Libertarian Librarian

No, I don't mean his ego-- compared to his boss, George Steinbrenner, Joe Torre barely has an ego. No, I mean the Yankee Skipper's actual noggin'. Check this picture out:


Torre is behind Steinbrenner and Yankee general manager Brian Cashman, yet his head is significantly larger than either of the other two. Granted, part of that is Torre's substantial double-chin, and another part of it is the optical illusion created by the Yankee's hat on his dome. But still.

Yikes.

That's a big head. No ifs, ands or buts. Cashman's looks almost doll-sized by comparison. And weaselish. Or maybe a ferret. Some sort of rodent, at any rate.

In other baseball news, my Milwaukee Brewers (and I know they are mine, because Bob Uecker tells me so during every radio broadcast) continue to play really good baseball. The Brewers are 15-8, with a 3.5 game lead in the NL Central. Offensively, they have the 5th best batting average in the NL, 6th best RBI total, 3rd most HRs, and the 6th least amount of strike outs (a category which, regrettably, the Brewers have owned for most of the 21st century). The pitching staff's ERA is only middle of the pack (8th out of 16), but it is inflated by a few really bad outings-- the staff has actually pitched better than its ERA in 90% of the games. And only once out of 23 games has the starting pitcher not gone at least five innings. Milwaukee has issued the second fewest number of walks in the NL, and has struck out the third most, and perhaps most significantly, it is 13-0 when leading after seven innings. With Derrick Turnbow and Francisco Cordero, the Brewers are going to win nearly every game they are leading after seven innings. That's huge.

I'm trying to temper my enthusiasm with the thought that the ridiculously long MLB season is only about 1/6th of the way through, but honestly, this team is a playoff contender. Injuries could keep them out of the playoffs, or their inability to "rent" a player post-All Star break might keep them out of the playoffs, but I think they have an excellent shot to win their division (the weakest in baseball so far) or to take the NL wild card slot.

Which is so cool. It's been a LONGGGGG time.

And since I mentioned Bob Uecker, I should mention that I hope he lives forever-- or at least until I stop listening to Brewers games on the radio. Uecker and his on-air partner Jim Powell are fabulous. I listened to part of a recent Cubs/Brewers game on the Cubs' radio station, and the on-air guys just stunk. Plus, Ueck is a class act and, from everything I hear and read, a genuinely nice guy. At any rate-- Huzzah!

Labels: Sports