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From what I understand, if a steal is called from the bench, the batter will usually swing to get in the way of the catcher. As long as Braun doesn't get caught, he should continue to steal bases. Opponents have generally not walked Fielder after Braun steals second--last night was an example where the Brewers got a quick run from a Braun walk, SB, and a Fielder single.

I get the sense that this team is capable of playing .600 ball the rest of the way. I'm sure the poor defense and mediocre bullpen will cost them a few games, but overall there's no reason why they can't keep winning if the starting pitching continues to dominate. The hot streak started right when Hart and Greinke got back and it appears that those two pieces put them over the top. Good times are back in Milwaukee.

Braun has been great at the plate this year, but his stolen base total is also adding up. Right now he has 13 HR and 14 SB which puts him at almost a lock for a 20/20 season and on pace to surpass 30/30 easily. At his current pace, he will finish the year with 35 HR and 38 SB. The only members of the 40/40 club are: Jose Canseco (1988) Barry Bonds (1996) A-Rod (1998) Alfonso Soriano (2006) Braun will likely fall short as he simply does not have enough stolen base opportunities in front of Fielder and does not quite have the power to hit 40 HR in a season. But even 30/30 has only been reached 36 times, so it will still be a tremendous accomplishment if he can keep up his current pace. Any other thoughts on his chances and predictions on how he will finish 2011?

I know it's wrong to post this, but it is worth noting that the Brewers are 2 games behind the Phillies for best record in baseball and home field advantage in the first 2 rounds of the playoffs.

The weather wasn't an excuse this weekend. It was wonderful out tonight. I heard one of the ushers blame the Miami Heat for the especially low crowds, but there wasn't a game tonight so that doesn't work. I will say that it was nice to be at a quiet, relaxing baseball game. The Marlins play less loud music and have less gimmicks compared with other team. It's a little easier on the senses than Miller Park. It all just doesn't quite add up, there are youths and adults playing baseball all over the place down here, the TV ratings are above the MLB average, but they just can't get people to go to the ballpark. Maybe the Ludacris concert after the game on Saturday will get a few people in...

Nice win! There were well over 100 Brewers fans there tonight--out of a crowd of maybe 3,500-4,000. Really sad. The crowd was really hating on Nyjer Morgan, that was the loudest they got all night. It will be nicer to watch the Marlins in the new place next year--this franchise would be doomed without it. Also, they broke the blue uni jinx.

I predict that next year they will draw 35,000 fans/game and ESPN will write some great stories about how the new ballpark made baseball exciting again in South Florida, etc etc. It will be kind of nice since a Florida baseball team has never played in a new stadium before. I just drove by the Trop in St Pete for the first time on Saturday--they couldn't have put it more in the middle of the ghetto if they tried. The long-term success is a big question mark. First of all, they are changing the team name to the "Miami Marlins". This is more than just a symbolic move. They are moving from the football stadium which is north of Miami and is actually more easily accessible from Broward County. Broward is about 60% Caucasian--and Palm Beach to the north is even more so. This is closer to the general "Florida" population. The new stadium will be just to the west of downtown in the middle of Miami-Dade County. The ballpark is actually in "Little Havana" which tells you all you need to know about the demographics in that area. The people of Caribbean origin like baseball--they are part of the reason that the Marlins do fine in TV ratings despite the poor attendance. However, they do not have much money and it is uncertain how many baseball games they will attend. The Marlins marketing needs to strongly market the team to the Spanish-speaking population. In my opinion, they should have English and Spanish announced at the games and do as much as they can to cater to the Hispanic population. Sign some Cuban players. They need to not just to make them feel included, but to give them figurative "ownership" of the team as part of Miami's Latin-American heritage. The Caucasians in Broward County don't care about baseball now, so why bother trying to lure them 45 minutes down I-95 now? From the Marlins' website, it looks like the ticket prices will remain reasonable next year (lots of seats in the $15-20 range) so I think they will do well with attendance in the short term. Traffic/parking is a very serious issue that may hold down attendance in the long-term, or give the Marlins a reputation like the Dodgers for coming late/leaving early. The new stadium has no ground-parking at all. They are building a parking structure that holds 8,000 cars. Can you imagine trying to get in/out of a parking structure that holds 2/3 the number of cars that fit in Miller Park's lot? Even worse, the highway that it is adjacent to is known as one of the most congested highways in Florida, and there is no special interchange being built to help cars get from the city streets to the highway. The Metrorail does not run near the ballpark, so anyone using public transportation will have to rely on buses. So there is some potential for success, but lots of underlying concerns. The big unanswered questions are--how many people are scared away from the current stadium because of hot weather/rain delays/general ugliness? How bad will the traffic be at the new place? Will Miami residents embrace the team? There is some reason for hope--the NBA finals TV ratings this week are actually lower than the Marlins-Yankees World Series numbers. Miami will embrace a winning team. But will they be there in the mediocre and bad years? Doubtful.

Another pathetic Marlins story today... Went to Subway to get a coupon for $5 lower-level Marlins tickets (when you buy a footlong). At first they had no idea what I was talking about...Marlins? Beisbol? Tickets??? Eventually they figured it out and gave me the entire unopened stack of vouchers without making me buy anything. This promotion has been going on the whole season. They wouldn't get more than 15,000 in that place even if they gave the tickets away for free. I am convinced that they lie about the attendance figures--even if you filled in all the empty seats between the sparse crowd, it still wouldn't add up to the numbers that they claim. I'm sure tonight's attendance will be announced at like 14,000 when in reality there will be about 3,000 people there. Anyway, will be going tonight hoping for a sweep, will be sitting somewhere near the Brewers' bullpen. Hopefully there are still some other Brewers fans there tonight even though it is a Monday--but even if there aren't you might still be able to hear us on TV... I'm sure next year the Marlins will get lots of attention with their shiny new ballpark (which is mostly done and looks like a spaceship). The A/C and roof will get a few more people to come in the long run, but this will still easily be the worst large sports market in America.

The Cubs are in big trouble. I wonder if they will unload at the deadline. Zambrano has a no-trade clause but I'm sure he would accept if he got traded to a winning team. Also, now is the time to go to Wrigley. The Cubs are down 3,600 fans/game this year...so far. Tickets for the Brewers-Cubs series next week are as low as $7-15 on Stubhub.

They've been doing it since at least the 6-game winning streak. I believe it was also mentioned in past years that the blue is made with a more comfortable fabric. It would be nice of baseball players to quit it with the pointless superstitions, but whatever works I guess.

4-game series. Greinke goes against the Marlins on Monday. Great win tonight, glad to see them winning the close ones on the road.

Well they gave one away on Wednesday and got it back today. Brewers win!!!!

Haha the live look-in is a joke. I hate their stupid blackout policy. They insult their paying customers by giving away a free game per day and all these live look-ins, but then they don't let me watch games in a home market, so I go do something else instead of watching baseball.

Haudricourt's reporting that it's Braun's shoulder. Not good. Better to rest it now, we need him the whole year. Give him tomorrow off too if necessary.

2B Rickie Weeks CF Nyjer Morgan RF Corey Hart 1B Prince Fielder 3B Casey McGehee LF Mark Kotsay SS Yuniesky Betancourt C Wil Nieves LHP Randy Wolf Braun was out on South Beach too late last night?

The Brewers are finally in my neck of the woods--which means I can't watch because of MLB.TV's stupid blackout rules. This will be the Brewers' last regular season series as Sun Life Stadium as the new "Marlins Ballpark" opens next year. Was thinking about going tonight but traffic is so terrible on Fridays that it isn't worth the hassle. Will be going to the game on Monday to see Greinke pitch again (and they have $5 lower-level tickets on Mondays). Last year there was a group of about 15 Brewers fans that could be heard on the opposite side of the stadium. Pathetic. Runs should be at a premium in this series with two of the better rotations in the NL going against each other. The Brewers have struggled both on the road and in larger, hitter-friendly ballparks. However, the Marlins have been predominately a road team this year. They just went 5-4 on a very difficult west coast road trip, although they lost 4 of 6 to LA and Arizona after sweeping San Francisco. The Brewers are fortunate to avoid Josh Johnson, who isn't expected to return off the DL until the middle of next week at the earliest. Unfortunately they also avoid Josh Johnson's slot in the rotation, which was filled mostly by a "bullpen committee" and would have presented a favorable matchup. As I mentioned yesterday, no significant rain is expected during the series, which is highly unusual for this time of year.

Well the Brewers stole about 5 games on the last homestand so I guess they were bound to give one back. Better luck against the Marlins this weekend. Rainy season hasn't started yet so at least there won't be any rainouts.

Home teams generally go about .550 so some of it can be explained by the inherent advantages of the crowd, having the final at-bat, etc. I think it's getting in their heads though, they aren't having nearly as good at-bats on the road compared to at home.

Yikes. Great start by Marcum wasted. When do they get back to Miller Park?

How can you not like Morgan right now?

Maybe Roenicke really does read BF.net...

Counsell's OBP: .318 Gomez' OBP: .280 Why do opponents keep walking Craig Counsell?

The Brewers would routinely have crowds in the 14,000 range without the roof.

The Cardinals just tied the game in the bottom 8th :-(

His minor-league numbers aren't great, but there are explanations for that. He could have been promoted too fast. He could have made significant improvements to his swing/approach. It is well known that Casey is one of the hardest workers on the team, so it is very possible that he just improved faster than your average ballplayer. And of course MLB numbers matter much more than what he did in the minors, who cares whether he hit A/AA pitchers 4 years ago or not?