Yesterday I checked in to see the owner of Uptown
Pizza. Uptown Pizza is the best pizza you can get in
Waupaca, WI. Waupaca was celebrating its 150th
birthday. Brad, Uptown’s owner, is a big Brewer fan,
even before this year. Brad checks out the Zealot
from time to time and he says, “I scrolled and
scrolled and scrolled and scrolled, looking for
something about his beloved Brewers and was
disappointed to find nothing”. So here goes…
A friend of mine asked whether he should keep JJ Hardy
on his fantasy baseball team. I told him JJ was a
.260 hitter, at best, and would end up hitting 12
homers. Since giving my advice, Hardy has had two 4
for 5 games and has hit his 9th home run of the
season. I’m afraid to see whether my friend took my
bad advice, well it could have been worse, I could’ve
cut him from my fantasy team.
I’m not going to lie and say I saw this coming. But
it is nice to see, the Milwaukee Brewers in 1st place
in the NL Central Division. I picked the Cardinals to
win the Central, but with Chris Carpenter out for
three months, even the magicians of LaRussa & Duncan
look to be overmatched.
But the Brewers success has much more to do with
Milwaukee taking care of business rather than the
misfortune of the Redbirds. The Brew Crew has won two
thirds of the games they’ve played thus far. Granted
it’s very early in the season, only 30 games played.
And living in Chicago I know firsthand a good start
doesn’t always translate to a successful season, the
Cubs have won many a April Championships, only to
falter as the year wore on.
But I don’t think that will happen to this year’s
Brewer squad. First off they have a steady manager in
Ned Yost who seems to roll with the punches, he
doesn’t get too up and he doesn’t get too down. The
Brewers have a good lineup 1-8, with a good mix of
young guys and veterans. But pitching is where it’s
at, and this is where Milwaukee really has it all
together. The starting staff is made up of Ben
Sheets, Chris Capuano, Jeff Suppan, Dave Bush, and
Claudio Vargas. You’d be hard pressed finding a
better starting five in baseball. And Coco (could
there be a better nickname?) Cordero has been closing
the door everytime out and Derrick Turnbow seems to
have found his game as the setup man.
Now everybody, ROLL OUT THE BARRELS & WE’LL HAVE A
BARREL OF FUN… Can I get a bratwurst with
sauerkraut & a brewski?