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Looks that way. I don't remember there being blue seats there, but you can see a Ryan Howard shirt in the lower right. Who's #53?

It's really too bad we couldn't have worked something around Gwynn, since the Astros already traded for Bourn this past week. What else do they need? Can you see them doing a deal for one of our starters? Maybe Bush or Capuano?

I was there as well. That the Cardinal fans were far more attentive and actively supportive of the team is definitely true.

I'll be there, too! Say hello if you see me. I'll be the one wearing the Brewers hat.

Also, here's the comment thread on the trade over at Gaslamp Ball (a Padres fan site): http://www.gaslampball.com/story/2007/7/25/18324/1913#commenttop Here's a comment: and I can't say that as soon as I saw the headline I ran up the stairs yelling "HONEY, LINEBRINK GOT TRADED TO THE BREWERS!!!" Oh, wait, yes I can. But in all actuality, he's a solid big league reliever and I'm sure he'll excel with his fresh start. It's easy to say nice things about the guy now that he's not my problem anymore.

Here's a question: Is next year's draft supposed to be a good one?

But frankly, if Towers turned around tomorrow and tried to trade Inman for a nine-week rental, he could probably come up with a player who is far more valuable than Linebrink. That's a darn good point. I hope they checked out what they could get for Inman. If Linebrink is the best they could get, I'm fine with this. If not, that stinks.

I'm gonna pretend I was posting in this thread the whole time. Here's what I replied to: If the Brewers let Linebrink and Cordero walk, they're going to have an obscene number of comp picks. If it weren't for this factor, I'd be taking a slightly negative tack on the deal. As it stands, I'm feeling slightly positive, long-term. And solidly positive for this year. Most scouts seemed to think Inman would hit a wall before he made it to the majors... Is it possible that's why he wasn't promoted last year? Just let him kick some hinder in WV to juice his stats a little, then use him as trade bait? The thing with Inman is that "poise" pitchers are a blessing and a curse. Yeah, I'm reminded of the pile of stained pants I amassed when Doug Davis was starting regularly for the Crew. July ERA: 9.35 You might say this deal is a buy-low. But you might also say this was a desperate move. A have-to-make-a-move move. Linebrink's K/BB ratio is way down this year compared to the last three. I can't get over how in love with minor league baseball some of you are. Really? That's sad. I'd be fine with this if Linebrink had another year on his contract,but it seems we gave up quite a bit for maybe 25-30 innings of pitching this year. We might be giving up, net, a lot of quality innings pitched. This deal will be judged on whether we make the playoffs, I suspect, and whether Linebrink can keep his ERA under 4.00 the rest of the year. Somewhere, Jack Zduriencik is crying. LOL. He's probably thinking about all the comp picks and crying over his increased workload now, actually. And we couldn't even pawn off Gwynn to the Padres instead of one or two of the pitchers? C'mon. I'd guess they tried. I hope they tried. I think the front office in San Diego is too smart for that. We just traded by far our best minor league chip. This trade is as good as it gets. That's an aspect that didn't occur to me. Takes a little excitement out of the impending deadline. Padres must believe in Thatcher more than we do because it looks like he will be joining their big league team. Well, they don't have Brian Shouse, now, do they? Seriously, though, the Brewers have enough trusted guys at the big-league level. I'm sure Thatcher wasn't that far down on the list if a pen guy went down on the big club. He's missing fewer bats and getting hit hard. That's why the Padres pulled him from setting up and traded him immediately. The idea that this makes San Diego a *better* team is a bit frustrating, especially considering that (a) we face them in the last series of the season and might be in a pennant or wild card race then, and (b) the Padres might be in that wild card race with us. :-/ Said that all players traded were good players but there are players in the system that are as good if not better then what they gave up. Who's better than Inman? There's the rub. What playoff team goes out and trades a top bullpen arm for a bunch of minor leaguers? Thatcher isn't a minor leaguer for long, apparently. Perhaps they expect him to do well in the majors right away. Too bad teleportation hasn't been perfected yet. I know, dude! I stopped doubting Doug a while ago. I figure if he traded Inman, there was something about him that made Doug feel he was expendable. Based on what he's saying, it sounds like he's taking win-now approach. I don't think it reflects poorly on Inman. Then again, he's not gonna come out and say that we gave up a future star for two months of a decent bullpen guy. If the Brewers are unable to re-sign Linebrink next year they lose this trade. Regardless of attained draft picks. No, that's not true. The first thing I thought of was what Brian said: he's trending downward and not doing well away from a pitcher's park this year. That division is also a lot better this year than it's been recently. This year's NL Central is looking like last year's NL West. I'm not so worried about the HRs Linebrink has given up but his K rate is WAY down. Is that a theme in baseball this year? Sheets's are, too. Certainly guys like Peavy, et al, are still striking a lot of guys out, but I wonder if there are a lot of guys out there whose K rates are down. Hmm. At this point, it appears Doug gave up quite a bit, but I think this is a day we've all kind of looked forward to: where the Brewers are the ones getting guys at the deadline instead of trading pending free agents for nuggets. It's a sign that the Brewers are good. Their record also helps. But I agree. The fact puts a smile on my face, as much as I'm against the concept.

Melvin on the radio broadcast: - "It's been a long time since we've been in this position... to go to the post-season... and we're serious about it." - "We did give up some young pitching that we liked." - "Player development has produced enough people for us to allow us to make that kind of trade." - "It's an opportunity to win now." (emphasis on the "now") - "I've been trying to get Scott Linebrink since last winter's meetings." - Talked about all the starters at or near the big-league level. - "and that" - "and that" - "One guy is not gonna make the difference... He's gonna help us, but everybody else is gonna have to pitch in." - Had Ned and the coaching staff convene last night, had some "sodas," to discuss the trade. No comments on what they said, but presumably they weren't against it.

I loved the Rally Rabbit. R.I.P., sir. R.I.P.

I've been dreading that last series with San Diego, even if it is at home. I can't tell you what it would do to me to see our playoff hopes dashes in the last game or two of the season. I'll be walking around for weeks like my girlfriend just dumped me.

Sheets Wise Villanueva Cordero Bush Gallardo Capuano Suppan Turnbow Vargas Shouse Spurling Aquino I love Dave Bush. I can't help myself.

If I catch the ball, I'll be starting a web site wherein people can offer a combination of cash and a plan for its destruction. That's probably not worth a million dollars, but it's a little from column A and a little from column B, and I'd be happy with it.

I'm in Orlando for a technical conference this week, and I noticed that the draft is going on not too far from here. I'm wondering if it's worth going over and checking it out on Thursday afternoon. What do you guys think?

I love this team.

Those Reds numbers against Cappy are scary. (I'll be sure to start Mr. Freel for my fantasy team.)

One more thought: The crowd was really into it tonight. You had your share of people leaving early, but it was a very strong crowd for the time and the weather. Two years ago, that game would've been lucky to draw 12,000, and tonight it was almost double that. Is Milwaukee a baseball town again? I hope so.

Just got back from the park, feeling good, even though the Crew let the game slip through their fingers. The thought I kept coming back to, watching opportunity after opportunity pass by, was this: Every one of these guys gives us a chance to win. Yeah, they didn't get it done tonight, but they hit. They all did. Things are still looking up.

I would think that a Capellan, jackson, Gwynn Jr. would be a good trade. I love that trade.

I know he's a left-hander and at the moment he's a starter, but I wouldn't mind seeing Jackson competing with Capellan for the closer's role after Cordero leaves.

Regardless of draft picks, I'd still prefer to see Jenkins with the team in 2007, for two reasons: 1. It's a contract year, and he's got a fire lit under him. He's going to produce. Mark my words. 2. The Crew's actually gonna contend this year, and it would be nice to see Jenkins with the team when they finally make the playoffs again. (Unless, of course, that happens in 2016.)

Excite truck is also worthy of a rental, but that's about all. It's a bit shallow, but it's kind of neat to try.

There comes a time you need to pull out all your punches to get it done or at least go down swinging and having your fans know you gave it everything you had as a front office. Personally, I'd like to see the front office give everything they have to make the team as consistently competitive as possible. Unfortunately, that means risk aversion. Risk aversion may also lower the possibility that somebody makes a series of stupid moves that lead to more years of really bad teams, low attendance, low revenue, and eventual relocation or contraction. (Scary!) EDIT: One more thought: You might argue that the Suppan signing is the best the Brewers can do at the moment in terms of going all out to compete this year. It's not a good long-term move at all, but it'll likely improve us in 2007 by a few games. Jason Schmidt and Barry Zito weren't coming here, and nobody wants to trade good starters these days. (Although maybe for Gallardo and Braun they would, I suppose.) Blah blah blah blah blah.

In fact, if you recorded it, the double in the bottom of the 10th hit the yellow padding right in front of me. You can see me jumping up and down because I thought it was a HR. I was there, too. I thought it was a home run, too. But I was on the other side of the park. The fact that you thought it was a home run too makes that theory seem a lot more credible.

Isn't Rickey Henderson available?