CC Sabathia pitched 6 and 2/3rds good innings, but was undone by a throwing error from Rickie Weeks in the 7th that gave Chicago the lead, the momentum, and eventually, the game.  The Cubs jumped out to a 2-0 lead early thanks to Alfonso Soriano.  He hit a lead off double and scored in the first, and homered in the 3rd inning.  The Brewers awoke in the sixth as J.J. Hardy homered with one out and Ryan Braun followed suit to tie the game and bring the crowd to their feet.  Prince Fielder singled and then scored on a double by Corey Hart (who was thrown out at third on the play to buy the big first baseman more time).  In the seventh, the bases were loaded with one out and Derrek Lee at the plate.  Sabathia engaged in a memorable battle with the Cubs’ slugger, but when it seemed as though the lefty had managed to get out of the inning, Rickie Weeks promptly threw the ball past Fielder at first to ruin the double play and the game in the same instant.  Milwaukee stormed back with two outs in the seventh when Russell Branyan hit a monstrous pinch-hit home run to knot the game at 4.  In the ninth, though, usually reliable Salomon Torres scuffled mightily and surrendered 2 earned runs on 2 hits and 3 walks (one intentional).  Carlos Marmol pitched the ninth for manager Lou Piniella, getting the save.

Offensive MVP: Cubs LF Alfonso Soriano (2-4/3R/1HR/1RBI/1BB/1K)

Pitching MVP: Cubs RP Chad Gaudin (1IP/0H/0ER/1BB/3SO/0HR/Win-7th)

My Take:

To Brewers fans ready to jump off a cliff…come on!  The season is far from over, the series is far from over, and there will be much more baseball played against the Chicago Cubs in 2008.  The Cubs are a superb team, and mind you, that statement is coming from one of the most passionate Brewer fans you would ever meet.  It is not easy for me to accept, but it’s the truth.  Tonight proves that when they are on, they are truly the class of the National League.  They battled and strained and held onto their lead, something Milwaukee has been unable to do too often this year.  Am I counting the Brewers out of the division race?  Heck no!  This was one of the greatest (and worst) Brewers’ games I have ever witnessed, and the atmosphere in Miller Park provided a glimpse of how electric postseason baseball would be should Ned Yost’s club reach that plateau.  As for this series: consider it a good and realistic outcome if the Brewers split.

Jeff Suppan was atrocious on Sunday afternoon, giving up 8 earned runs on 11 hits in 6 innings of work.  He also walked one and struck out 3.  The Brewers were up 4-1 thanks to a Prince Fielder sac fly in the first, a Mike Rivera double in the second, and a two-run shot by Ryan Braun in the third.  But Suppan was hit and hit hard in the fifth, surrendering seven runs that were capped off by a three-run shot by Geoff Blum, his second of the day.  Milwaukee tallied one in the sixth off a J.J. Hardy single that scored Russell Branyan from second, but reliever Seth McClung gave up 3 earned runs off of 5 hits and 3 walks in only 2.0 innings pitched to crush any hope of a Brewer comeback.  Astros starter Randy Wolfe struggled, giving up 3 earned runs in 4.1 innings of work, but Chris Sampson relieved him and handcuffed the Brewers for the next few frames, giving up only 1 earned run.  In the ninth, Rickie Weeks tripled and scored on a ground-out by Hardy.

Offensive MVP: Astros 3B Geoff Blum (2-4/2R/2H/2HR/4RBI/0BB/1K)

Pitching MVP: Astros RP Chris Sampson (2.2IP/2H/1ER/0BB/2SO/0HR)

My Take:

So long first place.  This was one of the tougher losses of 2008, but it is simply part of the ebb and flow of a 162 game season.  It would have been nice for the Brewers to have a little momentum going into their 4 game series with Chicago, but that’s just not the way it turned out.  Suppan is often up and down throughout a year, so he could easily bounce back next time.  The upcoming four games will say a lot about whether the Brewers are truly a contender or just a pretender, but even the outcome of that series should be taken with a grain of salt.

Jeff Suppan had just returned from the disabled list and was scuffling immediately.  He allowed two Cardinals’ runs in the first inning, the first off the strength of a monstrous home run by All Star Ryan Ludwick, the second off of a Rick Ankiel two-out RBI single.  Suppan settled down in the second, but allowed St. Louis catcher Yadier Molina to double in Troy Glaus with two out.  Up 3-0, the phenomenal right-handed starter Kyle Lohse briefly flirted with a no-hitter into the fifth inning, but Prince Fielder quickly wiped that out when he singled.  Lohse did not surrender any runs through the first six innings and was looking untouchable, and even though Jeff Suppan had settled in to pitch a very respectable game, all appeared bleak on Monday evening for Milwaukee.  With CC Sabathia and Ben Sheets slated to pitch the series’ final two games, the Brewers were still in a strong position to either split or win the series after a loss in Game 2.  But, oh wait…there WAS no loss in Game 2!

In the top of the seventh inning, things were looking encouraging when J.J. Hardy hit a lead-off double and Ryan Braun hit a tricky grounder to the left side of the mound that St. Louis third-baseman Troy Glaus was forced to hold on to, allowing Hardy to get to third and himself to get a base hit.  Prince Fielder mashed a ground ball to left field, scoring Hardy and putting Milwaukee on the board, but Gabe Kapler chopped into a rally-killing double play (Hall struck out with a runner on third and two gone).  Suppan kept his club in the game with a scoreless seventh frame, and that paved the way for one of the most heroic comebacks in the history of the Brewers/Cardinals rivalry.  Mike Cameron struck out to lead off the eighth, but Jason Kendall singled right after.  Pinch hitter Russell “The Muscle” Branyan showed very little muscle as he lined out softly to shortstop, and with Rickie Weeks (not one of Milwaukee’s greatest clutch performers of 2008) coming to the plate, it looked as though Tony La Russa’s struggling bullpen would escape another demoralizing defeat (they surrendered three Brewers’ runs in the top of the 10th inning in Game 1 of the series to kill an inspiring Cardinals’ comeback).  Apparently, the arrival of Ray Durham served as something of a wakeup call to the younger second baseman.  He smacked a double to the wall in left-center field and the always-hustling Jason Kendall motored around the bases to score.  With Weeks on second, J.J. Hardy, who has been as hot as any hitter in baseball for the past oh…month or so…promptly tied the game at 3 with an RBI single.

Steady left-handed reliever Brian Shouse pitched a perfect eighth, and in the ninth, with two outs, the hero of last night’s game produced an astonishing encore.  When Bill Hall connected with the pitch from Kyle McClellan, there was no doubt in my mind (or Hall’s) that it was going to go a long, long way.  When the ball came down into the sea of Cardinals’ red, the stadium, which had been so alive for the first six innings of the game, fell deathly silent.  There would be no comeback, no celebration for La Russa’s Redbirds in the bottom of the ninth.  Salomon Torres, who had pitched two innings the day before, allowed absolutely nothing, and the Brewers won their fifth straight game on the road (sixth straight overall).  Ned Yost’s upstart club is now in sole possession of second place in the NL Central, in sole possession of the Wild Card Berth, and with the Cubs down 9-2 in the top of the ninth inning, it appears as though Milwaukee, 8.5 games back just over a month ago, will be sitting a mere 1 game behind their bitter rivals.

Offensive MVP: Bill Hall (1-4/1R/1HR/1RBI/0BB/2K)

Pitching MVP: Jeff Suppan (7IP/8H/1HR/3ER/2BB/3SO)

My Take:

Few times in my life have I been at a total loss for words.  This is one of those times.  I have followed the Milwaukee Brewers since I was a young child, and I have seen some good games, some numerically greater comebacks, but never have I been this convinced of an impending defeat.  Kyle Lohse looked almost un-hittable, Jeff Suppan looked mediocre early on, and the Milwaukee offense looked totally listless.  I give Ned Yost props for keeping the bench spirits high, or at least alive throughout what looked like a very ugly game.  No team wins games like these against their rivals on the road unless they have confidence in themselves as a team.  The Brewers clearly have confidence in themselves that hasn’t been seen in Milwaukee in over a quarter century.  I will go out on a limb and make a bold prediction: the Brewers WILL win the series at Busch Stadium!

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.

This is just getting ridiculous.  CC Sabathia earned his second straight complete game victory Friday, striking out 10 Giants and yielding only four hits to them.  Milwaukee scored first in the third inning when Sabathia doubled and scored later off a J.J. Hardy groundout.  In the fourth, Russell Branyan doubled to lead off the inning and scored when second basemen Rickie Weeks delivered a clutch single with two outs.  Up 3-0 in the seventh (following a Hardy RBI double), Milwaukee expanded their lead, when Prince Fielder hit an opposite field, three run shot to double his club’s lead.  In the ninth, Mike Cameron hit Milwaukee’s second three run homer to put the game well out of reach.  San Francisco’s only run came off of an Aaron Rowand round-tripper.

My Take:

What a way to start off the “second half” of 2008.  The Chicago Cubs fell to Houston 2-1, putting the Brewers four games back.  Sabathia is proving himself to be a fantastic acquisition to Milwaukee.  He is now 3-0 with 24 strikeouts and 2 complete game victories in three starts.  Talk is now brewing of G.M. Doug Melvin attempting to sign Oakland’s brilliant young relief pitcher Huston Street, and should this move be made, the Brewers would solve the eighth inning dilemma that has plagued them so often this season.

 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.

Brewers Blog

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.

Brewers Blog

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.

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 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.