Prince Fielder is the leader of the Brewers clubhouse.  The broadcasters repeat it ad nauseum, the sports writers throw it in there for color, and the manager and coaches talk about how important it is.  So, why is the new guy off message on this?

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Another tie?  I'm glad the season's about to start--I can't keep track of the game threads with all these ties.

Ben Sheets gets his last start of Spring Training today against Gavin Floyd and the White Sox.  Yesterday's game thread was overshadowed by the release of Claudio Vargas, and there was both much rejoicing and much gnashing of teeth.  It looks like he may end up on a contender.

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Oh, it's a historic day my friends.  The Red Sox and the As opened the regular season this morning in Tokyo, and this afternoon we have an interleague Spring Training game for the Brewers.  That's right, the Dodgers come on over to Maryvale from the Grapefruit League.  Carlos Villanueva and Dave Bush are scheduled to pitch today.

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Manny Parra takes the mound against the Rockies today with four actual regulars in the lineup.  Unless Manny gives up 12 home runs and then pees on Ned's Dale Earnhardt "God Needed a Driver" sticker, his spot in the starting rotation is probably locked in.

While it's never good to have a player out for physical reasons, with JJ Hardy still out of the lineup with unexplained weight loss, we get to see some more Escobar today.  He's just fun to watch.

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A couple of underachieving Brewers pitchers face each other today as former Brewer Doug Davis goes up against Jeff Suppan at 3:05 CDT.  Suppan took a ball off the head in my MLB 2k8 franchise and needed to be out for five days, so I put him on the 15-day DL and called up Manny Parra.  I may move him to the 60-day DL.

Yost still hasn't settled on the rotation after Sheets and Suppan at the top.  Part of his decision will hinge on who pitches the home opener against the Giants.

Yost called that game, "monster, mega Opening Day in Milwaukee." He would tend to assign a more veteran pitcher to that game, but left the door open for Parra or Villanueva.

"It depends on his makeup," Yost said.

Yost's blind veneration of gritty veterans causes him to completely overlook the fact that Villanueva is the most likely to be unaffected by the pressure of that game.  Bush doesn't settle down until after he's given up a five-run inning.

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Red Sox @ Yomiuri Giants is on mlb.tv and the commentary is in Japanese.  Better than Joe Buck.  The radar gun is reporting pitch speeds in kilometers per hour, though.  That's no good.

In other news, JJ Hardy may have been recently playing with colobus monkeys.

Shortstop J.J. Hardy remained inactive, however, due to weakness after experiencing flu-like symptoms. Tests are being run on Hardy, who lost 10 pounds, to see if he has an internal parasite.

Claudio Vargas faces Matt Cain as San Francisco continues its quest to surround talented young pitching with gritty, gritty veterans.  Hey!  The Giants have five players on their roster that are old than me, and four of them are defensive starters.  It's a tough call whether they break Spring Training with the team, or if they just buy condos in a Scottsdale retirement community.

Following Chris Capuano's elbow injury, Doug Melvin said "he was less inclined to trade a starting pitcher."

That's probably a good thing, because Melvin said his telephone had been quiet anyway.

Brilliant.  Because of the injury, the Brewers are unlikely to make any deals with the teams that haven't been calling.  I've seen that before:

Lloyd Dobler: I got a question. If you guys know so much about women, how come you're here at like the Gas 'n' Sip on a Saturday night completely alone drinking beers with no women anywhere?
Joe: By choice, man.

There's a lot of bad pitching around the league.  The Brewers must be driving a hard bargain for teams to not even try to make a deal.  Then again, maybe the Rangers and the Blue Jays are happy with their pitching, and so there is no opportunity for Melvin to make a trade in his comfort zone.

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Manny Parra is scheduled to face Brett Tomko and the Royals in a night game, broadcast in 400k Grit-O-Vision by mlb.tv at 8:05 pm CDT.  I am not aware of any perceived slights or irritations related to the Royals, so maybe Ned will send some major league players out there behind Parra tonight.

You know the biblical story of Solomon and that baby he chopped in half?  I have a similar dilemma tonight.  The Brewer game starts at 8:05, but since that's my kids' bed time, that's also my MLB 2k8 time.  I just don't know whether to play the game or watch the game.

Decisions, decisions.

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Several people have mentioned that they play baseball video games, including MLB 2K8.  This is the first baseball game I've ever played, and while I'm getting the hang of it, some questions linger which don't seem to be addressed at either the Xbox Live forums or the 2k Sports forums.  It's time to leverage the BCB community!

I'll kick off with the question I'd most like answered -- can you view the box scores of previous games in Franchise Mode?

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