As I write this, the Milwaukee Brewers are on top of the National League Central division, leading the St. Louis Cardinals by ten games. The Brew Crew’s record for the season is currently 78 wins and 54 losses, a whopping 24 games over .500. They have won 24 of their last 29 games and their magic number is at 22. That means any combination of Brewer wins and Cardinal losses equaling 22, the Crew will clinch the division title.
The Brewers are in Beast Mode!
With their success, the team is receiving some much-deserved recognition. Ryan Braun, Nyjer Morgan and Prince Fielder are on the cover of the August 29 edition of Sports Illustrated that hit the news stands this past Tuesday. They are pictured celebrating Mark Kotsay’s walk-off hit against the Dodgers on August 16.
Speaking of celebrations, you might have noticed Prince, Morgan, Corey Hart and other Brewers motioning wildly after they reach base. This the Crew’s new celebration. After a big hit, players turn to the dugout with their arms spread out like they’re scaring someone.
Morgan refers to it as “Beast Mode”. Prince offers a little more insight, explaining, “That’s my kids’ favorite movie. The whole team does it now. It’s something that I saw my kids do, and I thought it was funny, so I thought I might as well do it, too.”
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Prince Fielder in “Beast Mode” |
The players say that “Beast Mode” is not meant to show up the opposition and insist they are just having fun. If you remember, the Texas Rangers celebrated last year with the “Claw” and “Antlers” gestures all the way to the World Series.
Not everyone is a fan of “Beast Mode”. Some old school baseball types see this as “disrespecting the game”. Curmudgeons like Cardinal manager, Tony La Russa for instance. But then again, La Russa and the rest of his St. Louis slimeballs act as if they invented baseball.
Morgan, aka Tony Plush, indicates that this just isn’t true. He was quoted as saying, ““We don’t want to show up anybody and we don’t to seem like we’re out there being cocky and don’t respect someone else’s game, or the game in general. If it comes down to that, guys are going to have to turn things down. I think it’s cool.”
Right fielder and fellow “Beast”, Hart, noted that the Brewers personality is different than everybody else’s and that it’s good if other teams (see Cardinals) don’t like it.
Well, Mr. Cox retired after last season. Maybe it’s time for La Russa to either change or do the same. I much prefer the Brewers’ “Beast Mode” to the Cardinals’ constant “Prick Mode”.
Hey La Russa, wake up, the light has changed. Again.
Go Crew, keep it in “Beast Mode”.
Until next time…from the booth.
1 comment:
How's Beast Mode going?
Here's how we see it in St. Louis:
Young, cocky guys from the Reds, the Brewers... they can Tweet all the garbage they like. They can fight like girls and end someone's career with a spike-job to the head. They can put an A at the end of Albert (oooh, dem's fightin' words!). They can call Carp a phony (?!?). They can Tweet about how our town sucks or our players are cry babies. They can take on a big blue Disney character as their unofficial mascot (personally, I don't care about that last one, but I have to admit it was fun doing Beast Mode with my friends last night after the Cards clinched the pennant). None of this stuff matters. At the end of the day, the Cardinals are about playing baseball. We get that all the kids want to push off the perennial king of the hill, but Twitter fights and all that garbage... it just doesn't fly in St. Louis. If that makes us pricks, that's fine (personally I see it the other way around... I'm looking at you Nyjer Morgan and Brandon Phillips). La Russa's going to the hall of fame. So is Albert. It's nice they'll have a third trip to the World Series together. And what does Albert do last night after the game? Tips his hat to Milwaukee. That's what real champs do. Best of luck to the Brew Crew (and all the other central teams), sincerely. Just keep us out of your media tantrums and just play baseball.
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