Talk radio and internet message boards blew up Wednesday afternoon in response to Brewers manager Ron Roenicke's comments after his team lost to Tampa Bay, 6-2.
"Interleague is not fair, and that's all there is to it," Roenicke said. "I like interleague Play, I think it's really good. It's good for the fans, I enjoy it as coach and as manager, I think the players enjoy playing different teams, so we all like it. But the question is, how in the world do we make this thing fair for everybody because of the different teams you have in the different divisions? I know somebody has to take the tougher schedule, and we're the team right now that has to take the tougher schedule."
Fans and self-proclaimed experts immediately accused Roenicke of whining, complaining or making excuses for his team's recent stretch of poor play. Oh, boo-hoo, they said. Shut up and play. Shut up and win.
Well, Roenicke wasn't whining. He wasn't complaining. And he most certainly wasn't making excuses for his team. He was simply stating a fact – interleague play, as it is currently arranged, is an unfair proposition. There is no other way to explain it.
Because of the "protected" rivalries, the already unbalanced schedule gets even more so during interleague play. For example, the Brewers face Boston, the Yankees and Tampa Bay from the AL East this season and play six games against the Twins – their "protected rival."
The Cardinals, meanwhile, visit Tampa and Baltimore, host Toronto and play the Royals twice. Cincinnati has a home-and-home with Cleveland, the Yankees and Blue Jays at home and travels to Tampa and Baltimore.
No matter how you look at it, the Brewers drew the short end of the stick this time around.
Roenicke has no problem with interleague play. He's not suggesting it disappear because, this season, his team was faced with a difficult slate of opponents. He, like most people, would just like to find a way to make it a little more even.
To do that, baseball will need to reconfigure itself. Plans have already started to circulate that could see MLB switch to two, 15-team leagues. Such an arrangement would require interleague match-ups on a daily basis, something those pesky "baseball purists" like to complain about, but after 15 seasons ... there isn't anything too "special" about it.
Plus, with the growth of television and the internet, seeing teams from the other league isn't hard anymore. The novelty has worn off. It's time for a change.
Realign. Adjust the schedule. Put everyone on the same level. It's the only way to make it work.
Smart guy: John Hammond took a lot of flak last season as the Bucks dropped from playoff contention, in the Central Division standings and from the collective community interest. His acquisitions of Corey Maggette and Drew Gooden, along with resigning John Salmons were viewed as questionable moves by a lot of basketball experts.
Give Hammond credit, though. The guy has proven time and time again he's not just willing to admit a mistake, he's creative enough to do something about it. Not many people expected him to be able to move bad contracts like Dan Gadzuric's, but he did.
Most NBA trades, by design, are a trash-for-trash type of affair; in baseball, they're called "change of scenery" deals (think Cal Eldred for Jamie Navarro in 2000). Somehow, though, Hammond finds pieces that can be used for something. It may not be much (See: Maggette), but it's something.
Noel returns to NHL: Former Milwaukee Admirals head coach Claude Noel was hired this week by the Winnipeg Jets, who relocated from Atlanta after the 2010-2011 NHL season ended. Noel, 55, left Milwaukee after the 2006 season to join Ken Hitchcock's staff with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He took over as head coach in 2010, when Hitchcock was fired, and guided Columbus to a 10-8-6 record over the final 24 games.
When he wasn't given the full-time job in Columbus, Noel accepted a job leading the Manitoba Moose of the AHL – owned by the same group which purchased the Thrashers and moved them to Winnipeg.
Noel spent nine seasons in Milwaukee – five as an assistant and four as head coach – and led the team to the 2004 Calder Cup Championship, the franchise's first professional title and the 2006 Calder Cup Finals.
There are plenty of "good guys" in sports but most of them don't get much attention. You can count Noel as one of them. Nice to see him finally get a shot.
Larry King Lounge: Former WTMJ-AM personality and Brewers announcer Len Kasper has signed a contract extension to call Chicago Cubs games on WGN TV ... The Admirals are expected to have an announcement regarding their head coaching vacancy sometime in the next week. Most of the speculation is focused on former Montreal assistant Kirk Muller ... Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says with Albert Pujols on the shelf for six weeks, the focus switches to a contract extension ... Scorecard understands that 'you gotta support the team' but really, this is wrong on so very many levels ... U.S. National Soccer Team goalkeeper Tim Howard was none too happy with the way the Gold Cup awards ceremonies were handled.
