SB Nation User Blog: tristarscoop

Twitter and athletes - a good idea?

tristarscoop — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 11:09:30 -0000

We here at BCB have been entertained and informed by Seth McClung’s Twitter account, but his sometimes blunt complaints and lack of faith in his return to Milwaukee next season make me wonder if he’s digging his own grave.

Though most of his tweets have been the sort of mundane things you’d read about your friends, and his occasional glimpses into the clubhouse are cool – it’s the tweets expressing disappointment in his lack of appearances after coming off the DL and his lack of confidence that have to make you wonder how they plays with his bosses.

Seth holds the only MLB verified Twitter account on the Brewers.

Another Twitterer asked Seth if the Brewers had rules regarding players’ use of Twitter, to which he responded:

@Poonix idk, i am going to try to not say much that would upset them though.8:51 PM Sep 20th from web in reply to Poonix

Though they don’t seem to have a specific code of conduct for handling social media, one has to wonder if it’s something they’ll draw up over the off-season. Both Ryan Braun and Fielder blogged via MLB.com and now Seth’s Twitter account seem to mean that the Brewers can’t ignore social media and how it will affect their players and fans.

Here’s a small sample of some of Seth’s tweets over the past few weeks:

@Petersauce thanks it was a long road back, worked real hard and training staff was great!! Now, to get machA to put me in a game!! lol!!9:17 AM Sep 20th from Tweetie in reply to Petersauce

I wish I could have pitched @ home 1 more time, I feel robbed of pitching infront of the best fans in the world. I hope I am back next year5:09 PM Sep 27th from Tweetie

Day game, hope2 get some sleep, I have to always be ready@ all times! Set up to fail? MayB but if your prepaired Ur N control of your fate!11:02 PM Sep 30th from Tweetie

U know that saying, the writing is on the wall? I think I can make out more than just letters concerning me.12:51 AM Oct 1st from Tweetie

Do these sorts of remarks hurt his chances? Are they appropriate?

When asked about it, McClung told Brewers beat writer Adam McCalvy and other members of the media, "It can be interpreted any way you want. I'm not complaining, I'm not trying to make trouble. I'm just frustrated. I don't mean to talk about it in the media, but I'm honest with myself and it's hard to watch situations come up in which I've performed exceedingly well in the past, and get passed over. Now we're going on nine days since I've pitched last. I'm not saying I'm better than anybody else, I just think it's my turn. Beyond that, I really don't want to talk about it in the media."

When players like Ryan Braun have been crucial of management to members of the media, it’s caused a stir among fans and the reactions have varied.

With his Tweets, Seth is also criticizing, though in a more passive-aggressive, though somewhat less publicized way.

Why have they not caused the same sort of stir? Should they?

May I also take this a step further? In my opinion, past player complaints to the media have not gone over well with management.

Take Doug Melvin’s "deputy" reaction to Braun’s mid-season pitching complaints.

Once Bill Hall went public with his grumblings about playing time, he seemed to paint himself into a corner. The impression I got was that management told him that he was complaining about playing time but had refused being sent down to the minors in order to get at-bats and improve and they asked him to answer for that. When he was stuck, he accepted the designation.

Maybe that’s not how it went – but I sure get the sense that Doug Melvin doesn’t take kindly to that sort of thing and players have to be careful about the sort of hole they dig.

What do you think? Am I reading too much into it, or do you, like me, cringe a little every time you read another of Seth’s Tweets, feeling like he’s just putting more of himself in the grave?

YBF seeking optimism, long-term relationship

tristarscoop — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:26:56 -0000

Young Brewers fan in search of reasons to be excited for that elusive "next year."

The first few weeks of the off-season are meant to be a time of eternal Cubs-like optimism that your team will get it together. You’re supposed to be able to dream of the post-season and think of dream trade scenario.

Instead, before the season had even ended, Brewer fans became a pretty dismal, negative, downtrodden mess. Laments about the lack of pitching, how the team wouldn’t be getting any help and how bad 2010 will be are everywhere a Brewer fan looks and it’s starting to get a little disheartening.

Maybe it’s because the season was over long before the final game and fans started looking ahead weeks ago, meaning all the rehashing, contract-analyzing and trade talk came and went before October ever began, but whatever the reason, the post-season’s barely begun and I’m already dreading 2010.

If we can’t even get excited for this team in these first bucolic, starry-eyed, optimistic days of the off-season, what’s the point of even keeping up the fandom?

Have we become jaded in such a short time?

I’m not trying to be unrealistic – it’s clear the Brewers have a lot of question marks to answer before next season. The FA market looks sparse and with The Mustache saying Prince will more than likely be on next year’s roster, our biggest trade bait is no longer dangling. I get that. I know it appears bleak, but can we maybe wait for a date to be set for pitchers and catchers to report before we resign 2010 to the trash heap?

I need hope, BCB. I need to anticipate next season with something more than apathy and the apparent anger simmering beneath so many fans’ surfaces.

There have to be positives about 2010, right? Give me something to look forward to!

For the discerning Prince Fielder fan

tristarscoop — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 18:18:40 -0000

To give you an idea, this guy is Chad OchoCinco's "official jeweler." Found the pic via the jeweler's twitter feed, but can't find it on his website, so I'm wondering if it was a custom piece that Prince ordered for himself.

But I'm sure Jason of BH can make it again, so this is what every classy Fielder fan will have on their Christmas list.

Brewers 8, Phillies 4

tristarscoop — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:58:08 -0000

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

Browse more photos »

W: Manny Parra (11-10)

L: Cliff Lee (14-12)

S: Trevor Hoffman (36)

HR: Prince Fielder (43), Mike Cameron (22)

MVP: Prince Fielder (+.200)
LVP: Corey Hart (-.038)

Win Expectancy Graph
SBNation Coverage

Defying all expectations, Manny Parra went out and sat down the first nine Phillies in order and the Brewers put four runs on Cliff Lee before the first inning was over, ensuring that anyone who tuned into this game a little late had to wipe their eyes cartoon fashion to see if they could believe what they were seeing.

Felipe Lopez led things off with a double and was moved to third on a Braun ground out. Lopez scored on a Prince Fielder single. Casey McGehee doubled and Mike Cameron hit a towering home run to left field, making it 4-0 to end the first.

It looked as though "Bad Manny" might be making an appearance in the fourth inning, when a McGehee error and a walk put runners on and then an error-changed-later-to-a-hit at first by Ryan Howard scored those two runs. But Parra settled and got out of the inning, retiring the next 12 of the next 14 in order.

He ended the night with eight strikeouts, one walk and one earned run through seven complete innings.

Corey Hart was HBP in the 5th in what appeared to be retaliation for Hart's collision with C Paul Bako during last night's game, but that turned out to be a very dumb move when Braun singled and Fielder took his RBI total up to 136 with a three-run shot to right center, making the score 7-2 Brewers in the 5th.

Hart singled and stole second and was plated by Casey McGehee in the 7th, making it 8-2.

David Weathers started the eighth and gave up a single to Jimmy Rollins, who was moved to second a FC. Mitch Stetter came in to face Ryan Howard and promptly gave him his 135th RBI. Todd Coffey ended the inning giving up just one more run, so it was 8-4 Brewers.

All the starters but Parra notched at least one hit (including a gritastic infield hit from Mike Rivera).

The Phillies brought their left-hand-heavy bench into play in the 9th, chasing Claudio Vargas after he gave up two straight singles, putting the tying run on deck.

From there it was Trevor Time, as Hoffman came in and got his 36th save of the season, throwing just 15 pitches to get Matt Stairs and Jimmy Rollins to pop out and Shane Victorino to ground to Lopez to end the game.

I'll take "Things I Shouldn't Have Spent This Much Money On" for $600, Alex

tristarscoop — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:53:01 -0000

Or, you know, $606.38

Taking the train to Wrigley Field

tristarscoop — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 05:44:10 -0000

Before the season started, as single game tickets were going on sale, the Brewers announced a promotion where you could take your tickets to the Sept. 17th game between the Brewers and Cubs AT Wrigley Field to the Miller Park box office and they would give you a free t-shirt and vouchers for a free Amtrak ride from Milwaukee to Chicago and back that day.

For two happy, happy days I had full internet access at work and one of those days was when Cubs tickets went on sale, so I bought two cheapies in the upper deck and took my lunch to head to MP to get the vouchers. That feels like ages and ages ago and I've been looking forward to the trip ever since.

I've said before and I'll continue to laud them - the Brewers' marketing department is really, really good. They've come up with some really great promotions, this one included.

We heard the train station was packed for the earlier train, so we hustled to the train station for the 11 am train only to find the only people in the station were with the Brewers' group. The staff had everything organized and handed us new Miller Park South shirts. Even Bernie Brewer was there to welcome and entertain.

We loaded up the train and had two cars full of folks, it seemed. There were FSN and TMJ4 cameras, as well as some others. We were told Telly from FSN would be there with us, but we never saw them.

As the train headed South, we were also told that Bernie Brewer would be serving the snack cart, but we never did see him, either. It seemed Bernie kept to the car behind us.

A whole line of people also got onto the train at the airport station.

The one and only bad part of the trip is that the train rarely got above a slow crawl and therefore, the train was at least 30 to 40 minutes late pulling into Union Station in Chicago. Since we didn't leave Milwaukee until 11am, that put us on the El platform as first pitch was thrown - but that's getting ahead of the story.

As we pulled in, it was announced that if we didn't know how to get to the El station, the Racing Sausages would lead us in that direction. Instead, the Sausages were there on the platform to greet us and high five us as we deboarded.

It's possible the Sausages did head to the El from there, but frankly, we didn't wait to find out. It was a six or seven block walk to the El from Union Station, so those of us first off the train took off, knowing that first pitch was imminent. One girl got out the directions the Brewers had so nicely typed for us and a stream of us headed East across the river and in search of the Red Line El stop on State St.

One of the biggest suggestions I'd give to the Brewers were they to try this again next season is to pre-buy CTA tickets, or find some way that the large group of people isn't bottlenecked at the two machines selling fare cards at the bottom of the stairs. Having those in-hand would have made a huge difference.

As we were standing on the platform, the game started without us and I and a few others kept everyone updated via our cell phones, though service was spotty as we were underground. The trains were crowded to begin with, so we Brewer fans merely packed them to sardine levels as we headed the 10 or so stops to Addison.

We got off the train about the end of the first inning and were in our seats in Section 518 before the end of the second. All in all, I suppose that's not so bad, but with Amtrak's reputation for a lack of punctuality, it would really behoove the Brewers to not allow just 2 hours and 15 or so minutes for the train ride, walk and El ride. There was no way that was ever going to get us there on time.

Considering they were $16, our seats weren't bad. We didn't have to deal with too many support beams and we were right next to the press box. We were certainly closer to the field than we would be in the 400 level at MP.

As you know, it was a great game, with Jody Gerut crossing home after hitting a grand slam. There was Trevor Time (More Trevor pics here) Prince didn't break the record, but took a mighty cut.

One of the strangest quirks I saw that Wrigley (since I don't have to pee in a trough) was the overly staffed, extremely slow grounds crew. Whereas each member of the MP crew has their own grate and they jog/run, the Wrigley crew had two men per grate and they literally strolled their way around the infield dirt. It was head-scratching. The BF missed it the first time and thought I was exaggerating. Once he saw it himself later in the game, he was as awed by it as I was.

There was a lot of sarcastic speculation about where the Racing Sausages would show up during the game, which was answered when they appeared on one of the infamous rooftops. Bernie and the Sausages were on the far west side of Waveland, barely visible down the third-base line.

Though he's a Cub, I have must love for reliever Aaron Heilman and his beautiful, classic stirrups.

We had a lot of time to kill on the train and we were saying that aside from the obvious, I'd hate to be a Cubs fan because of all the day games. Still, they're usually completely sold out, but the stadium seemed pretty empty (this is the first base side.)

In the end, there was untucking and outfield leaps, along with on-field handshakes, which just look so pretty against all that ivy.

One more look at the win on the old-school scoreboard.

The boyfriend has a co-worker who's a Cubs fan who claimed there was a "W" flag for wins, but not an "L" flag for losses, so we had to prove him wrong.

Because of the late train, we didn't get to spend much time around Wrigley. I've been to a few games there, but the boyfriend had never been, so that was sad.

With time to kill before we needed to catch the train back, we walked over to Millennium Park. There was some sort of concert going on in the band shell which was cool, but we were more interested in taking pictures at the cloud/bean.

From there it was a long, sore-footed walk back to Union Station and a noisy train ride back to Milwaukee.

Doug Melvin, de-mustachioed?

tristarscoop — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 03:24:29 -0000

I'm pretty sure this isn't a recent picture, but I thought it was pretty funny that the Brewers' homepage today featured a big picture of Doug Melvin sans mustache while simultaneously advertising the game at which they'll be handing out a mustachioed Melvin bobble.

Not sure about the rest of you, but I'd never seen "The Mustache" without the lip warmer. Not only did I not recognize him, but I was fairly certain he was actor Mark Harmon (looking conspicuously like Melvin here.)

As someone who has advocated for this bobble to feature a "real" hair mustache (you'll remember when the title of this site referenced "real Canadian hair mustaches,") I find the above picture deeply disturbing and highly sacrilegious.

Cool fan behavior at MP

tristarscoop — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:29:36 -0000

It's rare that I'll use any of my writing platforms for anything extraneous, but tonight I want to use the reach this site has to point out some pretty cool fans sitting near us today.

We were in row 2 of section 207 and had a family with young children up the row from us. We were in prime area to catch balls from the right fielder and ball girl after the warm up catch game that occurs every half-inning.

There was a family down the row from us and the dad of the youngsters had his glove out and had a ball headed his way when the guy in front of him jumped up and snagged it.

A few innings later, the group of five or so younger teenage guys in front of us caught the ball girl's attention and got a ball tossed their way. One of them biffed it and one of the others made a beautiful snag over the railing to save it from dropping below.

The next inning, I notice the two tipsy 20-something couples sitting behind the family talking and pulling out wallets. Then, one of them comes and sits next to me, taps the teenager with the baseball on the shoulder and offers him some money to give the ball to the young boy down my row, which the teenager did immediately. The guy from behind me wouldn't take no for an answer, so the teen kept the money.

A little while later, one of the other teens caught another ball and gave it to the little boy's sister and the first teen gave the couples their money back.

There are so many stories of rowdy, drunk, dumb fans out there, I was pretty impressed with what I saw tonight and I thought these folks deserved some props. If there were a way I could have given the teens sort of "reward" they would have accepted, I would have. So instead, I have to hope one of them reads BCB.

Batting Order - Switch Braun and Fielder?

tristarscoop — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 02:12:12 -0000

After Prince's four-walk game, which KL gave some good info on, I got to thinking about the batting order.

Clearly, Prince is having a career year, and if not for Albert Pujols, he'd be the lead candidate for MVP, so maybe we shouldn't be messing with what works, but with Prince's increased on-base percentage, I wondered if it wouldn't make sense to switch Braun and Fielder in the batting order.

With all the other lineup and position shakeups, it might make sense to try this in a limited sense here at the end of the season.

Prince is protecting Braun, forcing teams to pitch to Braun. But with the constant lineup flux, there hasn't been a solid #5 guy and therefore there's been no one in the middle of the lineup that scares teams into pitching to Prince. They can be careful or intentionally walk him.

If the two are switched, then Braun gets the protection and because of Prince's numbers, teams would have to be careful about pitching to him, as well.

Batting in the four hole would also open up Braun's running game. The theory that there's no point risking an out on the bases with Prince up to bat has really stymied Braun's ability to steal bases. He's got speed and is a legitimate SB threat, but that's a facet of his game the team never gets to take advantage of.

It would make a difference later in games when the Brewers force a team to go to their bullpen. By protecting Fielder with Braun, there's a possibility of forcing teams to head to their bullpen earlier than they might have otherwise. It also forces the team to use two guys immediately, as they won't likely leave the LOOGY in for Braun. It would be forcing the hand of teams who may try to push a pitcher or fudge things a little when their bullpen is tired.

A lot of the possible arguments for switching the two are intangible - there's no stat to quantify one protecting the other, so it's an argument based on possibilities and feeling - but it seems like an idea that at least merits some discussion.

What you missed if you went to sleep…

tristarscoop — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 06:23:12 -0000

More photos » by Gus Ruelas - AP

Browse more photos »

(Like I did, only to be awoken by the post-game show to realize I'd missed a lot!)

Sure, the Brewers lost 17-4 and that sucks and is also really embarrassing (it was the most runs by the Dodgers at home since 1979), but the bigger story is the inexplicable drilling of Prince Fielder in the top of the 9th with two out.

Former Brewer Guillermo Mota was on the mound. The Dodgers were up 13 runs and had one out to go and HAD A PITCHER WARMING IN THE BULLPEN.

Then Mota drills Fielder in the leg and immediately heads towards the dugout, with a bit of a chest puff out, glaring and generally preening.

The theory is that it was "payback" for hitting Manny Ramirez earlier in the game. Of course, Manny was grazed across the chest/belly on an inside pitch from Chris "Not really known for his accuracy and control" Smith. Chris "Only comes in the game when we're really, really out of it" Smith, people!

The weird thing about payback HBP is that they usually don't come in the same game. If it had happened tomorrow, we probably wouldn't have thought too much about it, other than that it's a little weird to get all up in arms when a crappy pitcher has no control and hits a batter.

But to have a former teammate go out there with that kind of lead and throw at a guy - from someone like Joe Torre - that really is a head-scratcher. From the post-game commentary, I'm not the only one who thinks it's a really out-of-character move.

Macha was REAL feisty in the post-game interview, telling a reporter to back up and that he wouldn't talk about the beaning until after he'd talked about the game, which he did.

Said reporter was then told to ask his question.

Macha asked where he was from and the reporter said "here."

The reporter asked if Macha had any comment on the "other shenanigans," calling Prince "Cecil" in the process.

Macha had started to answer and then interrupted himself and corrected the guy, asking who he worked for.

The reporter said "AP."

Macha then pointed out that Prince "is an All-Star. Won the Home Run Derby," implying that the guy should probably know who he is.

The reporter goes on to ask if it's about where the ball hit him and said "it's baseball."

Macha snapped back at him "what's baseball?"

The reporter said "well, two of their guys get hit and then they come back and hit one of yours?"

Macha: "We're not trying to hit anybody, ok? We're not trying to hit anybody. We're losing by 13 runs. We're trying to get 24 outs, ok? We're not trying to hit anybody. Uh, that type of mentality I think, uh, should be taken care of. Um. We'll see what happens. But uh, as far as I'm concerned, the guy just hit him, hit him on purpose and walked straight off the mound into the dugout."

A few minutes later, in response to a question about Prince's reaction -

Macha: "I don't blame him. Everybody's trying to make a living. He is. And, uh, like I said, this kind of mentality puts everyone in jeopardy. Myself, the other team, the players for the other team, uh so, you know giving a guy a $500 fine and a two day suspension is not enough. This type of stuff should be cleaned up."

Another Reporter: "Ken, we usually don't see incidents like after something like this happened. Prince had to be restrained by his teammates or...."

Macha: "Ah, he ah, o, he ran over there and they weren't going to let him in and everybody came back. So I don't know if you can restrain Prince. I don't think I can. I don't think there's anyone else out there that can."

Another Reporter: "Will he play tomorrow?"

Macha: "Will Prince play tomorrow, I'm sure he's going to want to play, yeah."

Reporter: "That's not what I asked - will he play tomorrow?"

Macha: "Will he play tomorrow, yeah, he's been in every game, why wouldn't he play?"

After the game, BA and Bill mentioned the convergence of police and security at the tunnel next to the Dodgers dugout and a few minutes later passed on that they were told no cameras were being allowed underneath the stadium, so I'm sure that's what Macha was talking about here.

Drew Olsen said they were told a medical emergency occurred with a fan immediately post-game and that there were ambulances converging, which is where the no cameras, security thing came from.

Edit: The LA Times story on the game doesn't mention the hoopla at all.

Here's the AP story on the event, presumably from the above AP reporter.

A writer with the same name as the author of the AP story posted here, focusing much more on the post-game actions.

From that post: Prince Fielder was stopped by security at the Dodgers’ clubhouse door after the furious Milwaukee slugger attempted to challenge reliever Guillermo Mota, who hit him with a pitch in the ninth inning of Los Angeles’ 17-4 victory over the Brewers on Tuesday night.

Mota hit Fielder with two outs, apparently in retaliation for a pitch that hit Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez in the seventh inning of Los Angeles’ highest-scoring home performance in 30 years. Home plate umpire Marvin Hudson immediately ejected Mota, who slowly left the field while Fielder voiced his anger.

When the game ended, Fielder charged through the underground tunnels at Dodger Stadium to the door of the home clubhouse, shouting obscenities with many fellow Brewers trailing behind. Several security guards and teammates Bill Hall and Casey McGehee prevented Fielder from entering the locker room in search of Mota.

Fielder had calmed down moments later, but his actions set up a potentially explosive series finale Wednesday night.

“He came inside. It just got away from him,” Fielder said. “It happens. That’s baseball. He tried to come inside.”

When asked about his postgame march to the other side, he deadpanned: “I don’t remember that.”

Most of the Dodgers didn’t know about Fielder’s actions, since their locker room door is at least 30 feet from the clubhouse. They had plenty of their own anger after Brewers reliever Chris Smith hit Ramirez when the Dodgers had a nine-run lead in the seventh.

“It’s just part of the game,” catcher Russell Martin said of Mota’s pitch. “Our premier hitter gets hit, and he gets protection. I understand (Fielder) is frustrated, but you don’t take care of that after the game.

“We don’t want the same situation as last year in the playoffs, when Philly threw at Manny and we didn’t retaliate,” Martin added, referring to last fall’s NL championship series against the Phillies. “We don’t want to be known as a team that doesn’t have each other’s backs.”