Series 37 - Milwaukee Brewers @ Cincinnati Reds August 4 - August 6 at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, OHEveryone (except those lousy Northsiders) can agree that the Brewers - Cubs series was a horrendous affair, but winning 2 out of 3 in Atlanta then traveling to Cincinnati to play the last place Reds sweetened those feelings a little bit. I'll still be pissed off at the Cubs (it's in my blood) but at least I can sleep a little easier at night when the 2008 Brewers win on the road, which is something that their predecessors could never figure out how to do. The 2007 Milwaukee Brewers finished with a horrid 32 - 49 record, something that they have identified as a problem. So far this year, (after this series) they are 32 - 28, which matches their win total from last year, and we still have 1 1/2 months left to play. Outstanding. Sure, their home record isn't as ridiculously good as it was last year, but it's good enough that the Brewers have one of the best records in the National League. That fact that we started to play better on the road could signal a real turn around, and i hate to jinx it, but I know where I'll be in October. Enough with that though, there's still plenty of baseball to be played. Now on with the wrap-up.
Game 1 (Monday) - Manny Parra (9-5, 4.18 ERA) vs Bronson Arroyo (10-8, 5.55 ERA)
Wanna know an easy way to tell that the Brewers lost when looking at my blog entry? I only write like a mini paragraph wrap-up. Unless something happens during the game that really pisses me off, why sit and dwell on a loss? That's the beauty of baseball - until the last few days in September, there's always another game tomorrow. That usually would apply to a loss, but this just isn't any loss, this was a really tough loss. On the field, it was pretty average. Manny Parra gave up 6 runs in 6 innings (but they all came in the 5th and 6th) which led to my next point. Off the field however, was an entirely different story. From my perspective (and from what I read online) this is what happened. Parra had a no hitter going into the 5th, then he totally lost it and allowed all the runs. The Brewers were suddenly down 6-0, and Manny was pinch hit for in the 7th. Parra grabbed his jacket to go back to the clubhouse, and Prince Fielder shoved him towards the bench, and said something, which most figure to be along the lines of sit down and stay with your team while we bat instead of going back to the clubhouse. Sure, there were expletives in there as well (it was caught on TV by the cameras) and when Manny got up and kept on walking, Prince shoved him again, and this time it was in the face. Ray Durham, Dave Bush, Ryan Braun, and Mike Maddux did a rumble fumble pile-on on top of Prince to stop him from murdering Parra. It looked pretty ugly on TV, but I guess it was just Prince losing his cool. They resolved everything the next day, and I really don't see any long term effects happening from it. Prince is a really aggressive person, and he was just blowing off some steam. Baseball players are like brothers, and like real life brothers, they get into fights. Just imagine your family and how much time you spend with them, and then think about these players. Most of them come from very different backgrounds, and they are expected to get along with each other. For the most part they do, and from what I hear, the Brewers have some of the best team chemistry in the entire league because they all are friends and get along well. After all, the core nucleus of the team all came up through the minors together. But every now and then you get into a fight with your best friends or siblings. Trust me, it happens. If it doesn't happen to you, then in no way are you human. Humans make mistakes, because not a single one of us is perfect. So it was an unfortunate event, and we wouldn't have even talked about it except for the fact that it was broadcast on TV. So I mentioned it too, and gave my rationale. So that's what happened, the Brewers scored a couple late runs, but it wasn't enough to take the focus off of Fielder and Parra, nor was it enough to win the game. Final score Reds 6, Brewers 3.
Brewers record : 62 - 51, 2nd place NL Central, 1st place NL Wild Card
Game 2 (Tuesday) - Dave Bush (6-9, 4.50 ERA) vs Edinson Volquez (13-5, 2.93 ERA)
After that dugout flair up yesterday, the Brewers could have gone either way. They could have stayed mad at each other and held grudges, which would result in poor chemistry, poor attitude, and poor play. Last year, the team would have tanked and had a rotten August. In fact, last year they did tank and have a rotten August following the shouting match between Ned Yost and Tony Graffanino and Johnny Estrada. But this isn't last year's team. This team responded by ganging up on Edinson Volquez, who has been one of the lone bright spot on an otherwise dull team. The hit him up for 5 runs in 5 innings, then tacked on some more on the bullpen arms. Those add on runs are the most important, because the Brewers traditionally score early and shut it down after that, allowing the other team to make a comeback. Since they kept scoring runs, and Dave Bush was once again magnificent, the Reds didn't even stand a chance. The way that they played today erased that dugout fracas out of my mind, and showed me that they were a resilient team. Hey, maybe this is our year after all. This was a really big game, and I have no doubt in my mind that this game (and yesterday's) will be looked upon as one of the roadmarkers in the 2008 season. Final score Brewers 8, Reds 1.
Brewers record : 63 - 51, 2nd place NL Central, 1st place NL Wild Card
Game 3 (Wednesday) - Jeff Suppan (7-7, 4.70 ERA) vs Homer Bailey (0-6, 7.93 ERA)
Since the All-Star break, CC, Big Ben, Manny, and DB have been outstanding. Hmmm.... who I am leaving off of that list? Oh I know, Soup. His contract has kept him in the starting rotation, but it is time for him to start producing results. I know that he was money last year in September, and that he most likely will again. His veteran presence and leadership, not to mention playoff experience will no doubt prove valuable to this team down the stretch run this year. But he still needs to take the mound every 5 days and perform. That is the bottom line all that I ask of him. Everything else is a bonus. Soup responded to my criticism by tossing a quality start - 7 innings pitched, 3 runs allowed. The Brewers offense doubled up on the Reds, and the Brewers won what could have been an incredibly disastrous series. Good show today, mostly because they scored all 6 runs without the benefit of a single home run. For a team that struggles with runners in scoring position, that's huge. Final score Brewers 6, Reds 3.
Brewers record : 64 - 51, 2nd place NL Central, 1st place NL Wild Card
When people mention the Reds series in August, the dugout altercation will certainly come to mind first. Hopefully by then it will be looked upon as a positive. Fighting is never good, and I really don't believe in physical violence because I don't think you can solve a problem with your fists, but it was less of a fight and more of a conflict. There are a very few lessons I have remembered from my Communication classes in college (alcohol has killed a lot of my brain cells), but I do remember that conflict is not always a bad thing. Conflict is generally viewed as fighting, but the word conflict is actually defined as "to come into collision or disagreement; be contradictory, at variance, or in opposition; clash." One of the definition does involve "a fight, battle, or struggle, esp. a prolonged struggle; strife." but it doesn't always involve fighting. This conflict was fairly normal, although it probably looked a lot worse than it actually was. And the seasons, they go round and round, and the painted ponies go up and down. We're captive on a carousel of time. We can't return, we can only look, behind from where we came. And go round and round and round in the circle game. That really made no sense right there, but I just felt like sticking it in there. Gotta love Afterglow, cause it allows me to put in seemingly irrelevant things in this blog, since only those closest to me will get it. So in your face everyone who doesn't know me, you don't get all the inside jokes. Gee, that's a wonderful way to attract new readers, eh? By flat out making fun of them? I never was too good at that 1st impression shit. Good day sir.
Next up - August 8 (Friday) - August 11 (Monday) Milwaukee Brewers vs Washington Nationals at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WI
- pookon -
http://www.pookon.com/
email : pookondotcom@gmail.com
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