bigredrobbo

"I just think he traded away Ryan Braun for....a better version of Dave Bush." Wow - time will tell I guess, but that seems like hyperbole of the worst kind. Marcum is a much, much better version of Dave Bush. And unless you mean the Ryan Braun that is the former KC pitcher, I'll be stunned if Lawrie ends up even 75% of the player that Braun is.

What? I thought for sure we'd trade Wes Obermueller straight up for Roy Halladay! Okay, maybe a slight exaggeration of how we overvalue our guys and undervalue theirs, but, c'mon... I love this trade - of all the pitchers I thought we had a chance of getting, Marcum would have topped that pile. He's a better (and cheaper) pitcher than Pavano, who is now being touted as the jewel of the remaining free agent market not called Cliff Lee. I've watched him a lot over the last few years thanks to Fantasy Baseball and he doesn't get shelled much in the toughest division in baseball. Doesn't walk many, and strikes out a surprising number. Being a flyball pitcher is really only a huge issue if you always pitch to contact - he misses bats a lot for the velocity he throws. I'd rather have a guy throwing 89mph that misses bats than one that has his 97mph efforts come back over his head twice as fast on their way to the seats. Lawrie is raw and exciting, but untested. As others have said, if Weeks signs an extension, Lawrie has nowhere to go, unless we plan to move him AGAIN. Maybe Toronto plan to move him back to catcher. He's not Jarrod Washburn or Kevin Millwood, for god's sake! This guy is easily the 1a of our staff if Yo's #1. Yes he had TJ surgery 2 years ago. He was excellent in the year before the surgery (3.39 ERA, 1.16 WHIP) and in the 195 innings he pitched last year (3.64, 1.15), so I'm not sure that's really a valid worry. I never understand the need to always WIN a trade. Toronto fans for the most part are gutted at losing him - that tells us more than Brewer fans bemoaning that we didn't get a big enough "name" for our can't miss prospect. Who cares if Lawrie turns out to be great, if Marcum ALSO turns out to be great? We need pitching. Period. There isn't much, certainly not that we would get for just one chip, so I think this deal is really a win/win for both us and Toronto.

I am not saying the Brewers should go out and get a big rah, rah guy. But someone with a little more personality than Macha might be a good thing for this team. C'mon, you are gonna have to be a bit more specific - that's pretty much everyone!

I don't usually leave things out when I tailgate, but one of the last games I went to (of course we lost!), I left my car at Slim's on Bluemound and some pond scum keyed it.Why my Honda Element deserved that, I'm not sure, but I'd take the loss of a $25 grill over the $800 body shop repair any day...

Coyote Ugly in NY NY isn't really a club, but when we were there in Feb, most of the music was current pop and 80s classic rock, and everyone was just dancing like crazy people! All those that weren't dancing on the bar, that is. Since you are right across the street in the MGM, check it out. Oh, and I know you didn't ask about shows, but check out the Beatles Love, at the Mirage. Simply the most wonderful experience I've ever had in a theater. You'll thank me later....unless you don't like The Beatles, or Cirque!

The posturing when he was leaving the field spoke volumes, I thought. Sure, the Marlins were culpable in the brawl, but the hit on Anderson, thrown ball at the heckler and spiked glove incident kinda dilute his case as a good guy done wrong. I 100% agree on the stupid "you can't try to steal bases when you are well behind" unwritten rule. His motivation towards stealing might have been more "screw you, Marlins" than "I'll do whatever I have to do to help my team win", but I don't see the problem in stealing in that situation, in principle.

Forget Austrian teams - you'd have more luck playing with Chicago Fire! As for German sides, all the names mentioned are decent (but not spectacular) sides. Since Borussia Dortmund stopped being the main challengers to Bayern, most are good without being special. Video games in particular seem to favor history and reputation quite a bit, so I guarantee none of the other German sides will be competitive to those mentioned for your buddies. I'd suggest maybe an Italian team like Inter or AC Milan, Juventus or maybe Roma. Failing that, the English sides always seem to do well, like Chelski, Arsenal or the obvious choice, Man. Utd. Unless you want to go with the best mix of reputation, current squad and history not yet mentioned - Real Madrid!

Some good bands in here, but TERRIBLE names! Hoobastank The The Any band with a symbol that's well nigh unpronounceable as their name !!! We Were Promised Jetpacks The Bravery Biffy Clyro (hed)P.E. Tygers of Pan Tang Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD is okay but the full name blows!) A Flock of Seagulls Jimmy Eat World Bongwater Ace of Base The Airborne Toxic Event A Place To Bury Strangers 30 Seconds to Mars Awful names, one and all!

Probably have four more detectives on the case. Working in shifts!

This has way less to do with an athlete being up at 2.30 and more to do with inadvisable behavior in a more, shall we say, crime-prevalent part of town. Grabbing some cash at Miller Park vs. waiting to do it in the dark in a less safe part of Milwaukee? Good thinking, guys...

I always find it really hard to pick one favorite - it seems like having to choose between your children! My 5 that I can listen to all the way through, every time are: Blondie - Parallel Lines The Prodigy - Fat of the Land Prince - Sign O' The Times Band of Horses - Cease To Begin Radiohead - OK Computer (okay, I'll admit, I skip Fitter Happier!)

Just to show that it's not only the JS, and perennial favorite whipping boy ESPN, that display journalistic facepalm moments - did anyone else see MLB Network last night? From the coverage of the Brewers game you'd have thought the Cards won. The Pujols homer and slick fielding on a Cards double play were featured, but it was the studio commentary that blew my mind. Effectively they started by saying (and I'm paraphrasing a little) "down 3 runs, Pujols and the Cardinals almost came back to win it, so here's some highlights of them being awesome in defeat". Even their bias is classy!

I'm guessing that the PR disaster of having a violent thug as your closer, who has demonstrated his temper to members of the Mets staff, as well as his own family, is one they'd like to avoid. They overpaid hugely, I felt, at the time for a closer with waning numbers from his peak years, and K-Rod has given them a gilt-edged chance to erase that mistake.

We received a balloon ride as a wedding gift a few years back. the company was up in Ripon, and I can honestly say it was one of the coolest things I've ever been able to do. Not as adrenaline-fuelled as sky-diving, but very fun nonetheless. Floating from 100 to 1000 feet over fields, some with long grass hiding deer and other animals, was wonderful. Then, when it's time to land, they try to find a friendly field. That's an exciting part since there's always wind and weather conditions that affect the landing. When you get down, they pop the champagne and celebrate - that part is pretty romantic as the sun starts to set, I must admit. http://www.wisconsinballoon.com/

Man, it's tied All Star Game non-story all over again! 1. PGA officials should have cleared a bigger area of fans, so that Johnson could really see the bunker for what it was. 2. Johnson admitted to not reading an official local rules message that was in multiple places in the clubhouse, even on the bathroom mirrors, apparently! Ignorance of the rules, in any sport, but particularly one as rules-driven as golf, is no excuse. 3. It's not up to the official to either warn, or tell him, that he's in a bunker. Had Johnson (or his caddy, who's job consists of things like this) asked for a ruling, one would have been given. 4. This isn't baseball. A player almost NEVER admits when he knows he's wrong in baseball. A hit batter that didn't, a trapped catch in the outfield - when was the last time a guy put his hand up to admit the call was wrong? In golf, a player routinely will police himself - just one of the reasons golf is so respected, rather than losing casual fans, as has been suggested. 5. How would one of the other guys feel sitting in the clubhouse, knowing that he could and should be the champion if not for the blown call? The blown call would have been the failure to penalize Johnson, not the refusal to allow him into the playoff. 6. After Stuart Appleby was penalized 4 shots for 2 bunker infractions at Kohler back in 2004, shouldn't EVERY golfer this year be paranoid about getting the bunker rules right? 7. The lack of sportsmanship of the fans towards Kaymer was saddening. Dude did everything required of him and he'll be forgotten in all the non-controversy that's followed. 8. Finally, does anyone really believe this issue would have lasted an extra 10 minutes, rather than 2 days, had it been the German Kaymer that had made the mistake, rather than the American Johnson? I think the patriotism element is definitely a factor in the extra column inches generated.

Yost got trashed here for his late season swoons. What I'd give right now to be in it enough to have a late season swoon...

Party at Jason Kendall's house tonight! http://sports.yahoo.com/m...=ap-pirates-coachesfired

You gotta love that carom. Makes up for at least one of the stupid cheap Crawford Box homers!

I know I shouldn't complain, given all the fans that can't watch, but I hate the WMLW Fisher Price TV cameras.

If I remember correctly from that game, the other "non-Diego" was Counsell.

I'm sure sarcasm was involved in the "not classy" comment - at least I hope so, this ain't the Cards! As far as I'm concerned, in a 1 run game, I could give a crap about the opposition pitcher's no-hitter!

I'm kind of in two minds about body armor. On the one hand you've got Barry Bonds, looking like Robocop. On the other hand, you've got Prince with an elbow pad that allows him to still have a career should a vindictive manager decide to authorize one of his goons to take him out for having the gall to hit the homers that the Brewers pay him to!

On McCann's last strikeout looking, doncha just love the extremely audible expletive?!!

They were possibly heading off to exact revenge as payback for the Randall Simon wiener episode!

From my position at the ballpark today, a couple things stuck out for me. The booing of Escobar, while nominally understandable given his day of brain farts, really bothered me. Way to raise him up, Milwaukee. And Braun's body language absolutely sucked today. Shoulders slumped, a defeatist look on his face - he really looks like a man that's sticking a fork in the season. I hope I'm wrong...