Round ‘em Up: Thursday

UPDATE 07-10-08 1:55pm – Ned Yost says Milwaukee has no interest in releasing Guillermo Mota.  Oh good.

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Well, ladies and gentlemen. The Milwaukee Brewers pretended Glendon Rusch was the second coming of CC Sabathia last night. All the Brewers hitters (perhaps with the exception of Bill Hall) looked utterly lost against the left-hander. It’s not like he had an ERA of over 6 and a half coming into the game…

• Last night, Pete from Brewers Fanatics ran the first installment of The Brewers Blog Roundtable. Jared from Right Field Bleachers and myself took most of the questions, and we have a podcast for you all to listen to. As of right now, the Roundtable is going to be a sort of question-and-answer format. We are very open to making it a live call-in show if the audience is big enough. Until then, I will simply post the podcasts here for you to listen to.

  The first installment is a little rough, as Pete is getting used to the software. It was also our first run at the program, so it will get smoother down the line. It’s a pretty good product for the first try though. Enjoy.

  Brewers Blog Roundtable

• Tom Haudricourt says enough is enough with Guillermo Mota. He fully expects Mota to be designated for assignment today. I completely agree that he will be DFA’d, but it will probably not come until after today’s game. What if the Crew needs someone to handle mop-up time? Might as well get a few more innings out of Mota before cutting him loose.

  TH thinks Luis Pena will get the call to the big leagues. He struggled with his stuff to start the season, but has really turned it on as of late. Nashville’s closer has a 1.78 ERA in his last 30 1/3 innings. Not bad at all.

  I think that Doug Melvin and Ned Yost will go with big league experience at this point in the season, however. He may not have much, but Tim Dillard showed that he’s capable of handling himself on a big stage. It’s true that he lost his command a bit, but has been throwing the ball much better with the Sounds lately.

• In-Between Hops believes it may only take a trip to the DL to get Mota back on track. If only things were just that simple…
• The Brew Town Beat is absolutely ecstatic that Haudricourt is calling for Guillermo Mota’s head. Mota has been exceptionally awful over the past month and a half, and it is about time for Milwaukee to cut their losses and DFA the big guy.

  I also notice that Brew Town mentions me in their post when they criticize people for saying Mota has thrown good pitches like the pitch against Joe Mauer. I don’t shy away from criticism. That was a good pitch, and Mauer simply beat him. The problem is that Mota has not thrown many good pitches since that point. I did not defend him in the least bit against Arizona or last night. It was one game, and I stick by it. With that said, Mota’s time in Milwaukee has drawn to a close.

• Brew Crew Pub says something is missing from the 2008 Milwaukee Brewers. It is patience and a high on-base percentage. Agreed. I’m not sure Kenny Lofton is the best choice here. I would much rather send Rickie Weeks away from a high OBP second baseman like you’re suggesting. To my knowledge, Huntsville has not tried Alcides Escobar at second base.

  What would I suggest? This is clearly me in a dreamworld, but how about a package that sends Rickie Weeks, Brad Nelson, and Zach Braddock for Brian Roberts and George Sherrill? Both Roberts and Sherrill will be under Milwaukee’s control past the 2008 season, and it would provide the Brewers with a very solid arm in the bullpen and a bona fide lead-off hitter. The package would probably need another prospect though. Perhaps someone like a Alexandre Periard.

• Ned Yost does not want Ryan Braun to participate in the Home Run Derby. Milwaukee’s manager does not want Braun messing up his swing for the second half. I’m more worried about his sore hand at this point…
• Between the Green Pillars takes an excellent look at the Manny Parra situation. He is on pace to throw more innings than the Brewers organization originally wanted him to. History has shown that pitchers are at a higher risk for injury if they make a big jump in innings pitched like Parra is on pace to do. The author believes Milwaukee will not hold him back, as the CC Sabathia trade signifies that the team is all in for this season.

  I would agree with that, but I also do not fall in the camp that believes Parra’s innings should be limited this season. Younger pitchers coming out of high school do need to watch their innings, but Parra does not have a young arm. He has been slowed by injuries, yes, but he is not new to throwing on the mound. Older relievers that have never thrown many innings do just fine when stretching out their arms. In my opinion, Parra is certainly capable of going more than 163 innings. If he starts to experience a bit of “dead arm,” then Ned Yost should worry about it.

• Something tells me that Jason Kendall was a good pick-up this off-season.
• The Junkball Blues takes a look at what Chicago gave up to get Rich Harden compared to what Milwaukee gave up to get CC Sabathia. He concludes that Harden did cost a bit more than Sabathia, as he should.

  People keep overlooking the fact that Sean Gallagher, Matt Murton, and Eric Patterson have all spent time in the big leagues. The Cleveland Indians did not get that from a single player from Milwaukee. Matt LaPorta may fizzle out before getting to the big leagues. After all, Nelson Cruz is still raking in Triple-A…

• The Cub Reporter says that Rich Harden may not be under Chicago’s control through the 2009 season like everyone believes. That would certainly change the dynamics of the trade completely. (Tip of the cap to Right Field Bleachers for this one.)
• Dugout Central says that Billy Beane is a dangerous GM to be making a deal with. He never loses a big trade. Most of the pitchers he loses end up fizzling out due to some sort of injury (Mark Mulder) or ineffectiveness (Barry Zito). I don’t know if I agree with the article when it says Tim Hudson has been mostly ineffective for two seasons. I definitely wouldn’t want that 3.16 ERA from this season or that 3.33 ERA from 2007. What a poor performance…

Brewers come from behind to bite the D’Backs

Milwaukee has secured at least a split in the road series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.  The way almost all of the major leagues has played on the road this season, that is a victory in itself.  When you consider Brandon Webb will be on the hill tomorrow afternoon, the magnitude of this win is augmented greatly.

In one of the brightest stories of the 2008 season thus far for the Milwaukee Brewers, Seth McClung continued to impress on the mound as a starter.  I will be the first to admit that he did not have his A-stuff tonight.  The big guy may not have even had his B-stuff, but he battled and scraped together 5.1 innings while only giving up two runs.  The main thing: He gave the Crew a chance to win the game.  That’s what a starting pitcher must do.

Finishing with six strikeouts and only one walk, Seth excited the game in the sixth inning.  He scattered 8 hits and limited the damage.  Five of those hits, however, came in the first two innings.  His fastball had lots of life this evening, and McClung was dialing it up on the radar gun.  The big right-hander kept the team in the game and gave them a chance for a comeback.

And come back they did.

After Mike Cameron laced a two-out double in the seventh inning, Ned Yost called on Rickie Weeks to pinch hit.  Rickie has been out with a stomach virus the past two games, so it was a risky call on the part of the skipper.  Beware of the weary, however.  Weeks absolutely crushed an 0-2 pitch out of the park to left field.  3-2 Brewers.

The lead was short-lived though.  David Riske – who did throw more than fastballs today, by the way – gave up a first pitch bomb to Justin Upton.  It was almost a carbon copy of the Weeks home run.  3-3 Brewers.

For all the flak Mike Cameron has been getting from Brewers fans the past couple weeks, he came through in a big way tonight.  After Russell Branyan led off the inning with a single that ricocheted off Arizona first-baseman Mike Reynolds, Cam fought off a couple tough pitches before depositing the eventual game-winning single to left-center field.  That’s clutch hitting from the veteran center fielder.  That is why Doug Melvin signed him in the off-season.

Salomon Torres converted his 14th save after Branyan tagged third and threw a bullet to first base to end the game on a double play.  It was a big play by Russell, as Salomon worked himself in a spot of trouble after Orlando Hudson led off with a single and got to second after a deep fly ball to left.  All was for naught, however, as the Crew pulled out another one-run victory.

A couple other things to note after tonight’s game.  Did anyone else think that Stephen Drew’s cleat shot to Jason Kendall in the eighth was a cheap shot?  I understand he was trying to knock the ball loose from Kendall’s glove, but he risked seriously injuring Milwaukee’s catcher by spiking him in the gut.  I thought Kendall showed his true veteran mentality when he simply walked away from the situation.  Whether or not the Brewers catcher pursued the matter, I’m a little surprised a fine player like Stephen Drew would do that.  It was in the heat of the moment, but those metal spikes are no joke.

Joe Dillon pinch hit this evening and continued his fine approach at the plate.  He hit an absolute rocket out into deep left-center.  It looked to have a chance to get out of the park.  It certainly was going to give Milwaukee some insurance on the scoreboard.  That is, until Chris Young came out of nowhere to make a spectacular play, jumping into the wall and hanging on to the ball.  Fine play, Mr. Young.

Big Prince Fielder is still struggling at the plate.  He is going to very much welcome a little home cooking starting this weekend.  I’m not so sure Miller Park is going to help much unless he changes his approach at the plate, however.  He has a natural upper cut on his swing, which is why he hits so many home runs.  The upper cut is so pronounced right now though, that it is getting to Jim Edmonds territory right now.  Flatten out the swing, big boy.  That and don’t try to hit every ball out of the park.  That may help too.

This may be jinxing him, but J.J. Hardy continued his hit streak.  It is now at 14 games after a 2-4 performance with a clutch RBI in the sixth inning to start off the scoring for the Crew.  His bat is staying through the hitting area much longer right now, and he’s naturally getting better wood on the ball as a result.  That two-spot fits J.J. well, I think.

I have been unable to confirm this, but Arizona commentator Darron Sutton apparently said there is a deal going on between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Milwaukee Brewers.  I did find it a little strange that Doug Melvin and Gord Ash have been attending this series, but there has been no confirmation.  The words were that the deal was going to come through “very, very soon.”

The only thing I can think of is a little help in the bullpen.  Arizona has some expendable arms with the likes of Tony Pena, Juan Cruz, and Chad Qualls.  They would almost certainly be looking for a bat in return.  Could Mike Cameron find himself on a plane to Arizona soon?  It could make some sense, as Gabe Kapler has been terrific.  Perhaps Gabe is the one in question.  Or perhaps this is completely unsubstantiated and nothing will happen.  Only time will tell.

Records: Brewers (46-38); Diamondbacks (42-43)

Hero of the Game: Mike Cameron

Mike came through today in a big way at the plate.  He almost hit one out of the park in the second inning, but it hit a little too far down on the trademark.  That at-bat was a sign of things to come for Mike, as he finished the game going 2-4 with two huge RBI.  His single in the ninth inning proved to be the difference in the game.  This is the type of player Mike Cameron can be on a daily basis.  Hopefully he can get on a hot streak sometime soon.

Goat of the Game: Prince Fielder

I understand Prince is an incredibly streaky hitter, but that swing needs to get a little flatter.  The plate discipline needs to improve.  He’s far too talented to fall into huge funks like he has this season.  Prince sorely needs to see Miller Park again.

On Tap

Manny Parra will take on Brandon Webb tomorrow afternoon in the series finale.  Parra has looked much better on the mound lately, and he’ll have to pitch effectively for Milwaukee to stand a chance against the fantastic Brandon Webb.

Prince’s Power Hour Propels

The big boys came out to play in the Milwaukee Brewers’ final game against American League opposition, the Baltimore Orioles. Home runs from Corey Hart, Bill Hall, and a pair from Prince Fielder bailed out an out-of-sorts Manny Parra. Sprinkle in some nice defensive plays and a season-tying high for double plays and the result was good 7-3 victory finishing off a 6-3 homestand for the Crew.

From the get-go it looked like Parra might set up Milwaukee for a long afternoon. His pitch locations were off and a tight zone from the home plate umpire wasn’t helping his cause. Parra walked six guys including four in the first three innings. Two of Baltimore’s three runs were walks that came around to score.

Rickie Weeks was back in the lineup today (and in the lead off spot in the order) and looked shaky early on. Jason Kendall caught Jay Payton off of first, but Weeks, attempting to get Payton out, dropped Kendall’s throw.

Fielder has also looked shoddy on defense recently (something that he had looked to improve this season. He misplayed a bunt single in the second inning failing to pick up the ball and get it to Parra at first base. Earlier in the season is looked as though Fielder was making big strides in his defensive play, but in the last few series he has made several mistakes on plays that should be outs.

If the defense has fallen, the offensive game of Fielder has shown brightly. Prince belted a double and two home runs today. Fielder was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and three runs scored. His monster, two run blast in the seventh gave the Crew some breathing room heading into the closing frames.

The secondary storyline of the game is the positive defensive plays that the Brewers made to back up the struggling Parra. Ryan Braun made two outstanding sliding catches (the one in the sixth was ESPN’s #5 “Web Gem” today) to rob Baltimore of base hits. The infield also turned five double plays on an Oriole team that has the grounded into the least amount of double plays in the American League (45). Weeks was strong on his DP turns (something that has been troubling… low throws to first) and made a fantastic play to end the seventh inning.

Guillermo Mota and David Riske both continue to struggle in relief appearances this afternoon issuing two walks apiece. A strikeout for Riske and two nice defensive plays by JJ Hardy and the already mentioned Weeks grab bailed out David. It took an appearance by Salomon Torres and a double play to get Mota off the hook in the ninth. Mark DiFelice had a good outing, going 1-2-3 in the sixth, but otherwise this bullpen is starting to worry. There are a bunch of bright spots (DiFelice, Torres, Shouse), but they can’t pitch everyday and allow the inconsistent guys to shake down games.

Records: Brewers (41-34), Orioles (38-36)

Hero of the Game: Prince Fielder

The Prince has been going on a power binge of late. He’s got five home runs in the last six games. For June all of his vitals are skyrocketing. Take a look at his May/June comparisons:

Stat May June

On Base Percentage .358 .432

Average .294 .343

Slugging: .450 .757

Promising stuff from the kid.

Goat of the Game: Davillermo RiskMota

What’s up with these guys? I know the zone was tight, Parra struggle with his stuff all night, but Riske and Mota’s inability to find a strike lately is looking Gagnesqe. I guess I’m particularly worried about Riske because I never was that high up on him since the beginning of the season. For the money we paid for him I feel like the Brewers haven’t gotten a lot of relief security.

A few good outings early in the season was marred by several rough outings before going on the DL. Since being activated from the DL two days ago, Riske has participated in the almost-loss on Thursday against Toronto and stunk it up today. These sorts of trouble should be worked out with a player before he comes back from his rehab stint in the minors. I know he blew threw the opposition in his one inning of work in Nashville, but there’s nothing wrong with playing it safe and seeing he’s all there.

On Tap:

The Crew hits the road to take on the Atlanta Braves. Jo-Jo Reyes (3-4, 4.05 ERA) is on the mound versus Ben Sheets (8-1, 2.74 ERA). Game time: 6:05 CT.

By: Dan Wiersema

Small Ball, Sheets Win the Night

The polar opposite of the night before where all seven of the Brewers’ runs came courtesy of the home run ball, the Brewers put their faith in timely hitting, smart base running, and another solid, albeit short, outing from Ben Sheets. The victory last night, 5-4, guaranteed another series win for the Crew and the win over the Blue Jays meant the Brewers are sitting on a three game win streak.

Sheets, who threw six innings, was relieved by Carlos Villanueva, who quickly gave up two hits and a run in 2/3 of an inning of work. The relief pitching was more troubling when Guillermo Mota came in to work the eight. Showing a troubling pattern of alternating strong appearances with downright scary appearances, Mota brought out his Halloween game allowing three hits, a walk, and a run in only 23 pitches.

Salomon Torres to the rescue. Torres showed up in the eight inning with two outs, escaped unscathed and proceeded to record his ninth save of the season the next inning.

Besides a little solo home run love from Russell Branyan in the second and Mike Cameron in the sixth it was the small ball that propelled the Crew to the win. The key inning was the bottom of the fourth, with the game tied at ones, when Corey Hart lead of with a ground rule double. Hart would then be put over to third by Branyan’s sac fly. On the ensuing play Cameron rolled what amounted to a swing bunt back to the Jay’s pitcher Shaun Marcum. Hart, on a dead sprint from third, beat the fielder’s choice throw at home and Cam was safe at first (he should have made it to second as the catcher spiked the ball after Hart was safe).

Cam stole second, advanced to third on Jason Kendall’s single, and scored on a squeeze play. Squeeze plays have been notoriously bad for the Brewers this year with either the batter or runner missing the calls on multiple occasions leaving runners for dead, but this one played out perfectly, if not a bit unmethodically (if that’s a word). Sheets put down a great bunt, catcher Gregg Zaun looked Cameron back to third and threw Sheets out at first. That was when Cam broke for home scoring without even having to slide.

Sheets working from the mound look good in the opening frame striking out two, but unraveled a bit as the game went on. Sheets walked for batters, tossed two wild pitches, and gave up several hard hits. Yost lifted Sheets for a pinch hitter in the sixth, a call that I second guess.

Records: Brewers (38-33), Blue Jays (35-38 )

Hero of the Game: Mike Cameron

I’ve been harping on Cameron a bit lately, but last night he epitomized an all around solid baseball player. He mixed small ball with the powerball scoring Hart on his (very) small ball and scoring himself with a solo homer later in the game. But it was his smart base running to sneak a run in from third in the fourth that gets the big kudos. The box score 1-for-4 doesn’t show how intelligent one is on the base paths to try to take home plate on a bunt, hold, then break for the base, and beat the tag with some great speed. Good work, Cam.

Goat(s) of the Game: Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder

Both the big men in the line up had “oh fer” nights. RB and PF came to the plate and left empty all four times and racked up two Ks each. The plate discipline is looking a bit shaky guys… work it out.

On Tap:

David Bush (2-7, 5.37) takes on AJ Burnett (6-6, 4.90) in the matinée wrap up of this Interleague series. Which Bush will show up? Game time 1:05 CT on FSN.

By: Dan Wiersema

Round ‘em Up: Tuesday

The Milwaukee Brewers enjoyed an off-day yesterday, but they will get back on the horse this evening against the Toronto Blue Jays.

Anyone see Tiger Woods win yesterday?  Fantastic golf tournament.

• Bill Hall admits that the game wasn’t much fun for him a few weeks ago.  He had been sidelined by the emergence of Russell Branyan, and the fans were and are booing him relentlessly.  The long-time Brewer has turned over a new leaf in his game, however.  Hall is focused on enjoying the game of baseball and hoping everything else simply works out on its own.  That’s finally the right attitude.
• After receiving mountains of flack for signing Jason Kendall during the off-season, Doug Melvin is looking pretty smart these days.  Jason has been a fine addition to the Milwaukee Brewers, and he seems to have made an impact on the starting rotation as a whole (Dave Bush excluded).  I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Brewers pick up Kendall’s option for next season.
• The Junkball Blues notes that the starting pitching has been pulling its weight lately.  Manny Parra has been serviceable the past couple weeks, and Seth McClung has become extremely reliable at the back-end of the rotation.  Perhaps the biggest news is the play of Jeff Suppan.  He’s finally pitching like the $40M man he’s supposed to be.  Oh yeah, Ben Sheets is a stud too.
• Brew Crew Pub has a Brewers preview for the Brewers-Blue Jays series.  Give it a look.
• Adam McCalvy writes a piece on North Carolina reliever, Rob Wooten.  The Brewers drafted the Tar Heel in the 13th-round of the 2008 MLB Draft, and the team is excited to see what they have in the young man.  He projects to be a solid reliever, but that is still up in the air.  Wooten is presumably waiting until after the College World Series to sign with the Crew.
• Brewers Locker notes that Brad Nelson is blocked by Prince Fielder in the big leagues.  He could become a very valuable trading chip at the deadline.  I suspect he stays though.  The Brewers are reportedly open to trading Prince in the off-season, and Brad Nelson would be an optimal candidate to step in at first.  If Nelson is traded, the Brewers are keeping Prince through next season.
• The Nashville Sounds played the Iowa Cubs, but no one was at the park.  No, not because the Sounds have been terrible this year.  The devastating flooding caused the ballpark to not allow any fans into the ballpark.  I hope things get better down in Iowa in a hurry.

Round ‘em Up: Thursday

It’s getaway day in Houston, and the Brewers will have Ben Sheets on the mound.  If the Crew can pull one out today, it will be a .500 road series.  That would certainly be a moral victory for Milwaukee after their performances on the road lately.

Unfortunately, the Astros have a history of being a Sheets-killer in Houston.  Lance Berkman has had Benny’s number his whole career, and so has the lowly Brad Ausmus.  We’ll see how it goes today.  After calling the Brewers would pounce on Brandon Backe last night, I’m feeling lucky again today.  Ben Sheets is due to have a dominating outing.  He’s been good the last couple outings, yes, but not dominate.  I have a feeling Ben’s going to come out with his A-game today.

• J.J. Hardy tweaked his surgically-repaired left shoulder during last night’s game.  It has been an ongoing problem throughout the year for J.J., but he says he can play through it.  I wonder if another surgery will be in order this off-season…
• Some of the readers here at BrewersNation have been wondering why the Crew hasn’t been running more often.  Look for that to change with Corey Hart at the top of the batting order.  Corey is looking forward to running more often.  Ned Yost, however, says the law of averages will cause the same number of runners to be on base ahead of Corey in the leadoff spot as when he batted fifth.  Yes, Ned.  Those averages that say Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder get on-base much more often than say…the pitcher.  Goodness…
• In-Between Hops says its time for Milwaukee to make its move.  Alfonso Soriano is injured for Chicago.  Albert Pujols is injured in St. Louis.  The Crew is just about to start a 9-game homestand, while Chicago goes on the road.  The time is now, Scott says.
• The Brew Town Beat is pleasantly surprised after last night’s game.  Something that has been overlooked is Jason Kendall’s monster home run.  It was not a cheap shot, either.  It would have gotten out in almost any park.  The article says that Corey Hart should stay at the lead-off spot after Rickie Weeks returns from injury.  Corey is the best protection behind Prince Fielder that Milwaukee has.  He is a run-producer that just happens to be fast.  We’ll have to see, but I’m not sold on the idea.
• Between the Green Pillars writes about the Brewers starting to sign their draft picks.  It is reported that second-round pick RHP Seth Lintz will sign today with a $900,000 signing bonus.  That’s about $300,000 more than he’s slotted by Major League Baseball to receive.  I agree with the article when it says it’s nice to see the Brewers get their priorities straight and ante up the cash to get quality prospects in the system quickly.
• Alex Eisenberg from The Hardball Times breaks down the swings of some of the top position players chosen in the first round.  He says that he likes the swing of Brett Lawrie more and more every time he sees it.  Lawrie loads his hands beautifully, which generates a lot of raw power.  Alex gave Brett a B+.  That tied for the highest grade given to a prospect on the list.
• The Brewers plan on leaving Mat Gamel down in Double-A Huntsville throughout the year.  It is traditionally known as a pitcher’s league, but Gamel has absolutely dominated pitching this season.  The Brewers want to bring Gamel along slowly through the top echelons of the system.  I personally think its more because they want Gamel to work with manager Don Money on his defense more.  His throwing motion and his footwork has improved dramatically over the past year, and Don Money is a big part of that.  Doug Melvin and Gord Ash want to keep Gamel where he will flourish this season.  It will be interesting to see whether or not Gamel can make a run for a big league job in 2009.
• CF Lee Haydel is the fastest Brewer in the farm system, hands down.  The Charleston Daily Mail reports that Lee is working on harnessing his speed and learning the fine points of the game.  He needs to hit the ball on the ground more and let his speed work for him.  The skills are very raw, but remember…you can’t teach speed.

Post of the Day

Jacksonville.com has a great article on Mat Gamel.  I did not know this, but Mat was cut from his first Junior College team.  He was stuck behind a star in the Junior College ranks, and apparently thought about quitting baseball all together.  The article gives a nice behind-the-scenes look at what almost never happened for Mat.  He almost never stuck with baseball, and Brewers fans would be without Milwaukee’s best minor league prospect right now.  It’s funny how things work out for the best sometimes.

Bullpen blows up as Brewers fall to struggling Rockies

This loss stings a little more than the rest of them.

The Milwaukee Brewers continued their losing ways on the road yesterday, dropping the opening game of the series with Colorado 6-4. All looked fantastic for the majority of the game, too.

Right-hander Ben Sheets was not dominate by any stretch of the imagination. He did, however, get through six innings with only one run allowed. That’s what an ace does for his team. Even when he does not have his best stuff, Benny still puts zeros up on the board to keep Milwaukee in the game.

Milwaukee was more than in the game though. In fact, going into the bottom of the eighth inning, the Crew was up 4-1. Russell Branyan and J.J. Hardy both hit home runs in the fifth to break a 1-1 tie at the time, and Jason Kendall snuck a triple down the right field line to score Hardy in the seventh to stretch the lead to 4-1.

Carlos Villanueva looked brilliant in the bottom of the seventh, and I waited for Villy to trot out the mound in the eighth to shut down the Rockies again. That was not the case, however. Ned Yost called on Guillermo Mota for the eighth inning.

That backfired on Ned extremely fast. Mota fell behind in the count early and often to the Colorado hitters. He gave up back-to-back singles to Jonathan Herrera and Ryan Spilborghs. The hot-hitting Todd Helton then smoked a double off the center field wall. Mota then falls behind in the count again and serves up a game-tying triple to Garrett Atkins. Needless to say, Brewers fans were falling all over themselves they were so upset.

Brian Shouse then came in the game to try and escape the jam. It didn’t work so well for Brian. On the first pitch he through, Brad Hawpe tattooed a curveball for a two-run homer. Rockies up 6-4.

After getting the wind knocked out of their sails in the bottom of the eighth, the Crew was unable to put anything together in the ninth inning. Brewers dropped their first game in their last seven, and not surprisingly came on the road. Tough, tough way to lose a game.

I don’t normally question Ned’s pitching changes, as hindsight is an unfair and unprofessional way to criticize a manager. Ned’s management of the bullpen needs to be addressed, however. After last night’s game, the Brewers manager said that he went to Mota in the eighth because he’s been Milwaukee’s eighth inning pitcher for the majority of the year. Why change now?

Besides the closer’s position, do relievers really need to have assigned roles? Did Ned not specifically say at the beginning of the year that the bullpen was stacked with quality arms, so he would mix-and-match roles with who was throwing the ball well? There has not been a reliever pitching any better than Carlos Villanueva. Using that philosophy, it would have been a no-brainer to leave Carlos in the game.

Ned’s response is that he would have left Carlos in the game, but it was a save situation. Therefore, Ned must follow his prescribed plan that has Guillermo Mota pitching in the eighth and Salomon Torres in the ninth. I don’t know why it needs to be that way, but apparently it does.

I understand that relievers want to know their roles. I understand that if Mota cruised through the eighth, we wouldn’t be having this conversation this morning. You know what though? Mota did blow up. The Brewers did lose the momentum they gained at home this past week and a half. This is a loss that can really take the wind out of a team’s sails.

It is true that Carlos could have done the exact same thing as Mota. All signs pointed to an easy bottom of the eighth for the former starter, however. You stick with the hot hand in the bullpen, Ned. I thought Yost was beginning to understand that concept when he started Gabe Kapler in center (who had an RBI single in the first, by the way). Apparently not. Save the closer’s role, relievers do not need assigned roles in the bullpen. A win does not need to be formulaic. Why go to an unknown entity in Mota when you have visual proof that Carlos is throwing the ball exceedingly well? I just don’t understand.

Records: Brewers (32-29); Rockies (23-38 )

Hero of the Game: J.J. Hardy

J.J. had a solid game all around today. He scored two of the Brewers four runs yesterday. The power has returned a bit for the Brewers shortstop, as Hardy hit another home run. He also scored on Jason Kendall’s triple in the seventh inning. The Brewers need J.J. to keep hitting if they want to be more consistent on offense. With that said, Milwaukee didn’t lose last night’s game because of a lack of hitting.

Goat of the Game: Guillermo Mota

In the eighth inning of a road game, with a 4-1 lead, Mota gave up four earned runs without recording an out. You have to pound the strike zone when leading a close game. The former Met failed to do that the entire inning. He fell behind hitters consistently, and the Rockies made him pay. Throw strikes, Guillermo.

On Tap

After yesterday’s brutal loss, Milwaukee will trot RHP Dave Bush to the mound to take on LHP Greg Reynolds. Game two of the series will start at 7:05pm CT. The Brewers need to win this game. They do not want to start another losing trend on this road series.

Parra Perfect, Bats Bash in Sweep

I’m working really hard on my alliteration so look out for more tongue-twisting headlines on the site. Moving on… the Brewers pulled out the brooms for the second consecutive home series and swept away the NL West leading Arizona Diamondback, 10-1. Manny Parra went seven innings (his longest outing of the season thus far) and the offense banged out 14 hits to cap what has been an amazing homestand for the Mil-town side.

Gabe Kapler started the game in centerfield and I can say that this was both a surprising move, yet totally appropriate. Mike Cameron, while solid defensively, has been a disaster at the plate. I saw the numbers before the game and he strikes out on average every 2.95 ABs (swear to God that it seems higher than that lately though). Manager Ned Yost, ever the loyal dog, usually sticks with his strugglers because he’s “not concerned with that,” but instead through us a welcome curve ball (which Cameron would have missed.. ha!) and put the ridiculously hot Kapler in the starting line-up.

Kapler started the scoring for the Brew Crew with a RBI double in the first and Parra would give up his only run in the third, but the scoring binge was reserved for the third and fourth innings when the Brewers smashed out nine hits and nine runs.

Corey Hart produced an in-the-park home run to score three (en route to a four RBI night)and Kapler was 4-for-5 (hit total tying a career high) on the evening. Parra was sharp as ever striking out eight, tying his career high. Oh, and Russell Branyan hit another homer run… big surprise there

Records: Brewers (32-28), Diamondbacks (32-28 )

Hero of the Game: Jim Skaalen

Let me paste the box score first, then I’ll comment.

Milwaukee	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Weeks, 2B	5	1	1	0	0	2	2	.209
Kapler, CF	5	2	4	1	0	0	0	.330
Braun, LF	4	2	2	2	1	0	2	.299
Fielder, 1B	3	2	1	1	1	2	2	.280
Hall, 3B	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.228
Hart, C, RF	4	1	2	4	0	0	2	.290
Branyan, 3B-1B	4	1	2	1	0	1	0	.321
Kendall, C	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	.244
Counsell, SS	4	0	1	0	0	2	2	.236
Parra, P	3	1	1	0	0	1	1	.208
a-Dillon, PH	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.286
Tavarez, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Villanueva, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.143
Totals	36	10	14	10	2	8	11

If I were Skaalen I’d been pretty darn pleased with this. Every regular Brewer, with the exception of Jason Kendall dropped a hit on Arizona… even Parra got a double! This Brewers team has found something special recently, picking up 12 of their last 16 games winning five series and sweeping two since the disastrous Boston roadie.

Despite being near the top of the NL in strikeouts, looking like chumps at times to Randy Johnson last night, and registering 8 Ks this afternoon, the Brewers are benefiting from some awesome offensive production. Players like Hart and Ryan Braun have been on target for sometime, but Prince Fielder and JJ Hardy are now coming online. Add to the fact that guy like Kapler can pretty much produce automatically as a pinch hitter, sub fielder, or as a starting has to put a smile (or whatever he does) on Skaalen’s face.

Goat of the Game: Jason Kendall

Sorry, dude. You got the collar, you get the goat. Shhh…. I don’t want to hear anything about you getting that nice RBI sac fly to score Princey. Shhh… I don’t want to hear anything about your 42% caught-stealing percent. Shhh… no excuses that Cameron wasn’t in the line-up to strike out a lot and take the goat. It’s all yours tonight. Just don’t let it happen again.

On Tap: The Brewers hit ye ol’ dusty trail to Colorado where Ben Sheets (6-1, 2.71 ERA) will face off against the Rockies’ Ublado Jimenez (1-6. 5.37 ERA). Game time: 8.05 CT.

By: Dan Wiersema

Sheets stellar as Brewers take series

The Milwaukee Brewers kept it rolling this evening, beating the Astros 4-1. The team has now failed to drop a series in their last four. This is how the Brewers were supposed to play the entire season.

There are several things that can be gleaned from tonight’s game:

1. If the bullpen needs a rest, the Brewers only need to call on Ben Sheets. After pitching a complete game against the Pittsburgh Pirates two starts ago, the Brewers ace goes 8 2/3 innings of one-run ball against the suddenly slumping Astros. Sheets is eating innings and pitching efficiently and effectively.Benny would’ve had a complete game, but Lance Berkman took too much out of his tank in the ninth. After the Berkman at-bat, he was at 122 pitches. Ned Yost made an unpopular, yet necessary move to call on Salomon Torres at that point. Sheeter was visibly upset at being taken out of the game. That is a nice sight to see for the Brewers pitcher. He always pitches better when he has a chip on his shoulder.




2. The Russell Branyan call-up has been a good decision thus far. He is hitting .300 (in admittedly a small sample size), and he already has two home runs. Tonight’s shot was an absolute beast, measuring in at 465′. That is good for the third longest home run in Miller Park history. Russell may have a long swing, but it is dialed in right now. He is striking out at a high rate, but he is also drawing a healthy amount of walks. His on-base percentage is over .430 after tonight’s game. This “soft platoon” may get hardened if Russell can keep mashing like this.




3. Prince Fielder likes to hit bombs with two strikes on him. Of his eight home runs this season, seven have been with two strikes. Fielder hit another two-run shot with two strikes on him off Brian Moehler tonight. Heat up, Prince. The team could use it.




4. All the talk about Jason Kendall having an awful arm behind the plate is total bunk. After throwing out three runners in tonight’s contest, the Brewers catcher is now hosing runners at a 42%+ rate. It looks like all the work during the off-season helped Jason behind the dish. He’s been a terrific signing thus far in 2008. It is obvious that Ben Sheets loves pitching to him.




5. Ryan Braun is not yet completely comfortable in left field. The Brewers announcers said that the wind made the ball difficult to judge after Braun made a couple of ugly adjustments, but I’m not sure that is totally correct. He is not breaking on the ball perfectly just yet. Braun is improving immensely, however. I will certainly not take that away from him.

Records: Brewers (28-28 ); Astros (30-27)

Hero of the Game: Jason Kendall

Ben Sheets may have pitched 8 2/3 innings of only one-run ball, but he wouldn’t have done it without Jason behind the plate. Kendall baled Sheets out of a couple of jams in the third and fourth inning by gunning out Astros on the basepaths. I’m especially talking about the instance when Kendall threw out Kaz Matsui trying to steal third. If Kendall doesn’t make any of those throws, Sheets is pitching a completely different ballgame.

Goat of the Game: Mike Cameron

Mike looked utterly lost at the plate tonight, going 0-4 with three strikeouts. The Brewers center fielder missed almost the entire first month of the season, and he still has 41 whiffs. That’s quite alarming, actually. With that said, Brewers fans should not have expected anything else from Mike. We all knew that he is a high strikeout guy that will hit about 20 home runs, steal 20 bases, and hit about .240. It may be a matter of weeks before JJ Hardy is batting second and Cameron is shuffled down to sixth or seventh in the order.

On Tap

RHP Dave Bush will take the hill tomorrow in the series finale against the Houston Astros. The Brewers will attempt to sweep the Astros, but RHP Shawn Chacon is likely to have other ideas. The game will start at 1:05pm CT at Miller Park.

Brewers win one Hall of a game

Sorry…you’ll have to excuse the pun. Punning can be quite fun sometimes, but I digress.

After complaining about his demotion to a platoon role, Bill Hall gave fans a night to remember in Milwaukee. Billy came off the bench in the bottom of the ninth and delivered a clutch base hit to right. He got second base on a sacrifice bunt and had a beautiful steal of third to get in scoring position. Mike Cameron then hit a sacrifice fly to left field, which scored Billy for the winning run. Then, pandemonium in Milwaukee.

Now, I am not going to change my opinion about Bill Hall needing to be restricted to a platoon role, but tonight does prove that Billy can be quite a contributor to the team. I would love to see Bill return to his 2006 form. I would gladly be the first to admit that I was wrong and embrace Bill Hall for the player he has the potential to be. Potentiality and actuality are two different things, however.

I do not wish to dampen the joy from tonight’s win, but I do not believe Bill Hall proved he deserves to start everyday because of his heroics tonight. After all, Russell Branyan did a fine job tonight, going 1-3 with a walk. That’s a .500 OBP if you’re keeping track at home. I understand Bill is not happy, but if that anger gets channeled into Brewers wins, I’m all for it.

How about Dave Bush tonight! After struggling out of the gate and giving up two home runs in the first two innings, he pitches five straight scoreless frames to keep the Brewers in the game. The right-hander pounded the strike zone tonight, which is a very welcome sign. Milwaukee needs more outings like this from the former 12-game winner.

Struggling Brewers had a night against the Braves this evening. JJ Hardy was consistent all around and went 3-4. Perhaps the security of Jason Kendall behind him has a little something to do with that. Julian Tavarez may have not been a Brewer when he struggled this season, but he made his Milwaukee debut in a fine fashion tonight. He sat down the Braves in order in the eighth inning. Tavarez will need to put together a few more scoreless frames before I will believe he’s found his form, however.

Huge win for the Milwaukee Brewers tonight. A tip of the cap to you, Bill Hall. I may have bashed you in the past few days, but you deserve all the praise you have gotten after tonight’s game. Well done.

Records: Brewers (25-27); Braves (28-24)

Hero of the Game: Dave Bush

I had a sinking feeling in my gut after watching Dave give up two home runs in the first two innings. All signs pointed to the right-hander struggling through another outing and me pounding my fist in frustration all night. Instead of imploding after the second inning, however, Dave showed extreme maturity and resilience on the mound to pitch through the seventh without giving up anymore runs. With Braves starter Tim Hudson showing pretty good stuff tonight and frustrating the Brewers with runners in scoring position, Dave needed to keep the Braves off the board to keep Milwaukee in the game. He did that. Perhaps that’s the “bulldog mentality” Ned Yost keeps raving about. A tip of the cap to you too, Dave Bush. Well done tonight.

Goat of the Game: Jason Kendall

Jason went 0-4 tonight and left five Brewers on the basepaths. I thought he called a great game for Dave Bush and really helped him get through the game after giving up the two long balls early. It was just a rough night for Jason at the dish.

On Tap

RHP Jeff Suppan will take the mound against rookie LHP Jo-Jo Reyes. The Crew looks to secure the series win tomorrow night against the Braves starting at 7:05pm CT.

Ten Optimistic Things To Think About

It’s been a couple rough weeks for Brewers Nation (not this site, the fans) with the double sweep in Houston and Florida, the surprising losses at home against the Dodgers, and another sweep in Boston. Trolling through the comments section on sites around the web, one would think that its time to start propping ourselves on the ledge of the US Bank Building in Milwaukee and strongly consider jumping.

As Jim wrote, it’s no fun heading into Pittsburgh looking up at the Pirates in the standings. Being what it is us Brewers’ fans need some lifting up, and I thought I’d put together a post to life the spirits of the Brewers faithful. No calling for Yost’s head or Week’s bat here. The following is ten reasons to still be optimistic about your 2008 Milwaukee Brewers.

* This is not the 2004 Brewers

Granted the Brewers are sitting in last place for the first time since 2004, but this team is certainly not those Brewers. In 2004, the only reliable pitcher on the staff was Ben Sheets and of course he got injured again. Lyle Overbay starred for the offense. These 2008 Brewers are more experienced and talented that the former squad that had a decent season through the All-Star break and then suffered a terrible collapse to finish 67-94.

Of course I could make the comparison that this Brewers squad is not one of many other terrible Brewers teams, but that’s not the point. The point is that rather than looking at the 2004 season as the beginning of something positive we should be looking at the 2008 season as a continuation of the franchise’s growth. Many expected 2008 to be the breakout season for the Brew Crew, but that may or may not be the case.

Either way, compared to four years ago, this year’s team in infinitely more talented. They will not rely on single players to carry the team. People like Jeff Suppan in the rotation and other young (and improving pitchers) will back up Sheets and while Overbay is gone, there are no solo stars on this year’s team. A Prince Fielder is not alone or a Ryan Braun is not alone or a Corey Hart is not alone. The fact that I listed three players (any could more) shows that this offense is not alone in talent like teams of old.

* Its only ¼ way through the season

I’m a teacher so there are not many students that I give up on after just one quarter of the school year. One of the best things that the Brewers have going for them that, at this point, the season is still young. After about 40 games in we are certainly not the perfect position, but certainly not in the worst position either.

Anyone that was also a fan last year knows that strong or weak starts to the season have little bearing on the end result of a season. The Cubs played absolutely wonderful post All-Star break and the Colorado Rockies played out of their minds to close the 2007 season. With almost 120 games to play and any number of combinations of risings and fallings of the various NL Central teams, this Brewers team is by no means finished. The squad has all of the tools to be competitive. The only thing needed is consistency.

* Corey Hart

Speaking of consistency I hear that Milwaukee right fielder Corey Hart is legally changing his name to Corey Consistency. Mr. Consistency has been that and more for the Brewers. If 2008 was supposed to by Rickie Weeks’ breakout season, Hart may have stolen his thunder. Currently batting nearly .300 and getting extra-base hits like they’re going out of style, Corey has been the rock in the Brew Crew’s line up of struggling hitters.

* Braun is on a tear (no sophomore slump)

If you asked me earlier in the season if I was worried that Braun was being crushed under the weight of expectations for his second Major League Season you may have gotten a “yes” out of me, but after a slow start the $45 million dollar man has shown that he will probably avoid the dreaded sophomore slump. His batting average is soaring in the three-hole of the lineup and he is making big time pitchers look like chumps. At this pace he could add a MVP trophy next to the Rookie of the Year one.

* Melvin is on the case

Which is why it’s so important that Doug Melvin nailed Braun down to that eight-year, $45 million contract. Some Brewers fans are concerned that his off-season bullpen moves are not ironing out, but no one can doubt that this GM is trying to establish long-term success while balancing short-term expectations. The Mike Cameron move showed that right now we want success, but Melvin is clearly trying to establish success alongside development with Braun the future of left and possible Hart, Gwynn (although unlikely) and LaPorta being groomed for the outfield.

Melvin is working on signing such players as JJ Hardy, Prince Fielder, and Hart to long-term deals and getting vocal people like Braun to sign first and encourage others to follow suit is the right steps to take.

* Attanasio has got the big bucks and a small ego

All of which wouldn’t be possible except for the support and checkbook of Daddy Warbucks, Mark Attanasio. Time and time again Mr. Attanasio has not only spoken of building a long-term contender, but he has put his money where his mouth is. He has even made comments that said, if need be, he would shell out some money to strengthen the rotation this year.

Attanasio bought the Milwaukee Brewers not just so he could have a play-thing, but because he saw potential in the massive amount of talent the Brewers have and its incredible fanbase. This is not a Steinbrenner owner with fingerprints all over the management decisions. Attanasio is active without being overbearing.

* The young arms will improve

Pitchers like Carlos Villanueva and Manny Parra take a lot of flack because they don’t hold up quite so well the third time through the order, but often times that blurs the fact that these pitchers (along with the injured Gallardo) have great stuff. Part of being a young pitcher is that there is a massive learning curve and just like Fielder has to adjust to not being pitched inside as much these young pitchers are talented and smart enough to recognize that they must (and will) improve to become more dominant as the season goes on.

It’s easier for offenses to focus their lenses on these pitchers because they are studying one player, but our guys have to study countless batters for each game and re-work their pitch selection and delivery to go deeper into games. They will.

* Kendall is not Estrada

So it’s important that a man like Jason Kendall is behind the plate instead of Johnny Estrada. Kendall brings much more talent offensively and defensively than the embattled 2007 catcher Estrada. A hot beginning of 2008 and some great clutch hitting thus far has made Kendall’s 9-hole batting an essential part of many Brewers offensive outbursts. Offensively, Kendall is sniffing around .300 as a career hitter, walks a lot, and strikes out few and far in between. A far cry from the painful hitting of Estrada (who I swear to God only got hits with 2 out and no one on). After playing runner-up to Estrada as the worst defensive catcher in baseball last year, the 12-year veteran has pushed his caught stealing percentage is above 30 percent.

Even more important than the offense/defense numbers is that an experienced catcher that molds well with his pitching staff. This is why I worry less about our young pitchers, because Kendall knows how to call a

game and given his work ethic he will only work harder to improve these kids.

* The defense is stronger

Of course I started writing this part before the six errors in Boston, but I’ve made the point in a previous column that the defense is far and away better than it was last season. Numbers show that they are near the bottom in errors and tops in fielding percentage. Moving Braun away from the hot corner and signing Mike Cameron have been well-documented. Are they perfect? Hell no. But improvement is always a step in the right direction. The point above about Kendall is just one more area of less concern with the 2008 Brewers.

* There’s always next year

This one isn’t so much about the 2008 season (obviously, because I’m saying next year…), but Brewers’ fans need to keep everything in perspective. Expectations were and continue to be massively high for this season. Those expectations may cost someone who shall remain nameless his job and maybe even result in a few Brewers finding new homes, but most sane people realize that harnessing young talent is an on-going process. Melvin and the ownership are working on securing these young lads for the long-term, but not everything works out as quickly as the fan base expects.

Whether or not this season is a wash doesn’t mean all is lost. These are not the Florida Marlins which, in the past, have assembled one year teams and then dissembled them. Teams like the Brewers are being built for the long-term. It has been 26 years since the Brewers have sniffed the post-season so as much as it pains me each year to say it… there’s always next year if this one doesn’t work out.

By: Dan Wiersema

Round ‘em Up: Tuesday

The Milwaukee Brewers are in Pittsburgh for the next three days and will try to take the series from the Pirates. You know the season isn’t going as planned when your team is looking up at the Pirates in the standings. It’s time to turn the ship around boys. Let’s take the series from Pittsburgh (where we’ve notoriously had problems playing) and get back on track.

• Starting out the day…we have “The Firing That Wasn’t.” Yesterday, we had the whole Badger Blogger incident. What is surprising is that Tom Haudricourt is taking most of the blame for reporting on the subject. It probably did not help his cause that he bashed blogs in his post… Here’s a nice wrap-up of the story from Brew Crew Ball.The Yost Infection has a nice addendum to the story as well.
• Tom Haudricourt wrote a piece today on JJ Hardy and his struggles at the plate. I know everyone questions themselves when in a slump, but JJ has a history of not having confidence in himself. After last season, he admitted to not believing in himself after slumping in the second half. Does this look much different? No. JJ needs to step it up mentally. The Brewers need his bat in the lineup.
• The SportsBubbler has one of the best posts today. I have noticed this trend, but I have not taken the time to write about it. I’m glad someone finally has. . . The Milwaukee Brewers pitchers have very large problems finishing innings. I don’t know if it is a lack of killer instinct or what, but Brewers pitchers have had problems all season with two outs. It drives Brewers fans crazy. Give the article a look.
• In-Between Hops has a nice little anecdote about the Brewers struggles on the road. I’m not sure how much truth there is in the story (and I think we’ve all learned to not trust “personal sources” like Badger Blogger), but Ned Yost is an awful manager if these stories are true.
• View from Bernie’s Chalet has a shake-up for the batting order. It’s a fine idea, but I would put some tweaks in it. I would still have Rickie Weeks lead off. His OBP is still high (higher than Ryan Braun’s in fact), and he scores runs. I would bat Jason Kendall second. I know everyone is concerned about his double-play tendencies, but his OBP is high enough to dismiss that. That would shove JJ Hardy and Mike Cameron down in the order.Also, I do not understand why everyone is upset about Mike Cameron. Did you think we were getting a .300 hitter who was never going to strike out? Obviously not. He averages about 20 home runs and a .240 average per year. He looks to be on that pace now. He’s just in a lull.
• How about a preview of the Brewers-Pirates series? Okay. There you are.
• The Brewers got released Abraham Nunez once receiving Callix Crabbe back from the San Diego Padres. It’s not much of a loss. Nunez was awful in Nashville anyway. Not “impressive…very, very, very impressive” like Ned Yost said during Spring Training. Abraham signed with the New York Mets yesterday.
• Brew Crew Ball has post that attempts to look at who the Milwaukee Brewers will draft in the first round of the First Year Player Draft in a couple weeks. Most of the mock drafts the post looks at do not even include the Brewers in their projections, but it is a nice attempt to shed some light on the situation. I look forward to the draft in June, and I’ll cover it more extensively in the coming weeks.

Be sure to check back later in the day, as contributing author Dan Wiersema should have an in-depth article posted sometime today.  I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, so I’ll also be interested in what he has cooked up this week.

Olsen keeps Brewers bats quiet

Scott Olsen silenced the Milwaukee Brewers tonight.  He was one strike shy of completing his first complete game shutout in over two seasons.  (Read: The Brewers offense stunk again.)

Watching the game, I did not believe that he threw the ball all that well today.  His fastball missed up in the zone, but the Brewers cut right through it.  His change-up was good though.  The big lefty will throw it on any count, and Milwaukee looked lost all night.

Jeff Suppan pitched okay, at best.  Trying to throw a lot of off-speed pitches to try to get the free-swinging Marlins to chase, his pitch count got high early in the game.  After five innings of work, Soup left the game with 108 pitches.  He only gave up three runs in those five innings, but the bullpen could have used another day off.  Instead, four relievers came in to finish off the game.

The good news is that the relievers threw the ball well.  David Riske and Mitch Stetter struck out two batters in an inning of work a piece.  It was particularly nice to see Riske bounce back after several tough outings in the past couple of weeks.  Remember that he struggled last season as well, when he posted a sub-3.00 ERA for the season.

I don’t know what to say about the Brewers offense anymore.  They looked utterly lost today at the plate.  The team as a whole is pressing far too hard right now, and bad pitches are being swung at with regularity.  Rickie Weeks is trying to be a power threat at the top of the line-up, and the team simply needs him to get on base.  Ryan Braun swings at every pitch two feet near the strike zone.  The only player that looked good at the plate tonight was Jason Kendall.  No, he did not get a hit, but Kendall did walk twice, equaling the amount of hits all day by the Crew.  These offensive struggles are beginning to appear to be more than a slump.  There is something severely wrong here.  What?  I do not know…

Records: Brewers (16-16); Marlins (18-14)

Hero of the Game: Jason Kendall

I am giving Kendall this award because he got on base more than any other Brewer today.  His two walks equaled the amount of hits total by the Crew in the entire game.  It is not a good thing that Jason is the hero of this evening’s game.  I just wanted to be clear on that point.

Goat of the Game: The entire offensive unit.

Someone needs to figure out what is going on here.  Someone needs to do it now.  I am tired of hearing that it is a slump and the team will break out of it soon.  I tried that optimism…and what did I get?  I got two measly hits for an entire game.  I am utterly befuddled right now.

On Tap

Dave Bush will enter the rotation again tomorrow night for Game 2 against the Florida Marlins.  He looks to jumpstart the Brewers and get them back to their winning ways against RHP Burke Badenhop.  The game will start at 6:10pm CT.

Braun lifts Crew over Cubs

The Brewers have been criticized for choking after the halfway point of the season.  People like Dayn Perry think that the Brewers will crumble again during the mid-season.

They just may do that this season again, but my money is that they will not.  Why?  This year’s Milwaukee Brewers were able to pick themselves up off the floor after yesterday’s shellacking and get the win in the top of the ninth inning off Kerry Wood.  The 2008 Milwaukee Brewers look to be much more resilient than the teams from years past.

In the top of the ninth, Wood plunked Craig Counsell.  Gabe Kapler doubled to left, and it appeared that Alfonso Soriano could have gotten the ball if he would have kept running.  Instead, he stopped short of the warning track.  Jason Kendall then hit a well-placed grounder for an infield single to score Counsell.  Rickie Weeks walked, and Mike Cameron struck out.  Ryan Braun then whiffed badly at a slider that was nowhere near the strike zone.  He easily could have taken the next pitch to get his bearings.  Ryan Braun doesn’t do that.  Ryan took a 96 mph fastball and smacked it over Kosuke Fukudome’s head to score Kapler and Kendall.

Eric Gagne came in and recorded his ninth save of the season.  Quite the win for your Milwaukee Brewers.  Let’s hope that the Crew can keep this momentum going for the rest of the road trip.

The Brewers did skirt disaster earlier in the game, however.  When trying to cover first base, Yovani Gallardo crumpled to the ground after his knee gave out on him.  He looked to have injured the same knee he had surgery on.  Yo went back out the next inning though.  Yost said that the fall scared Yo more than anything.  After the game, Yovani said that everything is fine.  Thank goodness.

Records: Brewers (16-12); Cubs (17-11)

Hero of the Game: Ryan Braun

Ryan went 3-5 in the game with a solo home run in the sixth inning off Carlos Zambrano.  The big blow came in the top of the ninth, however, when he lifted the game winning RBI double over Kosuke Fukudome.  Ryan is still a little over-aggressive at the plate, but he is beginning to find his stroke at the plate.  His average is now .287 and on the rise.  He is making defensive strides in left field as well.  The Brewers may be getting their NL Rookie of the Year back to form.  The offense could certainly use him.

Goat of the Game: Kerry Wood

I cannot help but give it to Kerry.  A tip of the hat to you, my friend.  Thanks for the victory.

On Tap

The Milwaukee Brewers will give the ball to Carlos Villanueva to battle Roy Oswalt tomorrow night at 7:05pm CT.  The Crew will continue their road trip with a three game series in Houston.  The bats in Houston are beginning to heat up.  Carlos looks to quiet them down tomorrow night.

Round ‘em Up: Saturday

Good morning all.  The Brewers lost a tough one last night.  Yovani Gallardo pitched an absolute gem last night, but the offense was absent.  The Brewers had their lead-off hitter on base eight out of ten innings, yet they were unable to score a run the entire game.  It is hard to get upset with Guillermo Mota too much.  Sure, he essentially walked the game away, but the offense should have scored before that.  Plus, if the infield would have been playing at double play depth, J.J. Hardy would have been able to turn a pretty easy 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.  Instead, he makes an off-balance and difficult throw home that ended up being late and cost the Crew the game.

The Brewers play again tonight, as Carlos Villanueva will battle Mark Hendrickson.  Someone needs to do something to get this offense going…

• Some of the sabermetrics people are saying that having Jason Kendall bat ninth is paying dividends for the team offensively.  Kendall is playing like a rejuvenated player, but I would like to see the rest of the offense pick it up a bit before I call it a “success.”  It may be working for Kendall personally, but baseball is a team sport.  It shouldn’t affect anyone else, but something is causing this team to slump at the plate.
• Dugout Central has a recapping of the game last night.  I think the ball and glove logos should be lost.  I haven’t done statistical analysis on it, but I’m pretty sure we lose almost every time we wear them.  Surely Prince Fielder is superstitious enough to note that.
• The Junkball Blues have stats for the bullpen after the Cardinals and Phillies series.  They are getting WAY overworked.  Something needs to happen so they can get some rest.  Maybe we need 15 pitchers on the roster?!
• Eli from MLB Rumors is reporting that sources close to Nez Balelo, Ryan Braun’s agent, are reporting that a long-term deal is close to being completed.  This is very good news for the Brewers and their organization.  I’m not surprised that this will be completed.  Eli does say that he thinks this signing will help in negotiations with Prince Fielder.  My response is…don’t hold your breath.
• Do you want to vote for who the Brewers should take with the 16th pick in this year’s first-year player draft?  Minor League Ball is conducting a fan draft, and it is the Brewers turn.  It is obvious from the results so far that fans believe that the Crew should take a college-proven pitcher.  I completely agree with that sentiment.
• Baseball Digest Daily believes that the Brewers should trade for C.C. Sabathia at the trade deadline.  Ummm…do they forget that the Brewers are a small market team?  They cannot afford to mortgage the future for the present.  If that happened, I’m pretty sure I would fall out of my seat out of disgust.  C.C. is a great pitcher, but the Brewers cannot get rid of three or four prospects for him.  And no, we could not sign him to a contract extension.

Offense struggles as Brewers fall again

I was fully prepared to write this article and complain about how much first pitch-swinging the Brewers did against the unknown Nelson Figueroa.  The offense was so anemic again, and I simply assumed that had to be the answer.  It had been in the past few games.

I started to look at each individual at-bat on MLB’s Gameday, and I was very surprised.  The Milwuakee Brewers only swung at the first pitch 18%, or six times out of thirty-three at-bats.  That’s a very good number to get a pitcher’s pitch-count up quickly.  In case you were wondering, Gabe Gross swung at the first pitch three out of the four times he came up to the dish.  I’m pretty sure he’ll be packing his bags once Mike Cameron comes back from his suspension.

Why is the offense unable to string any hits together?  Why is Nelson Figueroa, who is frankly not very good at all, able to no-hit the Crew until the fifth inning?  There are a couple reasons that I will posit.  First, the Brewers are collectively pressing way too much to get the offense going.  It seems counterintuitive, but when you struggle at the plate, you have to relax and try to hit the ball the opposite way a bit.  The Crew is not doing that, especially Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, and Billy Hall.  Secondly, the Brewers are still striking out too much.  I understand that the team will always strike out a lot, as it is in their character, but they cannot be trying to hit a home run when down two strikes.  The only two players that are shortening up their swings are Jason Kendall and, surprise, Rickie Weeks.

The Milwaukee Brewers have one of the most potent offenses in the league.  Excuse me, they have the potential to have one of the most potent offenses in the league.  Right now, they only have one player hitting over .260, and that is Jason Kendall.  That is not acceptable.  Someone needs to do something to get this offense going.  Maybe everyone should go with the baggy pants.  Maybe they should turn their hats inside out and go with the rally cap right away.  I have no idea.  Something needs to change though.

Anyway, on to Manny Parra.  Today was not one of his brighter days.  He actually looked very good through three innings, but he completely lost it in the fourth.  I hope he is not the second-coming of Dave Bush.  Manny has far better stuff than Dave, but he needs to be more consistent.  I was very disappointed with Manny today.  Hopefully he will have the chance to pitch once more in a big league uniform before Yovani Gallardo comes back.  I would love to see Manny stay on the big league squad.  I’m just not totally convinced he deserves it yet.

Records: Brewers (6-4); Mets (5-4)

Hero of the Game: David Riske

I thought David Riske did a fantastic job controlling the damage after he entered the game in the fifth inning.  Manny Parra had just given up three runs in the fourth, and the New York Mets had a lot of momentum on their side.  Riske came in and gave the Crew two scoreless innings and kept them in the game.  He allowed the Brewers to pull to a 2-3 deficit before Salomon Torres gave up a run in the seventh.  Riske does not have overpowering or overly-impressive stuff, but he simply gets it done.  A tip of the cap to you, David.  Nice work.

Goat of the Game: the Milwaukee Brewers offense

I was going to give this to Manny Parra, but the entire offense takes the cake on this one.  The pitching staff only allowed four runs, but the Brewers could not pull the game out.  Why?  Because they got two hits all game.  Two.  I discussed the problem with the offense above, so I will not do it again.  Yet four runs is not all that much to ask from an offense, especially one that has a lot of power like Milwaukee’s.  Especially against Nelson Figueroa.  Ugh, the game was just brutal.  Put some hits together boys!

On Tap

Ben Sheets vs. Johan Santana.  12:30pm CT.  That is all you need to know.

Brewers drop second straight to Reds

The Milwaukee Brewers needed to end the homestand on a high note.  Unfortunately, they were unable to do so because Aaron Harang had different ideas.  He pitched extremely well through eight innings, only giving up one earned run while striking out three.

Unfortunately, I was not able to watch any of this game, so I would only be giving my reactions to the boxscore.  From what I hear, Carlos Villanueva looked very solid until the seventh inning.  He did not even allow a hit until the fifth inning.  His line would have been worse, but Brian Shouse came on in the seventh to strand two runners and got Carlos out of a big jam.

Jason Kendall looks to have kept his hot bat rolling, going 2-3 with two singles today.  That is great to see.  Too bad his two hits accounted for 40% of the Brewers offensive output today.  Again, I did not watch the game, but it looks as if Brewers hitters kept up the trend so far this year of swinging early and often in counts.  Harang only had 99 pitches through eight innings and certainly could have finished the game.

Records: Brewers (6-3); Reds (6-4)

I do not feel as if I can accurately give an account of who was the “Hero of the Game” or the “Goat of the Game.”  I’ll open it to you all.  Who do you think was the Hero and the Goat?

On Tap

The Milwaukee Brewers will make their way to Shea Stadium in New York to face the New York Mets for a three game series this weekend.  Manny Parra will take the mound tomorrow against right-hander Nelson Figueroa.  The game is scheduled to start at 6:10pm CT.

Reds pound Brewers to end winning streak

The Brewers may have taken the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, but they certainly wasted little time in giving it back to the Cincinnati Reds.

Starter Dave Bush gave up five runs, only four of them earned, but he gave up three key runs in the top of the sixth.  Bush did not have very good stuff today, in my opinion.  He needs to keep his walk rate down, as he walked three more batters today.  His fastball got up in the zone.  I thought his curveball was fine, but why would any of the Cincinnati Reds swing at a curveball when they know they can get a belt-high fastball later in the count?

The bullpen did not help, either.  David Riske came in and had zero control of his fastball.  It was very straight and over the plate.  I was confused as to why he did not want to throw his splitter very much, but he must have not had a very good feel for it today.  He escaped the inning without giving up an earned run, but it does not mean he pitched well.

Derrick Turnbow displayed his characteristically wild command.  He walked Ken Griffey Jr. to start the inning, and Adam Dunn parked a home run just over the outstretched arm of Gabe Gross.  Actually, Gross should have had that ball, but that is a different story.  Seth McClung came in to mop up the game for the Crew in the eighth and ninth innings.  Instead of keeping the score manageable, Seth gave up five earned runs and walked three batters in two innings.  I understand momentum can be a big thing in baseball, but it was amazing how poorly everyone threw the ball once Bush started to struggle.

At the plate, all was fairly quiet.  Ryan Braun and Bill Hall both hit solo shots to continue their hitting ways.  Jason Kendall and Corey Hart had two hits a piece, but no one else got a hit in the game.  Dave Bush did in the fifth inning, but no other Brewer position player tallied a hit in the game.  With that said, the game was not out of reach until the bullpen blew up.

Poor games like this will inevitably happen.  The Crew started the season in great shape, and fans are kidding themselves if they think that a blowout was not going to happen this month.  The important thing is that the Brewers rally around Carlos Villanueva tomorrow and score a third-straight series win.

Records: Brewers (6-2); Reds (5-4)

Hero of the Game: Bill Hall

Billy hit another home run in the bottom of the ninth to put his season total up to four.  He is seeing the ball pretty well, and he has his power stroke back.  That is not the main reason for naming him the hero of the game.  I’ve been incredibly impressed with his defense this season.  Brian Anderson mentioned that Billy is making one highlight-caliber play per game at the hot corner.  I agree.  He has made the Brewers defense immensely better.  He made a very nice play on Ryan Freel, I believe it was.  He ranged to his right, picked the ball cleanly with his glove, spun, and fired a perfect ball to Prince Fielder over at first.  That play is not easy.  It certainly looked like it was though.

Goat of the Game: David Bush

David.  You simply cannot, I repeat cannot, come into the game in the top of the sixth and give away the lead your team just stole in the bottom of the fifth.  The momentum had begun to swing towards Milwaukee, and the bats looked like they were about ready to break out in a big way.  Instead of building on that momentum, Bush imploded and lost all momentum for the Brewers.  All Brewers fans know that David is susceptible to the big inning, but it always comes at the wrong time (if there ever is a good time).  I am sick of seeing the Brewers offense get the lead and then watch Dave Bush come in and give it right back.  I admit that David Riske did not help a bit after getting the call to pitch, but Bush started the carnage.  I can only hope that when Yovani Gallardo comes back from the DL, Bush is the pitcher to go.  I don’t know what to do with him at this point.  I will address this when I am in a better state of mind, but he needs to go.

On Tap

Carlos Villanueva will toe the rubber tomorrow in the series finale against the Cincinnati Reds.  He will go up against Cincy’s ace, Aaron Harang.  The rubber match will start at 12:05pm CT.  This will be a tough match-up for the Crew, but they need this win badly.  Milwaukee does not want to head out to Shea Stadium on a sour note.

Extra innings, extra special

Well Brewer fans, the series against the Cincinnati Reds started much like the series did against the Chicago Cubs. Eric Gagne faltered and blew a save, but the Crew scrapped out a win in extra racks.

Eric Gagne looked strong to start the inning. He was mixing in his off-speed pitches, and he located his fastball well. Corey Patterson, the center fielder for the Reds, parked a 2-2 pitch just over the right field wall to tie the game. Brewers fans stood throughout the park in shock after Patterson tied the game, but Gagne worked out of the inning to preserve the tie.

The top of the 10th inning turned out to be very uneventful, as Salomon Torres worked around a walk to Adam Dunn to finish the scoreless frame. Torres threw the ball very well today. It is invaluable to have good, durable arms stashed away in the pen like the Brewers have.

J.J. Hardy then started out the bottom of the 10th with a single. Joe Dillon bunted him over with a perfect sacrifice on the first pitch from David Weathers. Jason Kendall followed up with a broken bat single for his third hit of the game. The flare was a little too weak to score J.J. from second, however. Next to the plate was Rickie Weeks. Last season, there is no doubt in my mind that Rickie would have struck out. Tonight, however, Rickie was able to shoot a ball into the outfield for the walk-off single.

Before the game, I was incredibly excited to see the youngster, Johnny Cueto, pitch tonight. He did not disappoint. He has a mid-90s fastball and an absolutely electric slider. Cueto struck out eight Brewers in 6.1 innings. This was one of those days when the hype surrounding this kid lived up to reality. I would like to point out that before the season even started, I picked Johnny to be the breakout player of this Reds squad.

Jeff Suppan was not to be outdone, however. He was not flashy in any way, but he frustrated the Cincinnati hitters and consistently got outs. Pitching through seven strong innings, Soup gave up six hits and only allowed one earned run. I did not expect Jeff to start the season this well. I highly doubt anyone did. Brewers fans everywhere are getting a glimpse of what Doug Melvin thought he was getting when signing Soup to the $40M deal last winter. Jeff looked very solid today.

Records: Brewers (6-1); Reds (4-4)

Hero of the Game: J.J. Hardy

It was almost like J.J. must have read what I wrote after the last game. After struggling offensively over the first six games of the season, J.J. broke out in a big way today. He ended the game going 3-4 with two runs scored, including the game-winner. If it works out that every “Goat of the Game” turns out to score the winning run of the following game, I will take it.

Goat of the Game: Eric Gagne

I did not want to give this “award” to Eric. I thought that he threw the ball very well. He made one bad pitch. Unfortunately, Corey Patterson connected on that pitch to tie the game. People are going to criticize Gagne for blowing two saves in the first two weeks of the regular season, but this instance was much different.

On Opening Day, Gagne did not have his control or a very good fastball. He did not use his off-speed pitches effectively at all. Tonight, he had a good curveball and a good change-up. Granted, the blown save is tempered because the Brewers were able to pull out the win, but I would have no problem if Eric threw the ball like this every time out (except that 2-2 pitch, of course). I’m not going to give Gagne too much longer of a leash before I start calling for his head, but let’s still give him a chance. He did not throw the ball poorly today. Let Eric ride a little bit. After all, Francisco Cordero blew nine saves over the course of his year-and-a-half tenure with the crew.

On Tap

Dave Bush will look to keep the Brewers rolling along with their winning ways tomorrow in Game 2 against the Cincinnati Reds. Cincy will trot Josh Fogg out to the rubber tomorrow. The game will start at 7:05pm CT.

Round ‘em Up: Monday

The MIlwaukee Brewers have a much deserved day off today.  They will take on the Cincinnati Reds and ESPN’s new love-child, Johnny Cueto.  Until then, Brewers fans have nothing to hold them over until tomorrow.  Wait, yes they do.  How about a Round ‘em Up?!  I’ll do what I can do fill the void:

• Anthony Witrado from the Milwaukee JS writes a story on Ben Sheets and his absolute gem yesterday.  Sheets has always had considerable success against the San Francisco Giants, but he stepped up his game yesterday.  I agree with what one of the readers of BN, Nate, said yesterday: if the Giants were so bad, why hasn’t every pitcher thrown a complete game shutout against them this season?  Obviously Sheets had special stuff yesterday.
• Speaking of gems, JR Radcliffe from brewers.com suggests that Mike Rivera is a big reason for the success of Manny Parra on Saturday.  Rivera caught for Parra when he threw his perfect game last season in Triple-A.  Mike said that Parra had his no-hit stuff on Saturday, it was just too early in the season.  Parra obviously got tired in the sixth inning.  Ned Yost is not a fan of “personal catchers” or anything of that sort, but it will be interesting to see if Rivera is behind the plate the next time Manny takes the mound.
• Between the Green Pillars (a Sports Bubbler blog) has their NL Central preview posted.  I liked that he admitted a pro-Brewers bias early in his article.  When I wrote my preview, I felt obligated to do the same thing.  It is obvious that the grass is a little greener north of Chicago, since we both are Brewers fans.  Still, the Crew has a real chance to beat out the Cubs for an NL Central crown this season.
• (Hat tip to KL Snow on this one) A Chicago Cubs blog has their first 2008 Power Rankings posted on their site.  I know each person is entitled to their own thoughts, but the Milwaukee Brewers are #12 in this ranking.  As expected, the Cubs are ahead of the Brewers at #9.  But…the St. Louis Cardinals are #7.  SEVEN.  I understand their first week went much, much better than expected, but does anyone honestly believe that Kyle Lohse can continue his shutout-caliber pitching?  There is no way that Kyle Lohse is even in the same ballpark as Ben Sheets.  I must admit, however, Rick Ankiel has done much better than I predicted he would.  It’s early though.
• David Pinto points out that right-handed hitters have been 3 for 27 against Ben Sheets this season.  Expect teams to trot out as many left-handed hitters as possible in the next couple games against the Crew.
• KL Snow from Brew Crew Ball has set up a nice little weekly poll to get a feel of how Brewers fans are feeling about different aspects of the Milwaukee Brewers.  You should certainly check it out and voice your opinion!
• The Sports Bubbler discusses Jason Kendall and his potential impact on the Brewers offense.  I feel like there is so much more that could have been discussed in this article, but it is a good starting point.  I do not think that any Brewers fans expect Jason to continue on the pace he is on currently, but his hard-nosed style and his high energy is a welcome sight behind the plate after dealing with Johnny Estrada for an entire year.  Even if Kendall’s offensive numbers decline, he has shown to be a very good game caller.  Ben Sheets credited Jason for his shutout yesterday.  All the Brewers faithful have been impressed with Jason Kendall thus far in ‘08.
• Here’s a podcast with Ben Sheets after yesterday’s game.
• Two days ago, Jake Peavy threw a two-hit shutout for the San Diego Padres.  Yesterday, pictures surfaced on the internet that shows some dark substance on Peavy’s right hand.  Naturally, people have begun to question Peavy’s performance and some have even accused him of cheating (a la Kenny Rogers).  I personally believe Bud Black and Peavy’s explanations that dirt got on his hand after using a lot of rosin.  Peavy’s stuff is so nasty that he does not need to cheat.  Now if someone like Claudio Vargas threw a two-hit shutout, I would be calling for someone to check his hands.

  I know that is a simplistic defense, but Jake Peavy has never shown the tendency to cheat before.  It seems unrealistic that he would pick one day and no others to cheat.  There was nothing special about the game.  Either he’s always had stuff on his hands that has given him an unfair advantage and no one has ever caught it, or he simply had dirt on his hands.  There is no good reason why Peavy would have picked Saturday’s game and no other game to cheat.  I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt on this one.

Sheets a beautiful “Cy”-ght

People always question Ben Sheets.  I have been criticized in a few emails and on other sites for predicting Sheets to win the NL Cy Young this season.  After today’s absolute gem, Sheets is in prime form.

Ben completed his first complete game shutout since his rookie season today.  The San Francisco Giants managed only five hits, only one single after the fourth inning, against Sheeter today.  His curveball was absolutely electric today.  He was able to get ahead of the count with that curveball and a well-located fastball, and his pitch count was manageable all day.

It is clear that Sheets and Jason Kendall work very well together.  Sheets likes to work fast, getting the ball back and firing it right back to the catcher.  When he has someone like Kendall that he does not have to shake off very often, Sheets can relax and get into the game much faster.  Kendall looks to have made a big impact on the starting rotation to start the season.  Every pitcher has pitched into the sixth inning so far this season.  That is huge in preserving the bullpen until later in the season.  Not to mention he went 1-3 with an RBI and scored two runs.  He has four doubles thus far in ‘08.  I wonder what Cubs fans think of that.

Ryan Braun looks to have found his stroke a little bit today.  He hit his second home run in as many days, to go along with a double and a single.  Braun finished 3-5 with three RBI.  I watched the interview with him after the game, and it is nice to hear him admit that his plate discipline has not been good.  He knows what he needs to improve.  Until then, Brewers fans will take a 3-5 night from Ryan Braun.

Every batter got a base hit today for the Crew (except Ben Sheets).  This balanced attack will help the Crew avoid those cold streaks as a team.  These Milwaukee Brewers look markedly different from last year’s team.  I think Jason Kendall and a healthy Rickie Weeks are a big reason for that.  Did you see the defensive play Weeks made in from behind second base?  I think Rich Aurilia was actually safe on that play, but the sheer impressiveness of the play probably bought Weeks the call there.

The other player that has made an obvious difference has been Gabe Kapler.  Are you sure he didn’t play baseball last season?  Gabe jacked his second homer in the past two days today, and he is a high energy player that makes the whole team better.  He’s patient at the plate, and even can swipe a bag once in a while.  Doug Melvin and Ned Yost are going to have quite the difficult decision to make once Mike Cameron comes back.  That’s a great problem to have.

Records: Brewers (5-1); Giants (1-5)

Hero of the Game: Ben Sheets

Sheets is obviously the Hero of the Game.  In 15+ innings of work, he has yet to give up a run in 2008.  His curveball has looked fantastic thus far this season, and he is putting away batters early in the count.  He is certainly managing his pitch count much better in the last couple games.

The most impressive aspect of Ben’s game today was the fact that he did not walk a single batter while striking out eight.  That’s quite the walk:strikeout ratio right there.  There is nothing else I can say about Benny.  He was absolutely electric today.  When Benny is on, he is one of the most fun pitchers to watch in the Major Leagues.

Goat of the Game: J.J. Hardy

I do not mean to pick on J.J.  I know he had an RBI double early in the game.  The problem is that I do not have anyone else to pick.  The Brewers played almost a perfect game today.  J.J. made one of the only bad plays today because he tried to stretch that double into a triple.  That’s all I have.  I wouldn’t call J.J. the Goat of the Game at all, but I promised I wouldn’t pick anyone from the opposing team anymore.

On Tap

The Brewers have a day off tomorrow.

Round ‘em Up: Thursday

Good morning everyone.  Another day, another day at the top of the NL Central.  Can’t complain about that, huh?!  Well, there’s not too much going on today, but I’ll give you a few reads to keep you busy.

•  I don’t know how I missed this yesterday after linking to Dayn Perry’s article, but Ken Rosenthal from FOX Sports also has some major concerns about Eric Gagne being Milwaukee’s closer.  I think the best thing that could happen for Gagne right now is for the Brewers to have a 4-3 lead against the Cubs today and to have him enter the game in the bottom of the ninth and shut the door.  That would stop much of the talking.
• Speaking of Eric Gagne, he refuses to make excuses for his bad showing on Monday.  Yet…the conditions were bad, and the mound was too slippery for him.  No excuses, eh Eric?
• So yesterday’s hero, Jason Kendall, is making Ned Yost look like a genius for putting him in the nine hole.  Kendall looks to be the ultimate gamer, and I must admit that he impressed me very much yesterday.  I had my reservations about Kendall like everyone else.  His a hard-nosed player.  If he plays with that intensity all season, he’ll be fun to watch.
• There are more articles that are predicting awards…

  Baseball Digest Daily thinks that Prince Fielder is going to win the NL MVP award.  They also believe that the Crew is going to win the NL Central and make it to the NLCS before losing to the Atlanta Braves.  I’ll take that.

  Dugout Central has their NL predictions for MVP.  Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder both get one vote.

• The Baseball Savant has his nine biggest stories in the NL for the 2008 season.  The Milwaukee Brewers make the list with their starting rotation.  He believes that the Crew could blow the NL Central wide open if Ben Sheets and Yovani Gallardo can stay healthy for the entire season.  I’m more focused on getting Yovani back on the big league mound before I worry about him staying healthy.  One step at a time folks…
• (Hat tip to KL Snow for this find)  It seems that Phillies fans are already worried about Geoff Jenkins and the fact that he cannot hit lefties to save his life.  Have any Phillies fan call any Brewers fan.  Brewers fans could have told them that.  I don’t know what they were expecting to get.  There is a reason why Milwaukee did not pick up Geoff’s option.  I respect and like Jenkins a lot, but his time was over in Milwaukee.
• Corey Koskie is still battling post-concussion syndrome.  He wants to make it back to the big leagues still, but I think he needs to get the rest of his life back first.  Post-concussion syndrome is one of the worst problems people can have because it seems like there is nothing wrong with you.  He cannot play with his kids for an extended period of time.  He cannot even concentrate too hard for an extended period of time.  I think I speak for everyone reading this when I say Good Luck, Corey.

Soup solid in win over Cubs

After Opening Day, I mentioned that anything at or better than six innings pitched and three runs allowed for Jeff Suppan would be a successful outing.  Count Wednesday’s start against the Chicago Cubs as a success then.  It was a typical Soup outing.  Jeff was not flashy, but he did keep the ball down and make the Chicago hitters battle.

Soup’s finishing line was 6.1 innings pitched, while allowing two runs and two walks.  Those two runs came on solo shots by Derrick Lee and rookie Geovany Soto.  Other that those long balls, Jeff nibbled at the strike zone and kept the ball down.  Few Cub hitters squared up a ball.

When they did, the improved Brewers defense picked up the slack.  Bill Hall made a couple slick plays at the hot corner, and even Gabe Kapler got into the act with a twisting catch in center field.  Even Ryan Braun made a couple nice plays in left field.  They did not look spectacular.  In fact, they looked very routine.  That is exactly my point.  There were a couple balls that were very difficult to judge because they were hit down on the trademark.  Ryan did not struggle with those tricky balls, even though the wind pushed the ball around all day.  The best compliment Ryan can get is that people did not notice him in left field.  The transition looks to be going very well.

After Suppan, Salomon Torres heightened Brewers fans’ blood pressures a little in the seventh.  He allowed a couple runners to get on base, but got Alfonso Soriano to strike out to end the inning.  Torres seems to be a level-headed guy on the mound, but even he jumped up and gave a huge fist pump.  The commentators were right when they said that Torres’ performance was “save-worthy.”  Saves do not always happen in the ninth inning.  Torres saved the game in the seventh by stopping any momentum the Cubs gained to that point.

Enough about the pitching.  The bats also came out to play today.  Rickie Weeks started the game with a bang, blasting the opening pitch from Ted Lilly out of the ballpark.  That home run gave the Brewers the lead, and they never relinquished it.  Ryan Braun continued his fine start to the season, going 3-5 with a double, two singles, an RBI, and a run scored.  Not a bad day.

Corey Hart was impressive on the basepaths.  After drawing a walk off of Cubs reliever Kevin Hart, Corey stole second and third off the young pitcher.  Corey also had a double that scored Bill Hall earlier in the game.  Stop the presses!  Who said that Jason Kendall couldn’t play from the nine hole?  Jason went 3-4 with a walk.  He broke the game open in the ninth inning with a two-run double that just about left Wrigley.  I suppose that was for all the Cubs fans that criticized his uselessness at the plate.  He also beat out and infield single.  Johnny Estrada wouldn’t have made it halfway down the first baseline by the time Jason made it to first.

All in all, it was a great win for the Milwaukee Brewers.  They begin the season 2-0 for the fifth year in a row, and they begin the season with the ever-elusive road series win.  Obviously, this is also very important because of the fact that it was against the Chicago Cubs.  The unfortunate thing is that the Cubs will certainly rebound to have a fine season.  They are a very good team.

Records: Brewers (2-0); Cubs (0-2)

Hero of the Game:  Jason Kendall

Jeff Suppan and Salomon Torres got considerable consideration for this award, but Jason Kendall won out because of his gritty play.  His throw to get Aramis Ramirez stealing at second after Suppan struck out Kosuke Fukudome was perhaps the biggest play of the game.  Who says Kendall cannot throw?  It looks like the mechanical adjustment Jason worked on over the off-season is working well.  He’s getting his momentum going forward much quicker, and his throws are much crisper.

I also gave Jason the award because of his work at the plate.  In the eighth inning, Jason beat out an infield single.  In the ninth, he broke open the game with the two-run double mentioned earlier.  That double crushed any momentum the Cubs could have been holding on to.  After that double, there was no way the Cubs were going to come back in the ninth inning like they did the day before.  It may have looked like icing on the cake, but it made the ninth inning a lot easier for every Brewers fan watching the game at Wrigley or at home.

Goat of the Game:  Geovany Soto

I tried to find someone from the Milwaukee Brewers to give this award to, but nobody came to mind.  Bill Hall and Corey Hart struck out in the seventh inning with the bases loaded.  That could have easily come back to haunt the Brewers, but it didn’t.  Salomon Torres could have given up a couple runs in the seventh inning, but he didn’t.  Everyone on the Brewers contributed today.  It was a fine team effort today.  I will not make a habit of giving this award to someone from the opposing team.  I just could not bring myself to bring any Brewers player down today.

Geovany Soto, however, may have given the game to the Brewers in the sixth inning.  He made a terrible throw to the second baseman after double clutching.  The ball sailed into the outfield and allowed Corey to score on the play.  He nearly let a couple of easy fastballs get by him, which would have certainly given up a couple more runs.  I did not think he called a good game for Ted Lilly at all, but that may not have been his fault.  He did hit the solo home run in the seventh inning, but that did not make up for the stupid, inexperienced play in the seventh.

On Tap

Dave Bush and the Milwaukee Brewers will attempt to complete the season sweep of the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.  The Crew will have to face veteran pitcher Ryan Dempster to get that done.  The game will start at 1:20pm CT.  It would be a huge start of the season for the Brewers if they can pull out a sweep against the Cubs.

Where will Rivera bat?

Wondering what you thought Ned Yost will do with the lineup when Kendall isn’t in the game. Will Rivera bat eighth or ninth? 

Thanks,

Joe

When Jason Kendall isn’t in the game, the catcher will bat 8th in the lineup.  Yost says that it takes a “special kind of player” to bat in that ninth spot behind the pitcher, and Mike Rivera just doesn’t make enough contact with the ball to warrant that move.  I think you can definitely see that Rivera will be batting eighth if you look at the spring training games down the stretch.  When Kendall is not in the game, the catcher bats 8th.

Today’s Links: 3/11

Well, I’ve just finished rounding up some links for you all this morning.  There are a good amount today, but I’m going to cram them all into one post.  Enjoy!

•  Corey Hart is getting some love today in the blogging world.  John Sickels from Minor League Ball does a great write-up on Corey, tracking his career through the minor leagues and projecting where he’s going to go afterwards.  John does mention that Corey has been compared to many Hall of Famers.  Not a projection, he says…just something to think about.

  Baseball Digest Daily also did a little profile piece on Corey.  They say that most Brewers fans forgot about him during the year and focused on Braun and Fielder.  This may be true in some sense, but the true Brewers fan understands how vital Corey is to the Brewers’ success.  Give it a look.

• People around baseball are starting to notice Manny Parra.  We Brewers fans have been singing his praises since last year.
• Tom Haudricourt talks about how Jason Kendall has gotten much better at throwing runners out at second base.  Yost’s mechanical change must have helped Jason a lot, as he was downright awful last season with the A’s and Cubs.  I’d also like to point out that he’s handled the bat pretty well this spring too.

  Tom’s article also notes that Alcides Escobar has been incredibly impressive defensively at shortstop this spring.  Sveum says that he’s never seen a shortstop with as strong of an arm.  Does that assessment include Rafeal Furcal?  Alcides is proving that he’s big league ready in the defensive department.  He simply needs to work on his plate discipline and hit the weight room a bit more.

  Jon Heyman of SI.com also gets the nod for the obligatory “Jason Kendall sucks” link of the day.  I won’t even go into saying why I think Heyman’s wrong, but you can give it a read anyway.

• Adam McCalvy checks in with some news for us.  Lou Palmisano will undergo surgery on his knee to repair some torn cartilage.  I think everyone knew that was coming after his knee hadn’t been getting better.  The real interesting part of the article is that Ned Yost mentions that Lou is on track to be a big league player in a short time.  That kind of outright praise from Ned is not all that common.  Hopefully Lou gets better and back on the field in a few months.

  Adam also notes that Ryan Braun will be batting behind Prince Fielder this season.  Yost wants to make sure that pitchers do not pitch around Prince.  I like this idea.  It also let’s Ryan use his speed to his advantage when getting on the basepaths.  Last year, teams would just walk Prince if Ryan stole second.  They will not be able to do that this year.  Braun’s plate discipline and walk rate will have to increase this season to make this move work, however.  Yost said that he’ll pull the plug on the idea if Braun cannot draw more walks.

• The last couple reads are NL Central Previews.  Guess who is predicted to win them both?  Yep, the Chicago Cubs.  Way to think out of the box.

  Dugout Central and No Bias Baseball both have nice short previews of everyone on the Central.  The general consensus is that Milwaukee’s starting rotation will hold them back from improving on last year’s performance.  Really, though?  You really think that Chris Capuano and Jeff Suppan can pitch that much worse than they did last year?  Capuano may physically not be able to pitch any worse, actually.  Add a full season of Yovani Gallardo, a healthy (at least to start the year) Ben Sheets, and perhaps Carlos Villanueva or Manny Parra, and I cannot see how the rotation can do much worse than last year.  Milwaukee’s rotation has a much, much higher upside than that of the Chicago Cubs, but most prognosticators don’t care too much about that.

  Oh, and Dugout Central picks Ryan Braun to be Milwaukee’s breakout player of the year.  NL Rookie of the Year and 30+ home runs without playing the first month isn’t good enough for you?

I’ve been getting more interest in the BrewersNation Fantasy Baseball League, but I need to know for sure if you are interested.  Email me at jimmyb1799@aol.com if you are interested, and I can give you the information you need.  There ARE still spots open, so you should email me to play!!!

More News: 3/10

I promised you all earlier that I would have some more news for you.  Here’s what I’ve got:

• Baseball Musings does an analysis of the Brewers starting pitching staff.  It uses the Marcel Projection System, which is very simplistic and just uses averages to predict what is going to happen.  I wouldn’t put too much faith in what these projections have to say, but it is still very interesting.

  There are a couple interesting things about this evaluation though.  First, it has Manny Parra in the starting rotation, along with Dave Bush.  This leaves Carlos Villanueva out to dry, presumably in the bullpen.  Secondly, the article notes that the success for the Brewers starters is going to depend on the amount of innings the youngsters get.  The author seems to think that Yovani Gallardo and Parra are going to be instrumental to the success of the rotation this year.  I would agree with that, as Parra will give Milwaukee the best chance to win this season, but I would put Villanueva in the rotation before Bush.  It may just be favoring young upside over proven big league experience, but Bush and Chris Capuano have shown that they cannot get away from the big inning.  I still maintain that Claudio Vargas will be traded before Opening Day.

• Adam McCalvy checks in with a mailbag and an article about the progress Eric Gagne has made this spring.

  In the mailbag, McCalvy says that the Brewers will have more speed in their lineup than they’ve had in the past few years.  It should help the defense immensely in the outfield, and you can expect the Brewers to run a lot more this season.  Oh, and we get the standard Jason Kendall cannot function in the big leagues comment from a fan.

  Eric Gagne is working at his own pase, just working on his fastball and getting his pitching motion in a repeatable rhythm.  He says that as long as he doesn’t get hurt, it will be a successful spring.  He knows that his stuff will be there come April.  Also of importance, Eric says that knowing his role on the Brewers helps more that people know.  He does not have to switch focus or try to prepare for everything.  I think he’s referring to his stint in Boston, when he had to switch out of his comfortable role as a closer.  It may just be talk, but I would imagine that having a set job would be very comforting to a pitcher.

• It’s not Brewers news, but this article is very interesting.  Apparently, baseball has another “no-name” pitch.  We already have the Gyroball, but this new pitch does not have a name yet.

  Baltimore’s Rule 5 draft pick, Randor Bierd, is throwing something that neither his coaches nor his catchers can understand.  It is a mix between a change up, but somehow has the characteristics of a forkball.  Someone else said that it is a mix between a splitter and a change up.  One of his catchers said that it is “Johan Santana” type of change up.  I want to see this thing.  A splitter, forkball, and a change up in one?  Impressive.

• I know I’ve asked this before, but do we have any more takers for a BrewersNation Fantasy Baseball League?  We need more people to make this a possibility, so let me know!!!!

Round ‘em Up: Kendall, LaPorta, THT

Here are some more links for you all to peruse today at work:

• Ken Rosenthal from FOX Sports and Luft on Deck both discuss the merits of batting Jason Kendall in the ninth spot in the batting order.  Rosenthal reports that the Brewers could score 25-30 more runs with Kendall batting ninth, which is a much higher gain than I had previously heard.  If that is true, I completely support batting Kendall there.  He is predominantly a groundball hitter, and batting after the pitcher will help prevent hitting into an obnoxious amount of double plays.  That logic tells us that Milwaukee may have made a very good decision here.

  Luft takes the opposite approach to this argument.  He says that Kendall is only batting ninth because he’s simply so bad that he needs to bat there.  The article bashes Kendall throughout for the most part, but I think it’s foolish to focus on his offensive output here.  I’ve said it before, but it’s not like Milwaukee is searching for home run power in its lineup.

• Matt LaPorta writes a diary from Maryville.  It’s very short, but Matt promises to write more.
• The Hardball Times has five important questions to ask of the Milwaukee Brewers this season.  The author is very pessimistic about the Brewers this season, and he outwardly admits that fact.  He’s not sold on Jason Kendall (big surprise), Milwaukee’s defense (particularly Prince Fielder, Rickie Weeks, and J.J. Hardy), Ned Yost’s managerial capabilities, and the starting rotation.

  So the good news is that Milwaukee has everything to worry about.  Oh yeah, the author also thinks that many of Milwaukee’s studs will digress from last season.  He also compares the Brewers with the White Sox of ‘00-’04.  Both teams had tons of hype surrounding them, but neither of them could produce and make it to the post-season.  It’s a well-written and interesting article.  I just happen to disagree in some points.

  What do you all think about it?

I do have a couple other articles for you, but I have to get going.  I’ll post them, along with the Player Profile of the day, a little later.  These articles should keep you busy for a while though.

Braun’s defense improving

The Brewers play a couple split squad games today, one against Seattle, and the other against Oakland.  It should be a nice opportunity for some of the younger players to get in some work.  Other than the split squad game, there’s really nothing going on in Brewers news today.  Bud Selig says that the average team’s attendance will be at least 2.7M people, not a big surprise that baseball is still growing though.

The only real news comes from Tom Haudricourt, as always:

• Ryan Braun and Bill Hall have transitioned very nicely to their respective positions.  Ned Yost said that Braun’s instincts and athleticism have been fantastic in left, and he fully expects Braun to play Gold Glove defense in a few years.  That’s quite the statement after seeing Braun’s awkwardness in the one game I’ve been able to see on MLBtv.

  Dale Sveum, on the other hand, says that Billy’s footwork has improved dramatically in just the last week or so.  It’s not really new for Bill to play third, but it’s nice to know that his footwork is getting ironed out.  It will be nice to see correct footwork at the hot corner this year.

• Apparently, Ned Yost is not fully committed to batting Jason Kendall 9th in the order.  It’s all but official, but not quite yet.  I fully expect that to happen though.

  The only new aspect of this story is that Mike Cameron will still be in the 2nd spot once coming back from his suspension.  We had a comment yesterday saying that the Kendall move would only make sense if Braun and Fielder moved up a spot in the order, but Yost thinks that Cameron has shown enough in Spring Training to warrant the second spot.  Yost really likes Cameron from the sounds of it.

Kendall to bat 9th in batting order

Ned Yost officially decided that Jason Kendall will bat in the 9th spot for the Brewers this season.  It is an interesting move for the Crew, but statistics say that the team will score more runs with Kendall in the 9th spot.

This batting order will allow for Rickie Weeks and Mike Cameron to bat with more runners on base ahead of them.  Yost stressed that it takes a special player to bat in the 9th spot.  It needs to be someone that will get on base and take a lot of pitches.  Jason fits that mold pretty well, especially this spring.

Much of the media seems to think that Jason will take this as a slap in the face or will be seriously concerned about it.  I do not understand why.  In this role, he becomes almost a second leadoff hitter, someone that is important to the offense.  Kendall stressed in the article that he simply wants to do what’s best for the team, and he does not care about personal numbers.  If batting ninth will make the Brewers score more runs, then he’s all for it.  Well duh…

I’m still shocked that Ned is going to go through with this plan.  The numbers show that the increased run rate will only be a few runs throughout the season, but perhaps they will matter down the stress.  If Jason is able to bounce back after last season, it could conceivably be more.  Still, it’s going to be very awkward and take some time to get used to it.  I’m not sold on the move yet, but I suppose I have no choice but to support it.

Brewers rally to beat Rangers

The Milwaukee Brewers spotted the Rangers a three run lead, but they managed to crawl their way back to win. The 9-8 win puts the Crew back over .500 for Spring Training.

Records: Brewers (5-4); Rangers (5-4)

Batting

Ryan Braun hit a three-run shot in the fifth inning, his second homer in as many days. Braun finished 1-2 with a walk for the day, bringing his Spring Training average to .353. Jason Kendall continued his hot hitting as well, going 2-3 with an RBI and two runs scored. He’s now hitting .412 for the spring. I certainly hope, and so do many Brewers fans, that Kendall will continue to produce this well in April.

Vinny Rottino gave the Brewers the lead for good with a go-head two-RBI single in the 8th inning. Vinny is going to make the backup catcher position a very difficult battle and decision for Ned Yost.

I reported yesterday that Corey Hart has struggled mightily in Spring Training thus far, and that did not change today. Corey went 0-3 with two strike outs. He’s now batting a measly .190 this spring.

Pitching

Chris Capuano got the start today, and everything seemed fine through two innings. He cruised along nicely until disaster struck in the third. Chris gave up six runs without recording a single out. His performance forced Yost to end his day early, and Luis Pena finished the inning for Cappy. This goes with the criticism leveled on Cappy today in my Player Profile. He does fine to start the game, but when batters have a chance to see him once or twice, they crush him.

Carlos Villanueva aslo got his work in today. His day was a bit mixed. He only gave up one run in three innings, striking out two batters, but he also gave up three hits and three walks. Those stats are a little worrisome, but it’s only three innings of his spring. He’ll bounce back. He was able to limit the damage against him, unlike Capuano earlier in the game.

Seth McClung recorded the save for the Brewers, striking out two in the 8th inning. Brian Shouse struggled a bit today. He only gave up one run, but surrendered three hits in one inning on the mound. Past performance on Shouse tells Brewers fans that he’ll come back again in a couple days and throw the ball well.

On Tap

Milwaukee stays in Phoenix to play the Kansas City Royals tomorrow at 2:05pm CT. Jeff Suppan is slated to get the start for the Crew. He looks to pitch a bit better than he did in his last outing, in which he gave up two runs in three innings.