Highlighting and Lowlighting the Brewers' Week

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
Not having the Cardinals clinch at Miller Park - HAHA SUCK IT HARD ARIZONA.  Look, I could not complain if St. Louis went down Bernie's slide after being very critical of Arizona's response to the Los Angeles Dodgers winning the NL West crown at Chase Field. It was nice to see the Brewers get at least a game from St. Louis.  One of the biggest things for next season is the Brewers have to be better against the Cardinals in general.

Carlos Gomez - Great week for Gomez in general. He had a masterful Cubs series and then played pretty well against St. Louis. It is pretty clear he was bothered by injuries for the month of August and a little bit of September. Now that he is fully healthy, it appears Gomez is playing better again.  GoGo had a couple home runs this week including a big triple last night against St. Louis in a series he did not play as well as the Chicago one. Hopefully, he finishes strong in the final week.

Aramis Ramirez - You just sort of wonder with Ramirez. He spent most of the year banged up, but Rami looked great this week against Chicago and St. Louis. Ramirez had a couple home runs and also drove in multiple runs including a five RBI game on Friday night. I still believe Ramirez has some left in the tank, but the Brewers need to have someone there to back up Rami if he goes down with multiple injuries next season.  

That was Norichika Aoki's first double since Aug. 9 and just his third since July 22.
— Andrew Gruman (@AndrewGruman) September 23, 2013

Nori Aoki - He had a great series against St. Louis going 8 for 11 also taking some walks, but this is sort of a telling stat by FOX Sports Wisconsin Andrew Gruman. Aoki is not producing to the levels we saw last season. With the Brewers having a loaded young outfield, Ryan Braun can move to right field. I think he a big enough arm and the Brewers add more power to their already big lineup if Khris Davis is in left field.

Tyler Thornburg - Truly making a case for why he deserves to be the fifth starter when the 2014 season rolls around in March. Thorny looked great again this week once again going six innings, something he has done for all of his starts this season. In the last three starts, Thornburg has only allowed four runs and the only real issue is he still walks a couple guys a game. He is a starter to at least begin the season, folks.  

Sean Halton - Pretty good week for the young Brewers first baseman as he hit a grand slam on Wednesday night pushing the Brewers ahead in the game against the Cubs. He had another homer that week as well. Halton is a fine player, but certainly not the answer at first base. I do not think Halton is a good enough player to be an everyday player although he could be a vital bench player next season.

#Brewers avg 31,248 fans in 2013, outdrawing the playoff-contending Reds, Pirates, Orioles, Indians, Royals and Athletics. Good job, fans!
— Mike Vassallo (@MikeVassallo13) September 23, 2013

Miller Park support - Also add the Tampa Bay Rays who the Brewers outdrew this season. It speaks to the team and the city honestly. Both have done a great job supporting this team through thick and thin. There are still knuckleheads out there (Green Bay has plenty of them too), but this team gets support unlike any time before. They like I will hope there is October baseball next year.

Lowlights
No Jean Segura - This is sort of a bummer. Another Brewer went down with an injury and naturally to troll Wisconsin fans alike, it is a hamstring injury. I doubt we will see much of Segura to finish the season. Honestly, if he is hurt, just let him sit out the rest of the season unless he feels 105 percent. (JUST KIDDING, LOSE EVERY GAME THIS WEEK, TANK! TANK! TANK!)

ESPN's Ryan Braun lovefest - ESPN Sunday Night Baseball decided to remind Brewers fans about Ryan Braun and made some unqualified opinions on the Brewers fans. There is really no need to try to open a wound that is practically closed. There has been so little discussion about Braun since mid-August honestly. Sure, it is worthwhile talking a little bit about it, but taking up almost a whole inning talking about him is not great.  The worst part is I DVR'd the part of it and watch it because I am a complete loser.

Rob Wooten - First real bad game from The Owl on Saturday night. It happens and I am encouraged by all the young relievers for the following season.

Mike Gonzalez - WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE.

Kyle Lohse - It is crazy how bad Lohse has been against the Chicago Cubs this season. In general, Milwaukee has played well against Chicago this season, but this was the only team Lohse seemed to have problems with this year.

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Brewers-Cubs Preview: 9/6-9/8

Yes, it is September and the Brewers are still playing baseball even when there is football going on. Yes I know this is crazy, but it's true.  We preview the rest of the series moving forward.  

Pitching Matchups and TV Times
Friday: Kyle Lohse (9-8 3.32) v. Chris Rusin (2-3 2.74)                    1:20 pm WGN
Saturday: Johnny Hellweg (0-3 10.97) v. Jake Arrieta (2-1 3.77)       3:05 pm FSWI
Sunday: Yovani Gallardo (10-9 4.31) v. Scott Baker (Season Debut) 1:20 pm FSWI

Five things to watch
1.) Call Me Maybe? - It came out Ryan Braun made random phone calls to season ticket holders apologizing for me what he did with the Biogenesis scandal. We already know where I stand on Braun and I feel like he owes these fans nothing yet this is still a stand-up move. A man had to swallow his pride and tell the everyone he messed up.  I do not think people understand how hard it is to tell random people who probably do not like you, say 'I am sorry.'

2.) Who can tank more this weekend? - I doubt either of these teams will actually tank, but it would be funny to see how two low-level baseball teams try to lose the game. In all seriousness, both teams probably do not want to win these games as they are trying to maintain where they stand in the MLB Draft.  As today, the Cubs would have the fourth pick in the MLB Draft while the Brewers would have the fifth pick.  There are five teams separated by three games. Exciting stuff I know.  

3) A football palate cleanser - Maybe I am alone here, but I will definitely spend some time with the Brewers this weekend if I get a chance up in Green Bay. I just like to have another option other than football. Usually, the go-to option is golf but they are a break until the following weekend. I definitely want to check out Johnny Hellweg on Saturday and see if he has the Brewer Bounce Back as Khris Davis, Scooter Gennett and Caleb Gindl all did when they came back to Milwaukee.

4.)  Why do people shit on Kyle Lohse? - I have no idea why people think Kyle Lohse is a bad value. Yes I was not a fan of the deal in March. But the Brewers really have a legitimate number two starter and this year, Lohse has been the number one. He is having another great year as he has a 3.32 ERA, over 100 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.20. I look forward to watching Lohse pitch for another year as a Brewer pitcher.

5.) Anyone notice how the Brewers-Cubs do not play weekend series very much? - This is a bizarre thing to talk about but I feel like these two teams always play during the week? Why is that? It seems logical for these two teams to play over the weekend because fans of both teams can spend a whole weekend either in Chicago or Milwaukee. I realize this is pretty trivial, but there is not much to talk about with two teams being a combined 40 games under .500.  

Charlie.

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Ryan Braun Does Not Owe You an Apology.

Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun made his eventual apology to the fans on Thursday night admitting to his PED use during the 2011 season to rehab a nagging calf injury. Although for the people of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and nationally, this is not good enough. Braun apparently needs to have a question and answer session with the major media before people can forgive him. None of this needed to happen because he is an athlete and only an athlete. Once again, people looking at number 8 as Superman are completely wrong.

Braun's apology went on deaf ears even if he appeared to show great remorse.  As I said on Monday, people would still think all of this is bullshit no matter whether Braun went in front of a podium or he wrote a letter. Once again, it is hard to believe there are people in this city acting like they are God's gift to society and they have done nothing wrong with life in general. Braun took PED's to help him out with an injury and why is exactly is that a bad thing?  

He had to recover from an injury when their team is leading the NL Central in a tight race at the time with the St. Louis Cardinals. Braun is also getting hype about the Most Valuable Player and he wanted to keep himself healthy so the Brewers could continue his run. What if Braun did not take PED's and he had a horrible August leading to the Brewers tank to end the season missing the playoffs and the division title. Would these same moral high ground clowns blame Braun for not getting to the playoffs?  This is likely what would happen, but it did not, instead the Brewers won the division and Braun, the MVP. 

Is that season tainted?  Absolutely not. August to October for 2011 was one of the best times in my life. It is extremely trivial to say but those three months were some of the happiest moments of my life. The world felt right in seriously all facets and I could not have been happier.  Would I trade that in for Braun not to use PED's?  Nope. Not one bit. Those three months were so goddamn fun, and all of you, even the moral high grounders had a great time, do not fight it. Nothing will change those memories and if you think Ryan Braun's PED use does, you need to take a step back from reality, not just sports. 

I am someone whom eats, sleeps, drinks sports throughout the day, but I can also separate the reality of it. People acting like Braun did something criminally wrong is truly laughable, but many Wisconsinites have failed to grasp the concept. Forget one of their biggest sports heroes in Wisconsin cheated on his wife and had a painkller addiction, but hey PED's ARE SO BAD, RIGHT, GUYS?!  The fact of the matter is these athletes should not be put on some goddamn pedestal yet people still see them as these perfect humans.  Here's a tip, no one in this world is perfect. A lot of these guys are assholes in public, so what?  They have no real responsibility to be good-natured humans. I realize this is hard to grasp, but the sooner you do, sports become easier to watch.

Speaking of the 2011 playoffs, the Brewer fanbase in general has taken a turn for the worse since then. They gain a multitude of casual fans or as Boston sportswriters have called it, 'Pink hats' where people start drawing baseless opinions about the game and the playoffs. It would be interesting to say least if the Brewers had not made a playoff push in 2011.  My assumption is the reaction would be similar but maybe not as severe. It just feels like many Brewer fans have came out of the woodwork and while that's not a bad thing for most of the time, it is moments like this when you wish you cheer for the Kansas City Royals (Hi Ned!). These false sense of reality by these people whether they have been Brewers fans for 20 years or two years is damming and depressing. I have always said Milwaukee would be drunk for weeks if the Brewers won a World Series but it apparent they care too much about certain players on team. 

The fact that I have constantly bang the dram that these athletes owe the fans completely NOTHING is unbelievable. They owe you absolutely nothing. Sure, more fans help pay salaries, but not as much as some like to believe. If fans truly pay salaries, Zack Greinke might still be a Brewer. We have went down the 'What about the children' road countless here, but it bares repeating today, athletes are not role models, people you see every day and doing good things for the greater part, those people are role models. At some point, kids realize athlete can be jerks and maybe the sooner they do, they will just realize they are people too. 

The best part about the extremist reaction by the moral high grounders is 75 percent of them will be back with Braun in July 2014 when he is hitting .310 with 25 HR and .400 OBP.  It is laughable to even imagine these people caring about what Braun did if the Brewers are winning baseball games and Braun is playing better. Look at the New York Yankees, they are red hot right now winning five straight and Alex Rodriguez is one of the reason. Do you think they give a shit?  NOPE. The other funny thing will be the columns from national sports writers wondering if 'Braun is clean' while doing it' because you and I both know that will happen. 

Hopefully, this ends the Braun saga for awhile. Ralph Sasson is trying to whore himself out to anyone who will listen, but he seems to be the last frontier. Let's finish this awful season and get ready for a better 2014 with Braun in left field. Cannot wait to be there Opening Day and give him a standing ovation.  Not for PED use, but for being the best player on the Brewers and hopefully leading them back to the playoffs. 

Charlie.  

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Tapping The Keg Podcast: Episode 51

Another edition of Tapping The Keg podcast.  Mitch and Charlie start off discussing the latest from the Ryan Braun situation. Mitch calls some of the things Braun does this week 'gutless' while Charlie does not need an apology.  Our new Packer segment titled the PPR talks about Johnny Jolly and his chances with the team, Jermichael Finley and the rest of the tight ends, and who is the odd man out with the running backs?  We move to baseball talking about cheering Alex Rodriguez among other things involving the New York Yankees. Yasiel Puig is also mentioned after his wild week. We finish with a story from Charlie about motorboating... which kind you ask? You have to listen to find out.

Charlie.

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Alex Rodriguez Fights for Alex Rodriguez and That's a Good Thing.

Finally, Major League Baseball came down with their Biogenesis suspensions. Two weeks after MLB
popped Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Ryan Braun for the season, they suspended multiple players including All-Stars like Texas Rangers outfielder Nelson Cruz and Detroit Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta, but the biggest fish of them they fried was New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez. MLB handed Rodriguez a 211 game suspension putting him out for the entire 2014 season. A-Rod plans to appeal and continue playing for the Yankees until it's officially over.

People are criticizing Rodriguez's decision to not lay down, but what does he have to lose at this point?  The man is 38 years old and baseball is trying to make the biggest example out of him. Even if he sounded like a robot at his press conference Monday, A-Rod is fighting for his baseball life.

Rodriguez is 38 years old meaning he does not have much time left in baseball.  The former MVP is in great shape and could probably well into his 40's at least in a backup role for some team if they want him in the coming years. But taking a baseball year off his life means he will not come close to some of the records people expected Rodriguez to set in the early part of his career.  The records mean something to A-Rod, but what might be more meaningful is trying to stick it to MLB and Bud Selig.

In a rare case, a player is challenging the establishment. Rodriguez honestly does not give one shit about what the MLB is trying to do and he is calling them out for it.  He will likely appeal plus go to federal court if need be, and based on the evidence, Rodriguez will probably be suspended for some games but nowhere near the severity Selig wants at this point. This is the cherry on top for Selig's legacy hoping people will forget he let the steroid era happen to rebuild baseball after the 1994 strike, and people will because most these days live in the moment versus looking at it from a wide lens. Selig wants to be the man who stood up to steroids and PEDs even when he did not during the late 90's, a time worse than today.

People love to assume these athletes are taking steroids which might be true for some of them, but it is categorically wrong. PED's could be things to help come back from injury, avoid slumping, keeping your focus (Hi NFL players!), and multitude of other ways to gain a slight edge. People have to realize these people are not bulking up and looking like superhumans playing baseball as they did in the late 90s and early 2000s. Could Rodriguez done steroids at some point of his career?  Yes, but to generalize him as a 'steroid user' could not be more wrong. Personally, I feel steroids died when the Mitchell Report and new testing came out because that's what the drug tests were looking for and the players needed to find a new edge that would not show up in the tests.

There are some who say Rodriguez has cheated since high school, the same has been said for Braun, and that is a wild, damn near slanderous assumption. There is no proof to think neither of these players were juicing during their high school career. High school kids do juice and there are significant consequences at times, but there is no actual proof either of these players did such things.  There needs to be more of a focus on using factual evidence versus wanting something to be factual to get your agenda across to the masses.

The endgame with Rodriguez is still unknown. He will keep playing baseball and get booed across America. He does not care though as he could plug his ears with wads of cash if he truly wanted. At different points of his career, Rodriguez took the crown of the most polarizing sports figure and he is back at the top of the throne for the late summer of 2013.

Charlie.

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SnoTap Buzz: Monday July 29th

The Philadelphia Phillies are talking about giving Chase Utley an extension. Utley has not played more than 150 games in a season since 2009 BUT HEY LETS GIVE HIM MONEY!!!! (SB Nation) 

Scott Boras worries there could be precedence set with the Ryan Braun and Alex Rodriguez that could harm baseball. Charlie Tritschler worries he agrees with Scott Boras and fears the consequences, he expects to get struck by lightening. (FOX Sports) 

Milwaukee Brewers announce 10 dollar voucher for food, drink and merchandise during the month of August to apologize for the bad season and the whole Ryan Braun fiasco. I think I am going Sunday so maybe we need a post on what I should spend my 10 dollars on... Hmm.  (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) 

Northwestern Coach Pat Fitzgerald wants yellow cards for targeting instead of ejections. I think this is a brilliant way to do things because really if they do it twice and they are both egregious they should not be playing plus it can atone for a dumb referee mistake. (Bleacher Report) 

Stanford head coach David Shaw wants to see improvement on grad rates versus increasing the stipends for college players. Personally, they should be concerned with getting both improved. Players do need more money and they should graduate more often. It is not a 'Let's worry about this bad thing instead of this one.' (CBS Sports) 

Houston Astros traded Jose Veras to Detroit for a prospect and player to be named later. After his year with the Brewers, I thought he would never be a guy a team trades for. Can't wait for Veras to blow a game in October. (ESPN) 

Charlie.

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Highlights & Lowlights: Brewers at Rockies

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
Caleb Gindl - When the Ryan Braun story came out, one of the optimist parts of it were to see the worth of the young Brewers playing in his place. Gindl played great over the weekend with two big games. He had three extra-base hits in his last two games along with runs scored in both of them as well. Right now, he is currently leading in competition against Logan Schafer and providing a little pop to the Brewers lineup probably helps things. It is disappointing to see him batting fifth in the order though, but that's how the Brewers season is going.  

Nori Aoki - Pretty solid stretch for Mr. Aoki right now as he is on a nine game hitting streak including two straight games with a home run. He is normally not known for his power and it probably has something to do with playing in Colorado. It does not appear Aoki will be traded in the upcoming week although with the Biogenesis suspensions looming, there might be more interested teams who would want Aoki. It is a great time for him to be hot.  

Troy Tulowitzki - I know we call people Brewer Killers all the time, but honestly, Tulo is the biggest one of them all. He homered twice in the series and had multi-hit games as well on Saturday and Sunday. For the season, he is hitting .400 against the Brewers and for the last three years, Tulowitzki has hit .328 which is the fourth highest average against an opposing team (Cincinnati is in the lead with a .395 average). I love Tulo, he's one of my favorite players when he's healthy, but I would drink heavily if he ended up playing for a National League Central team.

Ryan Braun drama has 'died down' a bit - Is it still in the news? Yes. But it does not really seem to have the same traction as it did at the beginning of the week. Braun will probably reappear in the news sometime when he talks to the media which I believe will happen next week. I know nothing but I feel like at some point he will be forced to speak to the media. I myself do not need it, but a lot of people want it so damn bad for whatever reason.

Lowlights
Wily Peralta - When I was going to do my Brewers preview that never happened because of work, I wondered if Peralta would struggle in Colorado because it is place of shattered dreams for pitchers. He did not pitch well at all.  Is it a blip in the radar or is Peralta coming back down to earth? I think it is a blip and he will do just fine.

John Axford - Not a great weekend for the Ax man. He gave up a homer to the Brewer Killer Tulowitzki on Saturday and then on Sunday, he gave up the lead with back-to-back doubles from Tulo (SHOCKER) and Michael Cuddyer. This is the first time Axford has gave up runs in consecutive appearances since the beginning of April. Odds there are Brewer fans wondering if he is trying to implode his trade stock? Unfortunately, too many of them to count because people are idiots. Ax should be fine, just a bad series.

Ninth Inning Rain Delays - This could be one of the worst things in the world. I watched the game as I went from bar to bar on Saturday night. I saw it was in a rain delay and most of the televisions at the bars turned it to SportsCenter instead of watching Sophia-Craig-Jerry talking from the Wisconsin Dells. Also if the Rockies were up 7-5 in the top of the ninth, this game would have been 100 percent have been called in the first 30 minutes, that's a fact.

Rickie Weeks - Anyone notice his July has not been great?  Weeks is currently hitting .184 for the month with two home runs and 23 strikeouts. I have no real idea what to make of Weeks season. He had one good month and it has been shit for the rest of them. I do not know if he is hurt, or if he is mailing it in. I like Weeks, but he is not having a good year whatsoever. Might be one of the bigger disappointments to the season.

Charlie.

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Braun Will Never Lose 2011 MVP Award

Whenever a player wins an award, people always consider him or her in a higher class than the other athletes in his or her sport.  But if the athlete is caught doing something consider wrong, people are outraged they even won the award in the first place. Naturally with Ryan Braun's PED but not PED suspension, people are banging the drum for the Brewers slugger to give back the 2011 MVP and give it to runner up Matt Kemp, or vacated it all together. The first suggestion could not be more stupid and the second one is just as dumb as the first.

The reason why Kemp getting the MVP gained traction is Kemp made comments about thinking he should be given the 2011 MVP award. Here's the weird thing, Matty, you should have been!  In all honesty, Kemp's year was better than Braun's all together except for one thing, winning baseball games. While the last thing should be a frivolous thing when it comes to MVP voting, it matters every damn year.  The other problem is writers would have trouble having the MVP and Cy Young (Clayton Kershaw) on the same team who only won 81 games. Kemp definitely has all the right to feel robbed, but at the same time, this whole notion is ridiculous.  

Kemp had a great year, but he did not win. This is not some eighth-year-old soccer league where everyone gets a trophy, a juice box and some orange slices at the end of year. Kemp should have another season that will earn himself MVP consideration. He is talented enough for multiple MVP's honestly and I do not believe Kemp fully meant his comments about getting the MVP.  Look at his body language, he is laughing it off trying to get the reporters away and he knew this would be the kicker.  Kemp even mentioned he felt 'uncomfortable' talking about it. Additionally, Skip Schumaker being on his team, a weird coincidence or something to do with it? 

Schumaker is the King of Mt. Pious right now, and he is coming out of the woodwork getting national attention for comments about Braun. Schumaker took Braun's jersey down in his living room and said he should be banned for life. There is no question in my mind Schumaker influences the clubhouse about this issue.  He must have forgotten their hitting coach had Andro in his locker room. The National League West is a popular place to lead the charge against Braun with both the Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks speaking out. All it takes is one player, person or coach to develop a groupthink about a certain topic.  

The idea the MVP should be vacated is something that will not happen either because they would have to vacate a shit ton of MVP awards if they do with Braun. Just looking at the National League, they have Ken Caminiti, the first admitted steroid, not PED, user as a UNIAMINOUS winner in 1996. Barry Bonds won four straight from 2000-2004. Sammy Sosa won in 1998. The MVP award is littered with steroid users and Braun, a supposed PED user (There is a difference) on the list.  Anyone calling for the MVP to be vacated should just look at the list of MVP winners in the last thirty years. Do not give me Schumaker's shit about it being a 'Different time', because that does not fly when talking about awards.  

Ryan Braun's 2011 MVP trophy will stay with him until the end of time unless Braun, himself, chooses to give it up. But Braun should look at that list and know, nobody is perfect in baseball no matter what anyone tries to say to the media.

Charlie.  

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Tapping The Keg Episode 47

Another week of Tapping The Keg podcast with the dynamic duo of Chuck and Mitch. We talk about Ryan Braun for the greater part of the podcast discussing all things like the attitude towards PED's, why people asking for jersey turn-in's like Aaron Hernandez is ridiculous, 2011 MVP, 2011 NLDS and Skip Schumaker.  We move on to talk about why casual fans should keep coming to Miller Park. The Brewers made a move on Tuesday trading Francisco Rodriguez, and we mentioned that as well. We finish with a little football talk, but it is more why Bob Stoops is wrong for telling fans to tweet recruits.

Charlie.

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