pebadger

Horrible. Just horrible. Why does that always happen to Torres? And Schroeder is right. It seems like every time the Brewers play the Twins their lack of fundmentally sound play is highlighted by the fact that the Twins are usually very sound. If the Brewers can beat Nathan I'll be very pleasantly surprised.

Nice work by Shouse and Torres. That could have gotten ugly.

I love Braunie, but that was a terrible decision.

Honestly, at how many posiyion are the Brewers better than the Twins?

Galactica starts in 3 minutes.

As the old voice used to say: Now get some runs!

I've been flipping back and forth between this and Tiger Woods, and I can honestly say I'm glad that I at least had that alternative to see excellence at work.

Sorry if this isn't the right place for this thread. I've seen it recommended that people traveling to MP from the Cities or northern Wisconsin take WI 29 to Green Bay, then I-43 to Milwaukee due to the I39/90/94 closures. That route will work fine, but as of now a faster, still open route is to take WI29 to Wausau, I39/US51 south to Stevens Point, US10 east towoards teh Appleton/Oskosh area and then US 41 down to Milwaukee. A much faster route than going via Green Bay. It is possible that US41 may experience a closure yet this weekend, but any detour there will probably be very localized in nature and still a much quicker experience than going all the way over to Green Bay. Anyway, for those not aware of the road closure situation, please budget extra time for the trip and call ahead if you have other plans beside the game on your travels through southern Wisconsin.

The whole piece was designed around the last sentence. Everything else was just putting together a reason to beleive in the Cubs, by dismissing everyone else. The validity and/or strength of each of the assertions regarding the others is kind of irrelevant for that purpose.

Every time a non-Cubs fan has to listen to one of Santo's insufferably pathetic and homerish "Yes"'s in to background of Pat Hughes' call of yet another improbable play in favor of the Cubs, he must invariably be pushed just a bit further away from subscribing to the RLuz theory. Note: I respect Santo as a person and sympathize with his medical battles, but I'd be embarrased by by that level of homerism in the broadcast tandem of any team I pull for. He makes Larry McCarren seem like a Vikings fan by comparison.

I think people around town, when they see Mota out and about, should cheerfully greet him as "Eighth Inning Guy".

Thanks, Dinky Park! Yeah it's probably a HR lots, and even most, places but something about that didn't look quite right.

That was perilously close to being another Gallardo-type incident. CV had a lot of weight on that front ankle and knee.

Don't you kinda wish this was a Cubs game though? On a note related to an above post, I think John Jacob Astor had a butler named Winky.

If that's a strike the NBA is the best officiated league in sports.

Well, there's no such thing as a missed opportunity against Roy Oswalt, so if you're thinking of last night it doesn't count. Gotta fins a way to get this thing done, though. Note for the record: a gut punch tonight probably (at this point) lands a certain team from Wisconsin 8.5 GB.

This game will end with a giant exhale. The only question is whether it will be one of relief, or due to being kicked square in the nuts.

This is gonna be a home run! I don't believe what I just saw! OK, maybe not THAT dramatic.

Was the Yo camped out by the Double Bubble bucket? Looked like he had a a pretty big chaw of gum in his mouth.

Looks like someone finally told the Brewers that it was Brandon Backe on the mound.

Well, given their current road status, a .500 trip would feel like a winning trip, despite the nagging feeling that it should have been better. For a kind of non-descript Wednesday game, this one seems like it could be importnat, if you beleive in momentum and all that. Of courtse, anyone who had been around the Brewers the past couple years probably pooh-poohs the idea of momentum, at least in terms of the positive variety.

Wow. Chad Fox on the DL?

I never said Cooper's move to put Braun on was tactically impeccable, though it is at least defensible in terms of bypassing the opponent's best hitter to get to the team's co-leader in GIDP, and then some K-machines. As quick as the whole thing happened it appears that the predesignated gameplan was to stay away from Braun and go after Fielder in those types of situations (RISP, less than 2 out) anyway. Cooper increased the probability that the Brewers would score more than one run, but he also increased they probability that they would score zero. Yost put a guy on base just to show that he would put a guy on base. Since he did it with two outs, he automatically extended the inning. The only thing Yost did was increase the odds Houston would score more than one run.

To clarify the plunking situation, provided you beleive that neither plunking was accidental: Cooper was going to put Braun on regardless. Braun can turn even a bad pitch into trouble, so they didn't want to mess around trying to pitch around him. At that point it's IBB or HBP. It's clear that Braun rubs some folks the wrong way. I think they figured plunking him sent a message on that score, and saved three pitches to boot. Double play thus set up. Fielder is coming to the plate in any situation, save Braun lining into a DP. Yost had Tejada hit not for any tactical reason. He did it to make a point. He thought he was being smart doing it with 2 out and none on, and he was doing it 'immediately' so as to get the issue out of the way and show that the plunking of his guy wouldn't be tolerated. Problem was, it extaended the inning and brought Berkman to the plate. He didn't want to wait to plunk Berkman to start the next inning because in that case he'd be putting the leadoff guy on. Big difference in thinking. Coop got to make a point without any impact on his tactical management of the inning. Yost made a point at the expense of the tactical management of the inning. You tell me which is smarter. I could be completely off in this guess as to what was going on, but I invite alternative explanations which accept the basic premise that neither plunk was an accident. Other than that, I didn't have a big problem with Tavarez in the 7th. Maybe not the optimal choice, but he's been pretty good for the Crew so far, and this was a game in which the players lack of execution is the overriding factor in the loss. Tonight was not a Yosting, but it did provide some more food for thought in terms of trying to figure out if Yost's thought processes are even worth figuring out.

I complained about the Tavarez signing, but he has been fun to watch so far.