Stepan makes a splash with major league debut

Derek Stepan left Wisconsin after two years and there was some question as to whether he was NHL-ready, or if he'd spend time in the minors before joining the NY Rangers.

After leading his team in pre-season scoring, Stepan made the team out of camp and made a huge debut on Saturday.

He became just the fourth person ever to record a hat trick in his first NHL game.

The first goal came as a shot deflected off his stick into a defensive player and in to the net. The second and third goals came when Stepan scored twice 3:12 apart late in the second period to complete the hat trick and put the Rangers ahead 4-1.

Stepan was just the second Ranger to score three goals in his debut. Ron Murphy did it in 1955

Doug Melvin squelches Brenly rumor

From Journal-Sentinel's Tom Haudricourt's Twitter:

"Brewers GM Doug Melvin just denied the report that Bob Brenly will be the next manger. Said he hasn't interviewed anybody. So false alarm."

"Melvin had this to say about Brenly rumor: 'Unless somebody else has been doing the hiring process, that's not true.'"

"'Just another rumor to squelch' Melvin said..."

Brewers looking at Brenly

Can't link Twitter from work, but 1250 AM's Doug Russell is reporting that a source says "Bob Brenly is close to agreeing to become the next Brewers Manager."

Brenly in the past has compared Miller Park to minor league stadiums and two seasons ago openly advocated a pitcher throwing at Ryan Braun.

When one of Macha's main problems was his inability to be close to Braun and Fielder, I'm thinking this is not a step in the right direction. While more fiery than Macha (who isn't?), this feels like another over-compensation. The pendulum swung from Yost to Macha (fiesty to asleep) and now it looks like Doug Melvin is letting it go way past center again.

Badger Hockey #13 in preseason polls

USA TODAY/USA Hockey men's preseason poll

Sept. 27, 2010


Rank School (first-place votes) 2009-10 record Points Final 2009-10 ranking

1 Boston College (28) 29-10-3 504 1

2 Notre Dame (4) 25-13-5 462 7

3 Miami (Ohio) (2) 29-8-7 437 3

4 Michigan 26-18-1 383 8

5 Yale 21-10-3 334 6

6 St. Cloud State 24-14-5 308 5

7 Maine 19-17-3 281 NR

8 New Hampshire 18-14-7 206 11

9 Minnesota Duluth 22-17-1 195 NR

10 Cornell 21-9-4 162 9

11 Denver 27-10-4 146 4

12 Alaska 18-12-9 125 15

13 Wisconsin 28-11-14 115 2

14 Boston University 18-17-3 69 NR

15 Minnesota 18-19-2 50 NR


Others receiving votes: University of Notre Dame, 43; Rochester Institute of Technology, 38; Bemidji State University, 36; Ferris State University, 36; Union College, 34; University of Vermont, 28; Michigan State University, 21; Northern Michigan University, 18; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, 16; Colorado College, 14; Northeastern University, 14; University of Nebraska at Omaha, 3; Merrimack College, 2.

***

USCHO.com Division I Men's Poll
October 4, 2010

Team (First Place Votes) Record Points Last Poll
1 Boston College (45) 29-10-3 993 3
2 North Dakota ( 3) 25-13-5 935 4
3 Miami ( 2) 29- 8-7 892 1
4 St. Cloud State 24-14-5 749 7
5 Michigan 26-18-1 741 11
6 Yale 21-10-3 719 8
7 Maine 19-17-3 639 18
8 Minnesota-Duluth 22-17-1 618 14
9 Denver 27-10-4 534 2
10 New Hampshire 18-14-7 510 12
11 Cornell 21- 9-4 509 6
12 Alaska 18-12-9 435 17
13 Wisconsin 28-11-4 295 5
14 Boston University 18-17-3 280 NR
15 Minnesota 18-19-2 271 NR
16 Michigan State 19-13-6 191 19
17 Notre Dame 13-17-8 156 NR
18 RIT 28-12-1 152 20
19 Union 21-12-6 136 16
20 Colorado College 19-17-3 127 NR
Others Receiving Votes: Vermont 105, Bemidji State 101, Northern Michigan 96, Ferris State 83, Nebraska-Omaha 49, Northeastern 39, Rensselaer 32, Mercyhurst 31, Quinnipiac 18, Merrimack 15, Ohio State 13, Colgate 9, St. Lawrence 5, Air Force 4, Mass.-Lowell 2, Robert Morris 1


Read more: http://www.uscho.com/rankings/?data=uscho1m&week=poll#ixzz11b3ByLVh

Former Badger Stepan Makes Rangers

Former Badger Derek Stepan made the NY Rangers final roster this week and will start the season in the NHL.

Stepan, 20, left Wisconsin early after his sophomore year.

Teammate Ryan McDonogh was left off the Rangers final roster and will start the season in the AHL.

Badger Hockey TV Schedule Released

(Dates and times subject to change)

DAY DATE OPPONENT All Times Central TV (Internet)


ICE BREAKER TOURNAMENT (St. Louis)

Friday Oct. 8 Boston University 8:30 p.m.

Sunday Oct. 10 Notre Dame/Holy Cross 3 p.m./Noon

FRIDAY OCT. 15 ALABAMA HUNTSVILLE 7 P.M. FSN/WC

SUNDAY OCT. 17 ALABAMA HUNTSVILLE 1 P.M. (Bigtennetwork.com)

Friday Oct. 22 at Denver* 8:30 p.m. FSN

Saturday Oct. 23 at Denver* 8 p.m.

FRIDAY OCT. 29 MICHIGAN TECH* 7 P.M. (UWBadgers.com)

SATURDAY OCT. 30 MICHIGAN TECH* 7 P.M. WISC/Charter/TWar/WC

Friday Nov. 5 at Minnesota* 7 p.m. FSN

Saturday Nov. 6 at Minnesota* 7 p.m. BTN

FRIDAY NOV. 12 NORTH DAKOTA* 7 P.M. FSN/WC

SATURDAY NOV. 13 NORTH DAKOTA* 7 P.M. TVW/Charter/TWar/WC

FRIDAY NOV. 19 MINNESOTA DULUTH* 7 P.M. FSN/WC

SATURDAY NOV. 20 MINNESOTA DULUTH* 7 P.M. WISC/Charter/TWar/WC

COLLEGE HOCKEY SHOWCASE FRIDAY

NOV. 26 MICHIGAN 7 P.M. (Bigtennetwork.com)

SATURDAY NOV. 27 MICHIGAN STATE 7 P.M. (Bigtennetwork.com)

Friday Dec. 3 at Alaska Anchorage* 10 p.m.

Saturday Dec. 4 at Alaska Anchorage* 10 p.m.

FRIDAY DEC. 10 BEMIDJI STATE* 7 P.M. TVW/Charter/TWar/WPT

SATURDAY DEC. 11 BEMIDJI STATE* 7 P.M. FSN/WPT

THURSDAY DEC. 30 MASSACHUSETTS 7 P.M. FSN/WPT F

RIDAY DEC. 31 MASSACHUSETTS 7 P.M. FSN/WPT

FRIDAY JAN. 7 CANISIUS 7 P.M. (Bigtennetwork.com)

SATURDAY JAN. 8 CANISIUS 7 P.M. (Bigtennetwork.com)

Friday Jan. 14 at Minnesota Duluth* 7 p.m.

Saturday Jan. 15 at Minnesota Duluth* 7 p.m.

FRIDAY JAN. 21 MINNESOTA STATE* 7 P.M. (Bigtennetwork.com)

SATURDAY JAN. 22 MINNESOTA STATE* 7 P.M. WISC/Charter/TWar/WPT

Friday Jan. 28 at Michigan Tech* 6 p.m.

Saturday Jan. 29 at Michigan Tech* 6 p.m.

Friday Feb. 11 at Nebraska Omaha* 7:30 p.m.

Saturday Feb. 12 at Nebraska Omaha* 7 p.m.

FRIDAY FEB 18 MINNESOTA* 7 P.M. BTN

SATURDAY FEB. 19 MINNESOTA* 8 P.M. FSN

Friday Feb. 25 at St. Cloud State* 7 p.m. Charter

Saturday Feb. 26 at St. Cloud State* 7 p.m. Charter

FRIDAY MARCH 4 COLORADO COLLEGE* 7 P.M. TVW/Charter/TWar/WPT

SATURDAY MARCH 5 COLORADO COLLEGE* 7 P.M. FSN/WPT

Fri.-Sun. March 11-13 WCHA Playoffs (Campus Sites)

Thur.-Sat. March 17-19 WCHA Final Five (St. Paul, Minn.) FSN

Fri.-Sat. March 25-26 NCAA East and West Regionals (Bridgeport, Conn., and St Louis)

Sat.-Sun. March 26-27 NCAA Northeast and Midwest Regionals (Manchester, N.H., and Green Bay, Wis.)

Thur.-Sat. April 7-9 NCAA Frozen Four (St. Paul, Minn.)

* - WCHA league games Home games listed in BOLD CAPS. All times Central. FSN- Fox Sports Wisconsin; BTN - Big Ten Network; WISC - WISC-TV; TVW - TVW 14; Charter - Charter Extra; TWar - Time Warner Sports; WC - Wisconsin Channel (delayed); WPT - Wisconsin Public Television or Wisconsin Channel (delayed)

Geoffrion to start season with Admirals

AP writer Colin Fly noted on Twitter that the Predators sent Blake Geoffrion to Milwaukee and that he will be with the team when training camp opens.

Badger Hockey Facility

Plans for a dedicated hockey facility that had been on hold due to lack of donations are back on track.


The facility will be used for both men's and women's hockey practices and would be a dedicated facility to host women's home games.



From the Wisconsin State Journal:

"A plan to build a $27.8 million practice facility for the University of Wisconsin hockey programs has been revived.

Six months after shelving the project, saying he was uncomfortable with the lack of private donations, UW athletic director Barry Alvarez said Friday that a "very good'' surge of gift funds has put it back on track."



This facility would be a huge boon for the program. The women's team seems a little lost in the size of the Kohl Center and would benefit from having their own ice.

what the Brewers are asking for Hart

From MLBTradeRumors.com via Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle the Brewers asked for either Madison Bumgarner or Jonathan Sanchez in exchange for Hart.

Both are young pitchers under team control for some years.

The Brewers faced each of the young pitches during the Giants recent four-game stint at Miller Park and were able to muster just one run each day.

According to the rumor, the Giants' manager was unwilling to part with either arm.


Brewer fans should be happy that GM Doug Melvin is reaching for the moon with this trade.

TimberRattler Davis wins single A Home Run Derby

The single A All Star Game is happening in Fort Wayne this week and Brewer prospect and current T Rat Khris Davis rep-ed the team well by winning the Home Run Derby last night.

Davis hit a total of 25 home runs over three rounds to take the title.

Badger Trio gets high marks.

From UWBadgers.com, "
Rivals.com put up a story earlier this month ranking the top "triplets" in college football, meaning the team with the best combination of quarterback, running back and wide receiver.

The Badger trio of QB Scott Tolzien, RB John Clay and WR Nick Toon came in at No. 9 in the top-15 poll."

Here's what Rivals.com said about the Badgers' trio:
"The Badgers' trio isn't as flashy as some others on this list, but Tolzien, Clay and Toon get the job done. As usual at Wisconsin, a bruising running back is the centerpiece. Defenses know the 248-pound Clay will get plenty of work, but he still averages 5.4 yards per carry for his career. Although Wisconsin retains its run-first style, the Badgers are opening up the offense. Tolzien became the first Badgers quarterback to complete more than 200 passes in a season. In recent seasons, Wisconsin has relied extensively on its tight end in the passing game, but Toon figures to change that this season. He had 54 catches for 805 yards and four TDs last season."

Brewers Prospect Lawrie to play in MLB ASG Futures game

For the second straight year, Brett Lawrie will represent Canada on the World team during the All Star Game futures game.

Congrats Brett

Brewers win on walk-off sac bunt

In case you didn't see it, tonight the Brewers had a bit of a stolen base/hit and run on with Carlos Gomez on first base. He never slowed and took third when the ball was fielded and thrown to first for the out. The ball was then thrown to third to try and get Gomez out, but was overthrown and Gomez came home on the error.

Make sense?

If not, Disciples of Uecker broke down the play with diagrams to analyze the Cubs' defense of the situation. Check it out here.

The World Cup is Here!

The World Cup starts tomorrow with a 900 am CST match between host country South Africa and Mexico. That will be followed by Uruguay and France at 130 pm CST

Of course, all Americans should be ready to watch the US face England on Saturday at 130 CST on Saturday.

Also playing on Saturday are South Korea and Greece at 6 am and Argentina v. Nigeria
at 9 am.

The Nomad on Brady Street is having a block party and will be showing all games, as will Brocach, who's sign says they'll be open at 6 am and serving breakfast.

The Highbury Pub on Linclon and KK will be open for all games, as well.

Make sure you check out Ladies... for all your Group Hotties.
And former Lady, The Starter Wife, is doing amazing things with Group themed food on her blog, Black and Gold Tchotchkes.

Brewers finally release Jeff Suppan

With his $10 million contract hanging around our necks, Doug Melvin and Mark Attanasio seemed to be hoping for a miracle resurgence from Jeff Suppan this season. When it didn't happen, they didn't seem to know what to do with themselves - or him. Already stuck paying for Braden Looper and Bill Hall's contract while they're no longer on the team, the Brewers seemed loathe to admit to another wrong contract.

But with the emergence of Kameron Loe, Zach Braddock and John Axford, the Brewers could no longer make excuses for trotting Suppan out in low-leverage situations while he wasted a roster spot and we constantly had to shuffle to make room for arms that are performing better.

Melvin was a bit defensive about the Suppan signing, rattling off the contracts of all the other FA pitchers that were signed during the same off-season.

Adam McCalvy has all of Melvin's comments here.


From J-S' Tom Haudricourt's Brewers Blog, Suppan's statement:
As I expected, Jeff Suppan did not want to do interviews with reporters about his release by the Brewers today.

Instead, Suppan released the following statement:

"I want to thank Mark Attanasio and Doug Melvin for all they have done for my family and me, especially how they handled this situation. I"ve played with a number of organizations and the Brewers are one of the classiest.

"When I signed in 2007, I was committed to winning and to this day I still am. Nobody is more disappointed with how things have turned out. I enjoyed my time here in Milwaukee, as both a player and a member of the community. As such, I will continue my involvement with the Brewers Charities for the remainder of the 2010 season. My commitment to this cause and the people it serves is unwavering.

"I wish the current organization, its fans and especially my teammates all the best."

Johnny Jolly could see lengthy jail time

The prosecution is saying Johnny Jolly "bought, sold, funded, transported and aided in the buying, selling, funding and transportation of illegal narcotics including cocaine and marijuana" in Harris County from 2006 through May 2008.

It seems as though this may be an unfortunate side effect of Jolly's looking to not receive any punishment from the league by pleading guilty to any lesser charges.


Per Greg A. Bedard from the Journal-Sentinel, "Jolly has had – and I’m pretty sure still does – multiple opportunities to plead his codeine charge out for much lesser charges but has chosen not to do so at every turn. Likely because Jolly knew he’d get suspended if he pled guilty to anything under the personal conduct policy. Jolly rolled the dice but not making this thing go away quickly, taking his medicine from Roger Goodell and just getting on with his career. By going to trial, Jolly risked other things coming up as the prosecution prepared for trial. Whether these allegations are true or not, Jolly evidently lost on that gamble because if he would have pled out, the only thing most people would think about Jolly is that he made a stupid decision two years. Now he’s viewed in a whole new light."

Bedard answers all kinds of questions surrounding the case here, but the most important one is this:
Q: Did the Packers have any clue that allegations of drug dealing could be connected to Jolly?

A: This, I think, is a huge and very important question. If the Packers knew about these allegations and thought they had any merit, why is Jolly still a member of the team let alone receiving a first-round tender at $2.5 million? If the Packers did know, did they just turn the other way and hope no one found out so their on-field team would be better?

I don’t know and I’m not sure we’ll ever know.

Circumstantial evidence – the drafting of Mike Neal and C.J. Wilson, and moving Ryan Pickett to left end – could be taken as a sign the Packers thought they could be without Jolly for sometime.

But I talked with eight veterans in the locker room on Wednesday and seven said they had never heard a single rumor about Jolly and drugs. If most of his teammates didn’t know, how could the Packers? That is entirely possible. But the Packers, like every other team, employ security personnel that are at least supposed to have some idea about what their players are up to off the field.

One player said he had heard the rumors and thought the Packers had to have some clue.

So, like I said, we don’t know, and I’m not sure we’ll ever know.

Badger Men's Hockey Schedule

The men's hockey schedule was released. 22 home games, 11 games against 2010 NCAA tournament teams and they end the season at home. Of note should be the games against new WCHA team's Nebraska-Omaha and Bemidji State. Also, the lack of a Badger Hockey Showdown Between Christmas and New Year's. Instead the Badgers will host UMASS and Canisius. The team will also be taking part of a season-opening tournament.


DAY DATE OPPONENT All Times Central
ICE BREAKER TOURNAMENT (St. Louis)
Friday Oct. 8 Boston University TBA
Sunday Oct. 10 Notre Dame/Holy Cross TBA
FRIDAY OCT. 15 ALABAMA HUNTSVILLE 7 P.M.
SUNDAY OCT. 17 ALABAMA HUNTSVILLE 1 P.M.
Friday Oct. 22 at Denver* 8:30 p.m.
Saturday Oct. 23 at Denver* 8 p.m.
FRIDAY OCT. 29 MICHIGAN TECH* 7 P.M.
SATURDAY OCT. 30 MICHIGAN TECH* 7 P.M.
Friday Nov. 5 at Minnesota* 7 p.m.
Saturday Nov. 6 at Minnesota* 7 p.m.
FRIDAY NOV. 12 NORTH DAKOTA* 7 P.M.
SATURDAY NOV. 13 NORTH DAKOTA* 7 P.M.
FRIDAY NOV. 19 MINNESOTA DULUTH* 7 P.M.
SATURDAY NOV. 20 MINNESOTA DULUTH* 7 P.M.
COLLEGE HOCKEY SHOWCASE
FRIDAY NOV. 26 MICHIGAN 7 P.M.
SATURDAY NOV. 27 MICHIGAN STATE 7 P.M.
Friday Dec. 3 at Alaska Anchorage* 10 p.m.
Saturday Dec. 4 at Alaska Anchorage* 10 p.m.
FRIDAY DEC. 10 BEMIDJI STATE* 7 P.M.
SATURDAY DEC. 11 BEMIDJI STATE* 7 P.M.
THURSDAY DEC. 30 MASSACHUSETTS 7 P.M.
FRIDAY DEC. 31 MASSACHUSETTS 7 P.M.
FRIDAY JAN. 7 CANISIUS 7 P.M.
SATURDAY JAN. 8 CANISIUS 7 P.M.
Friday Jan. 14 at Minnesota Duluth* 7 p.m.
Saturday Jan. 15 at Minnesota Duluth* 7 p.m.
FRIDAY JAN. 21 MINNESOTA STATE* 7 P.M.
SATURDAY JAN. 22 MINNESOTA STATE* 7 P.M.
Friday Jan. 28 at Michigan Tech* 6 p.m.
Saturday Jan. 29 at Michigan Tech* 6 p.m.
Friday Feb. 11 at Nebraska Omaha* 7:30 p.m.
Saturday Feb. 12 at Nebraska Omaha* 7 p.m.
FRIDAY FEB 18 MINNESOTA* 7 P.M.
SATURDAY FEB. 19 MINNESOTA* 7 P.M.
Friday Feb. 25 at St. Cloud State* 7 p.m.
Saturday Feb. 26 at St. Cloud State* 7 p.m.
FRIDAY MARCH 4 COLORADO COLLEGE* 7 P.M.
SATURDAY MARCH 5 COLORADO COLLEGE* 7 P.M.
Fri.-Sun. March 11-13 WCHA Playoffs (Campus Sites)
Thur.-Sat. March 17-19 WCHA Final Five (St. Paul, Minn.)
Fri.-Sat. March 25-26 NCAA East and West Regionals
(Bridgeport, Conn., and St Louis)
Sat.-Sun. March 26-27 NCAA Northeast and Midwest Regionals
(Manchester, N.H., and Green Bay, Wis.)
Thur.-Sat. April 7-9 NCAA Frozen Four
(St. Paul, Minn.)

Doug Davis to DL

Doug Davis was scratched from his start for the Brewers tonight due to the inflammation of the lining around his heart.



According to reports, he had chest pains yesterday that he initially treated as heartburn but when it didnt get better, he Googled his symptons and headed to the hospital, afraid he was having a heart attack. Several tests later, the doctors had no answer and Davis was getting worried.



Turned out a cold virus in his system was able to get into the lining of his heart. The condition is not life threatening, but does require complete rest and lots of anti-biotics. He was placed on the 15-day DL and Adam Stern was recalled to take his roster spot.



The whole situation developed today, so there's been no word as to how this will affect the pitching rotation - though it's possible Jeff Suppan or Manny Parra could be moved from the bullpen to a starting role.

Preview of the Braves series

I spoke to a Braves blogger and we exchanged questions about our squads.

Here's my answers to his questions that are posted at TalkingChop.com

1. The Brewers will come into the series with a record of 15-16. What has gone right and what has gone wrong in 2010?

This team is extremely inconsistent. It feels as though it's either go big, or don't go at all. This is a team that scored 26 runs this past weekend, but only scored one run in the four-game series last weekend. Clearly the Brewers have a lot of offensive power in their lineup, but sometimes it just doesn't show up. There hasn't been a long enough stretch of no scoring for anyone to seriously discuss is as an issue - a 17-run game makes you forget pretty quickly - but at some point the feast or famine offense is going to be an issue, I think.

Pitching is what has gone wrong. His most recent outing aside, Doug Davis has struggled. We had Jeff Suppan in the starting rotation. No one has been able to go deep into games. The bullpen is getting a lot of work which will likely be a problem near the end of the season. Right now we're very heavily relying on the Brewers to use the "we'll just score a lot of run so it doesn't matter how bad our pitching is" theory. That's only going to work for so long.

2. Braves fans know all about Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder and how good they are at the plate, but who besides these 2 have contributed the most on offense?

Casey McGehee. He's the best player that no one has heard of. We claimed him off waivers from the Cubs after the 2008 season and that was a total steal. He got a chance to get on the field when some other guys struggled and basically continued to prove he belonged there. He led all rookies in RBI last season and should have been more talked about for ROY. He literally came out of nowhere.

No one knew if last season was a fluke or not, so we're super excited about him hitting .304/.385/.536 with 6 HR and 28 RBI. Adding him to the already potent 3-4 punch of Braun and Fielder has really opened up our lineup.

Also, he has a son, Mack, who is affected by cerebral palsy and he's damn adorable. Last year Mack threw out a ceremonial first pitch before a game and Casey got a pinch-hit, go-ahead home run in that same game.

My favorite Casey moment was a game last season where Casey made an error at third, dropping a really easy pop-up. He made up for it by hitting his first career grand slam in the same game. That's the kind of player Casey is.

Star-divide

3. Yovani Gallardo has been fantastic for the Brewers this year and will likely pitch Wednesday against the Braves. What makes him so good and where would you rank him among the NL's most elite pitchers?

I'm not sure if you can rank Yovani Gallardo as an elite NL pitcher yet. He has the talent but hasn't reached anything near his full potential.

The biggest knock on Gallardo right now is that he's getting high pitch counts early in games and seems to lack the killer instinct. He's a nibbler and it costs him and the team at times. He had a beautiful outing Friday, allowing just two runs and notching 10 K's, but was out of the game after five innings because he was over 100 pitches. In the other two games where he threw 10 or more strikeouts, he lasted five and seven innings. Until he can figure out how to lower his pitch totals, he's going to stay in the "potentially great" category.

What makes him good is that he makes batters miss. He's a strikeout pitcher and a command pitcher. He does not get flustered or show much emotion. His fastball is mid-90s and he's got a better than average curveball.

There's a security factor with Yovanni. The team is comfortable with him on the mound. He just signed a long-term deal, putting him at ease within the organization. Those two factors mean that team's are facing a pretty formidable foe every five days. He's not trying to pitch his way in to anything. He's doing his job and he makes the eight guys behind him confident enough to do there's.

4. Take your pick for the next 5 seasons: Ryan Braun, Yovani Gallardo and Alcides Escobar or Jason Heyward, Tommy Hanson and Yunel Escobar. Why?

I'd take the Brewers trio.

Though Hanson is clearly the better pitcher right now, I'm convinced we haven't seen all that Gallardo has to offer. Both Hanson and Gallardo are big talents and I think I'd call that one a draw.

Alcides is an above-average fielder and has great foot speed. He's young and makes some stupid throws, but that should settle down and I still think he is an upgrade from J. J. Hardy. He has shown some impatience at the plate and the Brewers would really like to see him settle down and become a true #2 hitter in the batting order. A healthy, productive top 5 of Weeks, Escobar, Braun, Fielder and McGehee would be potent and would include a lot of speed on the bases. While we have yet to see a full season from Alcides, we have no reason to believe he won't improve or that we should be worried about injuries. With Yunel, you've seen struggles and injuries and he's a talent who's true depth you haven't been able to see yet.

While everyone is high on Jason Heyward, I'd take Braun any day of the week and twice on Sunday. In fact, there are few players in the majors that I would take over Ryan Braun. He's as good as advertised and seems to have gotten better each year we've had him. Something changed with clubhouse philosophy and he's been given free reign to steal bases. He's 8-for-8 so far and it's really added another dimension to the offense. What you're getting with Braun, besides the obvious power at the plate, is a clubhouse presence. He doesn't screw around, he doesn't like to lose and he'll say what he's thinking. Last year he made a comment to a reporter about pitching and our GM responded to the media that Braun could become his deputy. The kid is cocky, but it's mostly controlled and funneled on to the field. You need a guy in the clubhouse like that.

5. What would be considered a successful season for the Brewers in 2010?

Realistically, this the Brewers do not have the pitching to be a contender. Though we know that, I think most folks will be disappointed if they're not even in the race come September. With Prince Fielder's free agency looming, there's been a feeling of "now or never" surrounding this team since about mid-season 2008. Fans aren't going to be happy to see all this young, farm-grown talent come together and not see a decent playoff run come out of it. Losing to the Phillies in four games isn't going to cut it for the general public. The Brewers reached 3 million in ticket sales the past two seasons, but likely won't get there this year. If the front office wants to continue to draw crowds, the team has to produce.

However, after some disaster starts and Trevor Hoffman's blown saves, expectations have gone down a bit. It's always a roller-coaster ride with this team - feast or famine. I'm not sure anyone knows what to expect every time they turn on the TV or show up to the park.

I think if the Brewers are within breathing room of the Wild Card as the season winds down, it will appease the fan base for another year.




Make sure you go over to Brew Crew Ball to see his answers to my questions!

Way to go T-Rats

Just wanted to say that we enjoyed the Mother's Day brunch with the Timber Rattlers. The alarm didn't go off and we were probably 40 minutes late in getting to the stadium, but there was still plenty of fresh food brought out and mimosas flowing. I was very impressed.

The game was slow and a little disappointing in it's lack of energy, but we still had a great time. Definitely worth the drive up from Milwaukee.