The Brewer Chronicles

The Brewers took care of business this week and took two of three against the struggling Cubs.  The pen was awesome in the first game and then they got a good start from Jeff Suppan in the other win and while the wheels fell of the wagon in the finale, two out of three isn’t all bad.  

On Monday, the Brewers scored two runs in the eighth to tie and send the game into extra frames and then Prince Fielder hit his second homerun of the game to win it for the Brewers in the twelth.  Fielder’s two long balls bring his season total up to four and J.J. Hardy also went yard in the 5-4 win.  Claudio Vargas was hit hard and he gave up four runs in four innings but the pen really got it done.  Six relievers combined to throw eight innings of shutout ball with Carlos Villanueva picking up four of those and also getting the win.

Jeff Suppan got it done yesterday.  He gave up just eight hits and one walk with three strikeouts in eight shutout innings to improve to 3-2.  Francisco Cordero got the final batter out in the game and he picked up save number eight.  Prince Fielder drove in two with his fifth homer and Kevin Mench hit a solo shot in the 4-1 win.

Today’s game was scary because Ben Sheets left with another injury and this time it looks like it’s a pulled groin.  He did throw three shutout innings but the bullpen was hammered for nine runs.  Elmer Dessens took the loss and he gave up five unearned runs but each of the four relievers gave up at least a run.  Rickie Weeks hit a solo homerun and Johnny Estrada finished the game with two hits and a run.

So as of 8 pm or so local time, the Brewers had a 2 1/2 game lead in the Central.  Next up is three against the Astros, who got hot but have since cooled off a bit.  A series win is in order though, and hopefully the Brewers get it done in Houston.

Things didn’t get off to a good start for the Brewers in their three game series with the Astros, but I’ll definitely take the two wins at the back end.  On Friday, Greg Aquino gave up a grand slam to Craig Biggio in the top of the ninth and while Prince Fielder went yard with a three run shot in the bottom half of the inning, it just meant a 6-5 loss.  A solid start by Ben Sheets went to waste and he gave up two runs on seven hits and two walks with four strikeouts.  J.J. Hardy went two for five with two runs and an RBI and he joined Fielder as Brewers who hit homers.

The Brewers got back on track on Saturday.  J.J. Hardy had a huge day with two homeruns and three RBIs and Damian Miller finished with three hits and an RBI in the 6-4 win.  Chris Capuano didn’t have all that great of a start but he improved to 3-0.  He gave up four runs on six hits and six walks with six strikeouts in, yes you guessed it, six innings.

Dave Bush was just a bit better then Roy Oswalt yesterday.  He gave up three runs on five hits and one walk with seven strikeouts in eight innings.  Francisco Cordero pitched a shutout ninth and he picked up his seventh save.  Bill Hall had a huge game.  He went three for four with a homerun and two runs in the 4-3 win.

So the Brewers now have a game and a half lead over the Astros and they head to Chicago for a three game series against the last place Cubs.  Claudio Vargas gets the start tonight and he’ll face a struggling Carlos Zambrano. 

The Brewers got it done in their two game series with the Pirates, taking both, improving their record 9-6 and moving into first place in the process.  In both games the offense did their job and scored seven runs a piece.  The pitching was mixed, but a wins a win.

Bill Hall was the hitting star in yesterday’s game.  He went three for four with a homerun, three RBIs and two runs.  Kevin Mench also had a solid game with three hits and two runs in the 7-3 win.   And then Carlos Vargas had a huge game on the mound.  He gave up two runs (one earned) on five hits and two walks with twelve strikeouts in six innings and he picked up his first win of the season. 

Today, the pitching wasn’t as good but the hitting was there for the pick up.  J.J Hardy had a huge game at the plate.  He went three for five with a homerun and four RBIs.  Kevin Mench had three more hits and Rickie Weeks had two hits and two runs in the 7-5 win.  Jeff Suppan was solid enough and he gave up three runs on six hits and a walk with three strikeouts in six innings.  The pen gave up two runs but they didn’t come back to haunt the Brewers.

Next up is three against the Astros.  Ben Sheets will try to bounce back from his horrible start as he goes tomorrow.  I like his chances because I don’t even know who the guy is he’s going up against.

The pitching has to get better or the Brewers are going to be stuck right around the .500 mark all season.  Fortunately, that may be good enough to win the NL Central, but I’d rather just see some better hurling and a some more winning.  This was pretty evident in the split this week with the Reds.  The Brewers scored a ton of runs and won on Monday but then scored only a healthy amount yesterday and lost.

Bill Hall hit a grand slam on Monday and that opened the first game up.  The Brewers ended up with a 10-6 game but this one was close until Hall hit his big shot.  Corey Hart drove in two runs and Rickie Weeks hit his fourth homerun of the season.  Chris Capuano had a pretty good start and he improved to 2-0.  He gave up three unearned runs on four hits, a walk and he struck out five in 5 2/3 innings.  The pen let this one slip with three late runs but by then, the game was out of reach.

Last night’s game didn’t go nearly as well as Dave Bush and everyone who entered the game was hit hard.  All five Brewers pitchers gave up at least a run and none of them hit particularly well.  Bill Hall had another nice day at the plate in the 11-5 loss.  He went three for four with two runs.

The Brewers are in second place so that’s some consolation.  They’re just a half game back of the Reds but all six teams in the division are seperated by just 2 1/2 games.  Next up is two against he surprising Pirates so hopefully the Brewers can put them in their place.

A rain out made this a two game series as Friday’s game was postponed.  Then Saturday’s game went nicely with a 3-2 win with Jeff Suppan picking up his first win as a Brewer.  He gave up just two runs on six hits with five strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.  Francisco Cordero threw a perfect ninth and struck out two for the save while Rickie Weeks provided most of the offense with a two run homer in the fifth inning.

The Sunday, Ben Sheets got rocked.  You sometime take this Cardinals offense for granted and forget how good they are but there was reminder yesterday as Sheets was pounded for eight runs in five innings in the 10-2 loss.  Prince Fielder drove in a run and walked twice while Tony Gwynn singled in his only at bat.  Ugly, ugly loss and not what you’d expect from the ace.

Now the Brewers shuffle over to Cincinnati for a two game series with the Reds.  Chris Capuano gets the start in the opener and he’ll take on Eric Milton.  I like our chances in this game.

The Brewers got it done in two of their three games against the Marlins this week.  In the first game, Jeff Suppan was knocked around for five runs (four earned) on eight hits and a walk with four strikeouts in six innings. He dropped to 0-2 on the season with the loss.  Geoff Jenkins went yard with a two run shot and Prince Fielder drove home Rickie Weeks with a ground out in the 5-3 loss.

Tuesday’s game was all about great pitching.  In a game that was stopped after ten innings and restarted last night, the Brewers came out on top 3-2 in thirteen innings.  Prince Fielder knocked in the winning run with a single and he went four for four with three walks.  Claudio Vargas struck out nine in five innings in his start and Elmer Dessens picked up the win while Francisco Cordero pitching a shutout ninth to pick up the save.

The Brewers then won the rubber game with some more good pitching.  Dave Bush gave up just a single run on eight hits with five strikeouts in six innings of work and he picked up the win.  Cordero struck out two in the ninth and he picked up the save while Rickie Weeks went two for four with a homerun, two RBIs and three runs in the 5-2 win.

The Brewers get the day off today and then they travel to St. Louis for a three game series.  Odds are that whoever wins this series will have at least a share of first place so the Bewers have some big games early.  It’ll be Ben Sheets against Anthony Reyes in the series opener.

The Brewers got off to a rough start in this series before they won the final game yesterday to escape with at least one win.  On Friday, Dave Bush was knocked around for six runs in six innings in a 9-3 loss.  Corey Hart hit a solo homerun while Kevin Mench drove in two in the blowout.

Not even Ben Sheets could get it done on Saturday.  He gave up five runs in six innings in a pretty poor start and even the five runs the Brewers put on the board couldn’t help them.  Rickie Weeks and Geoff Jenkins hit homeruns in the 6-3 loss.

When in doubt, score a bunch of runs.  That’s exactly what the Brewers did on Sunday and they walked away with the win.  Craig Counsell had a big game with three hits and three RBIs while Geoff Jenkins and Gabe Gross both went deep in the 9-4 win.  Chris Capuano picked up the win and he gave up four runs on four hits and a walk with four strikeouts.

The Brewers hit the road for the first time and they’ll head to Miami to take on the Marlins.  Jeff Suppan gets the start in the opener tonight.

Down 5-1, things looked grim as the Brewers entered their eighth inning.  Then three runs over the next two innings put a win within reach before the comeback fell just short and the Brewers lost 5-4.  Jeff Suppan had a nice start go to waste when Carlos Villanueva gave up three runs in the top of the eighth.

Craig Counsell drove in two runs and Geoff Jenkins had three hits in the loss.  The Brewers have today off and then they face the Cubs at home in a three game series.  Dave Bush gets the start in the series opener.

The Brewers were down 3-2 until Kevin Mench hit a two run homerun to give the Brewers the lead.  Combine that with some great pitching out of the pen and the end result is a 4-3 Brewers win.

Chris Capuano wasn’t bad and despite not getting a decision, he struck out six in five innings.  The pen was great though.  Five relievers combined for four shutout innings with Francisco Cordero striking out two in the ninth to close it out and pick up the save.  The win went to Brian Shouse and ironically he pitched to only one batter, it just happened to be the last guy in the sixth.

Other then Mench, Johnny Estrada had a nice game at the plate.  He went two for three with a double and two runs.

Jeff Suppan makes his Brewer debut tomorrow and he faces a tough Jason Schmidt.  It sure would be nice to pull out the sweep.  Then again, didn’t the Brewers come out of the gate great last year?  Oh well, you take the wins when you can get them.

Man, this would have been cool to see. Ben Sheets completely shut down the Dodgers offense and held them to a mere two hits in a complete game.  It only took him 104 pitches to go through the game and while he only struck out three, he didn’t walk a single batter.  Simply an awesome start for the team’s ace.

Bill Hall hit his first of hopefully 40 homeruns with a solo shot in the sixth inning.  J.J. Hardy also had a nice game and he had three hits and a run while Johnny Estrada had two singles, two runs and an RBI.

So it was a great start for the home team.  Tomorrow, it’ll be Chris Capuano going up against Randy Wolf.  I like that matchup.