Series 20 - Arizona Diamondbacks vs Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WIThe Brewers have a little too much history with the Arizona Diamondbacks, who now call themselves the DBacks for short. I don't know why they do that, seeing as how it is so close to DBags or Dogbags. Whomever came up with that marketing blunder obviously doesn't have an ear to the ground that today's youth walks upon. I don't claim to be an expert on the youth of today (in fact, I know next to nothing about them) but there is no way that I would name my team anything that sounds close to the dbags. As for the history between the two teams, they have made multiple trades in the past few years that have impacted both teams. In 2004, the Brewers essentially tricked the DBacks into taking Richie Sexson and Shane Nance in return for Lyle Overbay, Chris Capuano, Junior Spivey, Chad Moeller, Craig Counsell and Jorge Del La Rosa. Who do you think got the better end of that lopsided deal? It's not too hard to see at all. The next trade between them in 2007 was payback for the previous deal as the Dbacks unloaded Johnny Estrada, Claudio Vargas and Greg Aquino and the Brewers sent over Doug Davis, Dana Eveland and Dave Krynzel. Estrada was (and still is) garbage, and Vargas and Aquino made little to impact on the team. Meanwhile, Davis was one of the surprises in the fantastic play of the Diamondbacks in 2007 while we were hurting for starting pitchers in 2007 and 2008. I'd love to have him back on the team. Eveland and Krynzel? Good riddance, although Eveland has found success in Oakland (14 starts this year, 5-5 record with a 3.56 ERA). Oh well, that is the past, this is the present. On with the wrap-up.
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Game 1 (Monday) - Jeff Suppan (3-4, 3.93 ERA) vs Doug Davis (2-2, 3.90)
It was another quality start for Doug Davis, who despite missing some time due to Thyroid cancer (the surgery and recovery has been successful) has had a solid year. Too bad for him (I still love the guy) that Jeff Suppan matched it with his own quality start and the Brewers did just enough to beat the DBacks and keep the winning streak going at 4 games. Prince Fielder was the big (pun intended) hero of the day as he smacked a solo home run in the 8th inning that proved to be the winning run. Looks like Fielder is starting to hit again, and our starting pitching has been decent to good lately. Do I smell a turnaround? God I hope so. Not much else to talk about here. Final score Brewers 4, DBacks 3.
Brewers record : 30 - 28
Game 2 (Tuesday) - Seth McClung (3-2, 4.25 ERA) vs Randy Johnson (4-2, 3.88)
Now this is the freakin' offense that was promised to us prior to the season. The one that would score 7 runs off of 9 hits, with all of the offense coming in the 6th-8th innings and including home runs by Braun, Fielder and Hardy. That's what you'd expect when facing Randy Johnson, who collected career strikeout number 4,680 against Mike Cameron in the 1st inning. I was working this game, and was able to witness this in person. When Johnson took second place on the all-time strikeout list (passing Roger Clemens and trailing Nolan Ryan by over 1,000) the crowd at Miller Park gave him a standing ovation. To an opposing pitcher. You stay classy, Milwaukee. What a sweet move by some sweet fans in a sweet city. I was rather proud of our fans on that day, and I almost take back what I say about the people who post on the JSonline message boards, who do nothing to hide their negativity towards the players and Ned Yost. Then I got back on the message boards the next day, and ran into a bunch of unclassy people, then I realized that people talk shit when they are behind the safety of their username, where they feel like it is ok to call names, call out for heads to roll, and make comments that are completely unnecessary. I guess the point of this is that I miss being at Miller Park, watching the game outdoors instead of how I usually watch it - at a desk on the computer. Something has to happen soon, or else I'm going to go completely insane. Speaking of insane, McClung pitched very exceptionally well (6 innings, 6 hits, 1 run, 4 strikeouts, no walks) and collected his first major league hit off of Randy Johnson. In fact, McClung finished the day 2 for 2, and left with a .400 batting average. No too damn bad at all. Final score Brewers 7, DBacks 1.
Brewers record : 31 - 28
Game 3 (Wednesday) - Manny Parra (4-2, 4.33 ERA) vs Micah Owings (6-4, 4.50 ERA)
Sweep!Sweep! Sweep! Sweep! Hells yeah bitch! I was feeling pretty confident going in to this game, because I love Manny Parra to death and have been supporting him for as long as I have known him. He is our future 2/3 pitcher (Gallardo is #1/2, depending on whether or not we resign Sheets, who is without a doubt our #1 pitcher) and showed why he deserves that title. His line score was fantastic - 7 innings pitched, 1 run, 4 hits, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts, and he has dropped his ERA to 4.33. Pretty good, no? The offense backed him up on a day that they didn't need to, but I'll welcome a huge offensive outburst on any day of the week. In all, the Brewers tallied 10 runs off of 14 hits, and Corey Hart was the hero of the day with an inside the park homerun. It was the first one that I had seen since Prince Fielder's monster pop fly at the Metrodome that was lost against the backdrop of the white roof in June of 2007. Hart's was a little less dramatic, as it skipped by Justin Upton when he made a diving play on a shallow line drive. Given Hart's super speed (he runs like a gazelle) and the fact that it was hit towards the right field corner, there was no doubt in anyone's mind that he was going to try and stretch the obvious triple into a homerun. He almost lapped Prince Fielder, who was hustling all the way from first base. Braun, who was on second, also scored on the play. It was a sight to behold. Not surprisingly, I wasn't there and I had to wait until I got home to watch the replay on my DVR. One of the sweetest moments of 2008 and I wasn't there. This is starting to become a disappointing trend. However, it did give me something to do between 11:00 pm - 2:00 am, when the other mortals are sleeping. Since I am unhuman, I can stay up late, drink beers, eat taco dip and watch Brewers games well into the wee hours of the night. I'm either a vampire or a 2nd shift worker. I'm still trying to figure that one out. Final score Brewers 10, DBacks 1.
Brewers record : 32 - 28
I honestly don't know why I keep doing this. I'm like super depressed this year because I don't get to watch home or away Brewers games, so I thought that writing a blog wrap-up would satisfy my need to talk Brewers baseball. Boy was I wrong. It's just not the same because I get my info from the internet, and watching gamecast online and analyzing stats just isn't my thing. I feel so lost and helpless now that the Brewers aren't a big part of my life, and I'm starting to question my job (although it provides me with insurance and security) because it prohibits me from doing the things I love most - watching baseball and drinking/playing beer pong. I'm a bit behind in my updates, so hopefully I can kick the depression and start rocking out insightful commentary once again instead of this boring retread of past events. On a good note, the Brewers had two consecutive sweeps of the Astros and Diamonbacks, which puts this homestand record at 8-1, just the right amount of homebrew we needed. Now they would need to keep that jive going on the road, with 2 tough stops at Coors Field and Minute Maid Park before returing home for a 9 game homestand. Let's hope we play some good games on the road and return back to The Keg still hanging out above .500.
Next up - Milwaukee Brewers @ Colorado Rockies June 6 (Friday) - June 8 (Sunday) at Coors Field in Denver, CO
- pookon -
http://www.pookon.com/
email : pookodotcom@gmail.com
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