Archive for the ‘Milwaukee Brewers baseball club’ Category
Baseball Season Ends with Wild Finish
Last night’s major league season ended with a bang, not a whimper, as four teams still had an opportunity to make the playoffs as a wild card (the fourth and final seed), two in the American League (the Boston Red Sox and the Tampa Bay Rays) and two in the National League (the St. Louis Cardinals and the Atlanta Braves). Both sets of teams were tied going into the final game of the season, and there was a lot riding on the end of the year.
First, St. Louis played their game, beating the hapless Houston Astros 8-0 behind a 2-hit Chris Carpenter shutout. Which meant that Atlanta had to win to stay even with them, which would force a one game playoff to determine which of the two teams would continue on in post-season play.
As for Atlanta, their team was in extra innings; the tenth inning went by, tied 3-3 with the Philadelphia Phillies. The eleventh inning, still tied. The twelfth, with no change. And finally, in the thirteenth inning, the Phillies scored a run off a Hunter Pence RBI single (Pence was a member of the Astros until two and a half months ago, being a late-season acquisition by the Phillies) to go up 4-3, while Atlanta had nothing in the bottom of the 13th.
This meant that the Cardinals won the National League Wild Card; they will now face the Philadelphia Phillies in the first round of the National League Division Series.
As for the American League, there was a great deal of drama there also. First, Boston was playing Baltimore and they were in a very long rain delay, up 3-2 in the 7th. When Tampa Bay fell behind 7-0 to the New York Yankees, it looked all but assured that Boston would go to the playoffs.
But there was more baseball to play, as Tampa Bay showed by scoring six unanswered runs in the bottom of the 8th; the Yankees still led, 7-6. As the Red Sox continued in their rain delay, Tampa Bay was down to their last strike in the bottom of the ninth, when pinch hitter Dan Johnson, who’d hit only 1 HR all year and had a batting average of only .108, hit a game-tying HR to force the game into extra innings.
So the tenth inning goes by, with the Yankees and Rays being tied, 7-7. The eleventh inning, still tied; by this point the tarp is being taken off the field in Baltimore and the game between the Red Sox and Orioles was about to resume.
As for the Orioles, former Brewers shortstop JJ Hardy shut down two Yankee offensive threats all by himself, as in the top of the eighth Carl Crawford hit a double to the deepest part of left-center; the Red Sox runner on second base was sent home, but Hardy’s strong arm in relaying the pitch from the OF (from five or six steps deep into center) was sure and the Orioles catcher hung on to get the third out called there without a fourth run being scored. While in the the top of the ninth, JJ Hardy started a nifty double play that took the Red Sox out of a promising situation and they again failed to score; between Hardy’s game-saving defense and the 2-run HR he’d hit earlier in the game, it’s obvious that Hardy was the MVP of that game.
At any rate, Jonathan Papelbon, the Red Sox’s closer, was brought in against the Orioles. He struck out the first two guys, then gave up back to back doubles and was wild in the strike zone with the fourth and fifth batters. The Orioles were down to their last strike when Chris Davis hit the first double, Nolan Reimold hit the second, and Robert Andino, who’d been 0-for-the-game before this, hit the game-winning single to end the game and the Red Sox’s post-season hopes.
Note that Boston OF Carl Crawford attempted a sliding catch in the ninth on Andino’s single which, if successful, would’ve sent the game into extra innings; instead, Crawford trapped the ball and wasn’t able to get up and get his throw in from shallow left field. Had Crawford, who is a former Tampa Bay Rays standout, played that ball on a bounce instead, the Orioles runner would’ve been held at third and the game may well have ended up in extra innings if Papelbon had somehow mustered up enough energy to get the third out. Crawford is now being called a “goat” in Boston for what amounted to him trying too hard to send that game into extra innings, when the real “goat” for the Red Sox should be Papelbon — who had the Orioles right where he wanted them until Papelbon ran out of gas. Papelbon blew the save, lost the game, and ended the Red Sox’s season.
So, we go back to the Rays, who are now batting in the bottom of the twelfth. Evan Longoria was up; he hit a pitch well, but it looked like a double to me off his bat. Longoria was fortunate, though; he hit it to the shallowest part of left field by the foul pole, at the 315 foot sign, and just barely got it out of the park. So within three minutes’ time, the Red Sox had lost to the Orioles, while the Rays had beaten the Yankees in 12 innings to advance to the post-season as the American League wild card seed. The Rays will play Texas in the first round of the playoffs.
I have never seen a baseball season finish like this before, where teams had to step up and play well at the end with two teams forcing extra-innings games, with one team winning (Tampa Bay) and the other team losing (the Atlanta Braves). So there are two really good teams — the Red Sox and the Braves — who will be joining me and many other spectators by watching the post-season at home, while two other really good teams who played exceptionally well in September (Tampa Bay and St. Louis, respectively) will continue their excellent seasons.
Compared to that, the Milwaukee Brewers and Texas Rangers needing to win their final game in order to clinch the second-best record in their respective league to get home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs doesn’t seem as dramatic. But the Brewers and Rangers, too, showed the value in refusing to concede anything in September, and played well in pressure-filled situations in the final week of the season . . . any other year, these teams would’ve been the stories, not the Rays and Cardinals.
Milwaukee Brewers win NL Central Title
Finally, the Milwaukee Brewers have won the National League Central Division in 2011.
After weeks of uncertainty, the Brewers beat the Florida Marlins, 4-1, while the St. Louis Cardinals lost 4-1 to the Chicago Cubs. As the Cardinals were the lone remaining obstacle to the Brewers winning their division, I was hoping the Cardinals would lose now rather than wait a few more days for the Brewers to win another game, as starting tonight’s action the Brewers “magic number” was down to only two games — meaning a win by the Brewers and a loss by the Cardinals tonight would win the Brewers the NL Central Division title.
This is the second time in three years that the Brewers have advanced to the playoffs, as they were the Wild Card seed (fourth-best team in the league, roughly) in 2008. At that time the Brewers did not do very well, being eliminated in four games by the eventual World Series champions, the Philadelphia Phillies. But this team will probably do a little better as there are many players remaining from the ’08 season, plus there are some crafty veterans like Jerry Hairston, Jr., and Mark Kotsay who weren’t on the ’08 squad, plus the ever-reliable, ageless Craig Counsell, who was.
This is the first time since 1982 that the Brewers have won their division; at that time, the Brewers were in the American League Eastern division (there being no “central” division at that time, the AL East was a seven-team division and a notoriously tough nut to crack). The Brewers eventually won the AL pennant and advanced to the World Series, where they lost after seven hard-fought games to the St. Louis Cardinals.
This time, the Cardinals were in our own division, so perhaps it was a bit easier to beat them. (Or not, as the Brewers split the season series with the Cardinals, 9-9.) And now, unless the Cardinals are able to win the Wild Card (as the Brewers did in ’08), the Brewers will not have any chance of playing the Cardinals again until next year, which I find a particularly inspiring thought.
I am happy they Brewers are the Central Division Champions, but I do not believe they have fulfilled their potential as of yet as there’s still a great deal more work to be done before they get a chance to advance to the World Series.
I appreciate this team for what it is (a very good hitting team that finally has good pitching to complement that hitting) and appreciate the ’82 team for what it was, too — oddly, both teams featured very good hitting for several years, yet needed a few more good pitchers to advance to postseason play. In 1981 and 1982, the Brewers had added Pete Vuckovich and relief ace Rollie Fingers before the final piece of the puzzle, Don Sutton, was brought on board via a trade, whereas this year Shaun Marcum and Zack Greinke were brought on board via trades while Randy Wolf was signed to play for the Brewers last year and reliever John Axford learned last year from relief ace Trevor Hoffman before taking over for good this year.
What both teams (the ’82 version and the ’11 version) show is that you need both good hitting (in ’82, the hitters were Hall of Famers Robin Yount and Paul Molitor along with Cecil Cooper, Ben Oglivie, Gorman Thomas, Charlie Moore and Ted Simmons) and good pitching to win a divisional crown. (If you don’t know who this year’s teams good hitters are, well, here they are: Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Corey Hart, Rickie Weeks and Nyjer Morgan are the most feted.)
There are a number of other parallels from the 1982 season to this one; while none are exact parallels, there are enough of them for me to appreciate the resonance though it’s been twenty-nine years since I last heard this particular harmony.
Way to go, Brewers! Now, let’s win some more games, kick butt in the postseason, and continue the journey onward.
Quick Updates — Brewers and Otherwise
Folks, this past week has been more difficult than many. I’m approaching the seventh anniversary of my beloved husband Michael’s way-too-early death, I’m trying to get an editorial project out the door (it’s due next week), and I’ve been watching the Milwaukee Brewers. The first two are what’s keeping me from blogging much, while the third just makes me want to pull my hair out.
The Brewers are now in need of seven wins — or a combination of their wins and St. Louis Cardinals’ losses — in order to win their division for the first time since 1982, which is quite ironic if you think about it, as the 1982 version of the St. Louis Cardinals was the team that beat the Brewers in seven games in the World Series. The 1982 Brewers were an outstanding team that is still feted to this day; they remain the only team since the Brewers’ inception in 1970 to get to the World Series, winning first the American League East division (then a seven-team division), then the American League pennant, and then going to the World Series.
Brewers fans love their team, win or lose, as exemplified by the parade in 1982 after the Brewers came back from St. Louis on the losing end of the World Series. Thousands of fans lined the streets to say “thank you,” then old Milwaukee County Stadium (which held over 56,000 people) filled to its capacity while then-Brewers owner Bud Selig (now the Commissioner of Baseball) thanked the fans, thanked the ’82 team, and watched as ’82 MVP Robin Yount rode around the warning track on his motorcycle.
I don’t know if this version of the Brewers is as good as the ’82 team. I do know that the current team doesn’t have as many colorful characters, though it does have OF Nyjer Morgan; the current team doesn’t have too many blue-collar players, though it does have relief pitcher John Axford; it does have two genuine MVP candidates in Ryan Braun (now a “30/30” man as he has 30 HR and 31 SBs) and Prince Fielder.
What I do know is that the Brewers have had an excellent year, and are a very good team. It is more likely than not that the current Brewers will win the NL Central division and advance to the playoffs for the first time since 2008 (when the Brewers won the wild card seed, the “fourth place” team that is very good but doesn’t win its division). And that is a good thing, even if the Brewers’ players are “making things interesting” in their run toward post-season play.
Questionable Moves from Roenicke; Brewers Drop Fifth Straight
Ron Roenicke, again tonight, made me question whether he has any in-game managerial skills at all.
Here’s the situation. After John Axford pitched a solid ninth, which kept the Brewers tied 2-2, Roenicke sent up Nyjer Morgan for Carlos Gomez in the bottom of the ninth. This was a safe move that unfortunately didn’t pay off, but I was glad he tried something. Next, Roenicke sent Taylor Green up to bat for Axford rather than the much more reliable pinch hitter, Mark Kotsay; Green made a rather predictable out. Finally, Jonathan Lucroy, batting ninth as he’d pinch hit for Randy Wolf in the 7th (Wolf, by the way, pitched quite well tonight, but took a no-decision), made another extremely predictable out.
So we go to the top of the tenth. LaTroy Hawkins comes in to pitch for the Brewers, and he didn’t do badly as a pitcher. However, he made a very poor fielding play — something that I know isn’t Roenicke’s fault, mind you, and something I’m sure Hawkins wish he hadn’t have done — and it allowed the Phillies to score the go-ahead run.
Now it’s the bottom of the tenth. Corey Hart, the lead-off hitter, walks. Mark Kotsay was in the on deck circle for the second time in the game, and was once again pulled back in favor of Craig Counsell. Everyone watching the game knew Counsell was sent up to bunt, and he did on the second pitch; it was a beautiful bunt that advanced Corey Hart to second.
So here’s our situation. We have a runner on second (Hart) with one out. Ryan Braun comes up to bat. He strikes out. (It happens, even to good hitters.) Prince Fielder comes up to bat. He is intentionally walked (this, I knew, was going to happen, too; Fielder leads the league in intentional walks with 29). Which brings up Casey McGehee, who hasn’t had a good year, but did have an RBI and one run scored in this game.
I don’t know about any other baseball fans, but I know I was screaming for Roenicke to put Kotsay up there to bat for McGehee. If Kotsay could’ve gotten a hit, that would’ve more than likely have scored the speedy Hart, and remember, Counsell had already PH in the inning so he could’ve played defense at 3B at the top of the 11th if the Brewers had managed to get that far.
But no . . . Roenicke does nothing but allow McGehee to take his at-bat. Worse yet, Yuniesky Betancourt was in the on-deck circle rather than Mark Kotsay — Betancourt is another light-hitting infielder who’s had at best a so-so year, and lacks McGehee’s power — so if McGehee had been patient and taken a walk (he was ahead in the count, 3-0, at one point), the Brewers would’ve had another guy up there who had no business being there in a clutch situation — Betancourt.
Instead, McGehee did something rather predictable; he hit a weak ground ball to third, and Hart was forced out. Game over.
Look. If the Brewers are to advance to the post season, as I know every Brewers fan wants, Roenicke needs to start managing every single game like it’s the seventh game of the World Series. He needs to make good choices for pinch hitters (he did make one good choice earlier in the game by pinch hitting Rickie Weeks; I was glad to see him play. Weeks drew a walk, and was immediately lifted for a pinch runner, Josh Wilson.), he needs to make good choices and pull pitchers out of there when they’re struggling (he never should’ve left Gallardo out there to get shelled against the St. Louis Cardinals last week; he shouldn’t have left Wolf, a few starts ago, out to get shelled against the Cardinals when the Brewers were playing at home).
So here we are. The Brewers “magic number” to get in the playoffs stands at 11. The Cardinals won again tonight, and the Brewers lost their fifth straight game, which means the Brewers now have a six game lead over the Cardinals with fifteen games to play. And the Brewers have lost their second consecutive series, and their third series out of the last four, because Roenicke doesn’t pull his starters fast enough on the one hand (he should’ve pulled Marcum out sooner last night, too; this is one of Roenicke’s patterns) and sends up either the wrong pinch hitters or refuses to pinch hit for light-hitting Brewers regulars like McGehee or Betancourt when he still has someone like Kotsay sitting on the bench.
From this Brewers fan out into the ether: Roenicke, please get your head out of your nether regions and realize the Brewers might not make the playoffs, especially if you keep making bad managerial decisions. You need to start managing like it’s the last inning of the last game in the World Series, or the Brewers won’t even sniff the postseason. (You shouldn’t need a long-time fan like me to point that out, either, if you’re half the baseball man you think you are.)
Odds and Ends: WI Voter ID Law Problem, Writing, and Nyjer Morgan
Today’s one of those days it’s easier to write about a whole bunch of things, so let’s get to it.
First, it was big news yesterday when a top aide to the Wisconsin state transportation department told the staff at the Wisconsin Department of Motor Vehicles not to give out free IDs, which are supposed to be given out due to our new voter ID law, unless people ask for them. State Senator Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, made sure to make this public as soon as he found out about it, and stated on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation” with Al Sharpton today (Friday, September 9, 2011 to be exact) that he found this extremely distressing news and would be meeting with the appropriate people next week to get to the bottom of this. I also know from my friends and fellow Wisconsin political activists that this will not be taken lying down; no matter what Governor Walker’s hand-appointed aide says, those IDs are supposed to be given out for free or that law should be called what it is: a newfangled version of the older “poll tax.”
That said, we also have a problem here with the Milwaukee Brewers, and it’s not how poorly they’ve been playing (though that’s not been pleasant, either, as this article points out). Brewers OF Nyjer Morgan had a dust-up with St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter on Wednesday evening. After Carpenter swore at Morgan (which he now admits to doing), Morgan spit tobacco and swore at Carpenter before getting ejected. After that, Morgan took to Twitter in his alternate “Tony Plush” persona and poked fun at Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, calling Pujols a “she” and “Alberta” in the process — the reason for this apparently, is because Pujols immediately came to his pitcher’s defense and instituted a base-clearing incident that came whisker-close to becoming a brawl.
For now, Morgan is mum about it, which makes sense. (See the most recent JSOnline article about it for details.) All he’s willing to say is that he’s “glad it’s over” and that he doesn’t lie (the last in reference to Carpenter admitting he swore at Morgan), which is a good thing because what’s important overall for the Brewers is the entirety of the team, not just one player.
Mind you, I like Morgan because he plays hard, he seems like an interesting character, and he isn’t “muzzled” as so many of today’s baseball players are. He speaks his mind and I find that refreshing; I also don’t blame him for getting upset with any of the St. Louis players because there’s been some bad blood between the Brewers and Cardinals for years. I don’t condone it, but I do understand why in the heat of competition someone like Morgan might go overboard.
Here’s hoping Morgan can do what Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports suggested yesterday in this article:
Those guys in the clubhouse who love T-Plush and love Nyjer Morgan more, it’s maybe a good time to think of them. They haven’t come this far to blow an Achilles’ trying to keep Alberta Pujols from tearing off their center fielder’s limbs.
(from further down in same article)
. . . Morgan isn’t alone anymore. He has a franchise to consider. He has teammates who need him, as much as he needs them. He has a season to play out and a World Series championship to play for.
All of that is true and I hope that Morgan will listen.
And last, but certainly not least, I wrote 2300 words in a new paranormal romance story that has re-started after a nine-year lull because I finally figured out how to get it done — take it from a different character’s perspective, and this character just so happens to be an angel. Before, this particular story was stalled because I didn’t have an older, wiser viewpoint in it; now I do, and it’s one I hadn’t expected.
As this is the first fiction writing I’ve been able to do in the last two or three weeks, I’m very well pleased. Let’s hope I’ll be able to do more later this evening, and that the editing I’m about to get started on won’t shut off whatever it is that lets me write.
Milwaukee Brewers Catcher George Kottaras Hits for Cycle
Tonight, Milwaukee Brewers catcher George Kottaras hit for the cycle. He’s only the seventh Brewer to have done so, and is the third catcher behind Charlie Moore (who did so in 1980) and Chad Moeller (who did so in 2004) to have attained this feat. Kottaras is also the first major leaguer to have done so in 2011.
Now, for you non-baseball fans out there, “hitting for the cycle” means that Kottaras hit a single, a double, a triple and a home run in the same game. It is exceptionally difficult to do, and happens only rarely. (For example, Corey Hart nearly hit for the cycle a few weeks ago, but didn’t quite get it. And my favorite minor league player, Vinny Rottino of the New Orleans Zephyrs, nearly hit for the cycle this year but didn’t quite make it, either.)
Here’s a player analysis of the six Brewers (before tonight’s game) who hit for the cycle, in case you’re interested: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/392627-player-analysis-the-six-brewers-who-have-hit-for-the-cycle
Here’s part of what the Bleacher Report article has to say about Charlie Moore, the second Brewers player overall to do so:
Moore reached the cycle on Oct. 1, 1980 . . . According to Baseball-Reference.com, Moore pounded out four hits in a 10-7 win against the California Angels. Moore went 4-for-5, knocking in three runs and scoring three times.
A bit later, the same article observes:
Moore’s career spanned 15 seasons and 1,334 games. He finished with 1,052 hits, 408 RBI, and a .261 lifetime batting average.
During his time with the Brewers, Moore played multiple positions. As a right fielder in ’82, Moore posted an impressive .992 fielding percentage, second best in the American League.
I was young in 1982, but I remember Moore’s play very well; he was an outstanding defensive outfielder, a good defensive catcher, and a very good contact hitter when he was on. He is by far my favorite Brewers player because he maximized his ability every time he went out onto the field; he was the type of guy who had no “quit” in him, and I greatly respected that.
Now, Chad Moeller is another story; while Moeller is an excellent defensive catcher, no one could ever say that Moeller’s added much with his bat except for one evening in 2004 — April 27, 2004 to be exact.
Here’s what the same Bleacher Report article has to say about Moeller:
Moeller reached the accomplishment by going 4-for-5, with four RBI and one run scored.
A bit later, the B/R article states:
Moeller spent three seasons in Milwaukee (2004-06), splitting time at catcher with Gary Bennett and Damian Miller. The year Moeller hit for the cycle, he played in 101 games, the most by far in his career.
Moeller is a career .226 average hitter, while Moore, over fifteen seasons, hit for a career .261 batting average — very solid hitter, Moore. But as the B/R article says, the “stars aligned for Moeller” and he did, indeed, hit for the cycle.
Now, as for Kottaras . . . to date, he’s a career .219 hitter with some power in his bat and has greatly improved, defensively, in the past year or two since he came to the Brewers. Kottaras, entering tonight’s game, was hitting .241; because he’s played sparingly, his excellent game tonight raised his average to .273 with 4 HRs and 14 RBI in 88 official at-bats in only 38 games. (Kottaras plays once a week or so, mostly because he is Randy Wolf’s “personal catcher.”)
In tonight’s game, Kottaras started instead of Jonathan Lucroy perhaps so Lucroy could rest a bit, as Lucroy has caught a great many games this year (116 to date). His start obviously paid off for Brewers manager Ron Roenicke, and for the Brewers as a whole.
I like Kottaras; he’s a scrappy hitter with some power and speed to him, and he fights for every at-bat he gets. I wouldn’t have said, before tonight, that it would be likely that Kottaras would hit for the cycle as he’s received very little playing time; for example, Charlie Moore played in 111 games in 1980, batting .291 with 2 HRs (one of ’em being in that “cycle” game), 30 RBI, 10 SBs and 42 runs scored, so Moore had more opportunities to get his cycle in during the 1980 season than Kottaras has had this year.
That being said, Kottaras is now in rarefied company, as among the seven people who’ve hit for the cycle are Brewers Hall of Fame players Robin Yount (SS-CF) and Paul Molitor (3B-DH) along with Moore, Moeller, Mike Hegan (who hit the very first cycle in Brewers history) and Jody Gerut (who hit for the cycle last year).
Congratulations!
Baseball Update: Thome’s 600 HR, Brewers Triple Play, and Zambrano on DQ List
Folks, we’ve had quite the season from my favorite team, the Milwaukee Brewers, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t start out with the story everyone’s talking about (no, not the Brewers’ triple play, though I’ll get to that in a bit): Jim Thome hit two home runs tonight, numbers 599 and 600, to bring him to the 600 HR club — and he’s only the eighth person in major league baseball history to do so.
Here’s a quote:
“To get it over with, what a sigh of relief,” he said. “You work so hard — obviously fought through some injuries all year long.”
But when healthy, he’s still as capable as anyone of putting a powerful swing on the ball.
Rodriguez needed two weeks to hit No. 600 after reaching 599 last year. Thome waited one inning.
After a lineout and a single in his first two at-bats, Thome lifted a drive to left-center off Rick Porcello(notes) in the sixth, breaking a 3-all tie. That homer went an estimated 412 feet. His 600th was shorter. For a moment, it appeared Young might have a chance to make a play on the ball, but Young—who was traded from the Twins to the Tigers earlier in the day—could only watch as his former teammate’s hit disappeared over his head.
Congratulations, Mr. Thome! Way to go!
Next, we get to the Brewers triple play (only the sixth in team history), an unusual one — second to short to first to home (4-6-1-2) — which happened in the second inning. First Josh Wilson at second grabbed the ball, shoveling it to shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt for the first out. Betancourt threw it to Prince Fielder at first base to get the second out, then Fielder in a head’s up move threw it to catcher George Kotteras for the third out — Kotteras ably made a tag on a sliding Matt Kemp to complete the triple play.
It was a lot of fun to watch, and has to be something I can honestly say I never expected to see from this year’s version of the Milwaukee Brewers infield, none of whom are known to be Gold Glove-caliber fielders.
As for the rest of the game, the Brewers had four double plays in this game, one of ’em being a Prince Fielder (3) unassisted one in the ninth to cement the win. The Brewers’ runs were all solo homers by Ryan Braun, Jonathan Lucroy (who pinch hit in the 8th) and Corey Hart. John Axford finished the game with his 32nd consecutive save, a Brewers record he keeps adding to (he broke the old one four or five saves ago), and Randy Wolf got excellent run and defensive support for a change to bring his overall record to 10-8. Dodgers’ pitcher Ted Lilly, who only gave up two hits in seven innings (both to Ryan Braun, one being Braun’s homer to get the Brewers on the board) took a very tough loss, dropping his record to 7-13.
Finally, we get to the third, and much less optimistic, story of the last weekend, that being of Carlos Zambrano’s unusual move of cleaning out his Cubs locker after getting ejected on Friday night for throwing two consecutive brushback pitches to Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones. Zambrano had given up five home runs in that game, and from what I’ve read overall, was very upset that no one — not his catcher, not the pitching coach, not Cubs manager Mike Quade — came out to try to settle him down. Zambrano has been since placed on the disqualified list (DQ list), meaning he will not be paid and cannot report back to the Cubs even if he wants to; the major league players association is appealing this decision.
Zambrano is known to have anger management issues, or in more practical terms, he’s fiery and a hothead. But he’s never cleaned out his locker before, nor left his team in the middle of a season no matter how poorly the team was doing (and the Cubs have looked plenty bad this season with a 54-68 record, and are currently fifth in the NL Central division), probably because he’s one of the highest-paid pitchers around as the Yahoo Sports article goes on to say:
If the 30-year-old Zambrano really were to go through with retirement, he’d leave the $4.7 million he’s owed over the reminder of this season and the $18 million he’s scheduled to make next year. Then there’s the $19 million vesting option for 2013.
So far, Zambrano isn’t speaking directly, which is probably wise; baseball fans only know that the MLBPA is negotiating on Zambrano’s behalf. While I have never really appreciated Zambrano’s antics on or off the mound, he’s an excellent pitcher when he’s concentrating, and I enjoy his sometimes-blistering comments (earlier this year he called the Cubs a AAA team, which was accurate if disloyal in the extreme, something that also amused the professional baseball reporters). I hope for Zambrano’s sake that he’s able to take the time off to figure out why he got so angry, and work on himself in order to change it; if it’s solely due to how the Cubs were playing, or this other issue of no one being willing to help Zambrano calm down in the game that set him off to the point he cleared his locker out and left the team, maybe this “time out” will do Zambrano some good.
—————–
Update: a fourth story has just been posted, this one about the San Francisco fan who got beaten into a coma in Los Angeles at the start of the season. According to Yahoo Sports, the fan’s doctor is optimistic about fan Bryan Stow’s chances of further recovery:
Bryan Stow is awake, breathing on his own, can move slightly and has been able to interact with his family, said Dr. Geoff Manley, the chief of neurosurgery at San Francisco General Hospital. However, Manley said it’s still unclear how far Stow’s recovery will take him.
“His ability to follow commands has greatly increased,” Manley said. “There have been a lot of ups and downs and we still don’t know where he’s going to plateau in terms of his recovery.”
Stow remains in serious condition and has many hurdles to overcome in dealing with his traumatic brain injury (TBI). But this sounds good, much better than I’d expected due to the circumstances regarding how Stow was attacked in the first place. Here’s hoping Stow defies the odds and comes all the way back.
1996 Petak-Plache Recall Race Holds the Key to 2011 Recalls
Folks, I live in Racine, Wisconsin, so I know full well what happened on June 4, 1996. But for the rest of you, here’s a quick primer.
In October of 1995, George Petak (R-Racine), Wisconsin state Senator from district 21, cast the decisive vote in order to fund the construction of Miller Park in Milwaukee (and keep the Milwaukee Brewers in Wisconsin) by allowing a five county “sales tax” of .01% to go into effect. (In case you’re wondering, the other four counties being taxed on behalf of the Brewers are Ozaukee, Milwaukee, Waukesha and Washington; the sales tax is expected to end sometime between 2015 and 2018.)
Now, Petak had said until the very last minute that he’d vote “no” on this. But then-Governor Tommy Thompson twisted his arm, Petak voted “yes,” and many in Racine County (including Brewers fans) were incensed because Petak hadn’t done what he said he was going to do. (In fact, the Racine Journal-Times’ headline the day after the vote was something like “Petak votes no,” giving us our very own “Dewey beats Truman” moment.)
This palpable anger over Petak’s “bait-and-switch” tactics was the main reason he was recalled, and the palpable anger over Scott Walker’s “bait-and-switch” tactics with regards to the state budget and most especially the fight over collective bargaining for public employee unions is the main reason why the six Republican state Senators have been forced to run in recall elections.
Experts, including political scientists, said in late 1995-early 1996 that Petak would never be recalled, because the two previous recall elections in WI history had retained the incumbents, but they were wrong. While experts, once again including political scientists, didn’t think that nine Senators (six Rs, 3 Ds) would end up having to defend their seats in recall elections — but again, they were wrong.
The reasons why Petak’s decision was controversial were:
1) Racine County had no county sales tax mechanism at the time whatsoever, and getting the mechanism in place in the short run cost more than any collecting of tax.
2) Racine County, while next to Milwaukee County, doesn’t get a lot of business visitors or tourist business from there, so any economic “help” coming from this would be negligible.
3) As previously stated, Petak had said he was opposed until the 11th hour, then switched his vote. This turned the anger over the idea of a county-wide sales tax into white-hot rage and led to Petak’s recall
4) And last but certainly not least, as the Wisconsin state Senate was comprised of 17 Rs and 16 Ds at the time Petak cast his vote, you can see why the big money came out in order to change the composition of the state Senate. Not to mention all the requisite highly-negative ads. (Why do they run those ads, anyway? They only rarely change an informed voter’s mind, and trust me — in Wisconsin, we are informed about these issues or we don’t bother voting.)
Petak, who was primaried by another Republican but fended him off, eventually lost to Democrat Kim Plache and was the first government official to be recalled in Wisconsin history.**
What I saw in 1996 is what I’m seeing right now with the recall efforts against the six Republicans who will face an election on August 9, 2011 (three days and a few hours from now). It’s an election being held at an odd time, where passions must be high to get voters to the polls. There’s lots of money coming in from out of the state and inordinate negative ads on television and radio, some of which bear little resemblance to reality. The control of the Senate is in question, as the Dems need only three of the six seats to “flip” to Democratic control (then to retain the two Democrats who were recalled and need to run on August 16, 2011). And the vitriol on both sides is so deafening it’s nearly impossible to tell who’s going to do what to whom at this point, as it’s now become an endurance contest.
However, there are some differences as well, those being:
1) We’ve never had nine Senators recalled in the same year before (3 Ds, one of whom has already retained his seat, Dave Hansen of Green Bay, and 6 Rs).
2) We’ve never had a Governor who’s this unpopular before. Walker’s been tied to all six Senators (for good or ill) due to all of these votes being taken on Walker’s behalf and due to Walker’s agenda. So these races are as much about Scott Walker as they are about the individual Senators.
3) And finally, the national Democratic and Republican parties have taken a far larger role in 2011 than I remember them doing in 1996. Both major parties seem to believe that if their side wins these six recall races, they’ll gain traction for the 2012 House, Senate, and Presidential races.
As to the tactics of what’s going on in order to get out the vote — well, quite frankly, some of it is highly disturbing. There are allegations that PACs favoring Sandy Pasch (a Democratic Assemblywoman from Sheboygan) gave out free food in exchange for a quick ride to the polls, which is wrong no matter who does it. (I’m all for giving out free food. And I’m all for voting. But the two shouldn’t go together.) Then, there are the allegations (noted in the same article) that the sitting Senator from district 8, Alberta Darling (R-River Hills), Pasch’s opponent, has colluded with outside PACs to send out fake absentee ballots with the wrong dates on them. Under Wisconsin law, doing anything like that — the collusion by itself, mind you — is against the law. While putting the wrong dates on the absentee ballots is just stupid. (Note that in the case of alleged wrongdoing with the “free food for votes” scam, Pasch herself had nothing to do with it.)
Next, in one of the recall races being held on August 16, 2011, the Republican challenger, Kim Simac, refused to debate incumbent Senator Jim Holperin (D-Conover) and didn’t tell anyone she wasn’t going to show up. Not a good move there, no matter how her handlers try to spin it (supposedly Simac “never committed” to this debate; I can’t imagine that excuse is going to go over well with the voters).
Back to the Rs — there’s Luther Olsen (R-Ripon), who said publicly that he was against the “fake Democrats” who entered the Democratic primary in order to give the Republicans more time to fundraise, yet then praised Rol Church, a long-time Republican Party activist, at one of his GOTV rallies. Not to mention that Olsen is the first R known to have Gov. Walker at one of his rallies (even if Walker may have come in via the back door) — most are keeping Walker away like the plague, knowing he’s “box office poison” due to Walker’s unpopularity (Walker is booed wherever he goes, including a recent appearance at the Wisconsin State Fair) — after saying that Scott Walker’s policies are “too extreme” for Wisconsin and saying he wishes he’d have voted differently back in February.
Vacillate much, Senator Olsen?
And let’s not forget state Sen. Dan Kapanke (R-LaCrosse), who said back in May of this year:
“We’ve got tons of government workers in my district – tons,” Kapanke said May 25 at the Cedar Creek Golf Club in Onalaska. “From La Crosse to Prairie du Chien and to Viroqua and to Ontario and to Hillsboro, you can go on and on and on. We have to overcome that. We’ve got to hope that they, kind of, are sleeping on July 12th – or whenever the (election) date is.”
During the candid chat, Kapanke said he was one of three Republicans in serious jeopardy of losing in a recall election.
The other two, he said, are Sen. Alberta Darling of River Hills and Sen. Randy Hopper of Fond du Lac.
“We could lose me. We could lose Randy Hopper in the 18th or Alberta Darling over in – wherever she is – the 8th, I believe,” Kapanke said.
Note this was before Luther Olsen’s recent nonsense, as I’d add Olsen to the list of seriously endangered R Senators.
At any rate, here’s how I handicap the upcoming races:
Sure to lose: Randy Hopper and Dan Kapanke may as well pack their bags and go home right now. They will lose, and they will lose big — Kapanke may lose by double-digits to Assembly Rep. Jennifer Shilling, while Hopper will lose by at least six or eight points to Oshkosh’s Jessica King.
Will most likely lose: Luther Olsen has done himself no favors, and is the third-most likely Senator to be packing his bags.
Will probably lose: Sheila Harsdorf has name recognition and has been better than the rest of the six Rs at answering questions and talking to her constituents. Still, she’s parroted the party-line at every turn and refuses to believe any of her votes were wrong for Wisconsin, while her opponent, teacher Shelley Moore, is the person who led the recall effort against Harsdorf. Providing Moore beats Harsdorf, it won’t be by much.
I sincerely hope this Senator will lose: Alberta Darling has big, big money behind her, and the ads in her favor far outweigh the ads against her. However, most voters in her district know that it was Darling who led the committee that first “vetted” Scott Walker’s budget-repair bill that eliminated collective bargaining for public employee unions. Darling, therefore, had all the power in the world to stop this mess before it started, but didn’t. She definitely deserves to lose, but if she does lose to Sandy Pasch, once again it won’t be by very much.
The wild card: I honestly do not know what’ll happen in the Robert Cowles-Nancy Nussbaum race. Cowles has kept his head down and has said very little about his controversial votes; the only reason I think Nussbaum has a chance, aside from the large amount of people who signed to get Cowles recalled, is because she’s a particularly strong candidate (the only stronger one among the six Ds is Shilling) and has articulated a clear vision about what she’ll do once she gets in there. (I think Nussbaum’s done the best job of this of all six Ds, though props go to King and Pasch for their clear and decisive answers in candidate forums and debates over the past several months.)
So there you have it; my gut says that four, possibly five of the Rs will be joining the unemployment line after the August 9, 2011 elections are over.
————
** I called it right away that Petak would be recalled; I was working as a cashier at the time, and I knew how angry people were over Petak’s last-minute vote switch. Even Brewers fans — I’m one — were livid due to the lack of a Racine County sales tax prior to that vote. Further, people were outraged that Petak would refuse to listen to his district, who were adamantly opposed in big numbers. This reason — refusing to listen to his district — is why Petak was recalled and Plache went to Madison in his place. It’s also why at least four of these Republicans will lose on August 9, 2011.
Brewers Update
Today’s update is mostly about Rickie Weeks’ injury situation. It’s been reported by both Adam McCalvy (of MLB.com) and Tom Haudricourt (of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) that Rickie Weeks has both a severely sprained left ankle and some ligament damage that will not require surgery. The estimated time for Weeks’ return is anywhere from three to six weeks; as Weeks has been injured before — both wrists and one of his knees — he’s aware of what he needs to do to rehab, so the Brewers are hoping Weeks will only be gone about a month.
For the moment, the Brewers have re-acquired infielder Felipe Lopez, who’s played with the Brewers before. Lopez is an iffy defender with a good bat — similar to Weeks in that way, though Weeks is a bit better in the field and works really hard at it while Lopez, to be charitable, is mostly known to be a guy who’s been a bit of a loudmouth (which is why he doesn’t stick around very long at any team he’s ever played for). Lopez, who had been in the Tampa Bay Rays organization, batting over .300 at AAA ball, will start tonight at second base and bat fifth, which is where Weeks had been batting before the injury due to the Brewers’ woes at that batting position . . . here’s hoping Lopez can put his money where his mouth is, as the saying goes.
Otherwise, I was remiss not to mention John Axford during my last Brewers-centered post, as Axford has set a new Brewers record for 27 saves in a row (his 26th save, which broke the previous record, was on Wednesday; his 27th save was yesterday afternoon). Axford is nearly certain to be the Brewers player of the week, as this was a tough record to surpass; Axford has been consistently good (not always great, but good) as a closer, and has been a big part of the Brewers success this year.
One reason I like Axford so much, though, is that he has a blue collar sensibility to him. He just goes out to the mound and gets the job done. No histrionics. No drama. Just goes out every day and does his job.
I wish we had more people in this world who were like Axford.
Barb Caffrey's Blog 