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 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.

The Milwaukee Brewers scored seven runs and beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-0 on Tuesday night.  All seven of the Brewers runs came via the home run ball as they hit five home runs in the shut out.  I have to wonder if this will get the Brewers bats rolling and they can start another nice winning streak.

Ryan Braun hit two home runs and finished the game with three rbi.  Russell Branyan had one home run and two rbi in the game.  Prince Fielder and Craig Counsell both had solo home runs as well in the game for the Brewers.

On the mound it was Manny Parra pitching seven innings to get the victory.  Parra only gave up four hits while he improved his record to 6-2.  Mark DiFelice came in and pitched the final two innings of the game to really help the bullpen out.  I love seeing only one bullpen pitcher have to pitch in a game as all the others get some much needed rest.

The Milwaukee Brewers couldn’t quite come back against the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday night as they lost 5-4.  The Brewers did score two runs int he top of the ninth inning but still lost by one run.  Sometime the Brewers will catch some breaks and win these one-run ballgames.

Carlos Villanueva took the loss for the Brewers after throwing 4.2 inning and allowing eight hits and five earned runs.  Other ten Villanuevea, the Brewers pitcher did a pretty good job.  Salomon Torres, Brian Shouse, and David Riske pitched 3.1 innings and did not allow a run and all did a good job.

Bill Hall, J.J. Hardy, and Craig Counsell all had one RBI for the Brewers.   I have to ask where was Prince Fielder though.  He is the player that should have stepped up and carried the Brewers to victory.

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