The Brewers went 6-4 on their final roadtrip of the year and returned home with a 80-76 record. With 6 games left to go against the awful Houston Astros and the hot San Diego Padres they would certainly finish above .500, right? That would ensure a "winning" season and would allow us to sleep a little easier. I never sleep easy because I'm cold and alone in a Queen size bed, but let's not make this about my girl troubles again. With the worst team in the Major Leagues in town and your #1 (Gallardo), #5 (Estrada) and #3 (Fiers) pitchers on the mound it was a given that they would win the series without even breaking a sweat. This should teach you to not take things before they are given to you. Stealing is bad. In some Middle Eastern countries they chop off your hand if you steal unless a street rat and his monkey pass you off as their mentally insane sister. His hot mentally insane sister that I'd want to bang. So what. I think Jasmine is hot. Get over it. I'd show her a whole new world if you know what I mean. Cartoons and humans can get together. If it worked in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Cool World then it can work here too. Sadly all my knowledge of the world comes from the movies and I need a girl in my life bad. Read bad. But we said we wouldn't talk about my girl troubles. We? Who is we? How many people are there in my head? If the answer is more than one then I have more problems than girl problems. But speaking of problems, let's talk more about the Brewers/Astros series.
You would think that an 80 win team would be able to easily dispatch a 51 win team. But noooooooooo. They had to go and completely fall apart in what should have been an easy series that would have pushed them above the notable 81 win mark. For those of you now familiar with baseball (and if you aren't, then why are you reading this? Who has the gun to your head? I didn't hire him I swear...) there are 162 games in the regular MLB season. You win half and you finish at .500. Less than that you are a losing team and more than that you are a winning team. Sounds pretty easy, right? Most people would rather be winners than losers because winners get to go home and fuck the prom queen. Stanley Goodspeed is a winner because Carla was the prom queen. And me? I didn't even go to prom. Why are we back on women? Geez I have a one track mind. But after all the mostly downs of the 2012 season a winning record was achievable and very important to get to, and Houston seemed like the right team to do it against. But alas the 2012 Brewers keep finding ways to screw it all up and they really put together a lackluster effort this weekend. They should be embarrassed with their performance. I hope they don't perform that poorly in the bedroom because there would be a lot of disappointed women. Man do I know what that feels like... OK. That's enough. Moving on.
Friday September 28 - Sunday September 30. Milwaukee Brewers vs Houston Astros at Miller Park. Games 157 - 159 of 162. 3rd Place NL Central, Eliminated from the Playoffs. What a disgraceful series. What a terribly awful way to treat your fans, on fan appreciation weekend no less! This recent surge got the Brewers right back into the thick of it but then they go and get themselves eliminated from the playoffs by losing 2 of 3 to the Houston Astros who had 51 wins (compared to 105 losses) on the year. And you didn't just lose too. You got spanked hard like you stole candy from the store or pushed your sister down on the concrete. Game 1 on Friday was rough because Gallardo had owned the Astros in his career but I guess minor league Astros don't count. And the Brewers rallied back but the HR given up by Loe in the 9th ended up being the winning run and they fell short. On Saturday (Game 2) they had a 9-0 lead in the 9th but Livan Hernandez gave up 5 runs on 3 homeruns and will likely finish the season with a plus 6 ERA. Why was he even on this team this year? Was there no other option? But they won and St. Louis lost to keep their elimination number at 1. The loss Friday night and Cardinals win dropped it from 3 to 1. And then Game 3 on Sunday I was right and the Brewers won't make the playoffs in 2012 as they turned in a pitiful whimper to go out quietly in front of 38,000 fans. I hate being right. But it just goes to show that for the most part I know this team because I invest so much time and effort into knowing who and what they are. Way to waste your life pal. Astros 7, Brewers 6. Brewers 9, Astros 5. Astros 7, Brewers 0.
They were able to grab one win against the Astros where they should have grabbed three but like Rafiki tells Simba, that doesn't matter... it's in the past! This thing really got a little Disney heavy now didn't it? I bet I'm gonna argue that Nala in the Lion King was hot. Not as a kid. As an adult. Pervert. C'mon. If you were a guy cartoon lion are you really telling me that you wouldn't hit that shit lion-style? You don't have to admit it to me but don't lie to yourself. Ok someone reel me back in. This has gotten too weird. Damn you box wine! With a winning season on the line the Brewers needed just one of the last three games to finish with 82 wins which would be miles ahead of where I thought they would finish back in August when they were 12 games under .500. But they did that one better by finishing at 83 wins and they nearly made it 84 and a sweep by getting off to a 6-0 lead in Game 3. But then the Achilles heal of the Brewers snapped and hurt them one last time for good measure. The bullpen couldn't hold a 6 run lead and in the final game of the season Brewers fans were treated with a scalding reminder of why there would be no Playoff baseball in Milwaukee this October. But all things considered 83 wins was still a good thing.
It sucks that we had to readjust our expectations midseason and how I couldn't help my realistic side take over during much of the season. The brain definitely won out over the heart this year and I apologize if I sounded a little negative. But I couldn't help it because I saw how this all played out. Truth be told I didn't see this hot streak coming that would put them back in the playoff run but I knew that they wouldn't make the Playoffs. Somehow I always knew. Damn it man. I do hate being right. I wanted so bad to be wrong about this team and for everyone to rub it in my face. But the problem is that I've lost the will to dream and hope for the best after what happened to me personally in 2011. Hard to accept happiness and the possibility of the joys in life when so many bad things have happened. So that's mostly to blame for my attitude this year. I've lost the ability to think positively. What's the point? We'll see if I can ever get that back, but in the meantime check out my take on the San Diego series.
Monday October 1 - Wednesday October 3. Milwaukee Brewers vs San Diego Padres at Miller Park. Games 160 - 162 of 162. 3rd Place NL Central, Eliminated from the Playoffs. I've been doing these for an awfully long time (I wrote the first one on April 9th) and I've said a lot this year. You might argue that I've said too much. What can I say man - I'm a passionate die hard Brewers fan. But the question is - how do I end this thing? This series against San Diego is the final one of the 2012 season. Game over man. Game over! Game 1 was huge because it assured a winning season, which was important to me. I bet others agree but all things considered (injuries, streaky offense, bullpen blowing saves and lack of team identity until August) a winning record means something. 83 wins is a huge step back from 96 and so is missing the playoffs when you won the NL Central and made it to the NLCS. But it isn't as bad as it could be. Game 2 featured a futures lineup (or "B" lineup) featuring Taylor Green, Jeff Bianchi, Logan Schafer and Tyler Thornburg but they still all got the job done. That's a good sign for next year. Game 3 was a perfect example of why this team will be sitting at home watching the playoffs - The Brewers led 6-0 after 3 innings but the bullpen gave it all away and then some. And that's how our season ends. The very thing doomed the last game was what doomed their season. Sure there were some good times and memorable moments, but this season will go down as one of those "what if" ones like in 2009 + 2010 where they lacked quality starting pitching. What if we had a good bullpen? We'd probably still be playing baseball. Brewers 5, Padres 3. Brewers 4, Padres 3. Padres 7, Brewers 6.
So that wraps up the Brewing in the Crewbicle here on the blog for the 2012 season. I don't know if I am going to do it again in 2013 because it was a whole lot of work. I like writing and I love the Brewers so it's not work work but it still takes a good amount of time and effort to crank these things out. I could complain some more but you don't want to hear that. But I would like to hear from you if you are still reading this shit. Did you enjoy this? Do you want me to keep writing these things? Did you actually read any of this? Am I just wasting my time working on this when I should be out exercising and looking for the future Mrs. Reck? Am I just some drunken idiot who thinks he knows his shit but in reality is way off base? Let me know. Seriously let me know. Email me, leave a comment below or contact me via phone or Facebook. I rarely get any feedback so it always seems like I'm doing this shit just for me. While that works for the stuff I post on Pookon.com, which when all is said and done will be the story of my life, this stuff is for lack of a better word pointless. I'm not going to look back on this years later and be like look at all the good memories of the Brewers seasons as I recapped them on my blog. Since I don't get paid for any of this I have to do it out of love, and it has come to a point where I don't love it so much any more. So then it comes down to this - if I'm not doing it for me, then who am I doing it for? It has to be the readers. The fans. You and your Mom. If I don't have any fans then I'm done. So if you want it, you better let me know. Thanks.
So that will wrap up the weekly Brewers coverage here on the Blog. I will be revisiting the 2012 seasons soon as I do my recap of the season where I compare my preseason predictions from my 25 Brewers in 25 Days series to their final numbers. That's one of the things that I promise will continue regardless if anyone reads it because I am fascinated with my knowledge of this team and to see how close I can get to figuring out their final line stats in March. Of course I can't predict injuries or trades and I don't take into account possible off years, but if the person plays up to their potential then I usually can nail it right on the head. I spend a lot of time with the Brewers each summer and I know this team inside and out. I work or attend nearly every home game and I watch almost every away game on TV. Sure life often gets in the way and over the past 2 summers I have readjusted my priorities but still I find a way to keep tabs on my team. But with that having been said the end of the season still hits me like a shot to the gut because I am suddenly faced with the absence of something that had been with me since early March when Spring Training games started. Leaving Miller Park on that final day of the season is very hard and I often take my time leaving the ballpark. I snapped the picture that you see above as a reminder of what I will be missing until April. As always it is going to be a long and cold winter.
So check back in the next few weeks for my 25 Brewers in 25 Days wrap-up where I will have a more complete overall consensus of how I felt about the 2012 season. It's been about 2 weeks since the Brewers season has finished but I haven't worked much on stuff like this because I've been going through a little detox on laying low. When the Brewers are in town I can work 10-15 hours on top of my 40hr a week job which can get pretty taxing at times. And then I try to plan things with friends and family around my schedule which makes for a long summer. I'm not complaining here because I wouldn't have it any other way. Hell I've been working at Miller Park for 10 years now so I kind of bring this on myself. Basically I'm just saying that I was tired and I needed like 2 weeks off. I got it. So now I'm back. Check back often for some of the most messed up shit you'll read from someone that you've actually been in the same room with. Unarmed too. You brave motherfucker. Just like the Little Toaster...
- pookon -
www.pookon.com
email: pookondotcom@gmail.com
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