crewcrazy

Can we start the third game of this series right now? It's getting to be torture to wait until 7:00 every night to see what this team will do next. Essentially back-to-back game-winning homers from Bill Hall...crazy. I think we may have found the Cards' lucky horseshoe and ran off with it. Fondy, you're not the only one fearing that. The little brewerfan dressed like the devil in my head is telling me that CC's due for a bad start and Ben was pretty bad against a horrible Giants lineup last time out. The little brewerfan dressed like an angel in my head is telling me that there's a slight chance of the Brewers returning home in first place. There's a chance the 2008 Brewers are turning me into a schizophrenic.

Verlander's no-hitter last year comes to mind for me. The difference, of course, being that Lohse doesn't have the nasty stuff Verlander does.

To be fair, those numbers (4.50 ERA, 1.50 WHIP, .500 record) were pretty much what the Brewers paid for. The sad part is that he hasn't even been able to hit those numbers this year.

Dang, that's the second ball Weeks has absolutely drilled, only to see it caught.

Pretty decent bounceback inning in the 2nd for Suppan. Now let's just get a hit...please? Kyle Lohse isn't this good.

I just looked it up -- the option becomes guaranteed after 110 starts. I'm surprised he's almost there already, but at least he's been solid. We're also getting close to Kendall getting up to $1 million more in bonuses this year:

Trenni just mentioned that Kendall will be starting his 90th game of the year tonight -- wasn't that the number of starts needed this year for his '09 option to vest? Or am I confusing that with a different number?

Branyan's capable of playing a corner OF spot if someone went down...I don't really see a need for him, unless the plan is just to have him sit at the end of the bench in September as another PH option.

Fukudome has some crazy home/road splits. He's hitting close to .350 at home, but he's somewhere in the low-to-mid .100's on the road. I have no idea what's caused such a drastic slump, but it certainly looks like he's hit a wall (like a lot of people thought he would -- I remember his projections being fairly low). Watching the couple of Cubs games in Houston a few days ago, it looked like pitchers have stopped pitching him inside altogether, and they made him look foolish with the way he swings like a left-handed softball slap-hitter. Ichiro's able to do it because he's been able to make adjustments in his big league career -- I haven't seen Fukudome make those adjustments yet, and as a result, he's had some pretty ugly swings, like spinning around and ending up on one knee. Despite their recent road problems, I still think the Cubs are one of the best teams in the NL -- Boston's going through a similar problems on the road, but everyone still seems to love them in the AL. I'd compare this rough stretch for the Cubs to the rough stretch the Brewers had early in the year -- it's not that they're unable to hit the ball hard; it's that they're hitting balls hard right at defenders. They hit a few rockets off of Randy Johnson last night that were lined right to outfielders or were robbed on spectacular defensive plays (like the Reynolds diving stop that's been a big highlight all morning on ESPN). Eventually those hits will start falling in again, and they're getting Soriano back sometime in the next week, which might ignite the offense. It's nice to see that the Brewers have taken advantage of the opportunity, though, and have picked up a lot of ground lately.

Looks to me like the pitching match-ups favor the Cubs in the series -- Sabathia's start is the only one that I'd say would favor the Brewers, Sheets and Zambrano is a push, Dempster probably has a slight edge on Parra, and Harden is a large advantage over Bush (especially a Bush that hasn't been getting consistent starts). Hopefully the Brewers will be able to chase the starters early and go to work on the bullpen.

I still think Weeks makes one of those plays if Torres doesn't deflect the ball with his glove, but he probably still should've been able to flip it to Hardy for the out at second. He tried to rush it and ended up whiffing on the scoop. At least he hit a 3-run HR and had and scored a run in the 10th...amazing what this offense can do when Rickie's hitting. As for my real vent, I hope Ned ends this stupid pitcher platoon soon. Dave Bush might stink on the road, but I'm pretty sure he'd be able to give the Brewers more than 5 innings in the first game of a fairly important 4-game series. Good thing Sabathia and Sheets close out the series, otherwise I'd be terrified about the state of the bullpen after everyone pitched tonight.

Great game...I'm glad the Brewers were the ones mounting the big comeback on national TV for once. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

The good news is that with Durham on the roster, Ned can hopefully take Rickie out of the lineup before he gets the chance to go 1-for-the series. I'm fine with Hall getting the start, too -- I seem to remember him having a fair amount of success against the Cards, but that just might be my brain selectively remembering that he hit the first-ever HR in the New Busch Stadium and forgetting all the bad he's done. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

If you really want to go Rock-style, you need to come up with some dubious one or two word phrases that no one can decipher without you explaining them, like: 1. STAY LOW2. FOUR STRAIGHT 3. 5-4 Then you would have to take up the first two at-bats of the inning explaining the keys to the game, which are really just obvious things like "don't make mistakes up in the zone against Pujols," "The Brewers are trying to win their 4th straight game after the All-Star Break," and "The Brewers are 5-4 against the Cardinals this year."

Anything preventing the Milwaukee Bucks from becoming the Seattle Bucks would be great.

Anything preventing the Milwaukee Bucks from becoming the Seattle Bucks would be great.

I imagine the Cubs placed him on the DL retroactively and his stay will be relatively short. They were already one man short for the entire Houston series, and when it looked like he wouldn't be able to pitch in another series, they decided to go ahead and put him on the DL. I think the Sun-Times said that Wood would be able to return Sunday against the Marlins -- just before the Cubs come into Milwaukee.

I am completely over last year's meltdown in St. Louis in late July. I am completely over last year's meltdown in St. Louis in late July. I am completely over last year's meltdown in St. Louis in late July. I am completely over last year's meltdown in St. Louis in late July. I am completely over last year's meltdown in St. Louis in late July. If I keep telling myself this, I might believe it by the time tomorrow's game starts. Please, all I ask is to split this series. Getting a win tomorrow would do a lot to ease the nerves.

Not until after they sweep the Brewers.

Sweeping Cain, Sanchez, and Lincecum is huge. Hopefully they can beat up on the Cards' scrapheap rotation now.

Very nice -- too bad the Cardinals couldn't manage to drop one to the Padres. I'm terrified of what could happen in St. Louis -- too many bad memories.

This would be why Brian Shouse shouldn't pitch against right-handers. Uggggh.

I think we can stop worrying about the HR Derby messing up Braun's swing...he's had a heckuva series.

Oh man...I feel bad for Cameron on that one, especially since Bill says a lot of outfielders don't wear a cup. He might be singing soprano for a little while.

JJ's all kinds of good at short. Nice job of working out of trouble by Manny...hopefully the third time is the charm for his 9th win.