It is the middle of the week and I have thoughts. Amazing, isn't it? First if all I would like the world to know that the epic saga of the extinction of the Twixes has ended. After an absence of months from the vending machine at work (a true tragedy, if ever there was one) they are back! They are not extinct! And I have one. How does this fit with my diet I'm supposed to be on? Erm...uh, well, you see...
Now for the real thoughts, baseball thoughts. The LCS's are not going happily. This is a matter of opinion, of course, but in my opinion, they are not going well. I would have liked to see Detroit and Milwaukee as the World Series match-up, Detroit because of Justin Verlander who has had an otherworldly season and it would have been fitting to wrap it up with a World Series appearance. However, that looks unlikely with Texas now one win away from wrapping up the ALCS. Detroit had a golden opportunity to even things up tonight, playing into extra innings, at home, but they weren't able to come through. On the NL side of things: Milwaukee. I said at the beginning of the season that if it weren't for Philly and their four aces, the buzz would have been about the Brewers, with their pop-aplenty lineup and their two aces to front the rotation. If anyone could challenge Philly in the playoffs, I believed it would be Milwaukee. And then the Brewers were handed a gift from heaven: St. Louis most unlikely, most improbably took out the heavyweight Phillies. Now the Brewers had homefield advantage; they should be able to take care of the Cardinals relatively easily, right? Well, if so, we have yet to see it. They took a loss at home (of all places!) to even the series, and tonight a one run loss with Yovani Gallardo (who was nails in the NLDS) at the helm to fall behind by a game. Maybe it's just me being pessimistic (Rule #1 of being a Kansas Citian: Never, never, never cheer for anything from St. Louis.), but this series has a bad feel to it now, like all the momentum got sucked out of the Brewers. Why do I care so much? Well, there's the never cheer for St. Louis thing. And then Milwaukee's a pretty likeable team from a pretty likeable place. And they have Zack Greinke. I'll never forget 2009 and the magic of watching him pitch that year. I don't believe it was a fluke. He's a pitcher with unreal talent and, as Royals GM Dayton Moore said, he'll always be a Royal. I'd like to see him go, and to watch him pitch in the World Series, and that's not looking so good right now. Not that he's been so great in the postseason so far, he's been much less than that -- he hasn't even pitched well -- although so far, his is the only start of the LCS Milwaukee has won so far... So we shall see. Tomorrow's another game in STL. If they can take it, they'll be in real good shape again, otherwise Zack Greinke is going to find himself pitching in a huge game on Friday.
One last baseball thought on the day: reports are that Theo Epstein is leaving the Red Sox to sign a 5 year deal to be GM of the cubs. My reaction? One word: Good. Need that expanded? Good riddance. I am a Red Sox fan, very very very secondarily to the Royals, but still I have a soft spot for them. Epstein wasn't good for the Red Sox. He didn't put together the World Series winning team, he inherited it. He brought in glorious flops John Lackey, Carl Crawford, and Erik Bedard (he could have chosen Fister instead, remember). And he made the Red Sox resemble the Yankees in the free-spending, let's try to buy a championship way. So, yeah, it's okay that he's going. The Red Sox will be the better for it. Well, that is if they can manage not to hire Trey Hillman as their next manager. Why, oh why, do you get rid of Terry Francona, the guy who led you to two World Series victories?
I'll leave you to chew on that. That was supposed to be a short thought, but it sort of grew.
Yours truly,
Gwyneth B.
Loyal and devoted servant of the Milwaukee Brewers. At least for now.
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