Desperate men do desperate things.  Mark Attanasio, I mean Doug Melvin, pulled off the most desperate move a team can make.  Well, Doug Melvin did not pull off the move so much as he was kind enough to be quoted in the press release.  12 games left and the man that knows more about baseball than you do has to read the classifieds tomorrow for a new job.  Maybe Mr. Attanasio has an excuse for his desperation when he poured in a large fortune and paid for CC Sabathia with his future hall of famer card.  Talk about being drastic.  It does not get any more drastic then canning Ned Yost with two weeks left.  Then again, Mr. Attanasio may have meddled so much that even Senator Kohl is shaking his head in disbelief.

This move seems more like trading the measles for the mumps or Terry Stotts for Larry Krystkowiak.  Either way, your chances for problems are still high and the outlook probably does not look so good.  Really, Dale Sveum is the answer?  Seriously, anybody else have a problem with that?  Even the Ned Yost bashers?  Doug Melvin talked about how a bench coach and manager are intertwined.  Well, wasn't Coach Sveum the bench coach during last season's great fall from first?  Didn't the Brewers loss the only game he managed 9-5 to the Padres?  If I do recall, that game was the fourth to the last game when the Brewers still had a shot at the division.  Suddenly, Ned Yost's right hand man from last year, with one whole game and a few Ned Yost ejections managing experience is the guy that will have the Brewers hoisting the World Series trophy.  Excuse me while I give that idea a raised eyebrow look of confusion.  Unless, Sveum plans on getting a bat and hitting some more home runs this town will never forget, this drastic move has a shelf life of two more weeks not the six like Captain Dale thinks it is.

The Brewers are all in and hoping for another ace on the river to take the pot.  So a gambler will do anything to take the pot.  With Frank Kremblas out of the picture (so much for him being the logical replacement) and Ted Simmons being a good friend and not taking the job (anybody raise your hand if you don't think Simmons was not offered the job first), Sveum was the only choice.  Sveum was apart of that 2004 Red Sox comeback so maybe he can pour some of that magic he learned on this team.  Really, all Sveum has to do is manage the bullpen better, rely less on the long ball, be nice to the media, and go 12-0 down the stretch complete with a trip to the World Series to make this move not look desperate.  Oh, and show some sense of urgency.  So pretty much, he has to be the complete opposite of the man he is replacing. 

Just because the move shows more desperation than a nerd on prom night, it does not mean Ned Yost deserved a stay of execution.  During this collapse that only the Soviet Union and the '69 Cubs can sympathize with, Yost has wished on hopes and dreams for this offense to get hot.  Instead, the dearly departed manager should have focused on ways to grind out runs and maybe call for more hit and runs, stolen bases, and the occasional bunt from a leadoff hitter.  Ned believed baseball works in cycles and even baseball has a life cycle for managers.