Milwaukee Brewers: In the News (Mar. 20)

Awww Jeeeeaaaah!!!

Thursday’s Game: Brewers 7, Native Americans 5
Record: 10-8-2

Game Recap

—Prince Fielder knotted the game at five until Corey Hart clubbed his fifth homer of the spring, a two-run shot, to put the Brewers ahead to stay. Manny Parra struggled through four frames, but as is the case with all spring training games (and more so in spring training games where your offense tallies seven runs) it didn’t seem to matter. The Crew saw familiar faces in ex-microbrews Matt LaPorta and Michael Brantley—who went 1-for-3 and 0-for-1 respectively. Casey McGehee did not play and, thus, had zero hits.

Brewers News

—New Brewer Wes Littleton made his first appearance with the club Thursday: He evidentially knows a handful of his teammates already, and seems happy with the move. He tossed a scoreless frame Thursday.

—Milwaukee returned Rule 5 pick Eduardo Morlan to the (Devil) Rays and received half of their $50K posting fee back: Things didn’t work out the way many Brewers fans had hoped, but "Morlan less" it was worth the risk. Best of luck to Eddie in his climb to the bigs.

—Brewers/Wisconsin ties aplenty in Jayson Stark’s most recent blog post: The Yankees supposedly have renewed interest in Milwaukee’s Mike Cameron, the Phillies want to get rid of Geoff Jenkins (and will reportedly even eat most of his $8 million salary to make it happen) and they are apparently interested in Racine native (and UWO Titan alumnus) Jack Taschner.

—Do you like lists of active second basemen drafted in the top 30 picks of their draft class? Do you like hearing that Rickie Weeks isn’t that bad when taking _______ into account? Then here’s a one-way ticket to bonertown.

—Ken Macha seems well-liked by his players sparsely over a month into the job.

—Will Macha use Jason Kendall in the leadoff spot?: As Al points out, Kendall’s ability to work the count and high on-base percentage bode well for such a move, but I just can’t see this happening. Weeks is Kendall Jr. in those respects—but faster.

—The Arizona Republic says Prince Fielder is “simply a big kid.”: I respectfully disagree. Prince Fielder is an obese adult human. But the article’s additional points seem to hold true.

—The suite life of Joe McGraw: After all, baseball is a business.

Minor Leagues

—Tony Gwynn Jr. to the White Sox?: File this somewhere between “Whatever, I don’t care.” and “Do it!…I mean unless it’s too much paperwork or something.”

—Timber Rattlers tickets are reportedly selling like the minor league ticket equivalent of hot cakes.

—Lorenzo Cain, Jonathan Lucroy and Scott Thorman were sent back to the minors: Each expected moves. Cain/Lucroy need time to develop and get regular plate appearances. Scott Thorman needs to rethink his choice in professions.

NL Central

—RFB Frienemy Bleed Cubbie Blue introduces readers to a shared familiar enemy, the Houston Astros, and its one pitcher Roy Oswalt: I don’t even take the Astros seriously enough to finish this senten….

—Another Astros overview: Insert off-color Aaron Boone joke I’m expected to make but too uninspired to think of here.

Not pictured, Pizza Place.

—3 Guys and a Sports Page runs through the NL Central, predicting Milwaukee to finish 78-84 (third in the Central): They also say, “Max Gamel is the real deal with his bat but, has real problems with his glove.” Thanks for the quality, not-at-all terrible site, guys. I hope one day ol’ “Max” can make a correct name for himself.

I liked 3 guys and a sports page more when it was called 2 guys, a girl and a pizza place. Damn, that show sucked… but it introduced the world to Ryan Reynolds, the man Joe finds most attractive.

—A Reds writer thoroughly explains why a Reds player should have no trade appeal to other teams. Hint: It’s Bronson Arroyo. To much of the world Arroyo sucks both on and off land.

Other News

—The aforementioned Jenks is adjusting to life as a part-time player: I think the easiest mental adjustment lies in the fact he’s earning $8 million to play a game sometimes in 2009.

Have a good weekend. Or don’t. Far be it from me to tell you what to do.