The Wisconsin Sports Rant

I can’t believe I am still wasting my time watching this pathetic excuse for a baseball team, but the deed is done. Do you know what the definition of insanity is? It is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Why I forced myself to watch until the final out, I just don’t know, nor can I explain. What I can say, however, is that I am absolutely disgusted by the Milwaukee Brewers, from the top on down. Maybe I am not the only one demonstrating insanity. Yost continues to allow Crapuano to pitch, when he does NOTHING BUT PRODUCE LOSSES! Is there ANY reason at all to put him in a game anymore? The guy is the definition of the term loser and they still let him in the game! I simply cannot understand it! He shouldn’t even be on the roster anymore! Astounding. Clutch hitting has also completely disappeared. Corey Hart, Bill Hall, Prince Fielder, JJ Hardy, Ryan Braun…these guys just can’t get it done anymore. I realize I have made this comparison before, but it is like living through the nightmare Bucks season of 2001-2002 all over again. The Brewers, since reaching their high-water mark of 46-32 have played .364 ball (hey guys, the season was only halfway done, but you go ahead and quit playing anyway). That is worse than almost every other team in the league.

The Brewers are as disappointing, pathetic, laughable, disgusting, disgraceful, disastrous, and downright embarrassing as ever. This team is NO different from those that have proceeded it. The sad thing is that now next year, even if they start out 50-20 or something like that, I still won’t believe they are a playoff team until the clinch! It’s like the boy who cried “wolf!”.

To all the players, managers, coaches, and everyone else who has anything to do with the baseball side of things in the Milwaukee Brewers baseball organization,: you really did wonders turning this team around…for half a season. Too bad this means nothing as you are exactly where you were as a franchise a year ago. You should all be very proud of upholding the tradition of losing in Milwaukee. It’s not easy to be this bad for this long. And who says dynasties are a thing of the past?

Wow! I will be the first to admit, I NEVER thought Yi Jianlian would play for the Milwaukee Bucks. Sometimes being wrong is not that bad! So now we have a front court that has an Asia/Pacific flair, and hopefully, a tough mentality. There is definitely youth, and hopefully as much talent as has been hyped. Still, it is hard to get excited about this team. They have one of the most prolific scorers in the league (Redd) to go along with these guys, but it is hard to see the improvements as being enough to lift a team with the 3rd worst record in the league to a playoff-level. I will, however, give Larry Harris his due credit for getting this deal done, even if it was really Senator Kohl who made it happen. Harris has taken his fair share of abuse for the pick as well as some of questionable moves, but for today, at least, he has the last laugh.

I could have seen this result coming a mile away. The Brewers were hosting the team that beat them in the 1982 World Series on the night they honored those AL Champs from a generation ago. What would have been the only appropriate outcome to this game? A loss to the Cardinals of course! The contest was like a microcosm of their season. Get out to a roaring lead with fireworks in the first inning, and then the wheels come off the wagon.

Matching, no, exceeding the team’s slide is their fearless starter, Chris Crap-u-guano.   I think it is already too late to say it’s time for Crappy to be sent to Nashville.  It would save the team valuable cash to put him on a bus to Beloit instead. At least he may face some batters he can actually get out. Perhaps even 5 innings of decent pitching? I’m not sure Tuesday night wouldn’t have seen better results had Pete Vukovich, or any of the old guys thrown a few innings. Overzealous sarcasm aside, this guy is simply hurting this team right now. I wouldn’t want him anywhere near the mound for the rest of the year. He is what I would call a “liability” every time he sets foot on the diamond - literally. The Brewers have lost 15 straight games in which he has pitched (a club record - Congrats Crappy!) and he has an ERA higher than his win total.

Speaking of win totals, as both the Brewers and Cubs show their true losing ways, guess who will be your 2007 NL Central champs? That’s right, these very Cardinals! See, everyone was writing them off early on, because too many people (including we Milwaukee fans) put too much stock in the beginning of the season. Look at the Cardinals. Look at the Yankees. And of course, look at the Brewers. It’s what happens now through September that matters. As the early-peaking 2007 Brewers continue to show that they are nothing like the 1982 edition (that were probably wondering what the hell they were wasting their time watching Tuesday night), their season continues to spiral downward. It’s sad, really, that the ridiculously loyal fans show up in droves to watch this team, and are teased by the energy of the 1982 tribute, followed by some serious offense in the 1st inning, only to see them get blown out in disgusting fashion. Then again, by now they should know what they’re getting themselves into when they take their overpriced seat at Miller Park.

After the series in Colorado that can only be described as a total disaster, the Brewers have shockingly put two straight completely opposite games on the books.  In both of the last two nights, the Brewers posted victories by scoring with their final out and then getting the type of performance from Francisco Cordero that he was providing before the All-Star game.  It has been a most refreshing feeling to see not only comeback wins, but doing so on the road against a division rival.  Last night it was a clutch two out triple from Cory Hart after Ricky Weeks got himself on base with a walk.  Tonight Ryan Braun golfed a pitch nearly to the train behind the left field blechers.  Prince Fielder then followed with a towering blast on the next pitch to add a little oomph.  And then there was the Cordero of old.  Last night he struck out the side in stunning fashion, and tonight he added two more K’s sandwiching a popout from ex-Brewer Carlos Lee in between. 

Now don’t get me wrong, they have a long way to go before I would pronounce this a turnaround.  They still hold only the thinnest of leads on the Cubs.  Yet for two nights at least, we have seen a flash of the Brewers that sparked the interest of a long-beleaugered Milwaukee faithful.  Here’s to hoping they can use these wins as motivation to get back on track.

WORST FIRST PLACE TEAM EVER!

I am not going to get into the specifics, because if you are reading this, you no doubt know how @#*$ing awful the Brewers have been during the last three weeks.  What I will say is that I now fault Doug Melvin for not getting enough help for this “pitching” staff at the trading deadling.  (The quotes are because I use the term pitching very loosely.)  The Brewers currently have exactly ONE pitcher that instills any sort of confidence when he takes the mound, and he is the one guy who shouldn’t, being a rookie and all.  Not one “pitcher” besides Yovanni Gallardo should be allowed to have a spot on this team right now.  Funny how we sent 2 “pitchers” to the All-Star game this year, and neither of them currently would come close to being chosen for such an honor.  The “pitching” has failed this team.  Plain and simple.  They just cannot get it done.  I don’t care if they are in first place or last.  Watching a Brewers game is no longer fun, and that is the bottom line.  I don’t need to talk trash.  I don’t need to continue recapping every single pathetic performance the Brewers put up.  I have realized that not watching makes me go to bed happier than if I do.  It is pathetic that I can even say that about a team that is first place, but honestly, you must ask yourself the question.

Do you enjoy watching the Brewers?

Sadly, but truthfully, my answer is now “no”. 

Da   Da    Da da da da….

Do you know how the Chicago Cubs won their game to claim first place in the NL Central tonight? Aside from the debacle that was Claudio Vargas, they scored on a wild pitch by the Phillies’ Brett Myers in the bottom of the ninth that allowed the winning run to score. That, my friends, is how the Brewers hold on first place disappeared. Not on a walk off hit, or a solid closing performance. On a *&!#ing wild pitch. Wait! A tie you say? That’s what I did post last night.  But that was WRONG! They now TRAIL in the loss column and in the winning percentage department.

As I mentioned previously, the Brewers did their own part to blow their season-long lead. They wasted a solid 6 1/3 innings of 1-run pitching by Manny Para. Now normally you would think those are starting pitching numbers. Not for the wacky Brew Crew! No, that was in relief! Why relief? Because Claudio Vargas was the latest Brewer pitcher to fall apart. 7 runs in 2 2/3 innings is just not going to get it done (despite what Jeff Suppan might tell you). Sure, the offense scored 5 runs. However, none of them came after the 2nd inning. This team has no consistency at the plate anymore. That Brewer feeling has returned. You know…the one where you have no real belief that they will come back and win a game after giving up the lead? This team is 1-49 or something like that when trailing after 8 innings. That is about as un-clutch as you can be. Tonight, they looked great for two innings, but then couldn’t push another run across the rest of the game. Good thing Ricky “I haven’t played good baseball in 12″ Weeks got a ticket to Nashville. Maybe other players can take that as a warning. Heck, his replacement, Joe Dillon, who had all of 27 major league games under his belt got a base hit, something Weeks only dreams about doing. In fact, a glance at the box score will show you that their supposed “star” players (Hart, Hardy, Fielder, Braun, and Hall) had a combined line of 3-20, 2 walks, all five of the RBI (the only bright spot), and 9 strikeouts. Now that’s getting the most out of your “talent”.

Bottom line? This team is crap and has been for quite a while. That pretty 24-10 start has hidden a lot of bad baseball for a long time. No more. Their lead is gone. Ned Yost has said over and over that this is a marathon. Too bad his team only had enough gas for a 10K. The Brewers have completed their colossal fall from the top, as everyone should have expected. Any of us who believed otherwise were kidding ourselves. Come on people! These are the Milwaukee Brewers we are talking about! Half the team wasn’t born the last time they played a meaningful game in October! Now they can stop worrying about the Cubs and concentrate on what they are best at. Being Losers. After all, it’s the Brewer Way.