1st Half Grade--Brewers Get 4 Stars

The Brewers reached the half way point of the season and, despite dropping two of three to the hated Cubbies, they still deserve a four-star rating for their first half of play...

Those four stars, of course, are: Fielder, Sheets, Cordero and Hardy. I think it's safe to say that this is more exciting than The Young and the Restless...

When I was a kid, there were few things I looked forward to more than the all-star game. I watched every all-star game played in the 80's. I remember the Fred Lynn Grand slam in '83 and the boring game in '88 when Terry Steinbach became the MVP for homering and hitting a sac fly and accounting for the A.L.'s only two runs. I sat in our rec room and scored along with every all-star game that was played between the '84 and '89 seasons. Admittedly, the previous sentence might very well be an indictment of the tiny town I grew up in and the fact that there wasn't a whole lot to do. Nonetheless, I really, really loved the all-star game. (As a matter of fact, the only other tv shows I remember getting that excited for--you know, like "I'm going to throw a temper tantrum if I miss this show" kind of excited-- were The Dukes of Hazard, The A-Team and that Saturday morning preview show. Remember that show? It would be on a Friday night in early fall, and it would highlight the new season of Saturday morning cartoons. And each network had their own preview show, but my favorite was on ABC because they carried the Superfriends, Captain Caveman, Godzilla and Scooby Doo. I wonder if they still do a show like that today. Probably not. Nickelodeon and The Cartoon Network have spoiled today's children so much that they don't even realize the simplistic beauty of a Saturday morning cartoon and a heaping bowl of nutritious Lucky Charms...)
Anyhow, what I loved the most about the all-star game wasn't necessarily even the game itself. I loved the introductions. I loved seeing the Brewers' representative standing in line with the likes of Wade Boggs, Cal Ripken and Don Mattingly. And I loved waiting for that moment when the Brewer would enter the game--and cursing like no eleven year old ever should when the Brewer never saw the field. On the rarest of occasions, I even got to rejoice when our Brewers representative would contribute to the win. I still remember watching Higuera in the '86 game retire Gwynn, Sandberg, and Keith Hernandez in order and thinking he should have started the game instead of that Clemmens kid.

And, of course, there were seasons when you'd feel a little ashamed of the Brewers representative. Those were years when you knew that the only reason that player was going was because of the rule requiring one all-star per team (Sundberg in '84, Bones in '94 and Seitzer in '95 come first to mind).

But all of those thoughts seem to be a thing of the distant past. This year, all four players belong in the game and all four should contribute before it's all said and done. So like old times, I'm grabbing my score book for this year's all-star game, and I'll be scoring along. That's the thing about these Brewers--they're making me feel like a kid again. And I'm all full of hope at the half way point...

I do think it's a little uncanny how similar this weekend's match-up with the Cubs was to the Mets series a few months ago. Both series were highly anticipated and both saw the Brewers blow a lead on Friday, throttle the opponent on Saturday and then get shut down on Sunday. And after both series, the Brewers headed to Pennsylvania. Let's hope their trip to Pittsburgh is better than that trip to Philadelphia. But considering the house of horrors PNC Park has been for the Crew over the years--let's just say, I'm nervous.

The coolest thing about the thrashing on Saturday has to be the Zambrano at bat. To see all of those Zany Cubs fans stand up in anticipation of something big from Zambrano was comical. But not as comical as the two hacks he took at Sheets' curve ball. I'm going to go out on a limb and say he never even saw the fastball.

I'm starting to wonder if Billy Hall is reading my blog. Not only does he get hot immediately after I predict it, but now he refers to Corey as "Hee Haw" in his introductions on FOX before the game Saturday. In case you missed it, here's the complete list...
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=626665


Finally, my brother posted a message asking me my thoughts on the Yi Hi-Yi that the Bucks delivered. Now that I'm up to 8 readers, I know the importance of responding to the comments, so here we go...

When I first received the news that the Bucks had drafted Yi Jianlian with the 6th pick in this year's draft, I felt a little like Evander Holyfield must have felt when Tyson bit his ear--I wanted to be pissed, but I wasn't even sure what the hell just happened.


I kept waiting for the news that the Bucks were going to trade the pick, and I have to say...I'm still waiting.

Look, I have no idea how good this kid is going to be. Maybe he even ends up as a legitimate all-star (and not a population-of-China-voted-me-in type all-star), but drafting a player that doesn't want to play for you, never ever, ever works out. Especially when the player is still officially under contract with another team in another league in another country. He doesn't have to come here. And that should be a bigger concern to Harris than the fact that Stephen A. Smith claimed he never saw him play. (And please, did Harris really let himself get sucked into Stephen A's child-like playground teasing? And does he really think he proved his point when he argued, "I may have not seen him play, but my daddy did"? I was totally expecting Smith to come back with a "Did not," so Larry could say, "Did too." That could go on for hours...) For the sake of argument, let's say that Harris can sign Yi to a rookie contract. What do you suppose the chances are that he stays in Milwaukee after that? And even if he plays as well as some scouts claim, even his biggest proponents say he'll be a liability on defense...so...welcome to the Bucks.

And if he's a bust...oh, Nelly...it will go down as a bigger flop the Tractor Traylor/Nowitski...because if you believe the rumors...

Philly was offering their two first rounders plus (?)
Golden state was offering Biedrins the 18th pick and another player...
Phoenix made several offers...

And no matter what, Corey Brewer was still on the board...

And you know how I like my Brewers. I give 'em four stars...