Notes

Russell Branyan looked pretty damn good yesterday. Now we can't get all happy in the pants quite yet. He still has a problem in striking out too much and batting horribly against right handed batters. But this addition and rotation with Russ and Bill should be a nice fit for the Crew, who have only one left handed batter (Prince).

-Derrick Turnblow continues to play like complete garbage, even at the minor league level. Even his 3.2mm salary might not be enough for the Brewers to keep him, although Melvin has said he won't release him. How can you not? The Fragle-Rock look alike walked 15 batters in 4 1/3 innings the other day. His WHIP is at 4.62, which is bad even for Turnblow.
I used to love this kid and thought that he would be our closer for years to come. He got shelled last season and the second half of 2006 because he had only two types of balls he threw. After opposing batters made corrections and saw tape on him, they destroyed him.

-What should a manager do when his team is coming off a horrid month? Well, if you Ned Yost, you think about switching Kendall to eighth in the order and the picher back in to the ninth spot. Are you kidding me? You now think about doing this? This is what you think about when you are tying to brainstorm new ways to win? You fricken genious. I think Kendall summed it up pretty good by saying he doesn't care where he bats.

"We just need to win games. That's the main thing," Kendall said. "We've had a tough month. You can do one of two things when you're in a rut - sink or swim. We have too much talent to sink."

I love this player. He is a working-class icon who was probably upset that Yost sat him yesterday to give him a day off. Milwaukee should be proud.

-Apparently, fans think that Braun earning a long-term deal and not Prince Fielder was because of race. This is the biggest crock I have ever heard. It is evident that the Brewers made the best decision possible (smartest too) by signing the player who is in far better shape, hitting the ball well, and playing decent defense.
Keep in mind that the Brewers are tops in the league in fielding black players. At a time when African Americans are shunning baseball and their involvement is dwindling in inner-cities, this is farthest from the truth. Brewers are even thinking up ways to attract more minorites to games (see racing sausage of Mexican decent).