This evening the gentleman from Brewerspundit.com will be heading to the land of John Wayne Gacy and hot dogs with everything. Tonight we will descend upon the friendly confines resplendent in full Brewer regalia. We shall have pockets full of change to offer to the locals so they can safely and efficiently pay the tolls on their ways home after suffering the evenings humiliation, which is no doubt in store. Led by the addition of Mike "The Stimulant" Cameron, the Brewers shall rain down a fury of extra base hits and stolen bases upon the lovable losers from the south. A deafening crack off the bat of Prince Fielder will announce to all in attendance that the Cubs reign of futility will endure. Gagne loading the bases on walks then striking out the side will be the defiant taunt that will pull down the pants of Cubs fans and spank them. Get ready Chi town because Brewerspundit.com is coming, and fully expects to leave with a series victory packed in it's bags.

Do you smell that Pinella? Smells like fear.

The Brewers travel south to Chicago today to face the division rival Chicago Cubs.

This is an important series because the two teams are rivals and because the Milwaukee doesn't want to fall any further behind division leading Chicago. Chicago is currently 2 games ahead of the Brewers, and 1 game ahead of the Cardinals.

Furthermore, the Brewers are coming off a pretty disapointing home stand, going 4-5 at home, going 1-2 against the Marlins, and losing a lot of close games. The Brewers need to win a few to regain their momentum.

I think they can. I think they can win 2 of 3 against the Chicago Cubs in this series. The pitching matches up well for them. Sheets is back from injury, and he is not facing Chicagos ace Zambrano, but Marquis instead. Marquis is good (1-0) but he is no Zambrano. Then the Brewers bring out Suppan against Dempster. Dempster is 3-0, but Suppan has been pitching great so far this season. Finally the Brewers bring out Gallardo against Zambrano.

I see the Brewers winning the first two games against the Cubs. Our offense has been struggling, but I think Cameron should be in the lineup for the Chicago series, and our hitters are bound to shake off this funk. The Brewers pitching is solid, they just need some run support.

With minor league options still available and Mike Cameron returning, Dave Bush was sent to the Nashville Sounds to continue pitching in our AAA rotation. He probably won't be down there for long due to the fragility of Sheets, the inablity of Parra to make it past the 5th inning and the absolute lack of ability in Turnbow.

So our line-up on Tuesday against the Cubs (who are playing out of their asses right now) will be:
Rickie Weeks
Mike Cameron
Ryan Braun
Prince Fielder
Corey Hart
Billy Hall
J.J. Hardy
Ben Sheets
Jason Kendall

That's a great line-up! It's time to start hitting fellas. We can't keep hearing: "Our guys are really hitting the ball hard but right at defenders". That's not cutting it anymore. We're 1 month into the season and we've got too many guys batting between .170 and .230. We've fallen apart recently with runners in scoring position. Good teams have clutch hitting.

Our starting pitchers have been pretty good lately (giving up 3 runs or less). Our relievers have also been pretty good too (with the exception of Turnbow and a few recent blow-ups by Riske). Our poor hitting is knocking out our starters and taxing our bullpen. It's time to get hot collectively. Maybe Mike Cameron can help.

Go Crew!!!

The Brewers start a 3 game series against the Florida Marlins tonight at Miller Park. It lookes like the starting pitchers for the Brewers will be the youngsters: Gallardo, Villanueva, and Parra.

After a pretty successfully road trip (5-4), the Brewers are going to need to win 2 of three to finish above .500 for this home stand, as they travel to Chicago to face the Cubs on Tuesday 4/29.

Taking 2-3 from the Marlins will be no easy feat. They have the same record as the Brewers at 13-9 and will be coming to Milwaukee atop the NL East. The Marlins are 6-4 on the road, and are 6-4 in their last 10 games as well.

I'm going to call the series 2-1 for the Brewers. I think Gallardo wins tonight just because the team will want to get him his first win, then Parra wins on Sunday because the pitcher we face (Ricky Nolasco) has a 5.91 ERA.

What do you think? The second Brewers Pundit Poll.

Jenkins got a standing ovation today when he came to bat in the second inning of todays Brewers - Phillies baseball game.

Geoff played 10 years for the Brewers, and finished second on the home run list for Milwaukee, but  got frustrating in his final years with his frequent strikeouts and lack of clutch hitting.

However, Jenkins always tried his hardest and didn't put the blame on anyone else for his shortcomings, and was a bright light in a pretty dark time of Brewers baseball. (Him and John Jaha anyway.)

I'm glad Brewers fans showed Geoff some respect and got off their seats. I'm sure he appreciates it.

Oh, Jenkins flied out to right his first time up, but Fielder hit his second dinger of the year.

The Brewers bullpen is in trouble. In the past 3 days, Gange has blown 2 saves and Turnbow has blown 1.

Todays game went 12 innings and everyone but Turnbow pitched. Two days ago against the Reds the game went 10 innings and the Brewers used 3 pitchers from the bullpen. In the last 3 games, the bullpen has given up runs in the 9th inning or later each of the three games.

Not only is the bullpen in trouble, we don't have a closer. Gange is 6-10 in save opportunities and has an ERA of 8. He might shape up as the season goes on, but right now he scares me. The only guy that doesn't scare me right now is Stetter. Shouse and Torres are pitching very well, but I don't think of them as closers.

All in all the Brewers are playing pretty well. I just wish I had more faith in the bullpen.

After todays 9-8 extra inning win, it was announced that Gabe Gross was traded to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

The Brewers got AAA pitching prospect Josh Butler.

Even though Gross was the winning run today, there will be no tears shed from Brewers fans, Gross was not having a good start to the season.

In his place, Tony Gwynn will join the team tomorrow. (Remember he was put on the DL retroactively)

Update: Adam mentions in the comments that Josh Butler is a single A player. I don't know where I got the idea he was 3A, but I was wrong. Details on Josh Butler.

We just added a new feature to Brewers Pudnit: Brewers 2008 Schedule.

You can use this Brewers Schedule link, or the link should show up in the top menu bar. (If it does not, hit CTRL-F5)

I goofed around with the look of the schedule a lot, and still don't like it. I would appreciate feed back and ideas for improvement. Both on how it looks, and the information is shows. (Should there be more columns? Should the win rows be highlighted?)

A couple of days ago we ran a poll asking wich pitcher would be removed to make room for Yovani Gallardo.

It turns out everyone one was wrong, and it is Joe Dillon being sent to the minors, and Yost is keeping all his pitchers on.

This is probably related to Sheets being removed for "precautionary measures", but we will see.

Jeff Suppan was pitching great today. He only gave up 3 hits. So, Ned Yost decides it was time to start worrying about match-ups. Instead of letting Soup finish off his inning, Yost brings in Shouse to face lefty Joey Votto. Well, Suppan was able to get Votto out the first 2 times. Shouse proceeds to give up a 2-run homer and ties the game at 3. Ned, knock that crap off! Trust your guys, screw the "match-ups". This goes for our batters too. Kapler is on fire, sit Gabe Gross, he's sucking eggs.

Let's pull this one out against the Reds. Suppan deserves it (even though he can't get the win, thanks to Ned).

 

Cubs blow goats (and like it)

Derrick Turnbow

Dave Bush

Carlos Villanueva

Manny Parra

Seth McClung

   In a couple days Mike Cameron will return to the Brewers after his 25 game suspension. It comes at a great time. The crew has some how been able to maintain a 9 and 6 record with their top five batters hovering around the .200 mark in batting. The addition of Cameron to the lineup will get rid of the Gross project that lurks at the two spot. His veteran skills are needed as many of the younger guys seem to be struggling with the high expectations set forth by the Brewer antion at the start of this season. A solid glove, a solid bat, and a great attitude are just what these boys need right now to fire it up.

   Prince hit his first home run last night, Braun (while struggling at the plate) is still showing plenty of hustle, Gallardo will be pitching soon so Bush can go the pen, and did I mention the Brewers are 9 and 6! When Cameron and Gallardo are both on the team that's when the real season starts for the Brewers. Afew games above .500 isn't a bad place to start at all.

 

Sorry about your calf Sore-iano

Ned Yost and Doug Melvin will announce their decision Friday on where Gallardo will slot in the rotation. Then we'll figure out who will shift out. Bush, Villanueva and Parra each had poor outings this week. Bush actually pitched the best (only giving up 3 earned runs). Villanueva and Parra could only go 4 innings. Parra looked terrible with 5 walks, 5 hits and 3 runs in 4 innings. Due to his inexperience, I believe Parra gets bumped down to Triple A.

That doesn't solve our Turnbow problem though.  Damn!

Kastner, your boy Tony Gwynn Jr was sent back to Triple A (along with Hernan Iribarren). A lefty reliever, Mitch Stetter, was called up to help Brian Shouse (who friggin rocks) get some rest. Ned must be reading our blog because earlier I recommended Yost stop over-using Shouse and tiring him out. Stetter should help that. Also the Reds have 3 to 4 leftys in their batting order, then the Cardinals with 3 lefty bats and the Phillies with 3 lefties too (including Jenkins).

Go Brew Crew! I'm glad Prince had some Dinty Moore Beef Stew for dinner last night, it showed real good!

Turnbow gets no love here, and for good reason. However, according to mlb.com, he is trying to pitch his way back into the rotation.

Read the full article here.

The Brewers beat the Cardinals today 5-3 in 10 innings.

There were a lot of positives in todays game, the biggest of all being Fielder.

The Prince hit his first home run of the season, a 2 run shot in the top of the tenth, driving in the go ahead runs. Fielder also tied the game earlier, driving in Ryan Braun in the fifth. Fielder finished 2-5 with 3 RBIs and a homer.

The Brewers also broke a 2 game losing streak and avoided being swept in a series for the first time all season, both facts made more significant because the Cardinals are in first place in the NL Central. With the win the Brewers were able to stay 1.5 games back from first rather than 3.5, and pulled even with the Cubs who lost to the Reds today.

It also feels like the Brewers are going to be able to avoid the mini-slump they were staring down. With the win today they are 5-5 in their last ten games. A loss today would have made it 4-6 for the last ten, the definite beginning of a slump.

Gagne got the save, and even though he didn't give up any runs, he looked pretty shaky to start. He gave up a lead off double, then followed that up with a walk. Thankfully he retired the next 3 batters in a row and secured the win for the Brewers.

The Brewers travel to CIN next to face the Reds, who handled the Brew Crew pretty handily in Milwaukee. It sure will be nice to go there on a one game win streak rather than a 3 game loosing streak.

Derrick Turnbow sucks!  He came in to the game last night and only had to get 2 outs. He proceeds to give up 4 straight hits and a walk!!!! Bye Bye dork

Also, we picked up a pretty good veteran pitcher in Jeff Weaver and signed him to a minor league deal. Excellent insurance if a starter goes down with an injury. Per agreement, he needs to make our squad by June or he can opt out of his contract (and get out of the minors). Another great move by Doug Melvin.

Did I mention Turnbow sucks?

   Gabe Kapler has come out of retirement and surprised everyone with his stellar play. After working last season as a minor league manager with Boston, Kapler resurfaced with the Brewers and has quickly proved he should have never left. In 9 games this season he's hitting .389 with 2 home runs, 6 RBIs, and a stolen base. Just the kind of performance you want to see from a veteran on a team full of youngsters. So how has Ned Yost rewarded this comeback? Bench him, of course. Yost loves the idea of platooning his outfielders based on who's pitching, i.e. if a lefty is pitching the right handed Kapler will start in center field, if a righty is pitching the lefty Gabe Gross gets the playing time. As it turns out there are quite a few more right handed pitchers than lefties in the majors, so using Yost's wisdom we can expect to see little of Kapler (except for today's game because left handed Johann Santana is on the mound.)

   This stituation is prime example of my biggest problem with Ned Yost. He works the numbers so much it seems that he overlooks the completely obvious thing that is right in front of him. Ned has done this with his pitchers a lot in the past, sticking with them too long because the numbers say they're better than they actually are. (see Derrick Turnblow, Matt Wise etc.) Gross is a liabilty in center field and is subpar at best at the plate. How can sit the hot bat of Kapler and stick with Gross. Ned has got the wrong Gabe listed on the lineup most nights. Common sense would say play the hot hand. Maybe common sense is what Yost is lacking.

 

I'd still rather have a dumb Yost than a drunk Pinella.

   Nine games into the season one thing is becoming clear. Prince Fielder and Vegetarianism do not mix...yet. Fielder's lack of production will very soon be a big cause for concern. As it stands now no one has been too worried about it because the rest of the team is playing pretty well. But when the crew loses a few more and hits a lull people will be wondering whether Princes new gastronomical choices might be contributing to his power failure.

   People have been saying it's too early to worry, and I agree to a point. I know he will get hot, he's a stud and a competitor, he will show up. People say his fielding has been great and he's still hitting for an OK average. Um, do we really see Fielder as a gold glove .325 hitter? No. At his spot in the lineup we need pop. We don't need 50 homeruns a year (It would be nice!), but we do need 30-35 hrs at least from that spot. This 9 game stretch without a homer is the longest to begin a season in Prince's short career, and I think the change in diet has to be the reason.

   In spring training Fielder stated his unhappiness with the Brewers contract offer to him. So wouldn't you think he would come out blazing? Just light up the scoreboard Prince, and show everyone how foolish they are to not give you the big bucks, right? Wrong. Fielder instead decided to switch his diet completely because he read a book about the cruelty beef cattle face when being butchered. He no longer eats meat of any kind, not for health reasons, but for principle. I actually think that's pretty cool as a life choice, and applaud him for doing it so publicly. I mean, how many of these young overpaid "star" athletes would do this, let alone come out publicly talking about it. But he is an athlete, and athletes need to pay huge attention to what they put in their bodies. They have to maintain a lot more than the average chip eating couch potato does. I liken this to a NASCAR driver all of the sudden deciding to fill his car's tank with corn biofuel. Just pulling up to the pump one day and thinking "This is good for the environment, Get 'er done!". But really before doing this his crew chief should be informed and they should really look over the engine and make some internal changes to see if this corn fuel might actually work. And maybe it would, but it has to be monitores. As it stands now Prince is just doing this on his own. No dietician, no extra thought put in, he just says he eats Boca burgers instead of meat. You're right Prince, it's probably just that easy.

 

 

 

Don't look now.........the Cubs still wear girly panties.  

   Tony Gwynn Jr. has been placed on the 15 day disabled list, but they were able to make that move retroactive 6 days so TG only has 9 days left on the DL. The Brewers called up Hernan Iribarren to replace Gwynn. Iriabarren is an above .300 left handed bat with speed. He has just recently moved to the outfield, and can also play second base.

   The crew also recalled Yovanni Gallardo from his rehab stint, but he is not yet on the active roster. The Brewers still have to decide who gets demoted to make room for him. Look for either Dave Bush or McClung to be moved. Neither pitcher did anything in last night's debacle to help their cause.

 

 

 

I saw a little chatter out there today about this possible trade. In the next few weeks the Brewers will have a few major decisions facing them and the trade route is one way the Brewers could deal with them. In a week or so Yovanni Gallardo will be back and a pitcher will have to go. Looks like Bush will be the guy kicked out of the rotation, but he always seems good for about 2 innings so I see him as long relief. The odd men out appear to be Scott McClung and Derrick Turnbow. McClung could possibly be sent down to the minors, if he clears waivers, but another team could pick him up off the waiver wire and the Brewers would get nothing. Turnbow has been relegated to the recesses of the bullpen. It seems that Yost doesn't want him to pitch in case any team we might trade him to would be watching.

   The other decision coming up soon will be when Mike Cameron returns from his Gulag. One of three guys in the outfield has to go; Gabe Kapler (not a chance, he'll be with the team in october), Tony Gwynn (has a minor league option, but is proving to be quite a solid pro), or Gabe Gross(um...). I'd like to see Gross hit the road along with Turnbow. Not only do I not like these guys as players, but I think they might actually be of some use to another team. Enter the Tigers and the possible Inge trade.

   The talk has been of the Brewers sending Turnbow and Gross to Detroit for Inge. Brandon Inge is a utility type of ballplayer (think Billy Hall minus 20-30 points batting average.) He plays outfield, third base, and catcher. He's got a lifetime .241 average and can hit a few home runs. (27 hr, 83 rbi in 2006. He carries a 3 year $6.5 million a year contract. This would be a really stupid trade. He costs too much, he strikes out too much, and the Brewers would have to open up a roster spot for him. (probably Joe Dillon)

   The best thing the Brewers could do here would be to trade Gross and Turnbow to whatever sucker was willing to take them, but in doing so pick up no more overpriced garbage in return. They should try to get 2 or 3 A or AA prospects or a couple bags of new baseballs, whatever.

   Of course, as with previous Brewers pundit trade rumor posts, this is just total speculation, but isn't that what these fan blogs are about?

 

Trade them to the Cubs (Turnbow sort of looks like a Billy Goat)

 By all estimations the weather inside Miller Park tuesday night was perfect. While outside the wind blew, the rain poured, and the temperature dropped, inside it remained right around 60 degrees with no chance of precipitation. Nope, no chance of someone's goggles fogging up on this night. No slippery grips on the ball. No excuses to not go out and play ball to the best of your professional abilities. Last week Eric Gagne, the Brewers new 10 million dollar closer, used the excuses above to explain his awful first relief appearance for the Brewers. In that game against the Cubs he came in in the ninth with a 3 run lead and proceeded to be shelled....hard. The punctuation on that performance was a 3 run home run off the bat of Cubs rookie phenom Kosuke Fukudome. He couldn't see well, it was really wet, the mound was sloppy. Wow, is he like a 10 year old making excuses for throwing a rock through a window? It took Eric a full day to just come out and say, "My stuff just wasn't that good." No Sh@#! No chance for excuses on this fine day Mr. Gagne.

   As Brewer fans we've been waiting for this day. It was going to be like showing off your new hot girlfriend to the one who dumped you for the dude with the Porsche. Coco Cordero was back in town. Him, his new fat contract, and the recharged Reds were to face the unstoppable crew with the new look bullpen. Gagne was all set up for redemption. The Brewers kept the one run lead against some awesome starting pitching. The Reds couldn't really get a hold of the ball. All Gagne had to do was come in and get the 3 outs he is paid so much to get. Well, he got the first two and had Corey Patterson strung out with two strikes, one pitch, one good slider or changeup and we forgiving Brewer fans can easily forget about one measly blown save. Instead Gagne served up a tater presented perfectly down the middle for Patterson, which Corey greeted with a nice smooth swing and ushered the ball directly to the Mercedes Benz Buffet in right field. It looked like Corey Hart might have had a chance, but alas he is not 7'6" tall.

   Our new ten million dollar man had blown another one. Up until this season Eric Gagne had secured 177 saves in 187 opportunities. Thus far, with the Brewers, he has blown 2 out of 3. They say the job of the big league closer is mostly mental, well Gagne's psyche has to be pretty rattled right now. Yost and the rest of the powers that be need keep this guy on a short leash. I understand it's early, and the team is still winning as a whole, but we do not want our ace reliever to be leading the team in victories at any point. If he blows a couple more the Brewers need to sit him down. It will be a huge test for Yost, who, at times, is known to stick with struggling players for too long. If the time to win is now, the time to sit on your hands Ned has passed.

 

 

Brewer 6-1, Cubs 4-3

   The 5 and 1 Brewers will be welcoming the revamped Reds and Fransisco Cordero back to Milwaukee tonight. Coco signed a free agent deal with the Reds over the winter and eneded what had been a good relationship with the crew on a sour note. The Brewers offered Cordero $ 42 million over four years to remain the Brewers closer, but he and agent Bean Stringfellow decided that playing in Ohio and never getting to the playoffs was worth $4 million total over the course of those four years. I'm guessing with that extra million a year Fransisco can buy a really nice home theater with cozy chairs and a popcorn maker so he can watch a little postseason baseball in comfort. When Cordero comes to the mound in this series (which would mean the Reds would have to be winning in the ninth, not likely) I hope the fine fans of Milwaukee welcome him back in the fashion he deserves. Boo loudly, but keep the obscenities to yourself. (he really doesn't understand English that well.)

 

Roadrunner works about as well as the Cubs leadoff hitter.

It's opening day here in Milwaukee, I hope you are going, or if not, I hope you have a way to listen to the game.

I'm posting an opening day poll for Kastner, who's internet works about as hard as Estrada did (Why am I jumping on the bandwagon all of a sudden?)

The opening day poll is, "Who is the ugliest Brewer of all time?"

Earlier I wrote about Brewers manager Ned Yost saying dropping the third game to the Cubs was "not really a big deal".

That quote was wrong, it should have been "It doesn't mean much". I found the full quote

You guys want to make it as big a series as you want, but it's the first three games of the year. It doesn't mean much, to be honest with you. It's a marathon. I'm glad we won two out of three, but I wish we'd won three out of three.

I got that quote from an article on mlb, I still can't find the full transcript. The article has Yost saying, "We're just playing baseball", but I swear it was, "It's just baseball man" I'll upate if I can ever find the transcript. I have a feeling the Brewers don't release them.

The Brewers lost to the Cubs 6-3 today, and at his post game press conference, Ned Yost said todays loss was "...not really a big deal".

That quote got a lot of drive time airplay, and I'm sure it will get more as the night goes on.

The thing is, people are reading too much into it.

I don't have a copy of the transcript so this is all from memory*, but the exchange stared with a question like, "Your players were hit 7 times, was it a bit chippy out there?"

Ned said, "Nope"

The follow up question was, "So it was just a juiced up rivalry"

Ned said, "Nope. Thats just baseball man."

Pause.

"Look, you guys are trying to make too much out of this, its not really a big deal. Its a marathon."

I am a Ned Yost fan, and this exchange highlights two of the main reasons.

Number one, he doesn't buy what the media is selling. A lot of sports figures will the old, "They are a great team and we were just happy to be on the same field" kind of answer. If its not there, Ned lets it pass. He reminds me of Packers coach McCarthy and New Englands coach Belichick; they don't get into the post game drama or story line.

The second reason is, "Thats just baseball man." That is baseball, you win some, you lose some, its more how you played the game.

The Brewers took 2 of 3 from the Cubs, and I love it. If they take 2 of 3 every series against the cubs, Yost can say whatever he wants.

*I can't find Yost's post game press conference transcript or video anywhere. If anyone can find it, I'd love to know, and I'll amend this post.

Hey, did you hear about Kosuke Fukudome? Did you? What, weren't you watching Sportcenter at all in the last couple days? He's awesome! He's from Japan! Isn't that cool? They have baseball over there too! Yeah, he's 3 for 6 in his first two games. A couple doubles, a couple walks, a couple RBIs, no strikeouts, and a stolen base. No wait, I messed that up, Fukudome only has one double. Oh, right, those aren't Kosuke's stats, they're Jason Kendall's. Jason Kendall...he plays for the Brewers...the Milwaukee Brewers...Yeah, the team that beat the Cubs two in a row already.......Milwaukee....it's just north of Chicago.

   The Brewers quick start is great, but even better is seeing a guy like Kendall doing what he does best, and doing it for the blue and gold. Anybody who stilll thought Kendall was washed up or a downgrade from last years Estrada experiment need look no further than his two first performances with the crew. Yesterday Jason got on base five consecutive times. It was all about hustle and smarts. Two things Johnny Estrada was born with very little of. Opening day Kendall had an awesome play against the aforementioned Fukudome. Kosuke was caught between 2nd and 3rd due to some poor baserunning and Kendall, instead of risking a bad throw, or a missed catch, ran all the way out to Fukudome and tagged him himself. That's just good baseball. You can see how this guy is going to benefit the team greatly this year. That kind of heads up play is seen by all the young guys as the way you should do it. The Cubs Didn't like what they saw in Kendall last season and let him go in the offseason. Now they've got Soto behind the plate. Did you see Soto on Sportcenter? Did you? No? That's because he sucks. Thanks Cubbies.

 

Geovany Soto is scared of the ball. "It comes so fast, and they're throwing it right at me!"

 

   I'd like to apologize quickly to the two guys who check out this website. I haven't posted in a couple days because my Roadrunner connection has been down. I let the persuasive acting skills of Geoff Jenkins and Billy Hall convince me to get "Blazing high-speed internet". The smooth talking ways of Hall assured me that Roadrunner was as quick as his ability to switch positions. As it turns out Roadrunner's service has actually kind of sucked. It's overpriced, and it just never seems to work when I really need it to. (Wow! that actually sounds a lot like Bill Hall himself.)

This post is now a post about Jason Kendall