owbc

It will be interesting to see how the team responds to the big series this weekend. They have been loose and relaxed the whole year, but the atmosphere is going to be different starting tomorrow night. The pressure is starting to build, and we are only 9 days away from the start of the playoffs. Miller Park will be packed full, but the crowd will get very tense and nervous if they fall behind. Also, lets have some fun this week. This is why we are all Brewers fans.

I was (sort of) joking in my first post, but sure enough, East Carolina is applying to move to the Big East. The Big 12's decision to stay together is very bad for the future of the Big East.

If the Brewers get swept by the Marlins and the Cardinals only lose once between now and then, I will start to get concerned. It would be nice to stay ahead of the D'Backs though. I made plans on Friday night so I would honestly rather they wait until Saturday to clinch now. Otherwise I can't watch the clinching game and that wouldn't be any fun since I missed most of the '08 clincher as well.

For those looking for NLDS tickets, I would highly recommend buying them on Stubhub today, since the price will almost surely soar when (1) the lottery losers go shopping and (2) when the Brewers clinch. You can get a decent terrace seat for $65+fees right now, which isn't that bad considering what it is going to be a week from now. I signed up also but I am mostly looking for the NLCS. I am making some preliminary plans to come to Milwaukee and I want to go to the NLCS games 4-5 (vs Phillies) Thurs-Fri October 13-14, or NLCS games 6-7 (vs. Arizona/St. Louis/Atlanta) October 16-17. It is hard because the "Home Game 2" is going to be either October 10 or 13 so I have to wait for sure to see if they make it past the first round.

It's clearly designed to go with the new ballpark logo, which is also ugly: http://planetpit.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/MM_Ballpark_RGB-420x522.jpg The ballpark has a very futuristic style to it, so they are sticking with that theme in the logo:http://florida.marlins.mlb.com/fla/images/ballpark/y2011/new-ballpark/construction_progress_0115_b_lg.jpg Notice that it is 6 months from the opening and there is no official name, it is just "Marlins Ballpark". I really feel like the Marlins have taken the "Turn Ahead the Clock Night" from the late 90's way too seriously. But there is no doubt that they are tying to distance themselves from the past and start over in Miami. The running joke down here is that everyone was a Marlins fan for two weeks in 2003 and then went back to their regular lives. This comes from the same city that had a 2/3 full Dolphins Stadium for the NFL game on Sunday, despite the owner giving away over 10,000 free tickets. The Marlins aren't going to change that culture. The advertisements for the new ballpark say nothing about the team, the slogan is "Coolest Ballpark Ever!". To succeed, the Marlins have to go with the culture down here--if the ballpark is fancy, comfortable, and "cool", then they will draw fans regardless of the team on the field. But the bottom line is that ownership is incompetent and it will be like Milwaukee--nothing changed in 2001 except a bad team moved to a nice stadium. The Marlins can succeed down here, but not in the same way that other teams will. Of course they will draw 2.5+ million fans next year, but maintaining Marlins Ballpark as a trendy, exciting place will be the key to long term success. Edit: Here is the opinion from the Miami New Times: "Marlins Float Hideous Monstrosity of a New Logo to go with Eyesore of a New Stadium". The author hopes that the logo was created by a Mets fan as a joke.

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSdP3FqC0UBRZqhoHpRJ_UIGsXTGesSI0Hc1qu6UFsgA5xU_DJ_fxclE1i-

Welcome back offense!

I also have to admit, I am kind of pulling for the Classies as well. Arizona would be a good 1st round opponent and I would love to see a Brewers-Cardinals NLCS. We can finally avenge 1982.

Thursday would be an awful day to clinch, but it's going to be a party atmosphere Friday at Miller Park no matter what. There better be some MVP chants for Braun--as soon as they clinch the MVP public relations push is going to take over. At this juncture it looks like Friday at the latest, with Wednesday or Thursday being the most likely.

In other words, the 2013 Big East will look almost exactly like the 2004 Conference USA. They can pick up St. Louis, East Carolina, and Memphis and it will be just like the good old days. Although if they can take some Atlantic-10 schools, that would be an improvement. Or an up and coming football program like UCF to bolster the football program.

Thank you Corey Patterson!!!!!!!

Well, Ryan Howard definitely isn't dogging it against the Cardinals. Nice work legging out that double.

Nice work tonight. Do it again tomorrow. It would be nice to have that magic number at 3 or 4 going into Wrigley.

In Bill's defense, Yuni has been good with the routine plays this year. His range is the problem.

Yep, Molina brushes the edge of the foul pole and Pence's shot was about 10 feet foul. Still one more chance for the Phillies.

Nice work K-Rod, despite the Votto hit.

Cards just went up 2-1, grr.

Based on Green's batting stance with that big leg kick, I expect him to be streaky like Jenkins. It's hard to keep your timing right with that stance.

All this team needed to escape its home woes was to get back on the road.

I'm surprised he said it. But I applaud him for his honesty and I think Prince has a right to give a straight answer instead of the usual BS. Everyone knows he's not coming back, including Melvin, Roenicke, the rest of the team, etc. etc. We all know he's thinking about the contract. Who wouldn't be in that situation? He has been thinking about it the whole year. If I was him, I would personally be terrified of injuring myself. We all know that part of the reason he wants to play all 162 games is to silence doubts about his health. So let him say what he wants. Don't read too much into this.

Is it really sweater weather already in Milwaukee? I forget how short summer is up there.

Goodnight!!!!!

12 noon? Where are you, China?

It's almost midnight, I just want to go to bed. But the pitching has been fun to watch tonight.

RR needs to bring Ax back in the 10th if he doesn't get up to bat. 8 pitches in the 9th.