Series 23 - Milwaukee Brewers vs Minnesota Twins June 13 - June 15 at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WIThe Brewers played in the AL Central since they came to Milwaukee from Seattle. I don't know how many people know this, but the Brewers were the Seattle Pilots for 1 year (1969) before Bud Selig bought the team in 1970 and moved them to his hometown Milwaukee. In fact, the whole reason they have the colors that they do is because they originally just took the logos and patches off of the Pilot jerseys and hastily sowed on Milwaukee and the original Brewers logos. They had to do that because the Pilots moved to Milwaukee just weeks before the season began, and they didn't have time to order new jerseys. In 1998, the Brewers moved to the NL Central, so that means for 27 years, the Brewers and Twins had a pretty intense rivalry going. In 1997, interleague play was established, and after the Brewers moved to the NL Central, they were scheduled to play against the Twins twice a year - one at home, one on the road. This would be their annual home game against the Twins. What made this series special was the fact that I was in Las Vegas for the premiere of the Beer Pong documentary Last Cup : Road to the World Series of Beer Pong (blog entry coming soon), and I would be able to place money on the Brewers to win. I was expecting them to come through for me, and if they didn't, I would be out money and I would be angry. And you wouldn't like me when I'm angry. On with the wrap-up.
Game 1 (Friday) - Dave Bush (2-7, 5.73 ERA) vs Kevin Slowey (3-6, 4.70)
I put $28.00 on the Brewers to win this game, and I'll start out by saying that I lost that $28.00. I only intended to bet $25.00, but the guy at the Luxor sportsbook upsold me to $28.00 because if I won, then I would win $20.00 instead of $17 and some change. So that jerk essentially stole $3 from me. If that guy wasn't huge and if he had a neck, I'd go back and fight him. But I'm a wuss, so I'll just whine and moan about my money. I even threatened the guy because I was so confident that the Brewers were going to win, despite Dave Bush being on the mound tonight. I told him that I would see him later when I came back to collect my money. They're probably still laughing at me now, and making fun of my overconfidence. Since I was in Las Vegas, I was on Pacific time, so when the game started at 7:05 in Milwaukee, it was 5:05 in Las Vegas. The movie premiere was at 6:30 PT, so thankfully I was unable to get the score updates during the game. That's because the 7th inning turned out to be a very ugly one. Former game winner Bill Hall must have been getting booed hardcore as he committed 2 errors in the 7th inning (while playing 2nd base once again for the injured Rickie Weeks) that led to 5 unearned runs against Tim Dillard. So that sucked. But prior to that, Bush gave up 4 runs off of 10 hits in 6 innings, which certainly didn't help the Brewers try to win this one. It's a good thing that the premiere went really well (I promise that I'll write a blog entry on that one) or else my night would have been very shitty. The Brewers scraped up 2 runs in the 7th inning, but it was obviously not enough to get anywhere near a victory. After the 3-3 road trip, I expected more than this. There's still 2 more games left in this series, so there's still a chance for the series victory. I was hoping to remain optimistic, but I had better things to focus my attention on, believe you me. Final score Twins 10, Brewers 2.
Brewers record : 35 - 32
Game 2 (Saturday) - Jeff Suppan (4-5, 3.68 ERA) vs Glen Perkins (3-2, 4.57)
I was going to put money on the Brewers to win this game, figuring that Suppan pitching at home would be a sure bet. Suppan was a sure thing, but the bullpen lost this one in extra innings. It's a good thing that I didn't put any money on the game then, but I couldn't have even if I wanted to. See, I lost what little money I had left at the Blackjack table at O'Shea's at 6:00 am this morning. I started with $60, then pulled up to $50 up (total of $110) and then lost it all when they changed dealers. The deck just really went cold on me, and I was foolishly trying to win back the money that I had lost from the previous day. That's probably why I suck at gambling because I never know when to walk away. I just want to sit at the table, play for a while, and get free drinks. I don't care if I win, I'm just doing it for fun and free drinks. My goal is to keep breaking even so that I can drink for free. Are you seeing a trend here? There was also a chance that I wouldn't be able to collect should I have won, but the game ended at 9:45 CT, meaning that it would have been 7:45 PT. My flight was at 11:30 PT. I think I used that as an excuse not to put money on this game. It's a good thing that I didn't, since the Brewers tanked it in extra innings. Suppan pitched well, going 7 innings giving up 2 runs off of 7 hits. It was all tied at 3 going into the 9th, so the Brewers, being the home team, brought in Torres to keep the game tied. Corey Hart made an error that allowed the Twins to take the lead, then the Twins brought in Joe Nathan for the save. Nathan is 17 for 18 in saves this year, and is among the best in the AL. Make that 17 for 19 now. With 2 outs, Russel "the Muscle" powers one out of the park and ties the game at 4. Now we're going to extra innings. I was watching some independent comedy (Happy Birthday, Harris Malden) at the Cinevegas film festival while all of this extra inning drama was going on, so I thankfully missed the 12th inning blunder by Tavarez. In 1 1/3 innings, Tavarez gave up 4 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks to seal the deal. He was credited with the loss, and his ERA increased to 7.20. It's a sure thing that he will be released once Riske or Gagne come off of the DL. I never liked the signing, but it was another panic move by Melvin of getting another veteran in the bullpen. Yikes. Now we have to count on Seth McClung to pitch well tomorrow to avoid the sweep. Tough loss in 12 innings. Final score Twins 9, Brewers 4.
Brewers record : 35 - 33
Game 3 (Sunday) - Seth McClung (4-3, 3.94 ERA) vs Scott Baker (2-2, 3.71)
What more can you say about Seth McClung? The guy has been fantastic since joining the starting rotation, and has provided some stability to the back end. I say this every time I recap his start, but I take back every harsh word I've said about McClung this year. He has outpitched Villanueva and Bush, and makes Ned Yost and Mike Maddux look like geniuses. Villanueva has already been moved to the bullpen, so you have to wonder how long it will take for the Brewers to make a similar move with Bush. It's too bad that we don't have any more options for starters. Bush remains in the rotation by default. McClung went 6 innings, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits, and the offense and bullpen backed him up to avoid the sweep. Mike Cameron (who is batting a lowly .225) makes up for it with his defense and power numbers. He hit another homerun today (remember that he missed the first month of the season) to bring his total to 10 on the year and got his 23rd and 24th RBIs. Shouse, Mota and Torres each threw a scoreless inning, and Torres got his 8th save on the year. That makes him perfect in save opportunities. I know that I said in my season preview that Riske was the best offseason pitching signing, but I would now like to formally withdraw that statement. The title of best offseason pitching signing goes to Salomon Torres. The offense wasn't phenominal, but today it didn't have to be because the pitching kept the Brewers in the game. Good show, and way to avoid being swept by our neighbors to the Northwest. Final score Brewers 4, Twins 2.
Brewers record : 36 - 33
It sucks that we lost the series to the Twins, and although I wasn't there for any of these games, I know firsthand that a lot of Twins fans make the drive from Minnesota for these games. I bet there was a good contingent of opposing fans cheering in the seats, and unfortunately for us, they had something to cheer about. The Brewers do play the Twins at the Metrodome from June 27-29, so the Brewers do have the chance to stick it back to them at their ballpark. I know that I'll be up there for that series, and so will a lot of other Brewers fans. When I went up to Minneapolis last year, I'd say that it was a good 40% Brewers fans at each of the 3 games at the Metrodome. Considering how poorly the Brewers play on the road, that's really damn good. The homestand continues with 2 more American League teams coming to town, which should give us the advantage because now their pitcher has to hit, which takes one bat out of their usually potent offenses. It'l be nice to see Lyle Overbay (a fan favorite in 2004-2005 who was traded to Toronto in the following offseason for Dave Bush and Gabe Gross to make room for Prince Fielder) again and I'll be expecting our classy Milwaukee fans to once again do the "O" cheer. For those of you who weren't Brewers fans back during the dark days, people (it started with Darron and Bill's Buckethead Brigade) would stand up, yell "O" and put there arms up over their heads in an O formation (think like the YMCA). It was sweet, especially when 25,000 people were doing it all at once. But that is later, and this is now. I'm going to finish this entry and hopefully get caught up to the current games (currently I am 7 games behind). I'm almost in over my head, but I've come too far to quit now. Besides, the Brewers are getting hot and they need me now more than ever. Brewers, Brewers, keep turnin' up the heat!
Next up - Milwaukee Brewers vs Toronto Blue Jays June 17 (Tuesday) - June 19 (Thursday) at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI
- pookon -
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Series 23 - Milwaukee Brewers vs Minnesota Twins June 13 - June 15 at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI
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