Your First Place Milwaukee Brewers!

Well that didn't take long did it? In just 9 games after the all-star break, the brewers have caught the cubs. I don't know what made me happier -- that brewer win or that cub loss. Lets start with the win.
Brewers starter Dave Bush takes the mound after a good months rest and is a little rusty. (I absolutely hate this home/away platoon) The Astros have a good lineup so they put a couple runs on us. Then Braun strikes again with a two run game tying blast to straight center. Brewers tack on a couple more runs and just like that, we get a peice of first place. Exciting, yet expected win. Now lets turn our attention to that Cubs loss.
The Cubs Start with their answer to CC Sabathia -- Rich Harden -- The glass armed, winless, ace. I mean the guy is good, it's a shame they could only use him for 5 innings. He tossed 10 Ks in 5. That's incredible. But in an attempt to save his arm for fall baseball, he was lifted after 87 pitches. Then the overworked cubs bullpenn is forced to work 7 more innings and lose. The cubs lineup was only able to put up 2 runs in 12 innings. Pathetic. They have no excuses for this one either. The only impact player who's still hurt for them is Kerry Wood. Seeing how they never had the lead in the late innings, he wouldn't of been needed. They just flat out sucked.
So the question remains, what excites me more -- a brewer victory or a cubs loss? Well it has to be the Cubs loss.
I guess I'm just a cynical prick who enjoys the misfortunes of others. But come on cub fans, you are horrible people.... Case in point - I decided to check out the Chicago sun times website and read the city's view on the cubs woes. What do I find? A brief game recap story and a poll on the bottom. The poll's subject? Who has hotter fans, the cubs or white sox. What the hell is that? Then I read further and we get the HOT FAN CONTEST!!!! This bubbly pop culture "cubbie blue" trash is infuriating. I swear to god 90% of their fans know nothing about baseball. It's just so CUTE to love the CUBBIES. They just blow an 8.5 game lead to the brewers and we're browsing the internet debating if Stacy is hotter than "Southside Lisa." They don't deserve happiness.
http://www.suntimes.com/sports/983402,hotfans060308.article

Ok, I got to take a minute and cool down. Kind of freaked out. With all that said, we got a crucial series coming up. The FIBs are coming north to annoy the hell out of me for a week. The Cubs are good and their bats are too cold for comfort. They're gonna bust out of this slump big time. I just hope it's not in milwaukee. Remember that time they beat us 19-5? That sucked. I hope nothing like that happens again. Go brewers, lets win some games.

HYPE!!

I have been holding back on my complete brewer freak out but I don't feel I can contain myself anymore... maybe I should wait until after this final game against the cardinals? I mean I did just text Ben about Sabathia's no hitter just one batter before it was derailed last night. It made me wonder... Do I hold some mystical power? Is the sporting world controlled by the emotions of one man in Milwaukee? If this post leads to the depressing collapse of what could be a monumental brewer season I apologize. I will know longer express excitement over any local sporting event again.

With that said, this has to be the most fun I've ever had in sports. The Brewers are just one game out of first place and two games up in the wild card standings. Since the all star break the brewers have won 6 in a row, all on the road. We already took 3-4 from St. Louis. I was hoping for a split in that series.

I find myself being a different fan. Take the first two games in St Louis for example. In both games the brewers give up 2 runs in the first. Resulting from a lifetime of brewer futility, I'm conditioned to think the game is now over. McClung sucks, Suppan sucks, Gagne sucks, Mota sucks, Hall sucks, Yost sucks... You know, the usual brewer thoughts but then... McClung and Suppan toss out a couple quality starts, Mota and Gagne keep us in the games, Bill Hall pops two game winning HRs, and Yost is the guy who decided to put these guys in the game. Things just aren't supposed to work that way here.

Then there's this Sabathia guy... my god. Pujols final at bat in the 9th says it all. The guy barely has 30 Ks this year... one of the best hitters to play the game. He steps up in the 9th, seeing sabathia for the 4th time this game. What does he do? Some sort of falling over bat throwing K. Game over. That is dominance. 3 complete games in a row. Our bullpenn is feeling great. Oh, and now the cardinals get to face ben sheets tonight. AWESOME. BREWERS!!!!!!!!!!

Pessimistic thought --

LaRussa is a first class, drunk driving asshole. He isn't gonna like the fact that the brewers came into his house and took three straight. Get ready for the bean ball wars. If anyone remembers the brewers last year you'll know that we MUST NOT retaliate. Have prince take a couple in the back if he has to, we'll go home with the sweep and watch their playoff aspirations fade away. Last year we pegged Pujols in return, Yost went mental and the season fell apart. So please Yost, learn from your mistakes last year. Do not screw things up again... Then again, if we're down 7-1 in the 9th. Lets peg em. GO BREWERS!

Another Day After Conejitos Post

Katie and I made our return to Conejitos last night after a brief hiatus. Nothing really changed. Pedro still knew our order, they still had a stack of "the onion"(s) in the corner, and the tv was tuned in to telemundo. They were showing the Ms. Universe pagent on there and we actually paid way too much attention to it. Then I come to find out this morning that Ms. USA bit it on live tv. HOW DID I MISS THAT! I watched this thing for 2 hours and never saw it happen. I'm heartbroken. I got to try and find a clip of it some where online now. I'm sure it's hilarious.
In other Conejitos related news... the mornings after conejitos suck. Katie blames the cheap margaritas but I think it's because for some reason we always go out after splitting that half pitcher. We could go somewhere decent, but no, we decided to go to the worst hole in the wall, dirty, dive bar in Milwaukee -- "the gig." Our bridesmaid Ariel lives a block away from the place and we agreed to meet her there. I can't tell you why. The place is utterly depressing. You walk in and see the same 10 drunk guys I used to see 2 years ago. They got these couches that I'd never dare sit on sprawled out all over the place. Even the bathroom graffiti lacks in creativity. I'm sorry but "your mom sucks" just doesn't do it for me. Katie and i got a drink and played a couple rounds of darts. Then we left. I don't know the feeling but I'm pretty sure leaving the gig is just like leaving a strip club. You just hang your head in shame and hope no one sees what you just did.

Ok now some random updates/thoughts.

Before a Brewer game last week, Katie and I went out to eat at Maxie's Southern Comfort. Excellent restaurant just off the freeway a couple miles west of Miller Park. Katie got some monkfish thing and I got the shrimp n' grits. Both dishes were incredible. Katie is absolutely obsessed with the shrimp n' grits. They also do a happy hour where apps and some drinks are half off. This includes their raw oysters. Incredible deal. If anyone of you get the chance, you really should check it out. I saw the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal critic gave the place a decent review but I think it deserved a little more praise.

Brewers did the Sabathia trade and this city is flipping out. We're selling out Tuesday night games. A thursday day game drew over 30,000. I'm loving it. Anyone watch Sabathia knock one deep to right yesterday? Then he goes and strikes out the side in the 9th. It was intense, the stadium just exploded. It would of been nice to win a home series against the reds though... thanks grandma and grandpa.

The city is already acting like we're in the playoffs. I hope the Brewers can live up to this hype and get something going. Anything short of a playoff birth would be heartbreaking to this city.

Ben Sheets is starting the all-star game, braun is batting 7th, in front of the NL's 8 and 9 hitters, those crappy cubs. We got Braun going for the home run derby tonight at 7. Looks like I got to DVR this one seeing that I got to work tonight.

Ok now I got to find a clip of Ms. USA biting it. GO BREWERS!

Trade?

There has been a huge rumor going around Milwaukee involving the Brewers wanting to trade for reigning AL Cy Young winner CC Sabathia. According to jsonline, the brewers are willing to part with their number one minor league slugger -- Matt Laporta. If the deal goes through it will probably be a 3 month rental seeing that Sabathia is about to become a free agent who'd be worth way more than the brewers will ever be able to pay. So the debate in Milwaukee is, Is it worth giving up part of your future to make a run right now? Absolutely.

I've watched the Brewers my entire life and never once saw them in the playoffs. The only time I even had hope was last year, then we had to watch them slowly choke away a huge lead over the Cubs. Why not go for it this year? From what I understand, all the scouts in baseball think LaPorta is gonna be one hell of a hitter. With Prince Fielder holding back on contract negotiations one would think LaPorta would be an excellent replacement when the brewers are forced to let Prince go. Then again, with the way Prince is playing now he may want to reconsider that $60 million offer. LaPorta has 20 Hrs in 83 games with a .290 batting average. Since we was drafted out of college he's pretty much ready to jump up to the majors and make an instant impact. So that's what we risk giving up... what do we gain?

Think about this... if the brewers make the post season... Sheets, Sabathia, Parra, and Suppan. Now that is a force to be reckoned with. Two dominating fastballers in Sheets and Sabathia. Two starting lefties in Sabathia and Parra. One veteran with playoff and world series experience. Match that up with that power line up we get to watch every night and BAM! We have a real shot at this. St Louis and Chicago have got to be sweating. Now I'm going to return to Jsonline's brewer page and continue refreshing until I hear something new.

By the way, the journal sentinal brewers beat writer Tom Haudricourt is giving fans excellent coverage of this trade rumor. I've never seen anything like it. GO BREWERS!

OH, saw the Stone Temple Pilots last night. Awesome show. Good old fashioned rock concert. Definetly goes up there in my top 3 shows of all time. It's there with Sleater-Kinney at lollapalooza and the red hot chili peppers/foo fighter show from summerfest years past.

Favre?

There was a little Favre rumor going around yesterday. Apparently Favre was thinking about coming back this year. I don't even know what to think about this one. As higgins put it last night, it's like someone you know just died. After months of mourning you've finally accepted it and you're ready to move on. Then you find out they're still alive resulting in some sort of an emotional freak out.
Honestly, I'd be kind of upset if Favre comes back. I just completed an entire franchise on Madden with Aaron Rodgers as my QB. We won the superbowl. 19-0. Couldn't figure out how to go about retiring a player on your team in madden... so I traded Favre for Chad Johnson. That really helped... but if Favre comes back, that means I did this virtual experiment under false pretenses. Hours and hours of carefully conducted research will be tossed asside... considered meaningless. I'd be heartbroken. Then again, it'd be awesome to see one more year.

BREWERS! Big win last night. They came from behind to pull one out on the road. This win guarentees us at least a .500 three time zone road trip. Excellent news for a team that is notorious for their away game struggles. Weeks and Cameron were the clutch hitters in this one. Braun and Fielder didn't even get an at bat. We go against one of the NL's best today in Brandon Webb but Parra has proven he's a contender. If Parra can pull this one off he'll tie Sheets for the team lead in wins. Never saw that one coming. Kind of bummed this one starts at 2:40. Could of at least made it 2:00 so I could of caught a majority of the game before work.
Side note... the Cubs and Cardinals are about to start a series against each other in St. Louis. Only good things can happen with that. I'd love to see us having either the division lead or the wild card spot come All Star break. GO BREWERS!