Prince's crew for the HR Derby

Prince Fielder and David Ortiz were named captains for this years Home Run Derby. They get to pick the remaining members for their league.

As a fan with a practically irrelevant blog, I of course have already received word of his picks.

1. Ryan Braun
2. Rickie Weeks
3. Mark Kotsay

Kotsay took the final spot in a coin flip over Carlos Gomez.

Ron Roenicke flipped the coin, I smell conspiracy.

Escape from New York

What a letdown.

Getting swept by the Yankees is more of a kick in the gut than anything else that has happened this year.

Why?

It reinforces the fact that the Yankees are still the bully and the Brewers spent 3 days getting stuffed a locker.

I had high hopes for this series. I thought 2 out of 3 was possible, 1 out of 3 was a good chance. I expected the Crew to at least be competitive and show that they belong in the elite discussion.

Nope, goose egg.

I heard "World Series preview" a few times this week, just once I hoped they were referring to this series. They were, of course, all talking about Boston/Philly.

On to Minny where they could continue where they left off before leaving for the Bronx or they could continue to struggle away from home.

Let's hope for the former.

Hard times on the road

The Crew got destroyed 12-2 against the Yankees.

On the road.

How is this still even possible??

This team is too good to be so bad on the road. Just how bad?? Let's take a look.

(Again if you don't like looking at numbers and tables, you can stop here)

Let's look at Casey McGehee

Ok I could write all day long about how awesome it was to sweep the Twins this weekend. It was in fact awesome. Did you hear the Cardinals got swept by the Blue Jays?? Also awesome.

So the Crew has a 3 game lead in the Central headed to the Bronx Tuesday. Absolutely no complaints there.

Now for the bad news. The left side of the Brewers infield has not been good this year. Both Yuniesky Betancourt and Casey McGehee have been bad on offense and defense. While I've already had my fun with Yuni and suggested a replacement Yuni has 8 hits in the last 6 games so let's turn to Mr McGehee.

.227/.280/.316

that's good for a -0.8 oWAR

defense??

-0.4 dWAR

yeah that's not good. Let's dig deeper.

The '11 Brewers in the All-Star Game

OK this is uncharted territory for the Brewers.

Here are the Brewers All-Star representatives since 1984:


1984- Jim Sundberg C
1985- Cecil Cooper 1B, Paul Molitor 3B
1986- Ted Higuera P
1987- Dan Plesac P
1988- Paul Molitor 2B, Dan Plesac P
1989- Dan Plesac P
1990- Dave Parker DH
1991- Paul Molitor 3B
1992- Paul Molitor 1B
1993- Greg Vaughn OF
1994- Ricky Bones P
1995- Kevin Seitzer 3B
1996- Greg Vaughn OF
1997- Jeff Cirillo 3B
1998- Fernando Viña 2B
1999- Jeromy Burnitz OF, Dave Nilsson C
2000- Bob Wickman P
2001- Ben Sheets P
2002- Richie Sexson 1B, Jose Hernandez SS
2003- Richie Sexson 1B, Geoff Jenkins OF
2004- Ben Sheets P, Dan Kolb P
2005- Carlos Lee OF
2006- Carlos Lee OF, Derrick Turnbow P, Chris Capuano P
2007- Prince Fielder 1B, J. J. Hardy SS, Ben Sheets P, Francisco Cordero P
2008- Ryan Braun OF, Corey Hart OF, Ben Sheets P
2009- Ryan Braun OF, Prince Fielder 1B, Trevor Hoffman P
2010- Ryan Braun OF, Yovani Gallardo P, Corey Hart OF

Turnbow!!

ok I was surprised to see multiple all-stars in 8 of the last 9 years. Now look at the decade prior. I grew up in the 80's and 90's and if you don't understand my obsession with this year's team, imagine a team where Kevin Seitzer or Bob Wickman was your lone all-star. I watch the all-star game every year and get excited when I get to see a Brewer. It sucks when your team stinks and you stay up late just waiting to see if Ricky Bones gets to pitch (he didn't).

This year's team is a bit different. Instead of who it will be how many?? 6?? 7??

Let's look at em:

The Position Players

Ryan Braun, LF

the competition

um, spontaneous combustion?? Braun is the leading vote getter in the NL and will be there unless physically impossible.

Prince Fielder, 1B

the competition

Albert Pujols
Joey Votto

With Pujols out Prince should get the start. Votto deserves to be there too with 9 HR 44 RBI and .314/.436/.486 but the Prince has 20 HR and 65 RBI along with .307/.430/.610 Yeah that's 1.040 OPS better than Votto's number last year.

Rickie Weeks

the competition

Brandon Phillips

Phillips somehow still leads Rickie (maybe I should be voting). Weeks .290/.360/.500 compared to Phillips .283/.337/.387. Weeks has 14 HR to Phillips' 5...ok Phillips has more RBI. Weeks has a WAR of 2.6, Phillips is 0.8.

Jonathon Lucroy

the competition

Buster Posey
Yadier Molina
Brian McCann
Miguel Montero
Chris Iannetta
John Buck

McCann is the clear favorite here, Montero is probably #2 after that the 3rd spot is a photo finish. If Lucroy hadn't started the season on the DL he would probably have the edge but the other guys are too close to give it to Luc.

Hart McGehee Yuni and CF

the competition

everybody else getting injured

they're the anti-Braun

starting pitcher

this is where it gets difficult

Shawn Marcum

7-2 2.95 ERA

Yovani Gallardo

9-4 3.92 ERA

Zack Greinke

7-2 4.77 ERA

the competition

everyone

it's pretty much a crap shoot. I would guess it's between Marcum and Gallardo. Doubtful Brewers get 2 starters much less 3. Marcum has better numbers but has struggled recently and Yo has the history. Pick one I go with Yo. Greinke missed a month and has an ERA outside the top 50 in the NL.

relief pitcher

Jonathan Axford

the competition

Huston Street
Brian Wilson
Joel Hanrahan
JJ Putz
Francisco Rodriguez
Leo Nunez
Craig Kimbrel
Heath Bell
Drew Storen
Francisco Cordero

throw a dart and hit a closer.

there is very little to distinguish the closers in the NL. The leader so far is probably Hanrahan who sports a sub-1.000 WHIP with a 1.24 ERA and has yet to blow a save. Good for him.

As for our boy Axford he has more K's than the guys in front of him in saves except for Kimbrel (who has 5 blown saves).

Best guess here:

Hanrahan
Wilson
Street
Rodriguez
Putz
Axford
Cordero

summary

ultimately I say 5 all-stars

Braun
Prince
Weeks
Yovani
Axford

Nicely done Marlins

The Marlins are playing another "home" series outside of Miami. Puerto Rico again?

No.

Mexico?? Cuba?? Tallahassee?? Orlando??

No.

Seattle??

Yep.

Say what now??

As first reported here heard of tonight by me the Marlins gave up a home series to Seattle. Why we ask?? Because of a U2 concert.

WHAT??

The Marlins gave up a home series this weekend because U2 is in East Lansing on Sunday.

WHAT??

Oh U2 is coming to Sun Life Stadium.....WEDNESDAY!!

Bono needs more than 3 days to set up??

Ok assuming that is the case, U2 will easily outdraw the Marlins so if this was an unavoidable schedule conflict the stadium owners would easily pick U2.

What, this was announced in January??

Really, you couldn't alter either schedule to keep the series at home (again, the concert is 3 days after the series ends!!) or move the concert (they have the next 3 days off).

This is bush league Marlins. Brewers fans would never accept this. No other MLB team would accept this.

Well maybe the Astros, but kind of different situation there. (hurricane > U2)

/end baseball

off topic: say hi to Lindsey

because I said so, that's why

How did the Brewers give up on this guy??

After admitting I was wrong about letting JJ Hardy go it might be time to take another look at another former Brewer succeeding after being dumped by the Crew.

first place....again!!

Brewers win 5-1, Cardinals kind of had a bad inning and the Brewers are back in 1st place.

Ok, not quite as excited about it as the first time and I have a feeling I might have to write this post a couple dozen times the rest of this season.

Greinke threw a great game, clutch offense in the 7th from the Brewers instead of the other team. A home run from the much maligned Yuni Betancourt for his 3rd RBI in 2 games (not maligned by me of course neither here nor here I have no idea who hacked my blog and posted that garbage.

So the Brewers are back in front of the Cardinals who are sans Pujols for at least a month (what you heard that already??)

Now let's hope Marcum is ok to go in game 3

I miss JJ Hardy

Yep I said it.

And my sincerest apologies to noted JJ fan ChelseyJo.

Yep the guy I happily waved out of Milwaukee after he spread social diseases stunk it up for the Brewers is kinda looking pretty good about now.

have a seat Yuni

scene: Brewers clubhouse 3 hours before gametime

hmmm, skip asked me to show up early today. Wonder why. Cookies, nice.

hmm, sweet tea...my favorite.

where is everyone??




Ron Roenicke appears from behind the curtain...

Melvin tries to solve the road issues

an unannounced visitor arrives to Bud Selig's office

is Mr Selig busy??

is he expecting you??

no but it is kind of an emergency

Mr Selig is having naptime, he doesn't like to be bothered during naptime

it's ok, we're longtime friends

Loe V Hawkins round 2

While waiting out the rain delay in The Chicago city dump Wrigley Field guess I have some time to delve deeper into the 8th inning situation I looked at last night.

Commenter TC brings up some excellent points.

Is Loe overworked and should he be going back to back days all the time?? The numbers suggest pitching 2 days in a row doesn't have much of an effect. Actually he's better the 2nd day.

should we give Latroy the 8th

I'm torn on what to think about the Brewers' bullpen.

There are defined roles which I am comfortable with: John Axford obviously as closer. Marco Estrada in long relief and a spot starter. Zack Braddock against left handed batters late and occasional 8th or 9th inning in 4+ run games. Tim Dillard would be better off starting in Nashville every 5th day. Sergio Mitre is still on the team too.

That brings us to the setup man. Your choices: incumbent Kameron Loe and challenger Latroy Hawkins. Let's look at some stats:

frustrating

Ron Roenicke knows the rules of baseball right??

Runner on 3rd, 1 out how on earth do you not walk 1 or even 2 to set up a double play/force out at the plate. This is 2 games in a row.

Even worse, 2 in a row against the bleeping Cubs.

Two games in a row where the 5 man infield didn't work.

Yes we're still tied for first since the Cardinals gagged against the Nats but these are games we can't afford to be giving away like that.

ick

What a horrible game. How do we lose to Ryan Dempster every flippin time he pitches. He wasn't even responsible for the loss but we still lost to him.

what 0 runs isn't enough??

blah!!

how sweep it is

That. Was. Awesome.

No, not the horrible title of this post, the sweep of the Cardinals and let's say hello to first place kids. Let me repeat that, the first place Milwaukee Brewers. What day is it you say, June 12?? 3 1/2 months left in the season that's a long time and a lot of games. Don't give me that, this was huge. Best record in baseball over the last month. A sweep over the first place second place Cardinals. Two out of three would have been a success after dropping 2/3 against the Mets. Two out of three was acceptable down 3-0 going in the bottom of the 6th.

Then the 6th happened. Keep this info on the hush-hush...you probably shouldn't pitch to Prince Fielder. Hello sweep. Hello first place.

Road trip to Wrigley and Fenway, bring it!!

crazy game, or so the box score tells me

I accept the fact that I don't get to see many Brewers games living in Iowa and am stuck with radio via my phone. Tonight's game was particularly frustrating as severe thunderstorms basically lined up from Miller Park straight to my apartment starting about the 8th inning.

The game was 2-1 Brewers going into the 8th. Then the storm hit Iowa City including lightning so close to my apartment it shook the building and blasted my eardrum (it's cooling off, open the door...bad idea).

Going back and forth trying to get a Wi-Fi or cellular signal to follow the game I see Kameron Loe got lit up for 5 and we're down 6-2. Game over. After that I was paying more attention to whether I need to take shelter somewhere in my 2nd floor apt than the Brewers.

When I was fairly certain I wasn't in any danger I try to check the score again. 6-6!! Say what now??

I caught a bit of the ninth before I lost signal again. I keep trying until I hear Uecker saying we'll be back for the totals. Holy crap.

Miss 2 innings, miss a lot.

Also Nyjer Morgan thought they were winning when he hit the winning run in. Mr Plush needs to be starting everyday at this point whether he knows the score or not.

breaking news: Brewers awarded 2004 BCS title

Today the NCAA decided to strip USC of it's 2004-05 BCS Championship.

With USC out Oklahoma would be the logical choice to replace them right? What about Auburn and Utah who both went unbeaten that year?

Nope, the NCAA has decided to give the title to the Milwaukee Brewers. Yes behind the leadership of Ned Yost the 67-94 Brewers were finally given the trophy they rightfully earned. Yost: "it's about time that team got recognized for their accomplishments. 67 wins isn't easy when your top home run guys are Geoff Jenkins and Keith Ginter. Just wait until we can sign a frontline starter like...I don't know...Jeff Suppan".

Yes it was unexpected but the NCAA plays by it's own rules and while a World Series title is our ultimate goal a BCS title will look good in the trophy case at Miller Park.

Also news from 2004: Dan Kolb was awarded the Naismith trophy and Junior Spivey has won the Lady Bing trophy.

When asked for comment Ken Macha drooled on himself.

Good job tonight McClendon, now pack your bags

Mike McClendon got the win in a remarkable comeback thanks to Ryan Braun's pinch-hit 9th inning homerun. He is now 3-0 with a 2.63 ERA. His reward: sorry kid you're headed back to Nashville.

Yes we need Braddock back badly with zero lefties currently in the bullpen. But why McClendon?? Ok, at some point we may need a spot starter. Wouldn't it make more sense to send Estrada or Dillard back to stay in starter shape. Estrada is clearly 5B in the rotation right now. Is he more valuable in the bigs in long relief or in the rotation in Nashville, tough call you could easily argue keeping him in Milwaukee. Tim Dillard is option 7 and would clearly be better off getting regular starts in Nashville than garbage time in Milwaukee.

Cincinnati Reds: you've made the list

The name of this list: professional sports teams I officially hate. Welcome to the exclusive club inhabited by the Yankees, Vikings, Heat, Gophers, Purdue (as mandated by Jim Delany), and every team in the state of Illinois.

Congratulations, you've earned it.

Ok they really haven't done anything other than pwn us for the last couple years. Am I just bitter toward a team we can't beat?? Yes. That doesn't change the decision, you've made the enemies list.