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You trust that he'd be able to advance him otherwise? Maybe it was a gut feeling?

Dear Bill Hall, Hitting .200 stinks. If you are that bad, you may as well swing as hard as you can and hit a really long home run every few weeks. People will love you. -Russell Branyan.

JJ also showing signs of waking up.

Hall now officially below the Mendoza line.

Bill Hall is my favorite player, and he's deadly against lefties. But besides 2006, he looks an awful lot like a platoon player. I think I'm ready to admit that he should be platooned. I'm not a 3TO lover like many here, but his AAA stats are starting to lose the definition of a "small sample size". A 1.066 OPS in 113 ABs is quite amazing, actually. I know he won't come anywhere near that in the bigs, but having him in there against RHP instead of Bill Hall is looking like a better idea every day. That leaves either Dillon or Counsell as the odd man out. They would have needed to recall Branyan instead of Dillion last week for it to work. I'm fine with even a Dillon platoon though, considering how bad Billy has been lately.

Admittance is the first step to recovery! Now, if we can just get Hall and Weeks to admit that they stink, we'll be making major progress. On a serious note, this makes me suspect that Yost's endless positivity is simply going in one ear and out the other. The players are well aware that they are playing really poorly, but they don't have a manager who will motivate them to improve themselves because he is too busy telling everyone that everything is going to be fine. I like it when the players take responsibility and it has been my main reason for defending Yost, as he isn't the one pitching or swinging the bats. However, at some point, you wonder if someone could do a better job with motivation. These guys aren't rookies anymore. They need to know that if they don't perform, they're going to be on the bench. There has to be more accountability. As much as we love our 1980s Brewers, how do we know that these guys are the best out there? It would be sad to see them all go, but there's so much on the line this year and I'm ready for management to take a risk and dump the entire coaching staff.

What a change in momentum--from the fans standing and cheering to "BOOOOO!!!" in less than 2 minutes.

It's a pop out--everyone take a drink

I'm not arguing that it's right, but they are successfully using the current economic system in MLB to their advantage, as well as the bad stadium conditions in South Florida. Due to the stadium location and bad weather, the only way to turn a profit is to have a consistently low payroll which means it must consist of mostly young players. When their young talent needs to be signed, it is usually sold off for prospects. It doesn't matter if the Marlins win 85 games or 65, their attendance is going to be about the same either way. I think the World Series titles are a result of luck as much as a consistent strategy. Look at Loria in Montreal. He had no intention of ever building the team into a contender. I think he feels the same way in Florida. He just is making money by having a young, cheap team, and if they happen to succeed, he has the cash to give them a piece or two to help out. If not, he can continue profiting while attendance is still 10,000 and good players continue to get traded away for young ones. Look at the Tigers trade--it was proposed by the Marlins and the Tigers never negotiated. The Marlins got rid of Cabrera and Willis and in exchange got yet another group of prospects. The Ramirez signing is kind of a surprise, but clearing out arbitration years will actually save them money, while Ramirez gains financial security and the knowledge of exactly when he will be able to sign a mega-deal with a big market if he continues to progress. The Brewers have more of a "win now' strategy. If we were the Marlins, Ben Sheets would have been traded in the offseason for prospects. We wouldn't have added expensive veterans. The fanbase would have been furious. In Florida, they can get away with it because nobody cares.

Did Yost and Rickie save each other's jobs?

Take that Pittsburgh Pirates! No 4th place for you.

I LOVE RICKIE WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!

Here's a chance for me to have a very short term memory with Rickie Weeks.

This is when an experienced veteran off the bench is nice.

There's still hope for Kapler to walk it off.

Hmm, 2 pitches, 2 outs

I'm going to say it takes 12 pitches for Hart and Hall to win the game.

The shame is that the Cardinals tried really hard to give us this game, but we failed to get big hits again. I don't know if this team is capable of winning games any way except for hitting home runs.

Nice 5-pitch inning.

Parra made it to the 6th inning!!! Congrats, Manny, welcome to the second-half of a baseball game :-)

Over/under on Cardinals 2-out RBI this inning?

If Hardy walks, do we consider a pinch hitter?

Corey Hart isn't a leadoff hitter, just like Alfonso Soriano isn't a leadoff hitter. Batting him leadoff would neglect his ability to drive in runs, which is something we lack. Also, since he is the only Brewers hitting well, why would we mess with his mentality by moving him into a different spot?

There's a good start, let's do this!!! Chaaarrrggeee!!!!

Well on our way to #7 tonight. We've already caught several breaks tonight but I don't think it's going to matter.