The winning streak was snapped; the home run streak was snapped; but the streak of games in which the Brewers were atrocious with runners in scoring position continued.  Manny Parra tight-roped out of danger many times, and had a 1-0 lead going into the seventh inning, but he loaded the bases on a walk, an infield single, and a sacrifice bunt that Jason Kendall fielded and he went to third in an attempt to gun down the lead runner, but the throw was too high.  David Riske came into the game in a very tough spot, and failed to strand any of his three inherited runners.  Former Brewer Mark Loretta hit a sacrifice fly, as did Kazuo Matsui on the next at bat.  Then Riske walked struggling Houston lead-off hitter Michael Bourn and surrendered an RBI single to Lance Berkman that gave the Stros a 3-1 lead.

Offensively, Milwaukee stranded 7 more base runners, and their only run came off of a Mike Cameron double in the second inning that scored Corey Hart from second.   Hart had an encouraging day at the office, going 2-4 with a run scored, and not only that, but he gunned down Kazuo Matsui from right field when he tried to score from second in the sixth inning off of a Carlos Lee single.  Perhaps his cold-like symptoms are dissipating, which would be great news for Ned Yost, as Hart is one of the best clutch hitters on the team when he’s on.  Carlos Villanueva came in and pitched 2 shutout innings, but Astros reliever Chris Sampson did the same (1.2 innings to be exact) and lefty Wesley Wright retired Prince Fielder on a broken bat groundout to end the Brewers’ eighth.  Hart doubled off of Astros’ closer Jose Valverde with no outs in the ninth, but was eventually stranded on third.  A very frustrated Manny Parra got the loss.

Offensive MVP: (Astros)  1B Lance Berkman (2-3/0R/0HR/1RBI/1BB/0K)

Pitching MVP: (Astros) SP Wandy Rodriguez (6IP/3H/0HR/1ER/3BB/7SO/Win-6th)
My Take:

I wouldn’t read a whole lot into this one.  The Brewers returned home from an extremely emotional series in St. Louis, and maybe they were a little worn out.  It is actually a good thing for them to work out the bugs now against Houston than when the Cubs roll into town.  By the way, they lost on Friday too, 3-2.

2004 marked something of a turning point in Milwaukee baseball, as the Brewers found themselves four games over .500 at the All Star break, and although they endured a horrendous second-half collapse that left them in dead last at 67-94, they did manage to sweep a road series.  Three largely successful seasons (without a single three or four game road sweep) later, they found themselves in a position to finish the job versus the struggling San Francisco Giants.  Don’t get me wrong…sweeping a team on the road is a very difficult task regardless of who you are playing, but three years is a long time.  Many Parra and Ryan Braun made sure the Brewers could finally dust off their traveling brooms and brush the Giants away.

Outstanding youngster Tim Lincecum was on the mound and a good crowd of 37,507 was on hand to watch San Francisco fend off the hard charging Milwaukee Brewers (winners of three straight coming into the series finale on Sunday afternoon).  Milwaukee southpaw Manny Parra another brilliant, albeit much less touted, young pitcher tossed 7.2 innings of two-run baseball, striking out a career high 9, and pitching the deepest he ever has into a game in the major leagues.  He earned his ninth win of 2008 against only a pair of defeats, backed by a monstrous performance by left-fielder Ryan Braun.  He slugged a three-run home run in the seventh inning after fouling off four two-strike pitches to give the Brewers a 5-0 lead that knocked Lincecum from the game.  Corey Hart had previously hit a home run in the second to give Milwaukee a 1-0 lead.  Parra also contributed with his bat, knocking in a run with a bloop single in the second to score Russell Branyan.

San Francisco started to battle back in the bottom of the eighth, as they used a two-run double by Aaron Rowand to cut their deficit to three runs.  Carlos Villanueva was brought in to replace Parra, and the threat was extinguished.  A two-run double by Braun in the ninth gave his club a little more breathing room, but submariner Brian Shouse yielded two more runs to the Giants off a double by Jose Castillo, and manager Ned Yost was forced to bring in his closer for the second day in a row.  Salomon Torres earned his 17th save of the year, and it only took him three pitches to do it (Randy Winn popped out to second baseman Rickie Weeks).  Braun’s torrid hitting brought his home run total of 2008 to 24 and his RBI total to 71.

My Take:

It’s about time!  I am very glad the Brewers broke their streak of seasons without a three game road sweep, especially when I consider the fact that the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs both won on Sunday.  Perhaps Ned Yost’s club is starting to gel to the point where they can not only win games, but sweep series on the road, and that would be a tremendously good sign to see every once in a while.  Ryan Braun has done nothing but wow me with his bat ever since he hit the big leagues in May of last season, so I am not all too surprised with his big day at the plate.  Manny Parra, on the other hand, has been a very pleasant surprise to all Brewers’ fans this year, and his strong record of 9-2 shows that this young lefty’s got game.  He, along with Seth McClung, has been a much-needed stabilizer in Milwaukee’s rotation that was seemingly decimated when Yovani Gallardo’s knee went down, and if he can continue to pitch this well, the Cubs and Cardinals may start peeking over their shoulders very nervously.  If you look down the list of the Crew’s starters: Sheets, Sabathia, Suppan, Parra, McClung, Bush, you will notice six (yes there is going to be a six-man rotation implemented when Suppan returns from his injury) men that are wonderfully consistent day in and day out.  It’s not that they go out and dominate every week (though CC has done  almost nothing but so far), but you know what you are going to get 9 times out of 10.  Consistent, good pitching wins pennants, and the Boys in Blue have that and then some.

Ben Sheets pitched well in the All Star Game, but he has not pitched particularly well in any of his last few regular season starts.  Perhaps an injury exists that he is playing through but not admitting, but whatever the reason, it appears as though CC Sabathia is Milwaukee’s only true ace for the time being.  Sheets scuffled on Saturday afternoon, yielding four runs (two earned) in five shaky innings.  He surrendered a whopping nine hits to the Giants, and was in line for the loss, but the Brewers simply would not give this one away, as they came roaring back to win 8-5.  To give his club a 1-0 lead, Sheets, a light-hitting pitcher hit a double down the left field line to score Jason Kendall. In the bottom of the fourth, things got ugly when San Francisco scored four times.  A Jose Castillo RBI single, an Omar Vizquel RBI single, an run-scoring fielding error by J.J. Hardy, and a Eugenio Velez RBI double gave the G-Men a 4-1 lead, and with talented southpaw Jonathan Sanchez dominating on the mound (eight strikeouts through the first five frames) it appeared as though the Crew would fall.

But the bottom half of Milwaukee’s lineup came alive at a critical time.  With one out, Corey Hart doubled, Bill Hall and Mike Cameron walked, and while catcher Jason Kendall was batting, new pitcher Keiichi Yabu let one get away from him and Giants’ backstop Bengie Molina did the same.  The wild pitch scored Hart easily, but Molina’s toss to his pitcher sailed down the third base line and Bill Hall slid in to make the game very interesting.  Kendall then was plunked, pinch hitter Craig Counsell was retired, and with one of his biggest hits of the year, Rickie Weeks drove in Cameron and Kendall to give Milwaukee the lead 5-4.  In the sixth, left-handed relief pitcher Mitch Stetter yielded a run to knot the game up at 5 apiece.

Prince Fielder didn’t waste much time in atoning for Stetter’s mishap.  He crushed the first pitch from Osiris Matos, and when the ball came down, there were no fans scrambling to grab it…there were sailboats scrambling to grab it.  It touched legendary McCovey Cove and the Boys in Blue secured a lead they never lost.  Corey Hart scored on a Cameron RBI groundout, and Fielder drove in Ryan Braun in the ninth to give the Brewers’ their last piece of insurance.  Carlos Villanueva, David Riske, and Salomon Torres, did not disappoint, as they hurled 3.1 scoreless frames to seal the deal.  Torres earned his career best 16th save of 2008.

My Take:

Offensive outburst aside…way to go Riske!  The comeback, encouraging as it was, did not surprise me as much as David Riske’s dominant eighth inning of work.  He walked one batter, but fanned three to bridge the gap to Salomon Torres in the ninth as well as any Brewer has done so far this year.  Over the course of his career, he has proven to be much stronger in the second half of seasons, and if that trend continues, the Milwaukee bullpen will benefit greatly.  This would mean that if the Brewers fail to acquire Huston Street from Oakland (if the rumors regarding their interest in him are true) they may not have a glaring hole late in ballgames.  One good performance does not mean he has turned the corner fully, but it is a good sign nonetheless.

The Milwaukee Brewers kicked off their series down in Arizona with a 6-3 loss to the Diamondbacks on Monday night.  Dave Bush didn’t have a very good game as he took the loss and fell to 4-8 on the season.  Bush only pitched five innings as he gave up nine hits and five runs.  Four of the five runs were earned.  A error in the fifth inning by Corey Hart that let a run score really hurt the Brewers and Bush.  If that play was made, Bush might have stayed in the game longer in my opinion.

Carlos Villanueva pitched two innings and gave up a solo home run to Mark Reynolds in the seventh inning.  Mitch Stetter then pitched the eighth inning without giving up a run.

The Brewers had three different players all record an rbi in the game.  Things got started for the Brewers right away as J.J. Hardy had a rbi double that scored Rickie Weeks.  Then Prince Fielder singled to scored Hardy and the Brewers were up 2-0 after the top half of the first inning.  However the Brewers wouldn’t score again until the sixth inning when Gabe Kapler walked with the bases loaded to score Fielder.  The Brew Crew had their chances to score more runs but left 18 runners on base.

It was a really bad game as well for the Brewers because the Cubs and Cardinals both won their games.  The Brewers are now 5.5 games out of first place.  Brewers Blog

The Milwaukee Brewers held off the Toronto Blue Jays Wednesday night and won 5-4.  It was the second straight game that the Brewers beat the Blue Jays and they will now be going for the three game sweep on Thursday afternoon.  I really like the Brewers chances of a sweep as they are playing really good baseball right now.

Ben Sheets improved to 8-1 as he tossed six innings and allowed four hits and two runs to get the victory.  Sheets walked four runners while striking out five other batters.  Pretty good outing for Sheets despite the four walks.

Carlos Villanueva and Guillermo Mota had a rough outing as they both gave up runs out of the bullpen.  Luckily for the Brewers they scored enough runs to have a little bit of insurance at the end of the game.

Russell Branyan and Mike Cameron both connected on solo home runs in the game.  Cameron finished the game with two rbi to lead the team while Branyan, Corey Hart, and Sheets all had one rbi in the game.

Now lets set back and see if the Brewers can sweep the Blue Jays on Thursday afternoon!

Blue Jays Blog

The Milwaukee Brewers and Houston Astros played home run derby down in Houston on Wednesday night and it was the Brewers coming out on top with a 10-6 victory.  The Brewers hammerd five home runs in the game while the Astros hit three.  It was definaly not a night you wanted to be on the mound pitching that is for sure.

Corey Hart led the Brewers with two - two run home runs and four rbi in the game.  Hart went deep in the fourth and eighth innings.  Jason Kendell was next in line with a two run homer in the fifth inning as he finished the game with two rbi.  Russell Branyan and Mike Cameron both hit solo home runs in the fourth inning as they had one rbi each in the game.  Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder both chipped in with one rbi each as well.

On the mound for the Brewers, Manny Parra earned the win and is now 5-2.  He only pitched 5 1/3 innigns as he gave up ten hits and five runs.  Parra was taken deep three times for home runs as he couldn’t keep the ball inside the field of play.  A win is a win and Parra will take it any way he can get it.

Carlos Villanueva pitched 1 2/3 innings after Parra exited the game and he gave up three hits and one run.  Guillermo Mota was called upon to pitch the final two innings of the game and did not have any problems as he didn’t allow a hit or a run.

Brewers Blog

The Milwaukee Brewers didn’t have any problems beating the Arizona Diamondbacks once again as they won 10-1 on Wednesday afternoon.  The Brewers once again took advantage of a slumping Diamondbacks team as they swept them in the three game series.

Corey Hart and Russell Branyan hit back-to-back home runs in the fourth inning for he Brewers.  Hart’s was a three run inside the park homer and Branyan’s ball went over the fence for a solo shot.  Hart finished the game with three rbi while Ryan Braun had two rbi.  Gabe Kapler, Prince Fielder, Jason Kendall, and Branyan all finished the game with one rbi.

Manny Parra pitched seven innings and only allowed four hits and one run to get the win.  Parra is now 4-2 with a 4.33 era on the season.  Julian Tavarez and Carlos Villanueva pitched a scoreless inning each to finish out the final two innings of the game.

The Brewers will now be off on Thursday and start up a weekend series with the Colorado Rockies on Friday.

Brewers Blog

The Milwaukee Brewers continue to play some good baseball as they beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-3 on Tuesday night.  With the win, the Brewers are now a game over .500 at 20-19 and three games behind in the division.

Carlos Villanueva improved to 2-4 on the season as he pitched six innings to pick up the win.  Villanueva gave up eight hits and three runs (two runs were earned) in the game.  Eric Gagne got back on track as he picked up the save in the ninth inning.  The save was Gagne’s tenth of the season.

Ryan Braun stayed hot as well as he had two rbi in the game.  Bill Hall had one rbi on a solo hom run as well.  Mike Cameron and Prince Fielder both had a rbi in the game too.

Brewers Blog

The Milwaukee Brewers were blown out 7-2 on Thursday night by the Florida Marlins.  The Brewers were only able to score runs in the fourth and eighth innings in the game.

Mike Rivera and Carlos Villanueva had one rbi each in the game for the Brewers.  That is not going to get it done against any major league team.  The big guys for the Brewers simply didn’t step up and get the job done.

Carlos Villanueva took the loss as he was roughed up in five innings of action.  Villanueva gave up ten hits and seven runs.  Seth McClung and Mitch Stetter pitched the final three innings without giving up a run.

Brewers Blog

The Milwaukee Brewers lost at home by a score of 4-3 in the match up with the St. Louis Cardinals putting the Brewers at 11-8 for the year.  The Brewers went into the 9th inning tied 3-3 but to only give up a run to the Cardinals in the top half of the inning and end up losing.

Carlos Villanueva opened up the night for the Brewers throwing for seven innings and allowing three hits, two runs, and four walks.  Brian Shouse, Guillermo Mota, and Derrick Turnbow would be brought in to pitch the last three innings with Turnbow losing his first game of the season.

Rickie Weeks, Ryan Braun, and Corey Hart each picked up a RBI in Monday’s game.

The Brewers will take on the Cardinals one more time again tonight at home and then will move on to Philadelphia on Wednesday.

Brewers Blog