Brewers fans had nothing to complain about Sunday afternoon as Milwaukee completed their three-game NLDS sweep of the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field, 6-0, moving onto their first National League Championship Series since 2011, scoring yet another champagne shower, earning ownership of the Rockies home stadium and winning a lot of bets for local breweries.
OK, well, they had ONE thing to complain about.
In case it wasn't enough that Game 3 of the Brewers/Rockies series was dumped on MLB Network, the broadcast crew of legendary sports historian (and even more legendary pink-eye sufferer) Bob Costas and former Minnesota Twins pitcher Jim Kaat did not have a great day at the office – and not only because it was 40 degrees and drizzling most of the day in Denver. Throughout the broadcast, Costas and Kaat stumbled over Brew Crew players' names, dropped half-truths and just plain got a bunch of stuff wrong.
Stuff including ...
1. Aguilar, not Aguilera
Listen, I had a hard time putting together coherent words too after watching Jesus Aguilar's gorgeous swing knock a solo home run well over the Coors Field fence in the fourth inning. But I still knew the all-star's name was Jesus Aguilar, not Jesus Aguilera as Costas insisted on calling him after his long ball. Maybe the broadcaster's just a big "The Voice" fan? No matter the case, Aguilar's lead-opening homer definitely rubbed Brewers fans the right way.
2. Ar-saya, can you see?
After struggling for most of the season, Orlando Arcia's had a miraculous end to the year, becoming a key cog in the Brewers 11-game winning streak to snatch the NL Central and sweep the Rockies. But apparently all of that doesn't earn you enough notice for Bob Costas to pronounce your name right, as the broadcaster called him "Ar-saya" instead of "Ar-see-a." A slight and simple mistake, though they do give announcers sheets with name pronunciations on them.
3. Counsell wasn't drafted by the Brewers
One of the booth's favorite storylines of the Brew Crew's victory was Craig Counsell winning the NLDS with the team he grew up with, the team his father worked for and the team that even drafted him. It's a real feel-good, charming story ... if it were all true.
While Counsell did grow up in Whitefish Bay (he was born in South Bend, Indiana) and his dad did work as the Brewers' director of the speakers bureau and community relations, the two-time World Series winner was not drafted by the Brew Crew. In fact, he was drafted by the team he'd just eliminated: the Colorado Rockies.
4. An error on Shaw's second-base errors
In truly the "Inception" of broadcasting mistakes, Costas made an error reporting on the number of errors Brewers infielder Travis Shaw committed at second base this season. The broadcaster noted that Shaw had made 11 errors at his new position this season, while Shaw's actually only committed one error there. (He's made 11 overall if you add in the 10 from his native third base.) At least Shaw can say he's playing in unfamiliar territory; what's Costas's excuse?
5. Miley's minor league origins
Another one of Costas and Kaat's favorite storylines from yesterday's game was Wade Miley's solid starting performance – especially considering he started the year in the minors. Which is technically true, but it wasn't due to poor performance but instead because he'd hurt himself in spring training and was making a rehab start with the Double-A Biloxi Shuckers. In the pantheon of mistakes made Sunday afternoon, this one's arguably the most understandable – though still one that should've been caught. Also a mistake that should've been caught: saying Wade Miley had pitched for the Rockies. Nope!
6. Oh, here's another one
Late in the game, as the end result was no longer in doubt and the booth had to find some stuff to talk about, the crew talked about the many additions the Brewers made to grow from a feisty, intriguing squad in 2017 to a true contender in 2018. Obviously, there was Cain and Yelich, but then during the season, the Crew snatched up Mike Moustakas, Jonathan Schoop, Xavier Cedeno, Joakim Soria and Gio Gonzalez – all who helped contributed to the Brewers late season run.
And, if you believe Bob Costas, they also added relief pitcher Seunghwan Oh from the Toronto Blue Jays ... which is interesting because, at that very moment, Oh was on the mound for the Rockies. At least Costas caught this mixup a few moments later.
7. Complaining about Kratz running
OK, this one isn't a mistake per say as much as it is Costas living up to his reputation as an old-man fuddy-duddy.
In the sixth inning, Erik Kratz launched a double into right field, probably the highlight from a career day for the unheralded Brewers catcher. But Costas thought he could've done better BY THE GREAT GAME OF BASEBALL, harrumphing that if Kratz had run out of the box right away instead of watching his hit, he could've had a stand-up double instead of having to slide into second. It's like Costas hasn't even seen those new MLB postseason ads: Let the kids play, Bob! The 38-year-old kid, in this case.
As much as it is a gigantic cliché to say that one has always had a passion for film, Matt Mueller has always had a passion for film. Whether it was bringing in the latest movie reviews for his first grade show-and-tell or writing film reviews for the St. Norbert College Times as a high school student, Matt is way too obsessed with movies for his own good.
When he's not writing about the latest blockbuster or talking much too glowingly about "Piranha 3D," Matt can probably be found watching literally any sport (minus cricket) or working at - get this - a local movie theater. Or watching a movie. Yeah, he's probably watching a movie.