The Wisconsin Sports Rant

In this blog, I have been pretty forthcoming about my feelings on the Brewers play from June through August. However, I will put that aside temporarily and focus on the month of September. All of a sudden, the Brewers have picked up the pace, and are 11-5 this month. After tonight’s lopsided victory over Houston, the Brewers pulled back into a first place tie, even leading by a game in the loss column. I guess you might say that it is better late than never. After seeing what is happening in the NL and AL East, the Brewers’ collapse may not yet be the most monumental of the season.

In any case, the Brewers still have a lot of work to do. Unfortunately, it may have to be done without their “ace” pitcher (again). Ben “Higuera” Sheets (or tissue paper if you prefer) suffered a hamstring injury and had to be escorted off the field. Not exactly confidence-inspiring. At least the bats seem to have picked up again. Especially encouraging has been the turnaround of Rickie Weeks. From a demotion to AAA to his current tear, it has been a roller-coaster season for the second baseman. Hopefully he will continue to hit like this into October.

I guess we Brewer fans should just be excited to be relevant at this point in the season. Looking back over the last few months, it is still extremely frustrating to know .500 ball would have basically clinched the division already, but a pennant race is a pennant race. Plus, with the Packers at 2-0, and already generating a nice buzz, the Badgers at 3-0 and ranked in the top 10, the Brewers are still garnering much attention in the Wisconsin sporting world, a feat unto itself. This is uncharted territory for this baseball club, as the last time the Brewers were in this position, the Favre era was in its infancy.

12 games to go. 7 at home. The Cubs have 10 games left all against teams below .500. There is no room for error. The Brewers will need to continue to play at the level they have demonstrated this month, perhaps even a bit better if they want to end the league’s second longest playoff drought.

You couldn’t ask for a better weekend, really. I will excuse the Brewer loss on Friday (although not Monday’s drubbing in Pittsburgh as it was not part of the weekend), and Steve Stricker gave it his best. Yet we saw the Brewers move back into first place with a pair of excellent wins in Cincinnati, and the Packers and Badgers eke out victories that define the phrase “A win’s a win”.

Wisconsin travelled to Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas, site of the infamous Blackout Bowl, and looked like they may suffer a Michigan-like defeat. Unlike their Big Ten brethren, however, they were able to pull out the win with a huge 29 yard TD run by Tyler Donovan. It was a very strange game. Looking at the score, you would think the defense played a great game; but watching it did not support that claim. I felt like UNLV moved the ball fairly well on the Badgers throughout most of the game. They simply couldn’t capitalize on it. On the other side, Wisconsin’s offense definitely suffered without Paul Hubbard. Now that he will be out for an extended period of time, someone had better step up and fill the void. With one game left to tune up for the Big Ten season, they better do it soon too.

The Packers continued the weekend of football close calls with a nailbiter-victory over the Eagles on Sunday. I must say, with the number of losses at the hands of the Eagles over the past few years, and the way we lost a couple of them, I was ecstatic with the win, regardless of aesthetics. The Eagles put the gift-wrapped opportunity in the Packers’ hands, and they seized it. So, even though the offense was putrid (all stemming from a very poor performance by the offensive line), they found out they have a real kicker who could put the game away when called upon. Getting this key conference victory may prove to be quite handy down the road as well.

All in all, it was great to look back on the Wisconsin sporting scene Sunday night.  It may not be like this again this fall, so savor it all week.

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?

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.

We have reached the end of July, and by losing last night, I believe the Cubs may have given the Brewers a karmic break. Now, the worst that could happen by the conclusion of July would be a tie for the division lead. This would still be utterly disappointing considering where they were a month ago, and wouldn’t be the least bit surprising. I do see the irony in the fact that had you told any of us that the Brewers would even be in a tie for first place this late in the season, we would have been very excited. However, it’s all about perspective, and seeing how they got to this point kind of changes the way I feel about where they are now. No matter. The Brewers now have to play a 2 month season. The pitching absolutely MUST be stabilized if they have any chance of rescuing themselves from the sea of losing in which they are currently drowning.

On to the Packers. I love the way they closed the 2006 season. I love that Favre is back. I love that their defense is improving. I hate to think what their running game will look like. Can anyone say “Vince Workman”? Not only do they not have a real running back, their main guy, Vernand Morency, is now down for two weeks! We all know how important it is to be ready for training camp, and frankly, I am a bit scared. I see a lot of cover-2’s, nickels, and dimes in Favre’s future. Don’t look for that his interception count to go down any.

Finally, we turn to Badgers football. Today, at the Big Ten Media Day, the Badgers were picked to finish second to good ol’ Michigan. That is quite flattering…for Michigan. I think the Badgers have an excellent chance to place first, especially when we crush the Wolverines at Camp Randall. Yes, they have to play at Ohio State and Penn State. I am not saying they will finish undefeated. But things are going to work out well for the Badgers this year. Should they lose at Ohio State it will be the Wolverines knocking off Ohio State in the Big Game that lifts the Badgers to the conference title. It would be nice if they pave their own way to a BCS bowl (which I still think they will), but at least they won’t get caught in any political bullshit like they did in 2006.

The number of games by which the Brewers now lead the NL Central is actually less than the number of games they lost today. Everything looked fine and dandy going into the 9th inning of the first game of the doubleheader; but then Francisco “Derrick Turnblow 2007″ Cordero came in and got his ass kicked yet again. I strongly feel that the Brewers should no longer allow ANY of their players to attend an All Star weekend until they make the playoffs. Every single one of their FOUR All Stars has done absolutely NOTHING since they returned. Fielder looks like John Jaha without the home runs (wow…now there is a useless player), Ben “Higuera” Sheets and his tissue paper ass have taken their customary place on the DL, JJ Hardy, while not awful, has done nothing resembling his first two months of the season, and Francisco, as mentioned above, has made the Texas Rangers look SMART for dumping him. No one would have even considered that a possibility three weeks ago. This team is an absolute mess. They deserve what they get because they have simply forgotten how to win.

Brewers fans, heed my message: In the end, this season will end up like the 25 before it. The Brewers simply are not playoff material.

Now on to much more important sports items. So who do you think will be the Packers’ third string center this year?