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06-17-2005, 03:19 AM
Join us now as youthful Rickie grabs a ground ball in Florida and throws it toward Mississippi, as callow J.J. searches for truth and the Mendoza line, and pubescent Prince clears the bases and cleans his plate.
Will Tomo gomo than nine innings in his next start? Is Ryan buyin' what the Brewers are selling? Will Victor sue for non-support? Will Geoff get his groove back? Would a 20-game skid, an outbreak of bird flu and a fire in the clubhouse be enough to discourage Ned?
Tune in daily as the Milwaukee Brewers seek answers for these and other burning questions in Major League Baseball's adaptation of "The Young and the Restless." You know which is which.
It's not true that Chuck E Cheese's is catering the post-game buffet these days, but the Brewers are clearly experiencing a demographic shift. As the customers begin to put faces to the names they've been hearing for years, they will almost certainly expect more than they get.
Today Hardy, Weeks and Fielder. Tomorrow Krynzel, Nelson and Hart. Braun? Maybe sooner than later. Some or all of the above might turn out to be exceptional. Just not right away. Experience isn't a wonder drug, but it has no generic equivalent.
Asking a Milwaukee baseball fan to be patient is like piling a surcharge on his property taxes. Job was the March Hare compared to the average Brewer backer, who has endured a dozen losing seasons and is almost certainly headed for a 13th.
But patience is exactly what the franchise needs right now to prove it was worth waiting for, and it can only hope the previous administration hasn't used it all up. What the Brewers offered before was a bad team and a bad organization. What it appears to be offering now is a bad team and a good organization. That's called progress.
Naturally Yost would contend that this is not a bad team, but then if the manager fell into a tar pit he'd think he'd discovered oil. The Brewers were losing to superior opponents before. Now they're having trouble finding inferior ones.
The departure of Junior Spivey provides an opportunity for Weeks while removing an excuse for last year's fade. The lineups are different, but the problems are similar. When you can't beat good teams, can't win on the road, and you put runners in scoring position and leave them there, there's never any reason to print playoff tickets.
Hardy, Weeks, Fielder et al won't fix overnight what's been broken since 1992, and it's important that they don't use themselves up trying. Doug Melvin's policy of not rushing his prospects is sound. There's no good reason to change it now.
There might be temptation, though, as the Brewers flail away equally at good pitchers and bad. If nothing else, relying on newcomers could sell a few tickets while providing an explanation for another losing season.
The general manager is too smart for that, and the new owner hasn't suffered long enough to press him. As long as Mark Attanasio keeps an open mind and matching checkbook, things will get better, although not as quickly as the Brewers' patrons would like or deserve.
Let's hope it happens fast enough for Yost, who's proved his skill in keeping a bad ballclub together and deserves a chance to show what he can do for a good one.
It only seems like the Brewers' version of soap opera has lasted longer than all of the originals. A happy ending is certainly possible. Just not imminent.
Will Tomo gomo than nine innings in his next start? Is Ryan buyin' what the Brewers are selling? Will Victor sue for non-support? Will Geoff get his groove back? Would a 20-game skid, an outbreak of bird flu and a fire in the clubhouse be enough to discourage Ned?
Tune in daily as the Milwaukee Brewers seek answers for these and other burning questions in Major League Baseball's adaptation of "The Young and the Restless." You know which is which.
It's not true that Chuck E Cheese's is catering the post-game buffet these days, but the Brewers are clearly experiencing a demographic shift. As the customers begin to put faces to the names they've been hearing for years, they will almost certainly expect more than they get.
Today Hardy, Weeks and Fielder. Tomorrow Krynzel, Nelson and Hart. Braun? Maybe sooner than later. Some or all of the above might turn out to be exceptional. Just not right away. Experience isn't a wonder drug, but it has no generic equivalent.
Asking a Milwaukee baseball fan to be patient is like piling a surcharge on his property taxes. Job was the March Hare compared to the average Brewer backer, who has endured a dozen losing seasons and is almost certainly headed for a 13th.
But patience is exactly what the franchise needs right now to prove it was worth waiting for, and it can only hope the previous administration hasn't used it all up. What the Brewers offered before was a bad team and a bad organization. What it appears to be offering now is a bad team and a good organization. That's called progress.
Naturally Yost would contend that this is not a bad team, but then if the manager fell into a tar pit he'd think he'd discovered oil. The Brewers were losing to superior opponents before. Now they're having trouble finding inferior ones.
The departure of Junior Spivey provides an opportunity for Weeks while removing an excuse for last year's fade. The lineups are different, but the problems are similar. When you can't beat good teams, can't win on the road, and you put runners in scoring position and leave them there, there's never any reason to print playoff tickets.
Hardy, Weeks, Fielder et al won't fix overnight what's been broken since 1992, and it's important that they don't use themselves up trying. Doug Melvin's policy of not rushing his prospects is sound. There's no good reason to change it now.
There might be temptation, though, as the Brewers flail away equally at good pitchers and bad. If nothing else, relying on newcomers could sell a few tickets while providing an explanation for another losing season.
The general manager is too smart for that, and the new owner hasn't suffered long enough to press him. As long as Mark Attanasio keeps an open mind and matching checkbook, things will get better, although not as quickly as the Brewers' patrons would like or deserve.
Let's hope it happens fast enough for Yost, who's proved his skill in keeping a bad ballclub together and deserves a chance to show what he can do for a good one.
It only seems like the Brewers' version of soap opera has lasted longer than all of the originals. A happy ending is certainly possible. Just not imminent.