thablingster

Terrible play by Axford, he probably should have just eaten it. Once again, T-Plush makes us throw up the T. Aaaaaaaahhhhh, gotta go!!

Someone should show TLR my photos from Monday and Tuesday in regards to how "dangerous" it is to pitch up and in. I have at least three photos of Brewers ducking out of the way of high and in pitches, yet he takes critical offense to the Brewers pitching Pujols the same way. What a hypocrite.

I'm pretty sure the invites go out to 20 pack and up individuals. The luncheon was a good time. RR and Yo were there, along with Cory Provus. RR did most of the talking. Some interesting tidbits: -First question out of the box from a fan was about plushdamentals and if they're trying to spread them throughout the team. RR's response was "I'm really excited about these plushdamentals." -RR was asked about how he keeps players fresh and ready, discussed how Kotsay's start Sunday was to keep him fresh, then his AB Monday night was one Kotsay kind of gave him a look like "I need an AB" so RR gave him one. RR said "We need Mark Kotsay." -When speaking about production, RR said "As coaches we get emotional and attached to players, while in the front office they're just looking at numbers." -Yo talked about his 9 career home runs, and how he has to remind Greinke of this every once in a while when Zack boasts about his batting prowess. Someone asked Yo what he didn't like about Yost or Macha's management style, to which he responded ".... 9 home runs!" and everyone laughed. -Injury updates: Rickie still has significant swelling in his ankle and just came off crutches Tuesday. "He's a long ways away." Carlos Gomez is making progress and has been with the team. They try to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't high five or chest bump too much. -Of course, RR was asked about Taylor Green. He chuckled and said "We've talked about Taylor Green." He then went into his speech about Mat Gamel and how Mat put too much pressure on himself when he came up. The organization doesn't feel Taylor would be able to replace Weeks offensively at 2B, but no one really can. -RR talked about the contact play and how it is "my fault" when the runner makes an out at the plate, because the runner is told to just go on contact and not look for where the ball is. RR and the staff feel over the course of a season putting pressure on the defense will lead to more runs. RR said he tried lots of different things while managing in the minors to figure out what he feels works and what doesn't. They raffled off a few signed balls from Yo and RR at the end as well. I'd definitely go again next year. Sadly, I didn't get to ask Yo about which barbershop to go to if one wanted a Yohawk, but Cory did mention the Yohawk.

So hot in the stadium tonight. This game was lost in the 7th inning. Gotta score at least one with the bases loaded and no outs. Odd that the last three losses I've seen have all been Marcum started games. Disappointing to lose on a Texas leaguer. Get 'em tomorrow, boys.

Oh, it was sweaty at the ballpark tonight. I'm lucky I spent the first five innings in the club with my ticket rep so I could dip in and out of the suite when I wanted to cool down. Fun game to be at, always nice to get a win over the hated Cardinals. Lets do it again tomorrow!

Hawing beat me to it, but I'll be at the ballpark tonight hoping Carpenter has a lot of things to explain to his son. Should be a great pitching matchup, and hopefully a great crowd that can take in a win!

Cards 2-1 @Astros 2-1 @Cards 1-2 Pirates 2-1 Dodgers 2-2 @Mets 1-2 @Pirates 2-2 Cubs 2-1 Cards 1-1 15-13, based on their current road woes and offensive expectations sans Rickie. If they continue to have solid pitching and get solid contributions from JHJ and Lopez along with other guys who are scuffling (McGehee, Counsell, etc.) I could easily see 19-9.

I'll be trying this out on Tuesday, too. I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully it will be a good time.

Thanks for pitching to Prince, Astros.

These guys are a nine man Eckstein, but if we keep letting them hang around that may not end well. Finish this thing now, boys.

I'm really glad to see Braun going first to third on balls again. We haven't heard much about the calf in a week or so.

I'm not disappointed considering what's out there and what our needs are. It is definitely a sellers market right now. I guess I'm more disappointed there isn't anyone available that I am even marginally interested in. Personally, I don't think it is worth it to further mortgage the five year window of the team for a replacement level player at 3B or SS. If an upper level player were available and they didn't even check on it I'd be disappointed, but I'm not heartbroken we won't get Betemit, Carroll, Furcal, Barmes, or any of those guys. Are they upgrades? Probably, but are they worth top prospects? No, but that's what will be asked. KRod, Lopez, and Harriston Jr. are good pieces to add. As we get into August and more teams realize they are hopelessly out, more players will become available at a lower cost. I think the CC trade has instilled a mentality that if we're in it, we want to go get the best player available at a position of need, but the best guy available at a need position isn't always worth what it costs to get him.

Well, he can't hit worth a lick anymore, but at least Craig can still pick it.

It could be argued we are just trying to even the playing field. Hopefully we can take care of business today and go into the three games vs. the Classies on a roll.

Forgoing the Yo jersey tonight to ride the hot hand with my 10-1 Polo shirt. Make it worth my while, Brewers. Hopefully Hairston Jr. makes it by gametime and can start in CF. We'd probably be looking at something like: Hart, Hairston, Braun, Fielder, Lopez, McGehee, Betancourt, Lucroy, Gallardo. I'm not sure whether I'd prefer Lopez or Hairston 2, but I suppose it is better than Carroll, Wilson, and/or Counsell.

Haudricourt tweeted it is Carroll who is being sent out, he was DFA.

It worked for Felipe Lopez last night. McCalvy said he expects Hairston to make it to Milwaukee in time for the game tonight.

This seems like a good move. Hariston provides a good RH bench option for the nights he doesn't start, and for the nights he does he can basically play any position we might need him (SS, 2B, LF to spell Braun, even CF over Kotsay if it came to that). I guess cobbling a roster together is really what is happening here, but I'd rather that than give up great talent for replacement level results (which is basically what some teams are asking in trade talks right now it seems).

Observations from being at the game: 1) Man, the Astros are bad. 2) The Friday night fans remembered Felipe Lopez enough with the die hards to give him a pretty good ovation. 3) Brad Mills really did manage that 7th inning like his team was competing for first place. 4) It was nice to get K-Rod and Ax a night off. I was figuring RRR would go Loe for two and then Saito, but Wolf was able to grit through the 7th after being over 105 pitches to start. Gotta beat the bottom feeders to get anywhere.

5:30 is typical for doors on a Friday night non-marquee game. Lots open at 4 I think.

While I am fully prepared to have tomatoes thrown at me (despite the fact that I am merely providing an option and not necessarily advocating for this), the Brewers have a trend of re-dating their old players. Since SF acquired Keppinger, Bill Hall might be cheaply available. He's out on rehab now, so SF will have to decide what to do with him soon.

Having a guy who is 0-36 behind Fielder would normally be cause for concern, but it's okay, Jerry Meals says it's safe.

I hear David Eckstein isn't officially retired...

That was a pretty brutal turn of the ankle. Hopefully it's one of those "walk it off" type deals and not a long-term DL injury.

So what this tells us is that those $30 Wil Nieves tees in the team store are approximately 30 times more valuable than Nieves himself was? This reminds me of when a kid would lose his lunch money at school and you'd just give him a dollar so he can have some lunch. Braves lost a catcher, we gave them one to balance out their roster. Safe travels to Wil. I imagine he wouldn't have been as maligned had Randy Wolf not been so insistent about not being on the same field as Jonathan Lucroy, causing Wil to start every 5th day.