The Brewers' world is upside down

Francisco Cordero lost his second straight save last night and Geoff Jenkins was the team hero.

The game wasn't televised, so I can't tell you much, other than it was 6-6 going into extra innings. The Rangers scored those runs on 10 hits. We scored them on 20 hits. We left guys stranded all over the field - 17 in all. We ended up with 9 runs on 22 hits.

Geoff Jenkins hit a three-run homer in the 12th to lead the team to victory. Apparently Ryan Braun reached second on a error and Corey Hart singled off someone's leg.

The Brewers looked to have gained the lead in the 10th, but Tony Gwynn Jr. was called out at the plate.

From jsonline.com: "The Brewers caught another of many bad breaks in the top of the 11th when Johnny Estrada led off with his fourth hit of the night. Tony Gwynn pinch-ran and moved to second on Bill Hall's sacrifice bunt. Tony Graffanino then rapped his fourth hit of the night to center, and centerfielder Kenny Lofton came up throwing.
Replays showed that Gwynn got his hand down on the plate a split-second before catcher Adam Melhuse tagged him on the arm, but home plate umpire C.B. Bucknor saw the bang-bang play otherwise and called Gwynn out."

Go figure, one of the more exciting games of the season and it wasn't televised here.

Brewers lost twice to worse team in baseball; Cordero finally blows a save

While I'm incredibly disappointed in the outcome of this series, I've been on record before saying that there was on way Cordero would keep the pace he's been on.

That being said, I can't believe we blew a 3-0 lead in the 9th to the frickin' Rangers. With two outs. And nobody on. And it's Cordero's former team. I mean, if you're going to self-destruct, do it in grand fashion, right?

You know, these are the Rangers who have lost 12 of the last 16 and currently hold the worst record in the league.

From ESPN.com: "The comeback spoiled an impressive outing by Brewers starter Ben Sheets, who gave up five hits over seven scoreless innings. He struck out six and walked two and was in line to win for the sixth time in his last eight starts.Texas didn't get an extra-base hit off Sheets and advanced only one runner as far as third base. Derrick Turnbow retired the side in order in the eighth inning, but the Rangers broke through against Cordero."

If I were our starting staff, I'd be mighty frustrated with the bullpen.
Dave Bush, Sunday night's starter, has been victimized by three blown saves in his 12 starts and the Brewers have lost his last five starts.
Sheets pitched 7 scoreless innings last night and didn't get the win.
Cappy threw a beautiful game last week only to have it thrown away by Turnbow.

It's so frustrating to see a team have so many pieces fitting together not be able to pull games out in the end. We have to get something happening in the bullpen or it's going to be a long season. Matt Wise is NOT THE ANSWER. Jose Cappellan is NOT THE ANSWER.

Chicks rule, guys drool

Filly Rags to Riches came from out of nowhere yesterday to win the Belmont Stakes. She's the first female to do so in 102 years. In fact, yesterday was EXACTLY 102 years since the last filly won the race.

Rags to Riches became the third filly to capture the Belmont -- Ruthless took the first running in 1867 and Tanya won in 1905. Only 22 fillies have tried the Belmont, with Rags to Riches the first since Silverbulletday finished seventh in 1999.

She's also the first filly to win a Triple Crown race since 1988, when a filly won the Kentucky Derby.

As if there weren't enough pressure, being the only girl in the race, but he owner and trainer were running a bit of a losing streak. Trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey John Velazquez, who both ended long droughts in Triple Crown races: Pletcher was 0-for-28, Velazquez 0-for-20.

But Rags to Riches has some seriously noteworthy bloodlines. Her grandfather was Seattle Slew. And her half brother won last year's Belmont.

Devil Rays are desperate

How desperate you ask? There bullpen is so overworked because their starters have been so inconsistent that SS Josh Wilson pitched an inning Friday night.

Not only that, but he pitched a scoreless frame and had a fastball reaching about 87 mph. He gave up just one walk and one single.

This game was interesting in that there was a 1 hour rain delay, after which TB came out swinging, getting an 8-2 lead. They then gave up a grand slam. So in two innings the bullpen gave up 8 runs. That's when they brought in Wilson, who outpitched the whole staff. If I'm the DRays manager, I show that video to my whole pitching staff and ask them why an infielder is doing better than they are. Then I threaten to send them to the minors and tell them to get their shit together.

Some more national attention

This article from the Dallas Morning News discusess how Doug Melvin has transformed the Brewers. Melvin was once GM of the Rangers.

MLB draft

I'll be the first to admit that I don't understand a thing about the baseball draft. There are tons of supplemental picks that you get if you lost a free agent and those picks come between the first and second round. Then there are all the rules about signing and sending guys to the minors and then there's the guys you can sign conditionally and send to junior college. I don't have a clue how this works. The only system more confusing to me is hockey.

Anyway, the real interesting thing about yesterday's draft is that Milwaukee had the #7 pick.

And they took a left-fielder.

Of course, we currently have two of those, Geoff Jenkins and Kevin Mench in addition to a large cadre of outfielders.

The Journal-Sentinel article said: "The Milwaukee Brewers saw a power-hitting leftfielder, not a power-hitting first baseman, when they selected Matt LaPorta out of the University of Florida with the seventh pick of the first round of the draft Thursday.
The Brewers raised some eyebrows when they selected LaPorta, who played first base for the Gators, because they already are set at that position for years to come with 23-year-old Prince Fielder.
But Jack Zduriencik, the Brewers' director of amateur scouting, quickly explained that the Brewers view LaPorta as their leftfielder of the future.
Above all else, it was LaPorta's offensive capabilities that caught the Brewers' collective eye.
"We felt that this, in our estimation, was one of the best hitters in the country and one of the best power hitters in the country," Zduriencik said.
The numbers certainly support that belief.
In his senior season at Florida, LaPorta hit .402 with 20 home runs, 52 runs batted in and 55 walks. He's a finalist for the Golden Spikes award given to the nation's top amateur baseball player."

The full article is here.


Apparently someone in the front office is finally realizing the Jenkins is not the future of this team. There is a new draft rule that says your picks have to be signed by August or you lose rights, so this guy should be playing single A ball before the end of the summer.

Hank Aaron gets commemorative plaque

As previously noted, some very enterprising people at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee decided to do a lot of really complicated math and figure out exactly where Hank Aaron's 755th home run landed.

This week they had the ceremony dedicating the plaque.

The story is here.

A video is available here.

Billy Donovan can't decide

First he left Florida to become head coach of the Orlando Magic. Now it appears he's changed his mind and wants to go back to Florida and he's asking the Magic to let him out of his contract.

Interesting.

More here.

Talking college football already

Over at Hey Jenny Slater, they've put together a Google Spreadsheet as an aggregate of many of the preseason top 25s out there.

Check out the spreadsheet here.

The overall consensus has Wisconsin at a cushy 7, with different polls putting us anywhere from 4 to 13. Considering we have a QB question mark, I find this surprising, but hey, I'll take it.

The code for figuring out which poll's are included is as follows

1. Southern California
2. LSU
3. West Virginia
4. Michigan
5. Florida
6. Texas
7. Wisconsin
8. Oklahoma
9. Virginia Tech
10. Louisville
11. Ohio State
12. California
13. Auburn
14. Arkansas
15. Georgia
16. Rutgers
17. Tennessee
18. Nebraska
19. UCLA
20. Texas A&M
21. Texas Christian
22. Penn State
23. South Carolina
24. (tie) Boston College
24. (tie) Wake Forest

Brewers finally win a series

My attendance at today's game ensured a win for the Crew, giving their first series win in over a month. The last time we won a series was May 9, against the Washington Nationals. Since then we lost series to the Mets, the Phillies, the Twins, the Dodgers, and the Braves and we were swept by the Giants. At the end of the Nationals series we were at 24-10. Since then, we've been 8-15. The Brewers are a National League-best 21-10 at home

Our starting pitchers were superb this weekend. Despite getting absolutely screwed by the relievers, Chris Capuano was the king of yesterday's game. He had a career high 10 strikeouts and hit a home run.

Today, Ben Sheets struck out seven and walked one to move to 5-1 in his past seven starts. He pitched 6 shoutout innings.

Derrick Turnbow came in for the eighth and needed just 9 pitches to retire the side. Francisco Cordero remained perfect for saves, notching his 21st.
It wasn't all sunshine and lollipops, though, as we stranded the bases loaded two straight innings and had a total of 17 men LOB for the game.

Some pics from today:







Corey Hart. Sockless. Boo.












The Racing Sausages (and mini-sausages) exited the field right in front of us.









Chevy, an official sponsor of course, had a big display out front for the All-Star game.









































In relief under the paint was each team's logo. The truck had all the logos and each car had the appropriate logo for the league. This is hard to see, but it's the Brewers logo on the truck. (and a very clear view of my Bucky Badger bag)

These are the articles I love to read

I'll link to ESPN whenever they have writers lead off a column like this :

The Chicago Cubs are the worst team in baseball. This is an indisputable, irrefutable fact, as obvious as the ivy on the outfield walls or the steel trough urinals in the Wrigley Field men's bathrooms.

Oh, what a good day to be a Brewer fan hanging out in Chicago Part 1

So I happened to be hanging out in Chicago on Saturday for my alumni association's crawfish boil (mmmm I love me some crawfish) Anyway, this was the day after the now infamous fight and I just happened to be in a bar on the north side during Lou's tirade.

It's spectacular to see a team self-destruct that isn't the Brewers. Hating the Cubs is something of a statewide pastime around here and I'm happy to say that they're coming to play at Miller Park starting tomorrow. We are notorious for having problems against them, so I don't want to do too much trash talking. But I'd like to say that you never see anything like this in Miller Park:

Oh, what a good day to be a Brewer fan hanging out in Chicago Part 2

Oh, I also took these pictures of Downtown. We were near the Lincoln Park Zoo and the Fullerton El exit (on the Red Line)

Cappy

Chris Capuano struck out ten, allowed 2 runs on three hits, single handedly scored half the Brewers runs for the day and didn't get a decision.

2 out of 3 ain't bad

The Brewers seem to have turned things around a little, winning last night and on Tuesday to make it the most wins we've had in awhile.

Wednesday's game featured spectacularly horrible pitching by Derrick Turnbow and I have to say that I'm nearing the end of my leash with this guy. I don't care how fast he throws, if he can't find the plate (or anywhere in a ten foot radius of it) or if he can't throw anything other than a fastball, he's more than useless to us. At some point we have to realize he does more harm than good.

Last night Francisco Cordero racked up his 19th save, making him a perfect 19/19 on the year. My only worry is that there's no way he can keep this pace. No one could expect him to. He's human and he certainly didn't show talent like this in season's past. That's how we got him traded to us. Unfortunately, no one's going to realize that and it's going to be all about how another pitcher is sucking it up.

I saw literally the two most unusual outs in the past week that I've ever seen before. I was at Tuesday night's game and it took multiple innings before someone could explain this to us. The ball hit Ben Sheets' bat, hit him, rolled foul and he was thrown out at first. It was a double hit.

Last night, in the ninth, Coco threw a pitch inside and the guy at the plate ducked and covered. The ball hit the knob end of his bat flat, rolled into fair territory and we threw him out at first.


Finally, Rickie Weeks was placed on the 15 day DL retroactive to May 30 due to chronic pain in the wrist he had surgery on at the end of last season. To replace him in the lineup, we recalled pitcher Jose Capellan.

Take a Hike!

I'm off the grid til Tuesday, camping somewhere in the middle of Wisconsin. See ya!

Brewers call up top minor league prospect Ryan Braun

Braun brought up for his bat

Dessens placed on 15-day DL

By TOM HAUDRICOURT
thaudricourt@journalsentinel.com

Posted: May 24, 2007

San Diego - With third base turning into a black hole offensively in a lineup struggling to score runs, the Milwaukee Brewers could wait no longer to call up Ryan Braun.

The Brewers announced late Thursday night that Braun, 23, their top everyday prospect in the minor leagues, was being summoned from Class AAA Nashville. Club officials waited until after Braun played in the Sounds' game against Memphis in Nashville because they wanted him to get additional at-bats after spending time recently on the disabled list.

To make room on their roster for Braun, the Brewers placed reliever Elmer Dessens on the 15-day disabled list with a strained right shoulder, retroactive to Saturday. Braun is expected to be in the lineup tonight for the game against San Diego.

Contacted at Nashville's Greer Stadium after getting the news, Braun said his manager, Frank Kremblas, called him into his office and merely gave him the flight itinerary to San Diego.

"He didn't say anything," Braun said. "It took me a second to figure it out. I couldn't believe it. It's absolutely incredible. It's great to get the opportunity and I'm looking forward to the challenge."

The decision to summon Braun was made because the third-base platoon of veteran infielders Craig Counsell and Tony Graffanino has generated virtually no offense. The Brewers rank 28th among the 30 major-league clubs at that position in slugging percentage (.273), 27th in batting average (.214), tied for 26th in home runs (one) and runs scored (16) and 25th in runs batted in (14).

Braun, on the other hand, took a .726 slugging percentage and 1.152 OPS (on-base plus slugging) into Nashville's game against Memphis, both figures tops in the Pacific Coast League. Twenty-two of his 39 hits were for extra bases, and he led the Sounds with 10 home runs. After going 0 for 4 with a walk in Nashville's 9-5 victory, Braun was batting .342 with 22 RBI in 34 games.

The Brewers are looking to add some punch to an attack that has slipped badly during a 4-9 stretch that began with the previous trip to New York and Philadelphia. Over that 13-game slide, they scored three or fewer runs eight times.

"We're struggling right now offensively and we thought we'd give Ryan an opportunity to see if he can make an impact on the ballclub," said Brewers general manager Doug Melvin, reached in Florida, where he was watching Class A Brevard County.

"But this is not a case where we expect one guy to come up and carry the ballclub. We've got to perform better as a team offensively. Ryan has performed very well offensively down there and we think he's got a chance to be a good big-league player. We'll see what he can do."

Braun, a confident player, said he didn't consider himself a cure-all for the Brewers' offense but expected to be successful.

"I'm extremely confident and I have a belief in my ability," he said. "I think I can contribute right away. I don't look at it like I'm coming up to save the club. I'm just looking forward to contributing and helping the team win a pennant."

Selected in the first round of the 2005 draft out of the University of Miami, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Braun put on a hitting display in the Brewers' training camp this spring, beginning with a two-homer, seven-RBI performance in the first exhibition game. He batted .353 with five homers and 15 RBI in 11 games, missing more than a week with a sore elbow.

But the Brewers didn't think Braun's defense was ready for the major leagues. A former shortstop who converted to third base in his final year at Miami, he had particular difficulty making accurate throws across the diamond, committing four errors in exhibition play.

The Brewers sent Braun to Nashville to work on his defense, admitting that his bat probably was good enough for the majors. He committed only three errors in Nashville.

"The staff there told me he's playing much better defensively," said Melvin, who saw Braun handle only two grounders earlier in the week while in Nashville to watch three games. "They feel it hasn't been an issue. They're not that concerned with it."

Counsell and Graffanino did the defensive job at third for the Brewers, with Graffanino committing the only two errors between them. But they weren't getting it done on offense. Counsell is hitting .231 with no homers and eight RBI, and Graffanino - who also has started eight games at second base - has seen his average dip to .187 with one homer and eight RBI.

"There are a couple of other positions that need to be more productive, too," Melvin said.

Counsell and Graffanino originally were signed as free agents over the off-season to provide backups for middle infielders J.J. Hardy and Rickie Weeks. The Brewers hoped third baseman Corey Koskie would return from the post-concussion syndrome that sidelined him for the second half of the 2006 season but Koskie remains sidelined with continuing symptoms and might not play this year.

Outfield musical chairs

Last year the Brewers suffered major injuries in the infield and Rickie Weeks had a case of the dropsies, so management found themselves scrambling for infielders. By the time we were ready to talk Spring Training, the team found itself needing to clear some room.

Now we’re looking at a cadre of above average outfielders and not enough spots to play them in. With the emergence of Tony Gwynn, Jr., it’s obvious that there will be some wheeling and dealing on the way to empty out our outfield.

Right off the bat, I’d like to say my vote for first man off the island is Geoff Jenkins. Now I’m not shy about publicly disliking the guy, but in this case, I pick Jenkins for the following reasons:

I’m sick of the sentimentality factor. Sure, the guy’s been around here awhile and he’s put up with some lean times. But that’s not a reason to keep him around. He’s one of the few remaining holdovers and I think it’s time to stop looking back and talking about how bad we were and instead “live in the now.” This team is a lot better than anything we’ve put on the field in a long time. Which leads me to…

I’m afraid that the obvious choice to go is Gwynn and I think that would be a shame. I understand that Tony will have more stock on the open market and bring us more bang for the buck, but I hate to see his homegrown talent go elsewhere. We had a stellar class of guys that we drafted and brought through our farm system. Gwynn’s the only one of those guys not currently in regular rotation. He’s proven that he deserves the chance. He’s got the speed and the bat and the few times he’s gotten in this season, he’s proven that he has a comparable arm to Jenkins.

Two years or so ago, guys like Jenkins were necessary as leaders on a team of youngsters. They were the face of the team, the recognizable names and they were the guys that showed the rookies the ropes. But we’re not in that position anymore. Prince, Bill, Rickie, Cappy, Ben – they’ve all stepped up and now they each could be termed a leader. The older veterans had a purpose when this was a bunch of new guys fresh off the farm, but that’s not the case anymore. It’s time to let these guys take the leadership.

Jenkins has, and always will be, streaky at best. He is not someone we can count on to be solid and consistent. That being said..

Jenkins has had a strong showing and has yet to hit the slump we all know is coming and we all are dreading. His stock isn’t going to get any higher than it is now. I say we shop him around now, before he starts whiffing and showing exactly why we’d like to pawn him off on someone else.

Jenkins is the king of the ineffectual, completely inconsequential “hot bat.” The man has hit more one-run homers when we’re down by 4 or more runs than anyone else on that team. And he’s consistently swinging for the fences. He’s clearly not a power hitter. This is his 10th season in the league and he just hit 200 HRs. I really wish he’d stop trying to make the highlight reel and instead start a rally and get on base.

My most personal of pet peeves about him is his little league swing. Anyone will tell you that you cannot, should not, will not lift your front foot when at the plate. Yet Jenks is absolutely known for it. The more he lifts that damn leg, the less accurate he is. And it drives me nuts. If they were able to break Bill Hall of flipping the ball from his glove to his throwing hand in a little more than a season, I don’t see why Jenkins cannot unlearn this Mickey Mouse swing.


But really, my ideal outfield is Hart, Hall and Gwynn, so the rest of the guys are superfluous as far as I'm concerned. Poor Gabe Gross is going to have a career of riding the pine and pinch hitting and filling in. He seems content with it and he certainly steps up when he needs to, but I say lose the platoon and send both Mench and Jenkins packing.

Back in the Swing of things

I try to avoid the puns, but this one certainly seemed more than appropriate.

Last night the Brew Crew found their rhythm led by Rickie Weeks, who had sat out the past 4 games. But Rickie was back with a vengeance. He was was 4 for 5 with 3 RBIs in the leadoff position.

Prince Fielder tied J.J. Hardy for the league lead in HR by hitting two last night. The boys now have 14. Prince's only two hits last night went yard. Not a bad night's work!

The Brewers are officially in a win streak, with two straight. This is heartening information, since we lost 7 of the last 9.

The team compiled 13 hits last night and 12 hits in Sunday's win against the Twins. If ever there was a way to shake off a slump, I'd say 25 hits in two days is the way to do it.

State College Baseball news

The University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, ranked No. 25 nationally in the coaches' association poll, will face No. 4 Emory in the opening round of the 2007 NCAA Division III baseball championship.

The Pointers (32-15), who clinched a berth in the eight-team field by winning the regional at Wisconsin Rapids on Saturday, meet Emory (39-8) at 10 a.m. Friday at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute.

Emory rallied for a 6-5 victory in 12 innings over unranked Ferrum to win the South regional Sunday in Ferrum, Va.

....

Carthage College will face perennial power Eastern Connecticut State in the opening round of the NCAA Division III baseball championships.

Eastern Connecticut State (38-10), ranked No. 11 nationally in the latest coaches' association poll, won the Harwich (Mass.) regional today with an 18-3 victory over Keene State.

Carthage (36-11), which won the regional at Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday, faces Eastern Connecticut State at 1:15 p.m. Friday at Fox Cities Stadium in Grand Chute.

Eastern Connecticut State will be making its 12th appearance in the national championship, including its fifth in the last six seasons.

The Warriors won national titles in 1982, '90, '98 and 2002. Last season, the Warriors finished 1-2 in the national championship.

Carthage is making its first appearance in the national championship since the 2002 season. The Red Men went 0-2 in the double-elimination tournament that season.

from jsonline.com

Roller Coaster Brew Crew

There are those bandwagon homer fans who will tell you that this is more like the Brewers they know "and love". I'm not one of those fans.

Let's get something straight here. This Brewers team didn't crack .500 last year. Adding one very expensive pitcher in the off-season doesn't take you from sub-par to spectacular in the matter of a few months.

It's completely unreasonable to expect the Crew to win 120 games this season. It was never going to happen. And the thing is, they don't have to. With a mediocre division at best, the Brewers only need to win 90 or so games to win their division.

The season is only a quarter over, so everyone just needs to take a few deep breaths and settle in for awhile. In some ways the homers are right, same old Brewers. They haven't had a metamorphosis in the off-season. They haven't changed that much from year's past and therefore we're going to see signs of the fact that this is a young team. It's always been a streaky team.

I'm not trying to explain anything away. I'll be the first to admit the past week has been ugly. Last night was the first time in something like 5 games that we scored on something other than a home run. That's not going to win you games and it's totally getting away from what was working so well for the team through April.

That being said, J.J. Hardy and Prince Fielder are on top of the league leader board for HR and without them, this week would have been even more bleak.

I was at the game yesterday afternoon and I saw a bit more of the spark that seemed to have been missing this past week. We were down by 4 runs and we rallied. Every player did a part. Congratulations to Geoff Jenkins on his 200th career home run. This team was not an April flash in the pan. But I warn you, there will be more down times. However, I think that this team is absolutely going to prove to be worth the ride this season.

Strap in and enjoy it!

The Ballad of Brett Favre

As usual, I’m a few days late commenting on this, but I didn’t want the Brett Favre debacle to fade without a few thoughts.

Do I think Brett Favre has a point in being disappointed in the transactions made and not made by the Packer front office this off-season? Absolutely.
And he wouldn’t be alone. Every fan in the state of Wisconsin was disappointed at the lack of firepower acquired.

That being said, I think that Favre and many fans have an inflated sense of his worth. The man is not a God. He’s a damn good quarterback who is admittedly past his prime. And I don’t know that it’s right for him to make demands on a team because he wants to play one more year.

There’s part of this story that’s a bit fuzzy and I think it’s an important part in deciding whether Brett was justified or just whining. We have no idea what passed between Brett and the front office to get him to return this year. I feel like there had to be some promises made. Favre got the ankle surgery that he’s been putting off for years now. I think there had to be pressure from the powers that be to get that done. I imagine there was some deal making that took place. And I imagine that Brett told them he’s almost done and he wants to go out a winner.

If there were deals made, then I do think the Packers gave Brett and big F- You!

The flip side of this story is what some are saying it the unmitigated gall of Brett to think that his wants and desires can and should dictate the roster moves of an entire team. Sure, nostalgia says it would be great to have one last, fabulous season with the man who will be a Green Bay icon from here on out. But when Brett leaves the team doesn’t just roll over and die. Does looking to the future of this team beyond the next year and beyond the Brett Favre era make him an asshole? I’m not so sure. Sure, it wasn’t the sentimental move, but shouldn’t your GM be concerned with more than emotion?

When I first heard that Favre offered to give up some of his salary to bring Randy Moss here, I thought “what a slap in the face.” Because, really, when was the last time you heard of a pro athlete offering up some of his money to better the team?

Clearly, I’m not sure exactly what to think about this story. I feel like it’s a mighty fine coincidence that the story about Favre demanding a trade didn’t come out until he made some not so flattering comments to a reporter in Mississippi. Why would the informant wait to leak that information? Shady, shady dealings if you ask me.

I have a feeling this saga isn’t going to conclude any time soon.

All it took for front page coverage was two losses in a row...

These are screen caps from the SI.com and ESPN.com homepages today, both with stories on the Brewers. Interestingly, all we had to is start playing like is start playing like the hapless Brewers that everyone knows and loves and suddenly there's a rash of stories saying how we just may be for real.

Eat it, New York

Ok, so maybe I'm a little bitter about all the trash talking that's being done about my fair Brewers.

Everyone's been talking about this series as the measuring stick for the Brew Crew, since they say we haven't played anyone yet. Our stats are skewed, we're not as good as we seem, all that jazz.

Today, I'd like all those people to eat their words. Today's 12-3 win ought to shut up a lot of doubters out there.

The Brewers jumped out to a 4-0 win the old-fashioned way. After last night's long ball bonanza, it was nice to see the Crew string together hits and send men around the bases as it's meant to be done. Even pitcher Ben Sheets laid down two beautiful bunts to advance runners. A routine pop-fly into shallow center field by Prince Fielder scored Craig Counsell on the tag up and then led to a run-down of J.J. Hardy between first and second. J.J. was able to string it out long enough for Tony Gwynn, Jr. to score from 2nd.

Of course, the Mets weren't to be counted out and rallied to make the score 4-3 in the 5th courtesy of a pinch-hit 2 run homer.

The game stayed close after that and I admit to having a little nap in there somewhere. But thankfully, I woke up for the good stuff.

But before I get to that, I'd like to make a major salute to Tony Gwynn. Due to some late game heroics, his absolutely spectacular play for the length of the game is going to lose the spotlight it would have had. Gwynn had 3 hits, a walk and 3 runs. He also made an amazing play in right field, playing a ball perfectly off the wall and throwing the hitter out at second.

Sometimes the roster moves Ned Yost makes leave me a little confused to start the game. However, every time he's seems to be pulling something out of his rear end, he ends up smelling like roses. It seemed like a strange play to rest Rickie Weeks, our leadoff hitter and a fast base runner. However, it proved, once again, to be ingenious. I have no idea where we'll put him, but we need to find a more permanent home for Tony.

The Mets pitching staff had a rough 7th inning. Two hit batters and a hit loaded the bases and Gwynn had his third hit for an RBI single. That left the bases loaded for J.J. Hardy, who hit a grand slam! That made the game 9-3.

The slam was Hardy's third home run in four games and tied him with Prince, evening their competition for the first time. According to SI.com, the slam was also the first runs off pitcher Joe Smith in 18 major league games.

Corey Had a pinch hit 2 RBI triple in the 9th and Hardy had a sac fly, giving him 5 RBIs on the game.

Every starter except Geoff Jenkins had a hit in the game. The Brewers, who haven't lost consecutive games since dropping a season-worst three in a row from April 4-7, matched a season high for runs.

Now Starring Damian Miller as King Midas

This article is from earlier in the week and makes an interesting observation about our record thus far.

We're 10-0 when Damian Miller is in the lineup and 14-10 when he's not.

"Yeah, I am solely responsible for our record," said Miller.

Interesting. Very, very interesting.

More and More media attention

Now that we're playing a series in New York, a whole new cavalcade of media outlets are paying attention to us. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all about the Brewers' name being bandied about as much as possible (though this bandwagon is getting mighty crowded) but when The New York Times covers us the next time, maybe they could use a less demeaning headline:

Brewers Not Looking Like Perennial Losers.
(This is the headline I've seen it linked to as, but it's not the headline on the top of the page, so you figure it out)

This one, from a New Jersey paper says "Youthful Brewers Really Have Arrived" .. you know, only now that they've noticed. Not before.

Thanks New York. Really. Like we needed a reminder.

Brewers 4, Mets 5

Last night's Brewers game was an exercise in futility and home runs. I read something today that one of the Mets said that they won that game from start to finish. I'm not sure I totally agree with that, but I did feel like we were playing catch-up the whole game.

There were 6 home runs in this game - with only one run, a Met run, scoring on other than a home run.

Prince Fielder and J.J. Hardy continue to compete. Prince hit his long ball in the sixth and J.J. followed up in the 8th. J.J. is one HR behind Prince. Prince's put him at 11 and tied for first place with Barry Bonds and Adam Dunn for the most.

The Brewers appeared poised to show that they weren't going to let extra media attention and pressure get to them. Jeff Suppan pitched three hitless innings.

Everything fell apart in the fourth inning. In a span of seven batters, the Mets had four runs on six hits, including two home runs. David Wright hit a solo home run. Carlos Beltran hit a single that replays showed Suppan tagged the base on, meaning Carlos Delgado's ensuing HR should have just been a solo shot. Instead, the Mets scored 3 runs in 3 at-bats. Moises Alou hit a double of the wall and scored on Paul Lo Duca's single later in the inning. Suddenly, it was 4-0.

The Brewers battled back on the homers by Prince and J.J. as well as one by Geoff Jenkins, but it was not enough.

Once again it was the "big inning" that screwed the pooch and put the Brew Crew out of it for good. Of all the things we've done well this season, this is one of those rare low points. Yost and Maddux really need to find a way to address this.

UW Men's Hockey releases schedule

Yes, we haven't even reached the dog days of summer, but the Badger Men's Hockey team is already gearing up for next season.

Next year's schedule here

Nominee for the Darwin awards

So let's say I have a documented drug problem. And let's say I'm a professional athlete. And let's say I have a history of doing things that make people question my sanity.

So I just finished serving my one year suspension for violating the league's substance abuse policy and I ask the league kindly to let me back in.

Do you think I sober up before I apply for reinstatement? Do I realize that since I have a sketchy past full of failed drug tests and I've just served a suspension that before they even consider my appeal they're going to make sure I've cleaned up my act?


NO NO NO! Because I'm Ricky Williams and I'm literally the most fried person on the face of the planet.

Ricky Williams fails drug test, delaying his appeal for reinstatement.

The pressure's off Hardy

J.J.'s hit streak ended yesterday at 19 games. While it would have been great for this to continue, I know he was feeling a lot of pressure every time at the plate, so I'll take no streak but a relaxed hitter any day of the week.

Holy Crap, the Brewers might be for real

Let's recap:

Best record in baseball

5.5 games ahead of the Cubs to lead the Central Division (and 9 games ahead the last place Cardinals)

Prince Fielder was NL Player of the Week and JJ Hardy was Runner-Up. Two other Brewers, Jeff Suppan and Carlos Villanueva, were nominated.

In tonight's game, Prince hit a 3-run homer to tie him for the lead for most HRs in the majors. JJ hit a solo shot, to stay one behind him.


Ok, so pretty much every major news outlet (and lots of not so major ones, too) out there has published an article in the past few weeks noting that the Brewers appear to be sucking less than they normally do, but assuring everyone else in the world that it will pass and things will be back to normal soon.

Case in Point:

ESPN (sorry it's insider)
SI
Chicago Tribune
Some Phoenix newspaper
Miami Herald
RotoTimes.com
St.Louis Post Dispatch
SouthCoastToday.com
Des Moines Register
Charleston Post Courier
LA Times - a taste: "Yes, those Milwaukee Brewers, formerly doormats, a.k.a major league road kill."
Chicago Sun-Times


So are we for real, or just playing grown-up?

These stats are from before tonight's game.

J.J. Hardy is hitting .563 on this current home stand and has an 18 game hitting streak. His BA is .336 for the season, with 8 HR and 27 RBIs.
9 HR and 29 RBIs. A lefty himself, he's hitting better against lefties: vs. Left: .319 vs. Right: .269. He hit two consecutive homers Sunday and his third at-bat was 2 feet from making it 3 consecutive.

Chris Capuano became only the 3rd Brewer pitcher ever to start the season 5-0. He's got an ERA of 2.31 with 31 SO and 13 BB. In last night's outing he threw a 7 hit shoutout in under 100 pitches. He last through 8 innings.

Jeff Suppan, our $40 million man, is living up to every dime. He's 5-2, with 27 SO and 9 BB.

Francisco Cordero is a perfect 13 for 13 on save attempts with a 0.00 ERA in 14.2 innings. He's got 21 SO, 7 BB and has only allowed 2 hits. (He had a wild pitch tonight that let in one run, so his ERA is now not 0)

Though he struggled on Sunday, lefty Brian Shouse had a great start. He inherited 20 batters and didn't let any score over the first 30 games.

Suppan's 4-2 with a 2.55 ERA thus far, leading a rotation that has issued the fewest walks (40) in the NL and ranks fourth in the league in WHIP (1.25).

The Brewers are 16-0 when leading after 7 innings, 12-0 when Cordero makes an appearance, and 12-1 when Turnbow has pitched.

And I'm not sure where I found this, and I modified it a bit, but it's good info:

Jenkins' role has evolved into that of a platoon left-fielder hitting almost exclusively against righties; Jenkins, and the right-handed-hitting Hart and Kevin Mench split left and right field What seemed like a potentially awkward situation in spring training has, early on, been a masterstroke by manager Ned Yost, with Jenkins posting team-highs in batting average (.346) and OPS (.983), while Mench has batted .393 against lefties and Hart .333. "They just crush lefties, so I can't argue with it," Jenkins said. "As long as we're winning games, that's the main thing."

My not-so-favorite Brewer had prime real estate on the front of SI.com's MLB page this weekend

This is a really long article highlighting how sad the Brewers had past has been and how hot the future looks .. all through the storyline that Geoff Jenkins is old and has never seen a good season here in Milwaukee - the last time he was on a team above .500 was in 1995 - with USC in the College World Series.

I don't want to post the whole text, but I think there's some good things to highlight:


Funniest/saddest part of the article:

Jenkins was drafted in the first round in '95, had his first call-up to Milwaukee in April '98 -- "John Jaha went on the DL, that's how it happened," he says -- and has been in Brew-town ever since. The Brewers, coincidentally, were also in first place in the Central in April '98, but flamed out and finished 74-88. Jenkins played the next eight seasons amid heavy change: Five different managers, the jump from County Stadium to Miller Park, different logos, new ownership, a new general manager. Losing was the only constant.

"No one," he says, is left on the field from his rookie year -- only a few figures outside the lineup, including an equipment manager; a trainer; a TV color commentator, ex-Brewer Bill Schroeder; and the team's iconic radio voice, Bob Uecker. That Ueck has remained the franchise's most recognizable face for so long is both a blessing for Milwaukee fans, who were raised on his "Get up, Get up" home-run calls, as well as a telling sign: There hasn't been much to root for in this town over the past decade and a half.

...

While Yost's short-term enthusiasm is curbed, he makes it clear that the general rise of the franchise -- from the point at which both he and GM Doug Melvin began work in 2003 -- is hardly a surprise. "This is nothing more than the vision we all had five years ago," said Yost. "We knew we had great, young, talented kids in the minor leagues, that we had to kind of tread water until they got here, and then when they got here, we'd be able to compete, with the addition of a free agent or two. And it's just unveiled."

That it has. The Brewers' starting lineup on Tuesday had homegrown hitters in the 1-4 slots (Weeks, Hardy, Fielder and Hall) and six Milwaukee draftees in all, with Jenkins batting sixth and Sheets on the hill. Meanwhile, the club's prize free-agent acquisition, 2006 NLCS MVP Jeff Suppan, was the previous night's starting pitcher and had gone the distance in a 7-1 victory against St. Louis for his fourth win of April.

The acquisition of Suppan, who was inked to the richest contract in club history (four years, $42 million), this offseason, was important on multiple levels. As a 13-year veteran who has thrown at least 188 innings each of the past eight seasons, he solidified a rotation that already included Sheets, rising lefty Chris Capuano, and Dave Bush.

Suppan was also a symbol of the organization's intentions: to obtain him, new owner Mark Attanasio pushed the team payroll above $70 million for the first time, and sent a message that Milwaukee was out of the building phase and ready to make noise.

...

The strongest argument for why the Brewers are no fluke -- beyond the dominance of Cordero and the payoff of Suppan's addition -- is that the team, as a whole, has yet to hit its stride. Uecker, who has weathered the club's 15-year misery streak from the booth, said before Tuesday's game, "The thing is that they've had a heck of an April, and I don't think they've played their best baseball. Prince and Rickie and Billy Hall, they're not hitting on all cylinders, and yet the team is still good enough to win."

The stats back up the Ueck's assessment: While Hardy has been hot of late, leading everyday players in OPS, Fielder is batting .273 with six homers but has yet to go on a powerful tear. Weeks is hitting .231. Hall is at .255. Sheets is 2-2 and still finding his form. Capuano is 4-0 but insists he's not throwing well yet ("I haven't gone deep into many games, my walks are up, I'm just pitching average," he said).

And a great wrap-up...."So the Brewers plow through May, hoping that what is still just a hot start, a lot of promise, and a nice story, can maintain momentum and turn them into a real contender."

John Stocco, Green Bay Packer?

Watch out Ingle Martin, there's a new 3rd stringer in town! (Or maybe John Stocco's the one that needs to watch out if this picture is any indication)

Ok, not quite there yet, but the Packers did invite former Wisconsin QB John Stocco to rookie orientation camp for what amounted to a 72 hour tryout. Speculation has abounded as to whether Stocco's invite was a good-will gesture to a UW alum who went undrafted and then went unsigned as a free agent.

Stocco thought he'd be drafted or at least signed afterward, but the cards didn't fall that way. So he's taking his chances with the Packers. He's gone on record as saying he has no idea what he'll do if this doesn't work out. It clearly never occurred to him that he wouldn't end up somewhere.

And he's probably a bit justified in that. He's at least as good as, and arguably better than Brooks Bollinger and Jim Sorgi, both of whom are currently solidly holding down backup spots in the NFL.

His stats back it up.

29-7 as a three-year starter, ranked second in yards (7,021), completions (520), completion percentage (.578), attempts (900), touchdown passes (45) and efficiency rating (135.4) on the school's career passing lists.

From JSonline.com:

The Packers had two quarterbacks in camp during their three-day rookie orientation camp, which ended Sunday. Jerry Babb, a 6-foot-2, 225-pound four-year starter at Louisiana-Lafayette, was signed as an undrafted free agent and former Wisconsin starter John Stocco was present on a tryout.

Neither was particularly impressive, but McCarthy said he wasn't making any judgments because both were overwhelmed with playbook material and weren't focusing as much on mechanics. McCarthy said Stocco did a nice job handling the offense.

"As far as him coming back here, that's something we'll sit down here in the next two days and decide," he said. "But it would surprise me if he doesn't have an opportunity in the National Football League."

From the Wisconsin State Journal:

Based on what coach Mike McCarthy has seen so far in meetings and practice, Stocco at least has a chance. He shared snaps with former Louisiana-Lafayette quarterback Jerry Babb, who signed as an undrafted free agent and received a $2,000 signing bonus but did little to distinguish himself from Stocco in Friday's workout inside the Don Hutson Center.

"I was very impressed with John," McCarthy said. "He has excellent recall, (and) I thought he picked up the verbiage very well the first day on the job, compared to other guys I've worked with. So we'll evaluate him after three practices. We'll sit down Sunday and we'll talk about all the guys that have been here."

Two weeks too late, but here's the KC pics

Finally, my brother sent me the pics from Kauffman Stadium, home of the Royals. I'll be back later to add some comments and explanations.

More Royals pics

Last night's Brewer game

I was planning on posting about this from work today, but the workload was overwhelming. I want to get this in before we're too far into tonight's game. I'm writing while watching, so I'm sorry if it's a little disjointed.

Last night's game was nationally televised on ESPN and obviously had a lot of off-field story concerning the death of Cardinal reliever Josh Hancock.

Since that's a story we've all heard, I'm sticking with the game itself.

Prince Fielder had a solo HR, his 6th HR of the season. It was Jeff Suppan's first complete game since 2003.

I was fairly impressed with last night's commentators. They were extremely complimentrary to the Brewers, especially the pitching. They hooked onto our new rotation of Derrick Turnbow setting up in the 8th and Francisco Cordero closing out the 9th. They made the point that having those two on their game effectively shortens the game to 7 innings for any opponent.

I had this discussion with my boyfriend earlier. Ideally, Turnbow will face 3 batters as will Cordero. That's two pitchers for 6 outs. Brian Shouse is our lefty reliever. He never faces more than 2 or 3 batters. That's a lot of roster space and a lot of salary money for 9 total batters. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, as they are all pitching well and making a big difference. But it's something to think about.

It was definitely an interesting game. The Josh Hancock spectre hung over the game, obviously, but there were just some weird plays. Albert Pujols walked on just 3 balls. No one caught it at the time, but the announcers went back and counted the pitches. Pujols threw his bat toward the dugout and started to first, so I guess the ump just went with it.

Kevin Mench scored with only a hit that didn't pass the pitchers mound. He hit a blooper that bounced and scooted toward third. The pitcher finally tracked it down and made an ill-advised throw to first that was about 4 feet to the second base side of the first base bag. Mench got to second on the error. Mench then stole 3rd without a throw even being made. Finally, he scored on a balk by pitcher Kip Wells. Strange play.

There were a lot of good tidbits thrown out in last night's commentary:

*Going into last night's game, Jeff Suppan had thrown just 6 walks in 35 innings this season

*Last season's Brewer's starting pitchers won just 48 games all of last season. They've won 13 already this year.

*Our record after last night's win is 16-9, good for a tie for the NL's best record. Heading into May last year we were 14-11. By mid-May we were below .500 and never saw a winning record again.

*Last year we were 27-54 on the road. This year we've already won 3 road series. In fact, we've only lost one series all season - at home, to the Cubs.

*Brewers starting pitchers are 9-1 through the last 14 games with a 3.21 ERA.

*Bill Hall was in some elite company last season. He hit 35 home runs, had 85 RBIs, scored 101 runs and hit 39 doubles. He led the Brewers in all categories.
There were only 3 other guys ( I didn't catch if this was in the NL or in all of MLB) that hit more than 35 HR and 35 doubles: Beltran, Aramis Ramirez and Alfonso Soriano)

* Jim Edmonds, a career .289 hitter, hit just 6 of 134 against the Brewers last season (.044)

* David Eckstein struck out just one time in the month of April

* With the win, Jeff Suppan made history. He and Chris Capuano both managed four wins in the month of April, the first time any two Brewers pitchers have done so.

Oh my god, we're talking college football already...

And we're talking our weaknesses already. The blurb for this article said "If quarterback is a key position, and we're sure it is, then unlocking the door on the 2007 Big Ten season isn't easy. Even Wisconsin, the early favorite, has a QB quandary."

The point is that all the Big Ten schools are facing a bit of a QB question mark. A lot of recognizable names departed this year leaving lots of holes to be filled. Thus far, only Ohio State seems to have a ready-made answer. Michigan State, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin are all still looking for Mr. Right.

As the article says " Wisconsin's Bret Bielema has the biggest decision. Senior Tyler Donovan and junior transfer Allan Evridge both looked alternately good and bad in the spring. Quarterback is one of only two holes on offense, so if Bielema makes the right choice, he could win a conference title and perhaps play for something bigger. Choose poorly, however, and the consequences could cost Wisconsin plenty."

Big Ten Spring Wrap
Predictions:
1. Wisconsin
2. Michigan
3. Ohio State
4. Iowa
5. Penn State
6. Michigan State
7. Illinois
8. Purdue
9. Northwestern
10. Indiana
11. Minnesota

Defensive player of the year: Jack Ikegwuonu, cornerback, Wisconsin. Everyone loves a shutdown corner, just not everybody has one. Wisconsin does in this guy, who ran down Arkansas' Darren McFadden from behind last season in the Capital One Bowl. Can you say, "closing speed"? **CuteSports adds : (Of course, he has to stop letting his brother talk him into stealing video game equipment first)

Big Ten champion: Wisconsin. The Badgers have a quarterback question between Allan Evridge and Tyler Donovan, but tailback P.J. Hill is their meal ticket. The defense is outstanding and the toughest nonconference game is Washington State in Madison. Michigan plays at Camp Randall, too, and the Wolverines must play Notre Dame. Ohio State just goes to Washington and Michigan, while Penn State plays Notre Dame. So if it comes down to who weathered the nonconference schedule unbeaten, Wisconsin is the best bet.

Getting more notice

Tonight's game was on ESPN (more on that later) and now I find these gems on ESPN.com in Jonah Keri's The 10 column. Sure, the first note begins with a dig, but we'll take what we can get"

4. Bud Selig doesn't need to rig the 2007 season.

His beloved Brewers will make the playoffs without his help. The former Brew Crew owner still has close ties to the team and remains beloved in Milwaukee. (We remember a road trip to County Stadium in the mid-'90s, in which Selig popped his head out of the owner's box for the seventh-inning stretch, causing the assembled masses to cheer "Bud! Bud! Bud!" at the top of their cheese-clogged lungs.) So you know he has to be delighted to see the Brewers in first place in the NL Central, tied for the second-best record in the National League.

The Crew owns one of the most underrated pitching staffs in the majors, with Ben Sheets supported by a deep, talented group in Chris Capuano, David Bush (more on him in a minute), Jeff Suppan and Claudio Vargas. With Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks & Co. on board, the Brewers have a dynamic, young offense that only figures to get better. They even have an X factor on their side: Yovani Gallardo and Ryan Braun, two of the top prospects in baseball; both are terrorizing the minor leagues, and both are poised to come up and give the Brewers a big lift.

The Brewers haven't made the playoffs since 1982, by far the longest such streak of any team in the four major pro sports leagues. That streak ends this year.

6. David Bush, Jeff Francis and Erik Bedard all have ERAs of more than 6 … and we'd trade most of the pitchers in MLB to get them.

One of the theories that has gained traction in analytical circles the past few years is this: A pitcher has very little control over where a batted ball will go if it doesn't fly out of the park. The idea seems counterintuitive. How can Greg Maddux, one of the best pitchers of all time, have no more influence on what happens to a batted ball than his brother Mike? We're not quite prepared to speak in absolutes about the subject. But for the most part, major league pitchers will, over their careers, end up allowing about 30 percent of the balls hit in play against them to drop in for hits -- give or take any lucky or unlucky outliers.

We bring this up because Bush, Francis and Bedard are three excellent, under-30 pitchers who loom large in their teams' future plans, and they own ERAs of 6.09, 6.23 and 6.52 so far this season. Now here's another fun stat: Bush, Francis and Bedard are No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 in highest batting average allowed on balls in play (BABIP) this season among the 96 major league pitchers with at least 25 IP, at .407, .392 and .384. Those numbers will start dropping soon as all three pitchers revert toward the mean. What you do with this information -- go see Brewers, Rockies and Orioles games with these pitchers on the mound, acquire them on your fantasy team, make funny hats with the word BABIP on them -- is entirely up to you.

Undrafted Badgers

LB Mark Zalewski signed with the New York Jets as a free agent after going undrafted this weekend.

SS Roderick Rogers signed with the Denver Broncos. He is said to be starting at safety with a possibility of moving to corner.

QB John Stocco has yet to be signed. He said he spoke with some teams during the draft, but he went undrafted and hasn't been picked up in the free agent market yet.

Brewers looking good in Power Rankings

This week's SI.com power rankings have the Brewers at 8, up from a ranking of 15 last week. Though the writers aren't the long suffering fans that we are, they know what it's like to love the Brew Crew:

Milwaukee Brewers

We can't be sure, of course, because these are the Brewers, and they've made it their business to disappoint. (Rejected ad campaign: "No Postseason Since '82!") But the Crew beat Houston's Roy Oswalt on Sunday, they're in first place at four games above .500 and they have the fifth-best mark in baseball. There's promise. Just no money-back guarantees.

Packers Draft

Ted Thompson had a pretty spectacular draft last year and I wonder if he did himself in by setting the expectations too high. Thus far this year, we Packer fans have been less than impressed. I will say that we do have some pretty good looking scenarios today, including three straight 6th round picks. But Thompson's got a lot of work to do if he's going to make up ground.

Let's look at the Packer's picks thus far: (and you can see JSOnline.com's info, including scouting reports, here)

Pick #16 Justin Harrell DT, Tennessee 6'4 1/2" 314lbs
This is honestly the one pick that will either prove Thompson's a genius or haunt him for the rest of his days. In a completely unscientific review, my brother who lives in Tennessee said he saw the game in which Harrell was injured and was more than impressed with him. So there you go...

Pick # 63 Brandon Jackson RB, Nebraska 5'9" 210lbs
This is the pick that's leading to varying opinions. Jackson has also had some injury issues. Stats say Played in 33 games altogether at Nebraska, carrying 291 times for 1,431 yards (4.9 average) and 14 TDs. . . . Finished with 2,328 all-purpose yards, an average of 70.6 yards per game
Clayton over at ESPN.com thinks we have gotten a good deal:
"Don't get me wrong: Jackson is a good sleeper back, better than people think. He's tough, he runs hard, and he should help. "

Pick #78 James Jones WR, San Jose State 6'1" 210lbs
Led team in receptions with 70 for 893 yards, which also ranked him 27th in nation
Pro Football Weekly: "Some teams were hoping to steal Jones late in the draft. He gained some momentum after a solid showing at post-season All-Star competition. He gradually improved as a senior and could continue to develop, showing no signs of backing down vs. better competition. He has nice size, is physical and will fight for the ball, but he was drafted sooner than expected."

Pick #89 Aaron Rouse SS, Virginia Tech 6'4" 225lbs
Picked off five passes overall, including four in 2005 when he started all 13 games for the Hokies. . . . Had 12 tackles for loss in four seasons. . . . Registered 217 tackles (93 solos) overall at Virginia Tech. . . . Also forced four fumbles and recovered one
from NFL.com's Draft Analyzer, here's Gil Brandt: "Rouse (6-4, 223; 4.46) was a former linebacker who was moved to safety. He's a straight-ahead type of runner. I'm not sure he can play safety and can turn and run to cover a receiver, despite his speed."

Pick #119 Allen Babre OT, Missouri Southern State 6'4" 295lbs
A three time Division II All-American tackle, Barbre has proved a dominant force on the offensive line. Powerfully strong and remarkably lean, he is able to control defenders at the line and drive them off the ball. Barbre plays with a mean streak, especially in the run, attacking opponents and finishing his blocks, but he is less effective during pass protection, foregoing leverage and hand technique for brute strength and power. Playing his full career in Division II, Barbre will need to prove he can match up against the top level of competition, but with his raw tools and talent, he has at least given himself an opportunity to try. (- STATS)
Pro Football Weekly says Allen Barbre fits into Green Bay's offensive scheme.

The site's analysis on the pick: "Missouri Southern OT Allen Barbre is an athletic zone blocker well-suited for the Packers' blocking game. He could provide depth as a swing tackle and has developmental potential if he can get stronger."
Pete Fiutak of collegefootballnews.com says of Allen Barbre: "Excellent combination of size, speed, athleticism and attitude. The big concern is competition playing at the D-II level and dominating. He was fantastic at the Combine and showed elite D-I type of skills, but he's still a little bit raw and has to work his way into a position."

Here's what Scouts Inc. thinks of Barbre (ESPN Insider subscription needed): "Barbre is a small-school prospect who has the natural ability to develop into a contributor at guard and/or tackle in the NFL. He is a bit undersized and has the mobility to fit a scheme such as the Colts or Broncos. That said; he needs to get stronger at the point of attack and refine his technique. Following a tremendous showing at the combine, Barbre projects as an early-Day 2 pick."

The Packers' latest pick, offensive lineman Allen Barbre (pronounced Bar-ber), isn't just a blocker.

He served as the team's gunner on punt coverage. That's the position usually reserved for cornerbacks and wide receivers. That means at 304 pounds he was lined up wide on punts and was expected to be the first player down in coverage. He finished with nine special teams tackles during his time at Missouri Southern.

Barbre, who is the first player from his school ever to be invited to the combine, is a big, physical player who finishes his blocks, according to offensive line coach James Campen.


_____


So that's it so far. Interesting that our latest pick is the one with the most said about him.

Moss won't be a Packer

It appears that with all our cap room, it was a 4th round draft choice that kept Green Bay from getting Randy Moss and it sent him to New England instead.

Because, you know, they really need the help.

Also, I find it difficult to believe that Randy Moss will fit in in New England. Talk about a me player in a team environment. Randy Moss has never been known for his group mentality and no one would ever accuse him of being modest or self-effacing. Yet here he goes to a team that famously decided to forego individual introductions and run out onto the Super Bowl field as a team.

Supposedly Moss' agreement to fit into this team attitude was part of the negotiations. But if you believe that Randy Moss wholeheartedly agreed to be a team player, I've got some land in Florida to sell you...

SI.com article
ESPN.com article here

Draft

I have every intention of weighing in on the draft in a hour or so, but it's the first nice weekend in Milwaukee (ok, second. But I was in KC last weekend) and I couldn't resist the siren's call of the warm weather. So I've forgone the draft for the dog park.


Besides, the Packers haven't picked yet...

Sweet, super sweet, thanks for asking

Last night’s Brewers game is the type of game that gives me faith in the rest of the season and makes me feel justified for having faith in the first place.

Perennially, the Cubs are like Brewer kryptonite. It doesn’t matter how well we’re playing or how crappy they’re playing, inevitably the Cubs are able to break us down.

This year looked to be no different, since we lost 2 of 3 to them at home over Easter weekend and then started out the series yesterday by going down 4-0 in the third.

Whereas Brewer teams of the past would have been down and out for the count at this point, this year’s team rallied. And manager Ned Yost took chances. He left pitchers in longer than I would have expected and kept with some left-handed hitters in the late innings.

JJ Hardy and Prince Fielder both had home runs and in the 8th inning the Brewers tied it 4-4.

The home run gave JJ 6 for the season so far, tying him for second place in the NL with Barry Bonds.

Jaques Jones had a spectacular diving catch to his left in right field to rob the Brewers. Geoff Jenkins returned the favor in the bottom of that same inning, getting the third out on an amazing forward diving catch that saved one, if not two runs from scoring and got the Brewers out of a predicament late in the game.

By the 9th, Lou Pinella had used every available man in his dugout. The Brewers used everyone but Corey Hart.

Reliever Carlos Villanueva had some rough patches but managed to make it through 4 innings without allowing a run. He walked his first batter, but got it together and pitched half of the Brewers' 8 relief innings.

Prince Fielder hit a home run in the top of the 12th to put the Brewers ahead 5-4. It was his 5th homer of the year and the 4th time he’d hit more than one HR in a game - three of those multiple HR games have been at Wrigley

Derrick Turnbow took over the role of closer last night, since Francisco Cordero had pitched more than 60 pitches in the past two days. Turnbow got the final three outs in the bottom of the 12th for his first save of the season and first since last July 29 at Cincinnati.

From JSonline.com:"'That was just a phenomenal effort by Carlos Villanueva to pitch his heart out like he did," said Brewers manager Ned Yost, who had no bullpen pitchers and one position player (Corey Hart) left on his bench. "We were down to our last pitcher."
Villanueva entered in the bottom of the eighth after the Brewers had completed a comeback with two runs in the top of the inning."

From the ESPN.com article about the game:
The game ended on a called third strike from Derrick Turnbow to Mark DeRosa, who didn't like the call.
"Obviously if you look at the replay, the pitch is a ball," DeRosa said. "Derrick Turnbow is nasty enough, he doesn't need to be getting pitches like that. It was an obvious ball. When you get a call like that against you to end the game, it's frustrating."

Recovering

Between the most uncomfortable hotel beds and pillows in the world and the Brewer game going to 12 innings last night, I have not caught up on sleep. Plus, all my pictures are on my brother's camera and he has yet to send them to me, so it's a bit more time before I post on my KC trip. We did make it to a Royals' game, so look for this pictures soon!

Lots of pre-draft focus on Joe Thomas

Wisconsin offensive tackle Joe Thomas is projected to be a top 5 pick in the upcoming NFL Draft. But he doesn't plan to be there for all the hoopla. Where will he be instead? Like any good 'ole boy from Wisconsin, he'll be out fishing with his dad.

Full story here.

He was also featured in Friday's USA Today as the best offensive tackle prospect.
Read that story here.

On the other hand, the Brewers have had some seriously bright spots

From the "I never would have seen this coming files..." Kevin Mench is hitting .405 (actually down from when I check the stats a few days ago) with 5 doubles, 6 RBIs and a home run. As of Thursday afternoon (when I was last in Milwaukee and in front of all the stats) Mench was 6-7 in the series.

Also, Claudio Vargas had a stellar start on Thursday for the Brewers. Offensively, we got on top early, but Vargas found himself in a jam in the fourth inning, when he walked a couple of batters and had the bases loaded with no outs. Pitching coach Mike Maddux had a talk with him and Vargas went on to retire the next 3 batters in order. In the game he racked up a career high 11 strikeouts. He's got 22 K's on the season, a full 7 more than the next closest Brewer pitcher. Impressive!

Dave Bush has shown that he's not only useful defensively. In Tuesday night's game, before the players blew it after he'd already been replaced, Dave Bush hit a two-out, two RBI double. It was all the more sweet because the Reds had intentionally walked Craig Counsell to get to Bush and he made them pay. Well done.

The offensive theatrics have been focused on a few players this season, but no one seems to be noticing J.J. Hardy. Coming back after missing most of last season, Hardy has proven himself a reliable #2 hitter. In Thursday's game he had a 2-run homer, a 2-run RBI single and a double.
On the season he's got 9 RBIs and 9 runs scored on 18 hits hitting .273.

Derrick Turnbow had his worst outing of the season on Thursday afternoon when he walked two players and then gave up hits allowing them both to score. The runs put the Pirates within striking distance. However, the Pirates scoring those runs meant we brought in closer Francisco Cordero, who proceeded to sit down the next three Pirates batters successively.

Finally, as of the end of play Thursday, the Brewers had the 3rd highest batting average in the National League and were second in slugging percentage. Of course, we are 3rd from last in the NL in team ERA.

And you thought this year's team was going to be all about pitching!

Bill Hall, learn how to transfer the ball from your glove...

Look, I expected there to be a modicum of problems with Bill Hall transferring to the outfield. We all knew there would be a growing period while he became accustomed to the position.

But this is getting ridiculous. Just 16 games into the season (and he only played in 12 of them) and Billy's racked up 4 errors. And frankly, the scoring folks have probably let him off easily. A few of the errors have been from an inability to judge fly balls. While this is frustrating, it's one of those growing pain things that we knew we'd see early in the season.

The problem I am having with Bill is this ridiculousness where he is incapable of transferring the ball from his glove to his hand. Despite the fact that he's playing deep in center field, every time Bill has to deal with a ball on the ground, he acts as though he's going to turn a double play. The problem is, he misses the ball completely, drops is back to the ground and often allows the runner an extra base.

I'm no baseball expert, but I know there should be no "flip" from glove to hand. Do like they taught you in little league, Billy and take the ball from the glove and throw it in. There is absolutely and literally no excuse for this to continue. I understand there may have been some days where the transition was difficult and it was a completely unconscious maneuver. But now that you've committed these errors and cost runs, the time for forgiveness has passed.

We're all thrilled that you raised your batting average over 100 points since Monday of this week. We appreciate the grand slam, followed by going 3 of 4 and scoring 2 runs on Tuesday and then going 3 of 4 with a home run and three RBIs on Wednesday.

But that certainly will not atone for the continued outfield miscues. Sure, you'd be absolutely vilified if you were making these mistakes and also hitting poorly. You found a way to fix one, now it's time to find an answer for the other.

Edit: The JS has hit on this topic, too.

Off the Grid

CuteSports is taking a (not-so) well-deserved vacation to sunny, tropical KANSAS CITY this weekend. That's Missouri, not Kansas.

Don't be jealous.

Actually, CuteSports will be attending her niece's first communion and possibly taking in a Royals game.

Now I KNOW you're jealous!!

I'll be back on Monday.

Woo Hoo!

Hitting your first career Grand Slam on a 3-2 count after battling off about 4 foul tips is one way for Bill Hall to snap out of the hitting woes that have been ailing him.

Sure, we're only two weeks into the season, but Bill Hall had already been sat in Florida to try and break the cycle of his hitting slump. Hitting below .200 after hitting the first HR of the season on Opening Day, Hall just hit a no out Grand Slam to take the Brewers from a close 4-3 to breaking up open the game 8-4.

Welcome back, Billy!