Major League Baseball's All-Star Game is scheduled for next week.
Most folks see the four-day break as the mid-point of the 162-game season, but it usually comes a bit past half-way.
The Milwaukee Brewers wrapped up the first half of their season on Sunday July 3rd, finishing their 81st game with a 2-0 win to give them a 46-35 record, a .568 winning percentage and a slight lead over the hated St. Louis Cardinals. For a pitching-rich, struggling offensive team this is quite the accomplishment. Especially since it seems like the only one who is NOT/HASN'T been injured is manager Craig Counsell.
(By comparison, the New York Yankees hit the mid-point an amazing 58-23 -- a .716 winning percentage -- and a 13-game lead. For years I thought the club was named the gawd-damned Yankees because that's how my Uncle Doc referred to them!)
Milwaukee has looked more like a M*A*S*H unit this first half, as the injury bug has bitten the club hard. But lately, the pieces are coming back, getting healthy and the bats are starting to heat up for guys like Andrew McCutcheon, Rowdy Tellez and Jace Peterson. The move to the lead-off spot for Christian Yelich has been a positive one, both in getting his bat confidence back and in setting the table for others.
Yelli drew a crucial bases-loaded walk with two outs in the bottom of the ninth the other day against those darn Chicago Cubs, bringing in the tying run in a game that Victor Caratini won with a walk-off three-run homer in the 10th (also of the two-out variety!)
Getting Hunter Renfroe's bat back into the lineup will help as well, since he was just starting to heat up when injured. Don't expect pitcher Freddie Peralta back by the end of the season, but do expect GM David Stearns to make a move or two -- an additional bat and a pitcher or two won't surprise me.
Was over to Am-Fam Field for a Father's Day outing with my two lads a couple weeks back. Took advantage of the 50% discount for Senior Citizen tickets (sometimes being old pays off). We even did the Senior Stroll after the game, when the Brewers allow seniors and their friends out onto the warning track to walk the field.
Started at the first base side and walked around to the third base side. You get a whole different perspective from the outfield warning track. Have been on enough baseball diamonds, major and minor league, to know that, by and large, their dimensions are similar. Still, was pretty neat to walk it.
