I was laying on the couch watching the game last night after a long week at work. It was the bottom of the eighth and I was fighting to stay awake. The next thing I knew, my phone was ringing. I had fallen asleep and was getting a call from my dad after Rickie Weeks gave the Brewers a walk off win. It is the second time this season I have fallen asleep before a come from behind win (see: Prince Fielder's two home run game against the Marlins). I was kicking myself for not staying awake, but I'll take the win.

I am heading down to the game today. My wife and I will be meeting my parents at their house and then heading down to Miller Park. After never seeing Ben Sheets live (timing and injuries), I will now see him for the second time of the young season. Last time he pitched a complete game shutout against the Giants. That game is ranked third on ESPN.com's Best National League Games. I can only hope he has a similar game today against the first place Cardinals... especially since it will be on FOX.

The Brewers and their fans must have a "catch the team in front of us" attitude. It is way too early to worry about who is in first and by how much. Just worry about who is immediately in front of you and catch them. Right now, that is Houston. They are 19-17 and 1.5 games in front of us for third place. Two Brewers wins and two Houston losses, and the Crew will be back in third place. Then they can look to whoever is in second place at the time. After we catch that team, then we can aim to take out the first place team. You can not reach the top of the ladder by skipping all of the rungs between you and the top.

Even after last night's two hit loss... their fourth in a row... and seventh in their last ten games... dropping them into fourth place... I am still attempting to stay optimistic. It is way too early not to. The Cubs were in the same position last season and they won the division... and we had a much bigger lead on them than the Cardinals have on us. If the Brewers can salvage one of the last two games in Miami, then they can come home and take it out on the Cardinals and Dodgers, and hopefully make up some ground before heading to Boston, then they are right back in the thick of things... in mid-May.

• I can not support Eric Gagne anymore. I have said "one more chance" so many times, you can start to call me the Notorious B.I.G. I think it is time to replace him before the Brewers fall further back than they already are. My vote goes to Guillermo Mota.
• Maybe Ned should pull the lineup from a hat. Have Prince lead off? You can not blame Yost for a team being in the type of slump they are in. He does not hit. I argued that he should quit tinkering with the lineup last season, so I would be a hypocrite if I suggested he start doing that now.
• I dropped another 1.6 pounds with my company's Biggest Loser competition. That brings me to 197.2 and increases my total pounds lost to 16.4, or 7.68%. At 6' 0", 197, I am roughly the size of Pedro Martinez (5'11", 195).
  

Yovani Gallardo takes the hill tomorrow and will break us out of the slump we are in. To quote Michael Scott (among others), "It's all good!"

That's all I got today, folks.

Last season the Brewers led the league in home runs. It was home runs that kept them in first or second all season long. This season, the home runs have been few and far between in comparison. If the pitchers are going to give up more home runs than the hitters are able to hit, then they will lose more often than not. This may seem like an obvious statement, but if they were able to play small ball a little better than the currently do, the other team would be able to hit a few more home runs and the Brewers would still be able to pull out a majority of the games they play.

If Rickie leads off the game with a base hit, I would rather have Ned tell Mike Cameron to lay down a bunt to push Rickie over than have him swing away and end up striking out. With his speed, he may even beat out a bunt and give the Brewers two runners. If Cameron lays down a bunt and Rickie ends up at second, then Braun or Fielder just need a base hit to start the game with 1-0 lead. Worst case scenario, the bunt is a bad one and Weeks is thrown out at second, but is replaced at first by a speedy Cameron. You may think this is a waste of a Cameron AB, and it may be, but until they get the small ball going on a regular basis, I am all for it. Other than Fielder and Braun, if the leadoff batter in an inning gets on, the next batter should bunt him over. Just my opinion... feel free to agree or disagree.  

As you may have heard... or maybe you are just hearing now by reading this... Yovani Gallardo is done for the season. He tore his ACL yesterday while trying to avoid a kamikaze Reed Johnson. That kamikaze mission pretty much sealed the division for the Cubs. It is hard to be optimistic after losing two of your top four pitchers for the season (including Capuano). It is just a matter of time before a third (Ben Sheets) joins this group and Jeff Suppan is the "Ace". Maybe Dave Bush will return and look spectacular. Maybe Jeff Weaver will return to a once promising form. Maybe Derrick Turnbow will come back in a starting role instead (note: this was a joke). Or maybe not.

To all Brewers fans, please check out THIS site and get help if you need it.

A: Getting beat by one, at home, in the ninth, when your closer blows a 3-1 lead, against arguably your biggest current division rival, causing you to lose the series, after Bob Uecker sings "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and says Brewers instead of Cubbies, before heading to St. Louis for a tough series against the division leaders, kicking off a tough month against the best in the West and the rest of the NL Central, in front of a bunch of worthless fans who decided throwing garbage and beer at Ryan Braun was a good idea, on a beautiful spring afternoon, the day one of your biggest stars returns to the lineup, your best pitcher throws a gem, the opposing starter appears to tear every tendon in his leg but returns to the hill, your catcher withstands a collision at home plate with Prince Fielder, and your manager nearly erupts into a classic tirade with the media after the game.

Also, of note.... sayonara Derrick Turnbow. Thanks for the saves back when you were good. Too bad we did not get the roll of nickels you were worth before last season.  Now, we may have to pay someone to take you off our hands. Best of luck. Regards. Etc, etc.

After the bats went off on Tuesday, they were pretty quiet on Wednesday... at least for the Brewers. What a beat down! I was at a seminar until 8:00 and was hoping to get home and settle in for a competitive battle like the night before, but my wife told me on the phone the score was already 6-1, and I knew it was going to be a bad night. I got home just in time to see the lead climb to 12-2. I took that as a sign that last night was a great night to go to bed early. I just checked the final a few minutes ago and saw 19-5... I think I made the right decision.

At least the Brewers still have a 3-2 lead in games played at Wrigley this season... maybe 4-2 after today's matinée... or maybe 3-3 if they play like they did last night (either the Cubs or the Brewers). It will be a great matchup between Carlos Zambrano and Yovanni Gallardo. Both pitchers have looked great this season, but with both offenses dominating the headlines over the first two games, can a pitcher dominate the headlines today? I guess we'll find out by 5:00 tonight.

As a side note, I won this past week's Biggest Loser at work by dropping 4.8 pounds over the week. I am now down to 198.8 after starting at 213.6. I am well on my way to "Svelte Steve"!

From this point forward, I will get a post up on a daily basis. I have had a long stretch of no posts for a variety of different reasons, but that streak ends today. I will post a tidbit of information/thoughts/analysis/stories/etc each day I am able to (which should be most days). They may not be page long, in depth posts, but they will be something.

• We'll start things off with a mention of my MLB 2K8 review for MLB.com. It can be accessed HERE. Mine is the review of the Nintendo Wii version. I submitted it before the season started, which is why it sounds as though I think the season has not started yet. I enjoy the game a lot, and would recommend at least a rental to any baseball fan who owns a Wii.
• I watched the game last night until the very end and was pleasantly surprised by how good the game looked in HD. The previous HD games this season have looked good too, but the screen pixelated every couple seconds and the games were unwatchable, so I would watch on standard TV instead. Last night, it did not pixelate at all, so I was able to watch the game in brilliant HD from start to finish.
• How great was it to see the bats firing on all cylinders? I felt like every batter was going to get a hit when they came to the plate last night... which is a huge change from what I have felt for the past couple weeks. I hope it is not a "one and down" kind of thing and that the bats show up again for tonight's game on ESPN.

See... that was easy... five minutes... a few items... and now we can all go on with our days!

Well folks, it has been a few days, but I am back (at least for now) with a few items regarding the past week. It has been a very busy week at work, over my lunch hour, and after work, so the time to write a post has been very limited... hopefully that will change a little so I can get back to some consistency here on My Brewers.

• Johnny Depp is in town filming a movie and the town has gone nuts. The paper decided to print retro looking copies, the downtown area is a mess to get through, and you can hear girls screaming from miles away. It is a pretty cool thing for a small town like Oshkosh and it appears as though everything is going very well. Depp seems like a decent guy and has actually spent a lot of time along the ropes greeting people who have come out to watch the filming. I walked past the set a couple times this week, but have not seen him or any of the filming. It sounds like they are in town through the weekend, so maybe I will still see something over the next couple days.
• I was walking past the set because I was out on a walk as a part of my company's Biggest Loser competition. I organized the competition to begin on April 1 and end on June 30. It includes 26 total competitors and has been a huge success to this point. In two weeks, the company has lost a little 150 pounds. I personally have gone from a pudgy 213.6 to a svelte 205.0. This helps to explain my being so busy during my lunches and after work because I have spent a large amount of time walking, using the elliptical machine in my basement, and trying to figure out what the heck I can eat nowadays. My goal is to get down to between 175 and 180 pounds and look like Gabe Kapler rather than Prince Fielder. I will occasionally mention my progress in case anyone cares.
  
• As far as the Brewers there are several things to discuss, with the first being the number of people I have heard in panic mode after only 15 games. I do not think these people realize just how long the season is. First off, the Brewers are now 9-6, which is over .500. Secondly, would these same fans assume the season was down the tubes if the Packers won their first game but were trailing at halftime of their second, because that it pretty much where the Brewers are in their season. Third. the Brewers have gotten off to a 9-6 start with little contribution from their offensive stars (Weeks, Hardy, Fielder, Braun, Hall). Just imagine once one or more of these guys gets going! I will not get too worked up until about 150 games into the season, and neither should you or anyone else.
• I have a feeling Prince is going to be the first to take off. Getting that first home run off of his back yesterday was huge. I think he was pressing to get that done and now that it has happened they will start flying on a regular basis. As a matter of fact, I heard on the radio this morning that it took almost as long for his first home run last season, and we all know how well the rest of the season went.
• How long until everyone gets off of Eric Gagne's back for blowing two saves? 10 saves? 20 saves? Never? I saw get off his back now. If he blows another save or two, then get on him again, but no one is perfect.... although he has looked pretty close to it during his last couple outings.
• With Bucks season over, fans in the Fox Valley will now see all of the games presented on WMLW in Milwaukee. It was a painful first couple of weeks, but now we can all breathe easier knowing the Crew will not have any competition for airtime.
• Does it make sense to go with Craig Counsell's hot bat over J.J. and Billy's slumping bats? I think it may be, and I can not believe I am saying that. Go with Billy and J.J., then Billy and Craig, and then Craig and J.J, for a bit. Maybe not on an every three game rotating basis, but at least every once in awhile until the two regulars can snap out of their respective funks.
• As far as the new blogging format and the fact that it is free... I do not know if I am sold yet. The more the merrier sometimes isn't the case, especially when the more well written blogs (I'm not claiming that I fall into that category) are lost in the shuffle because any random person can do it. Paying for the right to write meant that mainly serious writers wrote the blogs, and that wasn't a bad thing quality wise. There are benefits and shortcomings to this new format and policies.... time will tell if the benefits end up outweighing the shortcomings.