My Summer of Baseball

Back to the Ballpark

The Brewers are back home for the final week of regular season baseball. And I'm finally back from The Worst Flu Ever.

Heading to the ballpark tonight, I find myself:
a) excited, despite the bad September, to see my team play again.
b) rooting, unexpectedly, for the Cubs to win too.
c) sad, also, to know there are only six games left.

Can't wait for tonight.

I'm Blog-less

I'm not sure if I'm losing steam with the end of the season...
or completely demotivated by yesterday's embarrassment...
or just recovering from the exhaustion of the big move last weekend.

But I can't think of a single thing to say about the Brewers.

Except that today can't possibly as bad as yesterday.
It can't. Can it?

Hallelujah

It's about damn time. Boy did they need that. We all did. 

Can't say I enjoyed the bottom of the 9th. But I survived it. We all did.

Not a Win, But Not Terrible

Okay, I'm back. Or, at least as "back" as the Brewers are, which is to say certainly not at 100 percent, but maybe doing a little better.

Where should I start on tonight's game?
- Hate that the Mets are holding our wild card.
- Love seeing Fielder smashing the ball again.
- Hate seeing Sabathia get his first Brewers loss.
- Love seeing solid small ball from various members of the Crew.
- Have to say that overall, I don't hate seeing Sveum in the manager's spot.
- I sure love seeing Yount there in the dugout with him.
- Hate that we didn't win.
- Love that unlike many games of late, I didn't have to spend this one covering my eyes and cringing.
- And yes, I still hate the Cubs.

I'm going to go do what I hope the Brewers will do - get some sleep and try to be even closer to 100 percent tomorrow.

A Very Welcome Guest Blog

Yep, I'm still sick. Maybe even sicker than before. Thank goodness I got this note last night:

With the big news - and MSOBB being sick - I thought I'd try to do my part for the blog. Here goes. Another blog from Superfan #99.

"Ned's Very Loyal to the Players"

Yes, that's a quote from Doug Melvin. Yes, that means that Ned Yost is gone. And yes, that means that Dale Sveum is now the manager of the Brew Crew.

I have to admit that I was more than ambivalent about this move. But after watching the press conference, I'm pretty excited about what I perceive to be the "code language" that they've used.

Here's my guess as to what that means for the Brewers (a "top five," if you will).

1. Ricky Weeks and Billy Hall sit. Or have limited playing time. Ned was way too generous to them. It's time to stop being generous and start winning games. Ricky, you're no good. Billy, you bat under the Mendoza line against righties, and you're not that good against lefties. Deal with it.

2. Re: Weeks, Hall, et al. It's now Dale's "straight talk express." Sveum will be guy who finally says, "Ricky, when you make two errors, you sit." And not just to them - but to everyone else that needs to hear it. No more kid gloves for this team. It's time to grow up and win.

3. Suppan sits. And maybe Bush as well. That's right. The Phillies beat us with pitchers going on three days of rest. Ned was so fixated on his "brilliant" strategy that put CC and Ben up against certain teams (read: the Cubs) on certain dates, that he failed to maximize his starters. It's time to win every game. As many as we can before it's over. And unfortunately, that means people sit. (The failure to sit people -- pitchers and players alike -- is what ultimately led to Ned's walking papers.)

4. The bullpen. I have absolutely no idea what to do about that. Throw things. Yell. A lot. Plead. Give steroids back to Gagne. Or ask Gagne to donate way more than just $50K to the Boys and Girls club. Because they are way more deserving than he is for a single dollar he's collected from the Brewers. But seriously. The pen is broken. Not sure where to even start here.

5. Robin Yount. Also known as the "cherry on top." If I was a reporter at the press conference, I would have asked two things. First - to Doug Melvin: "Did you ask Dale if he could get Robin to be his bench coach before making him the offer?" And second - to Dale - "Does this mean that someone will finally tell Ricky Weeks that we're thinking of accepting a trade offer for half a bag of peanuts for his contract?"

But all Weeks bile aside, bringing Robin Yount (who knows most of these players from last year) back -- who knows how to win -- who knows how to provide a steady vibe in the clubhouse -- now, that's big. As in, worth making this move big. Robin in the clubhouse? I'm all for that.

Will this work? No idea. Do I like the move? More than I did before the press conference.

If it means that we stop playing with kid gloves and start making plays.....well, hindsight's always 20/20, isn't it?

Bottom line, Ned's very loyal for the players. Now it's time for the players to get it done. Only time will tell.

It's Not that I Don't Love the Team

Seriously. The lack of posts is not a sign that I've stopped loving the Brewers. (I haven't.)

Or even that I'm incredibly frustrated for and by them with the recent games. (I am.)

It's simply what I have now come to think of as The Worst Flu in History.

Can barely get out of bed, much less think of something witty to say. Back to you soon.

Curt Was Right...

...And I was wrong. There. I said it.

My friend Curt predicted that Torres was going to crack under the late season pressure. I raced to defend Torres. He stepped up when Gagne was falling down, I said. He's had some great games!

But...yeesh.

Yesterday we got totally routed, but somehow it didn't feel as bad as tonight. There was the thrill of the potential perfect game, even if it wasn't ours. There was the appetite to catch up. And there was NOT the humiliation of spending the whole game thinking we'd win, and then giving it way.

Torres gets the credit for that. That wasn't just a blown save, it was an obliterated, demolished, annihilated save. 

But Fielder, Braun and Hart have to take some knocks too. They sure could have helped...and didn't. I've stopped counting how many strike outs and pop ups we've had. I love Jason Kendall, but when we're counting on him for our home runs, the post season doesn't look promising.

We're only three games ahead of the Phillies now. Can we really play like this and hang on? Not likely.

Chasing History

Well yesterday was thrilling, but today's game was pretty painful. Getting pounded 10-1 ain't pretty...especially when it's because our pitching, fielding and batting all added up to a perfect storm of bad baseball.

That said, watching Chris Young was very cool.

I guess it might not be a popular opinion, but I love to watch somebody chasing history no matter what team they're on. Once it was clear a Brewers win wouldn't happen, I was rooting for Young.

He would have pitched just the 18th perfect game in baseball history. Now, clearly you don't want other teams making records at your own park. But how cool to see a perfect game.

And I was so totally proud of Milwaukee.

When Young finished the 8th, after Kapler's home run had killed the perfect game, Milwaukee fans jumped up and gave Young a standing ovation.

Young said in this JSonline article:

“That was really cool to see that, especially on the road...It shows what a great fan base they have here in Milwaukee. It was special. It gave me chills. . . . It shows the appreciation they have for good baseball.”

We sure do. Now if we can just have some of our OWN good baseball to watch...

It's Getting Pretty Trying Around Here

Am I the only one who notices the Attanasio-Suppan issue? When the owner's in the house, the Soup's not on.

Is everyone else disgruntled that we once again left so many guys on base tonight...and what's more, we haven't had a September win yet?

And, can we all agree that Yost needs to go throw some bats into the shower room and tell these guys they're lolligaggers?

As Hardricourt said on the JSonline blog during the fifth: "Guess they figured it was no use getting anyone on base because they don't drive them in. Why bother?"

Sarcasm aside, I'm worried. I don't think batting practice or pep talks is going to help at this stage. It's clear these guys are just trying too hard.

They need to chill out or they're going to try themselves right out of the post season. 

And the Replay is Upon Us

Last night in the Yankees-Rays game, instant replay was used for the first time to evaluate a potential home run by A-Rod.

The process apparently went off without a hitch, and as the Rays catcher said, "Sometimes it takes longer for the manager to get kicked out of the game."

I guess it's inevitable, and probably good news. But it still seems a bit of a shame.

I've mentioned before that I think there's something great about the fact that baseball can be won or lost on a human call. It keeps you guessing, and keeps things interesting.

Plus, I'm not one who likes the raw data over the emotional moment. I like that time and hopes can color what we remember, make it more vivid and more exciting.

Yesterday Pete and I were interviewed about having been to so many games - for a possible bit on the sports news sometime soon.

It was fun and very flattering. But I keep thinking - I know how I feel about this fun summer, and all I've learned, and all I've enjoyed.

What if my perception of it isn't right, though? What if on tape we sound flakey or ignorant or something?

I'm not sure I want the video evidence in some archive forever. I want to keep this summer and our experience of it in my mind, evolving it, making it even more a part of me ...even if it's less a part of what was really "real."

So, we'll see. Maybe the tape will show me just what I hope. It did for A-Rod -- the call went in his favor and lifted him to number 12 on the list of most career homers.

I guess that's the sweet spot we all hope for -- when perception and reality combine for a home run we can remember forever.