Randall North starts his career

[redmachine]

Hope you all realize that nobody can match Tibs David Driscoll story but I enjoy reading his some much that maybe some of you will enjoy this story as well.



CHAPTER ONE- THE DREAM COMES TRUE


As the rain pounded away at the pavement at 160 Oak Drive, I sat in the living room thinking of all that had happened to get me and the situation I was now facing. You see I've loved baseball my whole life and always dreamed about a day similar to today. Notice how I didnt say exactly like today because in my dreams I was always drafted #1 overall and always drafted by the Cincinnati Reds. Which doesnt make much sense since the Reds would have to had a poor year the previous year in order to have the #1 pick overall. In real life I would never want that.
Many things came back to me, my brother allowing me to play orginized baseball on the team he coached despite being to young. Throwing the rubber ball against the back steps for hours and hours,or playing baseball board games just to save statistics. Everything I did as a young boy seemed to have something to do with baseball. And now after 18yrs of my life, it was all coming together. I was waiting at the house with my family, my father Bill North, my mother Sarah, my brother Jack and my sister Jonnie. We had been told that Gabe Ohler, General Manager of the Milwaukee Brewers would meet us at my home on 160 Oak Drive in Eden, Minnesota. Eden is a suburb of the Twin Cities closer to Minneapolis,MN than St.Paul, MN. We all waited excitedly as earlier that week, I had been the Brewers 2nd round pick and the 32nd pick overall in the draft. I had hired my brother to be my agent and he had worked out a deal that would get me $250,000 as a signing bonus. I was set to use $30,000 of the money to live on this first year and Jack was to invest the rest.
As Gabe Ohler rang the door bell my mother saw him in, I realized how small our living room was. I hadnt noticed it growing up but now with the six of us all sitting in the living room it seemed so much smaller. After signing the contract that had been agreed upon, Gabe informed me I would start my career with the Brewers in Helena, Montana. Helena is the capital of Montana and a city of roughly 35,000. The Helena Brewers play in the Pioneer League which has teams from all over the northwest. After the ink had dried, mom fed Gabe one of here great fried chicken dinners and made sure he had a couple of extra pieces for the road.

CHAPTER 2- I LEAVE HOME WITH EXCITEMENT AND FEAR

As I backed my new Honda Civic out of the driveway, I turned to wave at the entire neighborhood. Everybody within 3 blocks of our house had turned out to see me off. Thats how our neighborhood in Eden was. It seemed like one big family and they had all decided to wish me well.
As I drove across North Dakota, I couldnt help but notice how flat the state was but I had heard Montana would be beautiful, with mountains and rivers everywhere. But by the time I reached Billings,MT, I thought I was still in North Dakota. I knew Billings was in the Pioneer league also and was the Reds affiliate. I had followed the Reds since I was a small boy and even had a friend of my brothers drafted by the Reds in 1994 and sent to Billings. I heard that Billings was a great baseball town and fans turned out by the thousands but Helena on the other had fought for fans but had been losing the war.
As I pulled into Helena and followed the directions Gabe had given me I soon got to the ballpark and just as he had said, just across the street was 1960 Elm Street. A tiny house that was probably built in the 60's, with the look of a small square box but with new white shutters on the front of the house. As I walked up the cracked walkway to the front door, I found the front door key under the mat just as my letter from the Brewers had said. I opened the screen door and turned the key and walked inside. The house was furnished with older furniture that looked like it had been used for quite some time. I knew the stuffy odor would disappear if I just opened the windows for a while, but the dust on the other hand wasnt going to disapeer by itself. I decided to unload the car and do the cleaning later. Instead I walked across the street to check out the ball diamond. I could see that the infield wasnt what I had hoped for as even from the leftfield corner I could see the infield was more of a rock and dirt makeup than clay. For someone whose fielding and running is his biggest assets, that is not a good thing. As I walked toward the front gate, I see that it is padlocked so I decide to get settled in and be ready for my first day as a Helena Brewer tomorrow.

CHAPTER THREE- THE TEAM ARRIVES

I was up early since the mixture of my backbreaking bed and my excitement wouldnt let me sleep. As I threw my equipment into my bag, I couldnt help but take a few hacks at some fantum pitches. As I was walking across the street, I couldnt help but noticed that the parking lot looked like a poor used car lot. Except for the one exception that stood out like a sore thumb. Parked in the lot but as far from any other cars as seemed possible was a brand new 2004 Corvette. The license plate read "1stRND" and I knew when I saw it that it belonged to 19yr old Benjamin Price. Price was the Brewers #1 pick this year and the #2 overall pick in the draft. Price, a surfer type from San Jose California was only in Helena for our week of practice so he could use our hitting coach Paul Yount before starting his career in AAA. I remember already having a bad taste in my mouth for the guy. But on the other hand, the boy had skills.
As I got into the lockerroom, I noticed our names already above the lockers. Nothing special just black majic marker on white athletic tape but it still looked awesome to me. My locker was one of the two corner lockers on the far end of the locker. Corner lockers are great because they are always the biggest lockers in the place. The other corner locker right across from me belonged to catcher Mark Halley. He was a 6"3 and from Witchita, Kansas. On one side of me I looked up to see the name read Espino and new it was for the other shortstop on the team Jc Espino. Jc is from Puerto Rico and seems like an ok guy but is very quiet. On the other side of me I had lefthanded hitting Marshall Green. Marshall had shown alot of power in high school for a guy that was 6"3 and weighed just 175 pounds. I saw Espino and 2nd baseman Oscar Diez from Cuba walk in together and later found out they were roommates at a host family. Just what I needed, the guy Im fighting for playing time becoming best friends with my double play partner.
Everyone had finished getting dressed for practice by the time manager Tim Cullen and pitching coach Fred Brewer came out of Cullen's office. After whistling, you know the kind where you put two fingers in your mouth and it can be heard a mile away. I always wished I could do that but never did learn. Anyway after getting our attention with the whistle, Cullen laided out our practice schedule for the week. It would be two practices a day at 8:00 A.M. and 4:00 P.M. and each practice would last for about two hours. Pitchers were scheduled to do their running after the morning practice and everyday players were to run after the afternoon practice.
when we finally hit the field for our first practice, what I thought I saw from the street came to life. An infield that was as bad as my field at home where I played American Legion baseball. It was hard as cement and just to make matters worse, had numerous small rocks in the mix. I started to daydream about sliding into second and having half the skin on my leg stay on the infield dirt. Infield dirt my ass, infield rock was more appropriate.
As we took our hacks in the batting cage and fielded numerous groundballs, I could see that Jc Espino was a very good fielding shortstop. Great hands and seemed to just glide to the ball. Luckily for me, he didnt seem to have much pop in his bat.
By the end of the week, the two a days were wearing on everyone, so when Friday evening came a few of us went down to a bar called Charlies for a beer or two. We had been told that if you weren't 21 that Charlies was our best bet. Green, Halley, myself and Australian Randy Freeman decided we would give it a try. Freeman was our centerfielder and already 21 so if push came to shove, we could always have him buy us some beer and take it over to the house. Randy Freeman and I had hit it off since day one and Randy had become my new housemate this week. He came from a family of ten kids and he was the only one that ever played baseball. How weird is that.
The locals ended up being right and Charlies bartender Ted Rider was more than happy to serve us and serve us and serve us. Later that night Jc, Diez, our leftfielder Cesar Abad and 3rd baseman Simon Fernandez wandered in. I tried to wave them over to join us but I think Halley was scaring them. He was full as a tick and being pretty loud. We had a great time but as we walked back to the house, I realized not one pitcher had been there tonight. I made a note to myself to try and get to know a couple of the pitchers next week. As I crawled into bed, I could hear Halley snoring from the couch. Randy and I had told him he could crash here rather than drive across town to his house. Halley was smart but Green had met some gal and went home with her. She wasnt much to look at but with a name like Cherish, how could you not like her. As I fell asleep I keep hoping to see my name on that first lineup card that manager Tim Cullen would be putting up on the wall.

CHAPTER FOUR- THE SEASON HAS ARRIVED

The alarm clock rang at 10:00 A.M. and I could already hear Randy showering. I popped some toast into the toaster and noticed Randy already had all of his gear packed and by the front door. We were to load the bus today at noon for Great Falls, MT. Great Falls was slightly smaller than Helena an was the Home of the Great Falls Pirates, the Pittsburgh single A franchise. It was only about a three hour drive so we should get there about 4 hours before game time.
As Randy and I walked out the front door the Trails West bus was already parked at the ball park and the parking lot was busy with activity. As we found our seats near the middle of the bus, I intentionally sat across from starting pitcher Tomas Araujo from Venezuela. Tomas was a mountain on the mound standing 6"5 and weighing 245 pounds. Hey if you make yourself a promise to get to know some of the pitchers, why not chose a bodyguard type. Araujo was already 22yrs old and one of the older guys on the team. Forty miles down the road, I realized that baseball, smile, and Cherish were the only English that he knew. Yes you could see Tomas's eyes lite up everytime he said the name Cherish and made an hourglass motion with his hands. Everytime he did, I couldnt help but see Marshall Green slouch lower and lower into his seat.
Believe it or not, the field at Great Falls was even worse than the one in Helena. Some of us had walked out to inspect it when we arrived. The outfield seemed nice but the infield was wicked. As we dressed, I couldnt help but kid Marshall about the Cherish incident. I could see the fear in his eyes thinking Tomas would crush him with one hand should he ever find out.
You could feel the anticipation when Cullin came out to post tonights lineup card. I tried to play it cool and not be one of the guys rushing to the wall to read the news. Randy didnt care however and almost knocked Diez over to get to the lineup card. As he turned back toward me, I could see by his face he was starting tonight. "Well I said". After what seemed like an hour explaination that he was leading off and playing centerfield, he finally said "Oh and by the way, you hitting 8th". It seemed like I jumped off the chair but it was only my heart jumping to my throat. Eighth in the batting order wasnt great but at least I had beaten out Jc Espino for the starting shortstop spot. At least for now. I walked over after everyone else had sat back down and noticed that Halley was catching and hitting 2nd and that Marshall Green was in the cleanup spot. My doubleplay partner would be Diez who was hitting 9th.
As the national anthem played, again feelings rushed back to me. I remembered hearing the anthem during our first game at the regional Babe Ruth tournament and also for the State Legion Tournament. But this, this was something much more special. As I watched my new friend Russell Freeman walking to the plate for the first time, I thought to myself, yep this is it......

CHAPTER FIVE- THE SMELL OF BASEBALL IS FINALLY IN THE AIR

As I made my way to home plate, I fantisized about how my first professional atbat would be this monsterous shot over the centerfield wall and just as I was tipping my cap to the thousands of fans that were adoring me, I was jolted out of my day dream by the sounds of Cullen hollering at me from the 3rd base coaching box. I looked down and watched as he went thru the signs. Could it be, I am sure I saw the sign correctly. Cullen wanted me to bunt Lucio Rasado, who had led off the top of the 2nd with a single, over to 2nd. I had not been given a bunt sign in my entire career and here I was, my first professional atbat and I was bunting. After two hapless attempts, I found myself in a 0-2 hole and Rosales still sitting on 1st. In my fantasy, I had hit a 500 foot homer in my first atbat. Well in real life, I hit a 5 foot infield single and my average was a staggering 1.000. We jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held on for a 5-3 win. My infield single was my lone hit as I went 1-3 with an RBI that I got with a sac fly in my second atbat.
Our two game series in Great Falls was a productive one as the Brewers got off to a 2-0 start. Were hitting the ball well and got enough pitching to win. Things were not as productive in the Randall North camp however as the infield single I had in my first atbat was the only hit I had in the two game series.
As we boarded the bus and sat down, firstbaseman Lucio Rosado sat down beside me. That was just what I needed, with Rosy sitting with you, sleeping was out of the question. You see Rosy was 6"0 and weighted in at 260 pounds so your seat became half a seat. Add to that the snoring and you better have a good book to read.
We pulled into Provo, Utah at 5:30 A.M. and hit the Super 8 hotel. On the road I had to room with Oscar Diez. Cullen's thoughts were that if we roomed together we would become friends and that friends would become better doubleplay combo's than strangers. I agreed with his thinking but after just my 2nd night with Diaz, I could see that friendship was a ways off.
The team stayed hot in Prove, sweeping the Cardinals four straight. I started the series going 4-6 but got just one hit the final 3 games. As the bus pulls into Helena, Diaz and I have had enough of each other and its only our first road trip that we roomed together. Oh well, the team is 6-0 and Im playing baseball for a living.

CHAPTER SIX- HAPPY FOR A FRIEND

In the 2nd game versus Missoula, I came to the plate. I had just watched Marshall Green hit a towering shot to leftcenter and greeted him at the top of the steps. With two out and our DH Tanjirou Yoshifusa sitting on first I turned on an inside fastball and pulled it down the leftfield line just inside the foulpole. As I ran around the bases, I couldnt help but laugh the entire way. It felt good, really good.
As we got our first off day of the season, Randy and I took our laundry down the the local laundermat. As the we watched the socks tumbling round and round, Sammy Dugen our clubhouse manager gave Randy a call on his cell phone and said Cullen needed to see him ASAP. I told Randy I would grab his cloths and to get going, He probably was needs in Milwaukee. We both laughed as he jumped in the car and headed for the ballpark.
As I got back to the house with the laundry, Randy had his suitcase out and was packing up. I got a funny pit in my stomach, you know the kind you get when you see someone turn and ankle or like you got when Joe Theisman broke his leg on national TV. Randy had played just 6 games but with 10 hits in 25 atbats, GM Gabe Ohler decided he was ready for the next step. Well, that and Huntsville was in dire need of a centerfielder.
Its funny how I reacted, despite being very happy for Randy, I hated to see him go. for two weeks, we had did everything together. In fact the guys had started calling us the hip twins because they said we were joined at the hip. Randy had to pack and take off today so their wasnt much time for goodbyes but Halley had time to come over to the house to say goodbye. As he drove off, Mark Halley and I both vowed, that would be us someday.
Mark and I walked down to Charlies and talked about the team. We were 7-2 and playing well. Taking over in center for Freeman was this years 3rd round pick Hilario Buitrago. Buitrago was about my size, 6'1 and 190 pounds, from Puerto Rico. We wondered if maybe Freeman's going to Huntsville didnt have more to do with the Brewers wanting to get their 3rd round pick to get some more atbats than it did Randy's good start.
Brian Hall, a 24yr old middle reliever from Texas walked in and joined us. Brian had appeared in 8 of our 9 games but had struggled to a 12.00 era. Brian felt his days were numbered.

"Im 24 and I cant even get anybody at at this level" He said. Control had been his biggest problem. At 6"5 inches tall, Hall could bring it with the best of them but he had already walked 8 in 9 innings. It then seemed like he would let up to get the ball across the plate. That being the reason he has also gave up 13 hits in 12 innings.
As I got home that night, the house seems much bigger than it did that morning. I could see how empty it looked with Randy's room sitting with nothing in it but and empty bed. It was then that I realized how much I missed my family. At 18 and away from home, it was bound to happen. Casper was coming to town tomorrow, Im sure that would keep my mind busy.

[Tib]

Very nice so far. You're officially on my reading list.

[redmachine]

Thanks Tib, and I cant wait till next Saturday

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CHAPTER SEVEN- CHERISH A ONE MAN WOMEN AGAIN

Its hard to visualize a 23yr old man that stands 6"5 and weighs 245 pounds crying but when Tomas Araujo was given the news that he would be sent back to Venezuela, the big man wept like a baby. Araujo had torn his bicep in the 6th inning of a mid April evening and would be done for the season. At 23yrs old and still in single A, Araujo career could even be over. I couldn't help but notice as everyone came over and patted Tomas on the back. Even Marshall Green, who had been walking on eggshells around Araujo, always afraid he may find out about his time spent with the bar fly Cherish.
The next morning, Marshall picked up Cherish and drove her up to the airport to see Tomas off. I always thought that Marshall was a class act and now I know it.
On the baseball side of things, I am struggling. I have watched my batting average fall all the way to .159 with just 7 hits. Jc Espino has gotten just four atbats this season but he and I know if I cant turn it around that he will be seeing many more.
Mark Halley agreed to move into Randy Freeman's old room so I have a new roommate. Halley said he just did it so he would be called up to AA.

"Your the lucky charm North, everyone who moves in with you gets called up you know" said Halley.

It was good to have someone else in the house and hopefully any type of change in my routine will get me to start hitting.
On April 16th we had a day off and Halley, Green and I ended up heading down to Charlies. When you starting playing drinking games in the middle of the afternoon, you tend to get a little carried away. Marshall Green could drink with anyone and was sure if I could keep up with him, that I would break my hitting slump. I decided it was worth a try. The last thing I remember was four cowboys coming into the bar about eleven that night.
The next morning Halley told me that while I was slumped over in the corner, him and Green got into it with those same four cowboys. Four against two is never good odds and although Halley didnt look bad, Marshall on the other hand looked like someone had drug his face across our infield. I found out that we had ended up at the emergancy room to fix Green's broken nose and to put 10 stiches in his forehead. I think Im glad I passed out.
You could tell Cullen was pissed as we boarded the bus for Idaho Falls, Idaho to play the Padres farm club. He didnt talk to Green,Halley or I for 3 days but he did give us a new nickname. The "Klitchko" brothers, as he called us, were fined $200 each. Now lets see if Im out of my slump. If so, this would all be worth it.

[jaxmagicman]

You better watch that drinking in the afternoon.

[redmachine]

ya, had a horrible hangover the next day.

[redmachine]

CHAPTER EIGHT- THINGS ARE GOING TO CHANGE AROUND HERE

Despite getting home at 4:00 A.M. from Idaho Falls, I was still wide awake. I had played well in one of the three games going 4 for 6. However I had gone 0 for 8 combined in the first and third game of the series. As I walked off the bus and headed across the street to my house, Sammy Dugen the clubhouse manager yelled to me.

"Hey North, skip wants to see ya".

My heart dropped to my knees. Already Cullen had been pinch hitting for me late in the ball games. But now, this could only mean one thing. Im hitting .175 and my career as a professional baseball player must be over.
As I walk into Tim Cullen's office, he has his head down looking at the Milwaukee Brewers stat list that had been faxed to him while we were gone.


"Sit down" hey says. "Do you know that Dudash is hitting .343 and Garcia is hitting .375 up in Milwaukee right now. Hell Borgen is hitting .377 in AAA".

He preceded to ask me if I knew what all three of those guys had in common. Unfortunatly I did. All three were shortstops in the Brewers orginization. But I also knew Dudash was a career .258 hitter without power and poor hands and Garcia was a 28yr old guy who just got called up from Indianapolis (AAA) and happend to have a hot couple weeks. And Borgen must not be as good as Garcia or they would have called him up instead of Garcia. I had it all figured out. Or so I thought.

"I have been talking to Sid and you know what he tells me" Cullen asked. "He tells me he hasnt even seen you since you got to Helena".

Sid was the team trainer/strength coach. I had never did any kind of weight lifting or stretching before and as far as taking extra batting or fielding practice, everything had always come naturally for me. I didnt feel at the time I needed it. As I explained this to Cullen, I could see the veins in his neck getting bigger and bigger until he couldn't hold it any longer. After what seemed like an hour ass chewing, I walked out of the office with a new work schedule that would take up nearly every free hour I had. Welcome to professional baseball, I thought as I crossed the street to the house.....

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CHAPTER NINE- THE PRICE ISNT RIGHT

After my workout in the morning, I walked over to the ballpark to take some extra fielding practice before lunch. As I was getting dressed, I noticed the latest edition of the Brewers stat sheet laying on the lockerroom floor. Picking it up, I quickly scanned through the names at all levels and sure enough all those shortstops were hitting just what skip said they were. But on the bright side, Benjamin Price was hitting just .242 which was up from last week. I remember hearing that little Jason Loken who is the starting thirdbaseman in Indianapolis had gotten into it with Price during the first week of the season. Rumor has it that Loken cleaned Price's clock and that he has become much easier to live with since then. Funny thing is, Loken stands just 5"9 and weighs in at a whopping 165.
As I continue to check out the stats, I see that John Borgen is not only hitting .377 but has 4 homers and 13 RBI up at AAA. Man maybe I want to be traded. I quickly check our AA team and see that Randy Freeman is hitting .293 with a homer in ten games in AA. I smile knowing he is continuing to play well and vow to join my friend up there some day.
Ogden came to town and took 2 of 3 from us and dropped our record to 11-9. I had one hit in sixteen atbats and was at my wits end. I knew I was being pissy around the house the last few days and finally Halley had enough. Mark was also fighting demons of his own. Salvador Colomer a 22yr old catcher from Mexico had been getting the majority of atbats and Mark didnt know why. Sure he was hitting .213 but didnt he have 3 homers already.
As it turned out, Mark wouldn's have to worry anymore about Salvador. The next day was a day off and we ran into Marchall Green. Green let us know that he had just ran into Salvador at the park. Salvador had just been called up.

"Well I hope he doesnt let the door hit him in the ass on the way out the door" Mark said. "Huntsville should be nice and hot this summer".

Marshall then told us that it wasn't Huntsville but Indianapolis. Salvador had made the jump from A to AAA. Dustin Gowans was hitting .343 in AA but was passed over by Salvador who was hitting .309 down here in Helena. AA Huntsville also had Matthew Mccray hitting .347 as he and Gowans were splitting time.
The writing was on the wall, they wanted Mccray and Gowans to keep getting some atbats while Salvador would probably go to AAA to be a backup to Hernan Silvera who was hitting .289 with 4 homers. Silvera had gotten a call up last September but was already 29yrs old.
I ate quickly and went over to workout quick before we had to be on the bus. The team was headed to Salt Lake City, Utah today to play the Salt Lake Braves starting tomorrow....

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CHAPTER TEN- APRIL IS FINALLY OVER

Nobody was happier than me to see April end. I was hitting .186 and couldnt seem to figure out what the problem was. The team saw its record fall to .500 at 13-13 and the Brewers front office continues to take some of our better players and move them up. Our DH Allan Gehl(.381,3,11) went up to Huntsville to join Freeman and Tanjirou Yoshifusa who had all started the year with us. In return we had gotten middle reliever Lee Mcclendon who was struggling at AAA and backup catcher Whitney Harned who had gotten only 2 atbats at AAA. Sometimes I wonder about the Brewers front office, Mcclendon is only 17yrs old and has lost all his confidence up at AAA. We are also in dire need of a starting pitcher. Skip has had to patch work a four man rotation ever since Tomas went down for the season.
As we pulled into Portland and got to the ballpark to play the Expos A team, I found it ironic that the major league team that is struggling to stay afloat had the nicest single A field that we have played at. The infield was perfect. It would be nice to finish a night game and not have your feet hurt from playing on concrete.
The field even helped my hitting alittle and I now have a modest three game hitting streak going and have my average up to .194. For my birthday, I got myself my 2nd homer of the season.

A week later, you can add our biggest run producer to the list of guys who have left the team. Simon Fernandez(.279,7,17) was called up to AA so taking over at 3rd will be Raymond Novick who played at Lewis and Clark College. A smaller NAIA baseball power, Lewis and Clark had put out a few major leaguers. Novick had went undrafted and was signed as a minor league free agent.
My game however is starting to turn around. I have my average up to a season high .226 and the ball seems to look bigger to me these last couple weeks. Paul Yount our hitting instructer and I have been putting in a ton of extra time and it finally seems to be paying off. I also feel much stronger since getting on Sid's weight program. Lets hope it continues and maybe I can get called up. Seems like Mark and I are the only guys left from my original teammates.

[redmachine]

CHAPTER ELEVEN- THE SLIDE CONTINUES

The team continues to play poorly as we hit the midpoint of the month of May. Pitching is our major concern as our four starting pitchers look like this:

Eric Malave(1-4, 7.12), 5th rounder in 2003
Oriol Hernandez(3-3, 6.28) 20yr old from Cuba
Benjamin Nordman(1-2, 6.21) 23yr old for Topeka,KS, went 0-4 with a 8.63 ERA last year in a brief call up to Milwakee.
Martin Martin(1-3, 8.77), 20yr old from Thomas Falls, OR.

So at 15-18, the team is serching for answers to their pitching problems as Cullin trys to figure out what to do. Cesar Abad(.301,7,21) and Marshall Green(.310,8,22) are the teams two leading hitters. Im just holding my breath figuring those two will probably get yanked from us also.
Fernando Montero, an 18yr old reliever from Venezuela has started on and off when skip needed a fifth starter and pitched better than any of them. I hope he gets a few more starts.
In the Sporting News today, many of the sports writers are saying that Gabe Ohler, the General Manager and Tommy Maddux the Brewers Manager are on the hot seat. Maddux is in his 3rd year at the helm and has not turned this franchise around, in fact made it worse. The Brewers are currently 14-20 and in last place in the NL Central after finishing in the basement last year. John Gooder, owner of the Brewers hand picked Maddux and has given him complete control but in this case it seems to be out of control.
As I scan the minor league stats, I see that the Brewers have only two players in the hitting catagories that are listed. 27yr old Kuwasaburou Morimasa of Japan is hitting .349 in AAA and 19yr old 1st baseman Ivan Desousa of Venezuela is hitting .344 in AA.
Thomas King has a 1.96 era in AA after spending enough time with the parent club last year to go 2-7 with a 4.64 ERA.
According to the Sporting News, the Brewers franchise is headed in the wrong direction and blamed upper managment for there poor decision making and poor draft decisions. I feel somehow I was just dissed by a major sports paper. I knew that so far I hadnt lived up to my expectations but I have started to feel better at the plate the last 3 weeks and I honestly believe that the weight program and my extra time Ive put in both with hitting and fielding have rewarded me.

[jaxmagicman]

I guess it is time for the Manager to be fired.