3/29/05 - Cubs (Mitre) at Brewers (de la Rosa), 2 PM CT

[MassBrew]

Audio link for MLB.com subscribers:

 

mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/ml...d=20050329

 

Wes Obermueller, Tommy Phelps, Matt Wise, Justin Lehr, Mike Adams and Julio Santana are also all on the list to pitch, according to Adam McCalvy.

[berniebrewer4life]

I know the game doesn't matter, but i hope we blow em out.

[brewcrewman17]

I second that. I hate the Cubs more than any other team in any sport. And really, I don't even think it's the actual team that I hate - it's the team's fans. There's just something about a drunk Chicago idiot that makes me want to puke. And don't get me started on their stadium. Any place that has falling cement and completely inadequate bathroom facilites should be blown to peices. I will never go to Wrigley Field. Ever. Man, I hate the Cubs.

[berniebrewer4life]

I wanna punch somebody everytime i hear miller refered to as Wrigley North. Not everybody from chicago is a jerk though, i find Sox fans rather tolerable now that we aren't in their division. (In fact, if you go out to the bleachers, sometimes you can see a sox fan at a brewers/cubs game, rooting on the crew!)

[clancyphile]

You know, ever since that BS interference call on Cirillo, I've grown to dislike the Scrubs. The only reason the Scrubs won that one was `cause they got help from the umps.

[ja002h]

You know, ever since that BS interference call on Cirillo, I've grown to dislike the Scrubs.

 

You mean last week?

[Ralph Wiggum]

Quote:

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You know, ever since that BS interference call on Cirillo, I've grown to dislike the Scrubs. The only reason the Scrubs won that one was `cause they got help from the umps.

---

 

I hope you aren't serious. If you base your hatred of the team on one play in a meaningless spring training game, then you need to adjust your priorities a little. There are much better reasons to hate the Cubs:

 

1. Dusty Baker

2. A huge payroll

3. Their fans (as stated above)

4. That stupid "Wrigley North" crap.

5. Crying about being cursed.

6. Hating poor Steve Bartman, who was just doing what ANY other fan would have done in the same situation.

[StoshK]

Long time lurker, first time poster...

 

I get my own personal revenge on Cubs' fans by calling Wrigley, "Miller Park South." They get more chapped at this than Brewer fans since they think Wrigley is God's gift to baseball.

[SeriesFinale]

I was looking through some old papers and whatnot on my desk last night and I came across an advertisement for a ticket plan that the Brewers had sent me over the winter...when I read it more closely I realized it was meant for Cubs fans (it offered 10 Cubs games at Miller plus a few others, like the Yankees games, at a discounted price). It even had a photo of a guy in a Cubs hat tailgating at Miller Park! I guess since I live in Chicago and I buy Brewers tickets the ticketing office looked at their mailing list and just assumed I'm a Cubs fan....http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/mad.gif

 

I mean, no wonder the Cubs fans get off on this "Miller Park North" crap, our own club is advertising directly to them! The Cubs fans are gonna come anyway, why not direct some of that advertising money elsewhere, like the western part of Wisco?

 

Anyways, after yesterday's mess, I'm just hoping for a decent showing, period.

[Roscoe Chill]

A few years ago at Miller Park, the Cubs fans overwhelmingly outnumbered us and they were all chanting: "Let's go Cubbies" and I shut them up in my section all by myself by chanting in the same cadence: "Kerry's a girl's name."

[clancyphile]

Dusty Baker helps the Crew in the long run more than he'll hurt the Crew. Prior and Wood are gonna have their arms fall off with the way Dusty piles up the "Pitcher Abuse Points" every start.

 

High Payroll? Well, if the $15 million pitcher is on the DL, that is wasted payroll.

 

Their fans? I've heard of worse actions by other fans (like the ones who shouted "PLO" at Steve Kerr). "Wrigley North" is hard to deal with, but if Brewers fans show up, that appelation will be dealt with.

 

Whining? OK, maybe.

 

And had it been the Brewers who lost due to a Steve Bartman thing... I'd be ticked at Mr. Bartman, too.

[squarepusher]

Does it seem odd to anyone else that JDLR is starting over Obemueller today? With the de-emergence of Victor Santos this spring, is it possible that Jorge is being tested for a role in the rotation?

[batman]

Does it seem odd to anyone else that JDLR is starting over Obemueller today? With the de-emergence of Victor Santos this spring, is it possible that Jorge is being tested for a role in the rotation?

 

I think this is just a reliever game and the order isn't important. Glover seems to have locked up the #5 spot in the rotation and both JDLR and Obermueller will pitch in long/middle relief. I'm not reading anything into this.

 

I'd like to, though. JDLR will be the surprise of 2005, I think (in a good way).

 

~Bill

[Ralph Wiggum]

Quote:

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With the de-emergence of Victor Santos this spring, is it possible that Jorge is being tested for a role in the rotation?

---

 

I was thinking more along the lines of "trade showcase", although I don't want to see DLR given up on this quickly. I know Ned doesn't like to put lefties next to each other in the rotation, so could we possibly see a rotation of:

 

1. Davis

2. Sheets

3. Capuano

4. Glover

5. de la Rosa

 

Davis is #1 in name only...everyone knows Sheets is the ace. This rotation would theoretically work, except DLR and Davis pitching back-to-back occasionally.

[squarepusher]

[ Glover seems to have locked up the #5 spot in the rotation and both JDLR and Obermueller will pitch in long/middle relief. I'm not reading anything into this. ]

 

Bill, do you really think Santos is still "pencilled" into that #3 slot no matter what happens between now and the opening of the season?

[nikip43]

It is a bit odd to see a young guy like De La Rosa get a late spring training start, but he's all but guarinteed to be on the opening day roster and if he can put out a descent performance today I think it will force management to consider him for a starting spot, IF something were to happen to one of the 5 starters.

 

I like the move of starting Jorge today because

A) He's my favorite Brewer pitcher

B) It gives managment a chance to see if they can rely in house (opposed to looking for a trade) on a starter if one of their guys were to struggle

 

If you want to start playing mind games with yourself check out the trade rumor board and you'll see in the "interest" thread that some other ballclubs are looking at a few of Milwaukee starters including Obemueller and De La Rosa.

[batman]

Bill, do you really think Santos is still "pencilled" into that #3 slot no matter what happens between now and the opening of the season?

 

Yep. Neither Yost nor Melvin has said anything to the contrary and Yost has gone out of his way to compliment Santos' stuff after each of these dismal starts. He was also named a "lock" in the rotation very early in the Spring, even before Capuano, so I think the organization still likes him enough to deal with the poor/terrible Spring.

 

Like I've said before, I actually think this is a good decision. If he's terrible early in the season (after four or five starts), then Hendrickson should take his place. I'd love to see a Sheets/Davis/Capuano/Hendrickson/JDLR rotation by the end of the year.

 

~Bill

[xisxisxis]

I'd love to see a Sheets/Davis/Capuano/Hendrickson/JDLR rotation by the end of the year.

 

That's entirely possible and would be consistent with the team limping to 70 wins.

[MadScientist]

Quote:

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And had it been the Brewers who lost due to a Steve Bartman thing... I'd be ticked at Mr. Bartman, too.

---

 

It almost did happen. In the 82 ALCS a fan at County Stadium reached over the fence and took a ball away from Oglivie, giving the Angles a grand slam. Fortunately the Brewers won anyway, otherwise that fan would be hated to this day.

 

I don't dislike the Cubs or their fans as I lived in Illinois during the 80's (Brewers were AL, payrolls were reasonable, Cubs were lovable losers). Besides Cubs fans traditionally hate the Cardnals, so they can't be all bad.

 

Now the White Sox were/are a truely hateble team with low class fans.

[brettac1]

It's hard to hate fans that are stuck with Kenny Williams as their GM. You almost have to pity them for having to put up with the "speed + defense" rebuilding plan.

[PrestigeWorldwide]

"It almost did happen. In the 82 ALCS a fan at County Stadium reached over the fence and took a ball away from Oglivie, giving the Angles a grand slam. Fortunately the Brewers won anyway, otherwise that fan would be hated to this day."

 

Very true. In fact, that play was the reason why a gap was added between the outfield wall and the first row of the bleachers in County Stadium. That gap did not exist before that.

[areacodes]

Quote:

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And had it been the Brewers who lost due to a Steve Bartman thing... I'd be ticked at Mr. Bartman, too.

---

 

I'm be more ticked at our shortstop booting a routine DP ball (if it went the same way as the Scrubbies) than at the fan. I know I would have done the exact same thing, and I still don't believe Alou would have caught that ball... I just didn't see that happening...

 

All this Bartman thing does is give the Scrub fans one more thing to whine about, one more curse to complain about for the next 100 years of non-championship baseball...

 

I remember reading shortly afterwards that Bartman was a huge Cubs fan, one of the lifelong fans (granted he was younger) and the whole city practically toasted him for it, toasted one of there own... that right there says enough about the fans of the Scrubs...

[SeriesFinale]

Very true. In fact, that play was the reason why a gap was added between the outfield wall and the first row of the bleachers in County Stadium. That gap did not exist before that.

 

What about that dude in late '98 who leaned over and took one of McGwire's roid-induced homers away from him? I seem to remember him being in about the same spot as the moron who grabbed Ogilvie's ball.

[batman]

Lots of good stuff in the Game Notes today. Here's the distilled version:

• HAPPY BIRTHDAY: To Brewers bullpen coach Bill Castro who celebrates special day number 54 today... Billy shares his birthday with such luminaries as Hall of Famer Cy Young (would have been 138), singer Pearl Bailey (would have been 87) and tennis star Jennifer Capriati (29)... Also on this date in 1848, Niagara Falls stopped flowing for 30 hours due to an ice jam blocking the Niagara River in Buffalo, New York.
• INJURY UPDATE: Outfielder Brady Clark left yesterday?s game after suffering from dizziness and dehydration from medication... He is day-to-day... Second baseman Junior Spivey suffered a Grade One concussion and seven stitches to his upper lip in a nasty collision in the eighth inning yesterday... He will miss a few days of action... Third baseman Russell Branyan has missed the last several games as he fights his way through a case of strep throat.
• THE CAMP REPORT: The Brewers have 32 players remaining in camp including eight non-roster invitees... The roster consists of 16 pitchers, three catchers, eight infielders and five outfielders.
• IN THE PEN: Following De La Rosa to the mound today will be RHP Wes Obermueller (#33), LHP Tommy Phelps (#41), RHP Matt Wise (#38), RHP Julio Santana (#65), RHP Mike Adams (#46) and RHP Justin Lehr (#43).
• OVER ON THE MINOR LEAGUE SIDE: Today, a pair of pitchers will throw over in minor league games... RHP Rick Helling is scheduled tothrow four innings (60 pitches) and RHP Derrick Turnbow will toss one inning (15 pitches) in the Brewers Class A Brevard County contest againstthe Angels High Class A team.
• EL CABALLO: Newcomer Carlos Lee has had a fantastic spring... He is hitting .400 with seven home runs and 19 RBI in just 14 games... Lee ranks second in the National League with seven roundtrippers behind Atlanta?s Andruw Jones who has hit an incredible 10 homers this spring... Lee also ranks fourth in RBI and would be tied for sixth with St. Louis? Albert Pujols in batting average if he had enough at bats to qualify.

~Bill

[Loopee]

I think the management is deadset on Santos starting the season #3 as well. Whenever a manager makes any of these comments:

 

"He had great stuff, we're not looking at results"

"He was just intent on getting his work in, that's the important thing"

"He'll be ready for April, that's what we're concerned about"

"He made good progress on what we were working on."

 

you know that a decision has been made already and the team is just covering a PR angle. Ned used the "He had great stuff, just too many mistakes" in the game notes yesterday.

 

Quote:

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If he's terrible early in the season (after four or five starts), then Hendrickson should take his place.

---

 

I would think Obie would be higher than Hendrickson at this point. Given the way lil' Ben was locating, he's probably going to struggle at AAA too, until he works out the mechanical changes made over the offseason. That'll happen eventually, but I highly doubt Hendrickson will put up the numbers in AAA he did last season right out of the gate.

 

Sheets/Davis/Capuano/Hendrickson/JDLR sure does sound appetizing though.