Down To The Wire (64-66)
Ok, maybe not this close (photo by Celtic Graphics)
Dear Ken Macha,
You’re really cruel to string along fans with this little winning streak you’ve got going on. For weeks — maybe even months — area sportswriters have been anxiously waiting to write off your team just ahead of everyone else. In the world of sports/fake letter-writing, Ken, that’s called street cred. And it doesn’t come cheap (well, unless you change the timestamp on your post declaring the Brewers are finished).
In the past two weeks, a lot of people have been saying your season’s toast. After the Brewers stunk it up against our lesser rivals the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds, I’d have to agree. I’m almost certain the Pirates were fielding replacement players from the 1995 strike, but then again even union-busting scabs could’ve hit Carlos Villanueva. He hasn’t won a game since the salad days of May.
All of this relatively unfamiliar bad play from your team — a team whose performance appeared to be on an upward trajectory until this summer — has put me this close to putting my hopes for this season on the waiver wire, Ken.
Of course, it’s fitting that as soon as I consider giving up on the season, Jeff Suppan manages to only give up one run in a 4-1 win. True, it’s the Pirates, who’ve already traded away everyone they possibly could, but it’s still a three game winning streak. I’ll take that over a neck tattoo of Ricky Bones any day of the week.
So what if there are five teams ahead of you and you’re about to embark on a stretch of the schedule that will make August seem like a Segway ride through the botanical gardens? It’ll build character, or maybe allow you an opportunity to see what new coaching techniques have been working this year (I’m a fan of the arms-folded, thousand-yard stare). Plus, J.J. Hardy will probably be too bummed out to fight with you for control of the team boombox. That means no Daughtry!
So get cracking, Ken. After Monday’s day off there’s only 32 games between you and destiny — or calls for your firing.
Best Regards,
Rob Vosters
