ecjimg

RU Rah Rah wrote: This is less a vent and more a lament. It genuinely saddens me to see how many people here apparently don't really enjoy watching baseball very much. I swear, every other post seems to be about "hating" something with white-hot passion: I have "enjoyed" the Brewers since 1973. It was sometimes hard to watch the bad teams, the 2000 and 2001 teams in particular. And I had fun last year until July. But ......you know what..........although I havent articulated it on here......Im one of the "mad haters" this year too. Because this is when our team was finally going to go to the playoffs. This is the team (Fielder, Hart, Hardy, Weeks, etc) that we were waiting for for years. And now, its the same old brewers. It was last year too. When they gave away the division, we consistantly heard Ned saying: "Dont panic, We are still in first place!" Well as we know we didnt FINISH in first place. And its all because adjustment werent made. Just like they arent being made this year........and wont be. Hurray! They subtracted the outfielder that seemed to always strike out at key situations and the catcher that swung at the first pitch no matter what. So i was optimistic. Subtracted Vargas, and ineffective Turnbow and Capuano (ok, the injury did it for us)....and THEY STILL ARENT WINNING!( And it looks like "bad baseball"). To me "its only May 4th sounds a lot like last years " We're still in first place". Im seeing the 2008 playoffs dissapear before my eyes, and I dont like it. How can I 'ENJOY" that.

Yeh Ned, dont put anyone in that can hit the ball over the fence......We are only down by 4 with 2 outs.

THIS is a cursed franchise! Somebody find the Cubs jersey buried under Miller Park!

So long Brady "Street" Clark!

I always thought the old picture of Mark Loretta on the Brewers scoreboard looked like Tom Hanks. Cant find any photos to show it.

The Brewers of course were well aware of this situation going into the season. Wouldnt it have made sense to just skip March (spring training) and April. He could have thrown in AZ in May and then pitched for the rest of the season without all this innings juggling or planning.

LaPorta was really friendly at the WinterWarm-Up dinner. My spring training story is..............all flights to milwaukee are cancelled today. Earliest flight out is Monday afternoon. Guess I have to enjoy more baseball and sunshine.

Laynce Nix...........mostly because of my man crush. Really, though......it would be nice to see what he could do healthy.

Lets see......Vargas is pitching vs. the Nationals and Estrada is batting. I could ......blink.

Id love to play.............if you have room for a sucky singles hitter............bench guy!

no, unfortunately we dont have typed rules or constitution.....its been pretty informal cause it started with a group of college buddies and the eventual replacements were buddies that they told "word of mouth"..The only reason why every team seems to have two starters at each position is that there are only 16 teams. Its not a requirement at all. Because there is no redraft every year, you have to build your team with minor leaguers or trades.

There is a team available in the computer baseball league that I am in. The games are played using the previous years statistics...The managers send (email) in a weekly line up (most weeks 11 games)to the guy who puts them in the computer for Diamond Mind to run the games. This league does NOT redraft every year....although it has a 7 round draft to draft fill ins or prospects. Managers have to pay attention to their players actual plate appearances, games started, innings pitched and such...and pretty much (with some wiggle room) can not exceed what the player really did the previous year. For example, if Prince is one of my firstbasemen and he played 154 games at 1b last year, then I could only play him 154 games in computer baseball for 08. If Zito had 30 starts an 180 innings pitched, I can only start him 30 times and somewhere around 180 innings (i think they give an extra 10 % for innings pitched). It is a 16 team league, and most teams have nearly 2 starters (batters) at each position. The league was started 20 something years ago (long before Diamond Mind and similar computer programs). Unfortunatley the available team is in the Ann Arbor Conference (there is also a Milwaukee conference) and the teams they draft from does not include the brewers. The two conferences have separate drafts, each having 15 MLB teams to draft from. A roster has 16 active batters, 11 active pitchers and 16 reserve that can be players you use throughout the season or minor league prosepects. The available team did finish first in their division, 17 games ahead. (I of course would email the rosters to you before youd have to give a definate yes!). Let me know if there is interest or if anyone has questions, you can post them here or email them to me on this site or ecjimg@aol.com. Thanks. oh, there is $25 yearly fee for the sportsattic website to post the boxscores, standings etc....although that hasnt been going well the last few years, so we might drop them

Im staring at my Brewers and Cubs schedules and trying to figure out when we move ahead for good and clinch the division.

Apparently, the Brewers ticket sales people aren't on board with the "Take Back Miller Park" initiative that has been talked about the past few years. As we all know, there have been a majority of Cub fans in the stands at Miller park when the Brewers play the Cubs. Last season there was a running dialog on what we as fans and the brewers as an organization can do to reverse the trend. Well, Ive noticed that the Brewers didn't include the Cubs game on Thursday July 31 as part of the Business Special 20 game ticket package (the most logical choice for a weekday afternoon game). There are 4 20 game packages to chose from, totalling 80 games. And that of course leaves one "81st" game that isnt in any 20 game package. Why would they leave this game out? It doesnt make the business special even with the other 20 game packages in Cub games or "Marquee" match ups. Is it because they WANT extra revenue from our southern rivals. I wonder how 20 game packages are sold each year, and how many of those people will add this game separately.

It sure was a fun night. All the players(other than Suppan who was no where in sight) played a great public relations game......mingled, and smiled at the fans......posed for pictures. Someone on this thread said earlier "save your money and go to spring trianing". Ive gone to the last 11 or 12 spring trainings....and AZ is the place for little kids or 20 something girls to interact with the players. Tonight, it was a fun place to say hi to the players and coaching staff. Well worth it.

Well, when I saw the coaches (Svuem, Skaalen, Sedar and Maddux) hanging in a chicago bar (with Schroeder).....Leyva was at a different table far from them. Guess he wasnt one of the "cool kids". Neither was Brian Anderson.

Also........now that we are down to the last 7 games in the homestand, it would be nice if they leave the Cubs score up while scrolling the others.

Well...........Im moving to Scottsdale, someday. So for me it has to be those exciting young Diamondbacks. I just wish theyd bring back the purple, and not have just "DBacks" on their jerseys.....

Yes, Jenkins has peformed up to my expectations. I expected him to strike out a lot. I expected him to have prolonged slumps. I hope this is the last year of watching the swing and miss on low inside pitches.

The Brewer announcers have called the home plate umpire Brian Gorman all night. He is umping at 1st. Wasnt there some way to email the booth?

1 Gary Sheffield 2. Rickey Henderson

After this weekend, the brewers and cubs pretty much have the same schedule (in a different order of course) except that the Cubs have 4 vs Dodgers, and 4 vs Braves while Brewers have 3 vs. the Marlins and 4 vs. the Padres. Unfortunately, the Braves and Padres are 8 of the last 11 games of the season, while the Cubs are playing 6 (of their last 9) vs, the Pirates and Reds. I guess this means we better have more than a 3 game lead going into the final couple of weeks. Also, its important that the Dodgers beat the cubs Sept 3-6.

I wish I had a nickel for everytime a visit by Maddux is followed on the very next pitch by a HR. It's unbelievable how often it happens. It's as if Maddux says "Go ahead and lay one in there". I've noticed this too! I was trying to come up with reasons for this. Lets seeeee. Maybe the opponent has a covert micophone on him or pointed at him or something! Seriously, how many times has this happened?

I can understand Miller Beer wanting to advertise at Wrigley (on a building across the street outside of right field, visible in the stadium), but why would they post a huge billboard size ad that reads " We'd rather have a Pennant Chase than a Sausage Race". First of all, the team with the Sausage Race is in the pennant chase more than the team whos fans they are trying to reach. Second, if you want to reach the Cub Budweiser drinkers, wouldnt it make more sense to have non baseball related ads, seing as Miller Beer is already probably assosciated with Milwaukee Brewers in the minds of Cub fans? To me, it makes no sense at all.

THAT was more improbable than graffy and Estrada both having 4 hits each. Tonight..........for once, putting up with all the strikeouts and groundouts to the right side is worth it.