Ryan Braun

I know what you’re thinking.

“All Stars? It’s only the beginning of May!”

Well, believe it or not, All Star voting is well underway. MLB opened the ballots for this year’s game in Anaheim on April 20th, the earliest in the league’s history!

Before you fill out your ballot, let me show you who I think should represent the National League in this summer’s showdown with the American League.

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Oh, the joys of being a Brewers fan...

Watching the Brewers can be quite stressful, especially given their inconsistent pitching, but it definitely has it's positives.

Some of the best hitting performances you'll see all year come from the Brew Crew.

Much has been made of Milwaukee's lack of pitching and depth in the bullpen (it's Hoffman, Hawkins, then everyone else..), but there are some performances that should not go without praise in the early going this season.

Starting today, (April 18th) I will begin a bi-weekly series of stock up/down articles summarizing the Brewers' top performers in both the batters box and on the pitching mound, also including a rundown of players struggling as of late.

So, without much further ado, let's begin the way-too-early-to-mean-anything-by-September hasty generalizations!

On a recent airing of the Mike and Mike show on ESPN Radio, Mike Greenberg (he’s the metrosexual “Mike”) revealed that he predicted the Milwaukee Brewers would win the NL Wild Card in 2010.

Mike Golic (he’s the schlub “Mike”) and whatever interchangeable ESPN baseball analyst was guesting at the time immediately set about ridiculing Greenberg for his hilariously misinformed opinion—blasting him as if he had claimed that Jim was the most talented Belushi brother.

The Milwaukee Brewers did their best to stage a ninth inning rally for the over 45,000 fans in attendance at Miller Park yesterday, but Franklin Morales and the Colorado Rockies were just a bit better.

The Brewers brought the tying run to the plate with just one out in the ninth, but both Prince Fielder and Jim Edmonds hit line drives that were caught, and Milwaukee started the 2010 season with a loss.

Ryan Braun is good.

While that is hardly breaking news to hardcore, or even casual, baseball fans, what may surprise most people is just how good Braun is.

The 26-year-old Braun is already historically good. He is all-time great good. With the power stats he's posted in his first three seasons in the majors, his name easily sits next to others like Pujols, Mathews, Kiner, and DiMaggio.

By now most Brewer fans are well aware of the words exchanged between Ryan Braun and GM Doug Melvin. I can guarantee that also, by now, Melvin and Braun have had a private meeting at Miller Park to hash out any misconceptions about what was said.

The Brewers will take the field tonight as if nothing happened, and any player interviewed about the topic will surely reply with, "it's not a big deal" or "it is what it is." Basically, the same tired cliches sports fans always have to put up with.

With All-Star fan balloting wrapping up tomorrow, I figured it was time to take a look at which Brewers should be making the trip to St. Louis for the mid-summer classic.

By my estimation, the Brewers will have four players in this year's game.

Rickie Weeks very likely would have made the team if injury hadn't cut his season short on May 17.

Mike Cameron also would have been a strong candidate if he would have maintained the numbers he put up in April. Cameron will have to hold out hope for a Gold Glove at the end of the season instead.

After a memorable 2008 season that saw the Milwaukee Brewers make the Playoffs for the first time since 1982, expectations for the 2009 season were mixed.

Many people thought the Brewers wouldn't have enough pitching to make a return trip, while others thought their bats would carry them to the promised land for a second straight year.

The Brewers are about to begin a nine-game home stand that will see them try and regain first place after being overtaken by the St. Louis Cardinals.