Series 29 - Milwaukee Brewers vs Pittsburgh Pirates July 4 - July 6 at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI Today is the beginning of the last homestand before the All Star break, which is a great opportunity for us to gain some games on the NL Central leading Cubs and the NL Wildcard leading Cardinals. Of course, we can only gain games if those other teams lose, but we can't even worry about gaining ground unless we start winning. We win, then hope that they lose. That's kind of how it works. The nice thing about this series is that I would be able to attend 2 of the 3 games, and although I would be working them, it's a bit of a rarity for me to be there for the majority of the homestand. So I got that going for me. That's pretty much it as far as introductions go, as the Brewers face off against the last place cellar dwelling Pirates. So, I guess it's time to get on with the wrap-up.
Game 1 (Friday) - Ben Sheets (10-2, 2.77 ERA) vs Tom Gorzelanny (6-7, 6.57 ERA)
What better way to get things going than with a Ben Sheets outing? A victory is almost guaranteed, seeing as Sheets has been near perfect this year and the Brewers are phenomenal at home. Today's game was played during the day, and since it is a holiday (the 4th of July) they figured that people would be able to come during their day off and fill this sucker up. They figured correctly. Another sold out crowd got to watch the Brewers and Ben Sheets band together to start this series (and homestand) off with a bang. There were some fireworks today, but it's wasn't because we were celebrating our nation's Independence (that happened last night in Milwaukee and will happen later tonight in the surrounding communities). There were fireworks in Miller Park by JJ Hardy, who is on a ridiculous hitting streak where he has raised his batting average nearly 50 points and by Bill Hall, who continues to crush left handed pitching. 3 lefties are starting this weekend, so Hall looks to get some considerable playing time. Since he went 3 for 4 tonight with 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored (with 1 of those hits being a homerun, and another being a double) it's got to be good to be Billy Hall this weekend. People were booing the mess out of him earlier because his struggles led to the platoon with Russell Branyan. Then when the Muscle started tearing the cover off of the ball, people booed him whenever he came into the game. People, Bill Hall doesn't deserve that; he just said what anyone would have said in that situation. Nobody wants to be benched, and no one wants to be bad at their job. Bill Hall is having an off year, but he's not going to fix it by riding the pine. I've always been a big Hall supporter, and I will continue to do so even if he's having a rough year. But good show tonight Mr. Hall, and the Brewers offense picked up Sheets on a day that they didn't have to. To use a Yostism, Sheets was really battling today, and only lasted 5 2/3 innings. Good work by Carlos Villanueva in the 7th-9th innings, as he only gave up 1 hit and 1 walk. He saved the bullpen after Sheet's short start. Nice. Final score Brewers 9, Pirates 1.
Brewers record : 47 - 39
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Game 2 (Saturday) Dave Bush (4-8, 4.74 ERA) vs Paul Maholm (5-5, 4.05 ERA)
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How magnificent is Dave Bush at home? I'm going to tell you. Fantastic. Stupendous. Unbelievable. Ridiculously good. How bad is Dave Bush on the road? I'd say a couple of words, but to protect the eyes of children, they would include characters such as #%&*! and other random characters that Qbert screams in his little word bubble when a snake or a ball falls down on him. I wasn't able to watch this game since I was at Summerfest to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. When I can't watch the game on TV or on the internet, I get text messages on my phone with scoring updates. When I wasn't getting updates for this game, I started to get nervous because that means that both offenses were getting shut down today. When the Brewers mighty offense is held in check, it is very rare that our pitching backs them up to hold down the opponents offense, but today Bush was able to do it by holding the Pirates to 1 run on 4 hits in 8 innings while striking out 7. Gagne pitched the 9th inning, and got the win when Prince Fielder his an RBI single in the bottom of the 9th to get the walk off victory in front of the near sell out crowd. And who scored that winning run? Rickie Weeks, who reached base via a walk. JJ Hardy's 16 game hitting streak came to an end when he laid down a sac bunt in the 9th to get Weeks in scoring position. Now that's a team player that cares more about the overall goal (to win games) versus individual goals (hitting streaks). Well done Mr. Hardy, way to be a team player. You get a gold star and your name on the board for displaying honor and selflessness in your performance today. That's why they call it a sacrifice. Oh, and Tom Petty rocked my socks off, just like he does every time that he comes to town. I wish that I could remember more, but i was pretty wasted. Story of my life, but just don't tell my Mom that. Final score Brewers 2, Pirates 1.
Brewers record : 48 - 39
Game 3 (Sunday) - Jeff Suppan (5-6, 4.71 ERA) vs Zach Duke (4-5, 4.23 ERA)
Going for the sweep against the Pirates today, and Jeff Suppan had a chance to rebound from some poor outings as of late. Unfortunately he continued with another bad outing today. He only lasted 3 innings (75 pitches) and allowed 6 runs on 5 hits including 2 homeruns. Yuck. Fortunately (the West Bend Mutual Insurance Silver Lining!) the Brewers offense picked up the slack and spared him the loss, as he settled for a no decision. Stetter got the win in relief when the Brewers scored 4 runs in the 4th inning and the rest of the bullpen kept the Pirates scoreless. The Brewers offense poured it on, and totalled 11 runs off 16 hits and featured 2 homeruns by JJ Hardy and 1 by Ryan Braun. Bill Hall went 3-5 today with 3 RBIs, and ended up having a very productive series against the 3 left handed starters. Nice. Whereas yesterday was a pitchers showcase, today was nothing but offense. We just happen to have a better offense than they do. Nah nah nah nah nah, we're better than you are. Hope it's not too dark and scary in the basement Pittsburgh. Final score Brewers 11, Pirates 6.
Brewers record : 49 - 39
That's a really nice way to start out the homestand, and I'm ecstatic that I could be a part of it. I wish that we could play all of our games at home, and even though we played well in Pittsburgh this year, there's no way that we would have been able to sweep them at PNC Park. Hooray hurrah, and all of that other fancy hooplah that surrounds a series sweep. Get hyped. As Borat would say, "Very nice, I like." I just hope that he doesn't say that he wants to have a sexy time with someone's mother-in-law that I know. That would be rough. But the close to the "unofficial" half way point of the season has started of with a bang, with fireworks shooting off inside and outside of Miller Park. Let's roll into the All-Star break on a good note. This certainly was a nice start.
Brewers record : 48 - 39
Game 3 (Sunday) - Jeff Suppan (5-6, 4.71 ERA) vs Zach Duke (4-5, 4.23 ERA)
Going for the sweep against the Pirates today, and Jeff Suppan had a chance to rebound from some poor outings as of late. Unfortunately he continued with another bad outing today. He only lasted 3 innings (75 pitches) and allowed 6 runs on 5 hits including 2 homeruns. Yuck. Fortunately (the West Bend Mutual Insurance Silver Lining!) the Brewers offense picked up the slack and spared him the loss, as he settled for a no decision. Stetter got the win in relief when the Brewers scored 4 runs in the 4th inning and the rest of the bullpen kept the Pirates scoreless. The Brewers offense poured it on, and totalled 11 runs off 16 hits and featured 2 homeruns by JJ Hardy and 1 by Ryan Braun. Bill Hall went 3-5 today with 3 RBIs, and ended up having a very productive series against the 3 left handed starters. Nice. Whereas yesterday was a pitchers showcase, today was nothing but offense. We just happen to have a better offense than they do. Nah nah nah nah nah, we're better than you are. Hope it's not too dark and scary in the basement Pittsburgh. Final score Brewers 11, Pirates 6.
Brewers record : 49 - 39
That's a really nice way to start out the homestand, and I'm ecstatic that I could be a part of it. I wish that we could play all of our games at home, and even though we played well in Pittsburgh this year, there's no way that we would have been able to sweep them at PNC Park. Hooray hurrah, and all of that other fancy hooplah that surrounds a series sweep. Get hyped. As Borat would say, "Very nice, I like." I just hope that he doesn't say that he wants to have a sexy time with someone's mother-in-law that I know. That would be rough. But the close to the "unofficial" half way point of the season has started of with a bang, with fireworks shooting off inside and outside of Miller Park. Let's roll into the All-Star break on a good note. This certainly was a nice start.
Next up - Milwaukee Brewers vs Colorado Rockies July 7 (Monday) - July 10 (Thursday) at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI
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