Kuzul

The writing is on the wall. The precedent has been set…twice. The only question remaining is: When?

The Milwaukee Brewers have a decision to make, and there are rumors swirling that they may be making that decision during an internal management meeting scheduled for today.

The timing works. The Brewers have an off-day tomorrow after yet another disappointing run of games. As I write this, they’ve lost five of six on this road trip including an extra inning affair yesterday.

Many times when a team makes a change mid-season, it is done on a day when that team has no game to play so that the new manager (whomever it may be) has a day to get things in order. This is why many people were pointing to May 24th (the team’s last day off) for a change to be made. The noise got so loud that Mark Attanasio took the time to state that no change would be made that day.

By the way, it’s not a good thing when the owner has to start fielding questions about the job security of his employees.

To be fair, the team responded well following that last day off. They went 4-2 on a six-game homestand and Macha seemed to be at least tentatively secure going forward.

All of that good will has been wasted in this most recent run of terrible decision-making and unacceptable results. The team is 1-6 over the past seven games and has fallen to a season-low 12 games under .500.

The Baltimore Orioles most recently and the Kansas City Royals before them, perenial losers over the last decade-plus, decided that things weren’t working yet again. They made the sometimes tough choice to replace the man in charge of putting their players in the best position to succeed.

The same needs to happen in Milwaukee.

Macha is no longer managing to win, not that he was succeeding much when he was. The decisions that he is making seem to be fueled by a desire to simply keep his job by not losing again.

That style of managing, and please pay attention kids, does not work…ever.

You have to have an agressive, attacking, hit-them-in-the-mouth-before-they-hit-us attitude to succeed in any competition at the highest level.

Macha doesn’t have that killer instinct any more.

There has been a lot of rhetoric about how Macha isn’t the one throwing the pitches or swing the bats or fielding the grounders. All of this is true. However, preparation, focus and dedication are things that he has control over. Under his watch, the team is committing mental mistakes the likes of which haven’t been produced by this team in some time.

When the message is no longer being received, sometimes all you can do is change the vessel that delivers it.

To quote the late, great Owen Hart: “Enough is enough and it’s time for a change.”

How does tomorrow look on your calendar?

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

It has been a while since I’ve written anything in this space. The reason for that is two-fold.

First, I am the proud parent to a new baby boy (he’s a month old today, as a matter of fact)! Second, the team hasn’t exactly given me much in the way of motivation to sit down and really put forth any concerted effort.

To be fair, in all reality it is the former that has kept me away more than the latter. I can write about my favorite team in the dead of winter when they’re not even playing with no issue. Certainly I have had plenty on my mind during these recent lean days but diapers/bottles/baths/bonding/etc. really chew up my “free” time.

I was going to sit down and write a free-form rant (I even advertised it on my blog’s Twitter account—twitter.com/BrewerNation), but I got busy and calmed down while caring for my little boy that can’t care for himself yet.

That’s kind of a metaphor for the 2010 Milwaukee Brewers so far this year.

I know that the team will tell you that they are maturing and how they don’t want to be seen as the team that other teams love to beat, but if you ask me all they’ve accomplished by toning down their youthful exuberance is rip their own heart out.

They no longer seem to be having fun while playing a fun game. They no longer seem to be enjoying their days at the ballpark which is an enjoyable place. They no longer seem to have that swagger that carried them to a 90-72 record and a postseason playoff berth WAY back in 2008.

Yeah…2008. Remember when CC Sabathia couldn’t be stopped and this team was having fun all summer long, culminating in the picture above? It doesn’t seem that long ago when you think about it outside of sports, but in Major League Baseball so much can change in two short years.

I could list things like that they’ve had three managers since then, or that they’ve burned through four pitching coaches, but the main thing that’s changed from 2008 to 2010 isn’t tangible like that.

It’s the fun.

Let me break it down to you this way. They say that a group takes on the personality and characteristics of its leader. But has there ever been a seemingly more mismatched pairing than Ken Macha and the majority of this Brewers roster?

Macha is admittedly old school. Don’t get me wrong, I like a lot about old school baseball. I like (most of) the unwritten rules. I like drilling a guy for showing up the game. I like a good old-fashioned bench-clearing brawl.

The players, and perhaps it’s mostly a by-product of their median age, are decidedly new school in a lot a ways. The earthquake celebration against San Francisco, Braun and Fielder’s boxing celebration after home runs, the untucking of their jerseys after victories…it all is about having fun.

They never were trying to show anybody up. They were simply trying to enjoy each other and each other’s successes on the field.

But apparently somebody got in the ears of the clubhouse leaders over the off-season and planted a distinctive “knock it off” somewhere in there.

Sure, Braun and Fielder still celebrate home runs and now Fielder and McGehee have even developed a little foot shake routine. And yes, if they were still untucking their jerseys with a 16-26 record, it might seem a touch out of place.

My argument, though, is that once this team stopped having fun this team stopped playing loose. They’ve been uptight, trying to be too perfect (I’m looking at you, pitching staff) and generally almost seem to be playing scared.

Not that they’re afraid of the ball or anything, but they’ve got “what’s going to go wrong tonight?” syndrome.

When you arrive at the ballpark and expect to lose, you generally lose. I’m not saying that any players have told me that they feel this way, or that I’ve heard any of them say it or even imply it. It’s just my feeling as a very interested observer.

Maybe getting Trevor Hoffman fixed will be the spark that this team needs. It can’t be easy when the innings are getting late and you don’t have at least a four-run lead. Hoffman was so maddeningly inconsistent that you almost had to assume failure and be pleasantly surprised if he came through.

Maybe getting healthy will provide the boost that this team needs. When your Opening Day center fielder and right fielder have missed time and 40 percent of your starting rotation has been replaced due to injury or ineffectiveness and your setup man is on the DL and now your starting catcher will miss at least two weeks…

Then again, maybe simply getting a few wins will be the ointment that heals the wounds of so many losses.

If you win, maybe you loosen up. If you loosen up, maybe you win some more. If you win some more, maybe you stay loose and go on a run.

So the question becomes: How do you win to start that chain of probabilities?

My answer to that question sounds simple. In fact, it sounds so simple that one might wonder why it isn’t already happening. It sounds so simple that one might question why it was ever abandoned in the first place.

That answer to the Milwaukee Brewers? Find a way to enjoy the game again.

Untuck those jerseys, watch a few home runs a little too long, pump your fist when you strike out a guy in a key situation on defense, hoot and holler and get the other guy’s dander up, put a target on your back again if you must.

In short…just relax and be yourselves.

You might find out that it’s what’s been missing this whole time.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com