Series Preview: The Brewers

Current record: 48-37, 1st place in NL Central, 1.0 game ahead

Up Next: Milwaukee Brewers, 40-45, 4th place in NL Central, 8.0 games back

Season Series: 2-1

Notes: Finally, baseball is back from the All Star break. The last time the Pirates went to Milwaukee they had just gotten to .500 at 25-25. They’re record since then has been a lights out 23-12. Milwaukee was 5 games under then and is still 5 games under now. Ryan Braun leads his team in almost as many hitting categories as Andrew McCutchen leads the Pirates

Familiar Faces: Nyjer Morgan, Aramis Ramirez, Cesar Izturis, Jose Veras

Probable Pitchers
Friday: RH James McDonald (9-3, 110.0 IP, 100 K, 2.37 ERA, 0.97 WHIP)
vs. RH Zack Greinke (9-3, 111.0 IP, 111 K, 3.32 ERA, 1.23 WHIP)

Two aces go against each other. This could be one of Greinke’s last starts for the Brewers, as he’s been named in several trade rumors.

Saturday: RH Kevin Correia (5-6, 91.1 IP, 35 K, 4.34 ERA, 1.30 WHIP)
vs. Marco Estrada (0-3, 51.0 IP, 55 K, 4.06 ERA, 1.02 WHIP)

Underwhelming! Estrada’s actually pitched pretty well since returning from a quad injury. Correia’s been put in this spot so that his softer stuff can serve as a buffer between the similar repertoires of McDonald and…

Sunday: RH A.J. Burnett (10-2, 93.0 IP, 79 K, 3.68 ERA, 1.30 WHIP)
vs. Yovani Gallardo (7-6, 108.1 IP, 107 K, 3.74 ERA, 1.38 WHIP)

I’m looking forward to seeing this one live. That’s right! I’m road tripping to Milwaukee this weekend with my wife. We’ll be visiting the esteemable @Wezen_ball and his lovely fiance. After that we’re going to spend the rest of the week in Chicago, so postings may not fall on a regular schedule, if at all. Expect plenty of pictures when I can upload them.

Giving Thanks/3 Outs in an Inning

Like many of you, I have a lot to be thankful for. One of the things I’m blessed by are the many connections I’ve made on Twitter and with the writers of various blogs. In the spirit of that; here’s an article I helped research written by my friend Larry at Wezen-ball.com. Larry was instrumental in encouraging me to start writing on my own. A quick excerpt:

“Yesterday afternoon, a Twitter friend of mine – @TheRealDavidK – asked this question:

Wondering if any batter has ever made all 3 outs in an inning. Seems unlikely to even get 3 PA. Anyone? @wezen_ball? @robneyer?

I didn’t know the answer and I was at work (though it was lunchtime), so I wasn’t able to run a query on my Retrosheet database. It seemed like a question that was probably researched before, but a quick Google search didn’t turn anything up for me. And, like David said, it seemed unlikely that anyone would even have three plate appearances in an inning.”

So thanks to Larry, his Terrific Girlfriend, Will Carroll, Steve Mizer, Ben Wright and all of the other internet friends I’ve been able to meet in person over the last year. But more than anything else, thanks to Marianne; who recently upgraded from Wonder Girlfriend to Fiance. She’s the best partner I could ever have.

Please take the time to let those around you know what an influence they’ve had on your life.

Happy Thanksgiving.

New Friends

James McDonald had an impressive Pirates debut last night: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB, and 8 K’s/ Exactly the sort of thing Neal Huntington had in mind when he acquired him. Garret Jones and Ronny Cedeno hit homeruns and Chris Resop pitched a scoreless ninth in his Pirates debut. Pirates won 5-1.

And I didn’t see a pitch of it.

The 2010 SABR convention is in town and I was out at dinner with Larry from Wezen-ball and his fantastic girlfriend. Larry presented earlier in the day about Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang’s lifetime baseball stats. Its worth a watch if you’ve ever read the comic.

I’m looking forward to seeing them again tonight at the Braves/Giants game along with whoever else is around from SABR. If you’re in town come on out and say hi!

He’s going big-time on us.

A quick offer of congratulations to Larry at Wezen-ball.com for having his Tater Trot Tracker mentioned on ESPN’s Around the Horn. I hope a lot of new people find his blog and his excellent writing.

Introduction

I took a cue from Twitter pal Larry Granillo (@wezen_ball) and started my own blog. I don’t really know what it will become yet but I’d been thinking about starting one for a while. I expect lots of baseball thoughts will appear here along with hockey. NFL and college basketball will appear when those seasons are relevant too.

First entry done. Take that, internet.