This game was a tough one to follow and a tough pill to swallow.  The Brewers offense fought, but the defense committed three errors in a wild 6-5 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Friday night.  Manny Parra pitched well until the seventh inning, when he was charged with four runs.  The poor frame undid the four run Milwaukee outburst of the sixth, when the Brewers scored off of a two out bloop double by Corey Hart, a two run pinch double by Bill Hall, and a run scoring single by Mike Cameron.

When Cincinnati catcher David Ross drove in first baseman Joey Votto, the lead was trimmed to 5-3.  Pinch hitter Andy Phillips scored prized prospect Jay Bruce on a groundout, and when Jerry Hairston Jr. lined a pitch to the gap in left center, all appeared fine as Mike Cameron was about to make a slick running catch (nothing too special for his Gold Glove career).  Jim Powell, Brewers radio play-by-play announcer, guessed that Cameron lost sight of the ball in the bright lights of Miller park, but whatever the reason, the ball bounced harmlessly off his body and rolled to the wall, allowing Andy Phillips to score easily, tying the game at 5 apiece.

Cincinnati took the lead in the top of the eighth when usually reliable reliever Salomon Torres bounced a pitch that got by backstop Jason Kendall and the Reds’ Jay Bruce scampered home.  Milwaukee threatened in the eighth when Ryan Braun doubled with only one out, but Prince Fielder and Corey Hart grounded out to strand Braun at third.  The ninth showed Mike Cameron reaching second on a stolen base with two outs, but Gabe Kapler struck out on a questionable call to give former Brewer Francisco Cordero the save, and the Reds a 6-5 victory in game 1 of the series.

My Take:

This one was great in innings 1-6, and ugly 7-9.  The last three innings is where the Brewers seem to cough up the most leads and squander the most scoring opportunities.  It seems as though Ned Yost’s ball-club never clicks in all facets of baseball (offense, defense, pitching) in games like these, of course, problems are always magnified when Milwaukee comes up short.   This 6-5 defeat stung mightily considering the Brewers had a three run lead late, but all baseball players are human, thus imperfect, thus make mistakes from time to time.  I’m not sure what to make of this one; it will show a lot of character on Milwaukee’s part if they can bounce back tomorrow.

 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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The Milwaukee Brewers scored single runs in the final four innings as they rallied and came back to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks by the score of 4-3 on Wednesday night.  Mike Cameron delivered the game winning hit in the top of the ninth when he singled and Russell Branyan scored the go ahead and winning run.  The Brewers are now up two games to one in the four game series and the final game will be played on Tuesday afternoon.

Cameron led the Brewers with two rbi as he also hit a solo home run in the seventh inning.  J.J. Hardy had a rbi single to score Jason Kendall in the sixth inning and the other Pirates run came in the eighth inning when Rickie Weeks had a solo home run.  It was nice to see the offense wake up and actually put some runs on the board as they appeared dead in the first five innings of the game.

David Riske who pitched the eighth inning recorded the win and is now 1-1 on the season.  Riske did give up a run in the eighth inning as well.  Salomon Torres earned his 15th save in the ninth inning.  Brewers starting pitcher Seth McClung tossed 5 1/3 innings and gave up eight hits and two runs to get a no decision.

The Brewers will try to take three games from the D-backs as they face off again on Thursday afternoon.

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For the second night in a row the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Atlanta Braves by the score of 4-3.  The Brewers are playing great baseball and right now it seems like they are getting every break and taking advantage of other teams mistakes.  Exactly like a good team should do.

Dave Bush was awesome as he pitched first seven innings of the game.  Bush only allowed four hits and one run while picking up the win and improving to 4-7 on the season.  The bullpen has been getting a lot of rest so far this week as Ben Sheets and Bush both went late in to the game.  That is exactly how you want your starting pitchers to pitch!

Brian Shouse tossed a scoreless inning in the eighth inning before he turned things over to Salomon Torres who almost blew the game.  Torres served up a two run home run to Mark Teixeira which brough the score to 4-3.  Luckily for the Brewers, Torres was able to finish out the game and pick up the save.

At the plate for the Brewers they recorded four runs on seven hits.  Ryan Braun got a rbi single in the first inning and then J.J. Hardy scored on a rbi groundout by Corey Hart.  In the second inning Hardy came up to the plate and hit a rbi double to give the Brewers a 3-0 lead.  On to the fourth inning when Rickie Weeks hit a rbi sac fly that scored Jason Kendall for the Brewers fourth and final run of the game.  That was enough production out of the offense to pick up the win.

The Brewers will go for the sweet on Wednesday.  The way they are playing, I think they will get the job done!

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Dave Bush took a no hitter into the eighth inning only to have it broken up by a Lyle Overbay triple to start the inning and the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Blue Jays 8-7 and swept them in the three game series.  It would have been a lot better game had the Brewers bullpen not allowed the Blue Jays to score six runs in the ninth inning and make it a very close game.

Bush pitched eight innings and gave up two hits and one run.  That was a wonderful performance out of Bush as he picked up his third win of the season.  Somedays you just have everything working for you and that appeared to be the way for Bush.

Tim Dillard tried to finish the game in the ninth inning but gave up three hits including a two run home run to Overbay.  Dillard did record two outs in the inning but turned things over to David Riske who then loaded the bases and gave up a grand slam to Joe Inglett.  With the Blue Jays only one run down, the Brewers brought in Salomon Torres to record the final out of the game and secure the Brewers victory.

Russell Branyan once again went deep for a three run home run to lead the Brewers with two rbi.  Big daddy Prince Fielder was right behind him with two rbi including a inside the park home run.  Yeah you read that right, Fielder had a inside the park home run!  J.J. Hardy and Jason Kendall both had one rbi in the game as well for the brew crew.

Great series sweep for the Breweres.  They will now play the Baltimore Orioles this weekend.

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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.

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The Milwaukee Brewers were able to stop their five game loosing streak with a 7-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.  The Brewers used five runs in the final three innings of the game to blow the game wide open.

Mike Cameron and Corey Hart both hit home runs for the Brewers.  Cameron and Jason Kendall both had two rbi in the game to lead the Brewers in that category.  Ryan Braun, Bill Hall, and Hart all had one rbi in the game as well for the Brewers.

Manny Parra pitched 5 2/3 innings to get the win and is now 2-2 on the season.  Parra gave up four hits but no runs in this five plus innings of action.  Seth McClung and Guillermo Mota pitched the next 2 1/3 innings before Eric Gagne came in and gave up two runs.  Yeah, once again Gagne sucked it up…

Lets see if the Brewers can get on a nice roll after snapping their losing streak.  Brewers Blog

The Milwaukee Brewers blew another ninth inning lead as the lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-4.  The funny thing about this game is that Eric Gagne wasn’t even in the game to blow the lead!  This time it was Guillermo Mota who blew the lead and the game.

Mota gave up three runs in the ninth inning to take the loss which was his second of the season.  Moto gave up a two run double to Juan Pierre and then a rbi to Andruw Jones on a ground out to shortstop.  Manny Parra was in line to pick up the win before Moto blew the save.  Parra tossed 6 2/3 innings as he gave up three runs in the no decision.

Parra even led the Bewers with two rbi in the game.  Jason Kendall and Corey Hart also had one rbi in the game for the Brewers.

With the loss, the Brewers fall four games behind the league leading Chicago Cubs.

Brewers Homeplate is currently seeking a Brewers fan that would like to write game recaps for the games.  Recaps can be done right after the game is over or the next morning.  If you are interested be us the contact us link at the top of the site to email us.  Brewers Blog

Well that was a hell of a comeback for the Milwaukee Brewers in Chicago on Thursday afternoon.  Ryan Bruan hit a two run double in the ninth inning to provide the tieing and game winning runs for the Brewers.  A hit batter, two doubles, and a infield single provided the three runs in the ninth inning for the Brewers.

Braun finished the game with three RBI.  Jason Kendall had one RBI as well.  Really the Brewers sucked it up and coudln’t get much going against Carlos Zambrano in the game.  They were lucky that Wood pitched so poorly.

Brian Shouse picked up the win the Eric Gagne picked up thee save.  Gagne has been throwing the ball a little better lately, hopefully he got all the kinks out and will be lights out from here on out.

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The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Chicago Cubs 10-7 on Tuesday night as both offenses put quite a few runs on the scoreboard.  Mike Cameron made his debut of 2008 and had a two RBI for the Brewers as he got off to a fast start.

Cameron along with Prince Fielder and Bill Hall all had two RBI each.  Ryan Braun, J.J. Hardy, and Jason Kendall all had one RBI each as the Brewers pounded Cubs starter Jason Marquis and the Cubs bullpen in the game.

Ben Sheets made his return to the mound for the Brewers and picked up his fourth win of the season.  It wasn’t in typical Sheets fashion however as he was pretty wild and walked seven batters while only striking out two.  Eric Gagne did pick up the save in the ninth inning which was nice to see.

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