Series 7 - Brewers vs Cardinals, Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI
The Cardinals came to Miller Park for a short 2 game series, and it was the second time within a week that these two teams would be squaring off. The biggest difference was that the games were now being played in our back yard at The Keg (Miller Park) where the Brewers have historically played well. Currently, the Cardinals are still leading the NL Central and although it is still early in the season (a common retread around here) it is important for the Brewers to win against NL Central opponents and the division leader so they can stay near the top of the division. I'll keep saying it - a win now counts the same in the standings column as a win in September.
Game 1 (Monday) - Carlos Villanueva (1-2, 5.09) vs Adam Wainright (2-1, 2.73)
This game was a pitching rematch of the game on April 16th, and unfortunately the results remained the same. Villanueva has yet to find his groove, although he looks like he is pitching better in every outing. I wish I could say that his job is secure once Sheets returns to action, but I can't guarantee that. The Brewers are carrying 14 pitchers to avoid placing Sheets on the DL, but once Cameron is activated (April 29) it looks like a pitcher will be sent down to AAA. Bush has the proven track record (and innings pitched), while Parra and Villanueva are struggling to pitch past the 5 inning and both also have high ERAs. Both of these guys are essentially pitching for their jobs. Villanueva made the decision difficult by pitching 7 strong innings giving up 3 hits and 2 runs, but he did walk 4 batters. The defense was a little suspect behind him, and the normally sure handed Corey Hart made 1 error and a costly defensive miscue that allowed those 2 earned runs in the 3rd inning. Turnbow came in with the score tied at 3 in the 9th and gave up a run that cost the Brewers the victory. His appearance in this game was debated heavily by second guessers, but Gagne had pitched in the last few games and was in desperate need of a day off. Who else was Ned supposed to go with? I know Turnbow has struggled this year, but last year he was mostly phenomenal as a setup man. If he's in your bullpen, you're going to have to use him in pressure situations eventually, so I support Ned on this call, even if Turnbow did lose the game. It hurts a bit, but when you play sloppy defense and score 3 runs, you can't expect to win. Final score Cardinals 4, Brewers 3.
Brewers record : 11 - 8
Game 2 (Tuesday) - Manny Parra (1-1, 5.40) vs Kyle Lohse (2-0, 2.54)
I mentioned in the paragraph above that Villanueva would be pitching for his job, well the same goes for Manny Parra. Both pitchers are young enough to benefit from getting work in at AAA and try to extend their outings (Parra has been unable to pitch past the 5th inning) without it hurting the parent club. Sheets is in line to make his start on April 29th, so a pitching change is about to happen. Cameron is also coming back from his suspension, and since the Brewers are currently carrying 14 pitchers, 1 of those pitchers will be sent down to make room for Cameron. A second pitcher could go as well if they were considering having an extra bench player (an infielder, like Joe Dillion) therefor putting their number of pitchers at 12. So who goes? I might save that for a future blog entry, but Bush and Turnbow (two marked pitchers) have been pitching better lately whereas Parra is still struggling. It wouldn't surprise me if he got sent down to AAA to iron out the bumps in his game. This game was a bit of a wild one, as both starters went 5 innings or less. Parra threw 106 pitches in 5 innings, and the bullpen was taxed as the game lasted 12 innings. The bullpen pretty much emptied out as Stetter, Riske, Shouse, Torres, Gagne, Mota and McClung all made appearances. Gagne did blow his 4th save of the year, but could have gotten out of it if Rickie Weeks could learn how to throw at Prince Fielder's chest instead of his shoes. A good 1st baseman picks the throw clean, but Prince is still young and working on his defense. Anyway, the game went into extras and the Brewers ended up winning it in the 12th when Gross walked, stole second, scored on Kapler's base hit, then kept on running all the way to Tampa Bay. That's right, after the game, it was announced that Gross had been traded to the Tampa Bay Rays for a case of Genuine Draft and a box of Hot Pockets. I think we got the better end of the deal, but we lose a little bit because we can no longer call for a Gross Sac when he's batting with a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs. I guess I won't look like a perverse weirdo anymore, because I won't be standing in the bleachers yelling, "I wanna see a Gross sac!" Most people out there don't get it and mothers just cover their children's ears. I wish him well, but the truth was that we had 5 outfielders who are better than him. There was a lot of offense in the game tonight, but the final score was Brewers 9, Cardinals 8.
Brewers record : 12 - 8
Same team, but a little different results. Not too much different, because instead of losing the series, they ended up splitting this short 2 game set. The Brewers improved to 12-8 on the year, and have been above .500 since the season started. They still are in second place in the division, and we'd like to see them occupy that top spot, but the truth is that they are not all clicking on the same cylinders right now. You couldn't honestly tell me that the Brewers are playing 100% to their abilities right now and playing flawless baseball because it's a lie. I'll go into more details in my blog entry titled Brewers Report : Don't Panic, so I'll spare you for now. It's too soon to get worried, and we should be excited that we are 12-8 despite some major and minor flaws in our game. Things are looking up, and hopefully some of the guys on this team could find their swing. They probably didn't realize that they were supposed to be looking for it, hence the delay in the searching. But if all goes well (and it will) we'll all be excited as hell come October.
Next up - Brewers vs Phillies April 23 (Wednesday) - April 24 (Thursday) at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI
- pookon -
http://www.pookon.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment