Thursday, May 31, 2007

The winning formula

The guys that Lou keeps running out there aren't performing. Where are the changes that Lou promised? I've got the 25-man roster that Piniella should use, revolutionary changes and all...

THE STARTERS:

1. CF Felix Pie
44-111 (.396), 3 HR, 22 RBI, 28 runs scored with Iowa (AAA)
Pie has a .456 onbase percentage with Iowa. Even if his onbase percentage dropped by .100 in the major leagues, he'd have a higher onbase percentage than everyone on the team except Derrek Lee. Besides, he won't be afraid to steal a base.

2. SS Mike Fontenot
61-168 (.363), 6 HR, 31 RBI, 35 runs scored with Iowa (AAA)
Fontenot keeps tearing the cover off of the ball and leads Iowa with 100 total bases. His 13 walks puts his onbase percentage at .410, making him the perfect candidate for the second table setter.

3. 1B Derrek Lee
64-182 (.352), 4 HR, 30 RBI, 27 runs scored with Chicago
Even Derrek has been severely inconsistent this year, but you can't bench this guy. His onbase percentage has fallen to .419 and his slugging percentage has hoovered right about .500 all year, but Derrek should heat it up.

4. RF Matt Murton
29-105 (.276), 2 HR, 20 RBI, 15 runs scored with Chicago
Aramis can have the clean-up spot back when he starts to hustle. Murton may not be the prototypical clean up hitter, but since when have the Cubs had a prototypical anything? Murton is willing to take a few pitches and work himself into good counts (though even he's been doing less of that recently).

5. 3B Aramis Ramirez
55-190 (.289), 12 HR, 36 RBI, 26 runs scored with Chicago
Only 15 walks all season and so his onbase percentage is at a relatively low .340. Ramirez can supply the power that this team needs, but he could be easily replaced with Hoffpauir, who has 9 homers with Iowa.

6. LF Alfonso Soriano
55-190 (.289), 4 HR, 12 RBI, 29 runs scored with Chicago
Drop the stupid fuck tard to sixth; that should wake him up. Soriano has been swinging for power like a leadoff hitter and running the bases like a cleanup hitter. He also needs to stop jumping before catching every fly ball.

7. 2B Eric Patterson
55-172 (.320), 6 HR, 31 RBI, 37 runs scored with Iowa (AAA)
His numbers are very similar to that of Fontenot's. Perhaps, you could move Patterson into the two-slot to add more speed at the top and put Fontenot's massive production somewhere in an RBI slot.

8. C Geovany Soto
34-109 (.312), 4 HR, 25 RBI, 14 runs scored with Iowa (AAA)
His defense can't be worse than Michael Barrett's. Atleast you'll get some product this way. Koyie Hill is hitting the ball well in Iowa as well, so we should let him get every day time there. Let Michael Barrett work on his defense.

THE ROTATION:

1. RHP Carlos Zambrano
5-4, 5.24 ERA, 1.49 WHIP with Chicago
Yeah, he's been struggling, but he's also shown signs of coming out of his funk. Zambrano is still the ace of this staff and you can't justify not having him on the team.

2. LHP Ted Lilly
4-3, 3.52 ERA, 1.03 WHIP with Chicago
Many people thought that we overpayed for Lilly in the off-season. Sure, the contract is four years long, but so far, we've gotten everything that we could've asked for from Lilly.

3. RHP Jason Marquis
5-2, 2.93 ERA, 1.10 WHIP with Chicago
Marquis has been the most consistent pitcher of the staff so far this year (that's sad) and has kept us in every ballgame. Yeah, he's not as sharp since the complete game shutout, but he's still one of the better pitchers we've got.

4. LHP Rich Hill
4-4, 3.06 ERA, 1.07 WHIP with Chicago
Looks like he found his groove in Los Angeles. The new stretch position should help him hold the runners on, so hopefully that won't bother him pitching too much.

5. LHP Sean Marshall
0-2, 2.70 ERA, 1.05 WHIP with Chicago
2-0, 1.82 ERA, 1.01 WHIP with Iowa (AAA)
Wait a sec. This starting rotation contains the five guys that are in the rotation right now. I guess starting pitching isn't the matter...

THE BULLPEN:

CL Ryan Dempster
3.80 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 11/12 saves with Chicago
The bullpen has been bad and so Ryan Dempster gets the brunt of the blame. It's not his fault though; Dempster's blown just one save and has been very serviceable as the closer. He should remain right where he is.

RHP Michael Wuertz
3.13 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 0 blown saves with Chicago
A bit of a stumble last time out, but Wuertz has still been the most consistent guy in the bullpen. Had we been without Howry and Eyre, Wuertz would've been the no-brainer option for the eighth inning. Howry and Eyre suck, so that's where Wuertz should pitch.

LHP Will Ohman
4.85 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 0 blown saves with Chicago
Ohman's lefty splits are incredible: 3-22 (.136), 0 HR, 1 RBI. Ohman should be used as a lefty specialist and a lefty specialist alone. He runs into trouble when he has to face right handers.

LHP Carmen Pignatiello
0.00 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, 2/2 saves in 6.2 IP with Tennessee (AA)
1.06 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 1/1 saves in 17 IP with Iowa (AAA)
Looks like manager Buddy Bailey is trying to send a message to the big club. Pignatiello, for some reason, has been ignored over and over again, so Bailey used him to close last night's ballgame. Pignatiello stepped up to the task with ease.

RHP Bobby Howry
5.11 ERA, 1.54 WHIP with Chicago
Howry has been as bad as Eyre and so he gets to stay on the major league roster. Ohman, Eyre, and Pignatiello pitch in the pressure situations until Howry rights his ship, though.

RHP Carlos Marmol
0.00 ERA, 0.95 WHIP in 6.1 IP with Chicago
4-1, 3.95 ERA, 1.02 WHIP in 41 IP with Iowa (AAA)
Marmol has been throwing the ball decently with the big club. He ought to be the mop-up guy in the bullpen and should be the first person that the Cubs turn to if a starting pitcher gets hurt or struggles.

LHP Geoffrey Jones
0.54 ERA, 0.60 WHIP, 6 saves in 16.2 IP with Tennessee (AA)
Another lefty reliever that could take Scott Eyre's place in the bullpen. He's also been ignored because the club wants Eyre to turn things around. Let Eyre figure out his shit in Iowa and give this 27-year-old a chance.

THE BENCH:

C Michael Barrett
41-168 (.244), 7 HR, 25 RBI, 15 runs scored with Chicago
He sits because he can't play defense worth shit and has a .293 onbase percentage.

2B Mark DeRosa
35-140 (.250), 5 HR, 21 RBI, 17 runs scored with Chicago
He draws walks, so he stays.

SS Ronny Cedeno
16-53 (.302), 1 HR, 5 RBI, 10 runs scored with Iowa (AAA)
Don't be fooled by Ryan Theriot. Theriot's been slumping and he's not the answer. Cedeno is.

LF/RF Cliff Floyd
31-104 (.298), 2 HR, 20 RBI, 12 runs scored with Chicago
Floyd is the left-handed bat off the bench. You don't need Ward.

OF Angel Pagan
12-42 (.286), 2 HR, 5 RBI, 3/3 steals with Chicago
He stays for speed and defense.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Take a fucking strike!

After Jason Marquis joined the sucky pitcher's movement and allowed a three-run homer to Hermida, the Cubs tried to get all three runs back in the next half inning. In one swing.

Alfonso Soriano took two balls out of the zone to lead off the bottom of the fifth, mainly because even he couldn't justify swinging at them. Soriano swung at the first pitch in the zone however and softly flew out.

Then, Izturis took ball 1 before swinging at the first strike he saw and flying weakly to center. Even Derrek Lee decided to be lazy, trying to pull a 2-0 pitch on the outer half of the plate and tapping to third.

A couple of innings ago, DeRosa and Barrett both decided to get picked off on the bases because they didn't feel like standing out there on the field. Why do all that running when you can be on your ass in the dugout instead?

No wonder nobody on this team has yet to complain about playing time. It's not because they're afraid of Lou; it's because they'd rather sleep.

Monday's loss not Eyre's fault

I'm sick of all these people that pretend to know and understand the game of baseball.

Did Eyre throw the ball poorly on Monday? Yes. Did Piniella leave him out there too long? Potentially. Did Eyre's poor performance cost us the game on Sunday? Yes. Did Eyre's performance cost us the game on Monday? Absolutely not.

For those of you that are thinking, "Wait a sec, but we scored three times in the ninth," think about the situation for a second! If you are still thinking the same thing, then you shouldn't be watching baseball. You've proven that you can count to three, that's about it.

Wait, you've also proven that you have no capability of any complex thought.

Marlins' closer Kevin Gregg sat down after the Marlins added the fifth run. Had the score been 3-0 (or even 4-0) going into the ninth inning, Gregg would've been there from the start. Replay the inning: do DeRosa and Theriot really reach against Gregg? Probably not, but that's exactly the point: we don't know! The game very well could've ended 3-0.

Monday, May 28, 2007

Eyre down, Pignatiello up

No, it didn't happen. Not yet. But it should.

Eyre shouldn't be costing the big club any more games while he tries to figure his shit out. Let him do that in Iowa.

Meanwhile, let's get someone that can throw and help the bullpen. Believe it or not, the bullpen isn't bad, Lou just needs to learn how to use it better.

Sure, we all had Eyre and Howry pegged as the two-headed eighth inning monster and Ryan Dempster in the ninth. But, all Lou needs to do is make a couple of adjustments and the bullpen can actually be halfway decent.

Guzman (as reliever): 12 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 11 K; 2.25 ERA, 1.08 WHIP
Wuertz: 22 IP, 15 H, 4 ER, 18 K; .190 BAA, 1.64 ERA, 1.18 WHIP
Dempster: 22.2 IP, 15 H, 10 ER, 22 K; .192 BAA, 3.97 ERA, 1.01 WHIP

Wuertz hasn't blown a save all year and has four holds. He should be in the eighth. Angel Guzman has steady enough numbers to be the seventh inning guy when the starters are unable to get there. Ryan Dempster is doing just fine as the closer, he's converted 11/12 saves; even Torres has blown three saves and Hoffman and Valverde have blown two a piece.

Bobby Howry can stay on the team and pitch in fewer meaningful situations until he finds his groove and Eyre can figure out his stuff in Iowa. Meanwhile, as far as lefty arms, we should have Will Ohman and Carmen Pignatiello.

Ohman (vs. lefties): 3-22 (.136), 0 HR, 1 RBI, 11 K
Pignatiello (AA/AAA combined): 21.2 IP, 13 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 16 K; .165 BAA, 0.78 WHIP.

Pignatiello is a tall 24-year-old left hander that has been with the Cubs organization since he was 18. Pignatiello pitched well in each year, climbing the minor league ranks slowly but surely. Pignatiello made six appearances (5.1 IP) at Spring Training this year and allowed just three hits and one earned run. He deserves a shot; he can't be worse than Eyre.

The final spot in the bullpen can go to Marmol or Marshall (when Miller returns) or whatever. Lou's got a good bullpen. It's just the guys that are good are not who he thought it would be.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Lou tries to throw game away

It's 1-1 in the tenth right now at Chavez Ravine, but it should be game over.

Rich Hill was lifted after throwing just 66 pitches through 6 innings. That was the right move; he had to be lifted for Daryle Ward when we had a chance to score.

Michael Wuertz tossed a scoreless seventh and Lou played the top of the eighth perfectly, when he lifted Pagan for Ramirez with the bases loaded and two outs. Ramirez nearly blew the game open but missed a grand slam by a few feet.

Then, Lou Piniella had an aneurysm. I was screaming at my television as soon as Lou started walking out to the mound when Grady Little sent the left-handed Andre Ethier to the plate. I knew what Lou was thinking and in most cases I would've agreed. I'm always the one that wants to play the lefty-righty matchups, but Scott Eyre has been nothing but trouble.

Sure enough, Ethier tied the game on a 0-2 slider and now the Cubs will have to score again off of the Dodger bullpen if they want to win.

Then, Lou continued to try to give the game away. After Izturis led off the ninth with a walk, Piniella chose to burn his final pinch hitter, Cliff Floyd, instead of using Marquis to bunt. Floyd struck out weakly and Soriano, of course, hit into the inning-ending double play.

There's no room for Eyre on this team. Let him figure out his shit in Iowa and get a pitcher up here that can actually pitch.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

I saw it coming...

Worst part is, I'm not that devasted by this. I half-expected it.

The Cubs scored 7 times in the top of the seventh inning to cap a comeback and eventually take an 8-5 lead. I thought our bullpen would blow it in bottom of the seventh, but when Wuertz threw a perfect 7th, I felt confident. Instead, we Cubbed up the game in the 8th.

I knew Bobby had been struggling this year, but I didn't think that Bobby would blow another one. Not this way. But, after the lead-off single to Russ Martin, I felt four runs scoring. It almost seems like there's more pressure on with runners on base, even if it isn't the tying or go-ahead run. I would've preferred Martin homered to lead off the 8th.

It was the right move to turn to Bobby in the 8th. We needed him to rebound, and he is, after all, our 8th inning man. But that was the final straw; it's time to start thinking about switching some roles in the bullpen.

Michael Wuertz has a 1.80 ERA, a .197 average against, and most importantly hasn't blown a save yet...

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Lou tries to play matchups

Lou Piniella stacked Wednesday night's lineup with all right-handed hitters, with the exception of pitcher Sean Marshall. Now, I understand that he wants to get right handers in against David Wells, but Lou could've spent ten seconds and looked at Boomer's splits.

Over the last three full seasons, lefties are hitting 119-384 (.320) against Wells, while righties are 401-1432 (.280). This year, the splits are even more drastic as lefties are hitting nearly .400 against the Padres' pitcher, but Piniella went ahead and went out of his way to put in righties.

Sean Marshall was called up yesterday to make the start today. To me, that seems like a waste. Couldn't we have kept Cotts in the bullpen for yesterday's game, just in case? We weren't gonna use Marshall yesterday, so why call him up?

Also, I understand that Lou is not resting on his laurels and trying to send a message that he's not okay with where the team stands right now. But, Lou should be fucking with the guys that are not producing! Instead, Piniella pushed Ted Lilly, who has 8 quality starts, by two days, to throw Sean Marshall for the hell of it.

Hopefully, he knows something I don't.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Tuesday's lineup posted, nothing special

Okay, so before the game on Tuesday, Neal Cotts was sent to Iowa (AAA) to make room on the roster for Sean Marshall. After posting a 1.76 ERA through his first 14 appearances, two bad appearances shot Cotts' ERA to 4.86 for the season and now Sean Marshall is with the big club.

With Angel Guzman returning to the bullpen, it's possible that Marshall could be expected to start as soon as Thursday, but if Marshall would be inserted into the rotation, why call him up now? It's possible Marshall will be an emergency option in the bullpen and will start on Thursday if he's not needed until then.

Tuesday night's lineup doesn't see anything special. Alfonso Soriano returned to the lead-off spot and while I know he's better suited as the team's fourth or fifth place hitter, Soriano was brought to the Cubs with the promise that he would lead off. Ryan Theriot hits second, followed by Lee, Ramirez, Floyd and Barrett. Jones is the seventh hitter in center, Izturis is at short, followed by Hill.

Lou promised some extraordinary changes and I know that at one point he'd contemplated moving Dempster into the rotation. However, it looks like as of this point, nothing special will take place...yet.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Dempster rebounds in win

Angel Pagan has been hot, so he got to play center field and bat second. That seemed to work, as Pagan drove in the game-tying runs on his third hit of the day and scored the winning run on Toby Hall's passed ball. Lilly threw seven strong innings for his eighth quality start and picked up his fourth win of the year.

In the eighth inning, I thought Lou should've lifted Cliff Floyd after Ozzie made the switch to force the lefty-lefty matchup. Len and Bob were speculating that Derrek Lee would hit for Floyd, and I was kind of hoping Lee was healthy enough to bat. Obviously, if Lee wasn't well enough to bat, it was the right thing to leave Floyd in there, so I really can't hold that against Lou. Besides, Floyd got the job done; he drove the run home.

I absolutely agree with how Lou handled the bullpen. He had Wuertz and Howry warming in the seventh inning, but when we took the lead in the bottom of that inning, Wuertz sat down and Howry got the call. I know Bobby's been struggling this year, but if we want to be successful, we need him to take the eighth inning role. At the time, it was only a one-run game so Lou again made the right decision by having Ohman throwing in the bullpen just in case.

Then, with a three-run lead in the ninth, Piniella didn't hesitate to go back to Dempster. Despite his struggles yesterday, Dempster was still 8-for-9 in saves and he is, unquestionably, the team's closer. I'm glad that the Cubs gave Dempster another chance right after his meltdown yesterday and I'm glad Dempster could rebound and convert the save.

I would've liked to have seen us run on Toby Hall a little more, however. I understand that Mark Buehrle is one of the best in the game at holding runners on, but it seemed to be like Hall was short-arming the ball back to Buehrle every time. I wasn't convinced that Hall would've been able to get the ball all the way to second base.

Piniella promises change

Before the Cubs' Friday afternoon matchup against the White Sox, manager Lou Piniella jokingly called himself the worst manager in baseball, because he was unable to hold a four-run lead the night before.

Piniella made all the right moves though. Dempster had to come into that ballgame when he did because of the magnitude of that game and the short bullpen. He had to bring in Scott Eyre to face Shawn Green, even though he knew David Wright was on the bench, because Delgado followed Green.

Piniella then went on and promised the Chicago media that come Monday or Tuesday, he would do things that would surprise a few people, but wouldn't get into specifics. The fact that he wanted to wait until Monday or Tuesday leads me to believe that this involves the health of Derrek Lee, Mark DeRosa, and/or Angel Guzman. Hmmm...perhaps Guzman will play center field and Lee will bat eighth and play right field. Okay, maybe not.

Whatever the revolutionary change may be, I'm looking forward to it. The team as is is not producing results. I was calling for a change of large magnitudes earlier, so I'm excited to see how Piniella will shake up the team. Whatever he does, the team can't get any worse.

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Zambrano, Eyre show signs of improvement

I'm not sure whether or not I buy the new arm slot excuse, but whatever he fixed, I'll take it. Zambrano threw eight quality innings against the Mets, holding the explosive New York offense to just one run, a solo homerun by Shawn Green, en route to a 10-1 rout of the Mets. Scott Eyre then finished the masterful performance with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

Meanwhile, Derrick Turnbow showed he was human for the second straight day and now we find ourselves only six games in back of Milwaukee with a tough schedule approaching for both teams. Dating back to May 11, six of the seven opponents will be the same: Philadelphia, New York, Los Angeles, San Diego, Atlanta, and Florida. The only difference is the one interleague series; the Cubs face the Sox while the Brewers take on the Twins. After this stretch of games, the two teams will then hook up for what looks to be a critical three-game series at Miller Park.

With the two teams virtually on an identical schedule, this next month will be a true test of whether or not the Cubs are better than Milwaukee. So far, in the five games against the common opponents, the Cubs are 2-3 while the Brewers are 1-4.

Tomorrow, the Cubs will look to pin the first loss on Jorge Sosa's record, after dropping John Maine to 5-1. The Brewers get the task of handing Cole Hamels his second loss of the year.

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Carpenter out three more months

About a week ago, the Cardinals were excited as Chris Carpenter threw off of the bullpen mound before a game with the Astros.

Then, after dealing with the tragedy involving Josh Hancock and losing four of five games after that, the Cardinals have announced that their ace pitcher will undergo arthroscopic surgery on his throwing arm, which will keep him out of action for at least another three months.

I understand it's only May 5, but the Cardinals could potentially fall eight games out of first place by the end of the night. Not only that, just looking at the team shows you that this team is too weak to contend for the division title. Yes, too weak for even the NL Central.

The starting rotation right now consists of Kip Wells, Adam Wainwright, Anthony Reyes, Brad Thompson and Braden Looper. Of the five, only Looper has pitched decently, posting a 3-2 record with a 2.84 ERA. Reyes and Wells each have five losses and three have an ERA higher than 5.

There used to be a time when the Cardinals offense would be able to bail out that kind of pitching. That time, however, is not now. The Cardinals have been shut out four times already and have scored four or fewer runs 22 times so far in 28 games. I'm not ready to write the Cardinals off just yet. But, it's real close.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Cubs need to improve in one-run games

The title seems a bit obvious, since the Cubs are 0-6 in one run games.

Upon seeing that we're second in the division with 127 runs scored and second in the league having allowed just 98 runs, we shouldn't be under .500 and 5 1/2 games out of first place. The first place thing has to do with the fact that the best team in baseball so far is in our division and that'll change. The Brewers are good, but they're not that good. But, according to the Pythagorean Theorem of Baseball, the Cubs should currently have 16.3 wins, not 12.

So, what's the issue?

The bullpen hasn't been all that bad, actually. Cotts hasn't allowed a run in 8 2/3 innings, while Wuertz has allowed just two runs in 14 1/3 innings. Dempster is 5-for-5 in saves and believe it or not, the bullpen as a whole has blown only three saves, while Wuertz, Ohman, and Howry have combined for seven holds. That's a holds adjusted save percentage of 80% as a team!

The problem seems to be the timing of our runs. Much like Sosa and a lot of his homeruns, we seem to be scoring when it doesn't really matter and we can't score when we need them (back to the 0-6 one run record).

We've scored six or more runs on 9 different occasions so far and we are 9-0. That's good. But we've also managed to lose six games when the opponent has scored four or fewer runs.

The Cubs may not be clutch hitters, but there's one thing I know about baseball. These things will even out, or at least they're supposed to. The Brewers should be 15-12 according to the Pythagorean Theorem, but they're 5-2 in one-run games. So Cub fans can take joy in the fact that according to Bill James, we should be leading the Brewers (and trail only New York in the entire NL).

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Lou brings in Eyre to face one batter in six-run ballgame

With a left-handed batter coming up with two outs in the ninth inning, manager Lou Piniella decided to go get his right-handed pitcher, calling for Scott Eyre.

That kind of a headline would make you think it was a one- or two-run ballgame. But, it wasn't.

The score was 7-1 and the Pirates had the bases empty with two outs, when Eyre came on to face the struggling Adam LaRoche. Piniella was catching some flak for that decision; many thought that he was unncessarily delaying the game. In most cases, he would've been. In today's case, it was a good move.

I wasn't worried about losing the ballgame and neither was Lou. But, Scott Eyre is such an integral part of the ballclub and we needed him to get things turned around. What better way to do it then to put Eyre in a situation where he was bound to succeed so he can gain some confidence and momentum?

The stage was set. The game was out of reach and there was only one out to get. Adam LaRoche, a left-handed batter, a struggling left-handed batter at that, came up to the plate. It was a good decision. Too bad Eyre almost made it backfire as LaRoche flied to the warning track out in center field to end the game.

Don't look now, but the Cubs are rolling

Alfonso Soriano still can't run the bases, but at least he's doing some other things right.

We're 5 1/2 games in back of first place, but I'm feeling good about the team right now. Maybe it's because of the double wins on Wednesday. Maybe it's because we've won five of our last six. In fact, it probably is. We may not be hitting for power all that well, but we sure are hitting. And the power will come.

Derrek Lee has 19 for his last 32 in the past eight games and has doubled at least once in each one of those games, raising his season average to .415 and his OPS to a staggering 1.092. That number is especially outstanding when you consider the fact that Lee has homered only once so far. He's doubled 17 times though.

You might say, "Of course the numbers are going to be inflated. It's early in the season." I was thinking that too, but Lee's already played in 26 games and had 106 official times at-bat!

Alfonso Soriano, despite missing over a week due to the hamstring injury has still recorded 84 official times at-bat and collected 26 hits (.310 average) and 11 doubles (.512 slugging).

The starting pitching has been incredible too. Marquis is 4-1 with a 2.09 ERA and Hill is 3-1 with a 1.77 ERA. Lilly's ERA is down below 3, even after a rough start last time out and Cotts and Wuertz have combined to allow just 2 runs in 23 innings. Oh, and Dempster is a perfect 5-for-5 in saves.

You can't help but thinking how good this team will be once Zambrano, Howry, and Eyre start pitching well and when Soriano and Lee start hitting homeruns consistantly. Knowing the Cubs luck though, Marquis, Hill, and Lilly will forget how to grip a baseball at that point.

As long as we keep pace with the Cards and Astros, we're good, because Milwaukee can't run away with the division, right? Or can they? We've been trained to think that the Brewers are not a good ball club for so long that it's stuck, but it's time we start jumping on a horse to catch those pesky Brewers.