A Star-Studded Crew

As I drove home from a relaxing weekend up north earlier today, I tuned into everyone’s favorite play-by-play man Bob Uecker to catch the majority of the Brewers game versus the Twins. Coming off such a thrilling victory from the night before courtesy of a four-run ninth sparked by a Tony Plush two-run double on his 31st birthday, the Crew arguably got its most important victory of the year. The Twins had built up a 7-0 lead through four innings on Saturday and the Brewers appeared poised to lose yet ANOTHER road series, but the comeback of all comebacks occurred thanks to Nyjer, the bullpen and the correct strings being pulled by Ron Roenicke. With the win, the Brewers pulled back into a tie for first place with the Cards and had old Uncle Mo back on their side…or so we thought.

Flash forward to my two-plus hour drive home. After a monster five-run fourth inning, Milwaukee was well on its way to another victory, sole possession of first place and returning home with a little swag. But there was a problem. Zack Greinke was on the mound for the Milwaukee Brewers. The man who the Brewers received in return for four of the best prospects in the Brewers’ system has been anything but dazzling. Today was yet another example. Greinke, who has had little success against the Minnesota Twins throughout his career, decided a five run lead wasn’t going to cut it and allowed the Twinkies to cut the Brewers lead to 6-5 before he left with a two-run lead after six innings. This is one thing…a big thing, mind you…but at least Zack “Heart” Attack had the lead when he left the ballgame. The other Zach…my boy Zach with an “h” Braddock let a few guys on to my dismay but probably should’ve been given the chance to get out of the inning even with the righty (and all-star) Michael Cuddyer strolling up to the plate. Even if he wasn’t given the chance (which he wasn’t), let’s ponder the situation for a moment. There’s a guy sitting in the ‘pen who can get out lefties and righties equally effective and has an ERA of…get this…f---ing 0.43 in 23 games. His name is LaTroy Hawkins. I’m starting to get the feeling that I’m one of the few people who knows this. Am I missing something? Is an ERA of 4.73 better than 0.43? Is the ability to ONLY get out righties better than having the ability to get out BOTH righties and lefties? According to Mr. Roenicke, it most certainly is! And you know what? That’s all that matters. Two hits, a walk, a costly error and four runs later, the Brewers are walking out of Minnesota with a disgusting taste in their mouths after what should have been a memorable holiday weekend.

My relaxing weekend up north had all of a sudden turned into a distressing car ride that forced me to reach deep inside myself to avoid taking the Chevy Cavalier off of a bridge. This game had several underlying stories that I would like to attack. The one that stood out to me the most was the Mat Gamel start at third base. Think RR might be sending a certain someone a message? I’ll give you a hint. He struck out to end Sunday’s game and snapped his bat over his thigh in frustration. I was flat out shocked by the decision to start Gamel at the 5...and to put McGehee in a spot at the end of the game that could easily result in failure with how low his confidence is right now. Throughout the season, the Brewers’ organization has been pretty strict with keeping Gamel at first because they want him to get accustomed to the position by the time King walks out of Milwaukee. McGehee has been struggling…badly…but I don’t think it was necessary to stick Gamel at third base. DH makes sense. I understand wanting to give Rickie some time off from second, but this was REALLY making a statement. I feel terrible for McGehee. He is someone who worked extremely hard to get where he is today and one of those guys that you want to root for. Having said that, I think the best thing for McGehee right now is a two week stint down in Nashville to get things figured out. Casey has options left and the Brewers could bring up another reliever to help give the bullpen some depth (the Brewers carried an extra position player with them last week). The next decision regards Gamel. Does he stick with the Brewers and play more third while McGehee finds his stroke? Does he also head back down to AAA since the Brewers no longer need a DH? So many questions and so many answers I don’t have. What I would like to see is for us to send down McGehee, keep Gamel up, start him every day at third and replace him in the seventh or eighth inning on defense. Let’s face it…the guy can hit. He’s struggled so far with the big league club, but with more consistent playing time comes more production with a guy like Gamel. We’ll see what Roenicke decides to do.

Another situation that made Brewers’ fans a little uneasy this weekend was the injury to Ryan Braun. It was reported that Brauny, who holds a current 22-game hitting streak, strained his left calf Saturday night and that’s why he was replaced late in the ballgame. Thankfully, he said he was feeling okay today but didn’t play, which was a wise choice. Even if Braun has to miss another game or two in order to feel right, it’s much better to be safe rather than sorry. Besides, we want to see Braun out there starting for the NL All-Star team come July 12th. Speaking of the All-Star game…

The Brewers have three starters in the All-Star Game for the first time in franchise history (if that’s not a possible foreshadowing to what this season has in store, I don’t know what is). Weeks gets the starting nod at 2nd base over Brandon Phillips while fellow teammates Prince Fielder and Braun also start alongside him. Of course, what comes with the unveiling of the all-star rosters is the controversy and snubbing of players more deserving than some who make the Midsummer Classic. And that’s what I’m here for. Believe it or not, as far as the National League is concerned, I thought the fans did a better job than the managers and players as far as selecting players. The American League…not so much. For those who don’t know, the fans select the position player starters, the players elect the bench players and the starting manager (the World Series’ coaches) pick the pitchers. Also, since there is a rule that pitchers who pitch next Sunday cannot pitch in the ASG, there will be a few other deserving guys invited to Phoenix (like Ax). Without further ado, here is MY AL and NL All-Star squads compared to what they really are (keep in mind that every MLB team has to have a representative in the ASG).

AMERICAN LEAGUE

STARTERS:
C – Alex Aliva (DET)
1B – Adrian Gonzalez (BOS)
2B – Robinson Cano (NYY)
SS – Derek Jeter (NYY) CABRERA
3B – Alex Rodriguez (NYY)
OF – Jose Bautista (TOR)
OF – Curtis Granderson (NYY)
OF – Josh Hamilton (TEX) ELLSBURY
DH – David Ortiz (BOS)

RESERVES:
C – Russell Martin (NYY) PAUL KONERKO (CHW)
C – Matt Weiters (BAL)*
1B – Miguel Cabrera (DET)
2B – Howie Kendrick (LAA)
3B – Adrian Beltre (TEX)
SS – Asdrubal Cabrera (CLE) JHONNY PERALTA (DET)
OF – Michael Cuddyer* (MIN)
OF – Jacoby Ellsbury (BOS) ADAM JONES (BAL)
OF – Matt Joyce (TB)
OF – Carlos Quentin* (CHW)
DH – Michael Young (TEX)

PITCHERS:
SP - Josh Beckett (BOS)
RP - Aaron Crow* (KC)
SP - Gio Gonzalez* (OAK)
SP - Felix Hernandez (SEA) C.C. SABATHIA (NYY)
RP - Brandon League (SEA)
RP - Chris Perez (CLE)
SP - David Price (TB) MICHAEL PINEDA (SEA)
RP – Mariano Rivera (NYY)
SP – James Shields (TB)
RP – Jose Valverde (DET)
SP – Justin Verlander (DET)
SP – Jered Weaver (LAA)
SP – C.J. Wilson (TEX)

* = Only representative from team
FIVE all-star snubs in the American League
TOUGH TO LEAVE OFF = Victor Martinez (DET), Adam Lind (TOR), Ben Zobrist (TB)
WHAT’S THE DEAL with the two backup catchers? Throw in another 1st baseman instead.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

STARTERS:
C – Brian McCann (ATL)
1B – Prince Fielder (MIL)
2B – Rickie Weeks (MIL)
SS – Jose Reyes (NYY)
3B – Placido Polanco ARAMIS RAMIREZ (CHC)
OF – Ryan Braun (MIL)
OF – Matt Kemp (LAD)
OF – Lance Berkman (STL)

RESERVES:
C – Yadier Molina (STL)
1B – Gaby Sanchez* (FLA)
1B – Joey Votto (CIN)
2B – Brandon Phillips (CIN)
3B – Chipper Jones (ATL) POLANCO
SS – Troy Tulowitzki* (COL)
SS – Starlin Castro* (CHC)
OF – Carlos Beltran (NYM) ANDRE EITHER (LAD)
OF – Jay Bruce (CIN)
OF – Matt Holliday (STL) ANDREW McCUTCHEN (PIT)
OF – Hunter Pence* (HOU)
OF – Justin Upton* (ARZ)

PITCHERS:
RP – Heath Bell (SD)
SP – Matt Cain (SF)
RP – Tyler Clippard* (WSH)
SP – Roy Halladay (PHI)
SP – Cole Hamels (PHI)
SP – Cliff Lee (PHI)
RP – Joel Hanrahan* (PIT)
SP – Jair Jurrgens (ATL)
SP – Clayton Kershaw (LAD)
SP – Tim Lincecum (SF)
RP – Jonny Venters (ATL) HUSTON STREET (COL)
SP – Ryan Vogelsong (SF) TOMMY HANSON (ATL)
RP – Brian Wilson (SF)

FIVE all-star snubs in the National League
TOUGH TO LEAVE OFF = Jonathan Lucroy (MIL), Ryan Howard (PHI), Carlos Gonzalez (COL)
WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH all of the Giants’ pitchers? Share the wealth, would ya?

So that’s that. If you have any comments on my selections/changes or the original selections, feel free to mention them in the comment section below and we can get a nice little discussion going. Either way, I’m right so you’ll just have to deal with it. I would like to go back to the Brewers for a moment. I think I’ve harped enough on the poor performances of Zack Greinke, Kameron Loe and Casey McGehee, the terrible play on the road, and the stubborn ways of coach Roenicke (although he does mix things up in other ways), but now that we’ve reached July it’s kind of just something us Brewer fans have to deal with the rest of the way. You can look at Greinke’s injury as an alibi for his struggles, but perhaps this is all we’re going to get out of him. Maybe now that he has essentially hit rock bottom, he will break out of it and take the inexistent pressure off of himself. Brewer fans never expected all that much from Greinke if they were realistic in the first place. He’s only had one really good year (the year he won the Cy Young). We thought that he would at least bring some quality starts to the table and he’s failed to do that on a consistent basis. We can only hope that Greinke finds what he found a few years ago with the Kansas City Royals…otherwise, he is what he is. McGehee? You know what I think should happen with Casey. Roenicke? He needs to keep learning as he continues on through his first year of being a manager. Loe? He can go take a hike. Or just face righties…and that’s it. Even though a victory on Sunday would’ve given the Brewers sole possession of first in the Central, they managed to get through this wretched road trip and maintain a division lead. Now that the Crew is back home, it’s time to pump some confidence back in Milwaukee.

Happy 4th!

Reviewing the Draft, Praising the Crew

With an NBA lockout closing in, I'll be happy to ignore pro basketball for as long as humanly possible, but first we have to take a look at how the Bucks fared with their two draft choices Thursday night. After a rather notable trade that left the Bucks better off in many ways, they were still left with just one true shooting guard on the roster in Stephen Jackson. However, my instincts served me well for once and Milwaukee chose a combo forward - Tobias Harris out of Tennessee. Sure, there may have been better players left on the board...and in my opinion, there were a few...but the Bucks liked what they saw in Harris during the pre-draft workouts in Milwaukee and news on the street was that unless a Morris twin or someone else plummeted Aaron Rodgers-style to 19, the former Volunteer would become a Buck. Harris is considered to be more of a hybrid between small forward and power forward, which is what I deemed Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Ersan Ilyasova to be in my last post. In the second round, the Bucks chose (power?) forward Jon Leuer out of close-by Wisconsin-Madison much to the delight of Badger fans (and myself). Therefore, the Bucks now have four point guards, one true shooting guard, eight forwards and one true center. Hmmm...we seem to have the same problem prior to last season; too many forwards on the team. Not only that, but the Bucks will have to ditch a point guard or two, perhaps in favor of another shooting guard.

It also currently leaves Milwaukee with 14 players on their roster. That problem will solve itself over time, but for now let's evaluate the draft picks of Milwaukee. Obviously, we can't get too far in depth with the judging process for these two selections because we haven't even seen them put on a Bucks' uniform, but we can go off how we expect them to fit in with Milwaukee as well as their performance in college. What excites me about Harris is that he is extremely young and therefore has plenty of room for improvement. Perhaps if he had stayed in school for a few more years, Harris would've been selected higher in the future, but he decided to come out after his freshman season. More than likely, Harris will play the three but has the ability to play the four should the Bucks decide to go small from time to time. He should be able to handle this well because of how versatile of a player he is and he has room to get bigger even though he is already 226 pounds...he was around 210 at season's end. By playing with many score-first minded players at Tennessee, he showed that he is willing to let the game come to him, but when he does he can surprise people with his quickness. Harris averaged 15 and 7 as a freshman and although he struggled with his jump shot, he has good form which leads me to believe that he could develop a decent outside game as well. All in all, I can't complain with the selection of Tobias Harris and I'm excited to see how he fits in with the Bucks next season.

Someone who might not get to see how he fits in with the Bucks next season is Jon Leuer, who unlike Harris stayed all four years in school. Leuer improved his game each year at Wisconsin, and by getting to watch him up close many times can tell that he still has a ways to go if he wants to become a mainstay in the NBA. One thing that will play to Leuer's advantage is that at 6'11", he has a guard skill set because of how much he grew during his time in high school. Leuer can work outside and inside because of this skill set and his size, making him versatile like Harris. With the Bucks' struggles to score and shoot efficiently last season, picking versatile players like Harris and Leuer probably isn't a bad idea. The problem with Leuer is that even though he bulked up quite a bit during college, he still has to get a lot bigger to face the size he will be expected to face at the next level. He's also not someone who's going to fool you, so Leuer will have to add more to his game...which he'll get a chance to do when he starts the season in the NBA Developmental League. Probably. Trust me. I want to see Leuer suit up for the Bucks just as badly as any other Badger/Buck fan, but I think he has a lot farther to go than Harris. My hope is that he gets there sooner rather than later. So of course I like this pick...a guy I got to see play college ball for my favorite college team gets to play for my favorite pro team.

Draft Grade: B+ .. whatever that means
2011-2012: Harris - Backup forward, Leuer - D League, eventual call-up
Moves needed: Trade/release Keyon Dooling AND/OR Shaun Livingston, acquire 2-guard

We now move from the hard court to the diamond where the Milwaukee Brewers seem to have used their day-off on Thursday to get their s--- together. The Brewers have taken the first two games of their series against the Twins, which is especially satisfying because the Twins enjoy completely owning the Brew Crew year after year in interleague play. By winning the series, the Brewers are now 4-4 in interleague play, although another difficult stretch is upcoming as they have to travel to New York and Minnesota next week to close out play against the American League. Because I'm attending the ballgame at Miller Park tomorrow, I'm tempted to bring along a broom; I'll have to refrain...that would guarantee victory for the Twinkies. I'll save busting out the broom for when my place needs a good cleaning...which is always.

Thanks to a St. Louis Cardinals' two-game losing streak, the Crew has stretched their division lead to two games and three games over the Cincinnati Reds and...wait for it...the Pittsburgh Pirates. This helps support the belief that good pitching helps you hang around for awhile and even though the Pirates have been fun to laugh at over the years, it's nice to see that fan base become hopeful again. And that's the difference between my feelings towards Cubs fans and everyone else's fans. Despite the feel-good story of the Pirates recently, I'd still prefer that the Brewers win the division. They can feel free to stick around for awhile...hell, they can even take the Wild Card if they want...but that's it. Now back to the Brewers. Even though the Twins had been on such a roll before they came to Milwaukee, they have several key players on the disabled list, including Justin Morneau, Jason Kubel, Denard Span and now Delmon Young after an ugly play out in left field on Yuni B's inside the park homer. I think it was only a matter of time before the Twins started to play at the level they should with their current lineup. Luckily, it happened right before this series and the Brewers have capitalized, winning a thriller last night and taking game two tonight by the largest margin of victory the Crew has had all season.

It's been difficult to figure out this team, especially the bullpen, which appears to have figured things out again. I think the day off helped that unit the most from the looks of it. In the two games against the Twins, the Brewers' 'pen hasn't given up a run. Dare I say it, but Kameron Loe has been solid in his last couple outings and of course, the Ax Man continues to make his case for a spot on the NL All-Star team. A good outing from Chris Narveson tomorrow would make it a good last couple starts for the starting five with the exception of Shaun Marcum, who is clearly battling out there with his hip injury. Because of his personal bid at becoming an all-star, it would be great to see Marcum return to form...if this means the Brewers have to take a hit and have Marcum miss a start, so be it. With the off day Thursday and another day-off upcoming, the extra rest should help either way. Otherwise, everything is back to normal and the Brewers have given themselves some breathing room before heading out east to the (new) Cathedral of Baseball. I'll try my best to bring home a W on Sunday.