Each Sunday evening we will review our favorite and least favorite events of the previous week, and share our perspective on how the team is doing. Please enjoy responsibly.
Cheers! (Best event/news of the week)
Finally, a Gay Brewer: These “first openly gay [insert pro sports job]” milestones are being checked off so quickly, soon there won’t be any left. In 2013, Jason Collins became the first openly gay NBA player. Last year, Michael Sam became the first openly gay player to be drafted by an NFL team. (Sam later became the first openly gay player to be cut by an NFL team, first to be signed to the Dallas Cowboys practice squad, and first to leave professional football altogether.) In December, Dale Scott became the first openly gay MLB umpire.
Just last night, the first openly gay minor league baseball player outed himself, and it turns out he’s a Brewer! David Denson is currently a first baseman/outfielder for the Helena Brewers, and has also played with the Class A Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. Denson was the MVP of his league’s all-star game a couple of weeks ago. At last, something about this season we can be proud of. (To be fair, the first openly gay professional baseball player is Sean Conroy, who plays for an independent league not affiliated with MLB.)
JSOnline has a lengthy story on Denson by Tom Haudricourt, and it’s well worth your time. For those of us who don’t casually use gay slurs anymore, it’s kind of surprising when you read that things like this still happen, even in the hyper-masculine environment of pro sports:
Denson had just entered the clubhouse a month or so ago when a teammate jokingly referred to him using a derogatory term for a gay male. It was the kind of profane, politically incorrect banter heard in that environment since team sports have been around.
That teammate had no way of knowing Denson actually is gay, but the 20-year-old slugger of African-American and Hispanic descent quickly seized the opportunity.
“Be careful what you say. You never know,” Denson cautioned the player with a smile.
Before he knew it, Denson was making the emotional announcement he yearned to share, and the group around him expanded to the point that he soon was speaking to most of the team. Much to Denson’s relief, when the conversation ended he was greeted with outward support and understanding instead of condemnation.
According to Haudricourt’s story, coming out to his parents was much more difficult than to his teammates. Denson’s father is a former athlete and “hard-core Christian” so it took him a while to come to terms with the news. All early indications are that Denson’s coming out will not be an obstacle to his professional advancement. His story was prominently featured on MLB.com on Sunday. Doug Melvin and Ryan Braun have had some encouraging words. Craig Counsell said nice things about Denson on today’s pregame show. That’s not to say there won’t be a few incidents along the lines of the “politically incorrect banter” situation described in Haudricourt’s story, but overall this is another positive indicator of how far our culture has come in a short period of time.
Buzzkill (Worst event/news of the week)
Michael Blazek’s Season Ends Due to Mystery Injury: Blazek has been a great role player and one of the most consistent contributors on the Brewers roster. He’s had more innings pitched than any other player in the bullpen and has kept his ERA under 3.00 during that time. Blazek was having the best season of his short major league career. That season came to an abrupt end in Chicago when Blazek discovered he had a broken finger of unknown origin.
How, exactly, Blazek sustained the injury is a mystery. The right-hander first noticed discomfort before Thursday’s loss to the Cubs while throwing long toss.
“I noticed at about 100 feet, my hand started swelling up,” Blazek said. “I couldn’t put any pressure on the ball. I went out to about 200 feet, tried to throw it, see if it would loosen up, but it kept getting more tight and swollen.” […]
Blazek was asked if he could remember falling or putting any kind of pressure on the right hand that could’ve caused the fracture, but he wasn’t able to recall a scenario where that happened.
I think we’ve all experienced minor injuries that came out of nowhere, usually small bruises, cuts, or scrapes. A mystery broken finger is a little more concerning. Maybe Blazek’s bones are becoming more brittle? Is this the first stage of Blazek turning into Samuel L. Jackson’s character from “Unbreakable?” Because that would be too bad.
Have One on the House (Brewers player who deserves a drink)
Ryan Braun: Some landmark homeruns for Braun this week. On Wednesday in Chicago, he hit that even-numbered milestone of 250 in the first inning off Brewers nemesis Jason Hammel.
[mlbvideo id=”361299883″ width=”400″ height=”224″ /]This afternoon, Braun hit a grand slam for his 251st career homer, tying him with Robin Yount for the all-time club lead.
[mlbvideo id=”376671983″ width=”400″ height=”224″ /]It’s hard to believe that just last season we were agonizing over whether or not it was all right to cheer for him. Braun has given us many memories over the years, many of them good, and this was a week where we could celebrate the positive aspects of his Brewers legacy.
Time to Sober Up, Pal (Brewers player who made me want to drink)
[Ed. note: the following paragraph was written mid-day Sunday.] No One, Really: Although I have a format I try to stick to, it seemed like it would have been a stretch to criticize any one player this week. Tyler Cravy had another clunker of a start, but four other pitchers gave up runs in that game. Tyler Thornburg wasn’t effective in his recent appearance, but he didn’t lose the game. Taylor Jungmann did lose that game, but it’s been his only bad start of the season, and he was dominating again today against the Phillies. Khris Davis had an off week with just a couple of hits, but he made a real nice diving catch today. Logan Schafer hasn’t done much at the plate since his return to the active roster, but what else is new? There’s enough negativity in the world without trying to gin some up for little Internet blurb. If only the majority of Twitter users felt the same way.
[Update Sunday at 4:12 CT] Actually, Neal Cotts: You couldn’t protect a six-run lead in the ninth inning? Let’s all get on Twitter and say mean things about Cotts!
Back on the Wagon (Thoughts on the week ahead)
The all-August home stand continues against the Miami Marlins, who the Brewers haven’t played since last year. It seems pretty late in the season to be facing a team for the first time, but far be it from me to question how these 30-team, 162-games schedules get put together. Anyway, last time the Marlins were at Miller Park, it was the infamous game where Mike Fiers ended Giancarlo Stanton’s MVP-caliber season with a fast ball to the face. Now that Fiers is an Astro, Brewers fans will miss out on the drama of a potential Fiers-Stanton rematch. Alas. We will only be able to enjoy the in drama of playing against another team that would be happy to be less than 20 games under .500.
The Brewers have not had a long history of sustained success against their next opponent, the Washington Nationals. A quick review of Baseball-Reference finds that the Crew hasn’t won a series in DC since 2009. I don’t have high hopes for that match up, but they don’t play the games on paper. Also, based on my analysis of the Nationals schedule, the Brewers will just miss Max Scherzer’s turn in the rotation. We’ve got that going for us!
(Image: MLB.com)
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