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They clearly are not as bad as their record, but they are also not good enough to get back into the race. Even assuming a weak NL Central, they will need to go about 20-25 games over .500 the rest of the way to be a playoff contender. It's hard to see that happening, even though luck tends to even itself out over the course of a season. I think all of our pitchers have a tendency to underperform due to the horrendous defense. That is unlikely to change for many years to come.

Billy Schroeder was in my little league back in Hales Corners in the late 90s. I think he was a year or two behind me. I remember him being good, but not necessarily MLB prospect worthy.

I got home in time to see the 9th inning--I think I saw all the important parts of this game. Beating the Cubs always feels great, no matter where we are in the standings!!!

I've defended Melvin before, but this is a quote is a bit disappointing. He basically just said that he takes no responisbility for the signing and tried to cite examples of other GMs who also made mistakes. Why couldn't he just say, "At the time of the signing we needed somebody to be a leader in the rotation and be a consistant starter for us. In retrospect, I may have done things differently, at this point we need to move on with somebody that can be more consistant. Jeff is a standup individual and we wish him well." Remember, Mark A. was a big player in the Suppan signing. If Melvin openly admits that the signing was misguided, he is basically saying that his boss also screwed up. Melvin did say that his job continues to be a learning experience--which essentially is a nice way of saying that he made a mistake. I'm sure in private, he realized that he messed up at about the same time that most Brewers fans did.

Just got back from the game...we had a great time despite a painful Brewers loss. We were originally supposed to sit about 30 rows back, but a Marlins employee convinced my fiance to participate in their "fan conversion" promotion. She traded her Brewers hat for a Marlins jersey on the scoreboard (traitor!!!), but we got promoted to the 4th row club seats down the RF line. According to my family, you could see us on TV whenever there was a runner on 1st--although we probably didn't stick out as much because of the newly-converted Marlins fan that I was sitting next to. The stadium itself wasn't that bad. The people next to us and the ushers were very friendly. Being in the club seats, we also had access to a view of the Marlins batting cage in the tunnel and a fancy club area with lots of Marlins memorabilia. I took a picture of the 1997 World Series trophy and Craig Counsell's jersey from when he scored the winning run. Yes, it is a football stadium, but they do a good job converting it to a baseball park for the summer. The Marlins also have a huge merchandise store that is about 4 times as big as the Brewers "fanzone" store. There were some other Brewers fans there--about 15 of them formed a group down the LF line and started a "Lets go Brewers" chant in the 9th. The fans were few in number but very passionate. Most were wearing Marlins gear and were into the game. Almost everyone stayed until the end. The people next to us said that the new stadium is going to alienate many of the current fans who live in Fort Lauderdale, since the new place is going at the Orange Bowl site--which is in a bad neighborhood with very few parking spaces. I'm not sure if that will come true or not. It was a good experience, but I look forward to seeing a few more games at Miller Park before I move down here in August.

I agree 100% with the "challenge" idea. I would also like to see an MLB-gameday style display on the scoreboard. Balls and strikes would be completely computerized. The scoreboard could also tell the crowd the pitch type/speed/break/etc. This would help the average fan learn the different pitch types and have something interesting to look at besides the play on the field. The umpires would still make safe/out calls on the bases, signal balls/strikes for the players, judge foul tips, etc. An extra umpire would also be needed to program the strike zone for each individual hitter, since a home-field technician could not be trusted. Of course, I do not see that happening before about 2030, but the technology is there.

I'll be at the game tonight with my girlfriend, wearing my blue Carlos Lee jersey shirt. We'll be sitting on the 1B side but I might move to behind the Brewers dugout if I can get away with it. I've never been to Dolphins Stadium/whatever it's called now, so I will report back on how bad the place is. I did see the construction of the new place, it looks only about 1/4 done at this point. Hopefully there will be other Brewers fans there, but we will try our best to cheer loud for Capuano!!!

I'm in Miami. It's terribly hot and humid. I see why nobody goes to the games.

Brewers - Marlins: Little League Baseball at Big League Prices! Actually--not Big League prices. My tickets for Thursday night cost $7--and that is for lower level behind the dugout. I've paid more to see the Mallards.

I'll sacrifice this game if I never have to see Suppan in a Brewers uniform again.

FINALLY! Macha must read BF.net!!!! I hope we score 10 runs and they stick with this lineup for the rest of the year :-) :-)

9 HR in 14 games. I can only recall Jeromy Burnitz and Geoff Jenkins going on HR runs like this in the last 15 years.

Macha looked like a genius there--but that could have easily backfired.

Hart isn't getting traded. Jim Edmonds can forget about getting more than one start per week when he comes back.

46-pitch inning for Nieve. That's one of the highest totals that I have seen in a while.

The worst is over, but we must have one of the hardest Interleague schedules in MLB. 15-12 4+2+5=11

Now that Capuano is back, Yo can settle nicely into the #2 slot and not have to worry about trying to be the ace.

They need to lose 3 in a row for me to win--so I'd rather lose and see a sweep of the Mets.

According to the JS online board, Capuano has been called up. It's also all over Twitter.

Time to win it for Yo!!!!!

I think the injuries have actually helped. I like this team much better with Estrada, Lucroy, Axford, and Braddock than I did with Davis, Zaun, Stetter, and Hawkins. The outfield situation is concerning, though. This is a wild theory, but it seems like we had too many slow-throwing pitchers on the roster. I think opposing offenses were getting used to 3 days of 85-90 mph pitches from almost everyone on the Brewers staff. They were basically getting acquainted to only seeing slow pitches. Better to have a mix of slow and hard throwers on the staff to keep the opposing team off balance.

Rally cap time!!!

Selling high is dangerous. Many Brewers fans wanted Casey McGehee moved after 2009 and Gamel starting at 3B this year. That would have been a terrible mistake. The Capuano decision basically comes down to 1) whether bringing him up to the major leagues would improve the team, and 2) if there is a player available that can get sent down. The answer is a clear "yes" to both. Suppan is the obvious candidate to get released, and I think this could very well be the end of Suppan. We all knew that the plan with Soup was to see if he had anything left in the tank this year before he was released. He's had more than enough time to prove himself and has continually faltered. Even if Attanasio isn't going to pull the plug on Macha, he could easily approve dumping Suppan, which would have a positive effect on fan morale. I think Capuano should take over Suppan's mop-up role and not be inserted in the rotation right away. He missed two full big league seasons, and he was not effective for most of 2007 as well. It isn't that hard to be better than Suppan or the 2010 version of Vargas, but it would be ill-advised to expect miracles. Of course, Capuano could decide not to exercise his out clause (or be persuaded to decline it), and the status quo could continue.

Even if we lose, this game reminds me why I love baseball.

I expect to see attendance around 2.2 million next year--which would still be good for 6th or 7th best in club history. With attendance declining across the National League, a drop would not be that big of a deal. The Brewers had their few big years, but Miller Park remains an excellent facility and fans will continue to show up. The ballpark experience is about much more than the actual game--and furthermore, the team isn't going to lose 90% of the games the rest of the year. There will still be winning streaks and long stretches of decent play, which will improve the morale of the fans from the current state.