Milwaukee Brewers - The Undead

I attended the Brewers game last night and came back with these observations:

The Brewers are not quite entirely dead yet, so stop wasting your life watching preseason NFL football. With a win yesterday, the Crew are back at .500 and, well, you know, not totally out of the playoffs. Don't crown the Cardinals just yet.

Brewers fans are good fans of the team, but not all that great as baseball fans. Basically they are football fans at a baseball game. For example, the crowd loudly booed the intentional walking of Prince Fielder with one out and runners on second and third, a right-hander on the mound, and Mike Cameron on deck. Please, if Cecil Cooper doesn't walk Fielder, then you should boo.

Alcides Escobar is an exceptional fielder, really fast, and a good baserunner. Whether he can hit is still subject to debate. But, with Escobar at short, Felipe Lopez at second, and Mike Cameron in center, the Brewers defense up the middle has gone from questionable to excellent. That improvement alone will make the pitching staff better.

Brewers management under Mark Attanasio has not been afraid to face up to shortcomings or make excuses. So it is a bit of a mystery why they insist on letting Jason Kendall continue to play everyday. I don't think Mike Rivera could be a bad enough defensive catcher to justify continued at bats for Jason Kendall. He is done as hitter. He has the worst slugging percentage of any regular player in the NL at .279. That's slugging not batting. He has 13 extra-base hits in 334 at bats. He simply does not hit the ball hard and even when he makes good contact, the ball dies just past the infield. Craig Counsell hits the ball harder then Kendall. Kendall used to be a very good hitter. I used to have a few non-gray hairs. Not anymore.

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