pebadger

If the no-hitter is still intact in the 9th, RR has to bat Weeks and Hart 1/2 in the 9th, doesn't he?

I don't necessarily think they had to pull Marco there, but nobody did anything to interrupt the flow of what was going on there. Just a quick visit to the mound (Kottaras, Kranitz, RR) might have made a difference there. Something to just let Marco catch his breath after two quick baserunners.

Everybody from Brian and Rock on down saw that coming. Everyone from Brian and Rock on up either didn't or just ignored it. Not sure which of those two is worse.

I've think I've seen this one before. I'll try not to post any spoilers.

Out-there prediction: Braun will get a hit, put Brewers in the lead. Rolen will make contact, Reds take the win.

Joey Votto could have a stroke and he'd still be a better hitter than Izturis.

I never thought this would be the case having grown up watching AL baseball, but since the Brewers moved to the NL I've swung so far to the side of disliking the DH rule that I would be mildly upset if MLB imposes the rule on both leagues. I think it's coming, there's nothing I can do about it and I' sure I'll adapt, but it will only be grudgingly.

I used to watch NASCAR just for the crashes. Now I watch the Brewers.

If this has to happen, I think it would be more humane for it to be quickly and with Veras to blame.

I just hope George doesn't watch good pitches go by like he has in some recent big ABs.

I'm right there with you. Not to take this too far afield, but it is an interesting question where you draw the line in terms of what is the difference between medical treatment and "performance enhancement". In a very real sense, everything a team training and medical staff does is aimed at performance enhancement. There are plenty of substances that people are prescribed every day for the treatment of legitimate medical conditions that athletes cannot use without without getting the regulators to at least raise their eyebrows when a request for a therapeutic use exemption is filed. There isn't a lot of argument out there in the public regarding the undesirability of the use of things like HGH and the whole gamut of steroids, but what point does doing something to help you recover from an actual injury become too much help, so that it is seen as unfair performance enhancement? There has been serious discussion at WADA and elsewhere about outlawing the use of hyperbaric chambers and other equipment as being performance enhancing, especially in terms of regulating endurance-sport athletes, at least in part because it was considered unfair that certain athletes may have access to treatments and techonolgies that other do not. If you are an insomniac, is taking a sleep aid a performance enhancer? Does it matter the cause(s) of your insomnia, or that it's not a "real" injury like a pulled quad or strained oblique? At what point does simple fatigue turn into exhaustion, and at what point, if any, is anything like that considered an "injury" for which treatment other than simple rest will not be considered an attempt at gaining an unfair advantage? We know players can't use "greenies" anymore (though strictly speaking they are not regulated as PEDs), but I'm very confident guys are trying all sorts of non-drug/supplement/voodoo solutions to help them through the 162 grind. Some of these questions/answers are simple, so only apparently simple and others not so simple at all.

Quintana? I didn't think he rolled until next Wednesday.

At this point I will be happy if the Brewers manage to finish ahead of the Pirates.

It's games like this that led Paul Simon to pen the immortal lyrics 'Where have you gone Takashi Saito? Brewer Nation turns its lonely eyes to you."

The next time anybody says luck has nothing to do with outcomes, just look at the results of the two-out doubles in each half of this inning.

I'm OK with the Brewers not getting that call, so long as it's called that way 100% of the time in every other MLB game this season. I'm completely sure that will be the case going forward.

I would have liked to see ZG out there, too, but at some point this season if the Brewers really are going to try to get back into the thick of the fight, Axford is going to need to get on a positive roll again. So while the decision may not have been great, the outcome for Ax was about as good as can be in both the short term and hopefully in the longer-term.

Whew. I was worried Corey was going to rip his groin in half there.

What we need now is 13 more runs.

If things don't work out this won't be a gut-punch loss like those in KC and he finale in Minnesota, but this is also a game this team needs to find a way to win if they want to be taken even halfway seriously about still having aspirations for a big second half.

Aram really can't run.

I miss hating the White Sox with every fiber of my being.

The only official public announcement regarding this case was the one that announced Braun would not be suspended. Other than that we have a leak by someone who we can only assume had an agenda in leaking the allegation to ESPN. Despite the widely circulated story about a "technicality" related to the transport/storage/chain-of-custody protocols, we don't know the reasons for why Braun was not suspended. We don't know which substance Braun is alleged to have taken. We don't know the positivity criteria for the test he was alleged to have failed. We haven't read a single word of testimony from the arbitration hearing. We don't know anything about the particular facts of the case in terms of official announcement, other than the fact that Braun is not serving a suspension. EVERYTHING else, other than Braun's own post-award statement, has been spin and speculation regarding continued leaks (from both sides). While we don't know anything about the facts, we do know a lot about the process. We do know how slanted it is in favor of MLB/the testers. We do know that they have made awful mistakes in the past (see Modahl, Taurasi, for starters). We do know that even when everybody involved in a case fully acknowleges that a violation was not only completely unintentional, and by later standards would not even be a violation, that WADA still feels the need to continue to punish people after the fact even when the violation did not result in any unfairness in competition (see Zach Lund). We do know that MLB and the union are burying everything with regard to this case, even to the extent of preventing an written decision from ever being drafted. We do know that a highly respected arbitrator got fired by MLB after ruling against MLB. We do know that despite not being the party who produced or controlled the only relevant evidence in the case, Braun was the party who carried the burden of proving a negative in a case with about as low a standard of proof for the "prosecution" as can exist in teh world of law and logic. Given all the above, if someone can't give the guy at least the public benefit of the doubt, I'd like to know exactly what it would take to convince that someone to at least CONSIDER that there might be more to this story than just another cheater being caught and unable to admit it.

Not as good a hoofer as Donald Driver.

I try hard not to be a woulda/coulda/shoulda guy. Though you often hear the cliche "You are what your record says you are" thrown around in NFL discussion, I think it probably is much more apt in terms of baseball. Nonetheless, I can't help but feel just a little that this team could be sitting at about 36-33 right now. If there is any consolation in the fact that they aren't it's that the reasons they aren't are pretty plain to see, and we aren't left scratching our heads about a whole lot. Maybe the coming road trip will be a turning point, but then we've been saying that since about the third week of the season.