JenksFan5

The biggest difference in the Brewers team this year is that they have suddenly learned to work the count and take walks. It reminds me of the Cubs lineup last year where there was a significant improvement in OBP and P/PA seemingly across the board. I don't know if it is Macha/Randolph/Sveum that are making the difference or if the young Brewers lineup are simply maturing as hitters. I believe they are second in the NL in walks (180) and 4th in the NL in OBP (.351, 25 points higher than 2008) while still remaining 3rd in slugging (.431, which is identical to last year to this point). I am not sure if this trend will continue, but the season is almost a quarter of the way through so it is getting to be a larger sample size. The Brewers pitching has been very good as well. I would think that the pitching has a better chance of regressing to the mean more than the hitting, but that is just my gut feeling. The Brewers are not top heavy with two studs at the top of the rotation, but every guy is at least a serviceable starter and Gallardo definitely has the makeup to be a great pitcher. Dave Bush has always been underrated and underappreciated. His WHIP has always been very good, he just had trouble avoiding the big inning with long balls being his biggest problem in the past and to a certain extent this year, but most have been solo shots against him. Another thing that the Brewers team has going for them is team chemistry. You can't measure its effect and put a number on it, but the team has 25 guys that are on the same page. Every Brewers player that is interviewed comments on that for the most part. I realize it is easy to have fun and team unity when you are winning and every team goes through their in-house scuffles, but the Brewers have that team chemistry factor that is often overlooked, simply because you cannot measure its impact on the team. Obviously, the Brewers are not going to keep winning at over an .800 pace as they have in their past 26 games, but I think the Brewers are a better team than everyone thought coming into the season. I still feel that the Cubs, when healthy, are the best team in the Central, but they are starting to get a bit old and the window is getting smaller for them to win in my opinion. I am not concerned about St. Louis even when they are at full strength. I think the Reds are more of a threat than the Cardinals, but I could be proven wrong there as well. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

It is hard to quantify defense and that is why I don't put that much stock into zone ratings, but that is the only thing that we have to go on so I will concede the point and stand corrected then. Thanks!

I will concede that Soriano has the tools and he could be a good left fielder if he gave maximum effort at all, but how can you say he is a good left fielder when half of the time, it does not seem like he even wants to be out there. I assume that you watch more Cubs games than I do (I only watch about 30-40 a year), so I will be willing to concede the point if you can justify why you think he is a good outfielder. I have watched him half ass it after too many flyballs that should be caught and nonshalantly throw balls into the infield to consider him a good outfielder. Kendall's "triple" on Sunday is a prime example and Weeks "double" on the Brewers home opener were both plays that could have been made or in Kendall's case, he should have been held to a double. He plays very deep in general and can't go back on a ball very well from what I have seen and I remember a number of instances last year where balls dropped in front of him that should be caught. Again, this is just in limited observation, so I may be wrong, but I would find it hard to believe that you can be satisfied with Soriano's effort on defense night in and night out.

I don't want to be a trolling Brewers fan, but just wanted to add a couple points. Braun is not a good defender, but he is not a complete hack either as some are describing. He is still young and will likely improve as a defender because he has a pretty determined work ethic. I can name 3 worse left fielders in the NL alone: Manny, Soriano, and Carlos Lee. They all are in the same position that Braun is, below average fielders, well above average hitters (Manny in a league of his own in the hitting department). Braun is not paid for his glove, but his bat and as long as he can hold his own in left field, the Brewers will be satisfied. Another thing is that not all Brewers fans became fans in the last 3 years. Many people have been brought back as fans because of the product on the field improving and actually having ownership committed to winning. Call them bandwagon fans, but the Brewers haven't been exactly a fun team for the casual baseball fan to watch until recently. Every fan base has die hard followers, casual fans and band wagon jumpers and the Cubs are no different. They have a number of very knowledgeable, die hard fans and they have the Wrigley bleacher bums that couldn't name 10 players on the team. Winning is going to bring new fans, plain and simple, but don't just blanket the fanbase as "new" fans. Not everyone cares to get into sabermetrics and read MoneyBall cover to cover, but every fanbase needs the casual bandwagon fan to sell tickets and keep the product on the field as competitive as it can be. Obviously, there is going to be a learning curve for a number of fans. My wife hated baseball before we started dating and now she makes comments like, "Man, Rickie Weeks seems to be hitting a lot better this year, but his walk rate has suffered because of it. I would rather sacrifice a few points in slugging to improve his OBP. Otherwise Macha should move him down in the order." When she said this, I couldn't have been more amazed and it shows that she has learned something over the last 10 years of being season seat holders. It was pretty proud moment for me. Most of us as baseball fans started out as casual fans and became more knowledgeable as we started to immerse ourselves in the intracacies of baseball every day of our lives. A fan has to start somewhere. Last point. Your bias toward the Cubs will tend to make you dwell on the negative of opposing players, rather than the positive. Braun is a player that you would want on your team. He can flat out hit and is only going to get better and is signed to a very reasonable long term contract. I don't like Aramis Ramirez at all, but I would love to have him on the Brewers team. It always goes both ways. The Brewers used to be a perennial doormat and now are relevant largely in part to player drafting and development so opposing fanbases are starting to take notice and saying things like "player X is a punk" or "way to hop on the bandwagon". It's hard to dislike a team that is bad year after year so the angst directed toward the Brewers and Brewers players just tells me that the team is finally relevant again.

As a baseball fan, it is fun to witness a no hitter. Being a Brewers fan, it was painful to watch the Brewers get no-hit by Verlander last year, but I still was cheering for him to do it when it was obvious that the game was not going to be won. I guess I like witnessing rare accomplishments in baseball. It is part of what makes the game great. Sure it is the same in the W-L column, but if that is all that matters to you, baseball can be kind of meaningless. It would be just as easy to look in the paper at the standings the day after a game without knowing how the win/loss was accompished.

Put the shoe on the other foot. If Harden/Zambrano/Dempster had the same thing happen to him, Cub fans would up in arms about the scoring of that play. There is no way they would be talking about how Lou Piniella abused Harden. It is pure jealousy. Don't shift the focus onto Yost. It was a no-hitter. Just give credit where credit is due. Why is that so hard?

Sheets got shelled before the opener last year as well and he pitched a complete game 2-hitter against the Dodgers. Both Zambrano and Sheets will be ready to go when the bell rings on Opening Day.

Thanks guys. I thought that this might have been the case but just never was able to get bleacher seats before so I was a bit confused. Thanks for ridding me of my ignorance.

Does anyone know what section "GA" seats are in the bleachers at Wrigley. I tried to buy some seats for the April 3rd game and was confused when they came up with six seats in section "GA". Is this "general admission" like standing room only or is it not assigned seating in the bleachers at Wrigley? I am a Brewer fan trying to go into the den of lions in the Wrigley bleachers for the first time. Thanks in advance for the help. Should be a great race this year!

Take a look at Tulowitski's numbers and you will see that they are largely Coors Field numbers. A .960 OPS at Coors and a .720 OPS away from home. Braun has splits that are slightly favored by playing at home too, but not near the difference. (1.045 OPS at Miller Park, .966 OPS in away games) Tulowitski has had a great season, but it is not nearly the season that Braun had.

I would be pissed about it too if I were a Cubs fan, but that is just the nature of being out of contention in September. Organizations want to get a look at young talent to see if it fits in their future plans. And are you really whining about the Brewers missing Woody Williams? The guy has stunk it up this year. To me, a rookie pitcher has more to prove and is more likely to give it his all in a game like this than Woody Williams, who has no future with the organization. And Oswalt should just tell his wife to not have the baby or just go it alone while he pitches to keep the Brewers out of the playoffs? Things like that happen and the timing is unfortunate, but Oswalt can't miss the birth of his child. Bottom line is, you can be mad about it as fans (I know I would as a Brewers fan), but no way should a player be whining about it in the media. Give the cliche answer "If we take care of our business, we don't have to worry about the other team" and play ball. I find it hilarious that Floyd would actually comment on this. Finally, the Astros lineup has managed to put up 1 run in 18 innings, so Cy Young could be on the mound and it wouldn't have mattered. And the Stros had their A-lineup in each game (with the exception of Pence sitting last night). The Brewers just got done taking 2 of 3 from the Reds team that has given it their all and the Cubs can still do the same. Play ball!

Have you ever heard a late inning home run call by Uecker? I am not trying to be condescending, but I have the feeling you might be mistaking him for Jim Powell. Uecker's home run calls are great.

Uecker is not as sharp as he used to be. He loses track of the action a little too often for my liking, but this is just a recent development over the past couple of seasons. He calls the game sometimes as if he thinks you are watching along with him and forgets he needs to paint a picture of what is going on for the radio listener. That being said, he is one of the more entertaining announcers when he gets on a roll and his late inning home run calls are second to none. Jim Powell is Ueckers partner in crime and is a little bit dry, but he is very knowledgeable and really does his homework (much more so than Uecker). He is getting better at calling the game each year and does a much better job describing the action than Uecker, but does not have the quick wit and entertaining capabilities of Ueck. How people cannot tell the difference between the two is beyond me, but I guess that voice recognition comes with listening often. A I guess fans sometimes have a hard time listening to different styles when they are used to their home team announcers. As for me, I can hardly tolerate listening to a WGN radio broadcast with Pat and Ron. Pat calls a decent game and I can't complain about him too much other than being a bit bland at times, but Ron Santo is almost intolerable in my opinion. I realize that if you grew up listening to Ron, you probably love him, but as an outsider, it seems he brings nothing to the game and is just like having an overexuberant fan of the team sitting in on the broadcast.

My comments were only directed at a few unrealistic posters. I respect the majority of the opinions and agree that the Cubs have a chance to catch the Brewers in the division because they are the next most talented team or as talented on paper. My comments about the Brewers having home grown talent was more a comment on how team chemistry is important. I watch a ton of Cubs games and almost every Brewer game and it just seems that the Brewers have a lot more fun playing together and I think it is a testament to the difference in team chemistry. Cubs have a lot of star power and they don't always seem to mesh. There is no stat or metric to measure this, but if you watch both teams play, it just seems that way to me. I meant no disrespect with my post and I use this site everyday to become a more knowledgeable fan and appreciate the discussions. Here's to an enjoyable division race for the rest of the year. I will try to keep my "dumb" and "stupid" posts to a minimum.

The Brewers are a more complete team than the Cubs. They built the team from the ground up and only have one starting position player that is not home grown (Estrada). If you think Ryan Braun is playing out of his mind as a previous poster stated, you are mistaken. The guy has been able to rake at every level and continues to get even better. Corey Hart is finally just getting a shot to play and is excelling because of it. I love how everyone thinks that the Brewers will obviously regress yet the Cubs will magically bring it all together. It's madness. The Brewers position by position are a more talented team with stud prospects now becoming stud major league players. The scary part is that they are all 23 and 24 years old and will only get better. Believe what you want, but at least make the discussion a bit more realistic. From an outsiders perspective, it gets a little comical. I give it a couple days and the "This season is over thread" will be back.

I remember reading this thread and laughing. Just thought I'd take a trip down not so distant memory lane. I think he has shown flashes of being a decent player thus far. :D And hey, both Cubs and Brewers fans gotta be cheering for him to beat out Pujols for the starting job at the All-Star game.

The Cubs failed to capitalize when the Brewers were playing their worst baseball against the toughest stretch in their schedule. The Brewers went 10-20 before winning 6 of their last 7 and the Cubs only gained a game and a half during the Brewers horrific stretch and have now given that right back. The Cubs are a talented team on paper, but they just can't quite seem to put it all together when they need to.

In one word. Yes.

I agree that Bush is underrated. I think he would be a #3 on many pitching staffs if not a #2 on some weak staffs. His WHIP has been excellent and I love his potential. So far this year, he hasn't been able to avoid the big inning in his losses, but has been pretty solid, if not dominant apart from a few frames. I am not underrating Bush as much as I am showing confidence in Villanueva and his ability. Don't get me wrong, I am a big fan of Bush (definitely above Vargas), but Villanueva has shown capability to be a reliable guy as well (career 1.10 WHIP in over 70IP).

I agree to a certain extent, but the Brewers are still a small market team that need to be financially savvy. The reason that Braun is not in the big leagues yet is because of a future arbitration/contract issues in my opinion. I believe his arby clock turns over sometime in June and the Brewers could push arbitration another year. Don't ask me the complete logistics of the situation, but it is definitely playing a roll in holding him back. As long as the Brewers are winning there is no rush to fill the hole at third base and it gives Braun ample time to work on the throw from third to first, which is usually where he makes his errors. Although every time he makes an error this year (in the minors and Spring Training), he has gone yard in his next AB except for once.

Currently, the Brewers have 2 guys that could fill the rotation out if somebody got injured. The first and most likely candidate would be Carlos Villanueva. He is major league tested and has pretty good success. He's got decent command and his best pitch is his A++ changeup. The Brewers are currently using him as a long relief man/seventh inning guy and his numbers are good (3-0, 2.79 ERA, 19.1 IP, 1.34 WHIP). He started the second half of last year and could easily step into the 5th spot with little drop in the overall strength of the staff. He's not Sheets, Suppan or Capuano, but he is on the same level as Bush and Vargas. The second option would be Yovanni Gallardo. He is young and unproven, but he is putting up eye opening numbers in the minors (4-1, 2.19 ERA, 37 IP, 11 BB, 51 Ks 0.86 WHIP). Yo is knocking on the door, but is unproven at the major league level so he would be more of a risk, but he also has a higher ceiling than Villanueva. He has been very consistent at every level. Starting pitching depth is not the issue for the Brewers in my honest opinion, but I think Villanueva would get the nod over Gallardo based on experience alone and the fact that Villanueva is a bit older (24) vs. Gallardo (just turned 21 at end of Feb.). Where this team is weakest would be in long relief. Also, injuries that would really hurt the team would be Fielder, Hardy, Weeks or Estrada. They really don't have a decent backup first baseman at all. Weeks and Hardy are obviously better than Counsell and Graffanino (although they would be serviceable) and Miller could not take the grind of catching every day if Estrada went down. Great discussion. Where would you guys say that the Cubs biggest depth problem is?

The Brewers could play the Cubs and one team could be terrible and one team great and they would still beat up on each other. It should be a good race to watch over the summer. Looking forward to it :D

I like visiting other teams boards and having intelligent discussions based on observation and statistical analysis. I have never been a troll and like to just talk baseball. If I feel that I can add something to a discussion, I might chime in, but not usually on another team's board. However, it is comments like these that I have a hard time with. The Brewers have been clearly a better team than the Cubs this year. The Cubs have won some games against weak opponents just like the Brewers have done lately and have climbed over .500 playing some good baseball. However, the Brewers have been and are the better team as of 5/6/07. Now could that change. Of course. I would hope the Cubs would be more competitive than they were to begin the season based on talent and payroll alone, but you have to give credit where credit is do. The Brewers are the better team right now. Now I will return to the woodwork.

Fielder .298 9 HR 26 RBI .964 OPS, age 22 Lee .414 2 HR 21 RBI 1.108 OPS, age 31 I'll give the edge to Lee for now, but in a couple of years it will not be so. I think Fielder might even put up better numbers than Lee this year, but I suppose I should take off the Brewer goggles. :shock: Position by position, it is close between the Cubs and Brewers, but that is why they play the games.

Yfinn, it is not for lack of velocity on Sheets fastball. It is all about location. I was at the game last night and he through 93-96 the entire night with his 4-seemer.