The Minnesota Twins, and their fans, will undoubtedly make a statement at Miller Park this weekend.
Contract that!!!!
The Twins will come into Miller Park fighting for first place in their division. Their fans have been turning out as well or better than Brewers' fans at home games. Expect plenty of them to be in attendance for the three-game series Friday through Sunday.
This series has had good advance sales for weeks, and it isn't because Brewers' fans have the desire to watch their hometown team flounder around again.
Twins' fans want to show Bud Selig they are behind their team. Forget the fact Selig was only responding to the Twins' owner, who said he would not mind contracting the team if he could not get a new stadium in the Twin Cities.
Also, forget the fact that Selig and baseball owners now are leaning toward contracting Tampa Bay, along with Montreal, rather than the Twins. The fans blame Bud for the contraction talk.
Bud Selig posters hang next to those of Osama bin Laden in Minnesota, and both have a lot of darts in them.
{INSERT_RELATED}The truth is that the Twins should not have been on the hit list. Selig and the owners have it right this time. The Rays and Expos should go, although don't expect the players' union to make it easy.
Minnesota has a tradition of baseball going back to Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek and others. The current Twins are a good young ballclub that has been built in large part from within the organization. They likely will take it to the Brewers.
It also looks more likely that a new ballpark will be built in the Twin Cities area. So, the future of baseball is looking better in that community.
The crowds over the weekend probably won't be as lopsided as the crowds for Cubs' games in Miller Park. But, expect plenty of loud, opinionated Norsemen types saying, "Contract that!!!"
Minor Moves
GM Dean Taylor responded to some immediate needs with the trade for catcher Robert Machado and a couple other moves this past week, but so much more needs to be done.
Once again, the Brewers demonstrated on the road trip that they just couldn't compete, not only with the good teams like Oakland but even with the mediocre teams like Pittsburgh.
When will Taylor start the major changes that are needed in this ballclub?
Player of the Week
Was there one? Give it to Machado, who had a RBI hit in his first game as a Brewer.
Play of the Week
On Monday night, reliever Valerio De Los Santos retired six straight batters, then walked a hitter with two out and everything collapsed. We saw that more than once during the week. Walks kill teams, and the Brewers' pitchers have been giving up too many in key situations lately.
Goat of the Week
You could pick several, but give the horns to closer Mike De Jean, who blew a game against the Cubs, apologized to manager Jerry Royster and pitching coach Dave Stewart for not telling them he didn't feel right, and then blew another game in Pittsburgh over the weekend.
All Star Game BCRs
The regular format of The Brew Crew Review column will take a vacation until after the All Star Game. Be honest, wouldn't you rather read some good advance features about the upcoming big event rather than read about how the Brewers lost again?
Look for special ASG columns on June 17, 20, 24, 27 and July 1 before the four-day All Star weekend. Daily BCR columns will then be posted July 5-10 during the event.
For those of you who still want to read about the Brewers regular action, check out the BCR news and message board during this period.
Don't let the Brewers' bad season dampen your enthusiasm for the All Star event. This will be the biggest baseball event in Milwaukee in a long, long time.
Gregg Hoffmann writes The Brew Crew Review and The Milwaukee Sports Buzz columns for OMC.
