Man, that was a negative post. On the positive side, Dale Sveum rules!

Why?

Because he’s the reason Hart and Weeks are hitting over .230. He’s the reason Craig Counsell is still a serviceable option at the plate. He’s worked his magic with most of the hitters and that’s why this team doesn’t blow any more than it already does.

Some people will say “The team still can’t hit with RISP…” True, but they never have been able to! For the past 15 seasons, the Brewers have been able to score about 14% of all baserunners on average. The Brewers have been able to score about 54% of runners on second and third with less than two out while Sveum’s been HC, which is a better percentage than every season in the past ten years except one.

Here’s a testimonial from Corey Hart who went from Boo’d to Curtain Call’d

“It’s all Dale,” said Hart, referring to Brewers hitting coach Dale Sveum. “Dale’s worked really hard to change some things around for me and help my mindset. What he did is help me get the ball in the air.”

Since Dale has been the hitting coach, the team hits .263 on average. It was 1999 when the team hit over .263 before that.

Not enough? Since Dale’s been the HC, the team’s OBP is about .340. During 2008’s run, it was .325! Again, you have to go back to 1999 when the team was on base more than that.

So even though things suck hard right now, can we at least all agree that Braun, McGehee, Gallardo, and Sveum are pieces we can be happy about?

This season has been a disaster so far for everyone. The pitching has been atrocious. There has been little timely hitting. The Brewers have won just 2 of the last 9 series and only 6 series out the entire season. There’s been so little to cheer about, it’s sucked the fun out of Milwaukee. So what’s a team to do? Well, if you listen to the fans, it’s FIRE and TRADE time. Even Michael Hunt wrote that it was time for the Brewers to trade Fielder, even though most people agree the Brewers wouldn’t get enough in return. So when you look at the options people are screaming for, what really is the risk-reward ratio?

1) Trade Fielder

PROS: You hope to get solid pitching in return.
CONS: The team no longer has a solid first baseman and lost a leader in the clubhouse, not to mention the face of the franchise. The team itself has little left to play for. The chances of getting a Youkilis/Bucholtz deal are only in the minds of the crazy. You start to find yourself excited about Johnathon “Manny Parra the Sequel” Sanchez. Once Prince is gone, the other dominos fall (Rickie, Hart, etc…). There’s a chance a Carlos Lee-like deal is made. You have to rely on Mat Gamel. Even more fans stop coming to games. Braun gets walked more and sees less pitches. Free agents don’t see Milwaukee as a decent destination.
2) Keep Fielder

PROS: Shows the team that Attanasio and Melvin still believes in the team. Holds hope for resigning Prince (but even that might only be in the minds of the crazy).  The team will still have one of the top 3-4 tandems in the National League for next year.
CONS: Trade value will diminish even more, since Prince would be a rent-a-player.

3) Fire Melvin

PROS: You hope the Brewers can find another GM who wants to come to Milwaukee, but has a better eye for starting pitching and has as good and creative of an eye for offensive talent for a small market team.
CONS: You fire the man most responsible for bringing the team out of the depths of the league and the man who has done more right than wrong (except for starting pitching).

4) Fire Macha

PROS: You hope it fires up the team. There might not be anymore of this moving around the lineup everyday madness (I know you stat people love Braun hitting 2nd and Prince hitting 3rd, but dammit, it DOESN’T WORK). You hope to find someone with a little more gusto.
CONS: Save for Colorado, firing the manager doesn’t help much in the W-L column. Firing the last manager lost us Mike Maddux and I don’t want to lose Dale Sveum. The organization loses any stability it had left.

So even though this year has been a fiasco so far, would doing ANY of these things make it better? I don’t believe it does. I think it makes everything even worse!  The only one I would even consider would be letting Macha go because you have Willie Randolph right there as a tailor made replacement.

I hope the team keeps Fielder and tries to make one more run, because as I said before, if all this group of players gets is a Wild Card…then that’s truly another disappointing mark in Milwaukee baseball.

It seems so. Zaun reportedly has a torn labrum and will need surgery that will keep him out 4-6 months…so yeah…the season.

Maybe on the DL, it'll be "Bring Your ZZZZ-Game"

That means that the youth movement progresses with Kottaras, who started only 25 games in the majors before this season, and Lucroy, who didn’t start a major league game until yesterday. While that may seem like a downer, I’ve liked what I’ve seen from Kottaras and Lucroy looked alright last night (other than pi$$ing off all the pitchers…ha).  So anyone wanna guess how this plays out over the season? Does it hurt the pitching staff not to have a veteran presence? Will it help the team with faster, younger players behind the plate who have been getting on base?

UPDATE: Zaun has decided not to have season ending surgery at this point, but we will see how this affects him

Since the Brewers can’t win, did Narveson just employ a new strategy? Taking out the home plate umpire before the game? Risky move…

ESPN Rumors seems to believe that Chris Capuano might be called up to replace injured Doug Davis if Adam Stern or John Axford is sent back down, which is possible since the Brewers need another starter. If this happens, it will complete one of the greatest comebacks, in my opinion, in Brewers history. And yes, this is the only positive pitching story the Brewers have had in weeks…

UPDATE: Nope…not yet…but “I’m not Johnny” Estrada apparently looked good…

(Sung to the tune of “Spongebob Squarepants)

Ohhhhhh, who’s hitting more home runs than big ol’ Princey? Ca-sey Mc-Gehee
Who is even hitting with R-I-S-P? Ca-sey Mc-Gehee
His clutch hitting be something you’d miss. Ca-sey Mc-Gehee
So do for me this one little wish, Ready?
Vote for Ca-sey
Vote for Ca-sey
Vote for Ca-sey
Vote for Ca-seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey

McGehee on Mother's Day

Even though this may backfire since many former Brewer all-stars have hit the skids (see Hardy, Capuano, Turnbow, Hart), I still feel that Casey McGehee needs recognition for what he’s doing. Keep it up, Casey! Milwaukee definitely knows how to say your last name.

What a big night in Arizona! Jody Gerut just hit for the cycle. He is the 6th in Brewer history to hit for the cycle, the last one being Chad Moeller in 2004. Jody joins Moeller, Yount, Molitor, Charlie Moore, and Mike Hegan.

Gerut Starts the Cycle with a Home Run

Jody Gerut smacked a home run in the second. Then a single in the third. A big triple in the 5th. Then nothing in the 6th and 7th, but in the 9th, he hit a two run double. Gerut had 4 RBI’s for the game.

Ryan Braun has one. Jeff Suppan has had one for awhile. They’re restaurants and they could turn into a smart business venture for athletes. Here are some restaurant ideas for any Brewers who still want to turn into restauranteurs.

Prince Fielder’s Choice

What is it: Besides a play on words and a play on his choice to go meatless, PFC could be like a meatless Stack’d. Want 3 meatless burgers on top of each other, slathered with sauce, fried onions, lettuce, tomatoes, a meatless bacon (yes, there is such a thing)? It would be at Prince Fielder’s Choice! Want a blooming onion that falls down when you put a picture of Prince on home plate? It’s here too!

Signature Dish: The Grand Slam – 4 meatless sliders, each one topped with meatless bacon, crispy onion strings, and stadium sauce.

Yovani Cilantro

What is it: A southwest bar and grill…where everything can strike out the competition and still hit a home run.

Signature Dish: The Repetoire Combination Platter. It includes dishes that match Yovani’s 4 pitches. The fastball is 3 Spicy Habenero Wings that make your mouth burn. The changeup is some nice, slow grilled tequila shrimp. The slider is a chicken quesadilla with a devastating chiptole-cheese sauce. Finally, the curve is a fish taco with a cheesy tortilla wrapped around the shell.

Escie-Mez

What is it: Named after the two speed freaks on the team, Escie-Mez is part Chipotle, part Jimmy Johns. You think Jimmy John’s delivery is fast? Sh*t son, you haven’t seen fast until you’ve seen Carlos Gomez or Alcides Escobar running faster than the Jimmy John’s delivery car to deliver your giant burrito.

Signature Dish: The Chicken Burrito..it’s just really good and really fast.

Alterra Coffey

What is it: Alterra has been trying to expand, but they can’t quite afford huge stars to back their Milwaukee-based chain. Enter Todd Coffey, who is known all around baseball for his bullpen sprint and loved by Milwaukee for his dependability. Perfect! The only Alterra Coffey will be in Miller Park.

Signature Dish: It’s always the scones that are good at coffee shops…so good, but so overpriced. When Alterra announces the deal with Todd, they create a new signature blend that packs the excitement of Todd Coffey’s sprint with the boldness of the Ultimate Warrior.

Craigy McCounsell’s

What is it: You may not think that Craig and Casey would make a good restaurant, but did anyone thing Craig would be an NLCS (fixed) MVP? No. Did anyone really think Casey would make the team AND be the opening day starter  a year later? No. So let’s give their restaurant a chance. It may not look good, but it will somehow produce great food

Signature Dish: Well, Craig seems like someone who loves happy meals, so his restaurant is the only one with meals for children.

Rilievo

What is it: Trevor Hoffman is no-nonsense and neither is his restaurant. It is the five-star (snooty) premier restaurant with a top chef that Milwaukee doesn’t have. It would basically be Milwaukee’s Per-Se or Alinea.

Signature Dish: I don’t know. Something with creme fraiche, pesto, risotto, foie gras, with braised duck in a homemade bisque.

The first month of the season is over, yet nobody seems to really know what kind of team there really is in Milwaukee?

We want to believe it’s the team that put up 20+ on the Pirates and we don’t want to believe it’s the team that only scores 2 runs during a 4 game series with the Padres.

The sad part is…it may be the latter…

This team is far too inconsistant for most fans (and probably for the managers). The talent is there, but so far, the execution has not been there.

What’s worse is that the pitching staff seems like they are really trying to see if they can out-crap the 2009 pitching staff.

However it’s only one month into the long season and last year, the Angels, Rockies, and Twins had .500 or worse Aprils and they all made the Playoffs. So the question is…why is everyone freaking out?

Easy…it’s because Brewer fans hear the sound…the sound of the Window of Opportunity closing.

Let's Keep The Window Open

It was about 2004 when we Brewers fans were getting really excited about the Brewers legitimate chances. We were gearing up for the future, because fans knew that the farm system was about to produce some amazing players. There was Prince Fielder! Power hitting first baseman with baseball in his genes. There was Rickie Weeks! The second base dynamo who won 3 awards in his senior year of college. Finally, there was J.J. Hardy, hot hitting shortstop with a cannon arm. There was a lanky outfielder named Corey Hart who could run fast and smack the ball well. There were other names too, but they were either traded or became busts like Nelson Cruz and Ben Hendickson. Also in 2005, the Brewers drafted Ryan Braun and there was a quick buzz about him too!

And when they came up, the Brewers started winning again and the people came back to Miller Park. Then, every year fans would say “This is the year it all comes together!”  There has always been something standing in the way, a “but” if you will. In 2005, the team made it to .500 and that was the start. In 2006, the team had a nice showing from Prince and Rickie, but they fell out under .500 and traded away Carlos Lee. In 2007, the team was in the hunt and we saw a 50 HR season from Prince and a Rookie of the Year season form Braun, but the pitching imploded when Ben Sheets went down again and the team was error-prone. In 2008, the team made the playoffs with a solid year from Sheets, Fielder, Braun, Corey, and CC, but the team faded in the last couple months and had subpar years from Rickie and Bill Hall. The Brewers lost to the Phillies who would win the whole thing. In 2009, we thought the loss of Sheets and CC would be alright since we had Yovani and Manny. 2009 also had excellent showings from Prince and Braun yet again, but the pitching imploded, Rickie was hurt, and the team faltered.

Throughout all of it, the main focus has always been on Prince Fielder and his time as a Brewer. That time is almost out, and we know it. Even though J.J. was replaced by fairly pain-free by Alcides, there is no one that could be brought up to replace Prince. If Prince goes, then Rickie and Corey will almost surely follow him. We want to keep the faith that Prince and/or Rickie will re-sign, but what if that doesn’t happen?  People remember 2005 with excitement because it was the year that Prince, Rickie, and JJ were brought up and “the future is now!”, but what happens the year they’re all gone? We Brewers fans don’t want all this talent to only produce one small stint in the postseason, but time is slipping away.

That’s why I believe so many Brewers fans are freaking out at this awful April. That’s why we’re sick of the wasted time on wasted series because of a lack of good pitching or lack of consistent hitting or lack of decent fielding. It’s because we believe the talent is there, but the window is closing…

So as fans, let’s keep the faith we’ve had in these guys since 2005, keep cheering, and hopefully show those guys in uniforms that they need to start kicking it into gear already.