owbc

Kershaw walking off the mound in October to a screaming Miller Park. Doesn't get any better than this.

WOW. Yeah, that's clearly not cool/legal. It's Clayton Kershaw though. They won't do jack. Yeah there's no reason to tick the Dodgers off by complaining about it. But it is certainly irritating with how much his curveball breaks.

Anyone else notice all the pine tar on the back of Kershaw's hat?

Wow Grandal just completely whiffed

He just batted .385 in the NLDS. But he hasn't gotten a hit in like 5 days! Hahaha catcher's interference!!!

Blue=sarcasm Right. And why be sarcastic there? It was valid to want a position player in that AB, even though Woodruff ended up hitting a HR. There wasn't any ill intention...let it go

That woke the crowd up

Kershaw's curveball reminds me of Ben Sheets

I think the plan was for Woodruff to be the 'starter' and Gio was the 'opener'. So he'll bat.

Do you also think homers kill rallies? Walks clog up the bases Haha. I may have said some naughty words when that second deep ball was in the air.

Honestly I'd rather make them hit a HR than give up a leadoff walk.

Kershaw isn't blowing anyone away. 23 pitch inning.

No Mark Kotsay mentions this entire series. Ok that's the last one. Yelich is a tough out.

Had a nightmare that Mark Kotsay had to chase that one down

Arizona switching to artificial turf: http://arizonasports.com/story/1696534/derrick-hall-diamondbacks-ditch-grass-synthetic-turf-field/

It's fun to be the underdog in this series. If we do some damage early in the series, the pressure will be on the Dodgers to win the games in LA. I like our chances to take the series. Brewers in 7.

Games 6 is the toughest to predict. If the Brewers are down 3-2 going into Game 6 it might be easy to get tickets below face value. If the Brewers are up 3-2 it will probably be the most coveted ticket in Brewers history. I'm watching games 6-7 closely but since I also have to book flights it's tricky. If I wait for the series to be 2-2 it's going to be too late, so I'll see how the first 2 games go and then make a decision from there. If you want a single terrace for Friday you can buy it from the Brewers' website right now...and there will probably be more ticket drops today and tomorrow.

The quickest fix is to change the arbitration rules to prevent teams like the Blue Jays from keeping their most exciting young players in AAA. It’s so terrible for the game. Vlad Guerrero Jr. should have been in MLB this year and he’s losing a chance already to go for milestones like 3,000 hits because of the stupid rules. They would certainly have filled the stadium for his debut. If a young player achieves certain milestones in the minor leagues, his arbitration clock could start automatically. There are plenty of other ways to make things interesting for bad teams, such as making them compete for draft picks. Set the draft order for non-playoff teams by September W/L record, best to worst.

The jury is still out on whether owners can get away with tanking. Fans/media/players are complaining about it like crazy. There have been some serious attendance/TV viewership declines in some of those cities (TOR, BAL, KC, MIA...also TEX, DET, CIN to an extent). Jeter has been bashed like crazy for the Miami situation even though (as mentioned) it might be considered the 'smart' move...and with the fanbase already jaded there was zero tolerance for it. TV ratings are subject to the boom/bust cycle as well and it's TBD if some of these lucrative TV contracts will be renewed at the same level in the future. If there are this many teams tanking at once, it's obvious that it's not going to work out for all of them. Prospects are no guarantee. Extended losing cycles (> 5 years) are really bad for growing a fanbase. As we saw on this message board in July, people were impatient and ready to revolt if the Brewers missed the playoffs this year. It was a good year to be a buyer in the FA/trade deadline market and the Brewers were fortunate to be in a position to take advantage of it without having to sacrifice the future (one of the only small market teams to avoid going 'all-in' in this kind of situation). As for the other stuff like 'collusion' causing reduced interest in big free agent contracts...that's just common sense. Very few of those huge FA contracts were ever worth it, especially in the post-steroid era. Most FA signings last year were once again a bust, so there's no reason that trend shouldn't continue. The fans have gotten smart to it as well...did Hosmer sell any tickets in San Diego? Everyone knew that was dumb from day 1. At some point pre-arbitration players are going to get a big pay raise to compensate...but for now the owners definitely are saving money. I feel like it's only because the system is set up that way and people have gotten smart about it. Why waste money? The Brewers might have been under the radar last year but in the next week there will an article on every sports website examining what Stearns/Counsell did and why.

Yeah I've never bought the narrative that most teams aren't trying to win. Many are just doing a terrible job at it. The Padres weren't being cheap when they signed Hosmer, they were just being stupid. The media likes to fit teams into pre-defined narratives..."contending, rebuilding, tanking, on the rise, etc". The Brewers do not fit...they sort of rebuilding but are opportunists. The plan in January was not to win this year, then they identified some opportunities to get better. One opportunity led to another and here we are.

Puig says Dodgers in 4, I say Bucks in 6.

Looks like it's going to be LA.

About to have 5 days off...slam the door with JJ.

I'll be honest, the slow pace of the games is preventing me from being fully invested. Watching Chacin yesterday was torture--and not just because he was pitching poorly. A 4-0 game with 283 pitches and only 2 mid-inning pitching changes took 3:45!!! There's no way I would actually sit on the couch and watch it for that long--I put it on my computer and do work at the same time until something of note happens or the later innings when the game gets more interesting. I can't imagine these games are going to win over any non-baseball fans who happen to be tuning in.

This winning thing is kind of fun