BILL HALL STOLE HOME?!?! - The Milwaukee Brewers 2007 ILBB Thread

It's a Heinleinism, man, chill out. I still want the Brewers to go on a tear once this series is over.

Corey Hart, hehe.

Also mod, could we get an ILX feature saying who owns which threads? thx

Braun got robbed by Aaron Rowan, he would have been 3/4 with 2 HRs and a triple.

dude is good. why are people throwing him fastballs anymore?

Yesterday on the Astros broadcast, during a scoreboard report, Brett Dolan announced that Braun had hit another homer, to which Dave Raymond replied (in his best Estelle Costanza), "Georgie, why can't you be more like Ryan Braun?"

I'd be surprised if a SportsCenter anchor hadn't already trotted that one out though.

"Cecil Fielder at the plate. He looks hungry. Young Fielder on the mound."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDmo8R8WbnM

Yovani got rocked today. 11 ER in 2 innings.

A triple short of surrendering a double cycle.

Can't Braun play any other positions? LF? RF? His defense is brutal by every metric I've seen and the scouting reports are even meaner.

What happened to Bill Hall?

Braun is scary. Let's all chip in and get a tshirt for 'nym.

Last week, I gave up on the playoffs. We just can't get it done this year, it's a huge choke job by virtually an entire team. But I'm not going to sit around and cry about it -- I'm just going to enjoy my favorite team, rooting for them the same way I would if we were in last place. But first...yeah, it's out of the question. I'd blame Ned Yost but a whole-system collapse is not something that even he could have orchestrated.

I will admit that it stings to have gotten so close.

I guess Scott Linebrink wasn't the missing piece.

haha and/or screw you, he's the only reliable piece of our "bullpen"

He's a pretty awesome guy, I just miss him. :/

yeah...I miss THE PART OF OUR ROSTER THAT USED TO REMEMBER HOW TO PLAY BASEBALL.

this screws me on the BP Predicatron, last week I was #4 overall but now...

wait a sec -- on the homepage, the Predictatron link hasn't had an "update" since the season started! Where are you getting standings?

If you go to the site and click on the "Fantasy" link, it will take you there. (Of course, at this point, it's purely speculative based on BP's extrapolations.)

Good news: I've moved up to #1 on the list.

Bad news: I won't stay there unless the Angels tank, the Brewers win the Central (hah), the Braves stage a comeback (double hah), and the Tigers stop sucking.

Still, that's impressive! Picking safe Mortal Locks is half the battle.

(I never wanted to fite with you D5, pls razz the Mets whenever you feel like it.)

But I don't WANT to razz the Mets. I even have some love for the Cubs, and I even like several players on the damned Yankees.

And yeah my mortal locks aren't really all that safe suddenly: Arizona and Detroit...ga-zoinks!

Actually I am most proud of my Seattle pick -- I remember getting some shit around here for thinking that they'd be contending this year.

So who's pitching after Suppan -- Vargas & Gallardo?

I think Vargas is going on the DL, with Sheets possibly replacing him tomorrow? No one seems to know for sure.

http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphics/sports/brew/img/aug07/tcap830.jpg

That called 3rd strike on Hart was bogus, but how does Mench swing at the first pitch after Dempster walks in a run?

Because he's Kevin Mench, and because he never should have been batting with three THREE lefties on the bench

Back in first... is D5 off the ledge?

yay Craig Counsell's at-bat music: Jimi Hendrix, "All Along the Watchtower"

fuk u Ned Yost for sitting Ryan Braun today when Sammy and I were at the game, you're just being a dick and an anti-semite. we weren't the only ones upset, though -- the crowd doesn't really have Joe Dillon fever yet.

also fuk u all people who say 'haha wisconsin fans are fat', there were a lot of hot babes of both genders at the game and most of them were just normal-sized. also pretty knowledgeable about baseball, we were all calling for coco with two outs in the eighth and ned obliged us for the second night in a row.

additional fuk u: to all the people at the park who texted in to root for bratwurst to win the sausage race, cinco the chorizo is the only responsible choice. i think polish sausage won, fuk that guy too

also damm the soy dogs are awesome, only $3 each, we ate like KINGS I TELL YOU KINGS>

Yost was so married to the idea that the closer pitches in save situations only that he reduced his team’s chances of winning a game it absolutely had to have. If you can’t recognize that “tied in the tenth inning, other team’s best guys up, a half-game out of first place, 12 days left” is about the highest-leverage situation you’re going to come across, and act accordingly, it’s possible that you’re not the best person for your job.

http://baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=6735

<i>also damm the soy dogs are awesome, only $3 each, we ate like KINGS I TELL YOU KINGS</i>

Not on the Comerica menu :(

Lots of pizza though

Although Sheehan has been a huge Brewerhater this year, I'm glad he's seeing what we've been dealing with all year. For what it's worth, Coco's two appearances in the week had both been four-out saves. But yeah, bringing in Matt Wise in that situation is like saying "I am trusting the gods of baseball to reward me for my contrarian thinking." The only way Wise or Greg Aquino should be used is to mop up in a blowout, or perhaps as pinchrunners or weed carriers. Aquino's confidence is gone and Wise has one not-very-good pitch left. Shame, considering how amazing he was just a couple of years ago.

The real issue, of course, is WHY CAN'T WE SCORE MORE THAN ONE RUN AGAINST THE ASTROS WITH THE SEASON ON THE LINE.

well, time for silly stories...

Fans in a Froth for the Mug in Which Bernie Brewer Bathed
By VINCENT M. MALLOZZI

The controversy over Bernie Brewer’s beer mug has come to a head in Milwaukee.

Todd Achtner, a lifelong Brewers fan, is leading an online charge to bring back the beer barrel, mug and chalet belonging to Bernie Brewer. They were a fixture at County Stadium but did not move with the team to Miller Park in 2001.

“It’s a tradition that fans love and want back at the ballpark,” said Achtner, a 27-year-old security guard from Appleton, Wis. “Bernie Brewer’s old routine was one of the best home run celebrations ever.”

Through Friday, the petition had 260 signatures on the Web site truebrewcrew.com. The Brewers’ front office is aware of it.

“We’re considering the possibility of bringing back Bernie’s beer mug, but we haven’t made any determinations yet,” said Rick Schlesinger, the executive vice president for business operations with the Brewers. “Quite frankly, we have a lot of other projects that have a higher priority.”

Bernie Brewer, sporting a bushy mustache and lederhosen, surfaced as a mascot in 1973, when he began celebrating home runs by stepping out of his chalet and sliding into a frothy beer mug, then releasing balloons. (In his rookie season, Bernie Brewer was at the center of a brouhaha when Texas Rangers Manager Whitey Herzog accused him of stealing signs.)

The Bernie Brewer mascot was inspired by Milt Mason, a 69-year-old fan who was given permission to sit atop the County Stadium scoreboard in 1970 until the expansion Brewers drew 40,000 fans to a game. When 44,387 fans arrived 40 days later, on an August bat day, Mason stepped down from his unofficial roles as publicist and mascot.

By the early 1980s, Bernie Brewer’s popularity had peaked. He continued his sudsy routine after home runs hit by Bambi’s Bombers, a team managed by George Bamberger that included Ben Oglivie, Cecil Cooper, Gorman Thomas, Paul Molitor and Robin Yount.

In 1982, that group, then known as Harvey’s Wallbangers under Manager Harvey Kuenn, led the Brewers to the World Series, which they lost in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Bernie Brewer, however, was replaced by a sound tower in 1984 in the bleachers where the chalet once stood. He was brought back by popular demand in 1993, in a full-body costume with a large foam head. The beer barrel and chalet also returned above the left-field bleachers.

When the Brewers opened Miller Park, many fans thought Bernie Brewer would be back for more beer baths. But team officials canned that act in favor of Bernie’s Dugout. Now whenever Brewers like Prince Fielder and Geoff Jenkins hit home runs, Bernie pops out of his dugout and rides a yellow slide down to a platform.

“It’s really kind of weak,” said Achtner, who is also petitioning on the Web site for the return of the Brewers’ ball-and-glove logo. “What’s wrong with beer? They’re Brewers, aren’t they?” The team continues to play “Roll Out the Barrel” during the seventh-inning stretch.

Achtner’s sentiments have been echoed by online petitioners.

“It is MILLER Park. They are the BREWERS,” one wrote. “You have to walk through 40,000 people grilling out and drinking to get there. You can’t suddenly make it a nonalcoholic family event just by having Bernie slide down some lame slide! Stupidest move in sports.”

If the Brewers decide to bring back the chalet, they will have to retrieve it from Russell Klisch, the owner of Lakefront Brewery in Milwaukee. In October 2000, Klisch paid $18,000 for Bernie Brewer’s chalet, beer barrel and mug, slide and binoculars for display at his brewery. Although the slide has been put in storage for insurance reasons, Klisch said, the chalet and mug have been the backdrop for events like weddings and Friday night fish fries.

“If the team contacts me and wants to borrow this stuff, I won’t stand in the way,” Klisch said. “These artifacts tie the old place into the new place, and would be a lot more fun than that wimpy thing they got going on with Bernie’s Dugout.”

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company

ho-hum, asked and answered

OH SNAP(S)

MILWAUKEE -- Prince Fielder's 50th home run Tuesday, which made him the youngest player in major league baseball history to reach the mark, rekindled talk of the bad blood between him and his father, ex-big leaguer Cecil Fielder.

Prince Fielder, who passed Willie Mays as the youngest to reach 50 in a season, said he wants to hit 52 home runs this season. That would be one more than his father hit in 1990 for the Detroit Tigers.

"My dad had 51," Fielder said. "Then, he can't say anything."

After the Milwaukee crowd chanted "MVP" following a two-homer game Tuesday, Fielder was asked what a Most Valuable Player award would mean to him.

"It would be a cool award to get but that's not something I think about," he said, according to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, "besides the fact my dad never did it. If I do get it, that shuts him up again

Prince and Cecil Fielder's relationship, strained for years (despite the fact Cecil Fielder negotiated his son's first contract), was fractured even further earlier this year when Cecil reportedly said his son was drafted in the first round only because of his family tree.

After Tuesday's game, Prince said: "That's what drives me. People said I was too big and all this, and the only reason I got drafted was because of the name.

"That's why I'm so passionate about playing. I don't mind people comparing me to him but I'm a completely different player. One day I want people to mention my name and not have to mention his."

In June, Cecil Fielder was quoted as saying: "I don't think he's grown up yet. Until he can move on and talk to me like he's my son, we don't need to talk."

Asked about his father's recent comments Tuesday, Prince Fielder said: "You've got to look at who's saying it. Let's be honest. He's not really the brightest guy."

Makes that Cecil-Prince McDonald's commercial extra sad.

wow - i had no clue they were on such bad terms!!

Yeah there was an SI piece not long ago and it was pretty venomous.

huh. i'll see if i can track that down.

PRINCE 4EVA, CECIL NEVA

Yeah Cecil comes off as kind of a jerk in the SI piece. It's hard to blame Prince for not wanting to have anything to do with him.

he was on a J's broadcast recently and seemed really nice. mentioned his kid briefly & i knew things weren't great but didn't get the impression they were that bad.

Shit was/is way way ugly.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2004-10-18-cecil-fielder-troubles_x.htm

goddamn...

On a February day in 1999, Cecil Fielder walked into the Trump Plaza casino in Atlantic City just before noon, and filled out an application for credit.

Under "Income/Assets," he included: "Salary — $5 million."

Under "Other Casinos," he listed a $100,000 line of credit at the Desert Inn in Las Vegas.

Trump extended Fielder a $25,000 line of credit. That money, plus whatever cash he had started with, lasted a day and a half.

Fielder requested, and was given, another $25,000 line of credit.

That was gone in two hours and 40 minutes.

The casino lent him $27,500 more.

That lasted less than 20 minutes.

The casino extended Fielder's credit by another $50,000.

The minute-by-minute records stop there, but the file contains a total. By the time the binge was over, Fielder owed the Trump casino $580,000

Prince plunked with runners on 2nd and 3rd. That's what the Brewers get for throwing an inside pitch to Pujols.

Then they hit Pujols, and Cards go on to rally. I love it when machismo is its own reward.

worst win of the year :(

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/4748/tonylarussapa6.jpg

Braun's defense is atrocious.

After his HR they showed a woman holding up an "I HEART E-5" sign.