Series 22 - Milwaukee Brewers @ Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park in Houston, TXIf you don't remember the last time the Brewers played the Astros at Minute Maid park, take a second to scroll down to my May 5th entry to refresh your memory. Too busy for that shit? I figured. I'm lucky that you're even reading this entry. To refresh your memory, the Brewers got swept by the Astros and it wasn't pretty. The Brewers then swept the Astros at Miller Park May 30 - June 1, and were looking to avoid another sweep here. I'd be fine with winning just one game, but it would be sweet to take 2 of 3 (especially losing 2 of 3 against Colorado) and return home after a 3-3 road trip. We would have 2 of our 5 best pitchers going (Manny Parra and Ben Sheets) and one of this season's surprises (Seth McClung) so I liked our odds. I'm still a little wary of our inability to win on the road, but if our offense gets in gear like they are capable of, our starting pitchers will have a little leeway because they can give up 5 runs and the Brewers will still win 8-5. It wouldn't be pretty, because you never want your pitchers to give up that many runs, but I'll take it if the offense backs them up. An ugly win is still a win. And now, on with the wrap-up.
Game 1 (Tuesday) - Seth McClung (3-3, 4.07 ERA) vs Roy Oswalt (5-6, 5.06)What is more surprising, the fact that Seth McClung is an effective #4/5 starter (3-3, 4.07 ERA) or that Astros ace Roy Oswalt is having a miserable year (5-6, 5.06 ERA)? Personally, I'd say Seth McClung being an effective starter since I was really never impressed with his stuff when he was coming out of the bullpen. He really hasn't had a terrible outing this year, and has given everything that you'd expect as a #4/5 starter. He is in no way a comparable to Yovanni Gallardo (because no one is) but he's good enough for now, especially considering that we do not have any other options. But after further review, it looks like the surprise is then Oswalt, who sports a career ERA of 3.19 and has a record of 117-60. This year, he is way off of his career norms, which thankfully hurts a team that already has poor pitching. I say thankfully because we already have enough to worry about with St. Louis and Chicago (will they ever start losing?) winning games like crazy. Let Houston, Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati duke it out for the NL Central basement. You've probably guess by now that I really don't want to talk about this game. McClung went 6 innings, giving up 2 runs on 2 hits while striking out 5, which is pretty damn good for this goofy brute. It's too bad that Julian Taverez (the signing of which I still view as a desperation "sign a veteran guy" after the injuries to Gagne and Riske and don't agree with) had a bad day and gave up 4 runs in the 7th inning. The offense didn't do shit, and the lone run came off of a solo home run by Ryan Braun (he's so hot right now) in the 3rd inning. Nothing much else to say here, as the Brewers lose another game on the road. Final score Astros 6, Brewers 1.
Brewers record : 33 - 31
Game 2 (Wednesday) - Manny Parra (5-2, 4.66 ERA) vs Brandon Backe (4-8, 5.00 ERA)When they built Minute Maid Park (formerly Enron Field), they must have missed some of the numbers on the blueprints, because they built this place way wrong. It is only 315 feet to the Crawford boxes in left field, but an astonishingly far 435 feet (and uphill) to dead center. Sounds like it was constructed so that the Astros could get by on having a heavy right handed hitting power team. In fact, Minute Maid Park is very hitter friendly, and when two home run hitting powerhouses like the Brewers and the Astros sqaure off there, it's rare to see a fly ball that actually stays in the field of play. Case in point - today's game. There were a total of 8 home runs hit. For the Astros it was Miguel Tejada, Carlos Lee and Ty Wigginton. For the Brewers it was Russell Branyan, Mike Cameron, Jason Kendall and 2 by Corey Hart. That's a lot of home runs folks. This is going to sound ridiculously obvious, but the team that scores more runs is going to win. I know it may sound like a stupid comment to make, but you can't really keep either team off the scoreboard. You just have to hope that your team (the Brewers) scores more than their team (the Astros). As Minute Maid Park, it just turns into an offensive showcase and resembles the Home Run Derby at the All Star Game instead of an actual Major League Baseball game. Thankfully the Brewers were able to score early and often, and really sealed the deal with a 3 run outburst in the 8th inning that put them up by 4 runs. No lead is ever safe in a hitter friendly ballpark, which always has me on the edge of my seat until the final out, but the Brewers were good enough to get this victory. Now we go for the series victory, and we got Big Ben (Sheets) on the mound. Here's hoping. Final score Brewers 10, Astros 6.
Brewers record : 34 - 31Game 3 (Thursday) - Ben Sheets (7-1, 2.72 ERA) vs Brian Moehler (3-3, 4.76 ERA)
Ben Sheets is the man, and he showed everyone again today why I feel that way. Sheets went 7 strong innings, picking up the win after giving up 3 runs on 7 hits and a season high 9 strikeouts. The rest of the bullpen wasn't pretty, as Mota gave up 2 runs and Torres gave up 1 run, which gave Houston a total of 6. Normally, that would be enough for the victory for the Astros, and the Brewers would be looking at another road defeat, but the Brewers offense went off today with a bang. Fielder, Kapler, Cameron and Hart all hit homeruns, and the Brewers had multiple run innings (the 2nd, 5th and 9th) that ensured the game and series victory. Everyone except Branyan and Hall (playing second base today because of the injury to Rickie Weeks) had at least 1 hit each (although Branyan and Hall did each contribute with a RBI.) On the whole, it was a great offensive showcase, and I'm glad that they once again decided that it was a good idea to win during a Ben Sheets start. Sweet win today, especially on the road. Ben Sheets got the win and now leads the team with 7. God I wish we could resign him for next year, but once again, that 's another topic for another blog. Final score Brewers 9, Astros 6.
Brewers record : 35 - 31So how about that? After a disappointing game 1 loss, the Brewers offense stormed back and took the series and now return back to Miller Park after a 3-3 road trip. That's the best that you can really hope for. Now it's time to come back and have another outstanding homestand (much like that 8-1 rampage over the Braves, Astros and Dbacks) against the Twins, Blue Jays and Orioles. If we keep winning, and the Cubs finally start losing (which won't happen because God doesn't want me to be happy) then we have a chance to make up some serious ground in the next 2 weeks. Let's hope that the Brew flows well at home and even if the Cubs keep winning, we can keep winning too to keep pace until they eventually start sucking. We can't worry about how the others are doing, because just like beer pong, you really can only control how well you play. That is one of the reasons why I like Ned Yost as manager - he doesn't worry about everyone else, he just worries about his team. He doesn't even worry about tomorrow - he really does take it one day at a time. That's all you can ever do, because you can't win in October if you don't win today. Now our rivals from the North come on down for the annual Interleague series to start a 9 game homestand. Now is the time to start winning. If we are going to play below .500 on the road, then we gotta make it up by kicking some major ass at home. I'll raise my beer and toast a good performance, considering they give one. C'mon Brewers, I'm thirsty!
Next up - Milwaukee Brewers vs Minnesota Twins June 2 (Friday) - June 4 (Sunday) at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI
- pookon -http://www.pookon.com/
Series 22 - Milwaukee Brewers @ Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park in Houston, TX
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