Brewers Off to Best Start in Franchise History

In case you missed it - and judging by the attendance you haven't - the Brewers have managed to win a few games here and there and are threatening to run away with the NL Central.  As of this post, the Brewers are now 35-20 and have a healthy 4.5 game lead over the Cubs in the division.  They are 7-1 on their current homestand, have won or split their last 6 series (all against legit playoff contending teams), and are an astounding 18-7 since being swept in a 4-game series by the Cubs on April 29th.  Following the final game of that fateful series, Travis Shaw took a page out of Aaron Rodgers' playbook when he tweeted the letters "C-H-I-L-L" out to Brewers Nation.  Whether by coincidence or design, the Brewers have been firing on nearly all cylinders since then.  The offense leads the NL in runs and homeruns per game since May 10th, the defense has been solid, the pitching staff overall owns the 5th best ERA in the NL, and the bullpen continues to carry the team with the best ERA in all of baseball.  They say that you shouldn't really pay attention to the standings until Memorial Day; if the year so far is a true indication of this team, it's going to be a hell of a final 2/3rds of the season.

The hot start, while historic, shouldn't come as a complete shock.  This team was expected to be even better than last year and was picked by many pundits to make the playoffs.  However, what might have many Brewers fans on edge have is that they have certainly been in this position before, only to eventually fade down the stretch.  They did so infamously in 2007 and almost again in 2008.  In fact they've done so 3 of the past 5 seasons.  But what sets this team a part from those other teams to me is their depth.  The Brewers are seemingly conducting transactions on almost a daily basis and are on pace to surpass last year's total of 51 players used on the active roster.  Part of it is a product of necessity due to injury and underperformance - look no further than the surprising demotion of Orlando Arcia last year.  But part of it is also the fact that we have the talent to keep guys fresh.  Ryan Braun and Chase Anderson have both served brief DL stints earlier this month for basically what amounted to a sore back and diarrhea respectively.  It's not to say that we didn't miss them on the roster, but this team has the flexibility and talent to allow guys to get healthy and not miss a beat.  I personally was not concerned one bit when Corey Knebel and Eric Thames went down with injuries because I knew we had Josh Hader and Jesus Aguilar waiting in the wings.  I also know Arcia will get right and be back on the team when we need him down the stretch, because Tyler Saladino has been such a good find.  We demoted Jacob Barnes earlier this year because of basically 4 poor outings after being unscored upon most of April.  This team has the depth, and even more importantly the roster flexibility with many players still having minor league options.  The fact that we can keep almost a complete major league caliber team stocked between AA and AAA is extremely encouraging.  If this team can manage to keep this up and stay within sight of the finish line until September call-ups - and the return of Jimmy Nelson - then I have more confidence in this team making a long run into the playoffs than I ever have before.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 05.29:
Brewers 35-20, +4.5 (3 v. Cardinals, 3 @ White Sox)
Reds 19-36, -16.0 (3 @ Diamondbacks, 3 @ Padres)
Twins 22-27, -3.5 (3 @ Royals, 4 v. Indians)

2018 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 2 (+9 worked)
Peter - 6

The Dark Knight Falls

A story that seems to have been glazed over in the media outside of New York is the end of Matt Harvey's turbulent tenure with the Mets.  After 3 years of injuries, struggles, and strained relationships with nearly everyone around him, the Mets finally cut ties on May 5th and designated him for assignment.  It's the end of a wild chapter for a pitcher who was at one time the face of MLB and well on his way to becoming the next Joe Namath in terms of popularity and exposure to the limelight.  It was only 5 years ago that a young Harvey burst onto the scene and placed 4th in Cy Young voting in his first full season and started for the Mets in the All-Star Game at Citi Field, which seems like forever ago now.  Harvey would miss all of 2014 recovering from Tommy John surgery, and came back to be a solid contributor during the Mets' journey to the World Series in 2015.  Just when he was starting to find his velocity again, he had season ending surgery in 2016 to relieve a nerve condition called Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and has not been the same since.  With a fastball now sitting in the low 90s, a lack of control, and a general disdain for the media, the Mets finally gave up on the once budding prospect and shipped him off to one of the few teams in the league that is bad enough to give him another chance - the Cincinnati Reds.

I remember the Mets World Series run of 2015 with the likes of Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, and Jacob DeGrom and thinking how dominant of a rotation this would be for the next 5 years.  With Harvey now flamed out and Matz and DeGrom both going through elbow injuries, it looks like the window may already be closing.  I'm going to 2 of the games of the Mets-Brewers series next weekend and I don't even know who's left in the rotation.  It just goes to show that for every Chicago Cubs or Houston Astros where every part of the rebuild falls into place, there is a team like the Mets.  Here's hoping they bring back Bartolo Colon.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 05.17:

Brewers 26-18, -- (3 @ Twins, 3 v. Diamondbacks, 4 v. Mets)

Reds 15-29, -11.0 (4 v. Cubs, 3 v. Pirates, 3 @ Rockies)

Twins 18-21, -1.5 (3 v. Brewers, 3 v. Tigers, 3 @ Mariners)

2018 GAMES ATTENDED:

Erik - 2 (+6 worked)

Peter - 4

Albert Pujols Joins Elite Company

If you would have told me in Spring Training that I'd be writing two posts about the Angels this year and neither would involve Mike Trout I would have laughed, but here we are.  This past weekend, Albert Pujols became just the 32nd member of the 3,000 hit club, with an opposite field looping single off of Mike Leake of the Mariners.  In doing so he became just the 4th player ever to reach both the 3,000 hit and 600 HR milestones, joining Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Alex Rodriguez.  Barring some unforeseen steroid accusation a la A-Rod, Pujols has all but cemented himself as a 1st-ballot Hall of Famer and without question one of the greatest right-handed hitters of all time.

With the Brewers being a National League team for my entire adult life, my memories of Pujols come from his glory days with the Cardinals.  For over a decade, he murdered us every single time we played them and largely contributed to my utter disdain for the team.  To say Pujols has dropped off with the Angels would be an understatement, but even at age 38 he is still productive enough to hit cleanup for a playoff contending team.  It can be argued that the shift in the free agent market dynamics we are currently seeing started with the albatross contract he signed in his age 32 season in 2012, but in the end, even just his numbers with St. Louis alone are nearly hall-of fame worthy.  My hatred of constantly being beaten by him stemmed from a place of respect for his talent.  No matter how much longer he keeps playing, I will remember him as one of the greatest hitters I have seen live due in large part to the number of games we played the Cards each year.  Pujols is amazingly still signed through 2021, so when he is finally done playing, it is not that far-fetched to speculate he will be in the top 5 in homeruns and top 10 in hits of all time.  He has largely been forgotten since becoming an Angel due to many factors - drop in production, injuries, and playing on the West Coast in a smaller market to name a few - but this week's historic event has rightfully reminded every baseball fan of just how good and historic a hitter that Albert "The Machine" Pujols really is.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 05.08:
Brewers 20-15, -1.0 (2 v. Indians, 4 @ Rockies, 3 @ Diamondbacks)
Reds 8-27, -13.0 (3 v. Mets, 4 @ Dodgers, 3 @ Giants)
Twins 14-17, -1.5 (2 @ Cardinals, 4 @ Angels, 1 v. Mariners, 2 v. Cardinals)

2018 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 2 (+5 worked)
Peter - 3

Shohei Ohtani: The Next Babe Ruth?

There are plenty of intriguing story lines so far in the first month of the 2018 season.  With still 5 days left in the month, MLB has already set a record with 28 weather cancellations in April, including a wild one in Toronto in which the retractable roof broke due to falling ice.  As of this post, Albert Pujols is only 6 hits shy of 3,000.  The Mets and Red Sox have gotten off to surprisingly hot starts, while Rob Manfred and all of South Florida are about ready to crucify Derek Jeter for his mission to field the worst team in baseball history.  But the biggest story of all has to be the young dual-threat Japanese phenom - Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani is attempting to do something that has not been done regularly and successfully in nearly a century - spend an entire season as both a starting pitcher and hitter.  He was quite successful at this in Japan before signing with Anaheim, posting a .286 average and 2.52 ERA in 5 seasons with the Nippon Ham Fighters, including a 2016 Pacific League MVP award.  Understandably, nearly every American baseball analyst doubted this would translate to the US, or that he would even start the year in the majors, despite immediately being branded as MLB's #1 prospect.  Many thought his hitting would be a gimmick to sell tickets for awhile before he eventually transitioned to a full-time pitcher.  However, in the first month of the season, Ohtani has more than held his own both in the box and on the rubber:

     Batting:  .333 BA, .997 OPS, 3 HR and 11 RBI in 11 games

     Pitching:  2-1, 4.43 ERA, 26 Ks in 20.1 IP

The Angels generally have been letting him pitch one day a week (which is customary in Japan), and DH'ing 2-3 times in between starts.  He has not pitched in a National League park yet, which will be a nightmare for whoever that team ends up being.  The big question marks for him coming into the league were if he would be able to handle the inside pitch as a hitter, would he be able to control his 100+MPH heat on the mound, and could he withstand the rigors of a longer MLB season?  So far he is proving people wrong.  Pitchers in Japan did not dare throw anything on the inside half of the plate when he was hitting to avoid the shame of injuring Japan's biggest baseball star, but he has had some of his biggest hits on high-inside heat this year, including an impressive bases-clearing triple in a game last week.  He did struggle with his command in his last start, issuing 5 walks, but he also struck out 7 - including reigning MVP Jose Altuve twice - and touched 100 MPH 8 times on the gun.  He has logged over half of the 100 MPH readings this year in all of MLB combined.

Only time will tell if he will be able to keep this up, but for now it is really fun to watch.  As 23-year old it would lead me to believe he is only going to improve in both areas as he learns how to pitch and grows into his body, especially given his reported work ethic.  Let's get to the elephant in the room here - Ohtani is doing things that have not been done since Babe Ruth during his tenure with the Red Sox.  Whether it is fair or not to compare a rookie Japanese prospect to arguably the greatest player of all time, it was bound to happen as he is the only true comparison.  Will Ohtani be the next Babe Ruth, or more like the next Brooks Kieschnick?  Likely somewhere in between, but who knows?  Japanese pitchers tend to flame out early in their careers because of how early they start oversees, so perhaps he focuses on pitching now and becomes a DH in the latter half of his career?  If you ask 100 people about Ohtani you will get 100 opinions and that is what is so intriguing about this unprecedented talent.

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 04.26:
Brewers 16-9 (4 @ Cubs, 3 @ Reds, 3 v. Pirates)
Reds 5-19 (3 @ Twins, 3 v. Brewers, 3 v. Marlins)
Twins 8-11 (3 v. Reds, 3 v. Blue Jays, 4 @ White Sox)

2018 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 2 (+4 worked)
Peter - 3

Creighton Baseball at TD Ameritrade Park

All photos of Creighton Blue Jays game available on Flickr.

I made my 15th(!) work trip to Omaha a couple of weeks ago and decided to return to TD Ameritrade Park to watch a Creighton baseball game instead of the Storm Chasers.  The Blue Jays use the park as their home field in an effort to justify building a brand new ballpark for basically one event, and judging by their record the last couple of years it is clearly a fantastic recruiting tool.  I was curious to see what the atmosphere would be like for a regular season collegiate game as opposed to the packed house of the College World Series.  The answer is that it could not have been more of a night and day difference.  The box score may tell you that the attendance was 1186, but I believe I counted only 150 fans at one point.  Either there were a ton of people staying warm in the suites, or a lot of season ticket holders did not want to brave the 40° temperature.  Regardless, it worked out well for me as I got a walkup seat for $10 only a few rows back from home plate.  I was also not too far from the Creighton dugout, from which their encouraging cheers were emanating so audibly that I almost felt like I was part of the team.

Given the cold weather (although given what we are getting hit with now it seemed almost tropical in hindsight), I took a lap around the stadium to stay warm.  I did not really notice anything different from my last visit in 2016, and it would have been easy to notice any changes given the emptiness of the park.  Literally only two concession stands were open and all that they had was your standard ballpark fare - dogs, popcorn, etc.  The one I went to was probably the lady's first ever customer and I had to coach her on tapping a beer.  I'm not saying I was expecting anything more; in fact this was exactly what I was expecting.  I just always find humor in going to games where the players and coaches outnumber the fans.  I stood in the bathroom with my Coors Light for awhile to stay warm and headed to my seat.

Creighton jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first three innings against Kansas State, and it made me feel better about only making it 6 innings before I tapped out.  K-State starter Jarod Marolf got the loss in only 2 innings of work, but it was his successor on the mound Andrew Stratman who had the poorest showing.  He lasted only 2/3rds of an innings, giving up 5 unearned runs on only 1 hit and 3 walks.  That one hit was a bases-loaded double by leadoff man Clark Brinkman.  It's always hard to focus on game action when it's cold and you're unfamiliar with the players, but the hitter who most stood out to me was Creighton's cleanup hitter, Will Robertson.  He went 2-4 with a 2-run triple and absolutely smoked the ball all 3 plate appearances I saw him.  I actually stayed an inning longer than I wanted to just so I could watch him hit a third time.  On the pitching side, the Creighton starter was quite impressive.  Preston Church got the win by pitching into the 6th, and was only pulled because of a strict pitch count.  He gave up no runs on 2 hits striking out 3.  He had an average fastball but decent breaking stuff located well that kept the Wildcat hitters off balance all night.

I left in the 7th and it looks like the Blue Jays hung on for the 8-3 win.  As of right now my last scheduled visit to Omaha for awhile will be in June, which I'm hoping lines up perfectly with yet another return trip to the College World Series.

starters - Jared Marolf (KSU) v. Preston Church (CRE)
opponent - Kansas State Wildcats
time of game - 3:14
attendance - 1180
score - 8-3 W
Brewers score that day - 6-0 L

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 04.16:
Brewers 8-8 (3 v. Reds, 4 v. Marlins, 2 @ Royals)
Reds 2-13 (3 @ Brewers, 3 @ Cards, 4 v. Braves)
Twins 7-4 (2 v. Indians [San Juan], 3 @ Rays, 4 @ Yankees)

2018 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 2 (+4 worked)
Peter - 2

Another Cold Brewers Home Opener

All photos of 2018 Brewers Home Opener available on Flickr.

The Brewers started on the road for the first time since 2012 and opened the season about as hot as you can, sweeping a 3-game series from the Padres.  They won a pitchers duel in extra innings on Thursday and two comeback wins Friday and Saturday, and all three were quite impressive.  Chase Anderson and Brent Suter looked great, the bullpen looked phenomenal, and new acquisitions Lorenzo Cain and Christian Yelich gave Brewer Nation a glimpse of things to come, both hitting over .500 on the series.

As hot as they were over the weekend, they came back down to earth a little bit yesterday losing 8-4 to the rival Cardinals.  It sure seems like the Brewers lose every year on Opening Day at this point - in fact I checked, and they are now 4-7 on the home openers I have been to including losing the last 4.  If you take out the 6th inning, they actually didn't play that bad.  The defense and offense looked stellar once again and Eric Thames even decided to contribute today with a homerun and a double.  Maybe he will have another magical April like he did last year?  Things were going pretty smoothly for starter Zach Davies until he gave up a homerun to mustachioed journeyman pitcher Miles Mikolas, which was also his first major league hit at age 29.  Manny Pina and Lo Cain also homered for the Brewers in the loss.

For the 3rd or 4th year in row, it was just as cold outside as the team was inside.  In fact we didn't even tailgate this year, but part of that was because we had our daughter Molly there at her first Brewers game!  Unfortunately she could not bring home the win, but she did great - other than managing to poop through 4 layers of clothing, but we don't need to relive that here on the internet.  The Brewers (as I'm sure every team does) gave us a certificate for her first game and it was certainly a day and a game I'll never forget. 

Besides our daughter and families being in attendance, I was also looking forward to seeing the supposed club level renovations this year.  They were actually not as extensive as I would have hoped, as the meat and bones of the level remained unchanged.  The renovations were mostly limited to finishes and cosmetic things.  For instance, there used to be aerial photos of all the parks the Brewers have played hung on the walls outside the suites; those were replaced with a nice end-grain wood wall and some accent paint.  There was also a nacho bar and an auxiliary seating area added down the 1st base side of the level.  But the main area where we spend half our time - the team store and bar - were totally unchanged.  There is plenty of opportunity to at least double the size of that bar, and it was disappointing to see it exactly the same.  This area gets so crowded when the weather is too cold, too hot, or if the Brewers are losing by a lot, which let's be honest adds up to like 3/4ths of the season.  And the one finish I was hoping to see them replace was the awful carpeting, and as far as I could tell it was the same.  The changes made were nice but did not go far enough.  I will say that I appreciate the Brewers putting most of their money into the parts of the park accessible to everybody.  It's hard to complain too much about expensive private areas not being nicer.  One welcome addition on the main level was the mother's nursing suite.  The Brewers are now only the 2nd MLB team to have such an area and I am sure Megan will be checking out later this season.

Another exciting season is finally upon us - PLAY BALL!

STANDINGS AND UPCOMING SERIES AS OF 04.03:
Brewers 3-1 (4 v. Cubs, 3 @ Cardinals, 3 @ Mets)
Reds 1-3 (4 @ Pirates, 3 @ Phillies, 4 v. Cardinals)
Twins 2-2 (3 v. Mariners, 3 v. Astros, 3 @ White Sox)

2018 GAMES ATTENDED:
Erik - 2
Peter - 1