Series 38 - Milwaukee Brewers vs Washington Nationals August 8 - August 11 at Miller Park in Milwaukee, WISome people may say that it is cruel beating up someone who is smaller and weaker than you, and for the most part, I agree with them. Except when it comes to sports. If you can't hang with the big boys, then you shouldn't be playing. The Montreal Expos were the laughing stock of Major League Baseball, so what did they do? Move to Washington D.C. so that they still could be the laughing stock of Major League Baseball. The Expos had some good teams, and terrific players in their past (Vladimir Guerrero, Pedro Martinez, Andrew Dawson, Tim Raines) but they never amounted to anything and the fan support dwindled to less than 10,000 per game. That, and the fact that they were sold, led them to relocate to Washington D.C. But they are still the worst team in the NL, and can't compete with teams like the Brewers. I challenge you to name 1 player on the Washington Nationals. The only one that I can remember is Ryan Zimmerman, mostly because he was int he running for rookie of the year in 2006 (the same year Prince Fielder was in contention. It eventually went to Hanley Ramirez of the Florida Marlins.) But in 2008, the Brewers beat up teams like the Nationals, steal their lunch money, give them wedgies, and make them go home crying to their Mommies. It's not mean, it's just baseball. The Brewers were one of those teams a few years ago, so I know exactly what it's like for your hometown team to suck. It hurts, which is why I'm glad that the Brewers finally decided to be a better team. Geez, took them long enough. So with the Nationals in town for a quick 4-game homestand, we should have plenty of chances for victories. If we can't beat teams like the Nationals, then we should just move the team down to Huntsville and let the Stars come up and take their roster spots. You don't deserve to play Major League baseball if you can't beat teams worse than you. But since the Brewers did come out on top (in all 4 games, sorry to spill the beans prematurely) no one, not even Craig Counsell, has to worry about their roster spot being taken by some 22-year old future superstar. Ok, so enough of that, on with the wrap-up.
Game 1 (Friday) - CC Sabathia (12-8, 3.11 ERA) vs Collin Balester (2-4, 4.66 ERA)
Is there anything that CC Sabathia can't do? Well, he can't fit into a little man's coat, has trouble with legroom in airplanes and cars, and isn't satisfied by the Big Box meal at Taco Bell, but he sure as hell does everything when he steps on the field. Sabathia, (much to the delight of the home crowd) shut down the lowly Nationals and kept them off of the scoreboard. He even chipped in with 1 of Milwaukee's 6 base hits. Fielder, Hart and Cameron put the Brewers on the board early (Brewers leading 4-0 after 3 innings) and that's all that they needed, although Hardy tacked on a solo home run in the 7th just for good measure. If it were possible, you could give CC Sabathia just 1/2 of a run, and he would still lead the Brewers to victory by pitching a complete game shutout. That would be an interesting score - Brewers 1/2, Nationals 0. But the Brewers spotted him 5, and he rocked Miller Park, and the fans went wild. Enjoy it while you can Brewers fans, because you won't be seeing a pitcher of this caliber again until Gallardo gets a couple of years under his belt. Final score Brewers 5, Nationals 6.
Brewers record : 65 - 51, 2nd place NL Central, 1st place NL Wild Card
Game 2 (Saturday) - Ben Sheets (11-5, 2.95 ERA) vs Tim Redding (8-7, 4.61 ERA)It has been duly noted by all of the sports reporting people (JSOnline, ESPN, etc.) that Ben Sheets has struggled since CC Sabathia joined the Brewers. They were dubbed co-aces of this pitching staff, but there's only 1 person who has performed like an ace, and it isn't Ben Sheets. Maybe Sheets has ace envy, or maybe he's finally seeing what makes up a true ace. Whatever the case was, it's a tall order to ask Ben Sheets to follow up CC Sabathia's complete game shutout performance yesterday. No matter what he does today, it will pale in comparison to Sabathia's gem. Except for tossing a complete game shutout of his own, which is exactly what he did. But how exactly do they compare, and who came out ahead? Here is a look at the stats.
CC Sabathia : 9 IP, 5 hits, 1 BB, 0 ER, 9 strikeouts
Ben Sheets : 9 IP, 5 hits, 0 BB, 0 ER, 6 strikeouts
A little too close to call, right? You might say that Sabathia had a better day because he struck out more batters, and by saying that you are correct. However, let us also compare their hitting totals, since when you pitch 9 innings, you are going to get 4 plate appearances in which to help yourself and your team earn the victory.
CC Sabathia : 1 for 4, 0 RBI, 1 strikeout
Ben Sheets : 1 for 4, 1 RBI, 1 strikeout
As far as hitting goes, Ben Sheets wins that one. But these guys don't get paid to hit, they get paid to pitch. So that means the winner for the "Which co-Ace is the real Ace" competition goes to.....CC Sabathia (again.) Ben Sheets once again doesn't stand a chance when being compared to this winning machine, and CC once again steamrolls the competition. Although they aren't competing (cause their on the same team) CC knows in his heart and in his mind that he is better. Well CC, I bet it must feel good to be right. I'm not saying that I don't like Ben Sheets, but if I had 100 chances to chose either Ben Sheets or CC Sabathia, I'd probably use CC 90 out of 100. I choose Ben 4 times for each of his complete game shutouts, 1 for his 18 game strikeout performance against Atlanta in 2004, 1 for his Olympic Gold medal in 2000, 1 for his Cy Young caliber season in 2004, 1 for being the opening day starter for the Brewers, 1 for the his Brewers record 265 strikeouts in 2004, and 1 for being the longest tenured player on the team. CC gets 90 votes for being CC. Enough said. So that was a lot of meaningless debate, because everyone in their right mind is going to say that CC is bar far a superior pitcher than Ben Sheets. But Sheets was damn near perfect today, and if he keeps matching CC, we are unstoppable. Oh, and the Brewers offense scored 6 runs today instead of the 5 that they gave to CC. The Brewers did what they did best, and balls were flying out of the park courtesy of Durham (his 1st as a Brewer), Hardy, and Hart. Final score Brewers 6, Nationals 0.
Brewers record : 66 - 51, 2nd place NL Central, 1st place NL Wild Card
After CC and Benny had shut down the Nationals offense, a lot was riding on Manny Parra's already heavy shoulders. He kept them off the board for 5 innings, but then gave up a run. He finished with 7 innings pitched and allowed only that 1 run, and struck out 9 batters. So that was good, but here in Milwaukee we have to take the good with the bad. Eric Gagne keeps proving that he is a useless turd, and today I officially renounce my support of him. I trusted Doug Melvin when he brought him in to be our closer, because I trust Mr. Melvin to a fault. But Melvin made a mistake on this one, and he way overpaid for that Candian steroid injecting loser. It's impossible for Gagne to lower his ERA below 6.00 at this point (it's at a sky high 6.98!) and I wouldn't be surprised if the Brewers left him off of the playoff roster (considering that they make it there) just like the Boston Red Sox did last year. Gagne came in with the game tied at 1-1 and gave up 3 runs (2 of them being homeruns) in the 8th inning, and I left the game. I was working (it was a Sunday) so normally I would stay till the end, win or loss, but today we were having a get together in my Mom's backyard to celebrate my Nana + Papa's 54th Wedding Anniversary. Since my brother Tim was coming to pick me up, I had to leave at the time that I did. Gagne's poor excuse for pitching certainly helped sway my decision towards leaving. But somewhere between the Stadium and my Mom's house (a mere 6 miles), the Brewers tied the game at 4 on a Mike Rivera bases-clearing double. That guy should really play more often, but I also value what Jason Kendall has done with this pitching staff this year. Kendall should take a few days off to stay fresh for the playoffs (once again, considering that they make it there) in September, but chances are that he'll start every game and look ragged at seasons end. Gabe Kapler emerged as the hero today, and my family cheered loud from my Mom's living room as he hit a walk-off homerun in the 12th inning to clinch the series. The Brewers had way too many chances to score runs today, and the fact that they left 16 men on base is troubling. But forget all of your troubles, since the Brewers won today. And then I got to eat brats, potato salad, and taco dip, drink some Miller Chill and slap the bag of box wine in my Mom's basement. That sounds like a good day. Final score Brewers 5, Nationals 4.
Game 4 (Monday) - Dave Bush (7-9, 4.35 ERA) vs Garrett Mock (0-3, 5.59ERA)
Today's game was one of those rare 4 game series wrap-around games. And a day game at that, no less. The game was not on TV today, but I didn't care because I started work at 10:30 am and caught the game as usual on ESPN's gamecast. The only big thing to discuss in this win was Rickie Week's 10th homerun of the game. The reason that it is so important is that with this homerun, the Brewers now have 8 players in double digits. I'm using today's stats (as of August 19 because I'm too lazy to go back and look up what they were on August 11). Leading the way is Braun (31), followed by Fielder (28), Cameron (21), Hart (19), Hardy (18), Hall (14), Branyan (12) and Weeks (10). I know that chicks and Bernie dig the long ball, but it isn't necessarily a good or bad thing that we hit this many. As long as we can manufacture some runs when the ball isn't flying out of the park, then I'm fine if they bash the living shit out of the baseball. Bush continued to lower his ERA (I don't want to jinx it, but it's approaching 4.00) and the Brewers continued to score runs against the Nationals. And there you have it, a 4 game sweep of the worst team in baseball. Congratulations Milwaukee, way to make those lowly Nationals feel even worse about themselves. Jerks. But they are my kind of jerks. Final score Brewers 7, Nationals 1.
Brewers record : 68 - 51, 2nd place NL Central, 1st place NL Wild Card
Next up - August 12 (Tuesday) - August 14 (Thursday) Milwaukee Brewers @ San Diego Padres at Petco Park in San Diego, CA
- pookon -
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