4/5/08 Giants (Correia) at Brewers (Parra): 12:05 PM CDT

[fondybrewfan]

This was by far our ugliest game of the year so far. That said we still got the win. I suppose that is the sign of a good team. That or the Giants are really that bad. Gotta believe it should be a good game tommorrow. Sheets on the hill facing a below average lefty.

[berniebrewer4life]

Honestly Fondy, i think it's a little of both. The giants could be the worst team in baseball IMO.

[southpaw121505]

Day one was only one bad day, and today was only one good day. But, I feel a lot better about Gagne. His change up is filthy.

[PeaveyFury]

Gagne looked much better today, and looked noticeably more comfortable on the mound (no kicking the dirt, flexing his hand, etc). I'm guessing in Chicago he was just cold as heck and/or his goggles were fogging up.

 

Rivera has really pitched in with the bat so far, but he makes Kendall look like Pudge behind the plate... not good.

 

Great start to the season!

[hawing]

I have to admit, I wasn't at all pumped up to see Gagne take the mound. I could tell the Brewers wanted me to be excited, with their special Gagne videoboard graphics and "Welcome to the Jungle" blasting on the PA system. The crowd (as far as I could hear from my vantage point) also seemed relatively non-committal as he warmed up (though I'll take non-committal over booing).

 

But in today's outing, he looked alllll right to me. I noticed at least one 94 on the stadium speed pitch display. I'd love for the day to come when Miller Park is rockin' every time Eric makes an appearance. For now, I've got hope, and more than I had after Monday's game.

 

Corey's savvy baserunning to score that first run was super sweet to see in person. From our terrace box location we had a fine vantage point; he knew just when to tap the plate with his foot. Presumably all the local news stations will just replay the homeruns (which were also enjoyable), but I might have enjoyed Corey's play the most.

 

Watching those guys run out onto the field today (and then the 8 or so redshirted employees descend upon them), I think that was the first time I've ever seen someone get clotheslined. We were hoping we wouldn't have to pin a loss on the runners, in case the hubbub they created was enough to distract David Riske (and it almost seemed to do so).

 

Above all, I was very happy just to be back in the park today. It's as if all's right with the world. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Sepolevne]

The guys running out on the field was kind of a trip. I heard that they both get at least $1,200 fines for that. The guys sitting behind me were saying that they were thinking about doing it if the fine was only around $500 because they could get their buddies to help them with the fine. Ahhh to be young and dumb again. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/tongue.gif

 

I wasn't really on the Gagne bandwagon. I've said before that the Brewers must really not like having $10 million when they signed Gagne. Then he blew the save in Chicago, but when I saw him today I jumped on the bandwagon. Even got myself one of them jersey shirts with his name on the back.

 

But what was up with the Giants today. It looked like their triple A team's bus took a wrong turn in Albuquerque and somehow they wound up in Milwaukee.

 

And I have to totally agree with you hawning. There's just something awesome about the season starting. After this awful winter, it's nice to pretend it's the summer, even if it's not yet.

[SeriesFinale]

I'm on pace to take a shower and go get a beer

Dude SeriesFinale, I think that is sig worthy. Made me laugh out loud.

 

 

Thanks, I actually surpassed expectations and had two beers and then even got a little grocery shopping in. Time for the post-season: dinner and maybe a movie.

 

Anyway, yeah, Gagne looked miles ahead of last Monday in terms of comfort. I thought the comments about "Opening Day jitters" were a little ridiculous for someone who's supposed to be a steely veteran, but maybe that was indeed the case.

 

The drunk-guys-running-on-the-field thing was embarrassing, but at least they were the tackled and not the tacklers. Kuiper and Krukow were pretty unamused at the least.

 

As far as the Giants' AAA team goes, that's what they need to do more of--run Velez, Bocock, Ortmeier, Davis, and all the rest of the young guys out there as much as possible since the old duffers aren't gonna cut it anyway (regardless of what Durham did today) and you might as well give the rookies some PT. It seemed like the Brew Crew was trying to give this game away with their defense today but thankfully the Giants' inexperience trumped that.

[mls4]

Kapler is the 267th Brewer player to hit at least one HR.

Gagne is the 123rd Brewer pitcher to record at least one save.

Parra is the 248th Brewer pitcher to record at least one win.

 

Just FYI.

Where in the world did you find that gem? baseballreference?

Actually, on mlb.com, you can get the Brewers historical stats, sorted by any stat you like. Sorting by saves, I can see that the pitchers with zero saves start at #123.

Although this does include the Seattle Pilots season of 1969.