"Turd Throw" and other stories from the rancid NLC.

[Andy]

See, this is why the Brewers can't win.  They half-assed this.  Ned needed to beat up his annoying catcher.  Just yelling at him isn't enough.  Hell, if all you had to do is yell at the catcher to win a pennant, Lou's Mariners would have been to six World Series with all the bitching he did at John Marzano and Dan Wilson.

If you're serious about winning, you do what it takes.  Ned should have punched his fat assed catcher.  Some guys just don't have what it takes, I guess.

[Down In Front]

Some Milwaukee writer can't decide whether to throw the Brewers under the bus, Mariotti-style, or hop on the bandwagon

THE VIEW FROM MILWAUKEE

Trouble brewing with sliding Brewers
BY MICHAEL HUNT. Michael Hunt is a columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

August 3, 2007

MILWAUKEE -- Maybe it's just a coincidence that ESPN is currently airing "The Bronx is Burning," the story of how the 1977 World Series champion New York Yankees nearly imploded, with one of the igniters being a very public dugout dust-up between Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin.

Maybe it's just happenstance that the Cubs began their pursuit of the Brewers in earnest this season after Carlos Zambrano and Michael Barrett got into a very public fistfight.

Who knows what may or may not motivate the Brewers as they seem to be on the verge of unraveling in a very public way. But if it takes players getting into it with the manager in the dugout in defense of a teammate, then let the jaws flap, the fingers point and the words fly.

Sure beats Carlos Villanueva getting lit up again, allowing a minor-league pitcher to shut you down or the New York Mets hammering you into submission.

Problem for the Brewers, both occurred Thursday, the 12-4 beating and the shouting match between Ned Yost and a couple of his players. For a team like the Brewers, who have apparently lost whatever mojo it was that once carried them, such a double shot of calamity could send them right over the edge or back into their position of strength.

But this much is for sure:

They could not have continued on the same path, with the veterans piddling around and the kids trying to carry them. Sorry, but rookies aren't going to win a pennant. It's going to take real leadership from the older players and a concerted team effort, not the fragmented mess that has characterized the play of the last four series.

Maybe they needed an incident like the one captured by New York TV, in which Johnny Estrada was shown being restrained from Yost in the dugout. What wasn't shown was Tony Graffanino also having words with the skipper. Both were upset that Yost had called out a player, and all were essentially within their rights.

Yost, under pressure to win now or be gone, has reached the point where he must launch into a player because the season will slip away if the Brewers don't get a handle on this, and soon. And if Graffanino, Estrada and the rest of the veterans begin to take ownership of this team as they went after Yost, maybe that kind of energy will reawaken this team.

Afterward in the clubhouse, it was like listening to Sgt. Schultz from the old "Hogan's Heroes" show or a bunch of sassy neighborhood kids standing around a broken window. They saw nothing.

A show of team unity in the face of trouble is one thing. But what the Brewers also have to understand right now is that public denial is not a good coping skill in trying times.

[Indolent Reader]

I will hereafter refer to the Milwaukee American National League Ball Club as "The Fragmented Mess".

[BC]

I will hereafter refer to the Milwaukee American National League Ball Club as "The Fragmented Mess".

Looks like I need to give this guy some pointers about writing circular comments that end up leaving the reader even more confused than when they started to read.

First, if anyone is trying to argue both sides of the point, then they must be CONVINCED that neither side is the correct position. This is the key to most of my criticized comments, I have no idea what side to take so I have to spend 200 words trying to tell the reader how I got to the point of being confused.

Second, you can't just call something a "mess" or a "problem" or a "struggle", you have to use unnecessary unneeded adjectives at any time. Plus, it really helps if you just throw in hyperbole to make you look more silly.

Third, you have to add a heap of self-loathing because while you enjoy good moments and wins, you just can't get over the fact that in the end something will almost certainly happen that will leave you mightily disappointed and make you even more bitter and self-loathing.

It looks to me that Mr. Hunt did OK on the second point, terrible on the third point, and just a tad better than terrible on the first point. If only someone could do circumnavigational writing of sports issues better...

[Taylor]

Some Milwaukee writer can't decide whether to throw the Brewers under the bus, Mariotti-style, or hop on the bandwagon

THE VIEW FROM MILWAUKEE

Trouble brewing with sliding Brewers
BY MICHAEL HUNT. Michael Hunt is a columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

August 3, 2007

MILWAUKEE -- Maybe it's just a coincidence that ESPN is currently airing "The Bronx is Burning," the story of how the 1977 World Series champion New York Yankees nearly imploded, with one of the igniters being a very public dugout dust-up between Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin.

Maybe it's just happenstance that the Cubs began their pursuit of the Brewers in earnest this season after Carlos Zambrano and Michael Barrett got into a very public fistfight.

Who knows what may or may not motivate the Brewers as they seem to be on the verge of unraveling in a very public way. But if it takes players getting into it with the manager in the dugout in defense of a teammate, then let the jaws flap, the fingers point and the words fly.

Sure beats Carlos Villanueva getting lit up again, allowing a minor-league pitcher to shut you down or the New York Mets hammering you into submission.

Problem for the Brewers, both occurred Thursday, the 12-4 beating and the shouting match between Ned Yost and a couple of his players. For a team like the Brewers, who have apparently lost whatever mojo it was that once carried them, such a double shot of calamity could send them right over the edge or back into their position of strength.

But this much is for sure:

They could not have continued on the same path, with the veterans piddling around and the kids trying to carry them. Sorry, but rookies aren't going to win a pennant. It's going to take real leadership from the older players and a concerted team effort, not the fragmented mess that has characterized the play of the last four series.

Maybe they needed an incident like the one captured by New York TV, in which Johnny Estrada was shown being restrained from Yost in the dugout. What wasn't shown was Tony Graffanino also having words with the skipper. Both were upset that Yost had called out a player, and all were essentially within their rights.

Yost, under pressure to win now or be gone, has reached the point where he must launch into a player because the season will slip away if the Brewers don't get a handle on this, and soon. And if Graffanino, Estrada and the rest of the veterans begin to take ownership of this team as they went after Yost, maybe that kind of energy will reawaken this team.

Afterward in the clubhouse, it was like listening to Sgt. Schultz from the old "Hogan's Heroes" show or a bunch of sassy neighborhood kids standing around a broken window. They saw nothing.

A show of team unity in the face of trouble is one thing. But what the Brewers also have to understand right now is that public denial is not a good coping skill in trying times.

I wonder if he goes by Michael or just Mike?

[The Ghost of Desipio Past]

Some Milwaukee writer can't decide whether to throw the Brewers under the bus, Mariotti-style, or hop on the bandwagon

THE VIEW FROM MILWAUKEE

Trouble brewing with sliding Brewers
BY MICHAEL HUNT. Michael Hunt is a columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

August 3, 2007

MILWAUKEE -- Maybe it's just a coincidence that ESPN is currently airing "The Bronx is Burning," the story of how the 1977 World Series champion New York Yankees nearly imploded, with one of the igniters being a very public dugout dust-up betwe

en Reggie Jackson and Billy Martin.

Maybe it's just happenstance that the Cubs began their pursuit of the Brewers in earnest this season after Carlos Zambrano and Michael Barrett got into a very public fistfight.

Who knows what may or may not motivate the Brewers as they seem to be on the verge of unraveling in a very public way. But if it takes players getting into it with the manager in the dugout in defense of a teammate, then let the jaws flap, the fingers point and the words fly.

Sure beats Carlos Villanueva getting lit up again, allowing a minor-league pitcher to shut you down or the New York Mets hammering you into submission.

Problem for the Brewers, both occurred Thursday, the 12-4 beating and the shouting match between Ned Yost and a couple of his players. For a team like the Brewers, who have apparently lost whatever mojo it was that once carried them, such a double shot of calamity could send them right over the edge or back into their position of strength.

But this much is for sure:

They could not have continued on the same path, with the veterans piddling around and the kids trying to carry them. Sorry, but rookies aren't going to win a pennant. It's going to take real leadership from the older players and a concerted team effort, not the fragmented mess that has characterized the play of the last four series.

Maybe they needed an incident like the one captured by New York TV, in which Johnny Estrada was shown being restrained from Yost in the dugout. What wasn't shown was Tony Graffanino also having words with the skipper. Both were upset that Yost had called out a player, and all were essentially within their rights.

Yost, under pressure to win now or be gone, has reached the point where he must launch into a player because the season will slip away if the Brewers don't get a handle on this, and soon. And if Graffanino, Estrada and the rest of the veterans begin to take ownership of this team as they went after Yost, maybe that kind of energy will reawaken this team.

Afterward in the clubhouse, it was like listening to Sgt. Schultz from the old "Hogan's Heroes" show or a bunch of sassy neighborhood kids standing around a broken window. They saw nothing.

A show of team unity in the face of trouble is one thing. But what the Brewers also have to understand right now is that public denial is not a good coping skill in trying times.

I wonder if he goes by Michael or just Mike?

His close friends call him Ham Wallet.

[EG]

I will hereafter refer to the Milwaukee American National League Ball Club as "The Fragmented Mess".

Looks like I need to give this guy some pointers about writing circular comments that end up leaving the reader even more confused than when they started to read.

First, if anyone is trying to argue both sides of the point, then they must be CONVINCED that neither side is the correct position. This is the key to most of my criticized comments, I have no idea what side to take so I have to spend 200 words trying to tell the reader how I got to the point of being confused.

Second, you can't just call something a "mess" or a "problem" or a "struggle", you have to use unnecessary unneeded adjectives at any time. Plus, it really helps if you just throw in hyperbole to make you look more silly.

Third, you have to add a heap of self-loathing because while you enjoy good moments and wins, you just can't get over the fact that in the end something will almost certainly happen that will leave you mightily disappointed and make you even more bitter and self-loathing.

It looks to me that Mr. Hunt did OK on the second point, terrible on the third point, and just a tad better than terrible on the first point. If only someone could do circumnavigational writing of sports issues better...

SD is no longer the most self-aware sonofabitch on this board.

[Three times a JD]

I will hereafter refer to the Milwaukee American National League Ball Club as "The Fragmented Mess".

Looks like I need to give this guy some pointers about writing circular comments that end up leaving the reader even more confused than when they started to read.

First, if anyone is trying to argue both sides of the point, then they must be CONVINCED that neither side is the correct position. This is the key to most of my criticized comments, I have no idea what side to take so I have to spend 200 words trying to tell the reader how I got to the point of being confused.

Second, you can't just call something a "mess" or a "problem" or a "struggle", you have to use unnecessary unneeded adjectives at any time. Plus, it really helps if you just throw in hyperbole to make you look more silly.

Third, you have to add a heap of self-loathing because while you enjoy good moments and wins, you just can't get over the fact that in the end something will almost certainly happen that will leave you mightily disappointed and make you even more bitter and self-loathing.

It looks to me that Mr. Hunt did OK on the second point, terrible on the third point, and just a tad better than terrible on the first point. If only someone could do circumnavigational writing of sports issues better...

SD is no longer the most self-aware sonofabitch on this board.

BC's really coming into his own.  Now, if he'd just get off the Jim Hendry diet, then he might be able to come into someone else's.

[Internet Apex]

I will hereafter refer to the Milwaukee American National League Ball Club as "The Fragmented Mess".

Looks like I need to give this guy some pointers about writing circular comments that end up leaving the reader even more confused than when they started to read.

First, if anyone is trying to argue both sides of the point, then they must be CONVINCED that neither side is the correct position. This is the key to most of my criticized comments, I have no idea what side to take so I have to spend 200 words trying to tell the reader how I got to the point of being confused.

Second, you can't just call something a "mess" or a "problem" or a "struggle", you have to use unnecessary unneeded adjectives at any time. Plus, it really helps if you just throw in hyperbole to make you look more silly.

Third, you have to add a heap of self-loathing because while you enjoy good moments and wins, you just can't get over the fact that in the end something will almost certainly happen that will leave you mightily disappointed and make you even more bitter and self-loathing.

It looks to me that Mr. Hunt did OK on the second point, terrible on the third point, and just a tad better than terrible on the first point. If only someone could do circumnavigational writing of sports issues better...

SD is no longer the most self-aware sonofabitch on this board.

I think SD stole BC's password. This is getting kind of eerie. BC, if you ever get hired by a newspaper or magazine or website. Write your normal suck for about a year until you're about to get fired, then spend the next six weeks analyzing your own writing in this way. Gold. You'll win a Pullitzer or an SPJ award or get a raise... something. Whatever you've been smoking, keep smoking it. You're on to something.  

[BC]

I will hereafter refer to the Milwaukee American National League Ball Club as "The Fragmented Mess".

Looks like I need to give this guy some pointers about writing circular comments that end up leaving the reader even more confused than when they started to read.

First, if anyone is trying to argue both sides of the point, then they must be CONVINCED that neither side is the correct position. This is the key to most of my criticized comments, I have no idea what side to take so I have to spend 200 words trying to tell the reader how I got to the point of being confused.

Second, you can't just call something a "mess" or a "problem" or a "struggle", you have to use unnecessary unneeded adjectives at any time. Plus, it really helps if you just throw in hyperbole to make you look more silly.

Third, you have to add a heap of self-loathing because while you enjoy good moments and wins, you just can't get over the fact that in the end something will almost certainly happen that will leave you mightily disappointed and make you even more bitter and self-loathing.

It looks to me that Mr. Hunt did OK on the second point, terrible on the third point, and just a tad better than terrible on the first point. If only someone could do circumnavigational writing of sports issues better...

SD is no longer the most self-aware sonofabitch on this board.

I think SD stole BC's password. This is getting kind of eerie. BC, if you ever get hired by a newspaper or magazine or website. Write your normal suck for about a year until you're about to get fired, then spend the next six weeks analyzing your own writing in this way. Gold. You'll win a Pullitzer or an SPJ award or get a raise... something. Whatever you've been smoking, keep smoking it. You're on to something.  

I guess my new self-awareness could have been caused by the fact that I may very well be offered a job in the next few days. I interviewed for it yesterday and I got the impression I would've been offered on the spot except for the fact they already had someone else to interview either today or on Monday. I guess that means I have to survive one person. Anyway, I would be working for crumbs of month-old bread (Well, just under $21K, so the bread I guess could be only three weeks old), but I would get to do a daily radio show and also do high school play-by-play. And that's only what I've been wanting to do for the last eight-plus years.

Well, the play-by-play anyway. Not so sure about the high school thing, but that's where everyone gets their start, right?

[Shooter]

I guess my new self-awareness could have been caused by the fact that I may very well be offered a job in the next few days. I interviewed for it yesterday and I got the impression I would've been offered on the spot except for the fact they already had someone else to interview either today or on Monday. I guess that means I have to survive one person. Anyway, I would be working for crumbs of month-old bread (Well, just under $21K, so the bread I guess could be only three weeks old), but I would get to do a daily radio show and also do high school play-by-play. And that's only what I've been wanting to do for the last eight-plus years.

Well, the play-by-play anyway. Not so sure about the high school thing, but that's where everyone gets their start, right?

BC's Self-deprecating posts = Will Ohman's recent 16 game stretch with a 1.59 ERA and a WHIP under 1.00.
This post = yesterday's Will Ohman appearance, confirming what we all knew

[The Ghost of Desipio Past]

I guess my new self-awareness could have been caused by the fact that I may very well be offered a job in the next few days. I interviewed for it yesterday and I got the impression I would've been offered on the spot except for the fact they already had someone else to interview either today or on Monday. I guess that means I have to survive one person. Anyway, I would be working for crumbs of month-old bread (Well, just under $21K, so the bread I guess could be only three weeks old), but I would get to do a daily radio show and also do high school play-by-play. And that's only what I've been wanting to do for the last eight-plus years.

Well, the play-by-play anyway. Not so sure about the high school thing, but that's where everyone gets their start, right?

BC's Self-deprecating posts = Will Ohman's recent 16 game stretch with a 1.59 ERA and a WHIP under 1.00.
This post = yesterday's Will Ohman appearance, confirming what we all knew

That you're in love with Will Ohman and it breaks your heart?

[EG]

BC's ongoing job search reminds me a lot of the Barbaro saga, both in content and in how it's covered.

[Andy]

Let's say that...

This week:

Cubs go 2-5
Brewers go 2-4
Cardinals go 4-2

Standings would be:

MIL 59-53 --
CHC 57-53 1 GB
STL 53-55 4 GB

Next week:

Cubs go 2-5
Brewers go 1-5
Cardinals go 5-2

MIL 60-58 --
CHC 59-58 .5 GB
STL 58-57 .5 GB

Week after (Remember that STL plays both MIL and CHC):

Say the Cardinals sweep the Brewers at MIL while the Cubs can only win 1 of 3 from the Reds, then the Cardinals go to CHC and win 2 of 3 while the Brewers can win 2 of 3 from the Reds...

Cubs go 2-4
Brewers go 2-4
Cardinals go 5-1

STL 63-58 --
MIL 62-62 2.5 GB
CHC 61-62 3 GB

-----

That scenario is realistic, and doesn't even take into account worst-case scenarios that could see the Brewers and Cubs even farther behind than the 2.5 and 3 games back they are in this scenario.

I'm still trying to follow this.  Where do the 15-1 and 12-1 losses the Cardinals have posted on their way to a 1-5 road trip through Pissburgh and DC fit in?

[The Paul Popovich Experience]

I guess my new self-awareness could have been caused by the fact that I may very well be offered a job in the next few days. I interviewed for it yesterday and I got the impression I would've been offered on the spot except for the fact they already had someone else to interview either today or on Monday. I guess that means I have to survive one person. Anyway, I would be working for crumbs of month-old bread (Well, just under $21K, so the bread I guess could be only three weeks old), but I would get to do a daily radio show and also do high school play-by-play. And that's only what I've been wanting to do for the last eight-plus years.

Well, the play-by-play anyway. Not so sure about the high school thing, but that's where everyone gets their start, right?

BC's Self-deprecating posts = Will Ohman's recent 16 game stretch with a 1.59 ERA and a WHIP under 1.00.
This post = yesterday's Will Ohman appearance, confirming what we all knew

That you're in love with Will Ohman and it breaks your heart?

Baseball has goats
Star players, expectations
But a LOOGY?