Many years ago, when I first started covering sports, I innocently asked a baseball manager about his team being in first place. Only one problem.
It was April.
And yeah, he laughed.
His direct quote is lost to history, but his message endures: Don’t even think of looking at the baseball standings until Memorial Day. And even then, don’t believe everything you see.
So now that we’ve hit Memorial Day 2009, here’s the question, Brewers fans. Do you believe what you see?
Thanks to Monday’s 1-0 win over St. Louis, the Brewers exited Memorial Day with a 27-18 record and first-place honors in the N.L. Central. The lead is slim, just a single game over those same Cardinals, but it’s still a lead. And if history is any indicator, that means something.
A little research by MLB.com discovered that since 1995, some 60 percent of the teams leading their division or the wild card race on Memorial Day will end up in the playoffs. That may sound like good news to you, but don’t look for any cartwheels from Brewers General Manager Doug Melvin.
“For me to take it serious, it has to be 80 percent or greater,” Melvin told MLB.com’s Jesse Sanchez. “Right now, it’s not far from being a flip of the coin.”
Hard to blame Melvin for his skepticism. A year ago, Memorial Day found the Brewers with a 24-27 record and 6 games behind the division-leading Chicago Cubs. But Milwaukee still made the playoffs for the first time in 26 seasons. Compare that with 2007, when Milwaukee actually led the division at 28-23, only to crash and burn in September.
So Memorial Day standings are far from gospel. Maybe more like a cloudy Magic 8 Ball, with that annoying answer of “concentrate and ask again.”
But a few things about the Brewers are indisputable.
1) The offense is the slugging force we expected, even with the loss of Rickie Weeks.
2) The pitching staff is far better than anyone expected, especially the bullpen and its rock-solid anchor, Trevor Hoffman.
And 3) They’re in a far more enviable position than the Cubs.
How bad have things gotten for the Cubs? They’ve lost eight straight. They now have a losing record. And the national media is begging for a Lou Piniella meltdown. On Memorial Day, they look more barbecued than ever.
The Brewers? Signs point to yes.
Favre’s Game
Someday, someone will write a doctoral dissertation on our fascination with Brett Favre. And of course, it will be inconclusive.
Let’s face it, there’s no such thing as a definitive Favre story, because the story changes faster than Ashton Kutcher’s Twitter list.
Peter King took his latest shot at the moving target on Monday. His main point is that the Minnesota Vikings won’t wait much longer for Favre’s decision, and that if Favre is going to play, he needs to have surgery soon. He also writes that the Vikings want Favre to be involved with the team’s offseason activities.
But not all the worthwhile Favre stuff is on the Web. Back in the May 18 issue of Sports Illustrated – the one with Manny Ramirez on the cover – Favre got his own board game.
Think of it as a Favrian version of The Game of Life. You follow the path, landing on spaces like “Pull hammy playing football with guys from Wrangler jeans commercial,” gathering or losing points along the way. And whenever you hit a fork in the road, a coin-flip determines your direction.
But the most ominous, and most accurate, aspect of the game is this: There is no finish line.
Don’t forget to check out our new fitness column, Training with Tim. And tune in every Tuesday morning during the 6 o’clock hour when I join Doug Russell and Mike Wickett on SportsRadio 1250 AM for Tuesdays with Howie. You can also find the segments in their Audio Vault.
