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MAIL

I don't proclaim to be a baseball genius. I'm a fan who's watched the game closely my whole life, but not a number cruncher or baseball nerd. But that's what makes [Ned Yost] so painful to watch, because his decisions continually are so obviously based in a failure of logic or in a stubborn desire to protect his players. He's protected them to the point where he doesn't know how to light a fire under them.
-- Andrew Donohue, Milwaukee

I received a lot of mail from mad Milwaukeeans last week. There are a lot of Yost bashers out there. But not everybody is on him, Andrew. At least not him alone. For instance ...

Obviously the blame for the Brewers' faltering out of the gate lies in many places as you aptly point out. While they have underachieved in many phases on the field, the biggest failure is in the number of games lost by late-inning pitching collapses. [Francisco] Cordero was untouchable for the first 100 or so games [last year]. He is sorely missed. Maybe his contract demands were too high, but when you raise expectations with off-season hype and also increase ticket and parking prices the hot seat must be shared by the entire staff from ownership on down.
-- Harry, Milwaukee

And, of course, when you pay $10 million for someone to replace Cordero, and he's completely ineffective and then lands on the disabled list, that doesn't help matters, either. Not that I'm mentioning any names. Eric Gagne.

Thanks for the fair assessment of the baseball atmosphere in Milwaukee these days. You hit it right on the head. What can't be emphasized enough is the cumulative effect that 25 years of playoff-less baseball has had on the collective fan base. That is the real source of frustration. Ned Yost is receiving the projection of those frustrations whether fair or not.
-- Ty, Madison, Wisc.

I think YOU hit it right on the head, Ty. Everyone I talked to -- from the GM down -- acknowledges the tensions around town because of the years of being down. A lot of that comes, of course, from the raised expectations from this year. It'd be one thing if you had a lousy team that wasn't going to compete. But this team has competed for the last couple of years, and a lot of people -- and I'm with them, by the way -- think that they should be much more in the running this year.

I don't think you managed to capture how much the people of Milwaukee absolutely hate this man. In the 26 years I have been a Brewers fan, I have never hated a manager more than Ned Yost. Nobody else even comes close. Ned Yost single-handedly cost us a playoff spot last season with his incompetence and stupidity. It's really sad that he is being paid to be the expert, yet the 40,000 Brewers fans in the stands seem to have much a better understanding of the team and its players than the manager does. The Cubs really should give Ned Yost a share of their playoff money from last season because he handed them the division. It's such a shame that the loyal and patient fans of Milwaukee are being tortured by Ned Yost.
-- Ajay Wadhwa, Milwaukee, Wisc.

Youch, Ajay. Again, know that you are not alone.

You didn't even mention Yost's batting the pitcher eighth in the lineup. Or never changing Weeks and Cameron at the top of the order even though they can't get on base. Ozzie Guillen of the White Sox just put the Sox on a winning streak by changing up the lineup. Ned Yost acts like you're challenging his manhood if you suggest changing for the sake of change. Isn't that what managers do? Especially if you're not the Great Strategist, the Great Motivator, or the Great Innovator, (none of which he is). So what is it that he is doing to bring them out of their malaise?
-- Tim, Chicago

I couldn't get into all the beefs against Yost, Tim. I do feel for him for this reason: He is being forced to play Weeks when, honestly, I just don't know if Weeks is ever going to be the player that Yost and others want him to be. He's only 25, and GM Doug Melvin told me the team is not going to give up on him. But how long can the Brewers wait on this guy to come along? The same is true, in a lot of ways, for J.J. Hardy, who had a wonderful start to last season but, since, has been a way below-average shortstop.

John, Brewers' fans could have it worse. They could be Pirate fans!
-- Matt Burk, Pittsburgh

Sympathy from Pirates' fans. That's gotta dig at those miserable Milwaukeeans, too.

It seems as if the whole article could serve as a template for Willie Randolph and the Mets. The underachieving, the shaky bullpen, the inconsistent starting, the constant assuring to everyone that everything is gonna be juuust fine. Just find-and-replace a few names and stats and you should have the next Inside Baseball (provided Willie isn't fired by then)!
-- Mario P., Queens, N.Y.

Ah, if only it were that easy, Mario.

I agree that interleague is here to stay but do you think they will ever modify the format? Why not limit the games to geographic rivals and let the others play whoever. Why not do it right before or after the All-Star Game? No one cares about Seattle vs. the Cubs.
-- Fred von Helms, Stormville, N.Y.

Fred, there always will be funky matchups in interleague, just as there are in non-interleague games. (I don't know how many people were clamoring for those Royals-Jays tickets last weekend, for example.) So, with interleague here to stay, don't count on only New York-New York or Anaheim-Los Angeles. And I, for one, am glad we're not limiting it to that. It's interesting, to me, to see the A's come in to play my local team, the Braves, because it rarely happens. Gives me someone other than the Nationals, Marlins, etc., to watch. Will the powers at Major League Baseball mess around with other parts of interleague? Sure. They're always fiddling here and there with the timing of it. But don't expect anything major. Not as long as it's bringing in the coin that it is.

It would be miraculous if the Yankees as they are constructed now rebound to make the playoffs much less win the World Series. [But] spending 200 mil a year to play for an extra 8-10 days or so the last three seasons has been grossly underwhelming. Missing the playoffs entirely really isn't that much different. Only the most delusional Yankees homer can't see that from drafting, free agent acquisitions, player development, scouting and organizational efficiency standpoints, the Red Sox are now what the Yankees used to be. If Hank doesn't lose his mind and fire Cashman if they don't make the playoffs, I think they have a chance to right the ship the next two years or so as some of their dead money leaves town.
-- Andrew Bacchus, New York City

Proof, ladies and gentlemen, that some Yankees' fans really do get it and aren't slavishly expecting the Yankees to win now, and every year, at all costs.