valpocrewsader

Mauer and Morneau without a doubt. Prince is a DH temporarily holding down 1B, he's a distant fourth in this quartet. I love Braun, but no way can he alone compete with M&M. Now, in time, Braun + Gamel maybe....

Tie between SoCal's OP and drezdn. My bid: "I drive a Dodge Stratus!!" Btw, anyone else notice how incredibly super skinny Berkman's right leg looks in that picture? The knee is like the size of Prince's right ankle."

I always thought the story on Southwest was low-price fares but sub-par customer service.

...and it's infinitely closer to where he's from (suburban Chicago) than San Diego was. That's a plus. (Then again, S Cal vs SE WI....)

That place inside the new-ish Mobil? What made you think to try them? I live about three blocks away and have never ventured in there.

Don't know how it compares to the site paul253 recommended, but I always use http://www.wihomes.com .

I'm hoping Stephen Curry falls to us.

I never said it did. I said the ball meant more to HY than a Coghlan bat. That's all that matters and I'm assuming that's why HY continued to negotiate. His choice was to go home with a ball that would be a great addition to his passionate collection, or to go home with something else to offset the fact that he'd give up that opportunity. Purely his choice. You could argue that he was gracious to entertain the latter option and then was insulted with the offer and treatment he got. I mean, how is a Coghlan bat any consolation at all for catching a game HR ball? I almost have no words in response to this. My hobby can't be catching game HR balls and displaying them in my home? That's not my hobby, I don't have a single game ball in my house, but working on a collection like that sure seems like a harmless, fun hobby to have. And if that was my hobby, players' 1st and 50th and 100th and 200th HR balls would be the most important and proudest part of my colleciton. You're basically saying that collecting milestone HR balls is an inappropriate hobby? Not even close! You never own a baseball if you launch it out of the park. Heck, you never even touch it. I guess this is where the crux of the debate lies, and I just cannot comprehend the other side of the argument. Over the course of a baseball game, several balls are hit to fans as foul balls and a couple are even hit to fans beyond the outfield wall. None of these balls are anything but afterthoughts ... those fans go home with a souvenir ball. But if the home run happens to be the first of some rookie's career, that fan should be expected to NOT go home with the ball and should be expected to give it up with virtually no say in the matter? I guess to summarize this thread: - Some people think if you catch a milestone HR ball, it's technically and morally yours to keep and do whatever you want with. - Some people think if you catch a milestone HR ball, it's technically yours to keep but morally you should give it up. - Some people think if you catch a milestone HR ball, it was never yours.

If a person has something that means more to him/her than what's being offered in trade, why would that person ever agree to the swap? If I want to display some top prospect's first HR ball on my mantle amongst some other special HR balls I caught, why should I give that up for some bat that's no where near as desirable to me? At that point, I'd just go home and keep the ball -- I still think Coghlan's lucky that HY continued to negotiate with him.

I'm willing to see the other side, the other side just isn't tenable. Once the fan catches the ball, it's his to cherish and put amongst his collection. If someone else wants it to cherish -- be it the hitter, the hitter's mom, or some other collector -- it's going to take a deal to make that happen. Giving it up for a handshake and a cool story is fine if game balls don't mean that much to you, but if it's your passion you'd need to be a total patsy to cave easily. WHY? I just don't understand this position! Why is there any obligation to think about the poor ballplayers feelings and wishes at all?!? If you're a ballplayer and you jack your first homer into the stands, especially on the road, you gotta be thinking, "Dang, I wonder what it's going to take to get that one back" and then be prepared to negotiate in a fair (NOT STINGY) way. The fact that he came out of the dugout saying, "Are you going to give me MY ball or what?" is an outrage. He should be happy that HY didn't just head home at that very moment.

Excellent defense tonight. We keep that up and we'll be winning a few this year....

I don't understand the opinion that a home run ball should ever be just simply returned to the batter who hit it. Once it makes the seats and ends up in a fan's hands, to me that just seems like the end of the story. Done deal. Transaction complete. Two minutes ago the fan didn't have a ball, now the fan has a ball. For the fan to give it up for next to nothing sounds a lot like the fan getting robbed. Might be unfortunate for the hitter, with a little better luck the ball is in the bullpen where it can be retrieved with ease, but those are the breaks. Yes, the hitter worked hard to make the majors -- with the intent of some day hitting balls into the stands! You can't have it both ways. "Some day I want to hit home runs at the big league level, but I'm going to need my 1st one returned to me ... and my 50th ... and my 100th ... and...." If I catch Mat Gamel's first career homer I'm pleased as punch and can't wait to put that thing front and center amongst my very modest collection of baseball stuff. If Mat wants it, I'm going to need something that balances out what I'm giving up. It's worth whatever I feel it's worth for no longer having the opportunity to display it at my house. And on a personal level, Happy is just a flat out great guy. Huge brewers fan with a tremendous passion for the game of baseball. Throwing on the opposing team's jersey to get a few more souvenirs does nothing to change that. If anything, he's just playing them for suckers. Don't see how that's at all traitorous....

Weeks, will you ever stop being monumentally frustrating at the absolute basic baseball skills? Most awful beer league softball players can still catch a relay throw. Or at least handle it enough to prevent a guy from tagging from second to home! Most little leaguers can accomplish this great feat, too.

I feel bad not knowing, but BC2021 is that Brent? Quick roll call.... In for sure: Happy Houlie Radman Justin (per text message) Valpo Tim Dan Assuming to be in: Tim Dan Zach Chris Maybe: Razzzor Out for sure: Aaron/Erin?/Baldkin Jamie Brient? (BC2021?) Am I missing anyone? That's 13 total, 5 7 in for sure, 4 2 more who are probably in, 1 maybe, and 3 who are out for sure. It looks like we could really use you, Razzzor! Hope you feel better Jamie!

Whaaa?

I can't put my finger on it, but there's something that "feels" at least a little bit disrespectful about the practice. Don't know what it is, it just has a slightly obnoxious flavor to it. I think if it were the Cubs doing it, I'd hate it. Like, "we're done with you losers, time to get undressed as fast as possible".

7:30 game tonight, right? What time is everyone showing up? I'm coming straight from dinner at my grandparents, probably won't be there until ~7:10.

Would we be interested in having a non-bar sponsor on the back of the jersey somewhere to offset the cost? I'd be willing to ask my dad if his construction company was interested, I know he's sponsored little league teams before. Brewerfan.net on the front, name on the back above the number, number on the back, name of the sponsor below the number? It wouldn't be a bar that we'd fee obligated to stop at, although one of us might need to do a high-end kitchen or bathroom remodel at some point during the season.... http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif Just thinking it might be a way to turn that $22 jersy into a $0 jersey or turn that $42 jersey into a $20 jersey. My BF.net softball shirt from four years ago is a little more worn than I thought it was!

Are you ready for some baseball! A Thursday night party!

Did you recently bring anything in from outside? A few years ago I brought a garbage can into my basement from my shed and a few days later my kitchen was infested with big flies. Turned out they came from the bottom of the garbage can.

For all injuries or just fake injuries? Actually, that makes this an easy answer. Whatever soccer would do, do the opposite.Post of the year. (EDIT: sorry strawboss, but this was funny.) On topic, some above are mentioning "stopping at second" on a liner off the pitcher. I must not be picturing the scene correctly; how on earth would a batter ever make it further than first or maybe second in such a situation? Rest of the defense attends to the pitcher?

Yeah, it's not really fair to quote the OP and refute it with new information a week and a half later. (Perhaps that wasn't the intention, but that's what at least one of the posts above looked like.) In the last 10 games I calculate a 6.43 innings average for our starters. Dramatic improvement from where we were on April 24th when the thread was authored. Perhaps as much as a full inning.

For future reference, I'd like to know what is condescending about the statement below. The following is lifted from the LaPorta thread: Poster1: Time to find out what we gave up. Not that I really care anyway. It was all worth it for a playoff appearance! Poster2: I hope you're being sarcastic. Mortgaging your future on a one and done in the play-offs isn't very intelligent. Mod: Very condescending. I just don't see it. Condescension usually carries with it a patronizing tone -- an attitude of superiority as if talking to a child who is too dumb to understand. Nothing of that in here. At most, maybe you could say "slightly condescending", but there have been way worse infractions from other posters who belittle the opinions of others with their "OMG" exaggerations and their let-me-put-words-in-your-mouth silly statements in blue font to be cute. And there's never anything mentioned about their many many such posts. If Poster2 had added an "In my opinion" to the start of his second sentence, would it have downgraded his offense from "very condescending" to nothing? Is the key the "I hope you're being sarcastic" part? Was it the part that came later, "we made the playoffs ... woo hoo"? I can guarantee that if the exchange had been, "Time to watch this guy carry Cleveland to the playoffs, what a terrible trade this was" followed by, "I hope you're being sarcastic, not making that trade wouldn't have been very intelligent" then there would have been zero moderator intervention. Even if that response came with a "So we lost one top prospect, boo hoo" jab. I'm all for people being nice to each other, but why the double standard? I can't imagine anyone would agree that Poster2's comment above was an example of something "very" condescending.

Yes, during the game chat yesterday Hawing mentioned that the Home Run Inning contestant/winner (for the first home run) was you. Congrats.

Any tips on where to park down there? For convenience, I typically use the parking garage at Highland and Fourth, but the weather is looking really nice like we wouldn't mind walking. Any good street parking to the south? We'll probably go to Major's before or after....