Random Thoughts from Miller Park: Cubs v. Brewers

My buddy Mike texted me on Monday night asking me if I had any interest in going to the Milwaukee Brewers game on Tuesday night. I thought why not?  There is nothing on television on Tuesday night (Yes, I know New Girl is on, but I am not caught up yet, guys) plus watching games with Mike is one of my favorite pastimes.  As I do when I visit Miller Park, we do a random thoughts from the stadium, let's get it.

- First of all, shoutout to the Brewers ticket office for hooking us up with Field Infield Box tickets. Mike and his friends have season tickets and they were turning in their extras for the year for this game. The Brewers gave us better seats to essentially try to fill the bowl as there were not many people coming out to see the Crew against the Chicago Cubs.

- Before the game, we stopped at Jackson's Blue Ribbon Pub, formerly Long Wongs, and at least came back impressed with their drink prices. You can get a PBR tallboy for three dollars or a silo for four dollars every day. That's a great deal before a game. You can basically have four beers for the price of one inside the stadium if you have two silos. I did not try their food but I will definitely have to go back.

- The attendance said the Brewers had over 22,000 in the stadium and I can tell you that is a flat-out lie. They had roughly around 17,000-19,000 people attending the game on Tuesday and it brought back memories of watching the team during the 2004-2006 seasons when the bandwagon was nonexistent.

- Ferguson Jenkins, the Cy Young pitcher for the Cubs, was hanging out in the lower bowl signing autographs for the Ferguson Jenkins Foundation. If I had 20 dollars to spend, I would have probably sprung for an autograph. Fergie is a massive human in case anyone was wondering.

- The game itself featured Marco Estrada and Jeff Samardzija taking the mound. Estrada is always due for one bad inning, but he is usually pretty enjoyable to watch pitch. First time seeing The Shark pitch for the Cubs, but I always remember how I felt he would be a Pro Bowl wide receiver when he caught passes from Brady Quinn.

- The Brewers struck blood first in the second with Carlos Gomez hitting in Aramis Ramirez whom had a stand-up triple which is about as rare as a blue moon. Some guy was just bouncing around searching for high fives. I always give high fives after the Brewers get some runs, but I never actively head to over rows to find people to high five, that's overdoing it.

- As mentioned earlier, there were not many people at the game on Tuesday. About halfway through the game, a family of four to six came down to the lower bowl to sit. An Event Service worker kicked everyone out of there as if someone was actually sitting there.  Such a shitty thing to do honestly. I get they did not pay for these tickets, but at the same time, let them enjoy seats that possibly they cannot afford for the whole family. I get they are doing their job, just think it is stupid when there is not remotely close to a sellout.

- Associated Bank gives out faces of players. This time we got Jonathan Lucroy and some fan took the picture off the large stick then put it on his own face. Straight nightmare fuel.

- I contemplated getting kettle corn or a pretzel with cheese. I had been craving a pretzel, but I went with the kettle corn so I could share it with the rest of the group of six who went with us.  Everyone was a big fan of it and I dominated the kettle corn game. I probably ate 40 percent of it and if you wonder why I am husky, exhibit A.

-Estrada struggled in the 7th inning giving up three runs and as I like to call it, he knotted himself a Dave Bush inning.

-Brewers bounced right back with a Carlos Gomez homer right over the left field wall. It went out so fast, he did not even do a #CarlosGomezBatFlip which is sad but the game was tied.  (Actually, reviewing the tape, we got a #CarlosGomezBatDrop

- 3-3 ballgame in the eighth and it is moving so it looks like the game will probably end around 10 pm. I realize it is a school night, but what the hell are people exiting at this point of the game? Are you kidding me? I realize this team is not good, but hell, at least see what is the outcome of the game you paid for.

- They head to the bottom of the ninth still tied up. I really did not want to see extra innings and with Ramirez up, the Brewers had the bats to come up big in this situation.  Rami gets walked and Gomez follows up with a single putting two on with no out.

- Even though Scooter Gennett is red hot, we knew Ron Roenicke could not resist a bunt and that's what he did only to have Justin Grimm, the pitcher, mishandle the ball loading the bases for Sean Halton.

- Roenicke pulled Halton for Logan Schafer and we all knew the squeeze play was coming. Sure enough, this is what happened.

- Final thought is I saw two Aaron Rodgers Brewer jerseys which are the worst possible things on earth and just when I thought it could not get worse, we had a Brett Favre Cubs jersey. ONE PLAYS FOR A WISCONSIN TEAM AND THE OTHER ONE IS IN ILLINOIS. Just unbelievable. I hate everyone.

Probably my last time at Miller Park this year and I ended up finishing 2-3 on the year. Not bad.  See you for Opening Day as I give Ryan Braun a standing ovation.

Charlie.

Read More

Highlights & Lowlights: Brewers at Cubs

While the Brewers are struggling this year, there are still good and bad things about each series, this is why we created Highlights & Lowlights to praise and criticize at the same damn time.

Highlights
Scooter Gennett - Good weekend to be Scooter. He had a big three-run homer on Friday's game to pull the Brewers back within striking distance of the Cubs, and hit the ball pretty well throughout the weekend.  I really do wonder if he expects an apology fruit basket from me. It is becoming harder and harder for me to say next year it should be an open competition.

Yovani Gallardo - How about this guy?  Yo has looked like an ace since coming off the Disabled List. Now does this upset you off as a fan?  I guess, I mean if Yo's pitching well all year, the Brewers probably finish .500 which would drive me insane.  The biggest hope is this string of great starts translates to the following year.  People kept pointing to him pitching for Mexico at the World Baseball Classic as a reason why he struggled early on and I am starting to buy into that notion.

Logan Schafer - He had the big hit on Saturday afternoon as the Brewers trailed 3-1, Schafer cleared the bases with two outs after Juan Francisco failed to get a runner in with less than two outs.  I have no idea what Schafer's future is with this organization seeing as the outfield will be crowded next season, but I have enjoyed watching him play this season for the most part.



Johnny Hellweg - A little bit better outing than what we have seen from Hellweg in the past. He drew a lot of groundballs and really only made two mistakes to Luis Vallbuena and Brian Bogusevic. I would rather have Hellweg giving up home runs than putting a bunch of people on-base having it look like Gas House Gorillas on the base pads.

Junior Lake - Yeah this seems like a guy I do not want to play against for the next couple of years. Lake had a big grand slam on Friday to vault the Cubs over the Brewers and then provided the only offense Sunday with a huge home run. He is also one of those players you want to say his full name because Junior is always Ken Griffey Jr. until the end of time and Lake feels like you should be adding Michigan, Erie or Ontario after it.

Lowlights
Juan Francisco = Doghouse - An Internet favorite is currently hanging around in Ron Roenicke's doghouse. First, who knew RRR had one, second, he is in there pretty bad. Francisco has not started a game since September 3rd so if he does start Tuesday against St. Louis, it will be his first start in a week. Additionally, he pinch-hit in every game this weekend and struck out every time. Not a great look for Fat Juan.

Kyle Lohse - He had his first bad start in over two months. I mean the one against Pittsburgh was not stellar two weeks ago, but this is what I would qualify as a bad start. This is how good Lohse has been in the second half, his ERA, still sitting at 3.59, is the highest its been since July 13th.  My assumption is he will bounce back this week playing his former foes, St. Louis.  

Jean Segura's defense - When is it okay to start worry about Segura's defense? Like are we there yet with him or should we wait until middle of next year?  I am starting to see why people pegged him as a second baseman for the future. Segura has the overall tools to be a shortstop, no doubt about it, but he tends to be lackadaisical out there from time to time. My assumption is it is a youth thing and he will clean it up yet it keeps happening so I worry like my mother does when I describe my weekends.

Michael Gonzalez - Yup, he's still here.

Charlie.

Read More

Highlights & Lowlights: Cardinals v. Brewers (8/19-8/21)

While the Brewers are struggling this year, there are still good and bad things about each series, this is why we created Highlights & Lowlights to praise and criticize at the same damn time.

Highlights
Aramis Ramirez - Big week for Rami with two home runs against the Cardinals with a two-run shot on Monday and three-run shot on Wednesday to pull the Brewers back within four runs. When Ramirez gets hot, he is damn near unstoppable to pitch to. The waiver wire is rolling around in the coming week and I wonder if Rami will be claimed.

Sean Halton - Nice week for Halton who went back down to Triple A on Wednesday afternoon. He had three RBIs in a win on Tuesday and he had another one Wednesday. Like Khris Davis, Halton seemed to be seeing the ball better the second time around in the major leagues. Good to see from the young first baseman.

Wednesday's Bullpen - Yes the Brewers started off in a seven run hole but the bullpen led by Donovan Hand and John Axford held the Cardinals at seven for most of the game allowing the Brewers to slowly creep back in the game. Also thanks Mike Gonzalez for giving up a run, pal!  You're the best!

Logan Schafer - He played well this week against the Cardinals with multiple runs batted in and a home run. I do not know if the Brewers really have that much value in their new outfielders but they might be able to trade one or two next season because there will be no need for all of them.

Lowlights
Juan Francisco - Really rough series for Francisco where he struck out multiple times with runners in scoring positions. Bad look for Fat Juan this week and the natives are restless with him. I realize he is struggling, but have a little patience with this guy. I truly think he could develop into something special in the coming years, but my assumption is he will not be on this team in 2014.

Tom Gorzelanny - First bad start for T-Gorz. He was probably due for something like seven runs in two innings. Hopefully, T-Gorz is not hitting the regression train here, but it should not surprise Brewers fans if it happens in the coming weeks.

Brandon Kintzler - Like T-Gorz, he had his first bad appearance since July 4th.  Kintzler pitching great, but he was due for blowup.  He ended up giving up multiple runs allowing the Cardinals to win the game on Monday night. With all his shoulder issues, I am kind of concerned about how much Ron Roenicke is trotting him out there.

Yadier's dominance - Seriously, he is the number one Brewer killer with Troy Tulowitzki as the vice president. Glad Yadi came back from injury to play against the Brewers though!

Charlie.

Read More