Goat of the Game Blogs

Nedly might not be the worst manager in baseball (cough dusty cough baker), but he sure isn’t the best. I think 90% of the people watching the game (and this even includes the females) knew Carlos was done once he gave up a HR to hunter Pence in the 5th and a single to the opposing pitcher.

 He ended up getting out of the inning with a double play on a very hard hit ball. Nedly didn’t notice what 90% of the rest of the world did though and sent him back out to get shelled in the 6th. Back to back to back homeruns later and Nedly finally woke up from his daydream and pulled him. -By then it was too late.

I’m sure Villy will get some votes because his pitch count was relatively low when he imploded out there, but I think Nedly has to be able to see these things coming. He’s proven time and time again that he doesn’t know how to handle a pitching staff.

It will be very interesting to hear his post-game comments. I’m fairly certain he’ll use the old “I was trying to get him through the 6th” excuse. -It actually makes some sense as you’d like to save the pen for the rest of the series, but you don’t want to throw wins out the window like Nedly so often does.

In other news, I finally have my paintings up at the New Moon cafe here in Oshkosh. I have a few offers to buy as well which surprised me a bit. If you’re in the Oshkosh area (which you probably aren’t), stop by and see them.

Otherwise, see them here.

Thanks for stopping in to vote!

Hello all, It’s been a while since I posted, so i figured I should pop in and upadte things a bit. My paintings will be up soon at the artwalk and in the New Moon Cafe; and once they are, I can relax a bit and put more time into this site.

Also, my son’s birthday party is this weekend, so all the time planning and setting up for that has also taken me away from the Crew lately.

-While we’re talking about birthday parties, OUTDOOR birthday parties, let me just say that WISCONSIN SUCKS. There are many reasons why Wisconsin sucks (high property taxes, relatively high crime, etc), but for now I’m b*tching about the weather. How can it be 70 one day and then 40 the next? FOr those of you keeping score at home, that’s a 30 degree difference!

I realize you can’t control the weather, but you CAN avoid it. There are nicer places out there, people! Anyone ever heard of Arizona? It’s about 84 there right now. -And this winter, when it’s -30 here, it will be about 70 there. I suppose people are starting to realize that there is better weather, along with higher growth rates in real estate as well as the job market. That would explain the population explosions in Nevada and Arizona, while I imagine Wisconsin’s population is just getting older.

I still can’t understand why people live here on purpose. Me, I feel like I’m kind of just stuck here for now.

But anyways, how about ‘dem Brewers? From the voting, it looks like Riske will pick up his first ever Goat of the Game award, but there is still time to vote before the game tonight (vs Florida).

It looks like Gabe Gross won’t get a chance to compete for the Goat title this year as he’s been shipped off to Tampa Bay. Part of me still thinks that Melvin was eager to get rid of him simply because he had to get him out of the 2-hole in the batting order. Ned Yost is really a moron. -But that’s another rant for another day.

Thanks for stopping by to vote. Please leave a comment below or in the guestbook (on the contact page) with any thoughts or ideas about the Crew or this website.

WOW. Ned Yost finally figured it out: having a guy who is hittin .091 bat second in the order isn’t a good thing.

He also figured that it MIGHT ba a good idea to bat Hart, who came into the game red hot, behind Fielder instead of slumping Bill Hall.

Genius! I wish us fans had thought of it first! …Oh wait, we DID!

I said yesterday (to no one in particular) that Hardy should be moved to the 2 spot and i think about 90% of Brewer fans have wanted Hart in the 5 spot for some time now.

“I like to try to get guys comfortable with where they are going to be hitting,” Yost said. “Then again, too, I also want to score some runs.”

Really? Since when?? You didn’t seem to mind up until now.

It’s funny because last season Nedly switched the lineup around almost daily. Hart leading off, Weeks leading off, Gross batting 2, Gross batting 6, Fielder batting 3, Fielder batting 4…. Now all of a sudden he comes up with a lineup and casts it in concrete even though it’s miserably ineffective??

So, I get the day off with a Brewer win. THANK YOU NED YOST for finally waking up. You should listen to us more often it seems.

In other news, I spent most of the afternoon watching the filming of the new Johnny Depp movie, Public Enemies. I’m working on a Depp painting (here it is after only about an hour of painting). With Depp in town, I figured it’d be a good idea to ask him to sign the painting. 

While we were out there it started raining and Depp retreated back to his trailer (below). Security told everyone that he wouldn’t be doing a meet and greet today (He did one last night for about an hour).  

It looks like we’ll have to go back tomorrow afternoon. My wife was pretty mad at me for seeing Depp without her anyways. Maybe tomorrow I’ll let her come with me. Wahahaha.

Anyway, thanks to the few and proud who voted for the latest goat. Hopefully Nedly stays awake and we can put together a winning streak.

Nedly Yost is some kind of special. Once again he’s up against one of the great minds in all of baseball this series in Larussa and once again Nedly is coming up short.

The Brewers rolled out a lineup featuring Braun on the bench, Gross in the #2 slot while batting .091, and Hall “protecting” Fielder while batting all of .204.

Of course Larussa and the Cardinals walked all over that lineup. They didn’t even bother pitching a strike to Fielder and walked him semi-intentionally FOUR TIMES in four plate appearances. They instead attacked Hall who ended up 0-4 with SIX men left on base.  Gross didn’t fare much better in the nubmer 2 hole, going 0-4 with a strikeout.

The only real bright spot of the game was that Bush was able to put together his first quality start of the season going 6 innings and giving up 3 runs. It may be too little too late for him though. -At least I hope so.

I surfed over to www.mlbtraderumors.com and saw some blurbs about a possible Bush/Turnbow trade. There’s nothing contrete of course, but it all makes sense in my head. –Then again, since when does making sense have anything to do with what the Brewers actually do? See today’s lineup for a good example of that.

I don’t wish any more losing on the Brewers, but I WOULD love Nedly gone. Remember that at the end of last season, Melvin DID say that he’d have to improve this year or face the consequences. So far, no good for Nedly in that department.

Twice now in one week I haven’t been able to watch the Brewer game due to FSN airing the Bucks over the Crew. I don’t know where Larry Harris went to, but I think my last bowel movement could have run an NBA team better than he has.

Okay, sorry about that comparison. That was uncalled for, no matter HOW true it was.

Because I keep missing Brewer games, I don’t have alot to cover there. All I can say is that I hope they figure out something tonight to pull out a win over the Mets and avoid losing 3 in a row. As of now, they’re trailing by a run in the late innings.

I’ve been keeping myself busy lately at home with my paintings. Recently I was chosen as artist of the month by New Moon, a popular local cafe. My paintings will be featured there starting May 1st, 2008.  My paintings will also be on display for the artwalk in Oshkosh on May 3rd.

I expect a johnny-Depp loving crowd at the cafe because of the new Depp movie, Public Enemies being filmed here in town. I figured that since I’m done with the Elvis painting, I could do a Depp painting by the end of the month to hang in the cafe. If you have any ideas for a nice Depp picture I should paint, please surf over to the contacts page and link me with it. Otherwise, I’ll have to pick one myself and I’m afraid I don’t have the eye (or love) for Depp that some of you seem to have.

 Sorry again for getting off topic tonight. Go Brewers (event though I can’t see you).

If the Brewers are really going to continue on a pace like this, then choosing Goat of the Games (Gogs) might not be all that demanding. I’m starting to think I should have taken the high road and instead recorded Pog (Player of the Game) awards. -Then again, that’s been way over-done. I’m sure the losses will come eventually. -Most likely in the second half because Nedly Yost has a history of having his teams collapse around then.

You probably heard the Jason Kendall story already of how his improved play this season can in part be attributed to LASIK eye surgery. Well, Bill Hall I guess wanted some of that attention and proclaimed recently that he too will go under the lasers in the upcoming off season. He added to the story that he thinks he’s off to a good start this year (3 HR, 8 RBI in 29 ABs) because he decided to start wearing his contacts again after 3 years without them.

WHAAAAAAAAAT?

You’re telling me that you’re a professional athlete and you just decide one day to not bother putting contacts in? -And then even after moving to the OUTFIELD (which would seem to require even BETTER vision) and after having an off-year at the plate you never once thought: “Hmmm, maybe I should put my contacts in”??

This reminds me of the Major League movie in which the pitcher can’t hit the broad side of a barn with his fastball until they put some big ugly glasses on him. This isn’t supposed to happen in real life. -Especially when the player KNOWS he can’t see without lenses. Here’s a bit from the story itself:

“Near the end of Spring Training, Hall started wearing contact lenses again after a three-year hiatus. He has 20/15 vision with corrective lenses. Without them, he’s not so sure, but he knows he had to squint to see the baseball. ”

You had to SQUINT to see the baseball and still a light never went on in your head? -And I thought Bill Hall was a smart guy. Sheesh.

This makes me wonder how many more Brewers are playing half-blind out there. If Prince can hit 50 homers without glasses, imagine how many he’d hit if you threw some Rick Vaughn specs on him! Heck, give them ALL eye check immediately. The Brewers training staff is going to have to institute pre-game eye equipment checks to be sure the players are properly equipped. Maybe everyone should be assigned Gagne Goggles. It will be a team thing like the facial hair of the Red Sox, or the general ugliness of the Cubs.

My final message to pro baseball players is this: If you need glasses, WEAR THEM! I thought it was common sense.

Well, there isn’t much work to do on a website focused on losses for a team that wins so often. I’m not complaining though.

The Crew wins again today with a 7 - 0 drubbing of the lowly Giants. -Wow, they’re going to be BAD this year. In case you missed it, Sheets pitched a complete game shutout. He pointed out himself after the game that it’s something he hasn’t done since his rookie season. I continue to predict that Sheets will have an injury-free career year seeing as how it’s a contract year.

Instead of biting on his fingers in the dugout between innings I saw him biting on the inside of his mouth. -That’s a good start to staying off the DL; don’t bite the skin off your pitching hand.

Off topic now a bit, I noticed today at the local park that softball is starting up again for the spring. -Baseball, however, is nowhere in site. - and YES, there is a HUGE difference. Let’s consider how softball came about:

Some middle-aged men were playing baseball one day, or attempting to, and they realized they couldn’t hit a ball pitched to them with any kind of speed behind it. So they changed the rules. Instead of throwing the ball with the purpose of striking out the hitter, now they’d lob the ball ever so softly with the purpose of landing it on homeplate. A feat which rarely ever comes into play, because who can’t hit a ball tossed to you in a nice rainbow arc?

Even with the exaggerated soft-tossed pitches they still had trouble making consistant contact. The answer? They decided to make the ball bigger. “A bigger ball will be easier to hit!” The traditional wooden bats wouldn’t do either. They needed aluminum bats to allow them to swing faster and hit the ball further.

Even with these changes, the men found that they still had trouble hitting homeruns. Easy fix: “Bring the outfield walls in!”

The bases were so far apart that they’d tire out if they had to run out an extra base hit. …”Move the bases closer!”

The game is taking too long. -”Change 4 balls to 3 balls and 3 strikes to 2 strikes!”

Even with the smaller field, outfielders have to run SO far to catch some balls. -”Stick an extra outfielder out there!”

Softball is a game for people who aren’t fit enough to play real baseball. Don’t get me wrong, I know those people exist. I understand senior citizens playing softball. That’s fine. But why is it that I go to the park today and 20 year old young men are lobbing big balls up in the air saying “Here ya go, please hit this”? ? ?

Hitting shouldn’t involve looking up and getting a running start.

Softball makes me physically sick. It’s a shame that we’ve accepted our own mediocrity and have stooped to playing games like softball instead of bothering to learn the REAL game which might take some work. Children shouldn’t be allowed to play softball. Teach your kids to play BASEBALL. Please!

I missed the last two Brewer games for a variety of reasons. Luckily for me, the Brewers won both games. Not that I wouldn’t enjoy watching a Brewer win, but it seems I’ve tied myself to the losses in this venture.

Someone on the Brewers’ message board linked me to the Pirates board and a thread on Goats of the game. Back when I was planning on doing goats for all 30 teams I asked for volunteers for the Pirates and found none. Now I get one once I stopped looking. Another Pirates fan mentioned that a local radio host is now doing a goat of the game bit in his post-game show. I suppose there isn’t much I can do about that.

I was thinking about it and came to the conclusion that it might just be free publicity. Afterall, this IS goatofthegame.com.

As for the Brewers games I missed, Bill Hall, as I understand it, hit 2 homers in the first game of the series, and an excellent start by Manny Parra in the second. Personally, I love seeing Villy and Parra doing well in these early-season starts because it’s good for their confidence and it makes Bush leaving the rotation more likely once Gallardo returns.

I’m not sure I can agree with Ned Yost’s handling of the bullpen so far though. Riske has appeared in 3 of the first 5 games. If Yost sticks to this schedule, Riske would pitch 136.08 innings this season. -a bit much considering his season high is 77.1 back in 2004. Yost does this kind of thing each season. Wise is gone, so now it’s Riske’s turn to be run into the ground and become ineffective in the second half.

I’ll have to mark this post and check on it at the end of the season. Hopefully Yost figures it out (though I’ll never hold my breath for that). We have a uch better bullpen. There’s no reason to pitch Riske 5 times a week.

Speaking of matt Wise, what ever happened to him? Anyone know?

The first loss of the year. Even after years of watching this team lose, it never gets any easier watching them fall behind. -Especially to the Scrubs.

The main problem today was Dave Bush; as expected. He’s just not a very good starting pitcher. At least not for this team anymore. I can see him being a #3 guy on the 2000 Brewers, but not the 2008 Brewers. We’re supposed to be better than this now.

Some of us are secretly hoping that it will be Bush sent packing once Gallardo returns from injury. The only problem is that Ned Yost seems to have a man-crush on Bushy. Not only does he insist he remains in the rotation when he’s obviously a reliever, but he’s reluctant to take him out of the game in each of his starts.

I was posting some Bush splits on the Brewers message board earlier today. Opponent’s batting average vs Bush once he passes 60 pitches or so is abougt .360. once he passes 90 pitches it’s more like .390. -Leave him in over 100 pitches and opponents bat .500 vs Bush.

Ned Yost obviously doesn’t have the internet and has no other way to access these CAREER stats.

The Brewers picked up their second win of the year vs the beloved Scrubs yesterday. There were a few nervous moments I suppose, but overall a convincing win. My favorite part of the game was seeing Wrigley Field nearly EMPTY by the 5th inning on the second game of the season.

Stupid Scub fans. I guess if you lose on opening day then you lose your fan base in Chicago.

It’ll be interesting to hear the fans’ reaction should they lose in the final game of the series.

 -But enough Scrub bashing for now. -How about ‘dem Brewers? Corey Hart stealing second AND third..Gwynn with a pinch hit single, Torres working out of a jam, Riske with 2 scoreless innings…. It’s early, but everything seems to be working so far. ..well, everything except gagne and maybe Weeks. He managed to homer leading off the game, but WOW does he strike out too much. Perhaps he feels he needs to cover for Jenkins who is no longer around to K.

Oh yeah, and Cubs fan thinks this site is gay. LOL