Dave Bush yielded a first inning grand slam to Ryan Church, and things just kept getting worse for the reeling Crew, who lost their third straight home game against New York and were swept for only the second time at Miller Park all year.  Bush settled down somewhat, but still gave up a total of 6 runs in 5.0 innings.  The bullpen coughed up 3 more, and that was more than enough for the Mets behind Oliver Perez and their recharged bullpen.  Corey Hart hit an RBI double, and J.J. Hardy added a solo shot, but the Brewers offense was basically put to sleep.

Offensive MVP: Mets RF Ryan Church (1-4/1R/1HR/4RBI/0BB/1K)

Pitching MVP: Mets SP Oliver Perez (6.2IP/5H/2ER/5BB/5SO/1HR/Win-10th)

Alex’s Take:

The Brewers are in trouble now.  Three games into September and still they do not have a win.  They will need to bounce back and probably will against San Diego and Cincinnati, but what does it matter if they can never find out how to beat teams on and above their level?

Manny Parra was knocked around by the Mets on Tuesday, and although he made a big contribution with the stick, his rocky start made it an uphill climb for the Crew, and they eventually fell to New York again.  Rickie Weeks led off with a homerun and Milwaukee scored four in the fourth to tie the game (Parra hit a two-run double), but they managed nothing against the Mets pen, and guaranteed the Mets a series victory.  Endy Chavez hit a go-ahead sac fly off Salomon Torres in the tenth.  The Brewers were stung by a couple close plays, one in the fourth when Hardy was gunned down trying to score, and in the eighth, when Weeks tried to stretch a single into what looked to be a clean double, but was called out.

Offensive MVP: Mets CF Carlos Beltran (2-3/2R/1HR/3RBI/1BB/0K)

Pitching MVP: Mets CP Luis Ayala (1IP/1H/0ER/1BB/2SO/Save-5th)

Alex’s Take:

This one was ugly.  The Brewers stranded 11 baserunners, executed some questionable base-running, and suffered yet another bullpen letdown.  Though Salomon Torres has been dependable this year, an error on Jason Kendall set him up for a bad tenth inning, and it cost the Crew the game.  They are now 0-2 in September following a 20 win August, and though they do play somewhat easier opponents than the 1st place Mets, they have a bear of a road trip coming up that will take them to Philly, Chicago, and Cincinnati.  The way they’ve been playing contenders recently, starting with being swept at home by the Cubs in late July, it appears as though that trip could squash Milwaukee’s postseason dreams.  Even so, they could make the playoffs if the other contenders continue to falter, but they will get NOWHERE in the playoffs if they can’t find a way to beat good teams.

An injury to a very important pitcher, another blown game by Eric Gagne, and the Brewers failed to hold onto a 2-1 lead late on Monday.  Milwaukee fell to New York 4-2, after Gagne surrendered a two-run shot by the great first-baseman Carlos Delgado in the eighth.  Ben Sheets pitched well for 5.0 innings, giving up only 2 hits, but his velocity was way down, and he left the game due to left groin tightness.  Should he miss significant time, it would be a crippling blow to a Milwaukee team desperately trying to make the playoffs for the first time in a quarter century.  Ryan Braun doubled in J.J. Hardy in the first off of Johan Santana, but the Crew only mustered one other run off of a rare balk by the former Cy Young winner.

Offensive MVP: Mets 1B Carlos Delgado (2-4/1R/1HR/2RBI/0BB/0K)

Pitching MVP: Mets RPs Nelson Figueroa (Win-3rd), Pedro Feliciano, Joe Smith, and Luis Ayala  (Save- 4th) (3IP/1H/0ER/0BB/5SO/0HR)

Alex’s Take:

This was not a very encouraging game on any level.  Ben Sheets is hurt again, Eric Gagne is blowing games again, and the Brewers fell flat to a good team after beating up on bad ones again.  If they can bounce back from this defeat, it would be a good sign, but the 4-2 loss could hurt Milwaukee much longer depending on the status of the Crew’s right-handed ace.

Jeff Suppan tossed another great game on Saturday evening in Pittsburgh, but Corey Hart and the offense stole the spotlight.  With his 20th homerun of 2008 in the second inning, Hart became the first Brewer in history to have two 20 homerun, 20 steal seasons.  Mike Cameron unloaded on his 24th round-tripper of the year, driving in three runs off of it, in the sixth.  Jason Kendall and Rickie Weeks hit RBI doubles in that inning as well, to put the Crew up 7-0.  They just kept pouring it on the Pirates bullpen, and finished with 11 runs on 16 base hits.  Suppan threw 7.0 2-run innings, striking out 2, walking 2, and giving up only 3 hits.

Offensive MVP: Mike Cameron (2-4/2R/2B/HR/4RBI/0BB/1K)

Pitching MVP: Jeff Suppan (7.0IP/3H/2ER/2BB/2SO/1HR/Win-10th)

Alex’s Take:

August has been a great month for Brewers baseball.  They’ve won 19 games, with one very winnable match-up to go.  Although it appears Chicago is simply too good to be caught at the top of the NL Central, the Crew have managed to solidify their Wild Card lead this month, and as it stands now, they are up 5 and 1/2 games on their St. Louis rivals.  Though there are 6 remaining games against the Cubs, it would take a monumental collapse for the Brewers to vault into first.  But the good news: they will get to the playoffs anyway, as long as they can fend off Tony La Russa’s Redbirds and the Phillies and Mets for the next thirty days or so.  Mike Cameron deserves a lot of credit for what he has done this month.  He’s hit .360 in 89 at-bats, with 9 homers and 22 RBIs.  Add that to the superb defense he brings every day, and that is one heck of a month.  Oppositely, Prince Fielder did very little in August, hitting a mere .219 with 6 homeruns and 19 runs batted in.  If Fielder can heat up in September, and Cameron and the rest of the Crew keep hitting the way they’ve been hitting, postseason baseball should become a reality for Milwaukee.  Oh, and by the way, the pitching has been stellar too…just ask the “bottom of the rotation,” Jeff Suppan and Dave Bush, who’ve gone a combined 9-0 this month.

Ryan Braun hit an opposite field, three-run blast in the first inning, and that was it for the Milwaukee offense.  They only managed 4 hits the rest of the way, and Pittsburgh’s Tom Gorzelanny pitched extremely well, but Dave Bush was better.  He threw 6.2 innings, only giving up a run on a Nate McLouth solo shot in the fifth.  Brian Shouse and Eric Gagne bridged the gap to Salomon Torres, who picked up his 26th save of 2008 on Friday.

Offensive MVP: Ryan Braun (2-4/1R/12B/1HR/3RBI/0BB/0K)

Pitching MVP: Dave Bush (6.2IP/6H/1ER/2BB/2SO/Win-9th)

Alex’s Take:

Though it wasn’t particularly good that Milwaukee’s offense shut down after scoring in the first, the bullpen pitched very well, and Dave Bush continued to impress, and he is now at 9-9.

Manny Parra was extremely good, but his bullpen was the exact opposite, as Milwaukee fell 5-3 to the Cardinals on Wednesday.  The Brewers staked a 3-0 lead off of Adam Wainwright thanks to a J.J. Hardy two-out single in the third, a Mike Cameron double in the fourth, and a Jason Kendall single in the fourth.  But the Cards pounded David Riske in the eighth for four runs.  Ryan Ludwick hit a solo homer off of Parra in the sixth.  Chris Perez got the save.

Offensive MVP: St. Louis OF Ryan Ludwick (3-4/2R/2B/HR/2RBI/0BB/0K)

Pitching MVP: St. Louis CP Chris Perez (1IP/1H/0ER/0BB/3K/Save-6th)

Alex’s Take:

This was a pretty sloppy game that revealed an all-too obvious weakness of Milwaukee.  Their bullpen really cannot be trusted with any size lead on any given day, and this is not good considering the critical month of the season is coming up.

Ben Sheets pitched quite well, well enough to tie his career high for wins in a season with 12, but the story of Tuesday night was definitely the Milwaukee offense.  They pounded out a stupendous dozen runs in their biggest victory in St. Louis in history, and everybody pitched in.  Each starting position player had at least one hit, and a handful had many hits.  Prince Fielder knocked in Ray Durham in the first inning for a 1-0 lead (Durham left the game due to a seemingly minor injury later on).  In the third, J.J. Hardy tripled to start things off and Fielder drove him in on an RBI groundout with one gone.  In the fifth, Albert Pujols made a rare error that allowed Durham to sprint home to stretch the lead to 3-0.  Two more runs were tacked on in the seventh when Ryan Braun hammered his 33rd homerun of 2008, but the big blow to the Redbirds came in the ninth.  Eleven Brewers batted, and some of the memorable hits included a Jason Kendall bases-clearing double and a two-run homer by Bill Hall.  Sheets threw 6.0 good innings, and relievers Brian Shouse, David Riske, and Eric Gagne picked up where he left off.  Todd Wellemeyer was saddled with the loss, but his teammates did most of the damage, giving up 7 runs in relief.

Offensive MVP: Ryan Braun (3-5/2R/1HR/2RBI/1BB/0K)

Pitching MVP: Ben Sheets (6.0IP/5H/0ER/2BB/4SO/0HR/Win-12th)

Alex’s Take:

Year after year after year the Cardinals totally dominated Milwaukee.  It seemed as though the Cards were always gunning for the division and the Brewers were cellar-dwellers, but apart from a few exceptions, Tony La Russa’s clubs ALWAYS had Milwaukee’s number.  Not so in 2008, when the Crew needs to fight off the historical rivals to get into the postseason.  Milwaukee is 6-0 against the Redbirds in their last 6 games, and are in a position to sweep them for the second straight time at Busch Stadium tomorrow.  The Crew is playing spirited baseball this August, when they crumbled so badly last year, and it is very encouraging.  If they can keep this success on the road against Wild Card contenders going, there is really no reason why Wisconsin won’t have meaningful October baseball again.

CC Sabathia had himself his shortest start of 2008 on Sunday, but he was good enough to put his team in a position to win their 76th game.  He hurled 6.0 innings, gave up 1 run on 8 hits, struck out five, and didn’t walk a batter.  He was briefly in line for his 9th win, but the Crew pen coughed up the lead.  Pirates ace Paul Maholm pitched his heart out, giving up a whopping 12 hits in 6.0 innings, but only gave up 2 runs, as the Brewers stranded 8 runners with him on the mound (twice they failed to score with the bases loaded and less than two outs).  But Mike Cameron turned in one of the finest games of his career with five hits, one of which scored Corey Hart from second to tie the game 1-1.  Ned Yost then pinch hit for Sabathia with “Captain Clutch,” Gabe Kapler, who immediately drove in Bill Hall to put his club ahead.  David Riske blew the slim lead in the seventh, however.  With two outs in the eighth, Cameron struck again, crushing a majestic homerun that seemed to seal the victory.  But Salomon Torres was unlike himself, and he blew the save by giving up a tying single to Nate McLouth.  It took three more frames.  Carlos Villanueva pitched himself into a world of trouble in the top of the twelfth, loading the bases with none out.  But Guillermo Mota, in what was undoubtedly his best performance as a Brewer, induced a popout to center, struck out Chris Gomez, and retired Luis Rivas himself, keeping the game tied, and receiving a roaring ovation from the 40,000+ fans.  With one out in the Milwaukee twelfth, Rickie Weeks walked.  With J.J. Hardy batting, he stole second with ease.  Then on his bobblehead day, the beloved shortstop hammered a ball into center for a single, and Weeks flew around third to clinch the series sweep.

Offensive MVP: Mike Cameron (5-5/1R/1HR/2RBI/0BB/0K)

Pitching MVP: Guillermo Mota (1IP/0H/0ER/0BB/1SO/0HR/Win-4th)

Alex’s Take:

This was a sloppy win, but a fun one nonetheless.  Guillermo Mota may be turning the corner late in the season for Milwaukee, and if he could continue to control that blazing fastball and nasty changeup of his, he could turn into a very capable reliever in close games, where he struggled often earlier on.  Mike Cameron started off the year so slowly, but has been on an absolute tear in August, when his team truly needs him for their playoff push.  He is hitting .360 in 75 August at-bats, with 8 round-trippers and 16 RBIs.  I guess this is what Ned Yost was talking about when he said that Cameron can carry an offense when he’s on.  The good news is, the other Brewers are hitting well enough that Mike doesn’t have to do it all by himself.

Jeff Suppan pitched another good game, going 7.0 innings and only gave up 3 runs.  He struck out 3, didn’t walk a batter, and surrendered 8 hits.  Up 6-2 when he exited in the eighth, the bullpen allowed one Suppan-charged run to score (on a groundout), but nothing else in a solid 6-3 victory.  Ryan Braun paced the offense with two hits and three runs batted in.  But Prince Fielder initiated the scoring in the bottom of the first with an RBI single, bringing in his good friend Rickie Weeks.  Then, Corey Hart, still looking for that elusive 20th homerun of the season, did drive in his 79th run of 2008 with a sac fly.  Braun crushed a solo shot in the bottom of the fourth, but in the next inning, the Crew jumped all over Pirates’ starter Tom Gorzelanny, and knocked him out of the game.  With two outs, Weeks walked, Hardy singled, and Braun came through again with a two-run double.  He later scored on Fielder’s second RBI single of the game.  Brian Shouse handled the eighth, and Salomon Torres nailed down the ninth for his 25th save of the year.

Offensive MVP: Ryan Braun (2-4/2R/12B/1HR/3RBI/0BB/1K)

Pitching MVP: Jeff Suppan (7.0IP/8H/3ER/0BB/3SO/Win-9th)

Alex’s Take:

It is great to see Ryan Braun mashing the ball again.  It appears as though he is feeling little to no residual effects from his earlier back and side problems, and this should come as a big relief to the Brewers, as they close in on a possible postseason berth.

Dave Bush continued to prove that he is a very good bottom-of-the-rotation pitcher with another strong outing that gave him his 8th win of the year.  He threw 7.0 3 run innings on Friday, on 7 hits, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts.  By the time he left, the bullpen had very little to worry about.  Zach Duke, the Pirates starter, started strong, pitching a scoreless game through three, but he unraveled in the fourth and fifth frames.  Down 2-0, the always-resilient Crew bit Duke hard for 3 runs thanks to some tricky infield hits and defensive blunders by Pittsburgh.  Ryan Braun led off with a single, but the ball was thrown away from first-baseman Adam LaRoche and Braun got to second.  Prince Fielder then walked, and Corey Hart delivered with a booming two-run double.  He ended up on third on another error, this time by right fielder Jason Michaels.  Bill Hall drove him in with a sac fly.  J.J. Hardy made history in the fifth when he belted his 20th homerun of 2008, a solo shot that put him in very elite company.  Only two Brewers shortstops had ever hit 20 or more homeruns in back to back seasons: Jose Hernandez and the great Robin Yount.

The offense exploded in the seventh, when Milwaukee sent nine men to the plate.  Pinch-hitter Laynce Nix walked and was tripled in by Rickie Weeks, who scored on a Hardy double right after.  Hardy was driven in by Braun, who hit a ground-rule double.  Braun then stole third and scored on a weird play.  Prince Fielder chopped out to second baseman Freddy Sanchez, but Sanchez took his time on the play, making a lackadaisical throw to first.  Braun smartly bolted for home as the flip to first was made, and he scored easily.  Corey Hart was then hit by a pitch, sending Mike Cameron to the plate.  He drilled a two-run, opposite field homerun that collided with the right field foul pole and extended the Brewers lead to 10-3.  Eric Gagne surrendered one run in the eighth, but Seth McClung tossed a scoreless frame in the ninth to seal the emphatic victory.

Offensive MVP: J.J. Hardy (2-5/2R/12B/1HR/2RBI/0BB/0K)

Pitching MVP: Dave Bush (7.0IP/7H/3ER/1BB/2SO/1HR/Win-8th)

Alex’s Take:

It is a good sign that Milwaukee jumped all over a struggling pitcher and ball club.  Earlier on in the year, it seemed as though the Crew would often play down to the level of teams with far worse records than they, but on Friday, everything played out correctly and then some.  I’m going to single out fan-favorite shortstop J.J. Hardy for today.  Earlier in the year, I did not want him in the starting lineup, but he has bounced back so well that I have to admit I was wrong before.  He is becoming a very reliable piece to the offensive puzzle, setting the table for the big boys and driving in a bunch of runs on his own, and he deserves a little more credit than he gets, what with stars like Braun, Fielder, and Hart usually stealing the spotlight.