Ray Rice's Meaningless Suspension.

Ray Rice is not a good man. He is shown on video knocking his then-girlfriend, now fiance, unconscious with his own fist. Not once all summer did the National Football League media call Rice a 'distraction' to the Ravens, the new favorite buzzword for the National Football League. Johnny Manziel parties too much therefore he is a distraction. Michael Sam is a homosexual thus a distraction. But Rice beats the living hell out of his significant other, and yet somehow he isn't a part of this new distraction-based fraternity. The NFL has a serious problem on their hands, and it is unclear how they can fix it. 

NFL decided to suspend Rice a mere two games. That's all. Two out of the 16 games meaning Rice will be suspended for only 12.5 percent of the season. Ben Roethlisberger and Pacman Jones were both suspended more games for being accused of doing something versus actually getting charged with a crime. NFL is suspending players for more games when it comes to smoking marijuana versus clear and present domestic violence abuse. That's the thing about this whole Rice ordeal, this isn't a 'He said, she said' debate with a domestic violence dispute rather a video of  him actually doing it. It makes little to none sense why the NFL decided two games was the proper punishment. 

I called for a half-year suspension a couple months ago because it fit the crime. He violated the personal conduct policy which drew a six-game suspension with Roethlisberger then adding a two games for the disgusting nature of the violation. Two games is nothing. That's a simple brush off the shoulder. And it sends a message that domestic violence is okay with their players. They could drag their wives across a hotel floor and only get suspended for 12.5 percent of the season. If they suspended him for half the season taking away his pay and his livelihood, NFL presents a clear message that this cannot be tolerated in the sport. Instead, Roger Goodell now needs to answer a boatload of questions regarding women and football. 

Scarborough Research shows 45 percent of the football fans are women. 33 percent of the viewing audience is women. That's a major chunk of their fanbase. They need to tread lightly here in this situation. NFL now has a Public Relations disaster on their hands. NFL needs to find a way to fix things even if that task is likely impossible at this point. Adam Hatlak, a SnoTap contributor, mentioned to me 'I wish they wouldn't have suspended versus just giving him two games.'  Adam has a point. If you're going to be tone deaf about the ordeal, do nothing rather than give him a couple meaningless games off that will not even affect the Baltimore Ravens in the long run. NFL thought they were showing awareness by giving Rice a couple games. 

I have no idea how the NFL recovers from the entire issue with Rice. People in the media and around the NFL will act like nothing happened by October when the NFL supposedly honors women by wearing pink. 

Novel idea.  

Charlie.

The Redemption of Ryan Braun

At the start of July, questions were raised about Ryan Braun. People didn't think he had it anymore in the same way he did before his suspension. Many started to consider Braun a second or third banana of the team with Jonathan Lucroy submitting an Most Valuable Player-like season, same with Carlos Gomez. Braun became an afterthought as the team was winning without the strong play of their once-leader. Just when people thought Braun was another player, he tears through the month of July like a hellcat and making everyone remember his name.

Braun is having the best month of his season thus far, and an argument could be made for him to win National League Player of the Month.  Braun is currently hitting .356 with an OBP of .405 as he has three home runs in the month with 10 of his 21 hits being extra-base variety.  Braun is currently on a 12-game hitting streak with only two games this month where he didn't have a a hit.  The strikeouts are down as well with only 14 in July. In five of the last six games, Braun drove in at least one run which means he is not producing meaningless hits, he is making them count every night out.  Last night in a 9-1 victory over New York Mets, Braun hit a massive 432 foot home run to left-center something we haven't seen all season.

ESPN's Buster Olney wrote an article on Tuesday morning where he pondered about Braun's pulling ability. Basically, the numbers showed Braun didn't have it like he did before his suspension. Olney did infer about not taking the PED's factored in to the Brewers slugger not being able to... well slug anymore. Braun did take the PED's not to make himself better more so to cure the lingering injuries that would be bother him although it is unknown how long Braun was a user. The national media made the assumption he did for his entire career versus one-time during an MVP run. I like to believe the latter yet I am not ignorant if that makes any sense.

Braun's injuries are the exact reason why the numbers were down this season, not the lack of PED usage. These are all the injuries Braun dealt with this season thus far... Oblique, hand, thumb and back injuries plagued him all season. All of those injuries directly involve his swing, most notably his ability to pull the ball hence why Braun's numbers to opposite field are off the charts. It is more impressive Braun found a way to change his complete approach at the plate amid all of the injuries and still be a productive player. Instead, we are staying up late at the night wondering why Braun isn't a power hitter and inferring it had something to do with special pills.

Ryan went Stone Cold Steve Austin on the haters with two middle fingers chugging beers on the way. That blast on Thursday night was a 'I am back, and you're all in big trouble.'  When the pull power isn't there, you don't hit 432 foot blasts. Braun has went through hot streaks in his career, and I feel we are on the verge of another one. This 12-game hit streak is child's play right now for what Braun is going to do in the the coming weeks.  It is almost like Braun wants to throw his name into the ring for MVP consideration. It is not ridiculous think about if he gets uber-hot for the next two weeks where the ball is flying out of the park, and his average gets around .320, he will need to be in the conversation.

Braun is back and his demise was greatly over-exaggerated.

Charlie.

Tap's Hangover Cure: Carlos Gomez, The Ninja Turtle

Carlos Gomez is the clubhouse jokester without question for the Milwaukee Brewers team. He loves to have fun with the guys and always seems to do weird things. So it shouldn't come as a surprise when Gomez dressed up in a full Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costume to bother Mark Reynolds doing an interview with International Talk on MLB Network. The reason Gomez has the full costume is for his son, Yandal, who loves the Turtles like any four-year old. But apparently he wanted to meet Donatello, not Leonardo.   You have to love this stuff as a Brewers fan and a baseball fan really, the team is having fun again and it seems like the rain cloud that hovered over them  (WATCH THE VIDEO HERE, my browser can't support iframes, I guess)

Also Reynolds's 'Count' shirt with Garza's name and goatee on it is a must-have. I need it badly.

Charlie.

Highlights-Lowlights: Reds-Brewers

This is SnoTap's version of recap of the two, three or four game series Milwaukee Brewers will play this season. We focus on the positives and negatives with topics about the game and topics that were nowhere near close to part of the game

Highlights
Wily Peralta - The young Brewers pitcher continue to dazzle in the last couple outings. He pitched great against Cincinnati going seven innings strong with three hits allowed, one run earned and five strikeouts. Peralta seemed in full control all game long with great command and did not face many problems all game long. In the last two starts, Peralta pitched 15 innings only allowed six hits and striking out 10 batters. The last part is key, it seems like Wily is pitching more to contact than anything else which is important.

Ryan Braun - I wanted to write a longer blog post about Braun, and I might do it on Friday regardless of how he plays against New York. Braun seems fully healthy for the first time all season. He had another great series against Cincinnati. Braun went 5 for 12 in the series driving in five runs with a home run as well. He is in complete control of his swing whether it be pulling the ball or taking to the opposite field.

Zach Duke - When Milwaukee signed Zach Duke in the offseason, I didn't think much of it. Personally, I thought Duke wouldn't be on the roster by this time, or I would hate him like I did Mike Gonzalez. Duke is the best left-hander in baseball in terms of ERA. He struck out the side in the eighth inning of Tuesday night's game. Duke also came in to get out Billy Hamilton in the seventh inning with two outs and a runner on second.  He is one of the MVP's of the Milwaukee team thus far.

Mark Reynolds - Honestly, I had no idea if Mark Reynolds still existed with this Brewers team. He went radio silent for two months of the season then came through in a major way on Wednesday afternoon. Reynolds hit two home runs pushing the Brewers ahead by two runs and then added a solo shot in the eighth putting Milwaukee up by four runs and ensuring Francisco Rodriguez didn't have pitch for a third straight game. Hopefully, this is one of Reynolds' hot streak for the next couple of weeks.

Jean Segura - For the first time in a long time, Segura made an impact in a baseball game on the offensive side of the game. Segura had two hits on Monday night, one being a triple where he ended up scoring on a bad throw by the Reds defense, and he ignited the inning in the fourth scoring on Carlos Gomez's ground-rule double.

Lowlights
Instant Replay - If Major League Baseball is going to have instant replay, they need to use it right. Zach Cosart attempted to bunt the baseball to move the runners over, but the ball hit the bat plus his hand to go with it. The umpiring crew thought Cosart was hit by a pitch when in reality, it was a foul ball. Umpires felt sorry for Cosart because he had an injury. Simple as that. MLB needs to call it like they see it instead of trying to aid the player because he got hurt on the play. It doesn't mean shit, he still swung at the baseball.

Roenicke's not pulling Jimmy Nelson - With having a sweep, there is not much to complain about truthfully, but the manager of the Brewers had a couple mistakes this week with the pitching staff. Roenicke is damn lucky Jimmy Nelson did not get roughed up in the seventh when he gave up two straight singles then 'hit' two batters allowing a run in. Nelson still pitched great, but he could have really had a start spoiled in the seventh with Roenicke leaving him in too long.

Duke's one-pitch outing - This is another move by Roenicke that I failed to understand on Wednesday afternoon. Duke had only 13 pitches the night before and Hamilton swung at the first pitch. Duke could have easily stayed out for another inning saving Will Smith whose already pitching way too much for a day. Roenicke's logic on Wednesday afternoon baffled me. There is no reason Duke should have came out of the game.

Knowing these aren't the real Reds - I really hate to be a cynic. I really do, but we all know this isn't the Cincinnati team that owned Milwaukee for the first couple months of the season. They are without Brandon Phillips and Joey Votto plus missing some other pieces as well. Still, it is nice to build some momentum as well as a two and a half game lead in the National League Central.

Charlie.

Tapping The Keg Podcast Episode 97

Tapping The Keg Podcast with Charlie & Mitch graces your ears for another week of fun. We start off the podcast talking about random things in the news or in our life... Most notably, Joel Embiid's Twitter game and pop music. Sports happen around the 10 min mark where we talk about the Brewers sweep, Roenicke's bullpen management and is Yovani Gallardo' trustworthy? We move on to talk about the Bucks full roster with the addition of Kendall Marshall. We do a little Packers training camp before finishing with Tony Dungy and Michael Sam.

Charlie.

Tap's Hangover Cure: Jeff Francouer Gets Pranked... Again

In the first month of the baseball season, one of the videos that went viral was Jeff Francouer, long-time

baseball player, getting pranked by his new team in El Paso. At the time, Frenchy played AAA ball for the San Diego Padres. The team got him real good by making a deaf baseball player out of complete thin air. The whole video is hilarious. 

They struck again before Francouer made his move up to the big leagues a couple days ago. Francouer used the manager's bathroom which apparently a violation of clubhouse rules. This is news to me. I didn't know coaches didn't like when players used their bathroom. Number one manager I would not use their bathroom... Clint Hurdle. I have no idea why that's the first manager I thought of but here we are. 

Charlie. 

Tennis Court - Lorde (Diplo's Andre Agassi Remix)

I feel like as we get closer to the end of the week, I need to provide you with stuff to add to a party playlist. Usually, we cannot find these jams on Spotify therefore I provide a link for something other than the usual playlist action. This comes from Diplo whom decided to remix one of my favorite songs from Lorde, 'Tennis Court' calling it his Andre Agassi Reebok Pump Remix which I can endorse wholeheartedly.  Agassi given his style to begin his career feels like this song belongs to have his name behind it. Pete Sampras Remix doesn't work nor does Ivan Lendl Remix, actually that one really doesn't work. Add this one to the weekend playlist as summer continues its slow whine down. Have a good one Tappers.

Charlie.