Ned Yost, Coast to Coast: BREWERTHREAD 2005.

C Damian "West Salem's Finest" Miller
1B Lyle "Not Overpaid" Overbay (with the sizable shadow of Prince Fielder over his shoulder)
2B Junior "Junior" Spivey / Bill Hall (with the wafer-thin shadow of Rickie Weeks behind them)
SS James Jerry "J.J." "Kid Dy-no-mite" Hardy / Bill Hall
3B Russell "Three True Outcomes" Branyan over Wes "2 Bad 2 Be 4 Gotten" Helms
LF Carlos "El Horsie-o" Lee
CF Brady "Better Late Than Never" Clark
RF Geoff "I'm Too Damn Young to Look This Damn Grizzled" Jenkins

SP Ben "Body and Heats, I Stained My" Sheets
SP Doug "Whozzat?" Davis
SP Victor "Nobody Likes a Skinny" Santos
SP Chris "Swallows Returning to" Capuano
SP Wes "Leee" Obermueller / Gary "Oh God No" Glover

RP Ricky Bottalico, Jose Capellan, Matt Wise, Jeff Bennett, Brooks Kickinitwithbyronallen, and your closer Mr. Mike Adams

1. They asked Brewers fans on the website if they wanted the old logo back, it was shot the eff down like double-quick.

2. Bob Uecker still doing radio play by play despite being drunk after the 4th inning. Last year during a game he said he wanted to physically assault ostriches. I'm not lying about that.

3. My son Sammy (born during the summer of 1998) has announced the Brewers are his favorite team now, because they wear blue and Sammy Sosa is no longer on a team that wears blue.

it was during a discussion of Grapefruit League play, about some godawful highway stretch where there was an ostrich farm on the side, Ueck was like "those things creep me out, wouldn't you just like to reach your arm out and just slam one right on the top of the head?" doug powell was like, "no, not really, Ueck"

Where in the world is Nick Neugenbauer?

In 46 games, he had 15 holds; ERA 3.40 WHIP 1.21 BAA .248

"A rookie in 2004 with the Brewers, Mike made his major-league debut with Milwaukee on May 18 against Montreal. Adams pitched one perfect inning with one strikeout. Two days later, Mike earned his first major-league win when he allowed one walk and struck out one in one inning of work. In 2003 at Double-A Huntsville, Mike appeared in 45 games, starting two, and recorded 14 saves. In 74.1 innings of work, Mike struck out 83 batters and finished the season 3-7 with a 3.15 ERA. "

teddy higuera & juan nieves (i think he no-hit the o's once)...maybe cal eldred?

how about that dan plesac out of the pen?

of the early 80's team, that's a good question on the pitchers...definitely a vuckovich in there.

Pete Vukovich-- This guy's hat was disgusting and he had a big handle bar mustache. He was the big starter when they went to the series against the Cards.
Rollie Fingers
Jamie Navarro (Who later made a comeback of sorts with the Cubs)
Dan Plesac -- He was the closer for a long time after Fingers.
Moose Haas -- One of baseball's finest names.
Don Sutton -- He pitched in Milwaukee for a couple of seasons in the 80s.
Juan Nieves -- A future superstar that never was one.
Cal Elred -- A future Tom Seaver who became a present end of the pen pitcher. Hey he never was great, but he has pitched forever for a not non-lefty.

This makes me cry!

I don't think the logo was, like, beer or something, but it's better than what they're working now! (You got me dead to rights on a), though.)

Also, although "Mr. 3000" was not a classic by any stretch of the imagination, it made Sammy cry at the end. Why? *SPOILER ALERT* "I feel bad for him...he never got to get his record!" (Sammy was overtired. Plus, he's six years old.)

Anyone know if "Stan Ross" or "Rex Pennebaker" (or whatever his last name is) are unlockable Brewers players in MVP 2005 (or 2004 I guess)? That product placement was UNREAL.

"That happened to be the one time I shook off Damian [Miller, the Brewers catcher]," Obermueller said. "That's what happens. The only time the whole game."

Miller wanted a fastball in; Obermueller preferred a fastball away. He left it belt-high for Carroll, who poked it to Jenkins in right. The next batter, Nick Johnson, was also credited with a single when outfielders Clark and Jenkins miscommunicated on a fly ball, but that was all Washington could manage.

"I won't ever second-guess my catcher again, I'll tell you that," Obermueller said.

Miller was less critical. "He could have thrown the pitch I called and gave up that hit, too," Miller said. "Who knows? He's the boss, not me."

I call Damian Miller the real reason that the Brewers are better than last year. Look at that pitching, without Sheets, and tell me he's not handling shit better than Chad the Impaler. And having a good avg/obp doesn't hurt either.

Contrast that w/ 'Zona - they've scored 194, and given up 208, but are +8!!!

"Caveat: Rockies"

Dale Hofmann

Join us now as youthful Rickie grabs a ground ball in Florida and throws it toward Mississippi, as callow J.J. searches for truth and the Mendoza line, and pubescent Prince clears the bases and cleans his plate.

Will Tomo gomo than nine innings in his next start? Is Ryan buyin' what the Brewers are selling? Will Victor sue for non-support? Will Geoff get his groove back? Would a 20-game skid, an outbreak of bird flu and a fire in the clubhouse be enough to discourage Ned?

Tune in daily as the Milwaukee Brewers seek answers for these and other burning questions in Major League Baseball's adaptation of "The Young and the Restless." You know which is which.

It's not true that Chuck E Cheese's is catering the post-game buffet these days, but the Brewers are clearly experiencing a demographic shift. As the customers begin to put faces to the names they've been hearing for years, they will almost certainly expect more than they get.

Today Hardy, Weeks and Fielder. Tomorrow Krynzel, Nelson and Hart. Braun? Maybe sooner than later. Some or all of the above might turn out to be exceptional. Just not right away. Experience isn't a wonder drug, but it has no generic equivalent.

Asking a Milwaukee baseball fan to be patient is like piling a surcharge on his property taxes. Job was the March Hare compared to the average Brewer backer, who has endured a dozen losing seasons and is almost certainly headed for a 13th.

But patience is exactly what the franchise needs right now to prove it was worth waiting for, and it can only hope the previous administration hasn't used it all up. What the Brewers offered before was a bad team and a bad organization. What it appears to be offering now is a bad team and a good organization. That's called progress.

Naturally Yost would contend that this is not a bad team, but then if the manager fell into a tar pit he'd think he'd discovered oil. The Brewers were losing to superior opponents before. Now they're having trouble finding inferior ones.

The departure of Junior Spivey provides an opportunity for Weeks while removing an excuse for last year's fade. The lineups are different, but the problems are similar. When you can't beat good teams, can't win on the road, and you put runners in scoring position and leave them there, there's never any reason to print playoff tickets.

Hardy, Weeks, Fielder et al won't fix overnight what's been broken since 1992, and it's important that they don't use themselves up trying. Doug Melvin's policy of not rushing his prospects is sound. There's no good reason to change it now.

There might be temptation, though, as the Brewers flail away equally at good pitchers and bad. If nothing else, relying on newcomers could sell a few tickets while providing an explanation for another losing season.

The general manager is too smart for that, and the new owner hasn't suffered long enough to press him. As long as Mark Attanasio keeps an open mind and matching checkbook, things will get better, although not as quickly as the Brewers' patrons would like or deserve.

Let's hope it happens fast enough for Yost, who's proved his skill in keeping a bad ballclub together and deserves a chance to show what he can do for a good one.

It only seems like the Brewers' version of soap opera has lasted longer than all of the originals. A happy ending is certainly possible. Just not imminent.

Editor's note: After 35 years, Dale Hofmann is retiring from the Journal Sentinel. His final column, along with a Q&A, will appear in Sunday's editions.

yay, prince is being kept up at mil, at least thru monday.

You are having a breakout season. Do not be upset that no one knows it. Just keep on hitting lots of home runs and doubles, and stealing lots of bases, and being a better fielder than any other 3B or 2B on the club, and being a quietly good role-model type of guy, for the next 10 years or so. If you do this, the good people of Wisconsin will fucking ENSHRINE you.

Your fan,

Matt Cibul4

You are also having an amazing season so far, with a huge batting average and a great OBP. It is hard to believe that you were never a starter before this year, and that you are 31, but I believed in you last year and am proud to be shown to have been correct. You have shown some pop and you are easily a massive improvement over Scott Podsednik defensively. However, you need to stop trying to steal bases as you are rubbish at it and you have been caught more times than you have succeeded.

Your fan,

Matt C1bula

cept replace jenkins w/ overbay.

that brew-crew lineup is the most bizarrely formidable i've ever seen.

Hardy is second best among NL SS for fpct, but he's also had fewer chances than just about anyone else. Still, though, kid's great with the leather. He's been hitting the ball pretty hard in the last month but a lot of those shots are right at infielders.

Yeah, but in the end you ended up with Turnbow, who has been one of the best closers in baseball this year. So the closer situation ended up as a big positive, not a negative.

Bizarrely, much of your paragraph can also be said of the Blue Jays once the names are changed.

and yeah, toronto is the new threat in the al, love that squad

Also, pardon my use of the word "end" three times in one line in my last post. I'm a little hungover and obv. not thinking straight.

Baseball Prospectus is expected to name the Brewers winners of the 2005 Dick Martin Award, named for the longtime Minnesota Twins athletic trainer.

The award goes annually to baseball's best medical team based on a three-year study of factors like days lost to the disabled list, percentage of payroll lost to the DL, and year-over-year improvements and trends regarding these numbers.

The Brewers' medical team is led by head physician Dr. William Raasch and head athletic trainer Roger Caplinger, who is assisted in the training room by Dan Wright and Paul Anderson.

"It's not a mainstream public-type award, but it's significant because it comes from the people who really pay attention to the details," Brewers assistant general manager Gord Ash said.

When Caplinger took over as head trainer in 2002, Brewers players combined for about 1,100 days on the disabled list. That number was down to 800 in the first year under general manager Doug Melvin and Ash, and 330 last year. It is at 246 days this year, according to Caplinger, and most of that belongs to injured ace Ben Sheets, the only Brewer currently on the DL.

"The Cardinals and Astros just might be the two best teams in baseball. It just so happens that they not only play in the same league but the same division."

Considering that the Brewers finished third in this division, having had to play each team 19 times, shouldn't we declare them the fifth-best team in the National League and have done with it?