crewcrazy

It was a bad play by all 3 players, but it started with Prince trying to go after that ball and getting too far off first base. It made Rickie hesitate a bit before getting to the ball, it made McClung hesitate because he had no idea Prince wasn't going to cover first, and Rickie hesitated again before throwing it to first. Thankfully, it only cost the Brewers one run.

One of those 2 includes driving down to US Cowhiskeyular Park, a wicked 5 mile detour on the front end of the "road trip." The Cubs have ONE 3-city trip. ONE. This schedule REAKS of MLB trying to get all David Stern and inserting tentacles trying to market the "100 year" curse angle. I am usually level headed on conspiracy theories, but this one is fishy. To wit, the Brewers take a total of 8 of their season's off days on the road. The Cubs: 4. How many total off days are there for any team? The best thing that can happen is A LOT of rain at Wrigley just wreaking havoc on their preciously massaged schedule. edit: odd time to think exactly alike regarding the Sox park visit If there really was a conspiracy, though, wouldn't you think it would favor the Brewers given Bud's ties to Milwaukee? The Cubs' schedule stinks from the Brewers' perspective, sure, but the Cubs still have to play well enough at home to win. The Cubs have been better on the road than the Brewers have for the past few years, anyway, so I don't know how much that really helps them. I know some Cubs fans aren't happy about having to end the year playing at St. Louis and then at Milwaukee -- the two teams they thought they'd be fighting the division for at the beginning of the year.

Colon wasn't even in his walk year, but was going to be due a huge pay raise. Montreal traded Colon to the White Sox before the start of the 2003 season, when his salary jumped from just under $5 million to over $8 million. The fact that Colon wasn't in his walk year probably contributed to the haul that Cleveland got for him, because when he was traded to the White Sox the Expos got hosed again -- they got Rocky Biddle, El Duque, Jeff Liefer, and cash. Of course, you could argue that Omar Minaya just sucks at trades. I believe the Colon trade to Montreal is discussed a bit in Moneyball, because Billy Beane was trying to work a trade with the Expos and couldn't figure out what the heck Minaya was trying to do. (edit: looks like vegas beat me to it) If Cleveland keeps scuffling, I wouldn't be surprised to see C.C. Sabathia's name hit the trade market, which could be a huge hit to Ben's trade value. Sabathia's younger, throws left handed, and is guaranteed to give you 200 innings. He'd be a much hotter commodity than Sheets would be, in my opinion. Of course, you could also say that teams know they wouldn't be able to afford trading for Sabathia, and could turn to the Brewers for Sheets. I could see the Yankees panicking and making a deal for Sheets, especially if Joba Chamberlain can't get stretched out to start or if that experiment goes badly. The dream scenario would be suckering the Rays into believing they need Sheets to stay strong down the stretch and getting a couple of their nearly major league-ready talents, but that probably won't happen -- Tampa knows what they have, and they don't want to screw it up with a rental.

It should also be noted that one of those 9 game road trips includes a "road" series against the White Sox in Interleague Play. The other comes in September, when the Cubs should have a playoff spot just about locked up. But that's neither here nor there. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif Here's a look at every team's totals as of today: NATIONAL LEAGUE Florida - 30 (18-12 home, 12-8 away) Atlanta - 29 (22-7 home, 6-16 away) Philadelphia - 25 (14-11 home, 15-13 away) New York - 22 (12-10 home, 11-16 away) Washington - 28 (13-15 home, 9-15 away) Chicago - 28 (20-8 home, 10-13 away) St. Louis - 27 (17-10 home, 13-12 away) Houston - 24 (15-9 home, 14-14 away) Pittsburgh - 26 (15-11 home, 9-15 away) Milwaukee - 20 (11-9 home, 13-18 away) Cincinnati - 23 (14-9 home, 9-19 away) Arizona - 27 (19-8 home, 11-13 away) Los Angeles - 26 (15-11 home, 11-13 away) Colorado - 26 (12-14 home, 8-17 away) San Francisco - 26 (11-15 home, 9-16 away) San Diego - 25 (11-14 home, 8-19 away) AMERICAN LEAGUE Tampa Bay - 28 (20-8 home, 11-12 away) Boston - 26 (21-5 home, 11-17 away) Toronto - 26 (15-11 home, 13-14 away) Baltimore - 22 (15-7 home, 10-18 away) New York - 26 (14-12 home, 11-14 away) Chicago - 21 (13-9 home, 15-13 away) Minnesota - 28 (16-12 home, 9-13 away) Cleveland - 30 (15-15 home, 8-13 away) Detroit - 26 (12-14 home, 9-16 away) Kansas City - 22 (10-12 home, 11-18 away) Los Angeles - 26 (15-11 home, 16-11 away) Oakland - 27 (16-11 home, 12-12 away) Texas - 23 (12-11 home, 14-16 away) Seattle - 25 (11-14 home, 7-20 away) So I suppose things could be worse. The Brewers could be as brutal on the road as the Mariners, but at the same time, tons of home games doesn't guarantee success -- just take a look at Cleveland.

I had almost forgotten that game...thanks for the reminder. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/frown.gif That had to be one of the toughest losses to take last year, but I remember watching it an actually laughing in disbelief. If I remember correctly, I don't think the Braves even hit a home run in that inning...it was all gappers. It was like watching them bleed to death from paper cuts.

I do think part of it could just be that Washington's radar gun is pretty fast. I had a hard time believing that Sheets was around 96 all afternoon when he hasn't pitched consistently that high all year. And as wicked as Torres was this afternoon, I don't think he was pitching 94-96, either.

Trying to get the offense going? Hit totals in the past 6 games: 5/25: 12 5/24: 10 5/23: 8 5/22: 14 5/21: 11 5/20: 14 The LOB is maddening, sure, but Jason Kendall batting 8th isn't going to do anything to help that with the way he's been hitting in May. Seems to me like Ned's starting to feel the pressure looming over his head, and he's panicking (again). It'll be nice to have Kendall back behind the plate, though, after Rivera pretty much blew yesterday's game by not being able to get in front of two pitches that should've been blocked.

Now that it's actually happened, I'm hoping for two things: 1. He's actually decent out of the bullpen. 2. He doesn't try to punch anyone out. Except Ned Yost. He can punch Ned Yost all he wants.

Is Rickie Weeks the new 3TO?

A double by Parra would be sweet right now.

Infield hit for Prince! Gotta love that shift.

Cerveceros, you forgot about Mike Rivera. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif 3TO flashing a little leather there...nice play ranging to his left.

Yes, Branyan's wearing #14 today, and sporting the shades.

Looks like Lastings Milledge has a baseball IQ of about 12.

That would be why Rivera gets 2 starts a month. Ugh. Good inning otherwise for Manny. Branyan's first AB coming up. :D

Hey, McClung didn't walk the leadoff man! I'm moderately shocked.

What...the Brewers announcers are talking intelligently about on-base percentage? Who are they and what have they done with Brian and Bill?

Here's to hoping Seth McClung is the Brewers' version of Ryan Dempster, Braden Looper, Kyle Lohse, Shawn Chacon, etc. Every other team in the division has a crappy pitcher overproducing after getting thrown into the rotation -- why not the Brewers?

Ben Sheets is like the lobster at a high-class 5-star restaurant. Jeff Suppan is like the bad shrimp at Red Lobster that gives you food poisoning and makes you quesy for weeks.

Here's where Prince stands on the basic fielding stats this year (they aren't very good, I know, but I couldn't seem to find the more advanced stats anywhere): Fielding Percentage: .986 (only Joey Votto and Rich Aurilia are worse) Range Factor: 9.55 (14th of 29 qualified) Zone Rating: .765 (next to last, only Adam LaRoche is worse) Last year's numbers: FP: .989 (only Conor Jackson was worse) RF: 8.49 (worst of anyone that qualified) ZR: .813 (Carlos Pena, Ryan Howard, Dmitri Young, and Richie Sexson were worse)

Ned didn't throw this one away as much as really, really bad defense did.

McLouth looks like David Eckstein with Craig Wilson's mullet. Edit: J.J. looks like he wants to strangle everyone in the infield around him. That makes two plays he should've had that were screwed up by someone else.

Uhm...somebody tell Bill that Cameron's not the tying run here. 2+3 doesn't equal 6.

In general, I don't think Wisconsin sports fans tolerate players complaining about their contracts and then following up the complaints with a slow start. I still think he's a very good player, but he's been incredibly frustrating to watch on this road trip.

It's next to impossible to get a road sweep when you're counting on Dave Bush to win the third game.