owbc

I'm now 99% sure that he's going to stick with the current management. It's probably the right move, as much part of me wants to shake things up.

My gut feeling was correct!!! SWEEP THE TWINS!!!!

I was a big critic of Yost when he switched Braun and Fielder in the lineup in 2008. If I remember correctly, they both went into a slump, and then personally petitioned to Yost to switch back. Of course, tonight would have been another great night to move Braun/Fielder up to the 2/3 spot in the lineup, but instead Macha has to pull this stunt. Figures. For what it's worth, I have a gut feeling that the streak ends tonight.

The Brewers are in really bad shape right now, but the major fallout could be next year. I have seen this happen in many other cities that had a few years of winning and then fell off the face of the earth--most notably Cleveland and Toronto, but in other places as well. Even if the Brewers turn it around this year, they will be stuck in a perpetual battle with the Cubs for 3rd place and a .500 record. If they do not turn it around, they could be looking at 95-100 losses, especially if Prince is gone in July. Any hope of signing free agents this offseason will most likely be gone, as attendance will drop to 2.6-2.7 million this year and 2.2-2.4 million in 2011. Season ticket renewals will plunge dramatically next year. The payroll will need to drop by $20 million. Our window of opportunity has closed. The one and only playoff victory was the peak, and it is all downhill now. The next reasonable chance at the playoffs is going to be around 2015--as we have time to rebuild a new team around Yovani Gallardo and Ryan Braun. It's all over for the current Brewers. On a positive note, I fell in love with baseball as a kid by watching the Brewers from 1996-1997. By 1998 I was hooked. Those of you who grew up with Yount and Molitor had it good. I grew up with Vaughn, Jaha, Cirillo, and Vina, and I saw many losses at an empty County Stadium. We all survived 2002. My point is that no matter how ugly it gets, this will not stop me from being a loyal Brewers fan. However, like everyone here, my Brewers watching drops significantly when the team is playing poorly. I think selling and rebuilding is the only way to build interest around this team again. As a fanbase, we need to let go of the current team. It was really a pleasure to watch this team grow from 2004-2008, but to sustain our playoff run, we had to trade pieces of our farm system, while the skewed economics of baseball let C.C. Sabathia get away. I have no interest in watching mediocre veterans win 70 games every year--if I wanted that, I would become a Royals fan. It is much more fun to follow a young, up and coming team, like this year's Nationals or Reds. The management should also be erased and the new manager should have no connection to the current staff or the 1980s Brewers. The entire organization must build around a 2015 plan--instead of pretending that the 2011 Brewers could somehow miraculously compete without Prince. We just all need to swallow our pride and start over.

A few weeks ago I felt bad for the Pirates--but now I envy them. They will probably make the playoffs again before we do.

Ryan Braun is awesome an idiot.

Time for Wolf to raise his trade value!!! Same for Prince Fielder!

I still think it was the right move to keep him in at closer to this point. He earned the benefit of the doubt and he had shown improvement in his last few outings. At this point, he should be moved to a different role in the bullpen, but could earn the closers role back with a few good outings in a row.

I'm 1-3. Saw the 17-3 win and Hoffman blow it with 2 outs and 2 strikes in the 9th against the Cardinals. The loss last Monday was a complete dud, one of the most boring games I have ever been too--but I did get a nice stack of all-star ballots filled out. My father is 0-5. Edit: their bad play also has cost them at least 4 fans on the season total attendance--since I was going to go with a group of friends on the next home stand, but we are going to see the Mallards instead.

Maybe comments like that are why Yost would get so angry at him.

Time for Manny to show what he can do.

I would like to see the entire management fired if they decide to make a move--Melvin, Ash, Macha, Randolph, Peterson, etc. Sveum is the only exception since he is more of a "Brewers" guy than a "Macha/Melvin" guy.

I really like Ajay's idea. The bullpen needs a few days off. Ideally, it would be done in a game that we are already losing--and the plan could be abandoned if the offense gets us back into the game. It doesn't have to be set in stone. As I have previously suggested, my own crazy idea is to have us stop pretending that we have a #2 hitter and move Braun-Fielder-McGehee to 2-3-4 in the lineup.

The season isn't over, but this is definitely a new low. I can't remember the last time I was this demoralized as a Brewers fan...maybe 2006.

28 pitches for Bush--he's either going to throw 130 or the bullpen is going to have to cover 4 more innings tonight.

With Gomez and now Edmonds gone, tonight would have been the perfect night to move Braun up to the #2 spot. Instead, we have .280 OBP Escobar hitting right in front of our big 3 hitters. It cost us yesterday when the game ended with Braun on deck, and it will probably cost us more runs again today when Fielder hits another solo home run to lead off an inning. Just because we do not have a good #2 hitter does not mean it is acceptable to throw mediocre players into that spot, just so that we can continue the time-honored tradition of putting our best hitters at 3-4-5.

As much as I would love to see Capuano, it would be best to give him another few starts at AAA. I actually feel better about the Brewers after catching a bit of the Cubs game. Soriano booted 2 balls in a row in left field, Pirates up 3-0 and hopefully on the way to another sweep.

Gameday still has it as a strike (on the fuzzy corner) but in reality, the pitch was an obvious strike.

Yes, the pitching staff will get a little better, but I think league average is about the best they will be able to do, assuming there are no injuries. Even that will probably not be enough to win 75 more games this year.

In 2008, the offense was asleep early in the season, and we all knew that it would wake up eventually. This year, the pitching is the problem. We all knew pitching was this team's weakness. We all know the history of currently struggling pitchers like Davis, Bush, Vargas, and Parra. They certainly have room for improvement, but there is only so much upside that we can expect. The offense has been great--near the top of the league statistically. I am not convinced that the offense is responsible for even 10% of the blame so far. Every team has cold stretches like the Padres series, but almost no teams have hot stretches like what we have seen. Only the best pitching teams win a decent percentage of the games that they score 3 or fewer runs, it isn't just us. In addition, the offense should actually get better as summer approaches, as only McGehee is over-performing to this point and everyone else is doing about what we thought or worse. There is no chance at a division title (there never really was). The Cardinals have 6 games against the Royals coming up, while we get the World Series contending Twins. The big question is--can we fix the pitching staff enough to compete with the Wild Card contenders? It's going to take significant improvement from the current players combined with help from Axford, Braddock, Capuano, and a trade acquisition. Usually, things will even themselves out over 162 games and barring major injuries or trades, the Brewers will end up right around the early season projections (about the same as last year). The big surprise this year is the bad home record, but there is no reason to believe that the pitching will get much better. It is one thing to get back to .500, but it requires rising to a different level to go 75-51 to win 90 games (which only gets you to the playoffs about half of the time). There are only a handful of teams in the last 15 years that have rattled off hot streaks like that after slow starts--and most were young teams with nothing to lose, not a team like the Brewers that is already under growing pressure to win at home and on national TV. But despite all that, I am not demoralized. I do not need a playoff race to enjoy the Brewers, and even if this team only wins 75 games, it has more than enough exciting players to keep me entertained. It is sad to see the dull and shrinking crowds at Miller Park, though. The energy wasn't there on Opening Day, and it has only gotten worse since.

The Habs are the best team in the east right now. They deserve to be where they are. Of course, they were not the best team in the regular season, but I would rather not have mediocre 1-4 seeds that were at their peak in November playing for the Stanley Cup. It's all about which team came together throughout the regular season and is the best now. A 7-game series is enough to determine the superior team.

Despite the losses, I still sit until the end, hoping for a comeback. It's an 0-5 homestand but the TV will be on at 7:00 sharp tomorrow. Maybe I should cancel cable.

I'm actually happy with that game because they stayed in it until the end. Back to the 2002-2004 attitude I guess. I know people who are now 0-5 at home games this year. They need to get things turned around at home or attendance will be under 2.5 million next year.

Yeah, he's bad, but we don't need any more Bill Hall experiments. There's no reason to believe he would be any better at outfield. Braun was terrible at 3B and now he's terrible at LF.

He's pitched 12 innings and cost us 3 games. In just the Braves series, the rest of the bullpen pitched almost that many innings and also contributed strongly to 3 losses. Parra, Suppan, Villanueva, and Vargas have all been shaky. Stetter was DFA'd due to ineffective pitching. If you got rid of Hoffman and replaced him with Mariano Rivera, the Brewers would still have a terrible bullpen.