Klements Bratwurst

What Brian scooped Buster Olney on this one???? Way to go!

"Why would you send someone with a high walk rate to the bullpen? That is the last place you would want someone who walks a lot of batters to be. " Long relief role, possibly, work in low leverage situations. It would either be Swindell or Parra. Parra does have short periods of brillance where he strikes out the side, etc. Conversely, he can walk the bases full. Parra might be also used to cover a few innings late in the games if Stetter isn't available. He might benefit staying with the big club under the current coaching, versus getting sent down. Just a thought.

Parra to the bullpen......pitcher "x" to the rotation??? Hmmmm.

Ennder, I am very concerned about the starting rotation and it relates to its youth. Gallardo has only thrown 134 innings in the bigs. Couple that with the Parra running out of gas like he did in the late second half, I just don't know that they have the horses to be better than last year as the year runs down. Basically if we didn't have Sabathia last year, the club wouldn't have got into the playoffs. He was an absolute stopper. At the end of last year, I yearned for Craig Counsell to play 3B because Hall absolutely didn't have it. Now we have Hall and Lamb at 3B, at a premium power position. At 2B we still have"wait until this year" Rickie Weeks. I am a Rickie Weeks fan and supporter, but we still haven't seen enough consistency yet for what we would expect of such a highly thought of #2 overall pick. Our outfield is better than most in MLB, if Corey Hart does find his 2007 - 2008 (until the All Star Break) form. If he has been figured out by MLB pitching, we will have a hole there being filled by Trot Nixon on a part time basis again at another premium offensive position. So the big question marks I have reside in the starting rotation, 3B, 2B, and maybe RF. I just don't see this team as playoff calibur minus Sabathia and a healthy Sheets. Gallardo is a plus for sure, but will he be a plus in late August and September? The way I see this 2009 team making the playoffs, is if they mash there way there, with Weeks finally realizing the potential he has, and Hall at least getting back to the midpoint of his 2005-2006 form. With that said, if these things happen we may score 850 plus runs and pummel the division and make the playoffs. I just don't see that happening. I would LOVE to be wrong!!!

79-83 I am concerned on the strength of the starting rotation as it pertains to its youth. I could see the Brewers being competitive through and past the all-star break, but then when the dog days of August come around, the young anchors of the rotation will get tired and like last years results with Parra, we will have to worry about the same with not only Manny again, but Yo as these guys just don't have the innings built up on their arms. They could swing a trade to add another starter at that point, but it is tough to predict that now. If Suppan has periods where he gets rocked relentlessly all the way to the DL with "arm soreness" that could be three starters (Gallardo, Parra, Suppan) that might be in trouble for the stretch drive. The only way I see this team getting to the playoffs, is players like Weeks, Hall, and Hart having much better years, and the main offensive core in Fielder and Braun do what they do- mash the ball. I also think Dave Bush needs to be a "Ryan Dempster" surprise and become a defacto #1a or #2 starter to take the heat off of a young Gallardo. Also in the back of my mind is that terrible month long offensive slump that the team had down the stretch again. Sorry to be a bit pessimistic, but hey, we do have a very nice bullpen!!!

I love the MLB Extra Innings. I did get it for the first time last summer at the All-Star Break at the half season rate of $129, I believe. I had to work hard on my wife to allow me to get it as it would mean many late nights in front of the TV in the summer, and she relented based on my sell job of "hey this is the Brewers first serious run at the playoffs in 27 years" bit and viola, I had Extra Innings!! I decided to wait last year to see how the season would play out to determine whether or not the Brewers would be in playoff position to make buying the package even more enjoyable and so I bought it at the All-Star Break. I thought it would be tough to buy the package at the beginning of the season, and then if they blew what was an awesome chance at making the playoffs in 2008, it would be real tough watching the Cubs and Cards battle for the title while the Brewers languished in 4th place or something like that. This season, I think though, I am all in. Just another option that they do offer the half year rate (discounted from the full season a bit) if you don't want to committ right away.

Trot Nixon to become the 2009 version of the 2008 Gabe Kapler comeback player of the year??? Any lefthanded bat with a pulse please sign up.

Best sporting event I have ever attended. I thought the stands were going to collapse when Braun homered. Best yet, it was against the Cubs. It could have been against the Padres, Pirates, or Rockies, et al, but to make it even more perfect, it was against the CUBS! I ended up taking home a pocket full of gold and blue confetti. My three year old son and almost 2 yr old daughter had a blast with catching it and stuffing it my pockets!!! Something I will always remember!!!! I hope this win helps the team play a little more loose. I think the pundits will have them as the underdogs, so go out and shock the world!!!

Best sporting event I have ever attended. I thought the stands were going to collapse when Braun homered. Best yet, it was against the Cubs. It could have been against the Padres, Pirates, or Rockies, et al, but to make it even more perfect, it was against the CUBS! I ended up taking home a pocket full of gold and blue confetti. My three year old son and almost 2 yr old daughter had a blast with catching it and stuffing it my pockets!!! Something I will always remember!!!! I hope this win helps the team play a little more loose. I think the pundits will have them as the underdogs, so go out and shock the world!!!

Does anyone here think that Dale Sveum might actually be the brains behind the dugout operation? I mean, Yount quit on Ned. Sveum backed Ned up last year, and then got "reassigned" to third base coach because they brought in Ted Simmons who was Ned's mentor and also someone who has never managed a game in his life. Ned was still able to control the dugout. Do you think Sveum bucked Ned too much in that he maybe got himself reassigned out of the dugout? Do you think the players had any buy in as to who is the proper person to take over? (Braun, Fielder, Hardy, Hart)? I don't think I believe this, but I do wonder why Sveum got the call and not Teddy.

I can't believe it. Never thought this would happen with just 12 games left in the season. Again, I think this creates problems though, what if they make the playoffs, and do well. Does Sveum become the next manager? I think we are really in uncharted territory here. I wonder if there is some behind the scenes stuff that happened over the weekend to really made this move happen. Or is it just Attanasio has an itchy trigger finger? I mean, Yost did have a terrible weekend managing the team (probably his worst all season) but I am not sure this gets the Brewers over the top. I am glad Ned isn't managing anymore, but I find it funny that Simmons wasn't named the Manager but rather an "advisor". It is like they both are guilty of something......outside of the 3-11 record here in September. Ned does have a record of 2nd half collapses.....

How many clean up hitters in Major League Baseball, especially those in the middle of a playoff race go almost a month without hitting a homerun? I believe it is this Wednesday or Thursday the date from one month ago that marks the mighty Prince's last HR. That is completely unacceptable. Oh, and last year he could at least have a prayer against lefties, now he is an automatic ground ball out to second base. Now, if he gets going, I can think of no better time than NOW for him to go on a Prince Fielder tear that he has done before, but this long streak of "suckiness" coupled with that terrible string he had on the road trip earlier this summer (Atlanta, Minnesota, and Arizona) is awful for any clean up hitter. Prince should have taken the deal the Brewers offered, because he may be a Mo Vaughn in a few years, breaking down before he breaks the bank.

As Naivin said, there are alot of outs to get amongst a bunch of sub par relievers. I think though that the guy that will get those outs is Yovanni Gallardo. I think as we have read on the Gallardo thread, that he is really getting close with his pitch count (50-60 pitches in simulated games) and hopefully also his leg strength so that he can come in and get 3-4 outs in high leverage situations 3-4 times per week, and hopefully in the playoffs. It is still only September 8th, he has time to prove he is strong enough to get back to help the big club down the most important stretch of the season. I honestly believe that Melvin is being coy about this (with his long shot at best comments about Gallardo), but considering that he has all of his chips on the table, I think the Gallardo chip has to be played, if he is ready. Other than that, I vote that Riske and Gagne pitch in those 8-3 games and hope we are winning those and that they are more frequent in occurrence that the tight 2-1 games where these two have been giving up gopher balls with regularity.

How does the second round work then? I forgot. If the Cubs get ousted by say the Diamondbacks, and the Brewers beat the Mets/Phillies who gets the home field advantage in the League Championship Series?

Option #1= If they are going to sign CC, then they are probably just going to keep the money without the refund Option #2= They offer you to let them keep the money on a deposit for next season's ticket package, possibly with some incentive to do so.Option #3= They can refund it to you in full, less the Shipping and Handling fee at some predetermined date in the future.

Wait, I just turned the game off after 5 innings with little hope. Do some work around the office and then check in here to see about Braun being in the Brewers line up. Then I read it is 6-4 Nats! I bet Ronnie is having a breakdown today!

Will Bill Hall remember that he is supposed to hit lefties well? I don't know how many 0-4's with 4k's I can take with him lately.

Since Bill Hall's second homer of the St. Louis Cardinals series on July 22nd, Bill Hall is 8 for 55 (.145 Avg) with 1 double and 5 RBI's. Ugh. We need help at third!

Bottom line, I suppose they probably want to make it appear that Ned has 5 guys on the bench to use (say Rivera, Counsell, Nix, Durham and Braun) versus saying that Braun is out completely. This makes Coop's job a bit tougher when planning pitching changes in late inning situations if he even thinks Braun could come out of the dugout to face that lefty that he might want to put in the game in that late inning situation, etc. This could/would only work for a couple of days before the other teams realize that Braun just isn't going to play. My pessimistic side says a DL stint is coming because it didn't heal with the six or so days off.....

For what its worth, Ned said this morning on WTMJ that Braun felt his muscles tighten again a bit (as discussed) but with the game going as it was with the Brewers leading 7-2 at the time, he decided he didn't want to risk anything. So he was basically saying that yes he felt discomfort, but reading through the lines, Yost would have kept him in there if the game was an important and close game with pennant implications. I still think this is a Brewers smoke screen in that, Braun reinjured it, and has taken a few steps back. However, as with most injuries, they are trying to make his availability unknown to their opponents if in fact they decide not to DL him again. I am afraid though we are going to lose our Albert Pujols for a portion of the stretch drive.....

Gord Ash on WTMJ said this morning that Yo has been cleared to start throwing off the mound by Dr. Raasch. The problem for getting Yo into game shape is that the minor league season will be ending soon and by the time he is ready to get into games, they might have to search around and find somewhere for him to pitch if at all possible. I imagine though, if they felt they could get him back and he could be productive either in a bullpen role or something, they will find some bush league somewhere to get him some action.

TLB, It surely sounded that Wainright was going to the pen. The Cards have something like 27 blown saves and I believe are on pace to be close to set the MLB record. I believe the record is somewhere in the mid 30's for blown saves. WOW! It is just amazing what has happened to Isringhausen. It is close to Turnbow'esque.

Here are the updated stats for the "bullpen abuse metric" (LOL). Ned still has the Crew ranked second lowest in bullpen innings thrown. The Cards relievers have thrown 44.2 more innings than that of the Brewer relievers. When I was watching the Cards game last night on the MLB ticket, they were saying that Adam Wainright might well be ticketed for the closers role when he comes back off the DL soon. A fresh arm out there might very well help them, and maybe stop the bleeding of them blowing games late with the combination of Franklin and Izzy. Regarding the Cubs, Marmol hasn't pitched enough lately to implode. It might be getting late for that one. The Cubs can't score 11 runs a game every day, can they? Team Aggregate Stats: 2008 RK TEAM GP W L ERA Sv CG SHO IP H ER R BB SO BAA 1 Pittsburgh 112 25 19 4.50 25 0 0 404.1 416 202 210 180 284 .267 2 Florida 114 23 16 3.72 24 0 0 390.0 347 161 179 192 334 .236 3 Cincinnati 115 16 14 3.51 22 0 0 381.2 377 149 172 151 341 .257 4 San Diego 112 15 25 4.43 24 0 0 380.0 398 187 202 149 300 .271 5 Washington 111 19 20 4.16 19 0 0 374.1 345 173 186 171 311 .247 6 Atlanta 112 12 18 3.86 15 0 0 372.2 327 160 187 156 306 .236 7 St. Louis 114 19 24 4.22 31 0 0 370.2 384 174 182 177 274 .269 8 Colorado 112 14 18 4.24 25 0 0 369.1 365 174 193 143 298 .260 9 Houston 113 19 22 4.09 31 0 0 365.1 349 166 181 144 287 .251 10 LA Dodgers 109 21 14 3.06 24 0 0 364.2 324 124 136 124 341 .238 RK TEAM GP W L ERA Sv CG SHO IP H ER R BB SO BAA 11 NY Mets 112 16 18 4.23 28 0 0 357.2 339 168 188 141 300 .249 12 Chicago Cubs 114 21 16 3.96 33 0 0 349.2 326 154 170 126 335 .246 13 San Francisco 112 14 23 4.26 32 0 0 348.2 342 165 189 159 290 .257 14 Philadelphia 111 25 15 3.18 32 0 0 334.1 310 118 133 155 277 .247 15 Milwaukee 109 21 16 4.00 38 0 0 326.0 309 145 165 154 270 .250 16 Arizona 110 10 18 3.98 27 0 0 323.0 307 143 159 117 271 .249 (cleaned up code --1992)

Tuesday: Section 207, Row 2, Seats 8-12 (Usual 9-Pack seats) Go Brewers!

Last year we sat through an agonizing loss to the Cubs. While the game was close for awhile, the Cubs broke it open and never looked back. I had my 9-pack season ticket Brewer fan "friends" around us that did come to the game. However in the few spotty seats that seem to change hands during the season for our rivals pack, low and behold Cub fans bought the seats. Anyway, I have seats with my inlaws, wife, son (2 at the time), and infant daughter. We are ALWAYS decked out in Brewer gear, including my daughter with a Brewers bib and all. After the Cubs took the lead, the Cubs fan (probably mid 20's) found it funny to turn around and say at least once per inning to my infant daughter "Sorry baby".....while waving his hand goodbye within inches of my daughter's face. I have complete and total disdain for anyone wearing that ridiculous "C" on their hat that should stand for "Can't win it all even in 100 years", that Prior/Sosa jersey, the stupid annoying idiot Ronnie Woo Woo. What the heck is that guys problem anyway? I did feel though from watching the game at home last night, that the Brewers did have the overwhelming majority of fans there last night for game one. When JJ and Braun went back to back it was much, much, much more louder than when the Cubs did anything.