The unthinkable was happening: the Cincinnati Reds, at 46-49, were ready to sweep the Milwaukee Brewers (52-43) at Miller Park.  Up 2-0 in the third inning, and with new Milwaukee pitcher CC Sabathia scuffling, it appeared as though the Crew were going to limp into the All Star break coming off a mediocre 5-5 homestand.  But something clicked that Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee, and Sabathia turned in one of the finest performances in his storied career, as the Milwaukee Brewers fended off the Cincinnati Reds in a wild, low-scoring affair.  In the top of the second inning, CC gave up a leadoff single, a double, and plunked center-fielder Corey Patterson to load the bases with nobody out.  Catcher David Ross cashed in on a sacrifice fly to score Edwin Encarnacion and gave the Reds a 1-0 lead.  The next batter, twenty-one year old pitcher Homer Bailey grounded into a huge double play, however, to allow Sabathia to keep the game right where it was.  In the third, Cincinnati tacked onto their lead via an Adam Dunn sac fly, but managed nothing else in the inning or in the game.

In the bottom of the inning with one man out, Sabathia crushed a fastball and sent it flying into the stands in right field to  enthrall the sellout crowd of 42,108.  Milwaukee would not score again until, the sixth, when Prince Fielder was walked by new Reds pitcher Bill Bray, sending J.J. Hardy (who had reached on a fielder’s choice) to third.  In a great clutch performance, Gabe Kapler (filling in for right-fielder Corey Hart, who had the day off) smacked a two-out double to tie the game at 2.  Sabathia yielded no further runs, and danced out of danger in the sixth and eighth innings, stranding a Red in scoring position both times.

Then came the ninth, and in a surprising move, manager Ned Yost elected to keep the wheelin’-n’-dealin’ southpaw in the game.  Running on fumes, and pitch count up to 111, he worked some magic reminiscent of his Cy Young 2007, and struck out the side on 11 pitches.  In the bottom of the ninth, with David Weathers on the mound, Bill Hall singled to start things up, Mike Cameron lay down a perfect sacrifice bunt that was fielded by Weathers and thrown badly, allowing the limber center-fielder to reach first.  Jason Kendall was walked intentionally, setting things up for pinch hitter (and one of the team leaders) Craig Counsell. Francisco Cordero, disliked by the majority of the Milwaukee fanbase for leaving this past off season for a slightly bigger contract from the Reds, trotted onto the mound to a shower of boos.  One pitch later, it was a shower of cheers, as Counsell lined a pitch to right field that was caught by Jay Bruce but allowed Bill Hall to touch home for a thrilling 3-2 victory.

My Take:

Rarely have I seen a Brewer pitcher change the game with his bat as well as his arm, but on Sunday afternoon, CC Sabathia managed to keep my faith in the Milwaukee ball club strong and alive, when it looked as though they could have actually been swept by the lowly Cincinnati Reds at home.  This is a fantastic way for the Crew to finish the “first half” of the season (though the mathematical midway point came days and days ago).  Milwaukee’s starting pitching has been phenomenal this year, but few of their hurlers aside from Ben Sheets have been able to earn complete game victories.  Sabathia gave the fading bullpen an extra day of rest thanks to his gritty performance.  He now has a 2-0 record as a Brewer, though the team has actually lost ground on the Chicago Cubs since his arrival.  Look for G.M. Doug Melvin to acquire a proven reliever via trade very soon.

    A day after Milwaukee’s long-proclaimed ace pitcher was unable to neutralize the injury-ridden, yet still dangerous Rockies lineup, a most unlikely candidate managed to outperform both C.C. Sabathia and Ben Sheets.  Dave Bush, pitching perhaps the greatest game in his major league career, completely baffled the Colorado offense Thursday afternoon.  He yielded one unearned run, struck out a mind-boggling thirteen, walked none, and surrendered only three hits in eight superb innings.

Trailing after the first frame 1-0, Milwaukee’s offense awoke from its slumber and tied the game in the third on a Ryan Braun single which scored lead-off hitter Rickie Weeks.  The fourth inning could have been the Crew’s greatest single performance in a game this whole season.  In a nutshell, they scored six runs, five with two outs off a Gabe Kapler double, a Weeks double, and a Prince Fielder triple.  In the seventh, right fielder Corey Hart (recently elected to the All Star Game) padded the lead with a solo home run to deep left and Gabe Kapler (continuing to prove himself as one of the team’s best off-season acquisitions and bench players) doubled in Bill Hall to put the Brewers up 9-1.  In the eighth, J.J. Hardy came through yet again, sending a pitch over the left field fence, scoring Joe Dillon, and capping Milwaukee’s scoring outburst.  At the end of the day, manager Ned Yost found his club sitting in sole possession of second place in the N.L. Central and a mere four games behind the Chicago Cubs.

Alex’s Take:

Good, better, and great.  That describes how I feel about the Brewer’s four game series against the Colorado Rockies, the Brewers’ offense’s performance on Thursday afternoon, and the pitching of Dave Bush.  There has been talk of setting up a six-man pitching rotation once Jeff Suppan returns from his injury.  Dave Bush, who has been stellar at Miller Park this season (3-2 record, 2.87 ERA before today’s brilliant performance) and Seth McClung, who has been strong away from Wisconsin (1-1 record, 3.28 ERA in 11 appearances) may share the final spot in Ned Yost’s rotation.  Bush and McClung struggle away and at home respectively, thus, the move makes sense.  What to be wary about is the fact that starting pitchers are often very, very, very habitual, and setting up the less-than-conventional rotation might cause them meltdowns.  It is a risky move, but if it plays out well, it could really benefit the Brewers’ already strong starting pitching.  The offense has been quite streaky this year, sometimes displaying dominance like today, or they play more flatly, like yesterday, so I am taking this 11 run day with a grain of salt.  A great fact remains, though: they don’t have to score 11 runs a game to win when their starting pitching is this good.

 Prior to Wednesday night’s game, Ben Sheets remarked that he was going to show C.C. Sabathia who the Brewers’ real ace is.  Just kidding.  But Sheets did display brilliance early on, striking out the side in the first two innings and finishing with eleven.   Third baseman Bill Hall crushed a Glendon Rusch changeup and sent it well over the left field wall to give the Brewers an early 1-0 lead, but the offense provided Sheets no further run support, and once Big Ben surrendered a two-run blast by Garret Atkins, the game was not looking great, with the Brewers down by two. 

Enter Mitch Stetter, give the Rockies another run off a two out hit by former Brewer Scott Podsednik, (his second such hit of the game) and the score is 4-1 Colorado.  Bill Hall then doubled and scored on a looping hit to center field by Mike Cameron, cutting the lead to 4-2.  Cameron, ever the savvy base runner, stole second, advanced to third on a Jason Kendall groundout, and trotted home on a clutch pinch hit by Russell Branyan. 

The Rockies were not satisfied with the one run lead, though, and Garret Atkins hit another round tripper off of struggling reliever Guillermo Mota.  Catcher Chris Ianetta followed with a triple, allowing to swell the Colorado lead to three again.  Adding insult to injury, young first baseman Joe Koshansky hit a two out, two run homerun to center field, blowing the game wide open.  The Brewers offense was lethargic after the eighth inning outburst, and Milwaukee dropped a listless loss to the banged up Colorado Rockies.  Their 2008 record against the Rox is now an unimpressive 2-4.

Alex’s Take:

The Brewers continued a disturbing trend of being shut down offensively by less than great pitchers, not to take anything away from Glendon Rusch, who pitched his heart out Wednesday night, but his E.R.A. coming into the game was over 7.  Not to mention the Achilles’ Heel of the Milwaukee baseball club: the bullpen.  Guillermo Mota has tremendous stuff, a fastball that occasionally gets up to 97 MPH and a nasty changeup, but nothing, absolutely nothing he throws is fooling the hitters he is facing right now.  He should be given a much lesser role in the pen and Eric Gagne, who has been throwing very effectively since returning from the disabled list, should be promoted to the eighth inning role.  Mota’s potential is quite high, but the amount of games he is costing Milwaukee should be a warning flag to Ned Yost that this reliever is either way past his prime or should at least be taken out of this high pressure job.

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Around 27,000 tickets were sold for Tuesday night’s game as of last weekend. 42,533 were sold by Tuesday night. The reason: the fans wanted to welcome reigning A.L. Cy Young Award winner C.C. Sabathia to Milwaukee…and what a welcome he received. Three standing ovations BEFORE he threw to Rockie’s leadoff hitter Willy Taveras, managed to electrify Miller Park and, according to the hefty southpaw, overexcited him just a bit. His game was solid, but not flawless. He walked and surrendered hits to as many Rockies as he fanned (five), but managed to wriggle out of trouble in the first, third, fourth, and sixth innings.

Unlike many of his starts in Cleveland, Sabathia was provided ample run support, beginning with Ryan Braun’s three-run tape-measure shot to left field, scoring Rickie Weeks and J.J. Hardy. In the top of the fourth, Rockies’ speedster Willy Taveras coaxed a double down the left field line with only one out, threatening the Crew’s three run lead. Sabathia promptly retired Tulowitzki’s replacement, Clint Barmes on a first pitch flyout to right field. With a pair of Rockies out, the left hander managed to get the deadly Matt Holliday to ground out to third on a jam-job slider to squash the rally. Milwaukee tacked on an insurance run in their half of the third on a Prince Fielder RBI fielder’s choice, giving the Crew a 4-0 lead.

Colorado made a strong bid to ruin the party in the next frame, as they loaded the bases with no outs. Sabathia immediately induced a double play groundout…Hardy to Weeks to Fielder, which scored a run but kept the lead well intact. Omar Quintanilla was then retired to finish the frame. After an uneventful fifth, the Rockies loaded the bags again, but this time, cashed in in a big way. Backstop Yorvit Torrealba smashed a two run double to the right field corner, which would have tied the game had outfielder Ryan Spilbourghs not strained his oblique while rounding the bases. So with zero outs and two runners in scoring position, Sabathia speared a looping line drive off the bat of Jayson Nix and flipped it to third to double off Scott Podsednik at third (Spilbourghs had since been removed from the game). After walking the next batter, he whiffed pinch hitter Brad Hawpe, sealing his eventual victory.

The Brewers’ offense put the game out of reach in the seventh. The bases were loaded and two were out when Corey Hart, continuing to make a strong case for the All Star game, walked in a run. Third baseman Bill Hall singled to left and although Rickie Weeks scored easily, Prince Fielder would have been meat at the plate had Hart not distracted the Colorado infield by getting himself caught up in a rundown between second and third. With the score 7-3 Relievers David Riske, Eric Gagne, and Brian Shouse made the final three frames largely uneventful, and sealed what I hope will be the first of many National League victories for Sabathia.

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