Fatter than Joey

Really what we actually have is the perfect bullpen to blow-up the Larussian model, and go almost to more of a rotation (not strictly speaking) where guys are assured regular work. Well put. I'd much rather have Mota/Torres and Gagne getting a 70/30 or 60/40 split, than Gagne warming up 42 days in a row, just so he can accumulate save chances. Heck I would love to see Stetter/Shouse get a couple of saves if a couple of tough LHers were up to end the ninth inning. I really despise the "7th inning guy" and "8th inning guy".

If we had a rested bullpen and he used Turnbow yesterday then I would have been upset. But Ned really had no choice, Yeah -- I wasn't upset when Ned brought in Tbow -- you knew it was going to happen. I'd rather Tbow struggle than Gagne get warmed up for his 23rd consecutive day. I won't give Ned credit for bringing in Tbow, I wouldn't have ripped him either. The one thing I will give him credit for -- was having Shouse ready to go to face the Phillies LHers had Tbow got into big trouble. The thing I didn't understand was not PHing Bush in the 6th with a runner on 1b and not having the lead -- only to take Bush out in the following inning after facing one batter.

yeah -- I figured the Cubs would do something like this. Hill would be ugly, the Cubs would probably have to pay for his therapy. I do think after Hammels settled down last night -- he handcuffed the Brewers pretty well, and then he was left in to long.

That's all great dlk, but I still don't take away a good feeling from what I saw. Agreed 100% -- I thought it was pretty ugly. It reminded me of a ST game.

Their coach finally threw in the proverbial towel. Their starter had thrown 250 pitches and allowed 26 runs in the first inning (not bad) and 40 in the second (hmmm). Insert Dusty Baker joke.

I have to say as a Brewer fan...I don't like this one bit. Me either. Krivsky must have peed in someone's pool.

Are you going to tell me you didn't enjoy your run last year? Absolutely -- The Cubs are winning the games that they should, and they deserve all the credit for that. I enjoy watching the Cubs as well, they have some great talent that is really fun to watch right now -- I have no problems with Cub fans enjoying the product their team is producing. I would love nothing more than a 3 team race, like the NL West last year, where it comes down to the wire.

But I guess after so many extra innings Melvin and Yost look like the smart ones on that count. I don't think you look smart with 14 pitchers on the roster. My major concern, is what in the wide world of sports are they doing with Turnbow -- why couldn't have he come in the game when the score was 8-3. If you don't trust him in that spot, he shouldn't be on your team.

For every time Gabe would have provided a late inning HR there will be a time Gwynn makes a great play in the field to prevent the need for said late inning HR. Once Cameron is back -- Gwynn's defensive "abilities" will no longer be needed --- but just about every game you need a LH PHer to come off of the bench -- I'd just as soon it wasn't Counsell. Juan Pierre, even if he is grossly overpaid, and Luis Castillo are the only two that readily spring to mind. I am not a fan of either of these dudes -- but I'd take Pierre over TGJ in a heartbeat. Pierre (besides his 60+ SBs), has always managed to get his SLG over his OBP, something that Castillo and TGJ are unable to do. Of course Castillo is a GG 2b, so he has value outside his bat. I'm betting that Kapler is worth zip and gwynn is worth zip and Gross is worth a low-prospect. This is the million dollar question to me -- I would love to ask DM if he tried to trade TGJ, but Gross netted more return. Maybe DM would have rather kept Gross, but couldn't get any takers for TGJ -- I can certainly live with that. If DM kept TGJ over Gross because DM valued TGJ more, I would have more problems with the trade. I do a lot of complaining about the lack of pitching depth in the Brewers farm, so if this Butler dude, has a good arm, and gives us some pitching depth, I am all for the trade. I do think the timing of the trade is poor, with 14 pitchers on our roster, and Jeff Suppan leading the PHing charge off of the bench. The roster seems like a mess now. The Richie Sexson Deal, the gift that keeps on giving! Actually this is part of the Gary Sheffield deal -- we traded to get Sexson, so it seems arbitrary to start at that point.

Everyday I come to this site and there is a public lynching going on. Yost, Turnbow, Gross, Weeks, now Hall. In all fairness the people you list have all had craptacular aspects of their play so far this year.

The defense was good until yesterday, we were something like +9 using plus/minus. The defense has been bad all year. 3. And I bet I am missing a few from last night. That "double" that went under Hardy's glove. Would that be the same Riske that, according to most on this board, would have been the ab-so-lute guaranteed savior had Ned allowed him to pitch last night instead of TBow? Yep. I would have much rather seen Riske last night and Turnbow today when the score was 8-3.

I don't put a lot of stock in errors as a means of measuring defense -- that said I would concede that we are making some improvements. It is my opinion we are far away from being a team that can count defense as a strength, and unless we are scoring 5-6 runs every game we are going to struggle. A good example would be that "double" Barton hit last night -- How does a ground ball that Hardy just misses turn into a double? -- bad defense.

Our defense has been stellar all year, I disagree -- our defense has been awful.

Not all decisions work out. No baseball team wins all 162 games, or wins every close game. Really? -- Because every last person here thinks this way. Honestly, what could be better than seeing the Cubs in first place this early in the season? Seeing the Brewers in first place. any rational, objective outsider would conclude that our manager has done a heck of job with the bullpen to get us the record we have. We aren't outsiders. Most of your national types think Ned is on the hot seat. I encourage you to do the same. Pass. I think I am going to jump into a pool with a toaster, and I encourage everyone here to do the same -- The water is warm! or at least it will be shortly...

Biff Pocoroba -- All Star Catcher

Sometimes this site gives the best advice, Now if we could only get Ned to listen. I think that--at this point in time--being with her is best for me. If this is truly the case, you will find a way to cope with the boy.

The great part about this is that Yost probably won't trot Gagne out there 4 straight days anymore. This reminds me of a time when I was 13 years old, and I was golfing with a friend. The seventh hole ran along side a country road, which separated the golf course from a field that was surrounded by an electric fence. My buddy and I both yanked our tee-shots off across the road into the field. We were in the very tall grass looking for our golf balls, and we both decided to take a whiz, since we were far from the clubhouse. My friend wondered out loud if the electric fence was on, so we could go over the fence and into the field to retrieve our balls. I suggested that we should just assume it was on, however he thought it would be best to test if the fence was on by "crossing streams" sort of like in Ghostbusters. I opted out of the testing phase, but my friend decided to proceed forward. Long story short, fence was on, golf balls were lost. I'm glad Ned learned not to pee on the fence any more, a better manager probably would have known from the start nothing good would happen by embarking on that endeavor.

not to mention that he's an upgrade over the aforementioned pitchers Not as he is being used. I have no idea why he is on the roster with 13 other pitchers, never to pitch in a meaningful game.

Yost is just passing the buck -- I doubt he even talked to Gagne. Now it's Gange's fault for taking the ball.

or do we use gagne 5 days in a row? Yep. If Gagne gives Ned the green light!

i apologize for the wording because I shouldn't have been so blunt about it It's not so much the bluntness -- rather grouping everyone into one big pot. And I do believe that if he had gone to someone other than Gagne he would have been roasted. Sure. There were definitely people that wanted to see Gagne, just like there were people that didn't want to see Gagne. In a lot of strategy decisions, Ned is going to go against one group of people that see things differently -- that's Ned's cross to bear -- I think we all understand it. In all fairness though, the "Ned bashers" focus on specific things (generally). For example, I thought Ned was nuts for bringing in Gagne, and had he brought in Torres and Torres got lit up, I would have been disappointed that the Brewers lost, but I wouldn't have scorched Ned for it.

I just don't understand how thinking people can blame the manager on this one. Because you use flawed statements like this... Everyone would be yelling at Yost for not using the closer in the save situation. This is 100% inaccurate -- there were all sorts of people that did not want to see Gagne today. If you want to argue that Yost made the right call to bring Gagne in, that is 100% reasonable, but please do not use such lazy and irresponsible arguments that "Everyone at BF.net would be yelling at Yost for not bringing in the closer." When if you read through the IGT and were in the chat -- there were a substantial amount of people wanting to see a different reliever used.

I guess Yost was a moron to use Coco the same way last year as well. Agreed 100% I am pretty convinced that the primary reason Gagne was used was that it was a statistical save situation -- had the Brewers been up by 4 runs, Gagne would not have been used -- i find this entirely arbitrary.

I agree with Logan, and Rydog's thoughts as well.... I'm just not sure if I'll be ready for him. I can tell you, you won't be ready for your kids. They are tricky I'd take a huge step back, and cut the kid some slack. His folks broke up, and that is not on him. I'm sure he has it rough not having an every day male role model. I guess I don't understand how you plan to marry someone, but didn't deal with the whole issue with the child. I'm not saying I can't learn to love him I don't think you can learn to love anything, you either do or you don't. I guess I'd be concerned that your fear is getting the best of you. I guess if you truly care for this gal, I don't see why you can't deal with the kid. He has a father, you can be supportive of him, help him in life, much like the kids you teach every day. There was a point in my relationship with my wife where "I will do anything for you" wasn't just something I said, rather something I knew to be true. I guess the million dollar question, is would you "do anything" for this woman or is that something you just say. My advice is this: Realize that your relationship with boy will change if you commit to the mother. Things that he may lacking that bother you, can be addressed and corrected. I don't think you have to be a father, you just have to do what's right. I'd certainly talk to the mom, and see if there isn't a middle ground where you can find some comfort. I hope this isn't read as harsh -- I would sincerely hate to see someone miss out on a great spouse.

A realize that lefties hit low inside pitches well, but I think most of the time lefties pull that pitch by Gagne foul or watch it go by. I seriously doubt many hitters like Bako are going to watch that pitch go by that is in his wheelhouse. It was a bad pitch.