By Drew Olson Special to OnMilwaukee.com Published Apr 05, 2008 at 5:55 AM

Welcome to Saturday Scorecard. With so many readers recovering from the Brewers' home opener, we'll keep the items short and recommend aspirin, Gatorade and greasy eggs and / or cheeseburgers to help ease the pain.

On to the notes...

In the swing: Brewers third baseman Bill Hall, who didn't hit a home run during spring training, belted two and drove in a career-high six runs in a 13-4 victory over San Francisco in the home opener Friday afternoon at Miller Park.

"I wasn't worried about not hitting home runs in spring training and exhibition games," Hall said. "I've never seen those stats on the back of anybody's baseball card."

Uniform matter: The Brewers did not wear their "throwback" uniforms on Friday, opting for the standard issue duds for the opener. They are scheduled to wear the pinstripes for Friday home games during the remainder of the year, even though many players aren't fond of them. "We had nothing but bad luck in those things," one player said.

Just wondering... Who gets hired first -- the Bucks GM or Marquette's basketball coach? My money is on the Golden Eagles. They need a coach ASAP and you have to expect them to make a hire by this time next week.

Poker face: After watching Brewers starter Carlos Villanueva work, we couldn't help wondering -- where are Leo Estrella and Wayne Franklin these days?

"I don't know," Villanueva said. "I saw Wayne pitch with the Giants and the Yankees. I don't know where Leo is. I never really talked to him. He's Dominican, too. I've seen him pitch in the Winter League, but I've never talked to him."

At the end of spring training in 2004, the Brewers traded Estrella and Franklin to the Giants for Villanueva, who was in rookie ball, and Glenn Woolard.

"I was in rookie ball," said Villanueva, who said he doesn't carry a chip on his shoulder. "I was 19 years old. It was a 50-50 chance. He may make it; maybe not."

Villanueva wasn't especially sharp Friday (5 1/3 innings, two runs, eight hits, two walks), but he tied a personal record with six strikeouts. It was a solid performance by a young pitcher in a pressure-packed situation.

"He's got a pretty good poker face," pitching coach Mike Maddux said of Villanueva's calm demeanor. "He hides it pretty well."

Said Villanueva: "I used to get so emotional before. I don't get like that. Some games I do. Last year, when I went into Atlanta, for some reason I felt anxious that day. But, I don't.

"I'm not a guy that will sit down and stay focused and nobody can talk to me. I feel prepared."

Welcome back: I'm pretty sure that Miller Park public address announcer Robb Edwards referred to Brewers outfielder Gabe Kapler as "Kaplan." It's an easy mistake to make, especially if you loved "Welcome Back, Kotter."

Kapler has been starting against left-handed pitchers, but could get more time because of Tony Gwynn, Jr.'s hamstring injury. Gwynn received treatment Friday and didn't seem overly optimistic about a quick recovery.

Mac Daddy: The basketball game between Milwaukee and Indiana Friday night at the Bradley Center was completely overshadowed by the Brewers' home opener and, let's face it, the Bucks' irrelevance in the city, and in a way that was a shame.

Jon McGlocklin deserved better.

The Bucks rededicated McGlocklin's retired No. 14 jersey. The guy deserves a lot of credit for his years of service to the organization, the MACC Fund and the community as a whole. He's one of those assets that people take for granted.

A minute with the Commish: Bud Selig dropped by the press box for a few minutes Friday. He's heading to Phoenix for the Diamondbacks opener and a little rest and relaxation. The man has doing some serious globetrotting, with stops in China, Japan, Washington and elsewhere.

"I'm a little tired," he said.

Selig reports that the Nationals' new ballpark is "terrific." He also deflected some of the criticism about the early-season schedule that placed warm weather teams in cold-weather venues -- or cold-weather, domed stadium teams in cold venues.

"Did you get all three games in at Wrigley Field this week?" a smiling Selig asked a group of writers. "Yay or nay?"

When the writers answered in the affirmative, Selig said, "There you go."

Making the MLB schedule has to be one of the worst jobs in the world. For example, the Cubs and White Sox never want to be home at the same time. Mix in all the other team's requests, interleague play and other headaches and the task is almost impossible.

Artificial intelligence: The only thing tougher than creating the schedule is maintaining the grass at Miller Park and getting it ready for baseball in April.

Asked about the condition of the grass, Brewers outfielder Corey Hart said it was "definitely better than last week."

"Our field is tough," he said. "You're on rollerskates a lot out there. You see a lot of guys fall down. Hopefully, one of these days they'll throw some (artificial) turf out there for us."

First pitches: The Brewers honored Medal of Honor recipients Kenneth Stumpf and Gary Wetzel, who threw out ceremonial first pitches before the game. Stumpf and Wetzel live in Wisconsin, which is accredited with 49 Medal of Honor recipients, including Einar Ingman, Jr., who also was recognized.

Much ado: Recently retired Packers quarterback Brett Favre, as is his custom, expressed surprise about the firestorm created by a Los Angeles Times report that his agent was contacting teams to gauge interest in a Favre comeback.

"That's the last thing I'm thinking about,'' Favre told Peter King of SI.com. "I have no idea where that came from, but it certainly didn't come from me. I'm happy about my decision and I haven't once said, 'I wonder if I made the wrong decision.' I know it's the right one.''

The Times story indicated that agent Bus Cook was checking to see if other teams were interested in Favre. Cook and Packers general manager Ted Thompson denied the rumors, which Thompson termed "inconceivable."

Favre told King: "It's crazy to me that I'm the guy they're all talking about, and the story is out there everywhere, and I have nothing to do with it,'' he said. "It's not something I'm thinking about. It's kind of funny. Even when I'm retired, they won't let me stay retired.''

We're here to help, Brett, and here is an idea: how about filing your retirement papers? Even though it would be a pretty hollow gesture, at least it would give people a sign that you're serious about riding the tractor into the sunset.

Drew Olson Special to OnMilwaukee.com

Host of “The Drew Olson Show,” which airs 1-3 p.m. weekdays on The Big 902. Sidekick on “The Mike Heller Show,” airing weekdays on The Big 920 and a statewide network including stations in Madison, Appleton and Wausau. Co-author of Bill Schroeder’s “If These Walls Could Talk: Milwaukee Brewers” on Triumph Books. Co-host of “Big 12 Sports Saturday,” which airs Saturdays during football season on WISN-12. Former senior editor at OnMilwaukee.com. Former reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.