More Idiocy in Milwaukee

Perhaps Doug Melvin and the Brewers' ownership know more than the rest of us, and that Dale Sveum (not part of the great Milwaukee ditty of "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain", however) will become the Midwestern version of Jerry Manuel, turn the team around (although Manuel currently is suffering from the same problem -- lateinningsbullpenitis that plagued his maligned predecessor) and lead the Brewers to their first playoff appearance in 26 years.

The firing of Ned Yost with twelve games to go in the season was a bold move.

But as they say in the air force, "there are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there is no such thing as an old, bold pilot." Put differently, the GM won't last long if he thinks like this. The fans won't tolerate ownership if they think like this. Perhaps they should have examined another fact -- they have a team that isn't great at getting on base, even if it hits for power. Have too many guys who hit .232 or .252 with 15 homers but who don't walk, and, well, your offense will bog down too. While Yost made some mistakes -- I find it hard to defend playing superannuated utility man Ray Durham for both games in Sunday's twin bill and batting him in the middle of the lineup -- it's hard to believe that he's as bad a manager as the team played in the last two weeks. Yes, the Brewers picked the wrong time to slump, but is canning the manager the right answer?

And I thought that some of the silliness in the Milwaukee ownership vanished when the Selig family relinquished control of the team.

Apparently not.