 99% likely that Fielder goes the FA route.

I'd just assume go back to Chris Smith as the 12th pitcher and take my chances with Estrada, Lofgren, Loe or Rivas (or Parra, if it's soon) when we need another starter at some point. It's not just that Suppan is below replacement level - he looks done to me, noticeably worse than the last few years.

I can't drink scotch any way but neat, especially when the weather is cooler out. A nice warm glass of scotch on a cold winter night is one of the best treats in the world. Talisker 18 year is the best scotch I've ever tasted, and the 10 year might be second. Laphroaig is smooth, but a little too grassy-tasting for me. I like smokier stuff most of the time. Johnnie Walker Black and Glenfiddich are good, solid choices though a bit overrated. I'm going to get around to a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue one of these years. The last bottle I had was a 15 year of The Glenlivet. I've had better, but it's not too smokey if that's not your thing. Glenmorangie makes a lot of good stuff.

Edit: It's up! Should be up awhile before the game tonight. We removed one of the rules for this season: there will be no more upper age limit for inclusion on the list. Previously, on his 27th birthday a player became ineligible. That rule originally existed because when I started the Power 50 back in the ESPN message board and early Brewerfan days, our farm system was so crappy that I needed some way to weed out the older non-prospects from the younger non-prospects and avoid arguments like "Keith Luuloa is too a prospect, idiot!" Anyway, we didn't find the rule necessary anymore due to the strength of the farm system. If an older guy still might make an impact in Milwaukee down the road, he's a prospect. Welcome back, Mr. Heether. We also discussed including a service time cutoff for Power 50 inclusion, similar to what MLB uses to determine rookie status. In the end we decided not to do that and just keep Baseball America's standard of 130 ABs/50 IP as the threshold for graduation. Basically we looked at Mat Gamel sitting on the bench for days and days and decided we shouldn't hold management ineptitude (or time spent on the major league DL at the beginning of the season prior to being optioned) against a player. Finally, Brad (pogokat) has stepped down from Power 50 duties and we have enlisted Eric (battlekow) to join our cult. Thanks Brad, and welcome Eric! So keep checking back this afternoon. It'll be up after lunch but God willing, before dinner. Just as a tease, the following players received first, second or third place votes (alphabetized): -Zach Braddock -Mat Gamel -Brett Lawrie -Jon Lucroy -Jake Odorizzi

Yes. It would be silly to risk injury to one of those guys when you're up by a dozen-plus runs. Especially McGehee - with his chronic knee problem, get him out of the game whenever you can.

Not to work on their hitting. I think both could use the work behind the plate though. I don't think they would get enough work behind the plate if they were both on the same team.I think you pick the one you think is most likely to help in MLB in the near term and give him the lion's share of work behind the dish in AAA. Odds are he's going to be up during the year. While he's up, you'll have the other guy back to full time. Either way, Salome needs at least another year of seasoning on defense. If Lucroy is the Brewers' everyday guy by the end of August, which I think he will be, you'll give Angel more time and I think it'll be a good fight between the two next spring.

The guy I feel kind of bad for is Tike Redman... he gets released right before the squads break camp, only to see Stern injured within days and then Dowdy brought in because of Katin's injury.