Getting Some Closure: It hurt a lot because I cared a lot

I was cleaning the house today and felt saddened when I came across the chair in our office where I had tossed my stuff after returning from Milwaukee and the NLDS.  After the final loss to the Cardinals, I cried. Tears streamed down my face when it became obvious there would be no comeback. I cried on the drive to work the next morning and then later in my office. I blamed my appearance on allergies. For those who knew better, I just said that it hurt a lot because I cared a lot. There was no way that I could put my feelings into words at that time. So I didn't.



Playoff relics. And quite possibly the last time I'll see Prince as a Brewer.

So what's changed? I decided that I needed some closure. It became obvious to me that I could not fully engage in the college basketball season until I said goodbye to the 2011 Milwaukee Brewers. So, goodbye, Central Division champs. Goodbye, beast moders. Goodbye, Prince Fielder, K-Rod and Craig Counsell. (Sadly I cannot say goodbye to Yuni yet.) 2012 Milwaukee Brewers, you're just a few months away. I can only hope you make me as happy as the 2011 Brewers did.  

This is what I wanted to do after the Cardinals World Series victory.



The National League Division Series

I know that this is late--really, really late--but I can explain. I was in Milwaukee for Games 1 and 2 and didn't get back to my house until 1:30 a.m. on Monday morning. I was back at work at 8 a.m. and then had to decide whether I was going to take a promotion that may require me to move to San Diego. And then I worked many, many hours to get a big deal closed.  Before I knew it, it was Friday and time for Game 5. Most of the time, I work my life around baseball. This week, I had to work baseball around my life.

My view for Game 1.

Great view of home plate, right?

Not so good view of center field and right field, though.

My sister, Alice, won the ticket lottery and gave the rights to me. I went for the best available seats for Game 1. And these were it. Bernie's Terrace. Admittedly, we could not see right field or center field but we had a great view of Braun's strike to the plate to help get Gallardo out of a first inning mess. I was able to see around Bernie's slide enough to see Fielder's ball fly out of the park.

My view for Game 2.

The sun was blinding for an inning or two.

And the smoke from the fireworks did not help.

While tailgating before Game 1, we decided that we needed to go to Game 2. I had to promise my sister, Megan, that she could sleep the entire way home and that I would drive. We purchased some tickets from Stub Hub in Section 122. We were just to the foul side of the left field foul pole and in the row in front of Friday's. I cannot understate just how difficult it was to see with the bright sun and the smoke from the fireworks.

My view for parts of Game 5.

After the Diamondbacks got runners on in the top of the eighth inning and then again the top of the ninth inning, I could not watch. I paced around the kitchen, but mostly, I stood in the bathroom with my hands over my face. I'm not sure why I put my hands over my face since I could not see the game from the bathroom. Any time that I heard the crowd get even louder, I'd yell at Seth to tell me what happened. After Arizona tied the game up in the ninth inning, I returned to the couch, where I stayed until the tenth inning. Once Carlos Gomez reached second base, I felt pretty positive that either Nyjer Morgan or Braun would drive him in. I knew it wouldn't take much to score Gomez. In fact, all that I could think of was that he would score on a overthrow or something crazy like that. Instead, Morgan "tickled" one up the middle, Gomez scored the winning run, and the Brewers advanced to the National League Championship Series.

I started to run around the house like a crazy lady. I threw up the T. I jumped up and down until my pants nearly fell off.

Man, what a series!

This blog post was supposed to be called 'Fielder's Choice' but instead I'm calling it 'I love Prince Fielder'

(h/t Chris Gliedman for Fielder's Choice)

There is a part of me that knows he will be gone after this year. Knows it. There is no scenario that keeps Prince in Milwaukee and makes sense.

Yet there is a part of me that thinks there's a chance that he'll stay. The Yankees don't need him. The Red Sox don't need him. Albert Pujols will be a free agent. HE LOVES US. HE LOVES PLAYING IN MILWAUKEE. There had to be a moment in that clinching celebration when he was bear hugging the crowd that he thought, This is it. This is home. Right?

Even the Pirates pitching staff showered Prince with love on Tuesday night at Miller Park. And it was a good thing, too, because the Brewers needed all three of his home runs to take down the Pirates. Home run number one came in the bottom of the third inning with Milwaukee trailing 0-1. Prince blasted a letter high fastball out to right field. Rickie Weeks followed with a mammoth shot that gave the Crew its first lead of the night, 2-1. After the Pirates had taken back the lead in the top of the fifth inning, Prince snatched it right back with a two-run blast to center field.

The Pirates tied the game at four in the sixth inning but Fielder untied it for good in the seventh with another two-run shot after Ryan Braun had walked to start the inning. After that, the Brewers cruised to their 95th win of the season.

After the game, there was a lot of talk of Fielder "willing the team to win." If by willing you mean went out and won the game, I'd agree. I love Prince Fielder.

Brewers 6, Pirates 4
Game played 9-27-11

El MVsuPer

I'm going to lobby hard for this one: Ryan Braun for NL MVP.

.334/.398/.601
33 HR, 31 SB
And that really killer home run on Friday night.

At the beginning of September, Bill Simmons wrote a story about MVPs, explaining the history of the award and the fact that it is named the most VALUABLE player vs. most OUTSTANDING player award. Give it to Braun and be done with it. No one has been more valuable.

Now I have to run off and try to get my playoff tickets via the lottery. I'll report back.

El Super

Coming into this past weekend's series at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, the Brewers offense was struggling. After winning the opener against St. Louis, 4-1, Milwaukee scored a total of nine runs in the next five games and dropped all of them. Things got only slightly better for the Brewers' bats in a 3-2 win against the Phillies and a 2-1 victory against the Rockies (mostly because the pitching was better, not that the offense exploded). In the finale against the Rockies, the Brewers lost 2-6. That's a total of 20 runs in nine games against St. Louis, Philadelphia and Colorado.

Against this backdrop, the Brewers went into Cincinnati and clobbered the Reds pitching. And for being so generous, the Cincinnati Reds pitching staff earns this week's El Super. In sweeping the Reds, Milwaukee put up 6, 10 and 8 runs, respectively. In Friday night's victory, Milwaukee got just seven hits but five of those hits were home runs. Thank you, Bronson Arroyo. The Brewers pounded out 10 runs on 11 hits with two home runs (6 for 15 RISP) on Saturday. Thank you, Edinson Volquez. On Sunday, against last minute starter Matt Maloney, Milwaukee collected 12 hits (3 home runs, 3 for 7 RISP). Thanks for the back spasms, Dontrelle Willis.

And after watching Milwaukee struggle again on Monday--against the likes of Casey Coleman--the Reds pitching is looking mighty El Super.

A Battle to the End

If I were a regular sports writer, writing a regular game summary, I'd probably start out with something along the lines of: It's not how you start the game, it's how you finish it. OR, Ryan Braun may have gotten only one hit on Tuesday night, but he made that one hit count. OR, simply, Fuck yes.

OK. Maybe not that last one, although it seems like the most original. Braun had a tough night at the plate until he led off in the eleventh inning of a 1-1 ball game. Braun got ahead 3-0 in the count, took one strike and then fouled off five pitches. He took the tenth pitch from Matt Lindstrom over the left-center field wall for the walk-off win.

Telly: Ryan, you always said that you live for those types of moments. How did you know exactly when you had it?

Braun: You know, I knew I hit it pretty good off the bat so ahhh first ten innings for me were terrible--probably my worst baseball game of the year so it's nice to be able to help the team out. Big win for us. And you know, we just continue to battle, continue to fight. We didn't play a very good game overall today but we found a way to win.

Telly: You mentioned your first previous at-bats and you weren't able to get a hit but when you're in that situation do you even think about hitting a home run or ending the game?

Braun: No, I mean Linstrom has too good of stuff to worry about hitting a home run, you know. I just hoped to get the bat on the barrel or the ball on the barrel and just compete every at bat. The first two at-bats weren't good but you try to move on. You continue to compete and I think good teams, good players respond to adversity and tonight, definitely playing with adversity.

Telly:  It has to feel good to get the win after such a grinder. Both teams, one run, 1-1 the entire game and you were able to deliver the clutch hit.

Braun: Ya, it's a crazy game sometimes. We didn't play very good baseball today yet somehow we found a way to win and that's what good teams do so come out tomorrow and try to do the same thing.

A superstar like Braun is usually pretty adept at staying on point in the post game interview and tonight was no different. There are a whole bunch of cliches in that interview. Then again, sometimes teams do play poorly and yet they find a way to win. Sometimes they grind or scuffle or whatever but they hang in there and battle. And sometimes that leads to victory.

Brewers 2, Rockies 1
Game played 9-13-11

El Super

It seems incredible but there are only three more Mondays left in the regular season. Only three more El Supers .... and maybe some post season El Super Supers. With a Cardinals loss on Monday night, the Brewers magic number now stands at nine.

This week's El Super winner is Yovani Gallardo. Gallardo started two games and posted a 1-1 record. The win came Sunday against the Phillies and helped to end a five game team losing streak. In the two games, Yo posted a 3.46 ERA, giving up five runs over 13 innings, while striking out 17. Even though four of the seven hits Gallardo gave up were home runs, he did face two of the better offenses in the league (Cardinals and Phillies). At the plate he went 2-for-5 with a double.

I got your back, T. Plush

F--- you, pussy.

You could read his lips. That's exactly what Nyjer Morgan said to Chris Carpenter after he struck out in the ninth inning of Wednesday's game. According to Morgan, Carpenter said something to him first. And after Morgan continued the conversation as he walked up the third base line and toward the dugout, Albert Pujols started jogging (or maybe that's his sprinting speed?) toward Morgan. And then things escalated.

Although I wish that Morgan would have just let it go, he did succinctly sum up my feelings about the Cardinals. Middle finger to you, inferior beer town.

I don't like playing the Cardinals. It isn't fun. Sure, some of it is that the Cardinals are good and it's never super fun to lose. But that isn't really what makes playing the Cardinals like getting a root canal. No, what makes a game against the Cardinals a joyless experience for me is that they have the unique ability to make me (as a fan of the Brewers) feel like crap even when the Brewers win.

According to the St. Louis Cardinals, they've never lost a game because the other team was better. It's only outside factors, like umpires, shadows, sign stealing, ribbon banners, scoreboards, wind, untucked shirts, pitching inside to Pujols, etc... that have led to their losses against Milwaukee. And even on the rare occasions where the Cardinals grudgingly concede a victory, then Milwaukee doesn't win with class. Do not even get me started on Tony LaRussa.

St. Louis, if your goal was to get into the Brewers heads, you've failed. The Crew still leads the division (and you!) by 8.5 games.

But you got into mine. And that pisses me off. You sucked all of the fun out of baseball so I'm glad to be done with you for the season. So while T. Plush may have thrown a few swears (and chew) your way, I can't really blame him for calling you names. Fun suckers.

El Super Call-Up

"I guess you can't give this award to Ryan Braun every week." --Seth

This week's El Super goes to recent call-up, Taylor Green. After being added to the big league roster, Green patiently waited his turn to see some action. He rewarded the Brewers by collecting a hit in each of his first three at-bats. In a pinch-hit role on Friday night, he helped to turn a 0-2 deficit against the Astros into a 3-2 lead when his two-out single sparked a rally. Ron Roenicke rewarded him with a start on Saturday and another on Monday against the Cardinals. Since being called up from Triple A Nashville, Green has had 12 at-bats and collected hits in half of them. His slash line is pretty at .500/.550/.750.

El Super 1A goes to the Grecian Sensation, George Kottaras, who used one of his rare non-Randy Wolf starts on Saturday night to hit for the cycle. He was the first player in MLB to do so this year. For this statistical anomaly, George earns an El Super.

You can lead a horse to water and you can make him drink but you can't shove a straw up his ass to make him swallow

Following Tuesday night's game against the St. Louis Cardinals, I found myself flipping between channels trying to think about anything other than baseball. There is nothing wrong with losing (once in a great while) but losses like tonight's tend to haunt me for a bit so I try to watch something that has no chance of reminding me of what just happened on the diamond.

Tonight, I stopped on Spike TV to investigate a show called Repo Games. Holy crap. Where do I even begin? The segment of the show that I happened upon had the "host" of the show trying to get the owner of a truck to come to the door so that he can ask him some trivia questions in hopes of having said host pay off the truck and not repo it. (Apparently this is what happens in each segment.) In this particular episode, the owner didn't want to come forward because he thought that the host (and the camera crew) was the police.

In response to the truck owner not coming forward to answer trivia questions, the host (whose name is Josh Lewis) said the following: You can lead a horse to water and you can make him drink but you can't shove a straw up his ass to make him swallow.

Sage advice. 

Then the audience was switched to co-host, Tom DeTone, who informed us that he is about to repossess a 2005 Ford Taurus. The car owner's daughter then pulls up and blocks the tow truck's exit. After a brief negotiation, the mother and daughter team agreed to answer trivia questions in order to save the Taurus. After getting two right and two wrong, it all came down to one final trivia question.

What trees found in the Sequoia National Park are the biggest in the World?  Suspense builds. Will she keep her car? Or will it be towed away? The Taurus owner comes up with a Sequoia and maintains possession of her Taurus. Whewwwww. How does this show happen?

In tonight's game, the Brewers were getting all the trivia right until the top of the fifth inning. In that fateful inning, Prince Fielder booted a ground ball hit by Skip Schumaker to lead off the inning. This was immediately followed by Rafael Furcal hitting one to Jerry Hairston that he booted. Runners on first and second, no outs. Yadier Molina followed with a single. Bases loaded with no outs. Shaun Marcum then gave up a two-strike hit to the pitcher to score a run. The fact that Milwaukee got out of that mess only giving up one more run was a minor miracle. Still, two errors to start the inning ... haunting.

Yet, the Brewers had plenty of chances to get their Taurus off the tow truck and couldn't do it. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Corey Hart hit a lead off double that narrowly missed clearing the fence. Then Nyjer Morgan followed suit. Braun got Morgan to third on a ground out but Prince stuck out and Casey lined out. In the ninth inning, Prince and Casey walked to start the inning. But Betancourt had a straw up his ass and didn't drink ... or something ... because he bunted one off of his hand that led to a force out a third base. And Mark Kotsay was nothing like a Sequoia as he grounded into a double play to end the game.

Repo Games is bad. Tonight's game was bad.

Cardinals 2, Brewers 1
Game played 8-30-11

No rompe su clavicula otra vez!

Surprising but true fact: It's more difficult to write about a good team than a bad one. Don't get me wrong; this season has been awesome but sometimes it's difficult to know what to write. Sadly, it is easier to criticise than celebrate. So, as the Brewers collect Ws and rack up a huge lead in the NL Central, the blog grows silent. Is this what it's like to be a Yankees fan? What do you mean we're only winning the wild card this year? Sigh.

In an effort to combat this, I traveled to Appleton over the weekend to scout Carlos Gomez's rehab starts. There are no limits to the lengths that I will go for my readers. Or maybe I was already going to be in Appleton for a Timber Rattlers game and it just so happened that Carlos showed up to bat leadoff and play center field.

The thing that always strikes me about Gomez is that he is way bigger in real life than the picture I have of him in my head. So, every time I see him at the start of the season or when I haven't seen him in a while, I am always surprised that he's a solid dude.

I wanted Carlos to feel at home so I wanted to yell something to him in Spanish--something positive and encouraging. My sister Megan came up with the following: No rompe su clavicula otra vez! Translation: Don't break your collar bone again!

In his first at-bat, Gomez watched six pitches. He walked without lifting the bat off his shoulder. In his second at-bat, he broke his bat on an infield groundout. The sound of the wood cracking made me worry that the plate in his surgically repaired shoulder was rattling, too. Ouch. No rompe su clavicula otra vez!

Since we last spoke, your Milwaukee Brewers went 5-2 and took a 10.5 game lead in the Central. OMG, how the hell did the Crew lose two games? See, criticism in this situation doesn't really work.

Rachel doesn't do housework, but she likes brooms

It is a darn good thing that the Brewers swept the Mets this weekend because then there was at least one of us that used a broom this weekend. Who cares if there's housework that I'm neglecting? We have a division to win!

For the first time in franchise history, Milwaukee swept the Mets in New York, taking the third game of the series 6-2 on Sunday. The game was scoreless until the fourth inning, when Casey McGehee put the Brewers on top with a solo home run. The lead would grow to 2-0 in the sixth inning when Ryan Braun singled, stole second and scored on Prince Fielder's single.

The Mets finally got to to starter Yovani Gallardo and tied the score in the seventh inning on a Lucas Duda blast that also scored David Wright. But as they did in Saturday's game, the Brewers answered back and took a lead in the next inning. Shoddy defense by the Mets (botched double play) led to two eighth inning runs. Two more crossed the plate in the ninth on a safety squeeze by Morgan and a Braun double.

Rachel doesn't do housework, she sits on her ass and watches baseball--8.5 games up in the Central baseball, that is.

Brewers 6, Mets 2
Game played 8-21-11

Chili Cheese Dog Day... Sort of like being in the Big Apple only with more cheese

In honor of the Brewers-Mets game being the FOX Saturday Baseball Game of the Week (and it actually being broadcast in Minnesota this week), Seth and I celebrated with chili cheese dogs. Over the years, Seth and I have developed a ritual. Any time there is a big game on TV, we watch it while eating food we would eat if we were actually at the game. I find that this ritual makes me feel a lot less guilty than if I just ate a chili cheese dog (or four) on a day that the Brewers had a regular night game (or less guilty than eating an entire pot of cheese fondue on a night that the Packers are not on Monday Night Football). I feel like even Weight Watchers would give extra points for a big game day, if Weight Watchers had a heart, which it doesn't, but that's another blog post.

The Brewers responded to Chili Cheese Dog Day with their second victory in a row over the Mets in New York. But there was definitely a point in the game where my Hebrew Nationals were sitting in my stomach like a couple of rocks.

Through six innings, the Brewers had just three hits against Chris Capuano, yet led 7-1, thanks to a two-run homer by Ryan Braun (following a walk to Jerry Hairston, Jr.), a three-run homer by Prince Fielder (following walks to Hairston and Braun) and a two-run homer by Yuniesky Betancourt (after Braun reached on an error). Josh Wilson broke up the homer streak with a solid single later in the sixth innng after Betancourt's homer.

And then the lead vanished. The Mets came back with five runs in the seventh inning and then took the lead, 9-7, in the eighth inning when K-Rod gave up a walk, double and home run after retiring the first two batters. I felt like puking.

Jason Isringhausen to the rescue. He walked the first two batters that he faced, Jon Lucroy and Nyjer Morgan, and then gave up a single to Corey Hart and another walk to Mark Kotsay to cut the lead to one. After Braun popped out, Prince took a ball destined for the dirt from new pitcher, Manny Acosta, and hit it through the infield to tie the score. Casey McGehee kept it going with a single that scored two. John Axford was able to prevent another Mets rally in the ninth and the Brewers won 11-9.

After the game, I sort of wanted another chili dog.

Brewers 11, Mets 9
Game played 8-20-11

I was starting to think that we'd win them all

Coming off a sweep of the Pirates over the weekend, the Brewers finished up their latest homestand with a four-game set against the Los Angeles Dodgers. I have to admit, after so much good fortune lately, I've sort of been waiting for the other shoe to drop. Not drop off a cliff drop but drop a few games drop. But it didn't happen in this series.

On Monday, the seldom seen "awesome defense" version of the 2011 Brewers appeared on the field to lead Milwaukee to a 3-0 victory. Apparently, that's how you win when you're being held in check by the opposing pitcher? I'm not sure. The awesome defense model makes infrequent appearances at Miller Park. Ted Lilly gave up only two hits and two walks over seven innings for the Dodgers, while Randy Wolf struggled a bit, giving up six hits and five walks. But the Brewers didn't let not getting on base stop them. That was for the Dodgers to do. Milwaukee turned four double plays and one triple play, getting two of those outs at home plate to preserve the shutout. Offensively, Ryan Braun, Jonathan Lucroy and Corey Hart hit solo shots.

On Tuesday, the much more prevalent "one-run victory in our last at-bat" version of the 2011 Brewers appeared. Both the Dodgers and Brewers scored one run in the second inning and then the starters went into shut down mode. Yovani Gallardo went eight innings, giving up only the one run on four hits and one walk. Chad Billingsley went seven innings giving up the one run on four hits and two walks. The game was won in the bottom of the ninth when Prince Fielder walked, Casey McGehee singled, Yuniesky Betancourt walked (walked!) and Mark Kotsay singled in Fielder. The Brewers fifth straight victory was a walk-off.

All season, Brewers fans have asked for the "2009 version of Zack Greinke." 2009 being, of course, Greinke's Cy Young award winning year. Zack's been in a little bit of a 2009 groove lately and on Wednesday night, he was 2009 good. Greinke gave up just one run on five hits and three walks. He struck out eight. The one run came on a home run off the bat of Tony Gwynn, Jr. Milwaukee scored two runs on a two-out single by Jerry Hairston, Jr. in the sixth inning and its final run when Lucroy singled and then moved all the way around the diamond on two wild pitches.

The Brewers came up just short of winning the rest of their games when they finally dropped a game on Thursday afternoon. On paper, it didn't look good. Clayton Kershaw leads the national league in wins (15) and strikeouts (199) and boasts a 2.60 ERA, 1.013 WHIP. Opposing him was Marco Estrada, who has filled in well for Chris Narveson, but is not a Cy Young candidate by any means. Kershaw lived up to his billing and was oh-so-tough to hit. The only Milwaukee run scored in the ninth inning when Braun tripled and Prince drove him home. Estrada, for his part, was nearly as tough, giving up only a home run to Rod Barajas (5 IP, 3H, 2 BB). Kam Loe and Tim Dillard had some problems in relief, however, each giving up two runs and the winning streak was halted at six.

No shoe dropping in this series. Maybe this version of the Brewers is pretty good.

Brewers 3, Dodgers 0
Game played 8-15-11

Brewers 2, Dodgers 1
Gamed played 8-16-11

Brewers 3, Dodgers 1
Game played 8-17-11

Dodgers 5, Brewers 1
Game played 8-18-11

El Super Monday

Not only did this week's El Super winner have two solid starts, he also made the most out of his five plate appearances. Yovani Gallardo went 2 for 4 with a double, walk and one run scored. (That's a .500/.600/.750 line, which, if sustained over more than two games would be pretty awesome.) In his two starts, Yo went 1-1, giving up just 3 earned runs (5 total) in 13 IP with 11 strikeouts and only two walks.

A Brewers fan at Target Field Night 1: Why are we in a weather delay when it's not raining?

The national weather service had predicted severe thunderstorms, but for most of the day Friday it was bright and sunny and 100 degrees. (As I've mentioned many times, I live in Minnesota and work in downtown Minneapolis so when the Brewers come to Target Field it's like a holiday for me--Brewers and baseball without that five plus hour drive.) So on Friday, when it was quitting time, I threw on my shorts and Braun jersey and headed out to do some tailgating Minnesota style--that is, standing on the patio of one of the bars near Target Field. There is no parking lot for Target Field, just parking ramps, so there is no real tailgating. As much as I like tailgating Wisconsin style, I actually enjoy the downtown stadium in Minneapolis. It's a fun and festive atmosphere. Lots of Brewers fans, even more Twins fans, jammed into little beer gardens.

As game time approached, the sky darkened. By the time we reached our seats about 30 minutes before game time, the tarp came out. Tarp? Why not just close the roof? Oh, that's right, there is no roof. My understanding is that the footprint of Target Field was too small to allow for a retractable roof--plus, the money wasn't there. This did not prevent my friend Chad from chanting, "Close the roof. Close the roof. Close the roof." The Twins fans around us did not seem amused.

We were in left field and under an overhang so we just waited it out and soon enough the rain stopped. But the "weather delay" continued. From the radar that my sister's boyfriend pulled up on his phone, there was one last leg of the storm that was set to blow through in an hour. So we waited. (Apparently MLB would prefer for the game to not start and then stop so they try to wait for the entire storm to pass. At least this seems like the current trend.)

Finally at about 8:20, the storm hit.

When it finally came down, the rain didn't mess around. 

The game started at 9:10 p.m. Chad commented that Target Field surely set a new record for beer sales what with the Brewers in town and the fact that the seventh inning wasn't until around 11 p.m. The State Fair stand ran out of cheese curds. I asked our cashier how they could run out of cheese curds with a Wisconsin sports team in town and she seemed confused. She told us to get the french fries instead.

When the game finally started, Carlos Gomez hit a first inning home run. I realize that this is a very small sample size but Gomez's numbers against the Twins are pretty crazy. In 8 plate appearances, Gomez has five hits and two home runs. The line looks like this: .625/.625/1.500.

This would be the only lead of the night for the Brewers. Jim Thome hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the first and it just went down hill from there. After getting to within one run at 3-2 on a Rickie Weeks walk, a wild pitch and a Ryan Braun single, the Twins picked up two more runs in the fifth. Milwaukee went down quietly after that.

Speaking of quietly, I have had a cold all week and after a long week at work, a two-hour rain delay and having to let a few Ryan Braun hecklers know that they should "suck it", my voice was gone. Nothing more to say about this one anyway.

Twins 6, Brewers 2
Game played 7-1-11

They played some 80s heavy metal during the rain delay. 

My little town blues are not melting away

My friend Chris is a huge Yankees fan. (He grew up in New York.) He's also one of the most knowledgeable baseball people that I know. Sometimes when we go over to his house for dinner, he'll insist that we play a game where he names two teams and you have to name every player you can think of that played for both. (He usually does this with the baseball almanac on his lap to settle any disputes.) A few weeks ago in our softball game, when I was up to bat and the opposing pitcher was also sporting a Brewers cap, he yelled, "Wow. It's like Teddy Higuera against Bill Spiers." That's not a statement too many people would think to make.

He has also made the following two comments this year:

1) While we stood in line at Chipotle, he asked me if this was the year the Yankees got the NL Central in interleague. When I responded in the affirmative, he said simply, "YES!" and did a little fist pump.

2) While discussing the Brewers chances of making the playoffs he said that as long as the Brewers were at about .500 by All-Star break they'd have a great chance of winning the division. Then, just for fun, he threw in, "well, the NL Central is a joke this year." To which I may have gone to the high voice and started yelling, "WHAT? Why would you say that it's a joke." Sensing that I may completely melt down in his living room, he let it go.

So, coming into the series with the Yankees, I wanted to prove that the Brewers were not a joke. I wanted to be competitive and at least win one game. For obvious reasons, I wanted to prove that the team that I love and devote so much time to may not be the Yankees but were certainly worthy of my love.

It didn't happen.

The Brewers looked sloppy and ill-prepared in Tuesday night's game. Zack Greinke got off to a tough start when Nyjer Morgan mis-judged a fly ball and in twisting to get back into position slipped and fell down. It one hopped his glove as he lay helpless on the ground. Helpless. The Yankees got out to a 7-0 lead after two innings and it just continued to get worse. The only good thing about this game was that Mat Gamel, brought up to DH in interleague play, went 2 for 4 with an RBI.

Wednesday's game got off to a better start with the Brewers scoring one run in the first inning. (The bar was pretty low.) I'd like to take just a minute to discuss right field in Yankee Stadium. The way that it is configured, I don't know how anyone hits a double there. There is no doubt that Nick Swisher plays the ball well in the corner, but the Brewers probably hit six balls down the first base line that would have been doubles in any other ball park. Just sort of an odd thing about Yankee Stadium. Ryan Braun shot one down the right field line that scored Morgan from second base but he was held to a single, for example.  One run probably isn't going to hold up in Yankee Stadium, and it didn't on Wednesday. The bottom of the Yankees line-up struck for four runs in the fourth and the Brewers never mounted a come back in a 2-5 loss.

In the afternoon finale, Milwaukee faced CC Sabathia. The most sickening thing about this game was how nice CC is about his time in Milwaukee. The Brewers offered Sabathia a great contract after the 2008 season but, just for fun, the Yankees offered $10 million more or something like that. I can't remember. Apparently CC loves Milwaukee, though, so I guess that's some sort of silver lining for the Midwest. He still shut out The Crew 0-5 and had 13 strikeouts. But I think that if I drink enough and re-play some games from the 2008 pennant chase I can probably get over it.

Unfortunately, I did not get to prove that the Brewers are not a joke. My ego's a bit bruised but I guess I'll feel better if the Brewers can beat the Twins this weekend. Hopefully the Brewers will meet the Yankees in the playoffs and, after defeating them, Milwaukee will talk about how they picked up their game after the sweep. Or something inspirational like that.

Yankees 12, Brewers 2
Game played 6-28-11

Yankees 5, Brewers 2
Game played 6-29-11

Yankees 5, Brewers 0
Game played 6-30-11

El Super

I can hardly believe it's Monday again. This week I'm handing the El Super to Jonathan Lucroy. He's had a fine week posting a .500/.533/.714 line in 15 plate appearances. Plus he hit his first big league triple on Sunday. He was just a single and home run away from hitting for the cycle.

As part of the First Half Review over on Brew Crew Ball, I gave my top three picks for the first half El Super. Check it out.

El Super Day

In an otherwise forgettable week, Rickie Weeks gave us a little something to cheer about. While the Brewers were putting together a 2-5 road trip, Weeks posted a .393/.393./.750 line. He hit two home runs and four doubles (eleven total hits) over six games--good enough for an El Super.

Speaking of forgettable events:

Rays 8, Brewers 4

Game played 6-20-11

This series made Baby Jesus cry

Only taking one game in a four game series from the Chicago Cubs was tough--especially after coming off the high of a three-game sweep of the Cardinals and taking over sole possession of first place in the NL Central. Despite my disappointment, I know that I need to keep things in perspective. Over the weekend, I read through the comments on Viva El Birdos, the Cardinals SB Nation blog site. (Seth was gone on a guys' weekend and I had a touch of the flu so I had a lot of alone time to kill.) It made me vow to have a better attitude because I never want to act like that.

On Tuesday, my co-worker Kent stopped by my office. He informed me that he had "finally dropped Casey McGehee" from his fantasy team.

"Wait," I said. "You've hung with him this long and now that he's getting hot, you're going to drop him. Big mistake."

He laughed at me. He said he picked up the Royals third baseman instead.

Casey didn't go crazy but he did have at least one hit in each game against the Cubs. Overall he went 5 for 17 with four RBI. Let's hope Kent really regrets his move.

*****

I've mentioned this before but I work in downtown Minneapolis, not too far from Target Field. Target Field is in the middle of the downtown area (no parking lots) so spectators often park any where they can find an open ramp. After work on Tuesday, as I walked toward the parking ramp elevator bank, I ran into a couple coming off of the elevator. They were both decked out in Cubs gear.

Uhhh, guys. You know that the Twins are playing the White Sox, right? The Cubs are at home.

Cubs 5, Brewers 4
Game played 6-14-11

Brewers 9, Cubs 5
Game played 6-15-11

Cubs 12, Brewers 7
Game played 6-16-11