SB Nation User Blog: Marty McSuperFly

The Plot Thickens

Marty McSuperFly — Thu, 29 May 2008 12:31:37 -0000

Prince Fielder is the leader of the Brewers clubhouse. The broadcasters repeat it ad nauseum, the sports writers throw it in there for color, and the manager and coaches talk about how important it is. So, why is the new guy off message on this?

And I wouldn't call Prince Fielder the clubhouse leader. That's a label a lot of people who aren't in the clubhouse put on him because they want him to be that. But he is not. Guys like Ryan Braun, Mike Cameron and Jason Kendall are.

Media coverage of Fielder began to shift in the off-season, with a lot of the focus on his agent as the bad actor. Then, he told a reporter that he was upset about the Brewers renewing his contract for roughly $600k instead of $900k, and hardly a week goes by without someone dredging that up. And, of course, the vegetarianism. He might as well be Communist.

Ryan Braun signed the big contract and he's going to be the face of this team going forward. Even if Fielder were to stay, and if he were able to continue to play at a high level, the Brewers wouldn't have him as long as Braun. So, we can look forward to this perception shift all season. In the long-term, Fielder is going to play in the AL, where his defense (and conditioning) won't be an issue. Maybe the Brewers keep him through a year of arbitration or two, but the smarter thing is to trade him to another team that can benefit from those arbitration years, and thus take advantage of the extra trade value that provides.

But, before any discussions of moving Fielder can happen, the public image of the team needs an adjustment, because the past two years have been spent describing Fielder as the "heart and soul" of the team. The fans are already adjusting to the Ryan Braun storyline, and if Melvin can lock up Hardy or Hart, it will become that much easier.

With the Reds trailing by one run in the ninth inning Saturday, Adam Dunn's initial intention wit...

Marty McSuperFly — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:06:52 -0000

With the Reds trailing by one run in the ninth inning Saturday, Adam Dunn's initial intention with runners on first and second and one out was to bunt his teammates into scoring position. After two unsuccessful sacrifice attempts, a frustrated Dunn chose to swing away.

9 in 10 moms agree, Dusty Baker hates to win

Game Thread #29: Brewers(16-10) @ White Sox(10-16)

Marty McSuperFly — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 16:51:25 -0000

Another tie? I'm glad the season's about to start--I can't keep track of the game threads with all these ties.

Ben Sheets gets his last start of Spring Training today against Gavin Floyd and the White Sox. Yesterday's game thread was overshadowed by the release of Claudio Vargas, and there was both much rejoicing and much gnashing of teeth. It looks like he may end up on a contender.

2B Rickie Weeks
CF Tony Gwynn Jr.
1B Prince Fielder
LF Ryan Braun
3B Bill Hall
RF Corey Hart
DH Gabe Gross
SS Alcides Escobar
C Jason Kendall

Game Thread 28: Dodgers (9-17) @ Brewers (16-10)

Marty McSuperFly — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:31:34 -0000

Oh, it's a historic day my friends. The Red Sox and the As opened the regular season this morning in Tokyo, and this afternoon we have an interleague Spring Training game for the Brewers. That's right, the Dodgers come on over to Maryvale from the Grapefruit League. Carlos Villanueva and Dave Bush are scheduled to pitch today.

2B Rickie Weeks
CF Tony Gwynn Jr.
1B Prince Fielder
LF Ryan Braun
3B Bill Hall
RF Corey Hart
SS Craig Counsell
C Mike Rivera
RHP Carlos Villanueva

Game Thread #27: Rockies (11-10) @ Brewers (16-9)

Marty McSuperFly — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 17:59:41 -0000

Manny Parra takes the mound against the Rockies today with four actual regulars in the lineup. Unless Manny gives up 12 home runs and then pees on Ned's Dale Earnhardt "God Needed a Driver" sticker, his spot in the starting rotation is probably locked in.

While it's never good to have a player out for physical reasons, with JJ Hardy still out of the lineup with unexplained weight loss, we get to see some more Escobar today. He's just fun to watch.

2B Rickie Weeks
CF Tony Gwynn Jr.
1B Prince Fielder
LF Ryan Braun
RF Corey Hart
3B Joe Dillon
SS Alcides Escobar
LHP Manny Parra
C Jason Kendall

Game Thread #26: Diamondbacks (9-15) @ Brewers (15-9)

Marty McSuperFly — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 19:01:07 -0000

A couple of underachieving Brewers pitchers face each other today as former Brewer Doug Davis goes up against Jeff Suppan at 3:05 CDT. Suppan took a ball off the head in my MLB 2k8 franchise and needed to be out for five days, so I put him on the 15-day DL and called up Manny Parra. I may move him to the 60-day DL.

Yost still hasn't settled on the rotation after Sheets and Suppan at the top. Part of his decision will hinge on who pitches the home opener against the Giants.

Yost called that game, "monster, mega Opening Day in Milwaukee." He would tend to assign a more veteran pitcher to that game, but left the door open for Parra or Villanueva.

"It depends on his makeup," Yost said.

Yost's blind veneration of gritty veterans causes him to completely overlook the fact that Villanueva is the most likely to be unaffected by the pressure of that game. Bush doesn't settle down until after he's given up a five-run inning.

2B Rickie Weeks
CF Mike Cameron
1B Prince Fielder
LF Ryan Braun
3B Bill Hall
RF Corey Hart
SS Craig Counsell
P Jeff Suppan
C Jason Kendall

It's Santori Time

Marty McSuperFly — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 11:05:21 -0000

Red Sox @ Yomiuri Giants is on mlb.tv and the commentary is in Japanese. Better than Joe Buck. The radar gun is reporting pitch speeds in kilometers per hour, though. That's no good.

In other news, JJ Hardy may have been recently playing with colobus monkeys.

Shortstop J.J. Hardy remained inactive, however, due to weakness after experiencing flu-like symptoms. Tests are being run on Hardy, who lost 10 pounds, to see if he has an internal parasite.

Game Thread #25 : Brewers (15-8) @ Giants (7-17)

Marty McSuperFly — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 13:27:49 -0000

Claudio Vargas faces Matt Cain as San Francisco continues its quest to surround talented young pitching with gritty, gritty veterans. Hey! The Giants have five players on their roster that are old than me, and four of them are defensive starters. It's a tough call whether they break Spring Training with the team, or if they just buy condos in a Scottsdale retirement community.

Following Chris Capuano's elbow injury, Doug Melvin said "he was less inclined to trade a starting pitcher."

That's probably a good thing, because Melvin said his telephone had been quiet anyway.

Brilliant. Because of the injury, the Brewers are unlikely to make any deals with the teams that haven't been calling. I've seen that before:

Lloyd Dobler: I got a question. If you guys know so much about women, how come you're here at like the Gas 'n' Sip on a Saturday night completely alone drinking beers with no women anywhere?
Joe: By choice, man.

There's a lot of bad pitching around the league. The Brewers must be driving a hard bargain for teams to not even try to make a deal. Then again, maybe the Rangers and the Blue Jays are happy with their pitching, and so there is no opportunity for Melvin to make a trade in his comfort zone.

2B Craig Counsell
CF Tony Gwynn Jr.
1B Prince Fielder
LF Ryan Braun
3B Bill Hall
RF Gabe Gross
SS Alcides Escobar
C Mike Rivera
RHP Claudio Vargas

Game Thread #23: Brewers (14-7) @ Royals (10-10)

Marty McSuperFly — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 17:20:18 -0000

Manny Parra is scheduled to face Brett Tomko and the Royals in a night game, broadcast in 400k Grit-O-Vision by mlb.tv at 8:05 pm CDT. I am not aware of any perceived slights or irritations related to the Royals, so maybe Ned will send some major league players out there behind Parra tonight.

You know the biblical story of Solomon and that baby he chopped in half? I have a similar dilemma tonight. The Brewer game starts at 8:05, but since that's my kids' bed time, that's also my MLB 2k8 time. I just don't know whether to play the game or watch the game.

Decisions, decisions.

2B Craig Counsell
CF Tony Gwynn Jr.
1B Prince Fielder
LF Ryan Braun
RF Corey Hart
3B Bill Hall
DH Gabe Gross
SS Alcides Escobar
C Jason Kendall

Official Unoffical MLB 2K8 Thread

Marty McSuperFly — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 12:20:50 -0000

Several people have mentioned that they play baseball video games, including MLB 2K8. This is the first baseball game I've ever played, and while I'm getting the hang of it, some questions linger which don't seem to be addressed at either the Xbox Live forums or the 2k Sports forums. It's time to leverage the BCB community!

I'll kick off with the question I'd most like answered -- can you view the box scores of previous games in Franchise Mode?

The Brewers are falling victim to my learning curve, as they're now 0-5 after falling to a heartbreaker against the Giants at home. I really know how Ned Yost feels, though. I was sending in the right signals, but the players just weren't performing!

I had Chris Capuano rolling through 6 innings. He was painting all the corners, and had struck out 5 batters and hadn't given up a run. Then, in the 6th, he suddenly couldn't find the strike zone. Stamina was at about 40%, and I was executing the pitches correctly, he just had no control. Unfortunately, I had no idea how to make a mound visit to delay while warming up a pitcher, so I Yosted the game by leaving him in there to give up a quick 4 runs and the score went from 2-0 (on the strength of a Bill Hall home run!) to 6-2 by the end of the innning.

Anyone else playing? I didn't think I'd like a baseball video game, but I'm hooked on it.