A little more than a week remains in the Brewers' doomed 2010 campaign and more than ever, the know-it-alls are calling for the heads of manager Ken Macha and general manager Doug Melvin.

Some are even as going as far as suggesting that assistant GM Gord Ash should be canned and owner Mark Attanasio should sell to other interests.

Really?

While it's probably fair to concede that Macha's option for 2011 won't be picked up next year, the odds are in favor of Melvin being brought back for another season - and rightfully so.

(We won't even address the lunacy of suggesting Attanasio skip out of town. That's just insane.)

Doug Melvin hasn't doomed the franchise as some might think. Yes, some of his free agent signings (Jeff Suppan, Eric Gagne, Braden Looper, Doug Davis) have turned out to be disappointing, but this is still the guy that turned the Brewers from a 106-loss team into a playoff team.

Nobody was complaining when Melvin dealt Richie Sexson for a host of bodies to round out the roster a few years ago. You didn't hear a lot of griping about the CC Sabathia trade. And while the Carlos Lee deal wasn't popular, nobody at the time thought Nelson Cruz was going to turn into the player he is today.

This year's team was truly a disappointment but at the same time, what other options did Melvin have? John Lackey and John Garland? Neither of those two was coming to town. Randy Wolf was being pursued by a number of teams, including perennial AL West powerhouse Los Angeles, so it wasn't like Melvin was throwing money around.

The bottom line is, this isn't fantasy baseball. Just because a GM has x amount of dollars to spend does not mean he can just arbitrarily sign whatever free agent he likes. There has to be mutual interest.

Any potential replacement would have to deal with the same problem.

The Brewers could win the next five NL pennants, Miller Park could be filled every night and the team would still have to sell Milwaukee as a desirable location for free agents.

Melvin has changed the fortunes of this franchise. He's built a winner -- and yes, needs to assemble a viable big league pitching staff -- but sometimes, there's only so much you can do.

This year, it didn't work out. And Melvin, though he made the deals, doesn't deserve as much of the blame as he's getting.

Firing Melvin would do little more than placate an angry and antsy fan base looking for anything to erase the bitter taste of the last two seasons from their mouths.

In May, with the writing already on the wall for this season, the owner said that Melvin's job was safe.

Hopefully, Attanasio is a man of his word. 

The right move: With the Florida Marlins out of the race and in town for the weekend, Ken Macha gave his September call-ups a chance to see some action Thursday night.

That was the right move. Many have wondered why youngsters like Mat Gamel and Luis Cruz have been relegated to bench duty, but Macha was smart in holding them off.

For starters, there are a number of regular players closing in on big accomplishments. Why play Gamel at third when Casey McGehee is closing in on 100 RBI?

But most importantly, it comes down to integrity. The Brewers have faced some fairly good teams since Sept. 1. Cincinnati and Philadelphia are trying to lock up post-season berths, as was San Francisco.

Putting a collection of prospects on the field cheats the other teams vying for the playoffs.

Calling it as he sees it: There are a lot of reasons we here at the Scorecard are big fans of Bucks center Andrew Bogut but his ability to speak candidly, honestly and logically has to top the list.

The Bucks open training camp next week with expectations running high after a surprising 46-36 finish a year ago, when Milwaukee stretched its first-round playoff series against Atlanta to the full seven games.

With the Bucks back on the map, Bogut laid out some pretty sound advice for the season.

"We're still probably not talking about championships," Bogut said earlier this week at the franchise's annual charity golf outing. "We'd like to see the progression go up. It would be silly for me to say, 'We want to win a championship this year or next year.'

"Yeah, that's every team's goal and you never know what can happen. But if we can make that natural progression and have that arrow going up, maybe make it to the second or third round this year, maybe the conference finals next year, whatever it may be."

Smart thinking from a smart guy. That's why he's a true leader.

Inmates running the asylum: The New York Jets are 1-1 this season, but seem to be making headlines on a regular basis.

The latest disaster coming out of head coach Rex Ryan's nuthouse is the drunk driving arrest of Braylon Edwards.

For those tracking along at home, that would be the same Braylon Edwards who was rout boozing last year with then-teammate Donte Stallworth (to the tune of some $3,400) before Stallworth killed a 59-year-old pedestrian while driving drunk.

It boggles the mind how athletes can be so stupid when it comes to drinking and driving? If anybody can afford the cab ride or a limo service, it has to be NFL players.

And unlike the regular Joes, NFL players have 24-hour access to free driver service - high-class rides, too. It's not like they have to hail a cab or bum a lift like the rest of us schleps.

The Jets are doing the right thing by not starting Edwards Sunday against Miami but they need to go a step further and suspend him.

Larry King Lounge: The Bucks brought in actor Dennis Haysbert to voice their new television and radio ads. Haysbert is known for high-profile roles on "24" and "CSI," as well as being the spokesman for AllState insurance. Around here, he's probably best known as Pedro Cerano in the first two "Major League" installments ... Is it just me, or is there very little buzz for a Monday Night Football matchup between the Packers and Bears -- both 2-0 ... The crowds at Miller Park have been sparse the last few days, but the fans that have showed up seem to be much more interested in the game than those who packed the place during the summer ... It's somewhat discouraging seeing owner Mark Attanasio's seats empty on a regular basis. I understand that Los Angeles is a heck of a haul and he's a busy man, but at the very least, they could be donated to charity or given to a lucky fan on nights they go unused ... Scorecard wishes Mark Rogers good luck tonight. The right-hander, and first-round draft pick in 2004, makes his first major league start tonight when the Brewers host Florida.