Who can forget September 7, 1997? Just in case you did, it's the last time the Milwaukee Brewers played at Fenway Park. The Sox staked Butch Henry to a 6-0 lead after three innings, and the hits kept on coming as the Sox won 11-2. John Valentin homered twice, and homers also came from Troy O'Leary, Jeff Frye(!), Bill Haselman and Wil Cordero. So you can see why Milwaukee was anxious to get the hell out of the American League in the '98 expansion.

Now, when we think of the Brewers, we still kind of expect to see Harvey Kuenn's Wallbangers. The Brew Crew without Robin Yount, Pete Vuckovich and Stormin' Gorman Thomas doesn't really seem right. But after years of ineptitude and blahs, Milwaukee's got a pretty good team. And like all Milwaukee teams should be, it's based on a couple of old-fashioned sluggers. Prince Fielder is probably the biggest name (and the biggest guy); he's starting to come around after a slow start, perhaps due to his conversion to vegetarianism, which can't have gone over well in the kielbasa capital of the Western Hemisphere.

A couple names you will probably learn this weekend are Bill Hall, the 3B who is hitting .195, but when he makes contact, he makes contact (9 of his 29 hits are home runs). Ryan Braun, last year's NL Rookie of the Year, is off to a solid start (.286, 10 HR), and just got paid. Other names in the Brewer lineup you might recognize are old friend Gabe Kapler, Tony Gwynn Jr., and Corey "please don't make another stupid obvious sunglasses joke" Hart.

The pitching isn't where it's supposed to be. Ace Ben Sheets is 4-0, but won't pitch this weekend. Instead we'll see Jeff Suppan (hey, any '04 highlights you want us to show on Jumbotron?), Dave Bush and his hefty 6.06 ERA, and Carlos Villanueva. The bullpen features Eric Gagne, apparently rubbing off on his teammates, who blew a cushy lead the other day without him.

Alex Rodriguez has taped a message for the Jumbotron to show congratulating Manny when he hits #500. It supposedly says, "Manny, I'm going to keep this short because I'm probably getting booed. Congratulations and many more." Some New Yorkers are howling about it, which reminds us of the days when we used to freak out about stupid little things because our team never won anything. The Yankees get an interleague series with the Mets, and get to see Johan Santana firsthand tonight.

The Celtics, of course, try once again to shake the suck-powder out of their road jerseys. Since everybody but Detroit has failed on the road in the second round, they're in good company, at least. Cleveland will be without the services of backup point guard Daniel Gibson, who separated his shoulder, which means Sam Cassell won't have to pretend to play defense.

Stormin' Gorman-era Brewer uniform from the Baseball Hall of Fame uniform history exhibit, which is freaking awesome.