The Champ is here!

What fantastic weather we had this weekend! Spent quite a few hours outside the house just hanging out or playing with the kids. Two big highlights of the weekend: one being that I have been crowned the backyard whiffle ball HR derby champ! In a battle of the titans (well, at least between me and Shane) it was a close contest. It was a best of 3 series of 10 pitches each that saw Shane take the 1st round with a 4-1 win. I had several HR knocked down by the copse of trees in the backyard, but that is the defining feature of the park. Round 2 saw me jump into the lead with 4 HR and Shane providing a furious rally with 2 late HR to make it 4-3, but a harmless grounder on the last hit gave me the victory for the round. A coin flip determined that Shane would start round 3 and 3 HR was the benchmark set. With a HR with my next to last AB, the score was tied and overtime was needed. 3 AB for each of us and Shane hit 1 HR out and had a 2nd fall just short of the fence. I hit the first pitch from Shane out to tie the score, as the wind started to blow in. The sweat of nervousness was flowing from the brow of Shane much like the flood waters did to Noah all those years ago. Upon swinging at the next pitch I yelled "Game Over!" as the bat hit the ball and a towering shot was put into play much like Roy Hobbs did in the final game of the World Series in The Natural.

The bigger highlight of the weekend for me was that based on the hitting prowess I put on display my 4 yr old son was for the first time willing to let me show him how to hit. He let me show him how to hold the bat and have a proper stance. I was not sure what to expect given this was his first time hitting, but he connected far more times than he missed in the 30 or so pitches. We were both having a blast and this gave me one of the best memories I'll ever have.

Oh yeah, the Brewers dropped some close games and the run support is starting to concern me. But, I spent my weekend doing more enjoyable things.

Mr. Crankbutt: Revenge of the Crank

It's time for another lovely rant from Mr. Crankbutt. You know he wasn't always like this. He was once an idealistic youth that loved to race soapbox cars. He was very good at it, too. He won many a race and raced sheerly for joy. Then, sadly, fame got to his head and he raced strictly for glory, money and girls and soon became engulfed in the dark, seedy side of soapbox racing. He eventually broke both his legs in a horrendous crash by using illegal parts for his car, while racing his one time idol, Opie Von Kenozee. Now, just a shattered and jaded man remains of what he once was... Mr. Crankbutt.

Shut your ass, cheesewiz! I had it all dammit, I had it all! Ahem, now on to my rant. Americans are dumb. I'm not talking about our pathetic education system that gets it's ass kicked by Sweden or Japan in math every year. Americans simply are dumb in general and most lack the common sense God gave an ant. This week I was driving along and noticed 2 gas stations at an intersection, one directly across the street from the other. Station 1 had the price of gas at $1.91/gallon and Station 2 was at $2.09/gallon. Now wouldn't common sense have told you to go to Station 1? But noooooooo! That station had no cars getting gas, NONE! and Station #2 you ask? It had 4 cars getting gas. I'm about to have an apoplectic siezure here! Come on people use your friggin' eyes and brains. People whine about the cost of filling up thier precious SUVs, but then ignore this.

Also, when is the "reality show" phase going to run it's course? I'm sick of it. Who wants to see "Rob and Amber's friggin wedding"? dear Lord help me. Survivor has gotten old. We've seen it all before so it's time for it to move along to where shows die (and I don't mean the WB). Are there no writers left? Is the best we can do just throwing people in some cockamamie scenario and film it? Now we got celebrities getting in on the action with "Chaotic" with Brittney Spears and her slack jawed yokel husband, is anyone over 18 watching this show? I think I'm going to start a show, "Tell it to the Ass". It will star me and all I'll do is walk the streets, hear people's opinions, then have some big 400 man moon them in the face and say "Tell it to the Ass", then I'll tell them why their opinions are stupid. If you don't think this will work, you haven't been paying attention to TV lately.

I'm done. If you don't like what I'm saying, remember: Tell it to the Ass!

Buck Me!

As mentioned yesterday, the Bucks got the lucky bounce of the ping-pong balls and landed the #1 draft pick for the NBA draft on June 28th. This is huge in not only drafting a franchise player, but also in keeping Redd this offseason. Getting an elite draft pick will no doubt help convince Redd to stay in Milwaukee. 414 does a great job on the obvious choices the Bucks have: Bogut or Williams. Bogut is an immediate impact player with his already polished game. Williams is clearly the best athlete in the draft with a tremendous upside, but will not show it for 2-3 years. I know that everybody is in love with Bogut, but I will agree with 414 here, the Bucks gotta go Williams. The Bucks already have 2 centers in Gadzuric and Pachula, and neither of them or Bogut can play the 4 spot. They have spent a lot of time in developing Gadz into a starting center as he can go 30+ minutes a game and put up 10/8.5 numbers this coming season. The Bucks could put Williams, Mason, Gadz, Redd and Ford (assuming healthy) and simply run and jump most teams out of the gym. That pace and style of play should get any Bucks fan drooling. They trade this pick, they better have one heck of a deal in place. This type of luck doesn't happen too often.

Brewers
Nice sweep of the Rockies. The Brewers beat a team they were supposed to and did it convincingly over the series. The starting pitching was awesome the whole series and the bullpen performed admirably as well. I was able to watch some of the game at work on ESPN in the break room. Eucker was in the TV announcers booth for a while and was just hysterical. Love the man.

Grog Blog

Back from the recent Brewer road trip through Pittsburgh, Washington DC and Minneapolis (hey, that's here!), Grog tells his tale of road tripping with the Crew this season.

Pittsburgh
Grog back in this crappy city. Sometimes Grog thinks Craig hate him by making him come here again. Brewers seem mad to be here to. Play bad. Grog not care about cats here. They have slimy film on them. Grog knows bad tasting cat when he sees one.

Washington, DC
Lots of pretty buildings. Grog had much time to walk around. Guy try to mug Grog. Grog laugh at his knife and hit him over head with club. Grog see big buildings of presidents. Another guy try and mug Grog with gun. Grog fart and man falls down. He he. Grog think Lincoln look like good president. Look like giant, so was good. Why president not big like Lincoln? While Grog stare at statue, another man try and mug Grog. Grog growl and grab man and pick him up over Grog head. Man give Grog all his money and beg to be let go. Grog throw him in bushes. When man land, cat runs out of bush. Cat seems to be druggie, has needle sticking out of back thigh. Grog let cat run away. Brewers lose close games. Grog try knock knock jokes to cheer them up. No help. Grog able to get nice presents for Rachel of mini monuments.

Minneapolis
Ha! Grog live here. Easiest road trip Grog been on. Grog hate Big Inflatable Toilet of Twins. Grog realize have to stop getting Hardy drunk all the time. Hardy have bad games. Maybe he do better if Grog not go to happy hour with him. Craig gone to Texas. Grog get much quality time with Rachel. Grog get quiet evenings alone with her. Give her nice foot rubs. Grog able to...

Hey, hey, hey! What the hell Grog? I leave and you start going after my wife? You were supposed to be at the Dome with the Brewers following the mood of the team and reporting in on the action. Not trying to get some action at home!

Grog sorry... Not!

Well, Grog and I need to have a talk about what's appropriate behavior. Before I go, the Bucks hit the jackpot last night and got the #1 pick in the NBA Lottery. I'll go into more detail on my thoughts on this tomorrow as to what they should do with this pick.

Back in the Saddle

A couple of days off in the oppressive heat of Dallas makes one appreciate the Midwest even more. Damn that was hot. Some recaps:

The Rangers Game
Friday night I went to Ameriquest Field and watched the opening game of the Rangers/Astros series. Got to see 2 Astros thrown out at the plate in the first inning. Memo to the league: do not run on Nix or Delucci. Wow those were great plays! We left in the bottom of the seventh as my parents had had enough of the 90 degree heat (it was still 91 at 8:30pm). I had my streak of never leaving a ballgame early snapped, but I understood. Ameriquest Field is very beautiful on the outside and the concourses are very wide. However, I am not a big fan of the park. The main jumbotron is over the right field bleachers, so about 1/4 of the stadium cannot see it. Also, there are obstructed view seats, steel beams supporting the upper decks. This is a newer stadium and frankly was not done right on the inside. Dear heavens, this place needs a retractable roof. You put one on this and sellouts on a regular basis will occur. The place was about 1/2 full, even with the heat, so you make it 75 in there, you got 35k every game. I was going to post pictures, but having some issues there, so sorry for those looking for them.

Bragging time
My niece (who is also my goddaughter) Brittney is 14 and an outstanding volleyball player. Just being a proud uncle you ask? Yes. Also add into this that her club team (common practice for volleyball across the country) is the #2 ranked team in the state of Texas and will be in a national tourney in Salt Lake City in June with the top 25 teams in the country. But that is just her team you say, doesn't mean she is individually good. Well, throw into this that she qualified, along with 89 other 14 year old girls (out of over 2000 who tried out) to participate in the USA Olympic Team training facility in Colorado Springs. There are 4 tiers for these 90 girls and she is in tier 3, with 12-15 players in each of the top 2 tiers and approx 20 in her tier. So, it's pretty safe to say that she is one of the top 40 players in the country in the 14 year old class. Just hoping she doesn't get burned out in high school as she all but has an athletic scholarship sewn up.

Westwood Softball Club
The Westwoodians improved their record to 2-1 with an 18-2 thrashing of the dastardly Bunny's Black team. The game was mercifully called after the top of the 5th inning by the 15 run rule. The top 4 of the order carried the Westwood club by scoring 14 times. Cheesehead Craig once again showed his Albert Pujols-like versitility by moving into right field. With one player suffering from hamstring problems and another rather slow of foot, CC answered the call to insure that RF was safe by giving up 1B. Given that only 1 ball was hit in his direction, once again the play was dominated by CC forcing the opposing team to only use 1/2 the field for hitting the ball. This made victory assured for the heroic Westwoodians.

Tonight I'll be off to the new Star Wars movie, that way Shane cannot ruin it for me any more. Grog will be giving his latest report from the Brewers road trip tomorrow for those in eager anticipation.

Sorry kids

I got in late last night from Texas (thanks for the pickup at the airport Shane!) and really had no chance to get anything written up. Tomorrow look for the following: pictures of Ameriquest Field (home of the Texas Rangers) along with a general recap of the weekend. Also, my softball team plays tonight so another colorful recap will be on the way as well. I'm just happy to be back in 60-70 degree weather after 3 days of highs over 97 degrees. Laters!

I've got Sponsors!

If you direct your attention to the right hand column, you will notice links for Coast-to-Coast tickets at the bottom of the links. I have graciously allowed them to advertise on my site like it's some NASCAR racecar. That just might be the only time that word is ever used on this site. I'm not a big fan of the sport, but if you are, feel free to enjoy it. To each their own. I encourage everybody to check out the links. Now, onto other blog-type things.

Brewers
Great, I go and promote Clark then he along with the rest of the offense (except for Jenkins) take a holliday last night being shut out by the Nationals. Once again the pitching was great as Cupuano gets the game ball, but the offense disappeared in this series. The records are similar to last year, but let's see how the scoring compares:

Last year: 201 runs scored 203 against
This year: 174 runs scored 157 against

Clearly the pitching is much better, and all this without Ben Sheets for an extended period. There were so many question marks about the pitching coming into the season, especially the bullpen and I believe that they have all been been put to rest. The offense is down at this point, but Jenkins and Lee will get their strokes back and the runs will start coming in. But I am very impressed with the pitching staff this year so far and hopefull that they will keep it up. A 82-80 season is at hand! (Hey, as a Brewer fan, I'd be giddy as hell with a winning season)

Personal note
I'll be in Dallas for the next 3 days at my goddaughter's confirmation. It's going to be a great trip as I have not been down there in 5 years and have not seen her in person for 3 years. Friday night I'll be at the Rangers/Astros game with seats 9 rows up in the outfield bleachers so I have bout a .01% chance of getting a HR ball, so I'm pretty pumped about that. I'll give a full report upon my return of the game, park and such. Laters!

Cup 'O Brew

First off, I'd like to welcome a new blogger to the WI scene, 414. It's great to see a Bucks blog out there (first one I've run across, thanks to Cheesehead Sports for the find!). It will be great to compare notes with him and get his take on the NBA and more specifically, the Bucks and how they are going to fix this mess they are in.

Time for our Cup 'O Brew...
Brady Clark is an All-Star this year, hands down. There is no better CF in the NL right now, none! Let's take a look at the biggies:

Beltran .347 OBP, 6 HR, 24RBI
Edmonds .399 OBP, 6 HR, 23 RBI
Bradley .360 OBP, 10 HR, 25 RBI
Clark .419 OBP, 5 HR, 19 RBI

Clark is clearly the best when you factor in these tidbits: Beltran has Floyd right behind him in the lineup who is having a monster year, thus Beltran has protection (yeah, that sentence has a lot of sexual innuendo in it). Edmonds is in cleanup after Pujols and Walker, 'nuff said there. Bradley bats 5th behind Jeff Kent and is having a career year. Who does Clark have in front of him or behind him? Nobody. He's the leadoff hitter and has made everybody forget about Scott what's-his-name who batted leadoff last year. This Brewer lineup is more potent than last year, and it's not because of Carlos Lee and JJ Hardy. It's because of Brady Clark getting on base about 30% more often than Scotty did last year. I'll take that over SBs anyday.

Wes Obermueller pitched a hell of a game last night and clearly gets the game ball. Eight innings of 2 hit ball, wow!

Darwin Awards

In light of the Brewers poor game last night, I choose instead to celebrate life with the Darwin Awards. For those of you new to this, this list is comprised of some of the dumbest people out there and their exploits. Enjoy!

Darwin Award Winner: When his 38-caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach, California, would-be robber James Elliot did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked.....And now, the honorable mentions:

2. The chef at a hotel in Switzerland lost a finger in a meat cutting machine and, after a little hopping around, submitted a claim to his insurance company. The company expecting negligence, sent out one of its men to have a look for himself. He tried the machine and lost a finger. The chef's claim was approved.

3. A man who shoveled snow for an hour to clear a space for his car during a blizzard in Chicago returned with his vehicle to find a woman had taken the space. Understandably, he shot her.

4. After stopping for drinks at an illegal bar, a Zimbabwean bus driver found that the 20 mental patients he was supposed to be transporting from Harare to Bulawayo had escaped. Not wanting to admit his incompetence, the driver went to a nearby bus stop and offered everyone waiting there a free ride. He then delivered the passengers to the mental hospital, telling the staff that the patients were very excitable and prone to bizarre fantasies. The deception wasn't discovered for 3 days.

5. An American teenager was in the hospital recovering from serious head wounds received from an oncoming train. When asked how he received the injuries, the lad told police that he was simply trying to see how close he could get his head to a moving train before he was hit.

6. A man walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. then the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount of cash he got from the drawer...$15.(If someone points a gun at you and gives you money, is a crime committed?)

7. Seems an Arkansas guy wanted some beer pretty badly. He decided that he'd just throw a cinderblock through a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. So he lifted the cinderblock and heaved it over his head at the window. The cinderblock bounced back and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him unconscious. The liquor store window was made of Plexiglas. The whole event was caught on videotape.

8. As a female shopper exited a New York convenience store, a man grabbed her purse and ran. The clerk called 911 immediately, and the woman was able to give them a detailed description of the snatcher. Within minutes, the police apprehended the snatcher. They put him in the car and drove back to the store. The thief was then taken out of the car and told to stand there for a positive ID. To which he replied, "Yes, officer, that's her. That's the lady I stole the purse from."

9. The Ann Arbor News crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti, Michigan, at 5 a.m., flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast . The man, frustrated, walked away.

10. When a man attempted to siphon gasoline from a motor home parked on a Seattle street, he got much more than he bargained for. Police arrived at the scene to find a very sick man curled up next to a motor home near spilled sewage. A police spokesman said that the man admitted to trying to steal gasoline and plugged his siphon hose into the motor home's sewage tank by mistake. The owner of the vehicle declined to press charges, saying that it was the best laugh he'd ever had.

He said what?

Javon Walker just keeps putting his foot in his mouth and this last comment of his might just be the proverbial nail in the coffin for his chances at a new deal right now. A comment from Friday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

“Anybody can (say), ‘OK, he had a great year, let’s see if he can do it again,’” he said. “That’s like trying to tell a person to go to war in Iraq, but let me see if you can go to war again and come back and then we’ll give you a medal of honor. You can’t send a soldier out to a battle field twice for him to be consistent.”

What the hell is this guy thinking? He's comparing getting paid to play football to soldiers fighting in Iraq? He's been paid millions of dollars already and his worst case scenario is he blows a knee and cannot play again. The soldiers is he gets killed, all for under a tenth of what JW gets paid. This guy needs to be bitch-slapped into reality.

The article also points that that WRs such as Torry Holt and Randy Moss had to wait until they had a year left on their rookie contracts prior to getting a new deal. Does JW really think he is in Moss' class right now? Moss only had 3 Pro Bowls, 43 TD and a rookie of the year in 3 years and was considered one of the best WRs in the game. One thing I will say about Moss, like him or not, the man never once complained about his contract or $. He knew he would get paid and he did. Moss is showing to be a bigger class act in that regard than JW is being.

Is JW a valuable piece in the Packer's season plans? Absolutely yes. However, the Packers are not going to destroy what little cap room they have right now for him and something tells me though that newly drafted Terrance Murphy should be prepping extra hard and get his act in gear for when the other minicamps and training camp start up. He could be getting asked to step in much sooner than later.

Brewer Notes
Losing the series in Pittsburgh is disappointing, but not unexpected. This has been a house of horrors for the Crew for a good number or years. A lot of wasted chances in the game. Time to forget this series, take out the positives like the solid starting pitching, and get the offense moving.

On a personal note, I am really glad that Florida got shelled. The guy who is leading in my fantasy league has just been killing all of us with that pitching staff. Yea San Diego!

The Fab Five

The Packers are a bit slow and the Brewers had yesterday off, so figured I'd skip the sports talk and just see how other blogs look. For those of you who have not seen this, I hit the "next blog" button in the upper right 5x and see what the next 5 random blogs are, then report on them. So without further ado, here are The Fab Five:

Buying Real Estate in Argentina
A rich guy decides that he is going to live life as if he only has 3 years to live. Travels around the world and spends just tons of money. He decides to sell all his stuff and become a real estate mogul in Argentina. Must be nice to have that much money.

LoboHombre Riera
Site from Spain. The first picture is somebody walking 2 people on leashes. Apparently, this is a common practice there like dog walking. People pay to have someone come get them and then walk them around.

All Dat Matters
Yep, 1 of deeze sites i h8. Spelln lik dis. whatev.

Dynamix Notes
A techie has a site, and there's a whole lot of computer tech stuff I don't understand on here. 2 things that don't surprise me: 1- Much discussion on a joke they are going to play, but then caution that a blog is a public place and to not to talk much about it. (then why post anything about it in the first place?) 2- Rather excited about the new Star Wars movie about to come out. Another chance to dress up and pretend you're a Jedi in public with friends.

Prickly Pig
A blog entry is about ordering a Wendy's salad, and with it, a picture of said salad. It's not a funny or amusing story. Just a description of the transaction and the picture. Tomorrow, this person is going to post about how their order went for dinner at Arby's, then the exciting conclusion to changing the roll of toilet paper.

Conundrum of the Week

It's been a while since I've done one of these, so I hope you all enjoy using some brain cells (the ones that alchohol did not kill off). But first, the Brewers take the series against the Phillies with another come from behind win 5-2. This was especially sweet for me, as previously mentioned my father-in-law is visiting and he lives very close to Philly. Beating his team right now was especially fun to rub in. He was mumbling something that everyone is beating the Phillies, and I told him to look on the bright side, at least the Brewers are over .500. He looked at me with his face full of wisdom and muttered "The sons-a-bitches". And now for our conundrum:

One snowy night, Sherlock Holmes was in his house sitting by a fire. All of a sudden a snowball came crashing through his window, breaking it. Holmes got up and looked out the window just in time to see three neighborhood kids who were brothers run around a corner. Their names were John Crimson, Mark Crimson and Paul Crimson. The next day Holmes got a note on his door that read "? Crimson. He broke your window." Which of the three Crimson brothers should Sherlock Holmes question about the incident?

Edit: The answer is now in the comments section. Congrats to Geoff and PMM for posting the correct answers!

This, that and the other thing

A couple of thoughts going through my head today:

• This week my father-in-law, Jerry, is visiting from PA. For those of you who don't know, my wife was born and raised in eastern PA, right by the NJ border in the Pocono mountains. It's always great to see Jerry as my kids love him and he is an entertaining guy. Plus, he always finds a way to put in the phrase "Meanwhile, back on the ranch, grandma was beating off the Indians". Sophmoric, but it always gets me.
• That sure was one heck of win for the Brewers last night. Over at Brew Crew Ball I predicted an 8-3 Brewers win. Final score was 8-5, so I think that was pretty damn good prediction. He's got a great site and I highly recommend him (even though he won't give me a link) along with Al's Ramblings as the top 2 Brewer sites. Brady Clark gets last nights game ball with another great game. That boy just simply gets on base and allows things to happen for this club. He is such an improvment over Posednick that it's scary.
• The other thing that gets me laughing at the Vikes is that even when things seem to be going their way like a good draft and good FA signings, one of their main backs they were counting on, Onterrio Smith, goes and gets caught with a Whizzinator, which for those of you who don't know is a kit to foil drug tests. Hmmmm, given that the self proclaimed Steal Of the Draft has already tested positive 2x for drugs and now gets caught with this, I would say that he is still using. The Vikings claim that they didn't know about this, even though this happened 2 days prior to the draft and even though they had a very good stable of backs, they draft another RB. Hmmmm, methinks they did know and were making plans for when they dumped him come June 1.

I love this game

Last night the Westwood Softball Club came back and defeated the Aldersgate Gatekeepers in front of 25 rain-soaked, raucous fans 13-7 at Dakota Field East. It was a pitchers duel at first until Aldersgate took the early lead with a 3 run HR on a ball that hit the top of the fence and a member of the Gatekeepers reached over and knocked the ball over the fence with a large net. The umpire missed this blatant interference when their bench screamed that they saw Tyra Banks running naked and he turned to look (along with everyone else).

Aldersgate continued this blatant cheating as the catcher repeatedly used a stun gun on the Westwood club and caused many a pop fly or weak ground out by a dizzy Westwoodian. The umpire missed this also as his cataracts were acting up and he was seeing pink elephants dancing about the infield.

In the 3rd inning, the rain came falling down and the Westwood bats stayed cool, as even Cheesehead Craig was affected when his bat almost slipped out of his hand when hitting a grounder to first base. The Westwood defense held strong the rest of the way even with hyenas being released into the field by the Gatekeepers.

Things looked bleak in the top of the 7th and last inning with the beloved Westwood club down 6-4. Then the rain stopped and the Westwood bats started to heat up. They cranked out 11 hits and 9 runs and the comeback was complete. Many of the Gatekeepers were claiming that they witnessed the Westwood club using illegal suppliments and creams before the inning started. Thier arguments were quickly dismissed by the umpire who simply shouted "Quit interrupting my game of Tetris!"

In a surprise move, Cheesehead Craig was moved to 2nd base as the club realized that his athleticism was too great to deny and leave him at first. This resulted in the Gatekeepers clearly avoiding that side of the field and thus limiting their offensive capabilities. A brilliant strategy by the coaching staff.

Ouch!

Stupid Mets. The Crew's big winning streak came to a screaching halt this weekend as their pitching staff had a case of giving-up-the-long-ball-itis. Rumor has it that all the OF had to have some extra massages as their necks were sore from watching all those balls go over their head. They did win the last game, so they prevented the sweep. The Crew is still hitting themselves and this is just a minor bump in the long season ahead.

Vindicated!
If I may crow about something here. I stated early on that Lyle Overbay was a more than fine 1B and that that Crew should trade Fielder for additional pieces of the puzzle, after this last weekend, a starting pitcher would be nice. I was generally poo-poo'd (hey, I'm potty training my daughter , so this is on my mind) about that, but after the start Lyle has had, I say HA! to those doubters. The man is just fantastic this season so far and is worthy of an All-Star bid this year, and there are those that want to trade him and bring in a guy who is so far struggling in AAA (the MLB minor league system, not the car club). If I may for a moment:

Overbay: .496 OBP (tops in MLB) 6HR 21RBI
Fielder: .365 OBP 2HR 12RBI

The biggest argument for Fielder is that he has great offensive ability, but Lyle is overshadowing him, and it's not even close. Lyle has undoubtedly along with Brady Clark, been carrying this Brewer team so far this year. I realize that Prince is only 21 yrs old and Lyle is 28. However, there should be no great rush to get Lyle shipped off and to bring up Prince. The Brewers should be signing Lyle to a multi-year deal and letting Prince get his game together more. I am backing off on the trade Fielder line, as the kid does have serious potential, just not right now, and he is maybe not needed for another 2 years, as we have an All-Star at 1B.

Spivey gets the game ball after yesterday's game. Good hitting, a great SB and if he can keep this up and get back into the type of hitting he can, the Crew are in good shape.

7th Heaven

The residents of Milwaukee have been witness to many a 7 game streak from their local baseball club, the Brewers. Until yesterday afternoon those have all been of the losing variety. Their beloved team is now the owners of the longest winning streak in baseball. First the Reds fell, then the hated Cubs, now it's time to dispose of the M-E-T-S Mets Mets Mets! The most encouraging part of this streak is that 5 of these games were 1 run wins. These games are the ones that turn a season around. The Crew are not folding in close games and are finding ways to win. Yesterday's game ball is tough to call as 2 players played outstanding, Brady Clark and Lyle Overbay. I'm giving it to Clark though as he got on base in every at bat and gave the Brewers lots of scoring opportunities. Overbay had 2 perfect sac flies to bring in runs which just underscores what a great season he is having. I've seen far too many situations like this when the hitter cannot make that sacrifice and a scoring opportunity is wasted. And yes, the title of this post was to drag in people looking for the family TV show. Nothing wrong with more exposure, unless you are taking that literally and start running around wearing just an overcoat, then I am worried about you.

What the Hall?

Bill Hall easily gets the game ball again for his 3-5 performance last night and has been on an absolute tear over the last 5 games for the Brewers. He has posted a .571 avg during this stretch. That's just sick, sick I say. At this rate he will shatter virtually all Brewer and MLB hitting records. Well, maaaaaybe I'm getting ahead of myself with that, but the kid is simply on fire. He is quickly making rookie JJ Hardy a candidate for some time off. Carlos Lee has started to heat up as well, and Overbay is getting on base at a clip that Bonds was enjoying for the last couple of seasons. When this offense gets going, it's absolutely filthy, filthy I say. Everything is clicking right now, the starters are putting forth good efforts and the bullpen has been dominant, dominant I say. I said the Brewers were going to sweep the Cubs and it will happen, by gum. Let's all enjoy this roller coaster while it lasts. Six straight wins and counting, WHEEEEEEE!!!!!!

Called out

Brett Favre calls out Javon Walker in regards to his holdout. This interview made my jaw drop frankly. Let's take a look at what was so interesting about this article:

“If Javon wants to know what his quarterback thinks, and I would think he might, I’d tell him he’s going about this the wrong way,” Favre said. “When his agent tells him not to worry about what his teammates think and all that stuff, I’d tell him I’ve been around a long time and that stuff will come back to haunt you.”

Favre said Walker’s holdout reminded him of Sterling Sharpe’s decision to hold out the night before the Packers hosted the Vikings in the 1994 season opener.

So true. Javon is basically saying that he is more important than the team. If Javon thinks that his teammates will not look at him differently, he is sorely mistaken as Favre saw with Sharpe a decade ago.

“Nowadays you’re seeing more and more guys pulling that stunt,” he said. “If guys continue to do that and are successful getting away with it, then I’ll be gone, but I think the game will be ruined. My reaction to Javon’s situation was ‘Here we go again.’

“Javon has tremendous potential. We got to see some of that last year. The sky’s the limit for that guy, and I’d be the first to defend him, but he’s going about it the wrong way. What happened to honoring your contract and saying, ‘Let’s work as a team to see if we can get this done?’ Why not go about it that way?"

I bolded the shocking section, Favre is basically saying that he is getting sick of how players want to just hold out and threaten not to play unless they get a big pay raise. He would rather leave the game than have to deal with this garbage. He is probably is the only player in the NFL that can get away with this statement, given the amount of respect that he has. There are some who say that all these things should be taken care of in-house, I disagree to a point. Players who feel "disrespected" with their contracts make a public proclamation of their beliefs when thy hold out and state they want more $, Favre is just saying what his beliefs are. The public pressure is now back on the player, not the team. Great move.

If Walker’s stance doesn’t change, Favre said, “I’d just as soon go without him. He’s a great player. I think he can help us. He’s likeable and easy to get along with, but I’m guessing he’s getting the wrong advice, and he’s buying into that.

“We’ve got guys who’ll give great effort. Stars are made that way. Look what happened when Sterling left. Robert Brooks stepped up. We can win without him.”

Wow again. Favre would rather play with guys who want to play football and he could care less what ability you have. He is stating that nobody is more important than the team. How many WR has Favre created in his time at QB? Lots. He can make someone else a star if Javon doesn't want to play. Sportswriters and fans say this kind of stuff all the time, but rarely do players. It's about time that some of them come out and say what just about everybody is thinking, I wish more players would do this and stand up to the ones jeopardizing their team.

Brew Crew
The streak continues! Damn this team has gotten back to being fun to watch. Beating Zambrano is awesome as he was the lone pitching concern for the Brewers this series. A sweep is on the way people! Game ball goes to 2 people, Bill Hall and Carlos Lee. Both of these guys have had very rough seasons so far and came through big in this game. Major hat tip to Capuano for another solid outing.

Embarrassed

That is just one of the choice words to use for last night's game for the Westwood Softball Club. We played our worst game in about 3 years losing 18-2, our first regular season loss in 24 games. We couldn't hit and our starting pitcher was gone and had to be replaced with our 2nd best outfielder. Our big hitting 3rd baseman was also gone. It was just one of those games that we were due for, but it pisses me off still. The weekend tourney seemed to take a lot out of us, so hopefully next week all will be better.

The Brewers start their series with the Cubs tonight at Miller Park. Here's hoping they can keep this winning streak going. Be nice to get on the right side of .500. That's all I got for today, just don't feel the writing spirit today, not after last night's game.

Grog Blog

Before I let Grog tell us about his latest road trip with the Brewers, I'll let everyone know how the Westwood Softball Club did in this weekend's tourney. As you can see on the left I put my stats from this weekend's tourney up. I was going to put a copy of our jerseys above that, but am having problems with the picture showing (hint, hint Shane). I hit much better than I thought I was going to, especially in 45 degree weather on Friday night and Saturday during the day. Our 2 losses (double elimination tourney) came at our own incompetence than getting beat. Loss #1 was that we went the last 2 innings 1-2-3 with 4 infield pop-ups. We lost by 5, but gave them 4 runs in those innings. Loss #2 was all defensive lapses and errors (1 costly one by yours truly). We were down 12-4 in the top of the 6th, but then we suddenly hit the snot out of the ball and scored 12 in that inning alone. Bottom of the 6th, with 2 out I pull a Bill Buckner and the ball bounces between my legs, 2 men score then 2 more later on for them to tie the game. We scored 5 in the top of the 7th, but in the bottom, 3 errors cost us the game. We could have won it on a grounder to the 3rd baseman when we were up by 1, but his throw to me was wide and despite my diving effort, the ball went past and 2 runners scored on that play. It was a great tourney overall though as it was the first one in over 2 years for us and our first games of the year. Regular season starts tonight and I'll give a recap tomorrow. Now, on to Grog and his adventures in Houston, SF and St. Louis.

Houston
Grog no like Houston. Houston hot, ugly and flat. No trees. Smell like armpit. Baseball field very funny looking. Grog offer to dig up hill in field, but ground man say no. He say give field character. Grog think man drunk. Man get Grog into Brewer dugout though. Cirillo tell funny joke that make Grog laugh hard. Grog not see Sheets next to him and laugh in his ear. Sheets now on disabled list. Sorry. Grog notice Brewers no like Houston too. Brewers lose both games. Grog never find cat. Not surprised. Even cats not dumb enough to live in Houston.

San Francisco
Grog like this city. Pretty view of bridge. Lots of fog to sneak up on cats. Grog catch big black cat, but lady spray fire water in Grog eyes and she steal cat. Lady ran away before Grog could see again. Brewers have good games against Giants. Grog mad they not real giants. One man was big, but on crutches. Grog told Giant boss that big man should play. Man say "No duh but Barry hurt" to Grog . Grog say to Barry that pussy cat tougher than him and laugh. Grog kill Stegosaurous with hurt leg and arm once, so Barry should be able to hit a little ball. Barry swing crutch at Grog. Grog grab crutch and laugh at Barry again and burp in Barry face. Barry faint. Grog laugh more. Grog have problem at airport. Security man say Grog no bring club on plane. Man say have to search me more. Grog say heard what men in this town like and Grog say not like that. Growl at man, he screams and says ok to go on plane. Grog think he smell pee on man. Ha Ha!

St. Louis
One of favorite cities of Grog. Much beer made here. Grog remember that need to bring own mug. Cups at stadium too small. Drank many mugs of beer. Rainy day let Grog stay extra day. Grog able to beat Carlos, Hardy and Branyan at Dominoes. Good barbeque food in city. Grog able to eat many good ribs. Grog no like that Cardinals keep beating Brewers. Grog then find team mascot of Cardinals and beat him up before last game. Make many Brewers laugh, and Brewers win. This make up for Sheets. Grog miss Rachel so much, forget to look for cats. Need to go home and have her give Grog a massage.

Thanks for the report Grog, and not going to happen on the massage. Over the 3 game home sweep of the Reds, the game balls went to: Lyle Overbay for his 2 HRs in game 1, Russ Branyan for his clutch double and 3 walks (half of last season's total) in game 2, and for Game 3, even though it was an absolute slugfest for just about everybody (hell, even Lee got a hit), I'm giving the game ball to Doug Davis. Now, I know that Overbay went 5-5 with a HR and 3 RBI, but Davis was outstanding. He gave up 3 runs off 5 hits and K'd 8 in a complete game and gave the overworked pen of the Brewers a needed break.

EDIT: Comments field now fixed. Thanks for the patience gang. Leave a comment!