National Attention

I love when the lowly Brewers get big time attention. It happens so rarely.

This week's ESPN The Magazine includes lots of Brewers mentions:

In their Big Ten, #3 says "Brewers and Cubs load up to win now. So if the world does come to an end this October, we'll know why." and includes a big picture of CC pitching.
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In Mike & Mike's Page 2 section called The Big Question, there's a big picture of Brewers fans and a discussion of the Brewers in the post-season:

Greeny:The Brewers understand how to play in this era of baseball. If you're a team that can always spend upward of $100 million on payroll, you'll make plenty of post-season runs. But team like the Brewers have to realize when they're competitive window is closing; they need to strike while the iron is hot. Milwaukee knows it's going to lose CC Sabathia and likely Ben Sheets after this season. And at that point, it'll reload and try for another run in five years. That's the other side of this era of baseball. And the Brewers are playing it perfectly.

Golic: Well, only if the fans like the approach. Currently, the fans in Milwaukee are getting their moment in the sun. And playing to win this year knowing you won't contend next year is what the Marlins have done successfully twice. So maybe it is worth it.

Greeny:It's definitely worth it, especially in an era in which the fans of small-market teams have been conditioned to believe they have no chance. The Brewers haven't made the post-season since 1982. You don't think those fans would wait another 25 years if they could just win it all this season? But what about this: Would a Milwaukee-Tampa Bay World Series be good for baseball?

Golic: It's a good thing for baseball, but it's a bad thing for Fox, which airs the World Series.

Greeny: If it's bad for Fox, it's bad for baseball. The recent NBA Finals wasn't a great series, but the ratings were very strong because it was the Lakers and the Celtics. The reality is, Milwaukee and Tampa Bay could play seven extra-inning games decided by walk-off home runs and it wouldn't rate well. That's just a fact. Parity in baseball is good, too much parity is bad.
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On the MLB Insider page, the column K Korner by Tim Kurkjian says:

The Brewers won big in the CC Sabathia deal. The Indians got slugging OF Matt LaPorta as a part of a four-player package, but one scout says, "He isn't even one of the two best players on his double-A team." So, Brewers fans, keep an eye out for SS Alcides Escobar and 3B Mat Gamel...
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On that same page it says: The number 1,400: The day of Milwaukee's big trade with Cleveland, the Brewers sold 50 customized CC Sabathia jerseys and 250 T-shirts. The next night, Sabathia's Beer Town debut, the team hawked another 100 jerseys and 1,000 tees, exhausting the initial supply of 1,400 items. Pennant fever, catch it... It lasts forever. (Or at least until Sabathia becomes a free agent after this season.)
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The same K Korner column says this about the Cubs trade:

Rich Harden didn't cost the Cubs anyone who'll have a major impact this year. Although he has No. 1 stuff, durability is a question mark. "You always have to have another pitcher ready in case he can't go four innings," says a former As teammate. That's painfully reminiscent of the Mark Prior era in Chicago. Someone who knows Harden well says, "Until this year, he wouldn't go out there unless he was 110%. He's just starting to understand the difference between pain and soreness.