I don’t care, when they stare, at the way that I’m always with you.  We’re a pair, it’s not fair when they say we’re a special brew!  Woh woh woh woh.  I love you. -Bad Manners

Public Service Announcement: OK, here go!  Like my main man Liberace always says, “Roll out the barrel.   We’ll have a barrel of fun.  Roll out the barrel.  We’ve got the blues on the run.”  The Milwaukee Brewers sure have the blues on the run.  The Cardinals too.  Heck, the whole National League.  Yes folks, the Beermakers.  Los Cerveceros.  The Brew Crew.  Harvey’s Wallbangers.  Ex-Milwaukee Brewers Manager Dave Bristol once said: “There’ll be two buses leaving the hotel for the park tomorrow.  The two o’clock bus will be for those of you who need a little extra work. The empty bus will leave at five o’clock.”   These days, that five o’clock bus should have a few more passengers.  A few more giving it the gassengers.  A few more first classengers.        Read More »

And he was talkin’ ‘fore I knew it, and as he grew, he’d say “I’m gonna be like you dad.  You know I’m gonna be like you.”  -Harry Chapin

Just a short little fun one.  A here we come on the run with a burger and a bun one.  And a dish of apple sauce on the siiiide!  Prince Fielder.  Cecil Fielder.  The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.  How do you like these apples:  Last night, Prince hit his 200th career home run.  Hooray Prince Fielder!  Big deal you say?  Whos cares you say?  I say, he and his dad, Cecil (319 homers), are just the fourth father-son tandem to each hit at least 200 homers in the major leagues.  Wanna know who the other ones are?  Huh?  Do ya?  Sure you do.  The others are Bobby and Barry Bonds, Felipe and Moises Alou, and Gus and Buddy Bell.  Pretty cool huh?  How much is ball like that worth you think?  After the game, Prince Fielder was preparing to negotiate with a well-known Miller Park ball hawk who caught his 200th career home run ball in right-center in the fifth inning.  Fielder indicated there would be a limit to what he’d be willing to give up for the milestone ball, though.  “If he wants the ball that bad, he can keep it – with nothing on it.”  I think that’s the first time prince ever used the phrase with nothing on it.  Sorry.  Couldn’t resist.

Peace out homies.  Six two and even!

I know we’ve come so far, but we’ve got so far to go.  I know the road seems long, but it won’t be long ’till it’s time to go.  So, most days we’ll take it fast, and some nights lets we’ll take it slow.  I know we’ve come so far, but baby, baby, we’ve got so far to go.  -Hairspray

I know what you’re thinking.  You’re thinking it’s too early for this.  Like Sean Penn and Chaz Palmenteri, too Hurly Burly for this.  Don’t call me Shirley for this.  That’s what you’re thinking.  It’s not what I’m thinking.  I’m thinking what Yogi Berra is thinking.  I’m thinking, “It gets late awfully early around here.”  Heck, we’re already 36 games into the season.  That’s 2/9 of all games.  That’s 22%.  22% mental.  The other half physical.  Let’s get physical, physical.  I wanna get physical.  Let’s get physical and see what’s what.  Like Stan the Man Musial always says:  “I never realized that batting a little ball around could cause so much commotion.”  These cats are causing a commotion.  A loco-motion.  My little baby sister can do it with ease.  It’s easier than learning your a b c’s.  So come on, come on, do the loco-motion with me.  Come on with me and let’s take a peak at the All So Far Team, shall we?  Sure we shall!           Read More »

Little boy, in a baseball hat, stands in a field, with his ball and bat.  Says “I am the greatest, player of them all.”  Puts his bat on his shoulder, and tosses up his ball.  -Kenny Rogers

Ok, here we go!  Another opening day has come and gone.  Cool Papa Bell once said, “I remember one game I got five hits and stole five bases, but none of it was written down because they didn’t bring the scorebook to the game that day.”  Well, Cool Papa doesn’t have to worry about that today.  I brought my scorebook.  I’m writing it down.     Read More »

This must be love, fits like a glove.  Well it must be love, it must be love – fits like a glove – fits like a glove.  -Kiss

Shhhhh.  It’s around the corner.  Baseball’s around the corner.  Smell it?  Hooray baseball!  I love baseball.  I’m Like Carl Yastrzemski:  “I think about baseball when I wake up in the morning.   I think about it all day and I dream about it at night.  The only time I don’t think about it is when I’m playing it.”  And considering I don’t play much of it anymore, I’m thinking about it all the time.  Today I’m thinking about the best defensive players in the game today.  What’s glove got to do with it, got to do with it?  Everything.  Always has.  Always will. Read More »

What does it take to be number one?  Two is not a winner and three nobody remembers.  What does it take to be number one?  Hey hey hey hey..  -Nelly

Opening day is just two weeks away.  Ahhhh, baseball.  The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball.  America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers.  It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again.  But baseball has marked the time.  I know it’s a little early.  I know what Bill Veeck said.  I know he said, “This is a game to be savored, not gulped.  There’s time to discuss everything between pitches or between innings.”  I don’t care.  I want it all.  I want it now.  I want to know what the Big Fundamental wants to know.  “Good, better, best.  Never let it rest.  Until your good is better and your better is best.”  Who’s good?  Who’s the best?  Today we will discuss who’s the best.  We’ll discuss who’s the worst.  And we’ll discuss everything in between.  So, without further ado, let’s hand out the hardware:          Read More »

And you may tell yourself, this is not my beautiful house!  And you may tell yourself, this is not my beautiful wife!  Same as it ever was…same as it ever was…same as it ever was.  -Talking Heads

Just a quick one today.  Quick as a licorice stick one today.  Quick as a mouse click one today.  Today, the good folks over at Ed The Sports Fan posted a lamentation entitled When Your Favorite Player Gets Traded.  He said stuff like, “There’s nothing worse that can happen to a fan than when that fan’s favorite player…gets traded.”  In light of this, and in light of the recent moves that sent Melo to the Knicks and Deron Williams to the Nets, I got to thinking.  I got to thinking  that so many times in sports, guys have ended up in uniforms they just don’t belong in.  Uniforms they just look wrong in.  Here are a few that I never got used to:           Read More »

Everybody got gangs.  Everybody got clicks.  But they ain’t like this.  The Infamous.  -Mobb Deep

Public Service Announcement:  Roll out the barrel. We’ll have a barrel of fun.  Roll out the barrel.  We’ve got the blues on the run.  These days the Brewers are the ones on the run.   Ex-Milwaukee Brewer Manager Dave Bristol once said:  “There’ll be two buses leaving the hotel for the park tomorrow.  The two o’clock bus will be for those of you who need a little extra work.  The empty bus will leave at five o’clock.”  The way Milwaukee’s pitchers have been throwing lately, Ken Macha might want to have even another bus leaving a little bit earlier.          Read More »

Now you can’t catch me.  No, baby, you can’t catch me.  ‘Cause if you get too close, you know I’m gone like a cool breeze.  -Chuck Berry

Public Service Announcement:  OK, here we go!  Like the late great Harry Caray always says:  “Hello again, everybody.  It’s a bee-yooo-tiful day for baseball.”  Defense, defense.  Hold tight.  Defense, defense.  Fight!  Fight!  Fight!  Flashing the old leather.  That’s what here to talk about today.  The web gems.  What’s glove got to do with it, got to do with it?  Everything.                Read More »

I’ve been beat up.   I’ve been thrown out.   But, I’m not down.  I’m not down.  I’ve been shown up.  But, I’ve grown up.  And I’m not down.  I’m not down.  -Clash

Public Service Announcement:   OK, here we go!  Just a fast one today.  A blast from the past one today.  At long last one today.  Eric Gagne was once the greatest closer in all of baseball.  But then came the injuries.  Then came surgeries.   You want to trust the doctors.  Their procedure is the best.  But the last try was a failure.  And the intern was a mess.  Gagne was a mess.  Gagne was a mess back in ’06.  Back in ’06, he thought it might be over.  Greer is putting the ball in play.  He gets it out deep and Havlicek steals it!  Over to Sam Jones!  Havlicek stole the ball!  It’s all over…It’s all over!  Gagne thought it was all over when doctors took out eighty-five percent of his L-4 and L-5 vertebrae.   That summer, doctors also performed surgery on his pitching elbow.  With all of that, the Texas Rangers still took out a six-million dollar flier on him.  The Six Million Dollar Man. Eric Gagne.  Closer.  A man barely alive.  Gentlemen, we can rebuild him.  We have the technology.  Better than he was before.  Better, stronger, faster.           Read More »