Day Off

Brewers place Rickie Weeks on 15 DL. Hernan Iribarren gets the call up. This is his second call-up, the first being in April. He is batting .273 w/ 14 steals. He and Dillon should get split playing time. With Weeks on the DL, this should allow him ample amount of time to head a sprained knee. Hopefully he comes back a-blazing. Last season he came back and looked damn good. Hernan has two hits on the season, one against the Cards the other against NY Mets. I will now misspell his name in the rest of my posts.



As I mentioned/thought earlier, the injury to Rickie Weeks knee this past weekend appears to be pretty serious. Jeff Baker slid in to second blatently late and lead-leg high to take out/break up the double play attempt. The right leg crashed in just-under Weeks' left knee.

I guess my question that I have is why there wasn't any retalliation for this? It was blatent. It was 'hard baseball'...yes. But you have to stick up for your teammates in a situation like this. By throwing a little chin music you even the score. That's baseball. Plus, it could've been a good kick in the ass for the Brewers that day...an igniter if you will. Instead, they looked a tad soft. I guess Yost will play beam ball at the end of a pennant race (Cardinals ala 2007), but not in early June while on the road, down by a game in the series. Sad.

This could open the door for Callix Crabbe to be called up and platoon at second from Nashville. This is the same player who was aquired by Rule 5 draft from San Diego back in mid-May. He could rotate with Dillon and get some Big League reps.

Weeks will more than likely go on the 15 day DL and could even be worse depending on the test results back in Milwaukee, where he currently is.

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Doug Melvin may have his eye on Baltimore's Brian Roberts! Although he tried to squash the rumor, this would be great addition. Of course, this theory could all change now that the targeted Brewer was Rickie Weeks (injury). Weeks is claimed by Milwaukee until 2011 while Roberts is a free agent at the end of the season. Roberts' stock has fallen since trade talks with the Cubs were held this past spring. This trade rumor was started by none other than Ken Rosenthal, so there is some substance here.

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Cameron dropping out of the 2 spot

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More on Brett Lawrie. This kid will be a stud in the future. SIGN HIM

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BIGTEN Network will air a day long special on June 19th covering University of Wisconsin...in order to fill their lack of events.

Evan Frederickson interview by Rightfield Bleachers.

Saved!

The Brewers were saved from a series sweep by the Colorado Rockies thanks impart by the indefinite closer, Salomon Torres. Once again, the crafty veteran who manages to keep his cool even through 5 outs and pitching 1.2 solid innings for a save (7). Jeff Suppan won his fourth game of the season by going 5.1 innings. Thankfully, he had some great defensive support by his cast members, as he only struck out three and walked five. Despite the lack of stats, he did pitch very well and worked through some jams. Carlos Villenueva also brought his "A" game going 1.2 innings, not giving up a run and holding three. In the end, Milwaukee won 3-2.

Offensively, The Crew failed to produce some timely hitting. This was evident in the them having stranded 13 base runners. Despite this major flaw, they did deliver when needed most. The middle of the order achieved 2 hits a piece for four straight batters (Kapler, Braun, Fielder, and Hart). Hell, even Billy Hall had a clutch hit bringing in the winning run.

In all, the Brewers should have taken this series 2 games to 1. However, some clutch hitting by the Rockies and a stubborn Yost game plan had the Brewers losing the series. That being said, Coors Field is one of the toughest stadiums to play for visiting teams. The high elevation and the park using a humidor to stow their game balls (he he) provide plenty of unique (excusable) challenges. Not to mention the Brewers play awful there.

Day off tomorrow! Then back to Minute Maid Park in Houston for a 3 game series w/ the Stros. The Crew then return home for back-to-back inter league series' with Minnesota and Toronto (as in Canada). I wonder if Brett Lawrie (16th pick for the Crew) will be present in the sky box for their series with the Blue Jays? Milwaukee (and other teams) always have their top draft picks attend a series to get the itch for the bigs. I have a very good feeling about that kid. Listening to him interview with Jim Powell on Friday gave me a good feeling in my gut. He only recently picked up catching, and has already been compared to Russell Martin (mentor/friends). Although he eluded the contract question, it's pretty evident in his tone and words used that he would be signing with The Crew. We should see him in 2010-11. I would have to say in a position other than catcher though!

Road Rash

Colorado came out of the gates early and unleashed a can of whoop ass on the Dave Bush right away in the first. I would imagine it's hard to come from behind after a team hits back-to-back homers (one being a grand slam) in the first inning. That being said, Milwaukee came out swinging too (for the most part of the second inning). In the end Colorado won 7-2 sending Bush to a dismal 2-6 record. Bush gave up his usual first inning let down, which has been a chronic problem of his for the last couple of seasons. To his defense however, he did regain composure after giving up those 5 runs of two home runs.

The bats were pretty silent last night, except for Cory Hart who had a couple of hits and Branyan who had a double. That double was thought to be a home run, at least that's what Branyan thought. Instead of an easy double, Russell was limited to a single due to not hustling after contact.

Denver is a tough place to play for Milwaukee. Brian and Bill were discussing a good topic on Friday. By the time visiting teams get used to the elevation, the series is done. Keep in mind though, Boston didn't have a tough time with it, although that was in October and not in June.

-Mike Cameron started last night and went 0-4. Suprising.

-DiFelice gave up a home run to Ian Stewart, which was a questionable call by the ump and should fuel the instant replay argument even more. I say forget it! Instant replay doesn't belong in baseball.

-Yost explains his "formula". This has to be the end of the straw. My friend Shawn Voigt said it best to me over the phone yesterday. Yost is good enough to bring us out of the basement, but not enough to deliver us a pennant.

-Yost defends Mota, at a time when I don't want to hear it.

-Milwaukee loves the father-son connection. This story by JSonline points out even more bloodlines. I didn't know Michael Brantley (Huntsville) had a father who played in the Big Leagues.

-Todays match up: Jeff Suppan will try to even his record (3-4) in the series finale.

-Call me old school, but shouldn't there had been retaliation for Jeff Baker slidding high on Rickie Weeks (Friday's loss)? Turns out this may be a little more serious then what the club let on about it. According to The Code a team should take revenge if a starting player is taken out intentionally. Now was that intentionally? I would say yes, any time you aim for the knees, you have to assume so. Same goes with the chop block in football!

-Russell Branyan can go yard, but boy can he strike out. I will take the bad with the good in this case. Keep on trucking Russell, shoot for that Burnitz record! His power has dug us out of a few holes already.

-Colorado will soon be back to normal when their DL is emptied (here too). With Tulo and Holliday set to return soon....they should make a July surge.

-Milwaukee's 39th pick, Eric Decker, will return to Minnesota to play football this season. Looks like this is a loss. This two-sport athlete is expected to be one of the top receivers in the Big Ten this coming season. One down...hope not too many to go. Hopefully a hefty signing bonus could change his mind. If I were him, I would stick it out at Minnesota. You can't pass up your last season of Big Ten football can you?

-Milwaukee has to make it their number one objective to sign Jake Odorizzi. This kid will make an impact in 3-4 years. Odorizzi led his team to it's first state title yesterday.

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In other state news...

-Michael Redd will be traded...I know that much. For what/who...? No idea. This addresses that question.

-Not state news ( I guess )...but there is a really good story in this weeks SI. It's on the wooden bat league up in Alaska. This league has had numerous stars/future hall of famers play in it including Bonds, McGwire, Randy Johnson, and other greats.
The top three (NCAA Summer) wooden-bat leagues in the country are : Cape Cod, Alaska, and Northern Woods League (WI,IA,Canada, and MN). Home of the Woodchucks!

Yost Blows It

A six inning superb performance by Ben Sheets wasn't enough for a Brewer win.
Back to back homeruns by Branyan and Hardy wasn't enough for a Brewer win.
Jason Kendalls 2 run triple wasn't enough to for a Brewer win.
A stellar 7th inning outing by Carlos Villenueva wasn't enough for a Brewer win.
It all could've been however, had Ned Yost taken his head out of his ass in last nights 6-4 loss to the Colorado Rockies.

Why is it Yost's fault?

-Ben Sheets was pulled after 6 innings and 100 pitches. This after the club had a day off on Thursday and will then again next Monday (6/9/08). So why? Why did Yost yank Sheets from the game?

-Carlos Villenueva came in to the game to handle the seventh. Which he did with perfection. Why? Why did Yost pull Villenueva after the seventh?

-Guellermo Mota, what can I say. This isn't the first time you blew a game that we had pretty much wrapped up. You have done it quite a few times through out your journeys in the Majors.

Yost should still be the hot seat people. Just because they went on a late May tear and won 6 straight, doesn't mean we should stop asking these questions.

One would also wonder why it took him so long to switch the Kendall to eighth in the line up and put the pitcher ninth? They have are 10-2 since doing so.

Yost is just too stubborn, it's his way or no way. Sometimes you have to listen to reason Ned. This was one sore loss. I'm sour over this loss. It should have been won, but it wasn't, because you had to try to play smart ball rather than one based on logic.

Great Football Logo's

While watching the ending of the Brewers game (DVR), I checked my email to see if my pen pal from Laos wrote me. He likes to take tabs of acid and shoot me emails describing his visuals. One can only imagine tripping balls in Southeast Asia. Anyways....While checking my yahoo email, I noticed this feature:

Yahoo.com had a great story on great football helmet logos. So I clicked on it. It was great. Some of these are just great, especially The Iowa Barnstormers helmet, which looks like Snoopy w/ goggles on.

They did rank Indy and Green Bay near the top, giving them credit for never changing their logo. This one below, takes a stab at their logo by using "clip art", made famous by MacDraw from the 80's. Funny stuff. This was an AFL team from the 90's (early).

Just a good read or "visual". I used to design new uniforms/colors on helmets and jerseys when I was bored in grade school (designed shoes as well...er.....colored shoes). I covered my work in fear that someone would think I liked men (no diss, just not for me). I wish I held on to some of them.

Draft Recap

The Milwaukee Brewers did make some riskier selections than in years past. That being said, they did get their man Brett Lawrie who they have had their eyes on for some time now.

Milwaukee also kept its father-son connection entact with the selection of Cutter Dykstra. I love that name Cutter and even mentioned it to my wife last night (newborn on the way). She shot it down, probably because she watched the Real Time episode with his ol' man on it. Cutter is a highschool gem from Westlake HS in California. He should be able to fit in at either second or even at the shortstop position. Decent swing and hopefully the same cocky attitude his dad had/has.

Milwaukee Brewers

1. Brett Lawrie

2. Jake Odorizzi - RHP - IL HS

3. Evan Frederickson - LHP - San Fran University

4. Seth Lintz - RHP - TN HS

5. Cutter Dykstra - 2B/SS - HS CA

6. Tom Adams - RHP - Southern Illinois University

7. Logan Schafer - CF - Cal Poly

8. Josh Romanski - LHP - University of San Diego

9. Maverick Lasker - RHP - AZ HS

10. Jose Duran - SS - Texas A&M

Best first names: Maverick and Cutter

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Brewers Select Canadian Brett Lawrie In First Round

Milwaukee selected Canadian, Brett Lawrie from a Langley, British Colombia today with their 16th selection in this years draft. He is a catcher/"infielder", however they submitted his name as a catcher with their selection. With the likes of Mike Rivera and Angel Salome at the helm, I question if he will actually be used as a catcher. Salome will be the future catcher of this franchise or at least rotate with Mike Rivera, so that tells me that Lawrie may be used in other roles, similar to that of Matt LaPorta who was a first baseman in college.

With good size and decent speed, this player will be a welcomed addition to the Milwaukee Brewers organization. Pending of course if they can sign him.


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Rickie Weeks' little brother Jemile was drafted 12th by the Oakland A's.

#1 over all pick was made by Tampa Bay Rays, they selected prep phenom Tim Beckham out the state of Georgia.

Other sad news....

Miller-Coors Park?

U.S signed off on the Miller-Coors merger today. The future of my favorite Milwaukee beer is in jeopardy. The beer that made Milwaukee famous is now at risk of moving its headquarters out of state. If that happened, I would then switch brands...probably over to Point or Huber. Sad day.

Public displays of affection in Seattle are under attack. This is just sad. If a male/female couple were told to quit sucking face at a ballpark, do you think they would stage a "kiss-in" to protest it? No. They would probably stop. These two lesbians are going after the Mariners organization and will probably take legal action. I don't want my 2 year-old son seeing that when I bring him to a park. Hell, it don't matter if they are gay or straight!