How the Brewers alienated their female fans and regressed to 1958 or so…

I thought I posted this last night, so my apologies for being late to get this to you all, but if you follow me on Twitter, you’d have seen me ranting the past two days about an even the Brewers are putting on called Brewed for Her. That event, in and of itself, doesn’t thrill me, but to each her own. Unfortunately for the Brewers, it’s not as simple as that and it made me ranty to the tune of about 3300 words.

Won’t you please come over and check it out?

Brewers Brewed for Her Event: Sexist, Offensive and Just Really Bad Marketing

I had planned to post my diatribe here, but was lucky enough to be able to post out to BrewCrewBall, the SBN Brewers blog I contribute to. While I know I’ve got my target audience of upset female sports fans here, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to try to enlighten a new group of folks. Nor could I pass up the chance that someone in the Brewers Org would see it.

I have been overwhelmed by the support (and lack of negativity) and kind words I’ve received from many corners of the internet since publishing this piece over there yesterday afternoon. I’d love to here from you ladyfolk that put up with this sort of thing on a regular basis, though.

Hanukkah Hunks: Night 1

Happy Hanukkah to my fellow Heebs! As sundown approaches this evening, I’m happy to continue the Ladies… tradition of recognizing excellence in the world of Jewish athleticism and kick it off right with one of our old favorites – I’m sure the masses will approve…

Damn you, Bud Selig! (or why I’m mostly bitter but still a little excited abut the second Wild Card)

While I can’t deny that the advent of the second wild card has by far lengthened my interest in the baseball season, I can’t help but wonder if all this hullaballoo is worth it.

Sure, my Brewers are streaking and they might end up backing into the playoffs despite having given up on the season and trading away Zack Greinke two months ago. But once they get there, there’s a high likelihood of them being one-and-done. And even if they get through that first test, they’re not likely to go any further than that.

So then I have to wonder, is it all worth it?

Follow the jump for more Selig rants

My new favorite Tumblr

Listen folks, here at Ladies… we’re nothing if not equal opportunity oglers. Everyone has their quirks – heck, if it weren’t for this blog I’d have never come to appreciate the detail of a fine forearms – so I wanted to draw your attention to the folks over at Bald Baseball Players.

Not only do they have photos of each of the gentlemen they’re highlighting, but they also have quotes from each one.

Here’s Jose Lima

“Sometimes you feel like they’re not talking to you because you’re [bald]. You don’t want to use the word [bald]ist, but you want to have somebody in the game who knows our culture and can relate to us, and then we don’t feel left out.”

And Brandon Phillips

“That’s what separates the [bald] men from the boys, what you do when the crunch time is on.”

Mike Fiers (pronounced Fires) because I love his “quote”

“He’s been unbelievable. One of the few [bald] spots in a dark and ugly season to this point.” -Ryan Braun

And Kameron Loe

“I got a few pitches up, and I don’t think I was as aggressive as I usually am. I tried hitting spots too much instead of just trusting my [baldness] and letting it work for me. I don’t know, it was just one of those nights.”

I include Loe because if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t know the greatness that is Bald Baseball Players – they tweeted at him that he’s the best 6’8″ baseball player out there and he RT’d it. I love that they’re reaching out to the players and that the players are responding.

There are all kinds of things on the interwebs, so I’m always impressed when someone finds a niche, does it well and reaches out and makes their mark, which I think BBP has done.

Plus, you know, there are some hotties out there with no hair…

I was there: US Cellular Field

Due to the wonders of Interleague (and my boyfriend’s aunt that lives in Chicago) we were able to knock another stadium off our list the weekend after we were in Minneapolis when we saw the Brewers play the White Sox on Chicago’s South Side.

Can we just go ahead and accept that I’m always going to call this stadium Comiskey? “The Cell” is a stupid nickname and US Cellular Field is too long. Plus, corporate naming is dumb (Et tu, Barclay’s Brooklyn?)

(Additionally, we have a US Cellular Arena here in Milwaukee which is called The Cell, leading to too much lame confusion)

Comiskey is super-accessible via the El, both the red and green lines are within a few blocks. The aunt had planned on us taking the red line, but we entered a station downtown that the red didn’t run through. Luckily, a nice man told me we didn’t have to go to another station, but could just hop on the green line.

Follow the jump for pics galore

I was there: Target Field

I think I’ve mentioned before that we try to visit one out-of-town MLB Ballpark every summer. Since I’m spoiled and got to spend a week in Italy, this summer’s trip had to be a bit closer to home. A weekend jaunt to Minneapolis to see some of the bf’s college friends while simultaneously checking out the Brewers and Twins during Interleague seemed like a great excuse.

It’s about a six hour drive from Milwaukee to Minneapolis, so we headed up Friday morning and drove home Sunday afternoon, since I have class on Monday

follow the jump for pics galore

Our fave sports moments of 2011

Your TV, radio and internets are being bombarded with Year In Review posts and specials as I type this. Well, guess what? It’s no different here at Ladies… We took a few moments this week to reflect on our favourite memories of this past year. Some will be hilariously obvious, others may surprise you. All of them will make you warm and fuzzy, like a delicious flute of champagne.

Advent Calendar of Hotness: Day 21

Unfortunately for me, there is a bit of a dearth of yumminess on the Brewers. Its such a shame, really. But one of the completely underrated cuties is backup catcher George Kottaras.

Honestly, the absolute best thing about Kottaras is his accent. He’s Canadian and while he’s been playing in the MLB and minors for awhile, every once in awhile the Canada comes out it and its great. You can hear some of it when he answers the second question in this video

He’s also of Greek descent and is fluent in Greek – so there’s always that chance he’ll whisper sweet nothings in your ear and take you for fabulous vacations on Crete.

And if that doesn’t do it for you, Kottaras hit one of just two cycles in Major League Baseball this season.

Follow the jump to peak in on this Canadian cutie

Advent Calendar of Hotness: Day 13

Continuing on my second year football men trend, I accidentally stumbled on this adorable gem in my photo research for yesterday’s ACoH Ryan Mathews.  I have to be honest – I’m not really a Broncos fan, so I sadly missed wide receiver Mr. Eric Decker up until now.  If you’re familiar, you will certainly enjoy the abundance of photos I have collected.  If you aren’t familiar yet, just thank me later ;)

Random Things I’ve Learned By Listening to Playoff Baseball on the Radio

As I may have mentioned once or twice before, I don’t have cable, and though my boyfriend has been happy (or at least pretends he’s happy) to let me watch the Cardinals games on his TV, for many of the other games I’ve been listening to the radio feeds through MLB.com.  It’s been quite some time since I’ve listened to baseball on the radio on a regular basis, and even longer since I listened to any baseball on the radio that involved non-Cardinals announcers.  It’s quite instructive. Some things I’ve learned:

Happy Fan Time

The Milwaukee Brewers open the NLDS at home this weekend, with games 1 and 2 on Saturday and Sunday. The #7 Wisconsin Badgers open Big Ten play Saturday night against newbies Nebraska and the defending National Champion Green Bay Packers take on Denver on Sunday.

Unless you live in Boston or New York, you’ve probably never experience the Happy Fan Dance that I’ve practically mastered in the past few days.

Every. Game. Counts. (A Regular Season Wrap Up and Playoff Preview)

Let’s just put aside the fact that I had an actual rooting interest last night — everything that happened in baseball over the last 24 hours makes my brain scream this song:

As someone who has spent the last two weeks watching the Cardinals wait until the last inning to win or lose what seemed like 95% of their games, one of the most surreal things about last night was that St. Louis was the only team that got their game settled right out of the gate, batting around in the first inning and scoring five runs before recording a single out.  Which left me free to enjoy the one day MLB.tv subscription I paid 3.99 for Tuesday night as a mostly impartial fan (possibly the best 4 bucks I’ve ever spent, even if I couldn’t get the Rays-Yankees because of blackout restrictions, and had to switch to the Phillies-Braves radio feeds for the latter innings because of too much traffic on the video feed (and my crappy bandwidth).  At one point, I had three GTalk conversations going and was on the phone to my parents; 99.5 % of the discussion revolved around baseball (I did manage to discuss Christmas arrangements with my folks.  I’m not totally obsessed.)

When is it ok to panic?

Why is it that baseball slumps always seem worse than slumps in every other sport? Is it the daily losing that gets to our psyche? That daily reminder of suckitude that doesn’t allow you to forget about the losing?

Baseball has the longest season and therefore stretches of losing have less of an impact than in other sports, yet I never take a string of losses so hard as when my baseball team does it.

The Brewers are in the midst of a 1-8 stretch. Picked to possibly win the division this year, Brewers’ fans hopes were high heading in to the season. DL stints for Corey Hart and new acquisition Zach Greinke meant we had to temper expectations a little in April, but now we’re heading towards mid-May, the Brewers bats have been silent, and as a fan I’m starting to get depressed.

I haven’t reached the level of some fans, who’ve already given up on the season and are asking when the team will start putting Prince Fielder on the block and become sellers.

However, I’m also not in the “it’s only May” and “every team goes through this” group either. The awful defense and lack of hitting are real concerns.

It’s mid-May and the Brewers are in fifth place and 5.5 games back of division-leadingSt. Louis, who they just lost two of three to. I’m starting to panic. This was supposed to be an “all-in” season. Management mortgaged the future, traded away a bunch of prospects and basically made the push to win now or forever hold their peace. And yet, here we stand.

Even last week’s return from the DL of Greinke was ruined by shoddy defense.

I figure there’s got to be something I (or Brewers fans) in general can do to bust the slump. I haven’t watched a full nine innings in about 10 days because I get disgusted by the fourth inning and turn it off in favor of season 4 of The West Wing on DVD.

We’re going to the game tonight for Greinke’sMilwaukeedebut. Do I need to wear a tinfoil hat? Dress like Bernie Brewer? Pray to Jobu over a dead chicken (or bucket of KFC)? Perform a no errors dance in the parking lot near the Hank Aaron statue?

Am I too far off? Is it to early to contemplate panic? 87 or so wins is probably going to take the NL Central this season, but in order to make that pace, the Brewers have to win about 60% of the rest of their games – something they haven’t come close to doing so far.

So Ladies… when do you panic? And what are you favorite slump-busting traditions?

Brewers sign Braun thorugh 2020 – too much?

The Brewers yesterday added five years to Ryan Braun’s contract, putting him under club control til 2020. He had already signed a contract in May 2008 that had him in Milwaukee til 2015. The new contract keeps him in Milwaukee until he’s 36.

The deal in 2008 was and is the biggest contract for a player with less than one year of Major League service.

The new deal is worth $105 million for five years, with a mutual option for a sixth year. It is the biggest deal in Brewers’ history.

Including 2011, that means Braun will be making $145.5 million for 10 years.

The deal including $10 million in signing bonuses and though the details were not dicussed, also allows the club to defer some of the money, leaving them some wiggle room for signing free agents as they may need.

The deal is reportedly for $19 million in ’16, ’17 and ’18, $18 million in 2019 and $16 million in 2020. The mutual option for 2021 is reportedly worth up to $20 million. There is a $4 million dollar buyout and the deal includes a no-trade clause.

Over the course of the whole ten year contract Braun is earning an average of $21 million per year, which is the second-highest ever salary for an outfielder, says ESPN’s Buster Olney. Olney also reports that this deal makes Braun one of just seven ever players to be signed through age 36 while spending their entire career with their original team. The others are Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera, Ryan Howard, Chipper Jones and Todd Helton.

Troy Tulowitsky, who was the runner up to Braun in the 2007 Rookie of the Year voting, is the only other major leaguer signed through the 2020 season.

But what do we think about signing a player for the majority of their major league career?

Though the contract does include deferred payments meant to help the club, it does tie up a lot of money for a small-market club for the next ten years. It could handcuff the Brewers in future negotiations.

The Brewers are taking the risk that Braun not only maintains the kind of offensive output he’s known for, but doesn’t get injured – for the next ten years.

The timing is interesting, because while Braun is having his hottest start to the season, 2010 was by far his worst year statistically in the majors. It’s calculated risk, but risk nontheless. They have secured one piece of the puzzle and cemented him as the cornerstone of the franchise. They now know exactly where they stand financially as the continue to try to field a team around him.

Does the benefit a small-market team gains in marketing a “face of the franchise,” outweigh the possible downfalls of such a long contract?

Milwaukee (and Wisconsin) like their icons. People love Robin Yount and the fact that he spent his whole career in a Brewer uniform. Brett Favre was a god. There hasn’t been an annointed Brewer for a very long time. After years of losing, the franchise has a new owner and appears to be committed to placing a winning product on the field every season.

But are those off-field reasons enough to justify locking a player up for 10 years?

The same questions were raised when the Rockies extended Tulowitzki – who was under contract thorough 2014 at the time they added six years to his deal.

Your wait is over.

The rotation that will haunt our dreams. (AP Photo)

High socks. Eye black. Dusty mounds. Cliff Lee. Baseball is back for reals, and we at Ladies… couldn’t be happier. Many of us have spent the last few days figuring out how to weasel out of whatever we’re going to be up to at the time our respective favorite teams are playing. Me? TWO HOUR MEETING when Mike Mussina throws the ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium. How am I supposed to sneak my phone in to listen to the game? ARGH! (although Games Mistress told me there was lots of rain expected in New York Thursday, so I may get my wish after all.)

It’s Opening Day for these Ladies… faves. Let’s see what they’re up to today:

Hit and Run: With Spring in our Step

Here's Marquette, whose victory over Syracuse last night made me cry. (Photo: Getty Images)

It’s Monday. How are your brackets looking? Like hell? Thought so.

First of all, a warm welcome to our special guest Ladies… Bracket Brawl participants: Melissa_thistle, Courknee35, Big10Bias and fellow Canuck/friend of the blog Andrew Bucholtz (you will go read his blog The 55-Yard Line now, won’t you?) Our current leader isn’t in our Ladies… group – due to technical difficulties, we had to create another group on ESPN.com so one gal could get her picks in. That gal is Buffalita, leading the pack with 460 points and picking Ohio State to win it all. CuteSports and Raven round out the Top 3 at 440 and 430 points respectively. Any hopes I had of repeating last year’s surprise success have been flushed down the proverbial toilet. I blame Butler.

Best of luck heading into Thursday! Sweet Sixteen will be hopefully be sweet for some of you.

So what else is going on?

When Injuries Happen

When news came, first speculatory Wednesday and then confirmed on Thursday, that St. Louis Cardigan pitcher Adam Wainwright had injured his elbow and would require Tommy John surgery, ending his season, many NL Central fans breathed a sigh of relief.

Wainwright was the ace of the Cardinals staff and his loss has a big impact on the other teams expected to compete for the division title – namely the Brewers and the Reds.

So when speculation started that Wainwright was done for the season, over at a Brewers site I write for, the reaction was mostly “man, that sucks – but it’s good for us.” But there were also a few “cheers.”

Most notably, Hall of Fame reporter Hal McCoy reported that the Reds’ Jonny Gomes openly celebrated upon learning Wainwright’s fate. Gomes has since denied that’s why he was celebrating and McCoy has removed the story from his blog.

But it made me wonder – what’s appropriate in this kind of situation?

As a fan, it’s difficult not to have a little private “YES!” moment when you learn that ZiPS projections are for the Cardinals to lose 5-6 more games without Wainwright, leaving them third in the division.

But is that wrong?

I feel like most every Brewers and Reds fan had a similar reaction to mine privately, but would not admit it. It’s not a very tasteful way to handle the situation. Singing and dancing is probably taking it too far, but if had been reported that Gomes showed joy upon learning about Wainwright, he’d probably still have been ripped and called “classless.”

No fan wishes harm upon an opposing player (at least, I hope not.) I had nothing to do with the ligament problems in Wainwright’s elbow, so does my private excitement about what the injury could mean for my team make me a bad person?

I was at a game in 2008 when Brewers ace Yovani Gallardo tore his ACL. Fans from the opposing team actually cheered as he was removed from the game. Clearly, that’s probably a little extreme as far as celebrations go – but where is the line drawn?

I’d probably have been pretty upset at any reaction from the opposing fans, to be fair – we get so defensive in situations like this.

So what do you guys think? Is any kind of happiness or celebration wrong? Or is it just human nature to look at the injury in the way most beneficial to you?

I was there: Ladies… do Coors Field

The boyfriend and I took at trip to Denver in Mid-June to follow the Brewers and because I’d never been. We hiked in Rocky Mountain National Park, drove up Mount Evans, spent some time in Boulder and watched two baseball games.

Sadly, the Brewers lost both the games we went to and won the game we decided to forgo in favor of Rocky Mountain National Park. But the trip was worthwhile to check another stadium off my list.

Follow the jump for more on visiting Coors Field

Congratulations Dallas Braden and Jody Gerut!

Two unlikely players accomplished two of baseball’s biggest feats this weekend. While Braden’s perfect game was by far the bigger accomplishment, Brewers bench player Jody Gerut’s cycle shouldn’t be over-looked.

Braden faced 27 Tampa Bay Rays and put them down in order. It was the second time in less than a year that the Rays had been on the wrong end of a perfect game.

(from ESPN.com)

On Saturday, Jody Gerut hit the double to complete his cycle in the ninth inning with two outs. The Brewers’ last cycle came in 2004 from the backup catcher. Seems the Crew gets the power from the unlikeliest of sources.

Everybody calm down!

Andrew McCutcheon, why so blue? (Getty Images)

Oh. That. (AP Photo)

What is it about April baseball that brings out the panic in all of us?

Hit and Run: Old Faces, New Places Edition

The Yankees played their home opener on Tuesday afternoon and a lot of the local media coverage in the city focused on the huge ovation for former Yankee Hideki Matsui, who received his World Series Ring as a member of the visiting Angels. (There was also an impromptu group hug with his old teammates, which you can see about to happen in the picture above.)  Granted, I’m not a Yankees fan, but I live in New York and I’d completely forgotten where Matsui had ended up.  And he’s not the only familiar face showing up somewhere new in the first weeks of the new season:

Crappy sports weekend – redeemed!

Heading to Miller Park for tonight’s Brewers/Cards game I was in a sports funk.

My Wisconsin Badgers had lost the hockey National Championship, the Bucks had lost to the Celtics – and I work with two obnoxious Boston fans, and the Brewers had lost two straight to division rivals the St. Louis Cardinals – the first on a blown Trevor Hoffman save and the second in embarassing 7-1 fashion to a rookie pitcher on Fox Saturday baseball.

To top it off, the Brewers are historically awful during nationally televised games and they were about to face Chris Carpenter.

If it weren’t for the bobblehead giveaway, I might not have gone to the game at all.

Follow the jump to find out why I’d have hated myself if I’d stayed home

It’s 4PM, have some Ryan Braun

Ok, it’s way past (or way before)  4PM, but that’s the name of the local magazine who’s current fashion issue features Milwaukee Brewer Ryan Braun. Since I failed to post on Monday, here’s some pre-Thanksgiving, sort-of Hump Day Hottie eye candy – keeps the tummy empty but warms the heart just before the holiday.

Here’s a tease, but follow the jump for some more pictures as well as a video of the cover shoot.

Prince Fielder shakes his fist at Albert Pujols!

Ok, I don’t know that for sure, but I do have images of Prince Fielder throwing darts at a board with Albert Pujols’ face on it – let’s be honest, we’d all probably be doing the same thing.

Because at just 25, Fielder is having a career season that almost no fans know about – and that will go unrewarded because Pujols is having a better one.

Take Us Out To The Ballgame: The Ladies… Do Appleton’s Fox Cities Stadium

The Brewers signed a four-year contract before this season to make the Wisconsin TimberRattlers their class-A affiliate.

Though you’d never know it, Appleton has been home to a minor-league franchise consistently since at least 1958 and has been a member of the Midwest League since 1962. Before the Brewers contract, the TimberRattlers (nee Foxes) were the Mariners’ single-A affiliate for 15 years and both David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez started their careers there.

Going to a game in Appleton is pure heaven. We’ve been to a few A level games and nowhere else has come close to beating the experience at Appleton. Maybe it’s because they’ve been doing it for awhile, but this is an area that knows their audience and produces some great, affordable, family entertainment.

To plunk or not to plunk – baseball’s “unwritten rules”

First it was the locker rooom charging anger of Prince Fielder, now it’s Ozzie Guillen threatening retaliation.

Plunking batters has become all the rage lately and it’s led to a lot of comments dismissing the process as “just baseball.” But is it?

I’ve had this conversation a few times this season, since the Brewers are second in the NL, fourth in MLB in hit batsmen, with 47. (The Dodgers are second to last, having been hit 23 times, so maybe that’s why they’re so angry about each one.)

What do we think about these “unwritten rules?” Do you agree with them? Are they part of the game?

Ohhhh Canada: The Canuck Boys of Summer

Hey, it’s my nation’s birthday today! We’re …old! Today – if the weather and my second sinus attack in a week clears – I’ll be joining my fellow Canadians enjoying BBQ, drinking beer (not Molson), and rubbing red face paint off my tired children’s cheeks as I grumble to Mr. Bee about how we shouldn’t have stayed out late watching the fireworks when we have to get up for work in the morning.

Some random facts about Canada:

• We are actually 142 years old. 142 is the new 122.
• We’re not constitutionally required to like Nickelback.
• I don’t think our prime minister’s hair has ever moved…ever!

Today we’re showing our True Patriot Love by rolling out our favourite Canucks on the mound and at the plate (or in the case of Russell Martin, behind the plate). So be your most polite, apologetic self, grab a double-double and join us after the jump.

Hit and Run: In Which Barry Zito’s BABIP Regresses, Right Before Our Eyes!

A.k.a. the “Complete MLB Rundown (To The Exclusion Of Everything Else)” edition. Why? Because I can. Yesterday’s scores presented BBC-style for extra hilarity and confusion.

• Red Sox 3 – 5 Blue Jays. Sevven sollid innings from Tallet (see what I did there?) provide a lead for Scott Downs to preserve, bringing them back into 2nd place in the mighty AL East. Go Jays!
• Marlins 7 – 3 Mets. Tim Redding sucks. Josh Johnson doesn’t. Go Fish!
• Braves 2 – 3 Diamondbacks. There are a lot of 3s today. Eric Byrnes finally does something good; namely, driving in the winning run in the 11th. No, wearing awesome socks doesn’t automatically mean that you’ve done something good.
• Dodgers 0 – 7 Cubs. Eric Stults fails as Dodgers get shut out for the first time all year. You know, I like the guy, but hey dude, put up or shut up. As in, put up zeros on the scoreboard, or shut the hell up when the reporters interview you and ask why you sucked. Go ahead, say, “I sucked”. David Ortiz did, you can too! Ugh. STULTS. My boy Brent Leach faces 1 batter, records 2 groundouts, because he’s cool like that. Go Dodgers.
• Twins 2 – 5 Rays. David Price blah blah blah 11 strikeouts blah blah blah 1st Major League win blah blah blah Free Rick Porcello!
• Reds 5 – 9 Brewers. Some dudes hit some home runs.
• Tigers 6 – 3 Orioles. Is Luke Scott on steroids? Naw, he’s just in an un-slump.
• Astros 4 – 7 Pirates. Hey guys, the Pirates just won another game. Meanwhile, the Astros lost another one and are hopelessly out of contention. Kind of like the Nationals.
• Yankees 10 – 5 Indians. Your first double-digit scoring game of the night was notable only for the fact that CC Sabathia gave up runs. I really hate that guy. Oh, and Nick Swisher (perhaps better known simply as AJ Burnett’s new boyfriend) hit a home run. I’m sure they celebrated in an entirely appropriate fashion that didn’t involve ice cream or maple syrup or leather and chains. No, I didn’t just imply that.
• Nationals 6 – 9 Phillies. Cole Hamels gets shelled but gets the win anyway. Disgusting. Lidge doesn’t implode, but his ERA is still above 8. Good luck with that, buddy.
• White Sox 5 – 3 Royals. Gil Meche gets no love from the bullpen. Which sucks.
• Athletics 1 – 14 Rangers. The average Leverage Index for this game was so low that it actually may have caused a Fangraphs implosion. Seriously, check it out:

• Padres 7 – 8 Rockies. This game is actually so boring that there’s no proof it happened, so I can’t tell you what happened, although I’m sure if you really want to know you can look it up somewhere.
• Mariners 4 – 3 Angels. If you’re a Mariners fan, then Jose Lopez is your saviour. On the other hand, if you’re a Mariners fan, then you probably have bigger problems, including the fact that your #5 starter is actually a vampire. That’s my clever way of saying that I sort of have a crush on Jason Vargas.
• Cardinals 6 – 2 Giants. Zito was doing fine until he gave up 3 consecutive doubles in the 7th. Actually, on a team that didn’t epitomize suckitude, he would’ve had an easy shot at winning this game, except that 1) Albert Pujols is on steroids and 2) The Giants suck, ergo, their bullpen sucks, ergo, their starters don’t win unless they pitch complete game shutouts. Except for that one time, but I’m pretty sure that was an accident. Oh, and Albert Pujols did do something good; namely, he struck out looking on a curveball from Zito that came thisclose to making me scream in delight. (I did actually sort of whimper, but the sexual power of a pitch like that is a discussion for another time. Just watch any Roy Halladay start, or a good AJ Burnett start. You’ll understand.)

Good morning. I know in darkness I will find you giving up inside like me.

Take Us Out To The Ballgame: The Ladies…do Busch Stadium

I’ve been to a few stadiums around the country and other than my team’s home, Miller Park, I would put Busch Stadium in St. Louis on the top of my list.

The views are great, the stadium and field are beautiful, and everyone (well, most everyone) was accepting and nice.

Of course, Friday night’s game ended up getting rained out, so we ended up buying tickets to Saturday’s game, which was going to be our off day, over Craigslist on Friday night.

Special thanks to the very nice man who sold us his season tickets for  below face and emailed them to us. It couldn’t have gone smoother.

When Your Team Exceeds Expectations

How far do you have to be on the radar when you’ve won seven in a row, including two straight sweeps , won 21 of your last 26 games, exceeded pretty much everyone’s expectations, and the week’s stories about the Hottest Team in Baseball aren’t about you?

Poor Brewers.

This isn’t another one of those east coast or west coast bias complaints. I live in Milwaukee. I’ve long since come to terms with the fact that no one cares what happens here. But really, can’t a team get any respect?