All star break + Vacation means there isn’t too much to look for, but we’ve got plenty of catching up.
Week in Review: Since the break, the Crew is 4-0 on the road and at the start of play today will need only one win to be .500 on the road. Much has changed since the last update with the acquisition of CC Sabathia and Ray Durham. The Sabathia acquisition so far has paid dividends with his 3 wins; two of which were complete games. Being only 2 games out of first place with games against St. Louis Houston and Chicago over the next ten days means this is a great opportunity to wrestle away the division lead.
What Opposing Telecasts Tell Me: Having only seen last night’s ESPN game, it appears that Steve Phillips really wants to be a GM again.
Good Week: Rickie Weeks may or may not always be a “he’s go potential, just wait” guy but 6 RBI’s since the all star break to go along with an .OBP higher than season average might be a sign of bigger things to come.
Scufflers: I can’t find a goat during this winning streak, so I’ll preemptively predict a terrible start from Jeff Suppan tonight. He has somehow found himself as the weakest link in what’s currently a solid rotation.
The Week Ahead: Three more against the Cards before heading home to face the Astros and Cubs. Big week…big week!
…and finally.
If I could teach myself to throw whiffle balls like this, I would…broken shoulder and all….
Week in Review: As I alluded to last week, life on the road seems a bit harder for MLB teams. I definitely think the outlaw of ‘greenies’ has much to do with that. The Crew won two out of three against Atlanta, lost two out of three in Minnesota and lost last night to an Arizona team who came back from a tough road trip. That makes for a 3-4 road trip so far. Not bad, but not good. Considering that Friday night’s game was very winnable it seems that we can expect a struggle to finish every road trip at .500. Keeping pace with the Cubs is nice, but the Brewers will have to make a move in the standings eventually.
What Opposing Telecasts Tell Me: Arizona supports the troops and Minnesota loves Kent Hrbek Outdoors. I missed the Atlanta telecasts but man…Chipper Jones is aging terribly despite being able to hit almost .400 on one leg.
Good Week: JJ Hardy is on a tear right now while he’s in the middle of a 12-game-hitting streak. This would be great news but the big hitters behind him aren’t pulling their weight.
Scufflers: Going back to last Monday, Prince Fielder is 2 for 27 with only 1 RBIs. That’s not the best way to go about improving arbitration dollars (arbys). The over-analyzers at BF.Net are up in arms, but let’s just call it one rough week during a long season. The lack of production is usually covered by Ryan Braun, but his contribution of 3 RBI’s and no HR’s during the same span doesn’t exactly help things either. If the 3 and 4 spots don’t produce, it’s tough to win games.
The Week Ahead: Three more against the D-backs before finally heading home to beat up on the bottom feeding Pirates. A four game set against Colorado follows. My realistic prediction is that they split the Arizona series and sweep the pirates for a 5-2 week.
…and finally.
Sox and Cubs fans unite to beat up a guy who refused to return money that fell out of a woman’s purse. The video perpetuates the negative characterization of Sox fans, but I’d like to say the guy’s issues extend beyond that of his sports allegiance.
You might know that I fancy myself a serious Brewers fan…enough to purchase a pay-per-view cable package (3 seasons and counting) where I can watch Brewers games throughout the season. Aside from two years in high school when my circle of friends considered following sports “uncool” (stupid me followed along until I discovered independent thought), following the Brewers is a summer tradition dating back to my childhood years. Much thanks goes out to my understanding girlfriend who does her best to tolerate my preferred means of television entertainment.
Anyway, most of my friends in the area don’t follow the Brewers, so I think it might be fun to kick off a weekly update on what’s going on up there (the more you know, y’know?). Tuesdays usually mark the beginning of the week for MLB teams, so this is a good place to start. Ready for some nonsense? Yes!
Week in review: A sweep of the Blue Jays showed us that Dave Bush can pitch if he keeps the ball down…and that the bullpen can blow a big lead at home if you give them the chance. The Baltimore Orioles spent the weekend in Milwaukee and came away with only one victory. I watched 20 out of the 27 total innings of the Baltimore Series on my couch and learned one thing: Jerry Garcia sure knows how to use a grill. Last night the Crew kicked off a series in Atlanta. Ben Sheets went the distance while I was at the Y trying not to bump into other meat heads.
What Opposing Telecasts Taught Me: Toronto: Viagra commercials with Canadian accents? Hilariously endearing. Baltimore: They refer to Camden Yards as “Birdland.” Also: Jim Palmer? Still handsome.
Who Had a Good Week? The entire offense. Scoring 5.5 runs a game thanks to 17 Home Runs…that’s an Average of 2.4 Home Runs a game! Sheesh. Hopefully they don’t forget to do the little things like get on base, swing at strikes, and keep playing defense.
Who “Scuffled”?Dave “landing strip” Riske. He’s coming back from injury and can’t find the strike zone. Hold on to your hats.
The Week Ahead: Two more in Atlanta, Three in Minneapolis, and another series in Arizona. A meager 16-21 road record is somehow sixth best in the league. Still, plenty of room for improvement there. With the way everybody is playing at home this season, a winning road record will earn a spot in the playoffs.
Miscellaneous Nugget of Information:
When you run out of Klement’s, you run out of taste.
