Isn't this supposed to be fun?

[LUKE232323]

I'm not ignoring the hot-streak, I'm just showing it pales in comparison to the mediocre streak. 34 games of great baseball vs. 70 games of mediocre baseball. And we have work to do to even get back to .500 baseball during the "non-great" games, we're 4 under right now in that department.

[Ennder]

That is 100% completely normal for a team that ends the year .550. I don't know what else to say, you are going to think what you want to but this is not abnormal to have a prolonged streak of .500 in the middle of the season for a .550 type team. Personally I think the Brewers are probably more like a .530 team so its even more normal.

[LUKE232323]

I guess we'll just agree to disagree here. And .550 baseball = 89 wins by the way. That is 16 games over .500, in other words 7 games over the remaining games. What do you put the odds on us finishing our remaining 57 games 32-25? Assuming this is a .550 team is a pretty dangerous assumption right now.

[Ennder]

That makes my point for me though... Even if we are a .550 team it would be shocking if we didnt' play .500 ball over at least one 60 game stretch on the year and it wouldn't be abnormal to do it over a 100 game stretch, it wouldn't be a record to do it over a 120 game stretch.

 

Good teams play .500 ball for a lot of the season, its generally just a couple hot streaks that push them up over .500 in the first place. Even .600 winning percentage teams play .500 ball over 50 games of the year most of the time. Talking about us playing slightly under .500 for 70 games isn't abnormal at all, even if we are better than I think we are.

[davego]

This is heck, but also fun. I hate baseball...till the next win, then I'm planning the rotation for the NLCS. I hate Ned, then I think he is a master of baseball (that may be a streach). Anyway, part of being a fan. As of late I've been fustrated and disappointed...but like many of you, I lived thru 2002. This is nirvana compaired to that nonsense.

[PeaveyFury]

If this is supposed to be fun, I'm pretty sure we're not doing it right.

[Mr QL]

No it's only fun if we make the playoffs.

[MoneyballMan]

If this is supposed to be fun, I'm pretty sure we're not doing it right.

 

Exactly.

 

I wonder if Yost is going to tell us all to relax and enjoy it after this weekend. Kind of like going for that dreaded "man turns 50" exams and being told to just relax and enjoy it! And I don't mean an eye test at the DMV to keep your driver's license!

[MoneyballMan]

And in a twist of fate, I'm doubling my fun this year actually. I'm in a baseball simulation league and am GM of the Pittsburgh Pirates. My first year (2005), the Pirates finished 65-97 and in 6th place. Last year, I improved to 86-76, good for third place. So, I was really set up to do well this year, and in fact am 60-45 thus far.

 

And who am I 9 1/2 games behind right now? The Cubs, of course, who are a league-best (and smokin') 69-35! Everytime I win a few, they win. Everytime they lose a couple, so do I. And this is supposed to be fun, too!!

[Sepolevne]

This is exciting baseball. It's not fun to run away with the division. Then you get complacent as a fan. I love this living and dying with every box score.

[Fike85]

Today I was overcome with so much fury that I threw my shoe against the wall as hard as I could.

 

I am not having fun.

[danzig6767]

It's amazing how much my emotions change depending if we are at home or on the road.

 

At home,i pretty much expect Cordero to strand the guy at third by throwing a perfect slider for a K,on the road i dread he'll hang th slider and to often he does.

 

At home i have some confidence the leadoff walk will get handled,on the road my heart sinks after the leadoff walk in the close game and their crowd starts roaring.Can just feel the next base hit followed by crushed meatball pitch coming after our pitcher fell behind in the count 3-1.

 

At home after the bloop single drops in on us,i'm not as scared the next hitter will get a hung slider or curve.On the road,it feels like nearl every error allowed or bloop single/double rattles our pitcher and the next batter gets either walked/hit or is grooved some bad pitch that leads me to think,here we go again.

 

I simply expect us to lose on the road and they usually find a way to do so.At home,i expect them to win and they usually do.

[adambr2]

I'm not having fun, but I'm not even remotely ashamed to admit it.

 

Losing isn't fun. Yes, it's a game, and yes, games are supposed to be fun. But we all know perfectly well that winning is what we are looking for, and that's what brings the enjoyment out of the game.

 

I think what takes the fun out of it so much for me right now is the fact that I feel so let down. A month ago, I felt like the playoffs were more or less a lock. I didn't listen to people who said we were the Brewers and we would collapse. Now not only are we losing, but I almost feel like we're justifying everything they and the critics say, and that just adds to the bad feelings.

 

I know, I know, nothing that happens in the team's past determines the future. Still, how can you not think about it? It's like being cheated on by 15 straight girlfriends and trying to actually believe that this time, it might be different, because you're certain you have a better one this time. Sure, you have no reason to believe that anything in your past will determine anything that happens, but what else do you have to go by?

 

If this was a few years ago, I'd be elated right now to be here at this point in the season, because finally, a team would have brought hope to Milwaukee, and a team worth still watching in August.

 

But hope isn't good enough anymore. We need results before anyone is going to believe that we're going to do more than choke down the stretch and once again watch the playoffs from home.

[Ennder]

Pretty much the least fun thing in baseball is when your bullpen blows the game and that is basically why we have lost ground since the all star break. Our bullpen has blown at least 4 games which is the difference between us playing decently and poorly. I don't really blame people for being down after that last road series, still don't think they need to post that the season is over etc though.

[Invader3K]

It's not fun right now...we're not even losing to good teams. Losing 3 of 4 to teams like the Mets and Dodgers would be one thing, but we're losing to the bottom barrel teams of the league. The Brewers have a losing record since mid-May or so...again, not very fun to deal with. The Crew has a tenuous half game lead over the Cubs, of all teams.

 

It's hard to get pumped up and excited when your team is basically begging to lose its first place spot in their division.

[Thurston Fluff]

It will be more fun the more years the team remains competetive. For my part I felt this team should have a winning record. A winning record means being in a race for the playoffs and we are there. If this team fails to make the playoffs I'll be disappointed but not disheartened because I know this year is the beginning not the end.

[GenoSeligPrieb]

""It's unbelievable, the mentality here. When I was in Atlanta, they won 14 straight championships. We could lose eight straight and you'd get the same response: 'No big deal,'" says Estrada. "When you're used to winning, it's a different attitude. A different feeling. A different mentality. Here, it's like a panic zone.This is a different team. I guess, every year, when things go bad, it's like, 'Here we go again. "

 

Johnny, I've defended you all year. And I still think you're the best all-around catcher we've had here since Ted Simmons. While that's akin to calling you valedictorian of your summer school class, it's still a compliment.

 

But when I read this, my first thought was: And how in hell do YOU know what it's like to be part of an organization that's been a laughingstock, a punching bag, one what's NEVER won a championship? Even the Phillies were champs in 1980 and have won 2 pennants since then. The Diamondbacks fans were spoiled right away by a quick title. And the Braves are buoyed by Ted Turner's billions and won an easy division every damned year.

 

Try suffering for a quarter century cheering for rummies like Jeffrey Hammonds, Keith Osik, Wes Obermueller and the flying Mouton brothers, Johnny. It's painful, and we have every right to feel the rug's being pulled out from under us again. It's like we're married to a compulsive gambler who kept emptying our bank account, and promised it'll never happen again. And then we start noticing a bounced check or 2...

 

Can you blame us for getting uptight? At least we still care. Or would you rather we don;t let anything bother us and sit there, yawning (or asleep in some cases) during playoff games in 2/3rd's full home games, half-assedly forming the tomahawk chop, as you lose another playoff round every year?

 

Johnny, until you Brewers start to play like professionals again, and close out your opponents (weak ones, at that), we have every right to expect heartbreak. And if you choke this year, will you come back and admit we were right to worry?

[GenoSeligPrieb]

Different direction to the same thread...

 

Some here have expressed the notion that, really, 2008 should be OUR year, given the maturation of YoGa, Braun, etc. But I don't think we can afford that luxury.

 

This is an ultra-rare season.

 

It comes when the Cardinals built that new stadium and are still experiencing the effects of it, on their bottom line; i.e. a new stadium is wonderful and all, but it often comes at the expense of adding payroll/retaining free agents for a few years.

 

Houston, for whatever reasons, couldn't keep Clemens and Pettitte, and guys like Ensberg, Scott, BGO and Jennings declined at the same time, knocking them under .500. Finally!

 

The Pirates and Reds haven't contended in years, and are stuck in the second division.

 

This leaves only the woeful, perennially-cursed Cubs to keep us from the Promised Land. Perhaps career underachievers like Lilly, Fontenot and Marquis will come back to earth, Lee and/or Aramis can get conveniently hurt again, and the Cubs will fade a bit, which is entirely possible.

 

THIS is the year when the NL Central is wide open for us to grab. NOT next year.

 

Next year, Drayton McLane may VERY possibly find an extra $150,000,000 in one of his tuxedos, and use it to buy 2 ace pitchers and a star #3 hitter for Caballo to drive in 140 times.

 

Next year, the Cardinals will awaken from their 2007 naps, and start buying free agents to bolster their rotation and outfield.

 

Next year, the Cubs can build on the advances they've made this season, and start to become really nasty.

 

Nope. THIS is the year we have our best chance, while the big money NL Central teams are distracted. Like a sleeping cat outside our mouse-hole, we need to snatch that cheese now.

 

"this team doesnt seem to have the "dagger thru the heart" mentality

 

Posts like this drive me crazy... What are you basing this on? And better yet, would you say this if Cordero converts his last 2 saves? I'm sure you wouldn't."

 

I saw this, and want to defend MadisonBB, nikegolf.

 

There seems to be a shrug of resignation to the Brewers during these harrowing, gut-wrenching losses. They should be mad. They should be stealing bases, bunting, being more aggressive, playing small-ball?...doing ANYTHING to scratch out that one extra run, as St. Louis, Cincinnati and the Cubs have been doing when faced with adversity lately...anything instead of sitting on their dead carcasses whenever they run out to an early lead.

 

Prince hasn't homered in years. Cordero is suddenly as weak-stomached as an Amish great-grandma. SoupCan is not pitching with the same determination that he did for the Cardinals. Weeks doesn't even resemble a major leaguer anymore. JJs nowehere near as "present" as he was in April and May.

 

I don't care if we're still in first place for the next few hours. Watching this great lead evaporate is NOT fun.

[bigredrobbo]

I don't know about anyone else, but it's way more fun than winning 56 games all year.

 

I'm just sayin'...

[Thurston Fluff]

Some here have expressed the notion that, really, 2008 should be OUR year, given the maturation of YoGa, Braun, etc. But I don't think we can afford that luxury.

 

While I agree with this I don't believe there has to be one magical year. This team was built to be competetive over a period of several years. This is the start of what should be a string of competetive years. Will I be disappointed if we don't go the the playoffs this year? You bet. Will it effect how I feel about the team's future? Provided they don't completely collapse and end up with a sub .500, record not one bit. I expect this team to make the playoffs a couple times in the next few years. If it's this year it'll be a great start. If not we better be there the next couple. I'm not interesed in one magical year. We were promised more than that. We were promised a competetive team for years to come. After 25 years of ulcer causing, eye bleedingly horrid baseball nothing short of that will suffice.

[FVBrewerFan]

Quote:

---

I'm not interesed in one magical year. We were promised more than that. We were promised a competetive team for years to come.

---

 

Why can't we expect both? After 25 years, a brand new stadiu, and great talent on the field I expect several years of being in the pennant chase, but I also expect a World Series along the way.

 

There's no way to predict the future, but this year may be the best chance. That's why it isn't fun. The NL Championship is sitting out there to be taken, and the Brewers are fumbling away the opportunity.

 

Losing isn't frustrating to me in and of itself. But the way they've been losing is frustrating. Losing 6 of 8 games to inferior teams is bad enough. The bullpen blowing games has been well documented, but what about the bats going to sleep after the 3rd inning? It's something that can never be anlayzed by stats, but ever since this team was 24-10 they've been "finding a way to lose" far too often.

 

It's a long season. Every team blows saves, every team loses games they should have won. Ny problem with the Brewers is that they've lsot too many of those games considering the talent they have.

[Bring Back the Stein]

I'm having flashbacks to the Bartman days, when the Cubs were insistent that they could re-create their results the following year and it was spoken of as a fait accompli. I teeter-totter between the urgency of winning now when, as it says rightfully above, the rest of the division is sleeping, and having hope in the foundation that Melvin et al have poured. My vision is occluded, of course, by the brown fog and stench of that road trip.

 

That said, suffering with the Brewers is fun. Not to get too heavy, but for my job, I was just looking at pictures from a crime scene where one young man had a very bad day, via some bullets to his head. Losing eight games worth of our lead sort of pales in comparison. For the victim, that is. Me, I'm dying every time I see Craig Counsell's ersatz Yastrzemski batting stance on the television.

 

Um, but seriously, we must at least pretend that there are more important issues out there than the downfall of Coco's slider. The environment, various wars and our most valuable resource, children. Especially, those who will grow up to be left-handed, catchers who hit for power and average.

[jlau20]

Losing isn't frustrating to me in and of itself. But the way they've been losing is frustrating.

 

Precisely. It's not that they are losing, all teams lose, and all teams endure losing streaks and periods.

 

But losing 3 of 4 to well-below .500 Cincinatti, including two games we had in the bag and losing 3 of 4 to below .500 St. Louis, including two games we were up 6-0 and 5-0, not to mention the other game where we got two hits against an 0-10 starter, that's where losing becomes a problem.

[GenoSeligPrieb]

"While I agree with this I don't believe there has to be one magical year. This team was built to be competetive over a period of several years."

 

Backup:

 

I'll concede you this point. But I see the NL Central this way: The way the Brewers are playing, it's entirely possible they could finish with a "competitive" record, and that could translate out to 86-76. Is that improvement? Is that satisfying, given where we've been? Of course.

 

And in 2007, it may only take 86 wins to be crowned division champ.

 

But when you write that Mark, Doug, Gord, Reid and Ned have set us up for a competitive run, for longer term improvement, that could mean in 2008, Milwaukee could finish 89-73, which would mean even further improvement, and would be great, believe me.

 

But I'm saying that, in 2008, the always well-funded Cubs and Astros could both buy more stars and improve to 90-72. And the Cardinals? For whatever reasons, players just seem to love getting traded/signing there. They have this invisible advantage, whether it's 40,000 red-clad dopes rising and saluting the Budweiser jingle, or the humidity, or whatever, name free agents usually tend to go there. And I suspect the hangover from winning last year's World Series will wear off by December, and Jocketty will start waving cash and the amenities of St. Louis around, and then sit back and watch the conga line of stars become Cardinals. Amd if that happens, they can jump easily to 91 wins. Hell, the Reds could even improve, and start chipping away at us. Thankfully, McClatchy is still involved with the Pirates or else they'd at least try to win, too.

 

As long as there's no cap, and we still have all these richer teams in our division, we'd better assemble 95-win-caliber talent, or else, it may not come easy....

[Thurston Fluff]

Geno you've said nothing I disagree with in the last post. Except that the Brewers will not keep up with the improvements of the other teams. The tide is turning in some respects. Not all free agents are going to find Cardinal red a better option for their career than Brewer blue. Not all player want to be around the circus that is the Cubs. The Astros? Well who the hell wants to spend thier summers in Texas? The Reds and Pirates have little to offer that Milwakee can't except a starting job to someone the Brewers wouldn't want as a starter. We have an owner who has been in the black for a couple years and, given his day job, should be a wise enough investor to understand the need to reinvest those profits. If he doesn't we'll know a lot more about our owner won't we? For my part if they go back to penny pinching I believe it would be time to take up another passtime. There are no excuses or pity. Just results for the forseeable future.