Brewers-Cards Preview

Tough to make a coherent conclusion out of the last week of play for the Brewers. The Reds series was beyond atrocious as the Crew lost twice in extras and finished off by blowing a 4-run lead in the finale. The weekend series against the Pirates went a lot better as the Brewers swept them (and even managed to get a good start out of Jeff Suppan).....but as August rolls into September it's time to look ahead to the next series of games

Brewers (64-66) vs. Cardinals (77-55)

Tuesday

Looper (11-6 4.88 era 87 ERA+) vs. Pineiro (13-9 3.11 era 135 ERA+)

Looper gave up his 32nd homer of the season in his last start to tie him for 190th all time in a single season. With a surging Cardinals team....it should be interesting to see how much higher he gets on the list in Tuesday's start. The Cards counter with Joel Pineiro who hasn't had a season this solid since 2003. Don't expect the Crew to draw many walks or hit many homers in this game as Pineiro leads the NL in both categories (.3 HR/9 innings) (.9 Walks/9 innings)........this game doesn't look too good on paper but the Brewers somehow hit better when Looper pitches ....point being anything can happen

Wednesday

Bush (3-5 5.88 era 72 ERA+) vs. Carpenter (14-3 2.20 era 192 ERA+)

David Bush is making his second start since coming back from the DL. He didn't exactly impress against the Reds on Thursday. Considering that he's pitching against a much better Cardinals team.....is not a very encouraging sign. The Cardinals counter with Chris Carpenter who has bounced back from two injury riddled seasons by picking up where he left off. He's at worst the 4th best NL pitcher this year (Wainwright, Lincecum and Cain being the others)....and he just keeps on winning and dominating games. Capenter comes into this game leading in winning percentage, era and ERA+)

Thursday

Parra (9-10 6.66 era 64 ERA+) vs. Smoltz (3-5 6.71 era 69 ERA+)

Despite being lit up by the Pirates on Friday, the Brewers gave him enough run support to allow him to get a victory. Manny Parra has seemed to be one of the luckier pitchers in the last month. He's been lit up pretty bad three times (vs. San Diego, Pittsburgh and Washington) but still managed to win twice in those games. The Cardinals are countering with John Smoltz....i'm glad that he's getting another chance to play...I just wish it wasn't for St. Louis.....so far he's pitched well in both of his starts since coming back to the National League.....obviously this game will hinge on whether he is able to come up with another strong start.

Doing this post makes me realize I know more about baseball than Joe Morgan

Alright so one of my favorite all-time blogs is firejoemorgan.com. Unfortunately, the blog was retired in November 2008. This was one of my favorite blogs as their insight was intelligent, sarcastic and they were not afraid to point out when an "expert" argued witht the logic of a second grader. One of their regular features was a skewering of Joe Morgan's online Q and A [Joe Chat] where they would regularly point to where he was not fulfilling his job as an expert

With nobody taking up the internet void of skewering Joe Chat's ....I figure i'll at least give it a shot.....if it works.....awesome.....if not......at least I gave it a shot

Some of the "highlights are as follows"

joe do what do oyu think the chances of the phils repeatin are? what needs to happen? do you think cliff lee is the best pitcher in baseball right now?

Joe Morgan

(11:32 AM)

They definitely have a chance of repeating. I think the key will be Cole Hamels. If he can get back to being the pitcher he was at the end of last season, with the addition of Lee, I think they have a chance. So, with Hamels and of course Brad Lidge.

Alright, I'll give Morgan partial credit for addressing the first question. However, he fails to answer whether Cliff Lee is the best pitcher in baseball right now. It's obvious that adding Lee gives the Phillies a better chance. Plus, all Morgan would need to do to answer the Cliff Lee question was to look up his ridiculous stats since coming to Philly [5-0 0.68 era 641 ERA+]---ok so that was before his loss to Atlanta tonight--but he's definitely the best pitcher in the NL right now (and even if he didn't think it....he still should have bothered to answer the question. Also, what's with him mentioning Brad Lidge and cutting himself off mid-sentence.

brett...louisville [via mobile]

what is the biggest concern for the reds, pitching or hitting? and can they ever be a contender in the central? thanks joe

Joe Morgan

(11:34 AM)

All of the above. For a while they were hitting very well, scoring some runs and pitching well. Now they look like a team that needs both, pitching and hitting.

This was an answer that was insightful……NOT…..It's also obvious that Joe has no idea what he's talking about. First of all, one quick look at baseball-reference shows that while their pitching has been pretty mediocre (10th in NL in ERA)….their hitting has been a full on trainwreck.

While you could argue that they were pitching well for some point (their team ERA+ is 102), any assertion that they were hitting well at some point this season is preposterous. As a team they are dead last in OPS. Their team OPS+ is 79---their whole team is hitting 21 % worse than average. It's pretty sad when their third best hitter is Laynce Nix. They've given significant playing time to THREE players with an OPS+ below 60 (Alex Gonzales, Willy Taveras and Adam Rosales)……in other words....the hitting has more room for improvement than the pitching

Also, Joe doesn't even address the second question. Obviously the Reds will be a contender in the NL Central at some point…..how soon that happens to be (probably not for another few years) ---is gut instinct answer that popped in my head--but at least I gave an answer which is still a better answer than the one given by some guy who's covered MLB for ESPN since 1990.

Marc (MS)

Joe, of all the divisional leaders, no one is talking about St. Louis. If Carpenter stays healthy, I believe this is a World Series team. Your thoughts?

Joe Morgan

(11:46 AM)

I think at this time St. Louis is the best team in the NL, Carpenter, Wainwright, Pujols, etc. That doesn't mean they're the best team in baseball, but the best team in the NL right now.

So are they a World Series team or not?

Steve (Middletown, CT)

What do you think about Ben Zobrist for AL MVP consideration?

Joe Morgan

(11:47 AM)

There are a lot of guys having a good year on a lot of different teams. But to say that he's an MVP candidate, I don't think so. I think you're looking at Teixiera, Morneau, Mauer. There are guys ahead of him as far as MVP is concerned. But Zobrist is having a good season.

I can't argue too much with picking Mauer/Morneau as being more MVP-worthy than Ben Zobrist. However, just because Zobrist wasn't a big name before 2009 and doesn't means he's not as valuable as Mark Teixiera. The way Morgan answers this question implies that Mark Teixiera is better than Zobrist by leaps and bounds. Taking a look at the numbers…that despite Zobrist's biggest strike against him (playing for Tampa Bay NOT New York)..one look at the numbers shows that he's actually played better than Teixiera up to this point

Zobrist .292/.409/.554 147 OPS+

Teixiera .286/.382/.547 140 OPS+

While Zobrist in the MVP consideration is a stretch, to say that Teixiera is in the discussion while Zobrist is an afterthought is an absolute travesty.

Joe, do you think it was a mistake to bench Juan Pierre right when Manny came back? The Dodgers were so hot with him and he was playing some of the best ball of his life. Do you think they should have found something else for him?

Joe Morgan

(11:50 AM)

Kevin, you are the first guy that thinks like I do. I've said all along that Juan Pierre brought an energy to that team that they didn't have with Manny in the lineup. He's a lifetime .300 hitter, so he wasn't just getting hot with Manny gone. I'm not saying they should have benched Manny, but they should find a way to get him more at bats and get him more time to play. He needs to have more of a chance to play now that they're struggling. Maybe Joe Torre will do that. Manny's not hitting well either. And when he's not hitting well, he's not helping you that much.

Energy…..the new grit….this is the type of thinking that inflates the reputation of weak-hitting middle infielders everywhere…..energy is nice but producing on the field is nicer……while Pierre has been as asset to the Dodgers…..to even suggest that his value even approaches Manny……not buying it……what they've done this year is as follows…..

Ramirez .306/.424/.536 151 OPS+

Pierre .319/.376/.403 106 OPS+

Not even close….even a struggling, distracting Manny Ramirez does more to help the Dodgers than a solid Juan Pierre. It's nice that Pierre hits .300+ but Ramirez does that to. Unlike Pierre….Ramirez also hits the ball beyond the outfield fence more than twice in a given year.

Well, there would have been more skewering but this particular session was fairly short. Still, there was enough there to see that Joe Morgan is still up to his old ways and even if i'm not the one meant to point this out......it's still clear that needs to be done by someone

The (Late) Weekend Preview

Well , it's coming a day later than usual.....but the weekend preview is here....as always games are ranked on a scale of 1-5.....and with that.....let the games begiiiiiin

Dodgers [Haeger] vs. Reds [Maloney] Saturday FOX =2

These teams have had very opposite seasons. Despite their recent struggles, the Dodgers are still the team to beat in the NL West and start the weekend with a 4-game lead. The start knuckleballer Charlie Haeger who pitched very impressively last weekend against the Cubs, getting his first win of the season. The Reds [despite their sweep of the Brewers] are still a team going nowhere and nowhere fast....despite playing well enough to be within striking distance in the first half of the season....they still sit a whopping 16 games under .500.....they counter with rookie Matt Maloney who is making his fourth start and still seeking his first ML win...thus far his closest claim to ML fame was being traded for Kyle Lohse in 2007.....another fun fact is if you look up Matt Maloney on wikipedia it defaults to the ex-Houston Rocket of the same name.....

Mets [Parnell] vs. Cubs [Dempster] =2---Saturday FOX

A match-up between two teams who have played worse than expected this year. The Mets have been decimated by injuries and start Bobby Parnell who has pitched primarily in the bullpen this year. The Cubs counter with Ryan Dempster.....who has regressed back to his career averages...not the best way to follow-up a career year and the ensuing contract extension.....

Rays [Price] vs. Tigers [Robertson] =3.5 Saturday FOX

Not the most exciting match-up...but it gets bumped up a point since there are playoff implications. The Rays are sitting 3 1/2 games out of the wild-card starts David Price. The Tigers are up 4 games in the AL Central and they are giving Nate Robertson his first start of the season...

Giants [Zito] vs. Rockies [Marquis]---Saturday MLB Network =4

Easily the best game on TV this weekend. The Giants and Rockies are in a battle for the wild card spot. As of this writing, the Rockies are up 3 games. It will take a lot to out-do the series they had last week culminating in a 14th inning grand slam.

White Sox [Garcia] vs. Yankees [Chamberlain] = 2 Sunday TBS

This game gets a point knocked off because the Yankees are involved. The White Sox despite struggling this year are still only 4 games behind the Tigers. They trot-out injury prone Freddy Garcia who is making his 3rd start of the season. The Yankees trot out Joba Chamberlain.....who is definitely gets more hype/publication than than he would if he didn't play in New York.....but hey not if you lead the league in hit batsmen....well i can't think of anything else significant he's done this year

Braves [Jurrjens] vs. Phillies [Blanton] = 3.5 Sunday ESPN

A Solid NL-East battle to finish off the weekend. The Braves bring in start Jurrjens who has pitched much better than his 10-8 record. The Phillies counter with Joe Blanton...a very prototypical mid-rotation pitcher....the Braves need to take at least 2 of 3 this weekend as they are sitting 7 back in the NL East and need to go on a tear to make a deeper impact on the wild card..........

Brewers-Reds Preview

The Brewers just ending a pretty good series against the team formerly known as the expos (nationals)........despite a bad start by Parra and blowing a 7-run lead on Saturday...the Brewers still managed to win 3 out of 4.......with that series ending means it is now time to look ahead to the next series

Brewers [61-63] vs. Reds [52-71]

Tuesday

Arroyo [6-14 4.21 era 106 ERA+] vs. Suppan [5-8 5.27 era 80 ERA+]

The Brewers are facing Bronson Arroyo in tomorrow night's game. While he's had a pretty average year [better than his 6-14 record indicates but definitely not Cy Young material] he did shut down the Crew the last time they faced him. Speaking of Arroyo....I definitely need to give him props for doing something that has eluded many of his contemporaries [acknowledging/bragging about doing steroids] and something the media has failed to realize [that everyone was doing steroids and 2003 and that it's really not that big a deal if a player did so]

The Brewers counter with the mediocre $10 million dollar man....Jeff Suppan......this is his first start since coming back from the disabled list....while I won't miss pitchers like Mike Burns and Carlos Villaneuva pitching in his spot......i'm still not too excited to see Suppan back........on the bright side his contract expires at the end of '10

Wednesday

Reds [TBD] vs. Brewers [Looper 11-6 4.95 era 86 ERA+]

The Reds haven't determined who's pitching for them Wednesday. Regardless of whether Looper pitches good or not....it's pretty much a given someone is going to go yard on him....coming into this start he's at 31 [tied for 248 th all time for a single season.....] if he gives up 20 more he'll break Bert Blyleven's all time mark.

Thursday

Reds [Owings 6-12 5.52 era 81 ERA+] vs. Brewers [TBD]

The Brewers have not offically decided who's starting thursday although there is the possibility that TBD will be the return of Dave Bush. The Reds counter with a pitcher who is more imposing as a hitter .255/.264/.529...considering his struggles on the mound......it wouldn't be too shocking for him to become a full-time hitter at some point........he hits for a decent average...lots of power....he just needs to draw some more walks

Exhibit A)

In 188 career plate appearance he has an OPS+ of 118: Other hitters with the same career OPS+ include Luiz Gonzalez, Matt Stairs, Mike Sweeney, Pete Rose, Cecil Fielder and Andres Galarraga

Exhibit B)

Even hitting lower than his career average this year [100 OPS+] .....he still has a higher OPS+ than players such as Milton Bradley, Brandon Phillips, Clint Barmes and Jimmy Rollins

Ah.......the information you can find on Baseball-Reference never ceases to amaze me.....well that's another preview.....until next time......play ball

Sports/Music Crossover Column: Collective Soul

So.....I was wandering aimlessly on the internet earlier today and realized that mid-90s post-grunge band Collective Soul is coming out with a new album titled Rabbit on Tuesday....in tribute to their 15+plus year body of work....I decided the time was ripe for another sports/music crossover post to discuss my take on whichever sports news crosses my mind.....

The Song Division:

"Counting the Days"--.....until football season

I am counting the days till football season for various reasons. First, to see whether or not the Packers will bounce back from a disapointing year. Will the switch to a 3-4 defense make the Packers defense at least somewhat competent? Will Aaron Rodgers build on a strong 2008 and inch himself closer to the leagues elite.....

Also, for purposes directly realting to this blog...I decided that I needed a way to expand my knowledge about sports teams that don't happen to play in the state of Wisconsin......and after years of being sure I would never cross over into it.....I am making my first serious foray into fantasy sports.....i have a fantasy nfl and college teams starting up soon...i'm a bit anxious to see how well I do and to see if/how it will expand my knowledge.....

"Why Pt. 2"---Brett Favre's 2nd annual retirement/un-retirement fiasco

Seriously, what is this dude thinking? Does he not want people to like him? Does he realize that he's just not that good anymore? Why does he retire when he knows he's going to come back? Whatever....it should be amusing to see him expand his all-time career lead in interceptions by another 25......and lead the Vikings to a non-playoff season

"Blame"---Memphis Basketball Scandal

Who is to blame for this little fiasco? Coach John Calipari, a coach who has now directly led to TWO schools having to forfeit a Final Four appearance? Derrick Rose....a player who had to lie and cheat to pass the SAT and be "eligible" to play at Memphis? My Answer C: All of the Above

"Run"---Usain Bolt--running his way into the record books

Alright so I could care less about track....but anytime you break two world records by yourself [100 metres/200 metres] in the same week........that's pretty epic and worth giving some recognition to

"Perfect Day"---Mark Buerhle's perfect game

Alright so i'm a month late on this one but going 27 up/27 down in a baseball game is pretty awesome.....and rare enough that it's happened only 18 times in MLB history

"No More, No Less" ----- Cubs/Dodgers All Time Series

Going into this weekends set the Cubs and Dodgers played each other 2,028 times......The Cubs won 1,014 times....the Dodgers had won the other 1,014 times........tough to get a series as close as that....not sure what the odds are of this happening but this is definitely one of those statistical anamolies that is unlikely to repeat itself in sports........

The Albums Secion

"Afterwords"--Micheal Vick and the aftermath of his prison sentence

In the aftermath of Vick's 18-month sentence for dogfighting and signing on with the Eagles...what's going to happen in the aftermath of his scandal........will PETA ever forgive the Eagles?.....will the Eagles switch to a wildcat offense that emphasises his strengths very well?....when will we find out whether or not Vick will be suspended or allowed to play?........with this story and the Favre story going on at the same time which story will ESPN bludgeon like a dead horse first?.......will Vick be the same, better, or worse than before his prison sentence.....this question and possibly others will be answered in this season of NFL football

"Rabbit"---emergence of ML leadoff hitters who can run--and actually get on base.....

I don't know if its just me but it seems like there's been an infusion of youth and speed at the top of lineups all over the NL this year.....Andrew McCutchen, Micheal Bourn, Nyjer Morgan.....with Alceides Escobar in the process of joining this list..........none of these guys are likely to be power hitters...but they all hit for solid contact....and their speed causes problems for opposing pitchers once they get on base.....

"From the Ground Up"---NFL/mystery suprise team

With the NFL season coming up...come speculation on which team will rise from the ground up and go from atrocious to the playoffs within a year.....last year it was the Dolphins and Falcons who went from laughingstocks to legit contenders.......I have no idea who will pull it off this year but either way it won't be that much of a shock when it happens [unless the Lions somehow are that team]

Weekend Preview: Yanks-Sox plus other action

The Weekend is upon us and another weekend baseball preview. As always, ratings are from 1 to 5. With that being said, let the games begiiiiiiinnnnn.


Red Sox vs. Yankees = 1 [minus 3 points due to ESPN overkill]
Saturday-FOX Sunday-ESPN

Saturday [Burnett vs. Tazawa] Sunday [Sabathia vs. Beckett]

I really want to rate this series higher than a 1. There are plenty of playoff implications. Do the Yankees pull away further, what about the Red Sox loose grip on the wild card race. While there are interesting things about this match-up [most notably Sunday's potential pitching duel]......ESPN has overkilled this series and undermined from me actually caring.

Watching MLB Network last night it is clear I am not alone.....I was watching MLB tonight and they were doing a cut-in to last night Yankees-A's game and Matt Vasgersian makes a random comment along the lines of nobody making a big deal about Johnny Damon leaving Oakland and something along the lines of it's all about the Yankees and Red Sox in a disproving matter.....God I love the MLB Network.......while Vasgersian may not be able to differentiate between Fernando Vina and Fernando Valenzuela....or refrain form dropping F-Bombs on live tv........his comment was one of those moments that made me glad ESPN actually has some competition

Cubs vs. Dodgers
Saturday- FOX [Lilly vs. Haeger] = 3

Not the best series this weekend....but still worth checking out. Both teams have struggled as of late and one of these teams will turn it around by default. The Cubs are quickly fading away from the NL Central and Wild Card race and starts their only all-star this year [Ted Lilly]. The Dodgers whose once insurmountable NL West lead has trimmed to four games counter with Charlie Haeger.

Giants vs. Rockies
Saturday-MLB Network [Martinez vs. De La Rosa] =4

This series has heavy playoff implications as these two teams are neck and neck in the NL Wild Card race. The Giants start rookie Joe Martinez while the Rockies counter with one of my least favorite pitchers in the league Jorge De La Rosa....either way this should be a really close, intense and good game

Rangers vs. Rays
Sunday TBS [Feldman vs. Price] =3.5

Another wild card battle. The Rays are looking to make a return trip to the playoffs [this year as a wild card] the Rangers are looking for their first playoff trip in 10 years around a much improved pitching staff......the Rangers resurgence is occurring in ex-Brewers pitching coach Mike Maddux's first year as the Rangers pitching coach........this has a lot to do with why the Rangers pitching has helped them stay in contention and why the Brewers pitching has fallen off a cliff....but that's besides the point.......good game.....solid teams...heavy playoff implications....can't ask for much more on a Sunday morning.

Brewers-Nationals Preview: How Much Worse Will it Get

It feels like it can't get worse......but that's also not the first time i've had that feeling.....getting swept by the Skeleton Pirates....by what was already a glorified triple-A team....before they traded away half of their starting line-up........well it's time to put that behind and see what this weekend has in store

Brewers [58-62] vs. Nationals [43-78]

Friday
Looper [10-6 5.03 era 84 ERA+] vs. Martin [2-2 4.61 era 94 ERA+]

The last time these teams played, Jeff Suppan gave up two grand slams to consecutive players. In light of Suppan and Looper battling to be the most incompetent pitcher on this staff and his propensity to give up the long ball....i wouldn't be shocked to see Looper give up 3 grand slams in a game....the Nationals have rookie J.D. Martin starting......don't know too much about him.....his wikipedia page says his fastball tops out in the high 80s.....so for all we know he's this generation's Suppan/Looper

Saturday

Burns [3-4 5.36 era 79 ERA+] vs. Lannan [8-9 3.68 era 118 ERA+]

The last time Mike Burns started happened to be the last time the Brewers scored more runs than the team they were playing. Burns turned out his best start of the season on Saturday. However, Burns easily goes from good to atrocious on a start by start basis depending on how well he is locating his pitches [which is usually apparent within an inning or two]. The Nationals start a talented and one of the leagues more under-rated pitchers in John Lannan. Despite having a season very similar to Joba Chamberlin..he gets about 1/100th of the attention because Lannan was unlucky enough to pitch for one of the 28 teams ESPN doesn't care about promoting....I wouldn't be shocked if Lannan becomes one of the elite pitchers in the bigs

Sunday

Parra [8-9 6.33 era 67 ERA+] vs. TBD[?-?]

Either way both teams probably score lots of runs. The Brewers have given Parra lots of run support since his return from Nashville and Parra has started to give up lots of runs on a regular basis lately.

Monday

Gallardo [11-10 3.59 era 119 ERA+] vs. TBD

Either way, the Brewers bat's no show in this one. Something about Braden Looper having a better win-loss record than Gallardo is highly unjust. Also, it shows that win-loss records can sometimes be less credible than a Brett Favre retirement.

Brewers-Pirates Series Preview

The Brewers are coming off taking 2 out of 3 against Houston. Today's game was frustrating with David Weathers blowing the game in the 8th inning, Braden Looper giving up his 30th of the year, Prince Fielder coming within inches of tying the game in the bottom the ninth and Hunter Pence hitting a go ahead home run and making a catch on the aforementioned Fielder fly ball....but on the bright side a series win is a series win.....enough on that...on to the series ahead

Brewers [58-59 2.9% playoff chance]
Pirates [46-70 <.1% playoff chance]

Monday

Villaneuva [2-9 5.80 era 73 ERA+] vs. Hart 3-2 [3.69 era 117 ERA+]

Villaneuva is coming off a decent start that got him a no-decision in game one of the Chris Bosio era. Hart is one of the players the Pirates got when they traded John Grabow and Tom Gorzelanny to the Cubs. Villaneuva has improved as a starter but i'm still not quite sold on him. Don't know too much about Hart...he's pitched well this year but if the Pirates are trading for someone in July......that player probably isn't that good

Tuesday
Parra [8-8 6.44 era 66 ERA+] vs. Maholm [6-7 4.93 era 83 ERA+]

Parra got bailed out by the offense after a less than stellar start Thursday against the Padres. He's had really strong run support since coming back from Nashville and see the Brewers lighting up the scoreboard in this game. The Pirates have Maholm pitching who is the closest thing they have to a reliable ace. However, he does have the distinction of being one (of several) pitchers to dominate the Brewers in their major league debut.


Wednesday

Gallardo [11-9 3.52 era 121 ERA+] vs. Morton [2-6 5.51 era 74 ERA+]

Gallardo, coming off a strong start in Friday's blowout victory over Houston. Gallardo has been much better than his 11-9 record indicates should get plenty of run support in this game since he's not pitching against the opposing team's ace pitcher [for once]. The Skeleton Pirates start Charlie Morton [a player they also got during one of their salary dumbs thinly disguised as a trade--the one including Nate McLouth] .........and as the numbers show, he's definitely struggled.....that's most likely gonna continue on Wednesday...........

I was watching the MLB Network replay of a game from 1981 and it got me thinking.........

So, earlier today I watched part of MLB Network's replay of game 5 of the 1981 NLCS between the Dodgers and the Expos.


One thing that stuck out to me [other than how ghetto their stadium Stade Olympique looked] was a comment made by the broadcasters that likely made sense at the time but time proved to be horribly inaccurate was something along the lines of that Expos team being more than a one time playoff team and that they were going to be highly successful in the 80s.

Well.......that didn't exactly work out for them. While they were not the bottom feeders that they eventually became [they only had two losing seasons in the '80s], it brought to light that the Expos/Nationals have been one of the more star-crossed and success deprived franchises in baseball.

In addition to their tendency to only make it to first place in strike-shortened seasons' it just seems to be either one thing or another

Anyways, I was looking at their baseball-reference page from that year and it's tough to see how the playoffs would ultimately evade them for the ensuing years let alone 28-plus years.

This was a team that had lots of young players who contributed to this team and players who played well up in Montreal for at least the next few years after '81.........

For their starting line up they had one hall-of-famer [Gary Carter] two perennial all-stars, with at least a case for the hall of fame [Tim Raines and Andre Dawson] that were surrounded by a bunch of players who had solid consistent careers [Tim Wallach, Larry Parrish, etc.]

On the pitching side they had veteran ace Steve Rodgers [who unfortunately gave up the series-losing home run] and younger players such as Bill Gullickson, Scott Sanderson, Charlie Lea and Bryn Smith...plus they had Jeff Reardon closing out the games for them.......in other words, if they would have had another young player or made another free agent aquisition things may have turned out better and they may have followed up on the promising start that the 80's had for them

Taking a look at what this team and the high expectations/great things expected out of this team......it makes things look like the 1980s Expos were a forgotten dynasty.....the dynasty that never happened....whether their '81 NLCS loss just took a lot out of them or if it was something along the lines of being just one or two veterans away from taking them over the top......these Expos teams seem to be one where you could spend hours in what-if speculation............but it wouldn't do anything to change what has already happened,

The Battle for Third Place II: Brewers- Astros Preview

Well the weekend is here and another opportunity for the Brewers to lose 2 out of 3 is upon us. So, what's going on for games 3 through 5 of the post- Bill Castro/Bill Hall/[possibly J.J. Hardy era]...well it is a rematch of last weekends series with the Houston Astros

Brewers [56-58 3.9% playoff chance]
Astros [56-59 1.5% playoff chance]



Friday
Rodriguez [11-6 2.51 era 167 ERA+] vs. Gallardo [10-9 3.54 era 120 ERA+]

A rematch of last Sunday's pitching duel. Hopefully this one won't be decided by Geoff Blum.....again. Hopefully the Brewers don't leave the entire state of Wisconsin on base......again.....hopefully the Brewers don't waste another strong effort by Gallardo.......again.......

Saturday
Moehler [7-8 4.67 era 79 ERA+] vs. Burns [2-4 5.89 era 72 ERA+]

This is a somewhat winnable match-up. The Astros have Brian Moehler getting the start. Moehler is a pitcher who has never impressed me. The Brewers will score some runs in this one but whether they win depends on how much the Crew gets out of Mike Burns. Burns has definitely been a frustratingly inconsistent pitcher. When he's good....he's still not great...but he has managed to out-pitch Johan Santana and keep a strong Dodgers team in check. When he's not on.......it's not very pretty to watch.........

Sunday

Oswalt [6-4 3.87 era 109 ERA+] vs. Looper [10-6 4.99 era 85 ERA+]

This game is a lost cause. The Brewers play poorly on Sundays....they've played poorly all season [except for the month of May] and they have Braden Looper who's impact on baseball this season has been leading the NL in Home Runs allowed.....but on the bright side he's a more imposing hitter than both Jody Gerut and Jason Kendall..........hopefully Chris Bosio turns out to be a miracle worker and Burns, Looper, et. al. prove me wrong....

The Thursday Post

Well it's Thursday and that means time to look ahead to another weekend of baseball games..........as always games are ranked on a scale of 1 to 5......and let the games begin

Phillies vs. Braves-Saturday [TBD vs. Kawakami] FOX =4
Sunday [TBD vs. Vasquez] ESPN =4

Definitely one of the better series this weekend. The Phillies have gotten a bit complacent lately letting half of their NL East lead in a recent sweep against the Marlins. The Phils have not decided who to pitch this weekend.

For the Braves, they have played some of their best ball in the last couple of weeks, breaking away from .500 land. They still have work to do as they still sit at 4 1/2 back. It will be interesting to see if Kawakami can follow up his strong start in L.A. with another clutch start on Saturday. On sunday, they bring out Javier Vasquez who is quietly having his best season this year.

Phillies win Saturday, Braves win Sunday

Giants [Cain] vs. Mets [Santana]- Saturday FOX = 3.5

This match-up gets an extra point and a half due to the pitching match-up. While the Mets have two strikes against them [they play in New York and not being good] the Mets are worth watching in this game solely due to Johan Santana getting the start.

The Giants are in a year long experiment to see how inept a team can be offensively while still making the playoffs. While Tim Lincecum has gotten his well-deserved respect for helping this cause along, Matt Cain is having a MONSTER season and has played a big part into why the Giants are within striking distance [ 1 1/2 games back] of the wild card.

Giants win this game 1-0

Indians [Huff] vs. Twins [TBD] =2

This match-up looked a lot better before the season began. At this point of the season, not so much. This is the teams first meeting after consummating that epic trade bringing Carl Pavano to Minnesota.

The Skeleton Indians start a rookie named David Huff who i've never even heard of. Looking at his stats it's easy to see since he's having by all stretches of the imagination, a terrible year [6-6 6.72 era 68 ERA+]

The Twins have yet to decide who they're starting but does it matter. While they are only 5 games back, they seem to be going nowhere and through the motions.......if they're gonna make a run...sweeping the skeleton Indians would be a good first step.

Whoever the Twins start is getting themselves a win.

Rangers vs. Red Sox [Penny vs. Holland] Saturday MLB Network =4
[Tazawa vs. Nippert] Sunday TBS


The pitching match-ups may not be top notch but this game has very heavy wild card implications. As of this writing, the Red Sox are clinging to a 1/2 game wild card lead over the rangers. The Red Sox had a terrible weekend in New York but bounced back by taking 3 out of 4 from the Tigers.

This will be a close and high scoring series. Both teams have loaded offenses and will be going up against pitchers that just aren't that good. The Red Sox will probably will do just enough pitching wise to pull out the series win.

The W-5: Reactions to Doug Melvin's busy day

To say the least, the Brewers made A LOT of changes today.


My reactions and opinions are as follows:

1) I don't care who the new pitching coach is......just as long as it's someone else.

Last year Ned Yost got fired after blowing a 5 1/2 game wild card lead in about two weeks. The Brewers hired interim manager Dale Sveum and managed to squeak into the playoffs.

Today pitching coach Bill Castro ended up losing his job due to the ineptness of Brewer pitching. While it's unclear weather Chris Bosio will be an excellent pitching coach.......having a new voice/coach in the dugout, there should be no way this team can get worse.....well at least for a few days

2) You had a good season three years ago........but you've gotten progressively worse since.......see ya

Three years ago Bill Hall hit 35 homers and got a 4-year contract extension. This year he's struggling to keep his average around .200 and has become an offensive liability. Today he got DFA'd and is basically done with the Brewers


3) J.J Hardy getting sent to Nashville was the most shocking of the moves........

Firing Bill Castro and DFA'ing Bill Hall were two moves whose only question was when they would happen, not if. While I wouldn't have been shocked if Hardy got traded and/or was claimed on waivers due to the plethora of rumors regarding trades, Hardy getting sent to the minors was still highly surprising.

While J.J Hardy has struggled this year and seems to ground into too many double-plays with men on base.....I never thought that it he would be playing in Nashville.

4) I'm not sure what it is....but I get a sinking feeling this team is cursed sometimes

It's really odd....the moves being made have increased the overall talent of this club and none of the moves have totally backfired so far....but this team keeps playing worse........there's always next years.......this team is continually finding new ways to completely embarrass themselves.

5) I would not lose any sleep over these current Brewers being DFA'd and/or outright released

Jeff Suppan
Braden Looper
Jason Kendall
Jody Gerut

Troy Percival Retirement Commentary

It looks like another solid baseball career has come to an end as Rays' pitcher Troy Percival has retired

And just like that one of the more dominant closers of this era has moved on from professional baseball. During his time as a closer for the Angels (1996-2004) he was one of the elite closers in the game. While he didn't exactly go out on top [he's spent most of the year on the DL and he didn't exactly play great in the 14 games he pitched] at least his career didn't end by him being DFA'd or released.

While he leaves baseball at #8 all time in saves....I get the feeling that he's going to be one of the forgotten stars of this era as his strong career is going to be overshadowed by the careers of closers such as Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman.

If I had a vote I would heavily consider placing him in the Hall of Fame, especially since closers are slowly but surely getting their due. However, it's likely that this honor will not come to him.

Looking at the bottom part of his baseball-reference page, it is clear the odds are stacked against. The three HOF metrics placed on his page [gray ink, HOF monitor and HOF standards] show Percival's career numbers falling well short of the Hall of Fame.

Another thing not working in Percival's favor is the 10 most similar players list. First of all, none of the top 10 similar players is in the Hall of Fame. Also, Percival's similarilites to the first player on that list has a non-HOF precedent to it. This player (Robb Nen) had a very close career trajectory to Percival's. Nen had a similar 8 year dominant stretch as a closer (1994-2002) made it to a few all-star games and saved 300+ games.....Nen also got a whopping .4% of the vote in his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility [while i'm not going to argue he should be in the Hall of Famer he deserved to get at least 20% of the vote ].....point being is Percival's dominance is going to be forgotten quicker than it should be

Brewers-Padres Preview Plus my take on the Weathers trade

The Brewers have the night off after a frustrating series in Houston culminating in them leaving approximately 3,875,465 men on base in yesterday's 2-0 loss to Houston...with a home run hit by Geoff Blum being the difference.

But that is all said and done...and on to this week's series

Brewers (55-56 5% playoff chances) vs. Padres (47-66 <.1% playoff chances)

Tuesday:
Clayton Richard (5-3 4.49 era 102 ERA+) vs. Braden Looper (10-5 4.84 era 87 ERA+)

The Padres start talented pitcher Clayton Richard who they got in the Jake Peavy deal a couple weeks the ago. The Brewers start Braden Looper who couldn't hold a 7-1 lead against the Padres a couple weeks ago but pitched very well against a loaded Dodgers team. While I was impressed with how Richard pitched against the Brewers a couple weeks ago, I don't see him beating the Brewers two times in a row....the Brewers tend to score lots of runs when Looper is pitching and I see the Brewers winning a high-scoring battle.

Wednesday:
Kevin Correia (7-9 4.51 era 83 ERA+) vs. Carlos Villaneuva (2-9 6.05 era 70 ERA+)

A rematch from the last game of the last series. Both pitchers pitched better than usual in this game. This game is the hardest for me to make a call on. This game will come down to whether the Carlos Villaneuva who put in a gritty performance in San Diego shows up or the Carlos Villaneuva that's struggled for the last couple months shows up. I'm not too high on the Brewers chances in this game but Villaneuva has proved me wrong against San Diego once....I think he has just enough to get the win in this game.

Thursday:
Cesar Carillo (Major League Debut) vs. Manny Parra (7-8 6.26 era 67 ERA+)

While Manny Parra has pitched well since coming back from Nashville....his short winning streak probably comes to an end here. The Brewers are facing a pitcher making his Major-League debut. For some reason the Brewers tend to no-show in these games and play horribly in all aspects of the game. Padres take this in a blow out

Other Observations from the last few days:

The Brewers got David Weathers from the Reds for a player to be named later yesterday.

While I wish the Brewers would go and get a STARTING pitcher......this is still an excellent trade. While Weathers isn't a hall of fame pitcher.....he is a smart, durable and effective middle reliever/set up man who can help out an exhausted bullpen and help out the Brewers playoff hopes in the event they ever get back above .500.

How many transactions can I cover in one post? At least five

So today a bunch of transaction moves went down in Baseball and i'm attempting to squeeze my take on all of them into one post.


A) Indians trade Carl Pavano to the Twins for a play to be named later.

Wow....the Indians have traded away so many players that they are now down to trading players that aren't even good (Pavano) apparently just for the sake of trading players away. While it is commendable that Pavano has not been injured for 90% of the season for once......he just hasn't been that good 9-8 5.37 era 84 ERA+

For the Twins this is a low-risk/high desperation move.....this is an apparent attempt at them to strengthen their starting rotation in the hopes of winning the AL Central (they're 4 1/2 back going into today)...the only problem is that Pavano is no better or worse than the back of rotation pitchers such as Francisco Liriano, Glen Perkins, Kevin Slowey and Anthony Swarzak....it's not that I think Pavano is going to bomb out (like he did for the Yankees) I just don't see him putting the twins over the hump.

B) The possible unceremonious ending to a couple of careers.

The night after a rough outing in New York, the Red Sox pulled the cord on John Smoltz. Since coming back from injury he has had a disastarous season going 2-5 with a 8.32 era. I really hope that this isn't the end for Smoltz since he deserves to go out on his own terms and another chance to help a contending team in desperate need of pitching.......in light of his career post-season success some team may take a flier on him but after his stint in Boston, that's unlikely

Jason Giambi got released while still on the DL. This potential ending isn't too shocking since his batting average was south of the mendoza line but he still had a somewhat respectable obp of .332........he did endure controversy with his steroid use...but he taught us an important lesson....if you admit to doing something wrong, even if you don't say explicitly what that said wrong thing is......you won't necessarily be forgiven you just won't have your entire reputation tarnished.....players such as Clemens, Bonds, Sosa could learn an important lesson from this


C) Alex Rios got claimed on waivers from a team......but which team.....nobody knows?

This has been one of the more bizarre stories in a while. It seems like overkill to say that another team made a claim on him but shhhhhh.....we can't say who it is. This almost sounds like a story you'd see in The Onion...........this move will impact the pennant race in some point....assuming he got picked up by a contender.....but there's no way of knowing since his future team is some league-held secret

D) Brewers call up Jesus Colome from Nashville

Low Risk/High Reward move.....the Brewers have had success with pitchers picked up the scrap heap in recent years [Todd Coffey is a perfect example of this] and Colome does fit the example of this since he pitched bad enough that not even the Nationals wanted him.

In limited duty in Nashville, Colome pitched really well. However, it's tough to see if this will translate into big league success. On the bright side, even if this turns out not to be a genius move, there's no way he can be worse than the player he replaced [R.J. Swindle]


whew.........that was a lot to cover in the post.......back to watching more MLB Network

Brewers-Astros Preview: The Battle for Third Place

Another weekend series is upon the Brewers. The Crew is coming off their first series win since late June as they won 2 out of 3 from the Dodgers........if the Brewers are going to salvage their season they will not to keep this momentum going this weekend.....and here's the breakdown


Brewers 54-54 (7.7% chance of making the playoffs)
Astros 53-55 (2.4% chance of making the playoffs)

For more playoff odds see coolstandings.com


Friday:

Brewers (Villaneuva 2-8 5.98 era 70 ERA+) vs. Astros (Norris 1-0 0.90 era 464 ERA+)

I really don't know what to make of this match-up. For the Astros they have Bud Norris going for them. He had an excellent debut against the Cards on Sunday but he remains more of an unknown. The Brewers tend to struggle horribly bad against pitchers making their major league debut but it's yet to be seen how much (if any) this applies to pitchers making their second start.

Villaneuva is an enigma wrapped within a riddle. If this was a week ago I would have little to no confidence in his ability to give a decent start. His pitching was Gagne-esque terrible for a month and a half straight....bottoming out to him giving up 6 runs in 1/3 of an inning [pretty much bad enough to suggest he should be sent down to Nashville]. However, he had a strong, gritty performance in San Diego and at least for a game managed to pitch his way out of trouble. He has had a tendency to get hot and cold for extended stretches of time throughout his career.......

Saturday

Brewers (Parra 6-8 6.33 era 67ERA+) vs. Roy Oswalt( 6-4 3.61 era 116 ERA+)

Roy Oswalt takes the hill for the Astros so i'm not expecting an offensive explosion from the Brewers in this one.

Manny Parra takes the hill for the Crew. He's coming off a strong start in LA where he went 8+ innings and induced a lot of ground ball outs. He's pitched much better since coming back from Nashville but still occasionally walks his way into some sticky situations....if the Astros capitalize on these situations should they come up....it's not gonna be good....if Parra can pitch his way out of any trouble....the Brewers will be able to squeak out enough offense to win

Sunday

Brewers (Gallardo 10-8 3.59 era 117ERA+) vs. (Rodriguez 10-6 2.63 era 158 ERA+)

I honestly don't like the Brewers chances in this one. Gallardo needs to step up in this game and NOT give up 9 runs like he did on Tuesday [luckily for him attention from this was diverted by Prince Fielder's failed attempt to enter the Dodger dugout].......he's obviously not gonna pitch that bad again since the Dodgers do hit Gallardo better than most teams.....but this game is being played on Sunday and the Brewers tend to not play well on Sundays

The Astros have Wandy Rodriguez pitching who is quietly putting up a very solid year and has played a big role in the Astros even being this close at this point...

What I think will happen: Brew Crew wins Friday and Saturday, Astros take Sunday.........

Weekend Preview: The Races heat up

Another weekend is upon us and thus another full slate of ballgames on the tube....as always games are rated on a scale from 1-5 based on the completeness of the match-ups plus any arbitrary standards i decide to apply.......and let the games begin!!!!!!!!


Saturday [FOX National]

Rangers [Millwood] vs. Angels [Weaver] =4

Strong AL West match-up. The Angels as expected are slowly but surely asserting themselves at the top of the AL West. The Rangers have been better than expected and are still in contention [though they are slowly but surely fading from the top]....A good pitching match-up between the veteran Kevin Millwood is finally having a season that somewhat justifies his large contract.....Jerad Weaver is having another solid season in LA of Anaheim......Angels win this one pretty easily

Red Sox [Bucholz] vs. Yankees [Sabathia] =5 for red sox fans, yankees fans and ESPN.........1 for everyone else

I refuse to give a red sox-yankees game a higher overall match up unless they are playing in the playoffs......as much as I hate the Yankees, C.C Sabathia is still the man and Clay Bucholz is likely to continue his 2009 struggles pitching at Yankee Stadium

Cubs [Dempster] vs. Rockies [Marquis] =3.5

This game got an extra 1/2 point tacked on due to play-off implications. The Cubs are fighting the Cards for the top NL Central spot and have Ryan Dempster who has regressed from his career year (after signing a lucrative extension) pitching in this one. The Rockies have Jason Marquis who has pitched a lot better than expected for them.....the Rockies have more of a need to win this series since it's going to take a lot more to win the NL Wild Card than to win the NL Central........i'm picking them based on that and I have no legitimate reason to dislike the Rockies

Sunday [TBS] Twins [TBD] vs. Tigers [TBD] =3.5

Two mediocre teams fighting for the AL Central division title. The Tigers have rebounded from a disastrous 2008 by slightly pulling ahead of the pack in their division. Despite not playing that well, the Twins are lurking at 4.5 games out of first and could possibly take the division if they got hot for a few weeks.....Not sure why but I think the Twins will win this one

Sunday [ESPN]

Red Sox [Lester] vs. Yankees [Pettite] = see above

Another arbitrary pick due to how little I care about Red Sox-Yankees regular season games (since they're shown more often than everybody loves raymond reruns)......Lester has beaten cancer and thrown a no-hitter.....Pettite pitches for the Yankees and used to be Roger Clemens' BFF........Red Sox win this in a blow-out

The W-5: 1-2 Power Duos

Last night, I had the (mis)fortune of watching a couple innings of the Brewers being ambushed by the Dodgers 17-4 {However, I did not stay up late enough for Prince Fielder's failed attempt to get into the Dodger locker room}.....point being I was watching the Dodgers broadcast (the mlb.tv was blacked out since I get Dodger games where i'm at)......on the plus side it is a good excuse to hear Vin Scully call a ballgame (i obviously couldn't care less about the Dodgers but Scully is an icon) and they did one of those interactive polls on which team has the most potent 1-2 power duo and with that.....it's time to bust out a W-5

1) Ryan Howard .261/.344/.524 123 OPS+
Chase Utley .299/.419/.541 149 OPS+

Ryan Howard is power.......he's pitched subs for subway....he's won a title with the Phils.....he strikes out about 200 times a year......yet he still hits enough bombs to make him one of the most intimidating hitters in the game....Chase Utley may not be as imposing but he does his far share as a member of this 1-2 duo.....even while getting hit by pitches more than anyone else in the NL for the third year in a row....he still has enough time to quietly put up some gaudy statistics.

2)Ryan Braun .318/.391/.567 150 OPS+
Prince Fielder .305/.421/.585 163 OPS+

Braun...the team leader on the field and off......a mainstay at the 3 spot in the Brew Crew line up.....though he does find time to let everyone know that the Brewers needed more starting pitching (like two months ago)....though this duo got dropped to #2 because of Braun's 70+AB homer less streak and the Brewers fading playoff hopes.....Prince Fielder a man who is equally as intimidating at the plate as he is trying to track down Guillermo Mota in the Dodger locker room.......i would feel bad for Mota but seriously what was he doing intentionally hitting a bitter in a 13 run game

3) Kevin Youkilis .313/.424/.581 153 OPS+
Jason Bay .252/.392/.490 121 OPS+

Youkilis has had a busy year. He's made history by working baseball's first 6-5 count.
(well according to the Onion at least....they don't call him the greek god of walks for nothing)........I saw him make a cameo on an episode of (man v. food) and he's putting up MVP numbers for a strong Red Sox team.........Jason Bay is having a nice year himself.....not quite enough to over take the Braun/Fielder duo but he's given the Sox a solid left fielder....even if he doesn't have the attitude and intimidation factor of his predecessor

4) Jim Thome .250/.390/.489 125 OPS+
Jermaine Dye .279/.352/.529 124 OPS+

Thome might not be the youngest guy in the room....but he still is an imposing player adding on to his hall of fame career......Jermaine Dye works well in the sidekick role....he's a solid player in the midst of a largely unnoticed solid career......


5) Torii Hunter .305/.380/.558 140 OPS+
Kendry Morales .296/.347/.575 134 OPS+

Hunter is having another strong year and justifying the large contract the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim of the West Coast of North America of North signed him too......Kendry Morales gets the distinction of being the only player to make this list in the midst of his breakout year.......this is his first year playing full time and he's making the most of it.......

Brewers-Dodgers Series Preview

The Brewers finish off their west coast road swing by going to L.A. for a 3-game series against the Dodgers........

Brewers (52-53, 7.7% playoff chances)
Dodgers (64-40 92.3% playoff chances)

The Pitching Match-Ups are as follows:

Monday:
Manny Parra (5-8 6.50era 65 ERA+) vs. Clayton Kershaw (8-5 2.76 era 151 era+)

This game will depend on whether Parra pitches up to his potential or whether he pitches down to his early season performance that got him sent down to Nashville. Considering that Dodger hitters have hit him to the tune of .302/.388/.419 for their careers. Chances are the latter (struggling) Parra will make an apperance.

The Dodgers have young Clayton Kershaw going for the Dodgers. He's having a strong season and has the Brewers number. Current Brewers hitters have hit .184 against him. Despite this dominance Kershaw hasn't pitched more than 6 innings against the Crew in his last couple starts due to high pitch counts. If they Brewers are going to make a game out of this, it's likely to happen in the late innings than early on.

Tuesday
Yovani Gallardo (10-7 3.13 era 134 ERA+) vs. Hiroki Kuroda (3-5 4.44 era 94ERA+)

This match-up looks one-sided in the Brewers favor on the surface considering Gallardo is the one dependable Brewers starter. However, the Dodgers did hit him pretty well when the Dodgers came to Miller Park. This wasn't an aberration as Dodger hitters have hit .310 against him lifetime. For the Brewers the main upside is that Gallardo has returned to form the last couple starts after struggling a bit in June.

On the other hand, Kuroda has put up fairly pedestrian numbers but like Kershaw...the Brewers have struggled against him to the tune of .214/.250/.357

Wednesday
Braden Looper (9-5 5.03 era 84 ERA+) vs. Jason Schmidt (2-1 4.50 era 93 ERA+)

While neither of these pitchers are having great seasons, i wouldn't be suprised if this ended up being a pitcher's duel. Dodgers hitters are hitting .175 against Looper and Brewers hitters have hit .159 against Jason Schmidt............

What I think will happen: The Brewers will probably struggle to score runs in this series as they have struggled at Dodger stadium and against all three pitchers that they are going up against. The Dodgers will probably take Monday's game behind a strong performance from Clayton Kershaw. Gallardo will probably overcome his struggles against the Dodgers and win a low-scoring game on Tuesday. The Wednesday game is pretty much a push but in light of Looper's recent struggles I don't realistically see him outdueling Schmidt.

Hopefully Parra and Looper will prove me wrong and pitch better than expected and possibly cut into their 4 1/2 game deficit while spending the next few days in SoCal.........

Vh1s top 100 songs of the 80s--and what it says about the 2009 baseball season

So i'm flipping through the channels after watching the Brewers lose again tonight.........grrrhhhh....but that's besides the point.....i stumbled across vh1 replaying their top 100 songs of the 80s and was randomly became curious whether any of the songs connect to the baseball season or anything else sports related in general........well here it goes

3- Duran Duran "Hungry like the wolf"---the Red Sox at the trade deadline

Having tasted the success of two World Series titles since '04 and after falling short in the ALCS to the Rays in '08....the Red Sox seem hungry to get to the top again.......they've done this by building up on an already strong team...by adding Chris Duncan, Adam LaRoche (until they could get Casey Kotchman for him), and Victor Martinez...with the possible exception of the Phillies the Red Sox had the best body of trade deadline work

19- Cyndi Lauper- "Time After Time" --Brewers starting rotation

Time after Time...the starting rotation seeming finds new ways to hit rock bottom. I thought it was hit when Mike Burns got pushed around by the Pirates..........then Jeff Suppan gave up 10 runs to the Nationals (and the first of TWO Josh Willingham grand slams)........not to be outdone Braden Looper did his part to turn a 7-1 lead into an 11-7 loss..........to the worst-hitting team in the NL (Padres)..........on the bright side only about 8 more months until 2010 opening day

29- Talking Heads - "Burning Down the House" -- to the Pirates and Indians management for completely throwing in the towel

as critical as I have been about the Brewers play as of late.....at least management is trying to win.....the same can't be said about the pirates and indians.......it's actually atrocious how much talent they've given away since June.....if you assembled a team based on the players they have given away ERR....traded in the last couple months......all they would need is a shortstop, third baseman and maybe a mid-rotation starter or to to contend for themselves.

31-Queen/David Bowie "Under Pressure" -- Yankees

So the Yankees are in first place......with their fans and management.....talking about the playoffs?! is not adequate.......I mean there are 9 year old Yankees fans wondering if they'll ever see the Yankees win ERR....sucessfully buy a World Series title in their life times....they're under pressure to win it for the children (and most likely Joe Girardi's job)

47- Twisted Sister "Were not gonna take it"--Tony Bernazard--ex Mets Executive

Mets management apparent response to Tony Bernazard's behavior.....lashing out at their double A team......and at allegedly at K-Rod (their ONE large contract that's actually been worth the money).........so they got rid of him....the Mets are still a joke

51 Ratt -"Round and Round" --the Media

For discussing two of the biggest non-stories of the summer ....round and round the clock....24 hours a day........these being a) Roy Halladay's trade to, oh wait the biggest deadline trade involved Cliff Lee.....but it was a good way to fill a couple of weeks and b) Brett Favre's non-return (for now) to the Vikings......i did hear he made a pretty sweet Sears commercial where he plays a customer that couldn't make up his mind

66 Depeche Mode " Just Can't Get Enough" --me and MLB Network

So I have about 120+ channels and about 119 of them go unwatched on a daily basis.......seriously, when I come home from work the first two things I do is a) turn on my laptop to watch the brewers on mlb.tv and b) turn on MLB Network to see what they're talking about and stay up to date with everything else going on in baseball

71- Rick James "Super Freak" -- Tim Lincecum

So appearently if your 5'11'' and 160...the odds are stacked against a pitcher from being a serviceable pitcher let alone a very dominant one.....obviously Lincecum missed this memo...and baseball is the better for it........seriously it is worth paying attention when he pitches because you never know what might happen........and the scary thing is he's only 25 so he's only getting better...when it's all said and done he's going to be the most dominating pitcher of this generation

90- Tone Loc "Wild Thing" -- Daniel Cabrera

Despite not pitching in the bigs since May and pitching only 40 innings this year....he STILL ranks 2nd in the National League in Wild Pitches

95- Debbie Gibson -- "only in my dreams" to the Orioles, Indians, Royals, A's, Nationals, Reds, D-Backs, Padres and their fans

According to coolstandings.com these teams have a .5 percent chance or less to talk about the
playoffs.........unless one of their managers gives a legendary Jim Mora-esque rant about how bad their teams are.......probably shouldn't talk too much here since the Crew has a 5.5 percent playoff chance and will likely join the .5 percent or less club sooner than later


well this has been an interesting experience.........I may have been too young to remember these songs when they came out (i was born in 1983).....but not too old to use the song titles to write about some baseball