Four months. I suck, yo.

Sup guys... all three of you that depended on me to post reliable blogs on a regular occasion. (I actually checked my page view count and was pretty surprised at the high-ish number, but that's neither here nor there.)

Fact is, it's been a long-ass time (four months, five days) since I've posted anything on this blog, and I promise it's not because I forgot. I thought about it on a regular basis, and the fact is, I was just too busy with other things.

Not that this takes last place in the all-important Conner Prioritization List, but it certainly is below the sites that I'm obligated to write for, moving, and various other things you'd expect a 22 year old person to do.

I'm just giving you guys a quick update about what's been going on with my life, how I've been doing, and hopefully telling you guys I'm here to stay. For real this time.

I moved to Clemson, SC, which was quite stressful. My apartment has bug problems, and my roommate and I are constantly being bombarded by people thinking we're twins. Grow a beard, you too can join the Conner-Dylan look-a-like club.

I've been doing better and better every week it feels like. If you know me and are reading this, you might know what I've been through the past eight or so months, and if you don't know me, just know that I had some really unfortunate shit happen to me. For months I didn't get a break from bad news, depression, and anxiety... but I feel like that's finally getting past me. Except the anxiety, that's still pretty bad.

Don't get me wrong, things are still rough sometimes. But for the most part, I'm doing my best to get my life back together, and I'm feeling better thanks to a lot of great family, friends, therapy, and medication.

I'm still writing off-and-on for BleacherReport.com, and I've recently been picked up as a staff writer for the Carolina Hurricanes at CardiacCane.com, which is pretty fun. I'm working on getting a couple more writing gigs online, especially at a Milwaukee Brewers-centric site.

And I finally decided to start blogging again. For real this time. It might not be every day, it might not be every week, but it will be fairly regularly, if for no other reason than to document how shit in my life is going and to talk about music, sports, and whatever the fuck else I want to talk about.

I'll also be promoting the hell out of the drumline I teach, so get ready for that.

Hockey is back, which means I get to write about hockey again! Basketball is on, and the Charlotte Bobcats, though not good, are at least kind of exciting to watch!

Also, I'll leave a link below for the Facebook page, but in case you've been living under a rock, there's a better than average chance that Charlotte will reclaim  the Hornets name and bring it back to the Queen City. Bring back the buzz!

And of course, spring training is right around the corner. I have a post coming about how I think the World Baseball Classic (WBC) in which 14 Brewers are participating will influence the start of the season for the Brew Crew.

Until then, thanks for reading! Love you guys. Kind of. Not really... but I mean, keep reading. It makes me feel good about myself.

As promised, here's the We Bee-lieve Facebook page... please check it out and like it!

http://www.facebook.com/pages/We-Beelieve-Charlottetake-back-your-Hornets/110429122320741?fref=ts

I suck at blogging

Hi guys, I suck.

I was going to write a pre-game and postgame analysis for Milwaukee vs. Washington, but I've been slammed with other things.

Brewers won, is the main thing I wanted to point out in this post. Equally as important, the Cardinals lost in extra innings to the Cubs, meaning that the Brewers are now only 1.5 games behind the wild card.

According to ESPN, the Brewers have a mathematical chance of making the playoff to the tune of 17.5 percent. A month ago, that number was hovering right around zero.

And the math involved doesn't take into account that the Brewers just beat one of the best teams in baseball, while the Cardinals lost to one of the worst. The math doesn't take into account that the Brewers are far and away the hottest team in baseball.

Me? I say flip a coin. The Brewers have a tougher schedule ahead of them, but the Cardinals are playing like shit and the Brewers are playing unbelievably well.

On a side note, Braun stole his 29th base of the season tonight against the Nats. Assuming he steals one more (I'm sure he will), he'll be a 40/30 player. After joining the 30/30 club last season, Braun only wants more.

Maybe next year we'll see the elusive 40/40.

Some personal stuff, I didn't have a great day, but shit happens. I have some good friends who do a good job of picking me up when I need it.

I've also decided that this weekend will be the weekend where I really figure out things about next semester. I'm going to buckle down, evaluate costs, school programs, and get my shit together so I can become a better writer and start a whole new adventure.

I'm going to post some more tomorrow. Definitely. Probably. I hope. Maybe.

Here's some music by The Roots, listen and be happy. And for those wondering, the piece I posted in my previous post was done by Jeff Jordan.

Late entry because last night's didn't publish

Last night I posted a blog that didn't publish for some reason. Sorry to leave you guys out :(

The basic gist of it was that the wild card race stands like this after the series that just took place: the Cardinals are out in front by 2.5, the Brewers are back 2.5 and the Dodgers are back 3.0.

The Brewers have the Nationals next, and we need to at least win two of these games. The Nationals have been kind of cold lately, and the Brewers have been as good as ever, so I think that's well within the realm of possibility.

I haven't been posting as much because of my work on Bleacher Report. You can check out my latest article here.

Like I said, I'll have a preview of the game out soon.

The Cardinals are in the seventh inning against the Cubs, and for the first time in my life...go Cubs.

That hurt just to type.

In the meantime, some art.

I don't know where to go to school...

This is the first non-sports post since my first one... I know I said it wasn't going to be all about sports, but let's face it... my life pretty much revolves around them.

Anyway, assuming most of you know who I am, you know that I recently made the decision to take this semester off to transfer somewhere to study journalism. I was one semester away from graduating with a degree in psychology and a minor in biology. I know, I'm an idiot, whatever.

Fact is, I couldn't stand the thought of going through another semester of banalities at Winthrop University. Don't get me wrong, it's a good school, and a few of the professors I've had there are people I hope I never lose contact with. But I really didn't care about psychology or biology, and I knew I was never, ever going to make a career out of either.

So, long story short, start writing for Bleacher Report, realize I want to be involved in sports journalism/production as a career.

I've applied several places, but I really have no idea where I want to go.

Right now the list is: University of Oregon, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, University of Maryland, University of Minnesota, and Clemson University.

You'll notice the only school in-state (South Carolina) is Clemson. That's my super fall back.

Other than that, it's a toss-up. I really have no idea where I want to go. I kind of think that the University of Minnesota and Wisconsin-Milwaukee are the front-runners right now, as they have by far the cheapest out-of-state tuition... they're not much more expensive than Clemson's in-state tuition.

Plus, Minnesota is a great school and is considered a public-ivy school. It's located in Minneapolis/St. Paul, so I would have access to all four major sporting franchises (Twins, Timberwolves, Wild, Vikings) which is pretty important for my profession.

The same goes for UW-Milwaukee, though it's not quite as prestigious as Minnesota.

I'm a terrible decision maker. It has taken me four years of college to figure out what I want to do, and this is going to be my third university (I went to the University of South Carolina my first semester and hated it).

I have to decide soon. I also have decisions to make about marching in an indoor percussion ensemble and living arrangements and everything. This is a headache. Someone help me.

Milwaukee Brewers Postgame 9/19

Final Score
Milwaukee Brewers: 3
Pittsburgh Pirates: 1

Recap

Well, tonight's game wasn't quite as explosive as I thought it would be. It did start off with a bang, with Norichika Aoki launching a leadoff homer in the first inning, but things slowed down from there.

If you read my preview, I predicted that rookie Kyle McPherson would probably get shelled in his first outing as a starter in the majors, but he pitched respectably, and his change-up, which he barely used in relief, was probably his best pitch.

McPherson went 4.1 innings, struck out two, and gave up two earned runs—the solo blast by Nori, and an RBI single by opposing pitcher Marco Estrada.

Speaking of Estrada, he pitched another gem tonight. He didn't quite have the strikeout pitch working, as he went 7.0 innings and only struck out four, but he had excellent control the entire night. He threw 96 pitches, 68 of which were for strikes. He was locating his fastball perfectly, and was in complete control of the the Pirates lineup, only giving up three hits.

Axford came in during the ninth and gave up a solo jack to Andrew McCutchen, but otherwise looked pretty good. It was his 30th save of the season. Ax is performing extremely well now, and it looks like his early-to-mid season woes are all but gone.

Axford's recent success is a microcosm of the Brewers as a whole. Shitty to start, shiny to finish.

Also, for what it's worth, Brewers' shortstop Jean Segura had a great game tonight. He went two for four (raising his average to .262) and made some excellent plays in the field. He really is finally starting to look as good as advertised, and I have no trouble seeing him as Milwaukee's shortstop for quite a while.

The Bucs—on national speak like a pirate day, of all days—could not have looked more lethargic. Two errors, one of them costing them a run, and practically no offensive production except for Cutch. In two games the Brewers have solidified their name as a contender for that wild card slot while essentially eliminating the Pirates.

The Dodgers split a double-header with the Nationals... They are only a half game ahead of the Brewers. The Cardinals won against the Astros (huge surprise) and kept the Brewers back 2.5 games. I'll cover the wild card race more in depth in another post tomorrow.

In the meantime, enjoy the fun times, Brewers fans. This season has turned out to be one of the most exciting I've ever seen, and it feels good to be a Brew Crew fan right now.

Previewing Brewers vs. Pirates Game 2: 9/19/12

Milwaukee Brewers: 75-72
Pittsburgh Pirates: 74-73

Probable Starting Pitchers:
Milwaukee: Marco Estrada (3-6, 3.77 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 119.1 IP, 125 K)
Pittsburgh: Kyle McPherson (0-0, 1.54 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 11.2 IP, 11 K)

The Game

I mentioned in my postgame analysis last night that the Pittsburgh Pirates are playing like a team that has already been defeated.

I don't see that changing over the timespan of 24 hours.

The Brewers went into PNC Park with a road record of 28-43. They just aren't that good away from Miller Park. Still, they left with a win, and they did it without hitting a single home run. Two rarities in one night.

Not to mention the seven total stolen bases, three by Ryan Braun alone.

The Pirates are showing just how desperate they are tonight by shoving rookie Kyle McPherson, who has pitched all of 11.2 innings in the majors for his first start.

McPherson is basically a two-pitch pitcher. He has a good fastball in the low-to-mid 90's, and a curveball in the mid-to-upper 70's. He occasionally throws a change-up in the low-to-mid 80's.

He has been average in the minors, and while he's pitched well in relief in the majors, 11.2 innings is hardly a large enough sample size to judge his abilities in the majors. He'll need to bring his best against the hard-hitting Brewers.

There's no word on if Corey Hart will be in tonight's lineup as of this write-up, but he was available to pinch-hit last night, so there is a possibility we see him again tonight, giving McPherson yet another problem to deal with.

It seems like every Brewer is on a hot-streak offensively, so it's officially the worst possible time for a rookie to make his first start. The Brewers are arguably the best offensive team in the National League, and there's a good chance his ERA is going to rise quite a bit.

Meanwhile, Marco Estrada, who has been pitching extremely well lately, is going to be facing a Pittsburgh offense that is all but dead. With the exception of Andrew McCutchen, the Pirates don't have a bat to swing against Estrada.

Other games to watch: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Washington Nationals (going on right now), and St. Louis Cardinals vs. Houston Astros. The Brewers are looking to move one step closer to that wild card slot, and to do that they still need to leap the Dodgers and the Cardinals.

Prediction: Brewers win again, Dodgers lose to the Nats, Cards hold off the Astros.

Milwaukee Brewers Postgame 9/18

Final Score 
Milwaukee Brewers: 6
Pittsburgh Pirates: 0

Recap

Steal, steal, steal, steal, steal, steal, steal.

The Milwaukee Brewers took full advantage of Rob Barajas' poor throwing arm by stealing a collective seven bases—three by Ryan Braun, and one each by Carlos Gomez, Norichika Aoki, Rickie Weeks, and Jonathan Lucroy.

The seven stolen bases is the most for the Brewers in 20 years.

Both starters had solid outings, but Yovani Gallardo got the better of A.J. Burnett, going 6.2 innings. He only gave up two hits but walked four. He also struck out six batters. If you watched the game, you know that Yo had his good stuff tonight, just like he has the past two or so months it seems.

The name of the game was small-ball tonight for the Brewers, scoring five of their six runs on RBI singles, and one on a sacrifice fly. Norichika Aoki came up big or the Brewers tonight (as he has been quite frequently lately) by contributing an RBI single and the sac fly, going two for four.

Braun, on top of his three stolen bases and an RBI single, scored a run collected two hits and a walk. Jonathan Lucroy also had a good night, going three for five with an RBI single, a stolen base, and a run scored.

And finally, Jean Segura went two for four with two RBI and a run scored. Not a bad night for the rookie short stop, who also made some good plays in the field.

The Pirates look like they've given up. Sorry. They played poorly, put up absolutely no fight offensively, and played piss-poor defense, with two errors and a bunch of plays that should have been made but weren't.

This is one of the tightest wild card races in history, a pivotal series, and the Pirates are rolling over and dying while the Brewers continue to win in whatever way they can. Sounds about right.

Good news on the injury front, though he didn't make an appearance, Corey Hart was available to pinch-hit tonight, meaning it looks like we should see him back in the line-up soon. Travis Ishikawa has done a decent job at first defensively, but the Brewers have to be missing Corey's bat in that five hole.

Tonight's win makes 10 consecutive starts for Gallardo where the Brewers have won, and it was Gallardo's 16th win of the season, only one shy of his career high which he could surpass. He also lowered his ERA to 3.59.

I'll post a preview for tomorrow's (well, really today as it's 3:10 AM EST) game later, but it should be a good one. Marco Estrada is red-hot on the mound, stringing together some extremely impressive starts. He'll be taking on rookie Kyle McPherson, who will be making his first career start.

The Cardinals won against the Astros tonight (big surprise there), so the Brewers stayed two and a half games back of the wild card, but with the way the Brewers have been playing, it's not time to worry yet.