thablingster

Sean Green, there is a name I had (blissfully) forgotten! The crowd wasn't as bad as feared, in fact I'd say it was a bit lighter than in years past. The grab bags had no line by 11, which in years past they had a line until at least early afternoon. While they drew a record crowd, I think more people came and went as opposed to staying for long periods of time. I scored a retro signed Axford bobblehead (randomly) from the BCF rummage sale. I also got a 2007 Fielder and a regular Aoki. They were admonishing people for opening the tops to check for retros, so I didn't even try. They had a ton of bobbles: Wolf, Morgan, some of the '82 mini's, Axford, McGehee, Aoki, Yount, etc. I didn't really see much else of substance in the BCF sale. Someone may have gone home with a Cesar Izturis jersey. They had a ton of the grilling set SGA's for sale, too. As far as autos, I went for Jenkins (who was quite affable). I won the Uecker lotto, so I ended up with Uecker and Mark A as well. Uecker's demeanor was underwhelming, at best. He didn't even look up to engage, but it was his birthday and he spent part of it signing autographs, so that's good enough for me. Mark A. was much more engaging, if not keeping the line moving. The player photo booths were going pretty quickly. I got in with Tom Gorzelanny and Marco Estrada (Hawing asked that I remind him to take it easy on the bases with his hamstrings), Michael Blazek, Johnny Hellweg (who has this lanky Eli Manning look going on), and Caleb Gindl. Not a bad day at all.

It seems like the typical crowd so far. That said, it is an hour until doors. We will see how much the weather cuts into the attendance. I saw a few tweets from out of town folks who aren't risking the drive.

I tell each and every one of my new students not to walk around at night alone with their phones out texting/blaring music not paying attention to their surroundings. Every time we get a safe alert on campus I read what it was about. Around 75 percent of the time it starts with "the victim was texting/on the phone/not paying attention to their surroundings." The most important thing is paying attention to your surroundings. If a would-be robber figures you'll get a good look at them before they approach you, they're less likely to. If you're not aware of your surroundings that puts you at a disadvantage because in a split second someone can sneak up behind you or run up to you. In an ideal world we wouldn't have these problems, but unfortunately we do.

Segura has a few injuries he has been nursing, per RRR. McCalvy said it was a thumb on the radio today. Plus since Segura has played in every game since June 2 they are probably just trying to help him out.

I'm playing "over/under" on twitter with this game, makes it more fun. It was nice to see Wily pitch out of that jam in the 1st inning.

http://binaryapi.ap.org/1b0357a81a0f4086a1f76903587598ec/940x.jpg I don't know how the Four Shortstop Memorial Day lineup was ever topped, either, Alex. Wow. Well, hopefully this lineup makes us say "that's why they don't play the games on paper!"

I go to Brewers games because I enjoy baseball, regardless of the on-field results. My Braves fan friend was astonished the Brewers sold 32,500+, 41,900+, and 41,200+ tickets this weekend for the three game series. People having purchased tickets already is definitely a big part of it. I also explained that in addition to promotions and giveaways Miller Park very much becomes a casual fan party atmosphere during the Summer. A lot of people go for the tailgates and because it is a place to be seen. That's why you get the people coming in an hour after first pitch and leaving after the sausage race. They'll be fine attendance wise in July and early August, but once school starts back up that's probably when the numbers will dip if they're playing poorly.

The baseball book strikes again. Worst part is that a majority of MLB managers would have managed that inning the exact same way. Bunting for your 8 and 9 hitters is quite suspect. There is a reason those guys hit 8th and 9th, even if they were both late game replacements. It isn't like Weeks is Ramirez out there at 2B and would need a double to score. Plus, you have one of the fastest baseball players on the planet on the bench if you're really that concerned about him scoring from second. The fact Yuni was in LF provides evidence they had no intention of playing Gomez, but still. Sure, you have a 1 in 5 chance Schafer strikes out, but based on his spray chart Schafer most likely will, at minimum, ground to the right side and advance Weeks to third that way. Out of the remaining options not named Gomez, Schafer was probably the best bet for a hit there.

Wily got a lot of the breaks tonight he doesn't normally get which lead to big innings. His defense definitely helped him out. He still needs to trust his stuff more, but tonight is a good example of what he's capable of against a potent offense. Teheran on the other hand threw 74 strikes out of 99 pitches. That is ridiculous strike zone pounding. He gave up 8 hits, but I was still impressed.

Braun made every effort to be out there. He played through it, for at least a month, by his own admission (http://brewersbeat.mlblogs.com/2013/05/27/thumb-injury-sidelines-brewers-braun/). Obviously extrapolating with small samples won't tell us a lot, but if we arbitrarily assign May 14 as the first time it started getting bad (two weeks, per Braun's comments on the 27th), we have: May 14-June 9 .301/.359/.419 28 H, 6 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 19 K On May 27 is when they really publicized the injury. He sat on May 27th and pinch hit. From May 27: May 27-June 9 .277/.327/.340 13 H, 1 2B, 1 3B, 9 K The triple came the game after he sat. Basically in that small amount of time either he was slumping, or the injury sapped his power. By giving his swings the eye test, I'd go with the latter. I cringe to think how poorly he'd have done if he weren't as athletically gifted as he is. If this team were contending he'd probably be out there being Juan Pierre the singles machine, but the way the season is the best thing for everyone is to get his hand right. If him being on the DL for a month means that he doesn't need to have surgery and miss 6 months down the line, fine by me.

The bald guy has the physical gestures of most Brewers fans down. http://gifs.gifbin.com/032012/1333652083_apartment_building_collapses.gif

Hmmm, maybe we can get out of Cincy with a stolen series!... http://i.imgur.com/tM4X2.gif

Every time the Brewers try to claw back to respectability... http://gifs.gifbin.com/112011/1320867463_bully_turtle_pushes_other_turtle_into_pond.gif

Three in a row? http://cdn.wl.uproxx.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/3MB.gif

This sounds interesting. The biggest hurdle to it being on a Sunday would likely be the bobblehead days. It is probably going to be difficult to find 30-50 seats in a section together, unless they still have availability of the HD Deck, ATI Club, or maybe Miller Lite Party Deck on those days. The only non-bobble Sundays left are: July 21 vs. Marlins August 18 vs. Reds September 22 vs. Cardinals (last home game of the year) Depending on how this shapes up, I may be interested.