pebadger

The best case scenario for this thread, if not for the Crew, if for this game to now go 22 innings as a 1-1 tie.

Cue Yakety-Sax

If this guy throws a no-hitter tonight I will not post in another IGT until after the AS Break at the earliest. And yes, I fully realize that half of you are now actively rooting for the no-no.

We're on pace for a sub-2 hour game against this guy. Impressive.

At least the perfect game is off the table.

Dear Crew, My social and business calendar is filling up quickly this summer. If you want to keep your daiyl spot in the rotation, this road trip is the time to take positive steps to make it happen.

When you look at the runs given up in the first 4 games of this homestand, and then factor in the offensive prowess of the competition, there is nothing that you can even really feel remotely confident about with this team right now. LA was a mirage.

What's the difference?

My advice to you is to start drinking heavily. Listen to me, I'm in pre-med.

Isn't the bunter supposed to hit second?

It 's getting to the point where an uneventful day is going to bring the questions: "Nobody? Seriously?" There was a very interesting (and surprising) piece by Jayson Stark earlier this week at espn.com about the MLB-wide injury situation. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/page/rumblings120601/mlb-season-altering-injuries-just-keep-coming

Breaking News: Brooks Conrad now has an OPS of .210.

I really dislike the exclusive national window for FOX. As a whole you have to think MLB is losing viewers rather than gaining them on a night where people's viewing options are Stanley Cup Finals, NBA Conference Finals, and Yanks/Tigers. I'd be watching the Brewers tonight. Now I won't be watching any baseball at all.

Tonight's fun fact: Before tonight, the Pirates had scored 6 runs in a game only 4 times in 50 games. The Brewers scored 6 four times in the last 8 days.

Wolf is going to ask for a personal CF as well as C after tonight.

Just in terms of 'momentum', at least from a fan's point of view, tonight is a big game. Keep the train rolling in the right direction. Put the team in position to win another series. Do both of those things in spite of the tough turnaround. If they hit like they did in LA it would be astonishing if they didn't win the series (with a good shot at another sweep). I don't think they can count on that kind of offensive output, but anything they can do to keep things moving in a positive direction helps. If they don't hit and still win a game or two like they have so often against the Pirates in recent years, that may be an even bigger help. Long season, opportunities remain, but some opportunities are better than others and these next few weeks qualify.

I'd imagine Braun will get an AB tonight if/when he's needed. Let's just hope it's not in the 8th inning of a 14 inning game. I wish MLB/MLBPA would step in and mandate some scheduling tweaks with get-away days. I'm guessing the Pirates are already in Milwaukee while the Brewers won't even touch down until after sunrise tomorrow.

Actually it did dawn on me. While I haven't attacked any specific comments or posters (in fact I was speaking more generally to the tone and implications of the comments), you seem to have found it necessary to attack me. Yep, pro athletes are people with the same problems and flaws and feelings and needs as any other. Maybe that's why I choose to come down on the side of thinking that, just as in the case of every other human being who isn't a public figure, maybe it's more fair to refrain from gossip than it is to take the general flaws of humanity and project them onto a single person in the context of a single event. The fictional Dr. House is right - Everyone lies. I just don't take that and turn it into the position that we can then publicly presume that everyone lies about whatever thing in particular we decide they're lying about. Given even the limited facts we have any intelligent person can create very tidy, reasonable speculation. That fact that it's intelligent and tidy and reasonable lends it a certain comfortable weight but it does not make it anything more than what it is: speculation. Voicing that intelligent, tidy and reasonable thought because it's comfortable doesn't change the fact that it's conjecture. I don't know of a reasonably self-aware person who wouldn't see these same doubting comments (and the implications contained in a few) as being personal in nature if they were to be directed at him. Again, people should feel free to speculate as they see fit, just as I feel free to voice the opinion that it some cases it just might be unfair.

It's fine to have questions. It's another thing to invent scenarios. I don't know what happened. I can think all the things I want. I can even post them or say them out loud. But there is a line, and some of the things I've read and heard in various places (and I'm not just talking about Brewerfan.net) seem to me to be crossing the line. It's even fine to cross that line, wherever that line is. Just don't be annoyed if someone in turn calls out comments as perhaps crossing that line. I haven't named any names or specific comments. Just putting it out there that sometimes speculation simply isn't fair, and it certainly shouldn't be passed off as idle, impersonal banter because it's more than that. I've known guys who have broken their hands before and who didn't know it was broken. You can get hit on the back of your hand and have it be sore and swollen and then in a day or so it's not a big problem anymore. Luc has probably had his hands beat up plenty and played through it. It's a rare professional catcher on any level who hasn't. He may well have gotten hurt, thought he could deal with it like all the other times he's gotten hurt and then he couldn't go. It would be just as easy for him to be reticent to say anything about getting hurt in some stupid, innocent accident as it would about any other way of getting hurt. It's just as easy to believe that a guy who has been banged up before wouldn't necessarily know his hand was broken if he's dealt with worse that hasn't been a break. I don't know what happened. Maybe it all happened the way it's been presented, maybe it didn't. But to characterize the explanation as a "story" in the sense that it's simply a construct for public consumption just bothers me, even more so when people then turn around and use that characterization as an excuse to construct their own "stories". But then I once hit my wife in the head with a hammer (a glancing blow to the scalp, but it drew blood and an ER visit) while we were demolishing our first kitchen. She came around the corner and walked right into my followthrough. You're scared and feel awful, and then you have to deal with a bunch of people who are wondering if what really happened is all just a "story". I can deal with the fact that quite often you don't know what to believe. What I don't much like is that fact that it seems like a lot of people don't even WANT to believe.

From what I gather a portion of the fanbase believes Luc is a liar with an anger management problem. People are free to hold their own opinions. Just don't say that these assertions aren't personal attacks on the guy, because they are.

If only the Brewers could play the Cubs and Dodgers all the time . . . 8-3 vs them, 12-25 against everybody else.

After legging out the bunt, let's see if George can make it across all 8 lanes of traffic just outside Dodger Stadium.

I'm just happy Marcum didn't pull something fielding that. This is how Brewer victories are measured at present.

Any chance they could get a courtesy runner for George?

Those happened this season? Yeah, I know they did, and I actually remember them specifically now that you brought them up. I knew there were walkoffs in there, but for me at least, as exciting as they were, the overwhelming bad juju that's hovering over this season seems to be obscuring the good stuff. Trying very hard to stay psotive.