crewcrazy

Please win today. It seems like the Brewers have been allergic to going 11 games over .500 for the past couple weeks.

The best part...Ned is basing this decision on 4 road starts from Seth McClung. And in those 4 road starts, McClung has gone 6 innings exactly once (and that start was on June 10). Now I know how Cubs fans felt when they had those great teams a few years ago, but it all went to waste because Dusty Baker managed to do something ridiculously stupid every month. Sometimes it seems like Ned can't stay out of his own way.

Repost from last night, but I think it deserves another post in a Sheets start. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif Here's to hoping for another classic Sheet-out. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/jami34/ccsheetssign.gif

The FOX blackout rule is incredibly stupid. Why is the St. Louis/San Diego match-up deemed more worthy of being shown on TV? Why can't the Giants schedule their game after 6? It's not like it's getaway day or anything.

Since there's no other games thread for today, I'll just put this here -- the Arizona/Los Angeles game tonight has been nuts. The Dodgers jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the top of the 1st against Doug Davis, but the D'Backs responded with 4 runs in the bottom of the 1st against Kuroda. Arizona scored 2 more in the bottom of the 2nd to go up 6-3, but the Dodgers scored 2 in the top of the 3rd to cut the lead to 6-5. Arizona responded with another run in the bottom of the 3rd, making it 7-5, but the Dodgers managed to tie it with single runs in the 6th and 7th -- it's now tied in the bottom of the 9th. Crazy, crazy first game of a series that's basically for first place in the NL West.

Way to Mota-proof the game, Cameron! That was a pretty impressive shot into the tunnel.

How did Ochoa not grab that one? Make 'em pay, Cam.

Between Keiichi Yabu and Osiris Matos, these Giants relievers are getting the best of Brian. Did he just say "Osoria", as in a completely different reliever on a completely different team? I'm sure he's wondering why they all can't be as easy as "Matt Cain." Only 70 pitches heading into the 7th for CC...very nice. Edit: After looking at that replay a million times, I think it would've been an infield hit even if JJ fielded it cleanly. Lewis has crazy speed and it would've been a close play either way. Not like it matters now, though...good thing Fielder hit that HR now, huh?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/jami34/ccsheetssign.gif

Prince Smash! Kind of out in front of it and he still hits it out with the wind blowing in...pretty impressive.

I would be more upset that Sabathia hit into that double play instead of bunting, but then I realized Rickie Weeks was on deck and the inning was likely a lost cause anyway. I'm neglecting the blue font because I'm only half-kidding.

I'm just waiting for Sabathia to park one into the Cove. He's taking some mighty hacks up there.

Running on Bengie Molina is always a bad idea. Dude would throw out Rickey Henderson in Rickey's prime...there's no chance Cameron steals that base if he tries 20 times.

Matt Cain is very, very good. Fortunately, CC's been better tonight.

Are we sure Rickie Weeks' real last name isn't "Outman"? Seriously, though, it's a pretty awesome name for a pitcher. It definitely beats "Homer Bailey" and "Grant Balfour".

Yeah, I think Nomo at least deserves mention in the Hall for his contributions to the game -- without him, we would never see Ichiro, the Matsuis, Matsuzaka, Fukudome, etc. in the Majors. Not to mention he's the only guy to ever throw a no-hitter in Coors Field. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

West Coast games suck. With that said, I'm looking forward to staying up until midnight watching the Brewers. I've had nothing to watch all week.

Weren't they sending him back down to AAA to build up his arm strength to where it was pre-Tommy John surgery? I saw on ESPN's BottomLine that he's like 8-0 with a 2-ish ERA in his last 10 starts, but has he been working deep into games, or has he been a 6-inning pitcher at Rochester? It's not like the Twins are trying to "Delmon" him like the Rays did all those years (kind of ironic that Delmon is now on the Twins) -- Liriano's supposed to be working his way back from an injury.

They did include Cardenas, after all. I don't see this ending well for the Phils -- that G/F ratio is pretty ugly, and it's even uglier in Philly. I suppose they had to do something, but why wouldn't they go after a guy who K's more, like A.J. Burnett?

Well this kinda came out of nowhere, didn't it? Buster Olney hinted that something might be coming soon the other day, but this seems pretty quick. I wonder what the Phillies gave up to get him..it couldn't possibly be Cardenas, could it?

Arizona's fooling themselves if they think this is the only move they need to make to improve that offense. They desperately need someone like Xavier Nady or Jason Bay, but they gutted their farm system with the Dan Haren trade.

Fielder -- B (Not a bad year, but he could stand to be a little more patient at the plate.) Weeks -- C- (He's had his moments, but unfortunately they've been pretty far apart. Defense isn't horrible, but still not great. Psychological factor may be playing a role in his poor play.) Hardy -- B (Bounced back from a poor start, and has seemed to play better once he started getting regular days off. I don't like how he seems to rely on the homer once he gets hot, though...a little too much swinging for the fences for my liking lately.) Hall -- D+ (Defense has been bad, and he's lost any plate discipline he's had in recent years. Turned it on lately, though...hopefully it continues). Braun -- B (Slugging the crap out of the ball, but I miss the Braun of last year that was just as happy lining a double down the line or taking the ball the other way as he was hitting a homer. Swings at too much crap -- especially with RISP -- to get a much higher grade than this.) Cameron -- B- (His defense has been great for the most part, and his bat is starting to come around. He is what he is -- a .250 hitter with decent pop -- and he's providing that. Among the team leaders in HR despite missing the first month.) Hart -- B+ (Hitting for more power this year and he's great with RISP so far. His defense doesn't seem to be as good as it was last year, though. Hopefully he can keep up his production over a full season.) Kendall -- B (Like Cameron, he is what he is, and he's pretty much produced to those standards. Decent OBP from the 8 spot, and he's been much better throwing out runners so far this year, but we'll see if that continues as he plays a ridiculous amount of games behind the plate. It seems like he's started to wear down recently, so hopefully the break does him some good.) Bench -- B (One of the more solid benches I remember the Brewers having recently. Another power lefty bat would be nice, whether that's Nelson or someone else.) Sheets -- A (Putting together a Cy-caliber year.) Suppan -- C- (Below average and getting lucky with unearned runs. Hopefully he pitches better in the second half, but I'm not holding my breath.) Bush -- C+ (Bouncing back nicely after a really rough start, and at a critical time for the Brewers. I still hold my breath every time he starts, but he's been dodging the early inning blowups.) Yo -- http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif McClung -- C+ (Walks are starting to show up more, and he's not as efficient as he was in his early starts. Decent stopgap, though.) Parra -- B- (Pretty good all year, but he burns up a ton of pitches nibbling after getting 2 strikes. Needs to be more efficient, especially with his looming innings limit.) Villy (bullpen version) -- B (He's been very solid out of the pen, and his stuff is probably better suited there) Shouse -- B- (Still not bad against lefties, but he's getting less lucky with the inherited runners this year) Mota -- D- (Gasolina, en español) Gange -- D- (Essence, en français) Torres -- B+ (Bouncing back nicely from a bad '07...hopefully he can hold up) Riske -- C (Up and down so far, but he's been better in the second half in his career.)

How dare you defame the Greatest Living Yankee Derek Jeter!? Seriously, though, I loved watching Sheets pitch against the best in the AL and making their knees buckle. I would love a YouTube video of Jeter's first AB against Sheets, when Ben dropped in a curveball right down the middle for a strike and had Jeter bailing out with his knees buckling because he thought it was going to hit him. Priceless. My vent is about Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. McCarver has less of an idea of what's going on in the game than Bob Uecker does these days, and Buck butchered the player introductions -- Justin "Duck-sher"? The guy is only MLB's ERA leader and is making his second All-Star game -- you should know it's "Duke-sher".

I think we can all agree here that he may be a jerk, but the dude can still hit the tar out of the ball. I was actually rooting for the AL to run out of pitchers -- Francona got so much praise from the media for taking so many closers, but the weakness of his plan was exposed once the game hit extra innings. When half of his pitchers could only pitch one inning, he was pretty much handcuffed. Too bad the NL hitters had to bail him out by failing to hit a sac fly in like 4 straight innings. I wonder if the MLB keeps the stupid HFA rule for the All-Star Game after this, and if they do, if the managers finally adapt and stop subbing out the good hitters after 4 innings. Do you think this thing lasts 15 innings if Albert Pujols isn't pulled after a few AB's? The guy was DH'ing -- it's not like he was playing in the field and getting tired.As far as Guzman goes, I didn't like him getting the All-Star nod for the Nationals, but he did play some pretty good defense at third base (especially considering he never played there in his MLB career). On another note, I would've loved to see position players starting to pitch that game. There was no way Bud Selig was going to let that game end in a tie. We could've seen J.D. Drew and David Wright throwing knucklers -- how cool would that be? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

I don't think he was going to pitch much tonight, anyway, considering he threw a ton of pitches against the Cubs on Sunday. However, when I hear a player is an unexpected scratch due to "flu-like symptoms", I always wonder if it's really the flu/food poisoning or if that player just had a bit too much fun out on the town the night before.