lcbj68c

Actually, the power threats are on the bench, Hart & McGoo. The problem is the bench played and performed exactly how most anticipated.

Lucroy?

Because he's a lefty and lefties hit .300+ against Morton over his career. So, surely Counsell would get a hit there. Afterall, he's been playing all season, getting comfortable racking up PA's and has been hot.

So 2 out 5 reach.... 2 reach and 3 out each inning? That doesn't even guarantee a single run, let alone two.

Wouldn't surprise me if we get 4-hit shutout today. It seems whenever we have an opportunity to step on a throat in a series sweeper situation, we play comfortable and insert a bunch of guys with marginal PA's on the year.

I don't disagree. What I am saying is that if Justin Upton remains close to the offense Fielder finishes with, (albeit remains behind), yet leads the D-backs to the playoffs over the Giants squad... Will he get more consideration as being more valuable (MVP) to his team than Fielder? Who has Braun, Weeks, Hart, and a pitching staff ranked just behind Philadelphia helping him out? I'm not agreeing, so much as to point out that the writer might have a valid point about voting with their hearts regarding Upton carrying his team to the playoffs over the defending World Champions as opposed to Fielder who might have top MVP candidates on his own team playing with him.

Did you not just see the lineup posted above? Lol.I was late to the party. I was at work and opened up a reply thread, then got sidetracked and by the time I had written and submitted my comment, it had been about 30 mins later. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif

Hoping we don't have a Yostian Sunday lineup today! Put your foot on their throat, Ron!

http://espn.go.com/blog/s...n-ellsbury-top-mvp-races At first glance at the title, I thought, "Really, Justin Upton?" But he makes a good point. If Upton continues to carry the Diamondbacks over the Giants into the playoffs, who could argue if his peripherals are near Braun or Fielder?

Yep. Did the Freedom trail thing back in Dec when a buddy and I went to Gillette to watch, errr..Matty Flynn http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif As our first time to Boston, we just took about 4 hours and walked the entire freedom trail. The line is literally painted on the ground like she said. Starts at a large park, though I couldn't tell you the name of it. The best stop might have been on the end, the USS Constitution and Bunker Hill. Also, we found the Cheers on the way back and had a bite to eat there. I really enjoyed the tour at Fenway even though it was Dec and I knew little about Red Sox history. Heard all about the history of the green monster and the views were amazing. It was neat to really see how large right field is and how much ground a RF has to cover. While there wasn't any clubhouse access, the tour was well worth it. The large financial tower there (john hancock maybe?) offers an amazing view of the city I heard, but it was closed when we made it back. P.S., when you get back, please advise on Baltimore/DC. Going there for the first time and will be knocking Camden Yards and Nationals Park off my list at the end of Sept.

They also had to choose between NLDS game 4 and Packers-Falcons in Lambeau the next day. Interestingly, the Packers are scheduled to be in Atlanta on October 9th, for a Sunday night game. What are the odds the Brewers would be there that afternoon facing the Braves in an NLCS game assuming, a. they don't meet each other in round 1, and b. they both survive round 1. In my opinion, not very good. And I've done the scenarios because being a FL resident, I'll be going if they matchup at any point and the Packers/Falcons game is on my radar. The NLCS starts on Sun Oct. 9th. Unless Atlanta trumps the Phillies for the division title, there's no way they could get game#1 of the NLCS as a wild card. At earliest, game #3 of the NLCS would be in Atlanta on Wed the 12th. On the other side of that weekend, the latest a game #4 in Atlanta for the NLDS would be Wed Aug 5th. I don't see the ability to pull off a double dip of sports in Atlanta unless you stay a couple of "dead days".

Apparently we weren't the only ones thinking about it. Jayson Stark a few minutes ago via his twitter: jaysonst Jayson Stark MLB releases 2011 postseason schedule. One big change: No more series with 3 off days. Both ALDS start Fri 9/30. Both NLDS start Sat 10/1

I was just researching this same thing as I'm planning something for the night of the 30th -- I didn't find anything too concrete. I found that ESPN's MLB calendar of important dates shows playoffs starting Sep 30 / Oct 1. On the official MLB site, their calendar of important dates just shows a vague "October - Playoffs". Every team is done on the 28th unless there are important makeups or 1-game playoffs ... by looking at years past, even when there's been special 1-gamers, it looks pretty normal for the playoff schedule to kick off just two days later ... aka, the 30th. My guess is that two or three series will start on the 30th and one or two will start on the 1st. I'm scheduling my thing for the 30th anyways, hoping that if the Brewers make the playoffs and if they have home field, that the series will start on the 1st. Or at the very least, that the 30th won't be my one and only chance to see them in person in October this year. Yeah Matt, no doubt. I am actually going to be leading some training classes in IA on the Oct. 3rd and was trying to gauge whether games 1&2 would likely be Fri/Sat or Sat/Sun. I thought something might be more definitive with the moving up of the schedule, but I can't find anything out there. Going with past history, I'm gonna presume Fri/Sat with only one off day. IIRC, the team with the best record (Phillies now and prob at the end of the season), get to choose if they want to start their series on Fri or Sat and in the past teams have chosen Sat as it is easier to set up the rotation.

Does anybody know if it has been reported if the NLDS begins on Fri Sept 30 or Sat Oct 1st?

On ESPN2, Brewers 2nd round pick, stud pitcher for Puerto Rico, Jose Lopez is starting against Greenville, SC in the championship game of the Big League (16yo-18yo) World Series.

http://img.fanbase.com/media.fanbase.com/8/15326/5bb67844a0be26c1ba1a28bedafab62493751562.jpg?x=175&y=250&sig=127e5661022bf1208c7eecbb25be6930

I started this thread in the off-topic earlier this morning//thought it may be too early to post it here.

http://media.kitsapsun.com/media/img/photos/2011/07/03/media_c4cec6707ddb4cdf926c449e82e55f61_t160.jpg

I didn't really mean to assume that the Brewers didn't have a shot at beating Philly. I'd just be disappointed if we did have to play them and lost in 4 games. I want this playoff appearance to feel "better" or more accomplished than the 2008 run. The same outcome would be disappointing to me. For that reason, I'd love to have home-field in the NLDS round at a minimum. Maybe not so much as avoiding the Phillies. I'm not all over the Phillies, but I think they are the team to beat. We'll see who's healthy come October and who can get hot and win it. Phillies are the team to beat, no doubt as they have the most wins at this point. However, it should be noted that only 1 time in the past 10 years has the team with the best regular season record gone on to win the World Series. That was the Yankees in 2009. Being the team to beat in July means didly-poo except that you are probably making the tournament..that's it. If you are strictly talking about the National League "team to beat", it's even more of a case. Only 1 time in the past ten years in the National League, has the #1 overall seed actually won the NL pennant to get to the World Series.....in fact 60% (6/10) of the time, it's been the wild card or the team with the worst record in the NL that won the pennant. So much for being the team to beat, in my honest opinion.

Really? I was under the impression that if you take care of business at home as the Brewers have all year, that a 7 game series gives you 4 chances to steal one as opposed to 3 chances. I remember the Cameron play being huge. But didn't remember the Myers non-call, nor the fact that it was responsible for pretty much all 5 runs in that game. I was still mad at Sveum for trotting out CC in game #2 on 3 days rest. Let Suppan take the game #2 loss and let CC go in game #3 or #4 and try to force a winner take all game #5.

I don't think it's a lock we get there, that's not the point. My point is I do think that Philly is the #1 seed and should we beat out ATL for the Wild Card, we'd still be at Philly for NLDS. Regardless of whether we win the central, I'll root for SF to lose on a daily basis for the next two months leading up to Sept. 28th.

If Gallardo went in game #5 vs Atlanta on 10/7, he would be on normal rest for the NLCS #3 on 10/12, but I get your point. Halladay/Lee/Hamels vs Greinke/Marcum/Gallardo.

58 days to go until the end of the regular season, yet I can't help but feel the #2 seed is critical to how I'll view this season. Winning a division title would be fun, but I think I'd be disappointed with losing in four games to the Phillies again. Philadelphia and Atlanta have all but clinched the #1 and #4 seeds, imho and can't play each other. That would mean that the Brewers as a #3 seed would play at Philly. I know we won a series there in April, but I feel they made some moves at the deadline for starters, while we just kind of got infield depth at backup slots and an 8th inning guy who might not matter if playing from behind. Obviously despite our pre-season pitching acquistions, their starting pitching is talked about as being better. I think it is absolutely imperative that the Brewers overtake SanFran or Arizona (though I think they will fade) for the #2 seed and get that opening series vs Atlanta in Milwaukee. Giants and Brewers scheds seems alike. Giants have some rough series in August (@Philly & @Atl), but face all weak NL West teams in the month of Sept. The Brewers dont seem to have any tough stretches in Aug/Sept, but do have a tough series with Philly at home and cards/reds mixed in a bunch. I don't mean to poo-poo a division title, but I'll be rooting daily for the Giants to lose or Atlanta to fade and a non-NL east team getting the wild card. A #3 seed would mean a very quick exit unfortunately.

Gomez was certainly stellar in the outfield and his diving catches were something of a joy to watch. However, do some think his technique must change and might have contributed to the injury? That's not to say there is necessarily a technique to diving last minute, but that "barrel roll thing" is something he's done two or three times now and didn't seem necessary either time. A normal layout with your chest absorbing the impact and keeping your arms outstretched seems like a less chance of an injury rather than the double barrel roll tucking your arm and the shoulder absorbing impact?

Either could have won it? Or both should have won it? Co- Players of the month?