SB Nation User Blog: kirbir

Kirbir's Pictures of the Week

kirbir — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 16:33:57 -0000

I hope that everyone had a fun and safe fourth. Hopefully the hangovers don't make you miss the game today. Since the one yesterday was so explosive, I figure these are the only pictures worth looking at.

Prince Fielder prepares for battle against the Cubs.

Craig Counsell takes down Soriano after forcing him out.

JJ Hardy forces out Fontenot while trying to show more GRIT than Craiggers.

Milton Bradley searches for Casey McGehee's triple ball.

Larry Rothschild, the Cubs' pitching coach, leaves the mound fearing the Brewers.

The game today starts at 1:20pm. It's the last game against the Cubs before coming home for a six game homestand against the Cardinals and the Dodgers.

The Brewers are partnering with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's School of Continuing...

kirbir — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:59:33 -0000

The Brewers are partnering with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's School of Continuing Education to offer "Brewers Baseball Basics for Women." The two-day instructional session sold out quickly in each of the previous two years. It's scheduled this year for Aug. 27 and Aug. 29.

Brewers Girly Program

First Block Party of the Year

kirbir — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:51:02 -0000

First Block Party of the Year

If you're unlucky enough to not be going to the Dells this weekend, you could go and meet the following:

Dave Bush
Bill Castro
Mark DiFelice
J.J. Hardy
Corey Hart
Yovani Gallardo
Stan Kyles
Casey McGehee
Jody Gerut
Carlos Villanueva

Kirbir's Pictures of the Week

kirbir — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 15:40:32 -0000

June has been hard for the Brewers, who are 4-7 for the month. After suffering four of those losses in a row and getting swept by the Colorado Rockies, last night's Suppan win was even better than normal.

All pictures this week are from Yahoo!

The man himself. Jeff Suppan pitched a winning game Friday night.

Craig Counsell trips over Matt Diaz of the Atlanta Braves.

Mike Cameron tries to trip Chris Getz of the White Sox.

Counsell shows Casey McGehee all about swagger.

Oh, and if you didn't hear, Ryan Braun is starting up his own line of bats. Awesomeness.

Your Brewers game today is at 1:05 and it's the final one against the White Sox, so let's make it count.

Go Crew!

Kirbir's Pictures of the Week

kirbir — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 15:48:30 -0000

So, if you read the Mug a few days back, you'd know that our fearless leader was going to witness the battle between the Timber Rattlers and the Cedar Rapids Kernals this past Thursday. I had the great pleasure to join him in Appleton for the day. We sat in the third row back right behind home plate. Aside from the fact that my camera died near the last half of the game, I managed to take some pretty fun pictures of our future Brewers.

Lawrie waits while the ump examines a ball in the bottom of the first. Later on, the same ump would be hit two times in a row by a Cedar Rapids relief pitcher.

Wily Peralta warms up just before the game starts. Sean McCraw is catching and Brett Lawrie is there in the background.

You gotta love cow appreciation night.

Brett Lawire leads off first base after getting the first hit of the night.

Chris Dennis swings away on a pitch from Ryan Chaffee of the Kernals.

Nick Tyson comes in to pitch for just a short bit of an inning, but ends up draining my camera of battery life.

I definitely have to say that the best part of the game was what follows:

Fang is trying to tell me that the Bratzooka has just launched something in my direction. In fact, the sausage bounced off my leg about the time that my camera finally got the picture. Later in the game I would also be hit in the shoulder by cheese curds.

After struggling with some packing tape, KLSnow enjoys the deliciousness that is a free sausage. New celebration picture? I think so.

While the game ended with an 8-0 loss against the Kernals, it was still a ton of fun. I'm sure that company had a lot to do with that one though. Everybody join me in congratulating newlywed KLSnow!

Game Thread #54: Milwaukee Brewers (31-22) at Florida Marlins (25-29)

kirbir — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 14:08:23 -0000

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

Josh Johnson reacts after giving up a two-run acorn to Brewers blind squirrel Bill Hall during the second inning of his last match up with Dave Bush and the Brew Crew.

Browse more photos »

We could very well have a repeat of May 14 on our hands, since we have both starting pitchers back at the helm.

Dave Bush is 3-1 with an ERA of 4.38 in 2009. With him as the starting pitcher, Brewers are 7-4. He allowed three runs (two earned) while striking out seven Marlins in seven innings. As long as the hitters can at least match the three runs, I wouldn't mind seeing this again from Bush...especially since the bullpen has had to pitch 20 of the last 43 innings. In his career, Bush has only started four games against the Marlins, allowing 16 runs in the process.

The Marlins' starting pitcher tonight, Josh Johnson, is probably the best starter for them this season. So far, he's 4-1 for the year with an ERA of 2.66. In his last start against Milwaukee, he walked five while allowing three runs (two earned) in only four innings. Anyone remember how Manny Parra obsessively checks his baserunners? Well, Johnson has averaged one pickoff throw per baserunner this year, which puts him at the top of the league in such matters with a large margin. It'll be interesting to see how much he throws over to first base tonight, since the Brewers never run.

Lineup:

2B Craig Counsell
SS J.J. Hardy
LF Ryan Braun
1B Prince Fielder
CF Mike Cameron
RF Corey Hart
3B Bill Hall
C Mike Rivera
RHP Dave Bush

Tom sez:

And before you ask why the slump-ridden Hall is in the lineup, here is your answer: He is 4 for 6 with 2 HRs for his career against Johnson.

So unbelievably lame. We're using six at-bats as reasonable barometer now?

Bullpen Status:

Chris Smith pitched one inning the last two nights for AAA Nashville.
Seth McClung pitched last night for 3.1 innings and Monday for one inning.
Todd Coffey last pitched Monday for one inning.
Carlos Villanueva last pitched Monday for one inning (seeing a pattern here?).
Mike Burns pitched Tuesday for four innings.
Mitch Stetter last pitched Sunday for, you guessed it, one inning.
And Hells Bells himself pitched last night's final inning.

Today's game thread is officially open!

It's My Base Now! A Discussion of Stolen Bases for the 2009 Brewers

kirbir — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:45:02 -0000

In case anyone else has been keeping track, no one on the Brew Crew has stolen a base since Rickie Weeks took second in our last series against the Marlins (May 14). That was sixteen games ago. In fact, only two Brewers have even tried stealing a base since then. On Memorial Day, Craig Counsell tried to steal on what ended up looking like a botched hit-and-run. And, of course, Prince Fielder tried to gracefully steal third last night.

As of right now, Ryan Braun and Corey Hart lead the team with three steals a piece. The only others with at least one steal are Mike Cameron (2), Rickie Weeks (2), and Bill Hall (1).

The team's record streak without a stolen base is 20 games from August 16, 1976, to September 4 of that same year. During that time period, players were caught stealing five times.

Do you think that our current base-stealing dry spell will last 20 games?

If you pick "other" in the poll below, please share your thoughts.

Poll

Who will be the next Brewer to steal a base?

Ryan Braun

50 votes

Mike Cameron

41 votes

Corey Hart

142 votes

Bill Hall

52 votes

Craig Counsell

10 votes

Other

36 votes

331 votes | Poll has closed

Mark DiFelice Should be an All-Star

kirbir — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:58:47 -0000

Mark DiFelice Should be an All-Star

DiFelice is having a good enough season that I think it's possible. Apparently, so does this guy.

Discounted Brewers Tickets on Sale at 9AM

kirbir — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 13:18:55 -0000

Discounted Brewers Tickets on Sale at 9AM

Loge Outfield tickets for the games against the Rockies (June 9-11) are now only $10 instead of the original $28.

Kirbir's Pictures of the Week

kirbir — Sat, 30 May 2009 20:21:43 -0000

Man, it's been a long week for the team and for most of us on here. All pictures this week taken from Yahoo!

Albert Pujols gets flared up over Craig Counsell's ability to catch him in a chase.

Manny Parra pitches frantically, trying to salvage some sort of a game.

Ryan Braun tries to slide in all cool like, but gets tagged out anyway.

Mat Gamel beats out a double play, but fails to slide as cool.

Speaking of Braun, he didn't manage to wrangle in this ball earlier in the week. Without the background, this could be a cool shot for an ad for a new version of the Six Million Dollar Man.

The Crew plays at 1:05CT today where Yovani Gallardo (4-2, 3.32) takes on the pride of Tulane University, Micah Owings (3-5, 4.78). Enjoy the game extra, as I have the unfortunate task of calling into work and driving for hours round trip to a graduation. Oh joy.