the Bad News Brewers

Because I was born and raised in the proud state of Wisconsin, there are 3 professional teams I root for. The Milwaukee Bucks, Green Bay Packers and Milwaukee Brewers. The Bucks have been an absolute disgusting disgrace for the past 2 years. They have been wholly incapable of playing defense since about 2001 or 2002.

The Packers had a very good season last year (13 wins, 3 losses, and a playoff victory before their loss in the NFC Championship game), but the conventional wisdom is that they will do worse next year with a Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre retired and gone.

Then there's the Milwaukee Brewers. There's good news but mostly bad news. The good news is that the Brewers are pretty talented. They have a guy Prince Fielder (yes, his first name is PRINCE) pictured on the left, who was the youngest guy to ever slam 50 home runs in a season. They have Ryan Braun who was the Rookie of the Year last season. They have a very good pitcher in Ben Sheets. Also, their defense is better than it was last season.

BAD NEWS I put this in bold and in caps because there's just so much of it. Let's turn a strength into a weakness.

• While Ryan Braun has made a home for himself in LF and is much better there than at 3rd Base, he has had a hitting slump.
• PRINCE Fielder is also in a hitting slump. Before the season started, he announced he would be a vegetarian, because he doesn't like the way people kill animals before they are turned into meat. Now, he has fans blaming (wrongfully) that is the reason he is not doing well this year. Rumor has it that people are starting to throw hamburgers and steaks at him.
• Their young, promising pitcher is out for the season because he ripped up his knee.
• The Brewers have lost their last 6 games.
• Their starting pitching, other than Sheets, is awful.
• Ben Sheets is brittle and injury prone. He's had season-ending injuries a majority of the seasons he's played.
• The Brewers have had 1 winning season in the last 10 years.
• With poor starting pitching, poor hitting, there isn't a snowball's chance in hell they will make the playoffs this year. & that was the announced goal by management. They said, "The Brewers must make the playoffs or it isn't a successful season." At this point they'll be lucky to win more games than they lose. For the Brewers to significantly improve they must have the pitchers (by last names) Parra, Bush, Suppan and Villanueva go from rotten to very good. Going from rotten to average will not be good enough to even have a winning season.
• Many people are calling for the manager's head. I have no idea if that will help or not.

I'm so mad at them. People were saying at the end of last year, "Don't be so mad that the Brewers didn't make the playoffs. They are so young and talented that you can wait until next year. " I just knew that was nonsense. All that youth, all that talent, all that hope and it's flushed down the toilet with all that under-achieving! UGH!