Around the diamond
Nine things discovered in the Brewers opening series
By Jimmy Lemke
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He turned in his first quality start as a Brewer: seven innings, two earned runs. Suppan got himself out of trouble a couple of times and combined with the relievers to strand eight runners.
Opening week in Major League Baseball is about as revealing as a black trench coat in the summer “ you dont see much.
That doesnt stop the so-called experts from defining a teams season after the first stanza; they like to declare a team that did well for real or a team that got swept in trouble.
The fact is, in a 162-game season, nothing can be truly found out in the first week of the baseball season. Or can it?
After watching Opening Day from my friends living room and attending the final two games of the Dodgers series, I made nine discoveries, one for each position on the field.
- The Bucketheads will be sorely missed
When Daron Sutton took the yellow-brick road out of Milwaukee over the winter, the Brewers were left with a hole in their play-by-play spot on their television crew.
However, after sitting in the Home Run Deck at Front Row Fridays on Tuesday, a bigger hole was found “ the Bucketheads are gone.
Tuesday contests, usually the least-attended games of the week, were missing the loge level fanatics and their ice cream pails.
Since Sutton left, Daron and Bills Buckethead Brigaders were no more. FSN Wisconsin needs to scramble for a Tuesday gimmick, and I mean fast.
- Benny Sheets is back
The Sheeter, plagued by injuries the past two years, made arguably one of the top five starts of his career on Opening Day, beating the living crap out of the Dodgers with the best stuff in the majors. Somewhere, Cubs fans cried themselves to sleep knowing Mark Prior and Kerry Wood are now all alone in the NL Central injury-plagued pitcher pen.
- Cubs fans need to go home
Wednesday was a great game, but I couldnt help but realize that the Cubbies were not playing on the field. What the heck? Then why did I come across at least 15 people wearing Cubs apparel and screaming derogatory comments at the Brewers?
Oh yeah, the grand majority of Cubs fans are contemptible and make stupid remarks about how this is Wrigley North and they cant wait to beat the Brewers personally come Friday.
I was actually a bit impressed that the Cubs fans got to Milwaukee early enough to attend the series prior to their own, but then I realized theyre probably just Marquette students.
- Jeff Suppan is worth the money
He turned in his first quality start as a Brewer: seven innings, two earned runs. Suppan got himself out of trouble a couple of times and combined with the relievers to strand eight runners. Too bad the Brewers stranded 11, causing many fans to pull out their hair.
- The Chorizo is crap
Other than the fact that the Brewers are reaching out to the Latino community on the South Side, there was no reason to add a fifth sausage. Ill admit, I was against adding the hot dog as well, but four makes sense. The Klements Racing Sausages are a staple of the Brewers, of the Milwaukee tradition, and adding a fifth is like adding Charlie Sheen to the cast of Spin City “ it just doesnt work.
Not to mention the runner inside the Chorizo on Wednesday looked ready to keel over, finishing an easy 25 sausage-widths behind the four betterwursts.
- Parking is getting out of hand
All right, seriously, $15 to park a quarter mile from the stadium? I mean, we spent a good five minutes trying to find the car on Wednesday, only to figure out we parked on the far side of the median in Pirates 1 (Lots are named after NL teams).
I suppose the increase was warranted, seeing as they need to pay the salaries of the 57 people who flagged my buddys car into his parking spot. He said right then that they could save 10 grand by cutting two or three of those guys.
- Luis Gonzalez may want to murder me
Im sure Gonzalez really didnt appreciate the stuff I yelled at him from the Home Run Deck on Tuesday. I mean, the kind of things fans say to players, like in my case, makes me feel stupid for putting my last name on the back of a jersey. Im just making it easier for him to seek and destroy me. Just in case youre reading, Luis, I want to tell you that I really havent had your wife before, so I cant judge whether or not she is better than my other sexual conquests.
- Platooning Kevin Mench and Geoff Jenkins in left is a good idea
I was one of many people who were against trading Carlos Lee mainly to get Mench. Sure, his contract was expiring, but this guy? Even his nickname, Shrek, sucks.
When he played left field on Tuesday, we held off on him until the sixth inning until the inevitable Sloth jokes from The Goonies came out of the woodwork. No sooner had I done my best impression of him saying Baby Ruth, he hit the game-winning two-run homer.
His clutch hitting saved the game for the Brewers, who were beginning to give way to serious hitting by the Dodgers. Jenkins has also gone back to playing great defense.
- Im not backing off on predicting the Brewers to be World Champs
The Los Angeles Dodgers were predicted by Sports Illustrated, among others, to reach the World Series in November. Ben Sheets made them look like schoolchildren on Opening Day.
On the other track, the Brewers showed they can hit in the clutch, smacking shots with runners in scoring positions and drawing key walks (like Rickie Weeks genius idea to stand directly on the plate Tuesday night).
Even during the loss Wednesday, you really had the feeling the Brewers would pull it off, with Counsells two-run double and Hardys homer keeping it close.
Opening Week may not have opened the proverbial trench coat, but it was a sneak peek into a bright, bright future.


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