After an extremely busy week, me and my better half are heading up to Milwaukee for the series finale with the Brewers. We have tickets in the upper deck, so no doubt we are entered into the Brewer’s fancy new database. It will be my first trip to Miller Park, although I’m beginning to wonder if going to watch the Twins is going to be all that cathartic. Ah well, it will be nice to get out to the ballpark anyway. I’m not sure that I know exactly what all this is about but I’ll try to behave myself so as not to raise the ire of the Brewers faithful.
Minnesota Twins (18-22) @ Milwaukee Brewers (26-15)
The Twins are happy to see the AL Central in their rearview mirror for now. In their last three series, all against AL Central opponents, the Twins are 2-7. The Brewers have been struggling a bit as of late after their hot start. They lost 5 of 7 on their recent road trip to New York and Philadelphia. The Brewers lead the NL Central by 5.5 games over Houston which is a lead that has actually shrunk from an impressive 8 games earlier in the week. The Twins remain in fourth place in the AL Central, 7 games back of Cleveland (let’s not talk about how close they were before this week). The Twins are 8-9 on the road (0-3 on this road trip) while the Brewers are a solid 16-5 at Miller Park.
On to the Brew Crew:
First off, the number of links to this site are staggering, so if the Brewers make the playoffs, you may want to stay away from any Brewers fans for a bit.
If you’re nostalgic for the old Brewers, here are a couple of petitions to bring back the old logo and Bernie’s beer mug to Miller Park. Although, the old Brewers weren’t all that good, in fact one of them, Dale Sveum, has earned the distinction of being named the captain of the Worst. Team. Ever.
This series marks the beginning of interleague play where the Twins and the Brewers have been designated as each other’s interleague “rival”. While the Twins may not necessarily be the most heated rival, Brewers fans still look forward to this series.
An interview with Rick Braun, the beat writer for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, about the Brewers hot start and what they need to due to sustain their success. The hot start has plenty of people debating whether they are for real or not. Here’s a point - counterpoint argument on exactly that topic. Their hot start has them dreaming big though, no, not about the playoffs, about an SI cover. I don’t have the data on how long it’s been since the Brewers were on the cover, so no rehash of last entry’s trivia question. I do know that Milwaukee hasn’t won the World Series as the Brewers, the last time a Milwaukee team won the World Series was 1957 as the Braves. Since then Milwaukee has been laboring under the curse of the North Shore Line. (incidentally, this is the only post I’ve linked to thus far with a tag of “ferroequinology”)
Of course, just because they’re off to a good start doesn’t mean that Ned Yost gets a free pass as the manager. Plenty of people dislike his bullpen management, although you have to admit that he will defend his players.
Prince Fielder is chasing teammate J. J. Hardy for the lead on the Brewers (and the National League) in homeruns so far this year. Maybe a change in his theme song is all he needs to catch up. These two Brewers represent part of the future of the organization, but there are some very good prospects waiting in the wings. One of the better known prospects of the Brewer’s past was Brooks Kieschnick who tried to make a career as both a hitter and a pitcher. Here’s a look back at his career.
Gardenhire has been warning us that this day would come, but here’s an example where the emergency third catcher played a pivotal role in the outcome of the game.
Finally, maybe the Twins best hope for a victory is that the Brewers could be preoccupied by their upcoming brush with fame.
No comments:
Post a Comment