Series 43 - Milwaukee Brewers @ St. Louis Cardinals August 26 - August 27 at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, MOAt this time in the year, every series is huge because we need to keep on winning to keep pace with the Cubs and stave off the vermin nipping at our heels (like the Cardinals and Phillies). This series was especially huge because it is the last time that we play St. Louis during the 2008 season, so it is the last chance that we have to put some distance between us and them for the NL Wild Card. If we win both, we gain 2 games on them. If they win both, they gain two on us. And if we split the 2 game series, we're no worse off then when we got to town. So this series boils down to the very basic gamble - win, lose, or break even. Of course we want to win, but I'll settle with a split. Just as long as we don't get swept and St. Louis gets right back in it and think that they still have a chance at making the playoffs this year. There's a lot of animosity between these two clubs, and I don't think Tony LaRussa likes it very much that Milwaukee is now a better team than St. Louis. I don't think that they are ready for the changing of the guards within the division. Hey Tony - deal with it. And stop being an asshole and asking your pitchers to throw at Ryan Braun. That's bush league. If you were a man I would punch you right in the mouth. But you're not a man, you're a little whiny boy, so I'll just shake the shit outta you. It's only wrong to shake babies, because they're not old enough to handle it. You can surely shake children, but you can't slap or hit them because it's abuse. Or at least that's the way that I know it to be. And I wonder why I keep getting turned down and rejected every time that I attempt to adopt a child so that Gordon has a playmate while I'm away at work. I filled out this questionnaire, and I guess I kept on selecting the wrong answers. Maybe I'm just not mature enough to be responsible for another human life. Maybe when I grow up they'll be a little more lenient down at the adoption agency. Maybe next year when I'm 28 they will finally let me get a kid so that Maximillion Iceman Reck can live a storybook life and train from day 1 to be the World's Greatest Beer Pong player. The spelling error of the first name is intentional so that he can chose to go by Million (instead of the common short name of Max) or by his middle name (Iceman). But such things are more of a dream than a reality, and I keep on getting rejected. Tough luck man. Wait...what was I talking about again? I sort of went off on this wicked made up tangent, and came back and realized that I'm supposed to be writing about the Brewers vs Cardinals series. Man, I totally forgot. And the craziest part about it is that I am 100 % completely sober! I haven't had a drink in like 2 days. That's like a world record for me. And now I just realized how utterly sad and pathetic that was. Maybe my Mom is right and that I really am an alcoholic. Damn it! I hate that my Mom is always right. I'd prove her wrong, but I need a few drinks to work up the courage to confront her about, which totally defeats the point. Damn it. Oh well, on with the sober wrap-up.
Game 1 (Tuesday) - Ben Sheets (12-7, 3.05 ERA) vs Todd Wellemeyer (11-5, 3.85 ERA)
Today Ben Sheets notched a number that he is all too familiar with in his career - 12 wins. It's hard to believe that a staff ace like him has never won more than 12 games in a year, but when you consider how poor the teams that he played on were, and how many times that his year was shortened due to injury, then it all makes sense. Counting 2008, he has won 12 games in a season 3 times (2007, 2004) and 11 games 3 times (2001, 2002, 2003). The other years were injury years that prevented him from getting that high. Sheets has been historically bad against the St. Louis Cardinals in his career, and has been even worse at Busch Stadium (new and old). That is why today was such a sweet surprise. There's a couple different words that you can use to describe what the Brewers did to the Cardinals this game - rout, slaughter, vanquish, clobber, romp, drub, thrash and shellac. Before you go about praising me for being so smart and asking me to be on your Scrabble team for pairs competition, let me reveal some of my secrets. Although I was an English and Journalism Major before settling on Communications, I use the internet for the reason it was intended (and no, not for looking up free porn) - to get information. I went to thesaurus.com, entered the word rout, and got all of these sweet synonyms. I especially dig shellac, because it sounds like something a sweet old man sitting on a porch is his rocking chair would say when recounting a story from his youth. "If I ever disobeyed my mother, she'd give me a shellacking!" This is one of those perfect games where nothing could go wrong. Ben Sheets pitched 6 scoreless innings en route to the victory, the bullpen followed him up by keeping the Cards off the board in the remaining 3, and the offense had a monster night. This offensive output was equally shared by the entire team, as every starter except for Sheets had a basehit and contributed to the scoring outburst via an RBI or a run scored. The Brewers were up 5-0 in the 7th inning and well on their way to victory, then they made this game laughable in the 9th inning when the scored 7 runs, which included a pinch hit homerun by Bill Hall that put the game out of reach. People get on me for my love affair with Bill Hall, but Bill Hall still has the unique ability to win games or put games out of reach. My only complaint about this game is that I was once again stuck at work and I was unable to watch it again. I picked a hell of a year to work a 2nd shift job. The win today guarantees a series split and we can go for the 2 game sweep tomorrow. Final score Brewers 12, Cardinals 0.
Brewers record : 77 - 55, 2nd place NL Central, 1st place NL Wild Card
Game 2 (Wednesday) - Manny Parra (10-6, 4.00 ERA) vs Adam Wainright (7-3, 3.04 ERA)
I was supposed to work from 1:30 - 10:00 pm today, but I put in a request to leave early. There was really no reason to do it, I just didn't feel like being at work today. I was able to leave at 8:40 pm, and when I was walking outside, the bus was just leaving. I don't own a car, so I rely on your other set of wheels to get around town. Out here in Bayside, the bus only runs once every hour later at night. I missed the bus by mere minutes, and knowing that the next bus didn't leave until 9:28 pm, I decided to go to the Speakeasy (local bar) to watch the game and have a few drinks. I was pissed off that I didn't bet on yesterday's game, so I threw down $10.00 on Manny and the Brewers to win. I only intended to stay for 2 beers, but then I started playing bar dice with the bartender and a couple of regulars there, and I ended up losing every time and buying a round of shots for everyone. I was pissed, because I didn't come here to spend money, but I kept on playing hoping that the law of averages would come back to work in my favor and that others would have to buy me shots. It didn't work out that way. The next thing that I knew was that I had missed that 9:28 pm bus, so I decided to stay and watch the game and continue drinking. Everything was fine until the 8th inning when the Brewers let a 3-1 lead slip away. Things got ugly in the bottom of the 7th inning when Carlos Villanueva got out of a bases loaded jam without allowing a run, then got overly excited about it. Albert Pujols, standing in the on deck circle, thought that Carlos pointed towards the dugout in attempt to give them a disrespectful sign, took it personally, and carried it with him to his next at bat. Pujols doubled off of David Riske, then Ludwick doubled him home. Glaus hit a single to score Ludwick, and then 2 more runs scored. I don't care how it happened, nor did I see because I was facedown in spilled beer, Rumplemans, and salsa (the Speakeasy is below a Mexican restaurant). By this time I was pretty wasted and I missed the 10:17 pm bus, so I decided to stay and have a few more beers. Not wanting to miss the 11:06 pm bus, I walked outside for some fresh air with about 20 minutes to spare. While outside, I pondered over Karma and it's effect on me. You see, last year the Brewers were absolutely horrible on the road, and a road game was almost an automatic loss. So to make more money, I started betting against the Brewers on the road. I was pissed because I hate to see them lose, but I profited off of them. Everyone knows that Karma is a real bitch, but I went ahead and started betting on the Brewers to win this year. Every time that I bet on a pitcher not named CC Sabathia (cause no amount of Karma or divine intervention could stop that beast) I lost, as was the case tonight. I'd like to place the blame on Riske and Shouse for giving up those 4 runs in the 8th inning, but truthfully I have no one to blame but myself. So once again, I am personally responsible for the loss today. And don't try to tell me otherwise. So I was double upset over the loss today, and no amount of drinking could change that. So I guess my Mom was right after all - drinking is not the answer, it is the problem. Damn it. Final score Cardinals 5, Brewers 3.
Brewers record : 77 - 56, 2nd place NL Central, 1st place NL Wild Card
Brewers record : 77 - 56, 2nd place NL Central, 1st place NL Wild Card
So it looks like we're no worse off than when we got to town, and we broke even here in St. Louis. We were in line to win both games, and I really wish that we could have. The bullpen is starting to falter again this year, but at least our starting pitching has been nothing short of amazing. So no harm, no foul. But it really would have been nice to stick it to the Cardinals and push them out of the playoff hunt. The Rolling Stones said, "You can't always get what you want", but I never listened to singing undead zombies, so I say that I can always get what I want. I guess this time either God wasn't listening or He had other plans for me, because I wanted the Brewers to win. I always want the Brewers to win. So I guess those corpses were right after all. We'll see who is right when I bash them in the head with a shovel or blow their brains out with a shotgun. My friends and I will fall back into a strategic battleground known as the local mall and ward off any creatures of the living dead. Using equipment from the Radio Shack, hardware store, and sports store, we will defend ourselves against those slow moving bastards who want to eat our brains. Not on my watch you zombie punks. Once again, I've gone off on a tangent and my focus has shifted away from the Brewers and on to something completely different. I have no idea how or why I do it, but it's shit like that that makes me me. You could go anywheres to read a basic statistical analysis of the Brewers games, but there's only one place that you can go to read about shaking children, Karma's revenge, shellacking, and fighting off Rolling Stone Zombies and Brewers analysis at the same time. That place is here, and whether you come here often or stumbled upon it randomly, you are now considered family. Bring it in for the real thing brother! Well, I gotta go cook up some more random shit in my brain to type for next time, so until then - don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split you!
Next up - August 29 (Friday) - August 31 (Sunday) Milwaukee Brewers @ Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, PA
- pookon -
email : pookondotcom@gmail.com
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