Fatter than Joey

If Sheets goes on the DL, Bush is ready to step into the rotation. I would concede that if DM and co. feel like there is a very tangible (not to be confused with general injury concerns) chance Sheets will go on the DL after Tuesday's start, then sending Bush down makes a lot more sense. I am assuming that Ben is go to go from here on out.

I don't think we can deny that baseball is a culture whereby managers try to get their starters wins and their closers saves. Absolutely -- Ben is in a contract year -- His "sore tricep" could be the lynchpin to millions of dollars for him. Is it worth it to Ben to go out there and "grit it out" for a no-decision, probably not. I'm sure that Yost getting Ben the W, (more money), is an effort by Yost to "reward" Ben for his gritty performance to help the Brewers. We can discount the W, all we like here, but there is no question that if Ben hits 20 W's -- regardless of their legitimacy, he will get a very fat paycheck. Even though Ben was off last night, I don't think he was laboring. I think he was clearly laboring to locate his off-speed pitches. Sheets walked 4 guys in 21 IP up until last night's game -- he walked 7 in 5IP last night -- this isn't "seeing eye-grounders" -- I thought it was evident he was working really hard to get his breaking stuff over the plate. I'd like to know exactly what people feel the actual impact is, both to this point and for the remainder of the season. I think statistically people have boiled it down to a 3 game swing -- a good manager picks up three games for his team, a bad one loses 3. So the difference between Ned Yost (a bad manager) and a good manager is probably 5-6 games. You simply cannot remove a pitcher everytime he faces a batter and the result is not a strikeout... By constantly critizing all of Ned's decisions, you take away the credibility of the rest of us You take away your own credibility by making silly strawman arguments.

Either that, or Yost wanted him to get through 5 innings to spare the bullpen, but only felt comfortable leaving him out there for an additional inning if we had the lead This does not make sense to me. I don't know how you "spare the BP" at the expense of Ben's arm -- when he was clearly laboring. Its pure speculation on your part to think so. Fair enough -- He could have picked the piece of paper that said "Keep Sheets in" out of the hat as well.

Does anyone think Turnbow would accept a minor league assignment? I don't think so, I think Tbow wants out of Milw., and he is probably right that it's time to move on. The team has clearly lost faith in him, and I would think Tbow would be happier pitching in another AAA system and getting a clean slate. On to other business.... Last night was a perfect illustration of why I think it was a mistake to option Bush instead of McClung/Turnbow. Here is a quick recap of what happened last night.... 1.) Sheets is struggling in the 4th in a tie game -- Who gets the call in the BP? -- McClung. 2.) The Brewers go up by 5 in the 7th -- Who gets the call from the BP? -- Torres, probably our most consistent reliever in the BP this year. It is clear to me that Ned wants to or will use McClung as a long reliever, and not a garbage inning eater. A 4-4 tie in the 4th inning is a place you put your LR guy in, not a garbage man. The 7th inning with a 5 run lead seems like the perfect spot to use a garbage pitcher like McClung, not Torres. Conclusion: McClung is the new LR guy. Now, I don't want to argue what Ned shoulda/coulda/woulda done last night, rather point out how innings will likely be distributed in the future. Last year, Villy anchored our pen picking up some VERY crucial innings in long relief. I think Bush is a clearly superior pitcher to McClung, and I would much rather Bush be our LR guy than a clown like McClung. I am AOK with McClung being our garbage inning guy, I am not OK with McClung being our LR guy. I understand the reasoning behind keeping Bush in AAA against an injury that "could happen", and that is all well and good. However, don't we have a need in the here and now with starters only going 4-5 IP? -- Manny Parra has pitched well, but has not been able to complete the 6th inning in 5 starts, and has only reached the 6th inning one time. All of Parra's starts have been decent, in that he has given the Brewers a chance to win the game, he is just using way too many pitches to get through 4 innings. I am fine with Parra continuing to start, and maybe stretching himself out so that by the end of the year he is getting 6IP/start, but, in the meantime, I'd rather Bush get the ball in the 5th inning of a Parra/Villy/Shaky Sheets game than McClung. If Yost is going to use Torres in a game with a 5 run lead instead of McClung, I do not see a purpose for either Tbow or McClung to be on the roster.

You know this how? Once the Brewers got the lead in the fifth, Sheets was allowed to hit. I think that they had a PHer up, but then after the Hall hit and the Hardy BB -- Sheets was allowed to hit for himself. I think had Hart been held up at 3b for whatever reason, and the game was tied -- a PHer would have been brought in. There is no doubt in my mind that once that run scored and Sheets was eligible for the win -- he was going to pitch and complete the 5th. I think it was important for Yost to get Sheets the W.

The overwhelming majority of the time, the losses are "on Ned," yet I almost never here anyone say that a win is "on Ned." Ned is a bad manager. The overwhelming majority of the the time he is being a bonehead.

Of course the dog that didn't bark here was Hardy who has been terrible Right. Well -- this should come back to haunt him.

Zombies are easily distracted by acapella vocal groups -- especially the ones with vocal percussionists. I would recommend building up your own tolerance to this music, and keep a CD mix in your CD changer -- that will buy you some time to get your arsenal together. The other thing you can do to buy yourself time, is get the neighbors to come out of their house. -- I am not particularly fond of my neighbors, so I am willing to make that sacrifice. What I have done is prerecorded a message telling them "those damn teenagers are messing around with your garden gazing balls again"

Bush makes $2.5M -- McClung makes 750K. I think every last team would rather pay Bush $2.5M than McClung 750K. Certainly Bush has struggled these last months, but he is a MUCH better pitcher than either Tbow or McClung.

I don't think booing in that situation is out of line. I don't mind the booing, it's the screaming "you suck" every time a pitcher throws to 1b.

These zombies are lumbering around with the unquenchable lust for human brains. I am like this for doughnuts.

I lost "this many" games today. OR Nothing up my sleeves, nothing left in my arm

Are we talking about zombies created by radiation or zombies created because of a curse? Zombies are created from hastily and illegally disposed nuclear waste. It's just a matter of time before our own BuckyTuba is feeding on the brains of the good people of North Carolina. I would assume that the North Carolinian zombies will migrate north to feed on the more supple Ivy league brains. Believing in curses is silly. Or are the zombies created from some sort of experimental government virus? I think in the future this may be possible zombie genesis point, however in the here and now -- nuclear waste.

If the Giants are so set on sucking, they may as well let Zito get abused, rather than some good pitchers.

It snowed here today

i will always be convinced that the people that didn't appreciate the movie are just mad they were duped. I was thoroughly duped by The Sixth Sense, and I love that movie. I just thought the Village was horrible, probably up there with Pearl Harbor on my list of "Movies I would like to shoot in the face". I told my wife halfway through the movie -- these people better not be a bunch of isolated nutjobs.

What would happen if a vampire bit a zombie, or vice versa? Hmmm... Zombies are real, vampires are fictional, so nothing. IF vampires were real... they need blood of the non-radioactive nature for sustenance, so if they drained a zombie they would get radioactive poisoning and die. Then they would turn into a zombie and feast on brains. If a zombie bit a vampire they would simply consume their brains and move on to the next non-nailgun-wielding victim.

His last one was unwatchable. I thought the Village was unwatchable as well.

What would one zombie gain from biting another zombie? Alpha zombie status.

Go aluminum; save the lumber for the vampires. Vampires are fictional.

We had the video jukebox when I was a student at the UW. I wish I could find some of those vids on youtube

i own a few, the nail tumbles within about 6" of leaving the gun if fired into the air, so you are out of luck there. You press it against their forehead. Boom! Zombie Over. Secondly are you going to carry a air tank with you Nope. I bought a power nailer, that uses a gas cylinder ignited by a battery. 4000 nails per recharge And finally having shot my self twice with a 3-1/4" clipped nail twice, there just isnt enough damage to take down a zombie. With all due respect, you are probably not as skilled as I am with using a nail gun to fend off the undead.

I bought a nail gun specifically for hand to hand combat with zombies.

If the fans at Miller Park boo every time the opposing pitcher makes a move to first it basically says all you need to know about the baseball intelligence of the people booing. As a side note, I was at the game on Friday, and some fans insisted on screaming (not simply "Booooo") every time Olson threw to 1b. I understand "booing" when a pitcher throws 4-5 times in a AB over to first base -- but I found the yelling and screaming each time the pitcher threw to 1b, WAY over the top, and it compromised my enjoyment of the game -- at some point it gets old. I thought it sucked rocks.

The 7.88 ERA as a RP doesn't make me much happier, You, of all people shouldn't be scared of a reliever's ERA based on 8 IP. Shame on you! http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif -- Especially when that same pitcher has 100s of other innings of work. McClung won't be pitching many high-leverage innings once the inordinate amount of extra inning games slows down. I don't think this will be the case -- Again, McClung has pitched meaningful games in 4 of 5 appearances, some of the appearances came before the recent onslaught of extra inning games. There are probably a couple of factors that lead to McClung pitching in meaningful spots: Extra inning games, bad management by Yost, starters not going deep into the game, ineffectiveness of other relievers -- whatever the reason is, I think it is not prudent to assume that McClung will be pitching only or even predominantly in garbage innings. Furthermore, Mota/Riske are pretty shaky as well, I think there is a good chance Bush could provide better results than those 2 currently are. That is worth it to me considering that 1 in 3 pitchers hit the DL every single year(and Sheets odds are higher than most as are Parras) I understand this. Parra has not demonstrated that he can pitch 5 innings w/o throwing 100 pitches at the MLB level. Bush would probably get 4-5 innings every 5 days finishing Parra's games (sort of a #5.5 starter.). Of course, I think the most prudent thing to do would be to send Parra down until he can get 7-8 innings under his belt. We all know that Turnbow and McClung aren't any good, but the delusion that Bush was any thing but a 6th or 7th starter in a five man rotation I cannot believe I am defending Dave Bush... I have never thought he was the 2/3 pitcher some hoped he may have been -- but he isn't below a #5. He may be the 6th best starter on the Brewers, but Bush is not a AAAA pitcher. If Jeff Weaver has to start one game, I am OK with that --if Bush can contribute to our BP, he will conceivably help 2-3 times a week. While the "emergency start" will probably at most happen once a month. Parra is killing our BP right now, but is not getting crushed, the Brewers are 3-1 in his starts, even though he is only going 4 or 5 innings -- If the Brewers are intent on Parra working this out at the ML level, it seems (more likely than an injury) that the BP is going to have to pick up 4 innings in his starts. I'd rather Bush pick up those innings than McClung. Bush could contribute in more games in the BP, than a Weaver/Narveson would in an injury situation over the course of a month.