pebadger

Me too, endaround.

Well, he got the mandatory HR out of the way early. From here on it's smooth sailing.

Any thoughts as to whether this is going to be a "wait-'till-the deadline" situation? Obviously the answer depends on the home-heavy June results, and, to an extent, on what happens injury-wise for teams we know will be buyers/contenders. I'd really like for the Brewers to extend him, but I just don't see how they can't trade him if they don't, even if they rebound to within 2-3 games by the deadline. Just too much value there to end up with nothing, though any playoff chances without him are drastically reduced, there are just too many other variables to consider in that equation than a guy who pitches once every 4-5 days down the stretch.

4-6 >>>> 3-7 Three series wins on the homestand = .500

If Weeks comes through here ( and Torres is not undone by an infield hit, an error and failure to turn a DP), we all need to send blue a big thank you note.

Gabe Kapler is the non-Braun MVP.

In a completely non-partisan mode, who is more fun to watch run: Prince or Dmitri?

I love the smell of desperation in the morning. Smells like . . . victory. Is this some twisted attempt to recreate the Zambrano/Barrett dynamic from last season? I could be way off here, but to the extent that chemistry has anything to do with the results of a season, I don't see how this helps one bit. I still beleive the core group has it in them to pull themselves closer together and possibly outplay their talent situation. (Whether this is enough to meet the pre-Gallardo injury expectations is another question). But unless this guy comes in and is immediately lights out in multiple consecutive appearances, even with no immediate obvious or dramatic problems with his teammates I don't know how this is anything other than subtraction by addition.

http://media.scout.com/media/forums/emoticons/banghead.gif

The Brewers are no longer in the basement, thanks to the Reds stinking even more than the Brewers right now. Coco blows a save, the entire pitching staff gets burned up and an error extends the game so that boy-wonder VOlquez faces one batter too many in an 18-inning loss which they led twice after the ninth. Things are looking up.

If this team loses tomorrow with Sheets on the hill, in front of all the suits, and Yost doesn't get the ax, the probability that Yost will not get the ax until after the season increases greatly.

Back in the cellar again. And the Reds just scored in SD, so it may be outright before the bottom of the hour.

Brewers have played games against 12 teams: their overall season series record 6 - 5 - 1. Cubs have played games against 11: their overal season series record 4 - 4 - 3. You don't always have to be great, but when you're not you should at least not stink.

Hart. Let him go and we may as well bring back Wendy, Laurel and Sal. Depending on the deal that can be negotiated, Weeks. Gallardo, but not until the medical is sorted out. Everyone else on the current big league roster should be internally considered to be available on the trade market immediately, with a list of targeted-acquisition players prepared (and subject to change depending on the results of the draft). If someone wants to overpay for Weeks, he can go, too. Nobody wants to waive the white flag early, and I'm not suggesting that it is yet time for the Brewers to do so. But they should be fully prepared to do so so as to get into action at the most opportune time. Edit: By everyone, I mean everyone not named 'Ryan Braun'

The first 9 of those 18 are against Atlanta, Houston and Arizona, which are all at least +4 over .500 and a combined 20 games above .500 overall. If the Brewers go 4-5 I'm sure we'll hear again how the schedule has been brutal. I'm starting to think the schedule only looks brutal, because when you are bad *everyone* will have a better record than you. I think the 'key stretch', such as any strech can be identified in 162 game season, started on May 2. The Brewers could have handled Houston. They failed miserably. They failed miserably in Florida. May 14 against the Dodgers presented an opportunity to win a series and they failed miserably. The next day Sheets pitches great for 6 innings, gets no support, and then one disastrous inning turns that series into a loss. The last two days proved the first two days in Pittsburgh to be a mirage. Simplistically stated, most of the difference between the Cubs and Brewers right now in the standings is the Cubs record against the Pirates. But that characterization is exactly that: simplistic. It's a long season and you have to win games consistently. Against everyone else other than the Pirates the Cubs are still above .500 because they maintain a certain level of consistency in theri play. The only seeming consistency the Brewers have generated thus far is negative. Maybe the Brewers bats somehow come alive at MP and go they 8-1 on the homestand. That would be great, but even then I still won't be convinced that the Brewers are much different than the Reds a couple of season ago until the pitching can maintain a level of improvement into August.

Weather figures to be nice this weekend. I'm taking a personal time out from this team until at least the homestand. Simply not worth the aggravation. Not giving up yet, but the fact that the thought of maybe giving up on the season arose before Memorial Day tends to reinforce the nagging suspicion that this team is a lot closer to the bottom of the league than the top.

Some might say that as he matures his defense won't matter to the Angels, Sox and Yankees.

If Ned is always looking to get the bench guys ABs, why didn't Counsell lead off the inning? The only way it's a problem is if the game goes extras.

Barring an unlikely comeback, this is the kind of game, even more than the gut-punches, that costs teams divisions and wildcards. Not the loss itself, per se, but the direct evidence that this provides in terms of what ails this team all too often.

When Houston blew their chance at the Cubs on Monday night, Marmol shut down a rally by never throwing a strike. Funny how that works for certain guys. John Franco never threw a strike in his life, either.

Wow. You can take out a pitcher when it just looks like something bad might happen?

It is kind of interesting how quickly there has gotten to be a not-at-all subtle anti-Prince vibe in the fan base. And it's not just a vibe that is native to this forum.

Prince makes the catch to end the inning.

That's my fault. I jinxed that.

If Manny gets another shafting after another excellent start, I may puke.