• The Brewers have done this before.

• Albert makes things clear to the management all the time. Of course we don’t know if he’s said these things to the management first before talking to the press. All signs point to yes. Also: many, many points for better communication skills. By all accounts El Hombre works pretty hard at his English, something which Mr. Braun might emulate.

• Albert Pujols can and will call out players who aren’t playing the game right. Even Brewers players.

Don’t get me wrong, this solidifies in my mind that Ryan Braun=d-bag, but it’s pretty hard to figure out what’s “professionalism” in the cloistered game of baseball. We don’t know where their motivation comes from. We don’t know what they need to do in order to execute. Difficult to judge what ought to be public when we have no idea what goes on in private.

What’s clear as day is that Albert has his priorities straight. He’s quick to praise his teammates and draw attention away from himself. He takes pride in his game but his personality is generally self-effacing. I mean, I disagree when you say “Albert wouldn’t do that” because he has. But I agree that he throws his weight around for the right reasons.

It’ll be a cold day in Hell when Albert doesn’t put the team first.

said publicly several times in the off-season that we should go out and get Manny, even though that would’ve been a disaster.

If our defense minus Albert sucks donkeys.

I think the Brewers should be far more worried that their rotation has FOUR (so far) replacement-level pitchers in it, than they should about “resentment in the clubhouse”.

if the epic offensive “struggle of the non-Alberts” continues.

You have to give the edge to Gallardo and the Brewers offense in game 1, while the other two games favor the Brewers if, once again, the Cardinals can’t hit the mediocre cast-off Cardinal pitchers they send out there (which they haven’t in the past).

Braun is just being a whiner. He’s afraid that Milwaukee may implode (like last year, when they fired Yost), but it’s too early to tell. It’s the middle of July, not the middle of September!

I would be very frustrated if Albert were to say things like Braun did. I know that Albert wanted us to get Manny (and most are glad that it didn’t happen), and that he wants to be on a winning team. Albert mostly keeps the thoughts to himself, and I highly doubt he would complain in the middle of July like Braun did.

but this isn’t a big deal. they always bend over for the flubs, and play the Cards super tough. until our pitchers can wipe the grin off his douchey face & stop them from un-tucking their shirts, i wouldn’t say they are anywhere close to imploding.

but this comment couldn’t be any more wrong.

The motivation comes from being a professional

I think we’d all like to think the paycheck is motivation enough, but it isn’t.

Vindication:

Comments from Doug Melvin today on Ryan Brauns statements about the pitching staff and his desire for DM to make a move:

"It was inappropriate for him to say what he said, and I’m not happy about it," Melvin said.

"To make the statements he made and also get on his teammates like that, it was irresponsible on his part. It just ticked me off."

"We all work every day from 9 a.m. to midnight, and basically 12 months a year," said Melvin, referring to his baseball staff. "I’ll be glad to have Ryan help if he wants to. I’ll give him a badge and he can be my deputy.

"I don’t know his motivation for saying it. It demoralizes the people in the organization at a time when we should be pulling together. It puts a bad taste in our mouths. That’s a pretty strong statement.

"I understand that maybe he thinks it’s taking a leadership role. I don’t know if he’s trying to tell me I’m not doing my job. We need to stick together as an organization. We’re all trying to win."

I think he made a fundamental mistake," said Melvin. "I didn’t hear our pitchers complaining when we lost a 1-0 game (to New York last week) or the 2-1 game in 10 innings in Chicago.

"They didn’t say the hitters weren’t doing their job. He’s hitting in front of one of the best hitters (Prince Fielder) in the game."

Melvin said he already was upset about derogatory comments from Braun about the hitting conditions at Miller Park during day games, where shadows make it tough. Braun said players "hope for rain and clouds" so the retractable roof will be closed during day games there, and those comments got national play.

Melvin also mentioned comments he read from Braun about hitters not having scouting reports last week on San Francisco newcomer Ryan Sadowski, who shut them out for six innings in a 7-0 Giants victory. Melvin said the team had scouting reports on Sadowski, who pitched seven shutout innings against Houston in his next outing.

"I don’t like criticizing players; it’s out of character for me," said Melvin. "But I’m tired of it and I need to protect the people under us. Everybody’s working as hard as they can to make this a winning organization.

"He’s too talented a player to be doing this so early in his career. He just has to be careful about what he says."

if the brewers tank, they’ll say “this was a sign of how demoralized and downtrodden they were. the boys in the clubhouse were on edge, at each others’ throats, blaming each other for failure,” etc., etc.

if the brewers win the division, people will say “this was the spark they needed, he called them out, and they responded, what a great clubhouse leader,” etc., etc.

this is why i hate appeals to leadership and chemistry and all that.