20-7 in the month of August to 3-11 and fading playoff hopes in September prompted Mark Attanasio to make a bold decision, fire Ned Yost. 

  If this were a horse race, as the team entered September 1^st you could have closed your eyes and heard the excited utterance, “AND DOWN THE STETCH THEY COME” only to witness a stumbling horse who’s, again, watching the rest of the pack come on strong.  Mounted on that MB-logoed horse is the jockey Ned Yost looking perplexed as to how to keep his horse in the running.

This decision is a simple one, shock value.  Period.  Does Dale Sveum have the magical answer to get this team to respond, of course not.  I’m sure he has ideas as to how to run this team better and my be more flexible but he’s not going to instill deeply philosophical wisdom upon this team that will suddenly lift the clouds that have haunted them in the last 14 games.

Ned’s departure is a shame in some realm.  Ned’s desire to win, passion for the city of Milwaukee , respect for the history of baseball here, he was a Milwaukeean through and through.  Ned was a guy that WANTED to come here, WANTED to bring a championship to this city, state.  When everyone else looked at the Brewers as a laughing stock, he saw the future and what it could hold for the fans.  So in many ways, it’s sorrowful that Ned won’t get to cross that finish line.  On the other hand, Ned’s condescension, arrogance, stubbornness, surliness and uptight attitude are probably what launched him from the pedestal on which he placed himself.  That attitude trickled down to a team of youngsters that hasn’t won a damn thing yet acts as if they’re bigger than the game.   This team needed an attitude adjustment and they, in a roundabout way, got one yesterday.

In the month of September, this ball club has been outscored 75-38 and is hitting just .207 while the pitching dishonorably owns a 4.68 era.  That’s simply not going to get it done.  Something, anything needed to happen.  Believing that they’re going to come out of it was Ned’s mantra.  Creating situations for his team to be successful just didn’t seem to be his way.  The inability of major leaguers to lay down a bunt is mind-blowing.  Hit and run, hitting behind the runners to move them from first to third, it seemed to be a lost art when it came to this team’s ability to manufacture runs when the power surge seemed to be waning.  All of these factors set into motion the events that transpired yesterday.

Make no mistake about it, Mark Attanasio’s message came through loud and clear, losing is NOT an option.  This is it, it’s playoffs or bust for this franchise and something, anything needed to be done to stop the ascent up the mountain of futility that 25 years has manufactured.