Tagged: Carlos Villanueva

Milwaukee Brewers Uniform Number History: #33

Wondering who wore a certain uniform number all-time for the Milwaukee Brewers?

The Brewer Nation has got you covered. If you found this list on its own, head back here for the full repository after checking out this one.

#33

Marty Pattin (’70-’71)
Mike Ferraro (’72)
Bob Gardner (’73)
Tom Bianco (’75)
Doc Medich (’82)
Jay Aldrich (’87, ’89)
George Canale (’89-’90)
Ron Robinson (’90-’92)
Troy O’Leary (’93-’94)
Ron Rightnowar (’95)
Jamie McAndrew (’95, ’97)
Bobby Hughes (’98)
Lyle Mouton (’99-’00)
Will Cunnane (’01)
Mark Sweeney (’01)
Jim Rushford (’02)
Curtis Leskanic (’03)
Wes Obermueller (’04-’05)
Carlos Villanueva (’06)
Johnny Estrada (’07)
Gabe Kapler (’08)
Wil Nieves (’11)
Eric Farris (’11-’12)
Chris Carter (’16-Current)

Milwaukee Brewers Uniform Number History: #12

Wondering who wore a certain uniform number all-time for the Milwaukee Brewers?

The Brewer Nation has got you covered. If you found this list on its own, head back here for the full repository after checking out this one.

#12

Danny Walton (’70-’71)
Johnny Briggs (’71-’75)
Bobby Darwin (’75-’76)
Bernie Carbo (’76)
Larry Haney (’77-’78)
Scott Fletcher (’92)
Brian Harper (’94)
Henry Blanco (’00-01)
Matt Stairs (’02)
Eddie Perez (’03)
Ben Grieve (’04)
Chris Barnwell (’06)
Carlos Villanueva (’07-’10)
Brandon Boggs (’11)
Martin Maldonado (’11-Current)

All Decade By the Numbers

By: Big Rygg

I know that this idea is a bit corny and overdone already, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t taken a fair amount of time to compile the information that that led me to the decisions that I have made regarding my (and since I’ve been the entirety of the written Brewer Nation for quite some time now) and the Brewer Nation’s….

ALL-DECADE 25-MAN ROSTER!!! (which will come in the next post)

But first, some interesting tidbits for you all to digest followed by some high and low statistical totals for the decade of 2000-2009. A lot of these numbers helped me figure out my all-decade roster.

  • There have been 111 non-pitchers that have have at least one plate appearance for the Milwaukee Brewers this decade.
  • There have been 131 individuals that have pitched at least one-third of an inning for the Milwaukee Brewers this decade, including two position players (Trent Durrington and Mark Loretta).
  • The most common first name amongst Brewers in this decade is “Chris” (11 players). Second place goes to “Mike” (10 players).
  • Most seasons (or parts of seasons) played with the Brewers in the 2000s was 8, a record held by Geoff Jenkins, Bill Hall and Ben Sheets

Hitting Mosts (you might notice some themes here):

Games Played: 1015 – Geoff Jenkins
Plate Appearances: 4154 – Geoff Jenkins
At-Bats: 3698 – Geoff Jenkins
Runs: 558 – Geoff Jenkins
Hits: 1021 – Geoff Jenkins
Doubles: 232 – Geoff Jenkins
Triples: 21 – Corey Hart
Home Runs: 182 – Geoff Jenkins
Total Bases: 1835 – Geoff Jenkins
Runs Batted In: 594 – Geoff Jenkins
Stolen Bases: 113 – Scott Podsednik
Times Caught Stealing: 35 – Bill Hall
Walks: 345 – Prince Fielder
Intentional Walks: 66 – Fielder (Five more than Jenkins, but more than triple third place)
Strike Outs: 970 – Geoff Jenkins
Times Grounding into a Double Play: 90 – Geoff Jenkins
Times Hit By a Pitch: 86 – Geoff Jenkins
Sacrifice Hits: 21 – Mark Loretta
Sacrifice Flies: 32 – Prince Fielder (One more than Jenkins in far fewer PAs)

Hitting Highests (minimum 100 plate appearances):

Batting Average: .320 – Felipe Lopez
On-Base Percentage: .407 – Felipe Lopez
Slugging Percentage: .574 – Ryan Braun
On-Base Percentage + Slugging Percentage: .931 – Ryan Braun

Hitting Worsts:

Games Played: 1 (Tie – Carlos Corporan & Julio Mosquera)
Plate Appearances: 1 (Tie – Carlos Corporan & Julio Mosquera)
At-Bats: 1 (Tie – Carlos Corporan & Julio Mosquera)
Runs: 0 (8 players never scored but Pete Zoccolillo was on base the most times without scoring – 6 times)
Hits: 0 (4 players, Robert Perez had most Plate Appearances without a hit – 5)
Doubles: 0 (10 players with at least one hit had no doubles. Tony Fernandez had 18 hits without a double)
Triples: 0 (48 players with at least one hit had no triples. Carlos Lee had 275 hits without a triple)
Home Runs: 0 (20 player with at least one hit had no home runs. Tony Gwynn had by far the most without a home run with 60. Next closest? Nine.)
Total Bases: 0 (4 players. Robert Perez had 5 plate appearances without a base.)
Runs Batted In: 0 (11 players had at least one plate appearance without an RBI. Brad Nelson had 31 for the most.)
Stolen Bases: 0 (Since you can’t steal if you don’t try, 12 players had at least one attempt without a stolen base. Wes Helms and Felipe Lopez tied for the most with 3.)
Times Caught Stealing: 0 (16 players with at least one stolen base were never caught. Santiago Perez and Mel Stocker each stole 4 bases without getting caught.)
Walks: 0 (9 players never walked. Israel Alcantara had the most plate appearances without drawing a walk with 32.)
Intentional Walks: 0 (49 players never were intentionally given first base including Alex Sanchez who had 684 plate apperances without one.)
Strike Outs: 0 (5 players never struck out as a Brewers this decade. Nelson Cruz had the most PAs as a Brewers with 7. The fewest Ks with at least 100 PAs? Lenny Harris who only struck out 17 times in 215 PAs.)
Times Grounding into a Double Play: 0 (17 players never grounded into one this decade. Alcides Escobar had the most plate appearances without a GIDP with 138.)
Times Hit By a Pitch: 0 (36 players were never hit by a pitch. Marquis Grissom had the most plate appearances without ever getting plunked as a Brewer this decade with 640.)
Sacrifice Hits: 0 (58 players had none with Geoff Jenkins topping the list by having 4154 plate appearances.)
Sacrifice Flies: 0 (41 players never hit a sac fly this decade. John Vander Wal had 374 plate appearances without even a single sac fly.)

Hitting Lowests (4 players had zeroes in all categories, Robert Perez having the most plate appearances (5) without any stats, so the following is the lowest among players with at least one hit):

Batting Average: .067 – Chris Barnwell (2 Hits in 30 at-bats)
On-Base Percentage: .071 – Corey Patterson (1 Hit in 15 plate appearances)
Slugging Percentage: .067 – Chris Barnwell (2 singles in those 30 at-bats)
On-Base Percentage + Slugging Percentage: .143 – Corey Patterson

Pitching Mosts:

Wins: 86 – Ben Sheets
Losses: 83 – Ben Sheets
Games Played: 224 – Luis Vizcaino
Games Started: 221 – Ben Sheets
Games Finished: 129 – Derrick Turnbow
Complete Games: 18 – Ben Sheets (Sabathia had 2nd most in the decade in one-half season: 7)
Shutouts: 4 – Ben Sheets (Sabathia had 2nd most in the decade in one-half season: 3)
Saves: 65 – Derrick Turnbow
Innings PItched: 1428 – Ben Sheets
Hits Allowed: 1402 – Ben Sheets
Runs Allowed: 650 – Ben Sheets
Earned Runs Allowed: 591 – Ben Sheets
Home Runs Allowed: 160 – Ben Sheets
Walks Issued: 313 – Ben Sheets
Intentional Walks Issued: 25 Tie (Ben Sheets & Jeff Suppan though Suppan did it in far fewer innings – 1428.0 IP to 546.0 IP)
Strikeouts: 1206 – Ben Sheets
Batters Hit: 54 – Dave Bush
Balks: 5 – Chris Capuano
Wild Pitches: 49 – Ben Sheets

Pitching Bests:

Earned Run Average: 0.00 – 6 players (Chris Saenz pitched the most innings: 6.0)
Walks and Hits Per Innings Pitches: 0.00 – Trent Durrington (Best by an actual pitcher? Mike Crudale with 0.75)
Hits Allowed Per 9 Innngs: 0.00 – Trent Durrington (Best by an actual pitcher? Mike Crudale with 0.96)
Home Runs Allowed Per 9 Innings: 0.00 – 11 players (Mike Crudale pitched most innings without allowing a home run: 9.1 IP)
Walks Issued Per 9 Innings: 0.00 – 3 players (Jesus Colome pitched most innings without issuing one: 6.1 IP)
Strikeouts Per 9 Innings: 18.00 – Mark Loretta (Best by an actual pitcher? Allan Simpson with 16.88)
Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio: 5.12 – CC Sabathia (of pitchers that issues at least one walk)

Pitching Leasts:

Wins: 0 – 42 Players (Chris Smith pitched most games without a win: 35)
Losses: 0 – 29 Players (Chris Smith pitched most games without a loss as well)
Games Played: 1 – 4 Players (Trent Durrington, Mark Loretta, Chris Saenz, Chris Mabeus)
Games Finished: 0 – 5 Players (of players who relieved at least once – Chris Mabeus, Josh Butler, Mike Matthews, Kyle Peterson, Jimmy Haynes)
Complete Games: 0 – 42 Players (of players who started at least once – Jimmy Haynes started most games without a complete game: 62)
Shutouts: 0 – Jeff Suppan (Most games started without a shutout: 95)
Saves: 0 – 82 Players (of players with at least one relief appearance – Jose Capellan had most relief appearances without a save: 85)
Innings PItched: 0.1 – Trent Durrington (Actual pitcher with least? Chris Mabeus – 1.2 IP)
Hits Allowed: 0 – Trent Durrington
Runs Allowed: 0 – 3 Players (Chris Saenz pitched most innings without allowing a run: 6.0 IP)
Earned Runs Allowed: 0 – 3 Players (Chris Saenz pitched most innings without allowing a run: 6.0 IP)
Home Runs Allowed: 0 – 11 Players (Mike Crudale pitched most innings without allowing a home run: 9.1 IP)
Walks Issued: 0 – 3 Players (Jesus Colome pitched most innings without issuing a walk: 6.1 IP)
Intentional Walks Issued: 0 – 37 Players (CC Sabathia pitched most innings without issuing an intentional pass: 130.2 IP)
Strikeouts: 0 – Trent Durrington (Two pitchers only had 1 K but Jared Fernandez threw most innings with fewest strikeouts: 6.1 IP)
Batters Hit: 0 – 34 Players (Nick Neugebauer pitched most innings without hitting a batter: 61.1 IP)
Balks: 0 – 102 Players (Carlos Villanueva pitched the most innings without balking: 372.1 IP)
Wild Pitches: 0 – 27 Players (David Weathers pitched most innings by far without a wild pitch: 158.0 IP)

Pitching Worsts:

Earned Run Average: 27.00 – Bob Scanlan (5 Earned Runs in 1.2 IP)
Walks and Hits Per Innings Pitches: 4.20 – Chris Mabeus (4 hits, 3 walks in 1.2 IP)
Hits Allowed Per 9 Innngs: 32.40 – Bob Scanlan (6 hits in 1.2 IP)
Home Runs Allowed Per 9 Innings: 5.59 – Brandon Kolb (6 HR in 9.2 IP)
Walks Issued Per 9 Innings: 16.20 – Chris Mabeus (3 walks in 1.2 IP)
Strikeouts Per 9 Innings: 0.00 – Trent Durrington (Worst by Actual pitcher was Jared Fernandez who had 1 K in 6.1 IP for a 1.42 ratio)
Strikeout-to-Walk Ratio: 0.25 – David Manning (2 Ks to 8 walks)

Where For Art Thou, Offense?

By: Big Rygg

What a night for the Milwaukee Brewers…and I mean that in a negative way.

Save for back-to-back home runs on consecutive pitches by Prince Fielder and Casey McGehee, the Milwaukee Brewers were unable to muster any offense on a night when they were once again playing against a National League Division’s worst team.

In the Brewers’ defense, the San Diego Padres had been playing quite well when Milwaukee came to town on Friday. That was evidenced by the fact that they were able to overcome a 7-1 deficit on Friday night. However, despite the Brewers scoring 7 runs with two outs in the 2nd inning of Friday’s game, the Brewers have been very quiet at the plate in this series.

What’s more, they got an acceptable start from journeyman Mike Burns in the game tonight but Burns may as well have given up three hundred runs as three since there Brewers were unable to put more than two on their own on the board in support.

Burns gave up those three runs over 5.2 IP, giving way to Mitch Stetter with men on in the inning and two away. Claudio Vargas, pitching in his first game since being reacquired by the Brewers prior to the non-waiver trading deadline, allowed one huge insurance run to score in the bottom of the 8th inning. Heath Bell came on, and after allowing a leadoff single to McGehee, struck out Cameron, got Frank Catalanotto to fly out to left and induced a pop out off the bat of Jason Kendall to end it.

Not everything is going wrong for Milwaukee lately, but enough things are going wrong at the same time so that the end result is a loss.

Last night we had a solid run total despite it all coming in one inning, but the pitching staff and defense couldn’t hold San Diego down. Tonight, we got good enough pitching to win most nights, but the offense decided to go to sleep for the most part.

Will the Crew be able to put it together tomorrow afternoon and salvage one win against the NL West’s worst? With Carlos Villanueva on the bump for the beermakers, there are no guarantees.

It doesn’t get easier by any stretch of the imagination on Monday night either as after the Brewers finish a three-game series against the last place Padres, they start a three-game series against the class of the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But it all boils down to the fact that the Brewers have been unable to put enough parts of the game together at the same time to win some ballgames at the most crucial stretch of the season.

Four hits tonight (two of them the aforementioned solo home runs) and while they accumulated nine hits on Friday night, only three of those came outside of that big 2nd inning. Throwing that inning out, that’s only 7 hits in 17 innings. That’s not going to get the job done unless the Padres start walking 10 hitters a night.

The Padres, owners of the league’s worst team batting average mind you, have amassed 17 hits and 12 hits in the two games thus far in this series. Yes, that’s 29 hits in 16 innings. You don’t have to look much farther to figure out why they’ve won these two games.

Bottom line, the Brewers need to get it figured out and fast if they’re going to keep it close into September this year.

I’m not in the mood for silver linings on this one, but perhaps a post in the coming days will focus on some positives that can be picked out of the dreck that’s being dumped on the field lately.

Until then, let’s just remember that tomorrow’s another day and that at 3pm tomorrow afternoon, the game is 0-0.

Let’s get one tomorrow and try to keep our head above water for a bit longer.

A Play-By-Play of My Night (short excerpt)

By: Big Rygg

This post will be short and sweet. Here is a recap of a small chunk of my evening.

Ryan Braun is at the plate in the bottom of the 9th inning after Trevor Hoffman unfortunately blew a save.

I happen to glance up at the bullpen since because Ken Macha didn’t double-switch to bring Hoffman into the game, they had to pinch-hit for him in the top of the 10th inning.

So I glance up at the bullpen and see a right arm throw a ball and as the player’s back turns to me I see a # 12.

I say, out loud, “Well, the game’s over one way or the other now. Either we walk off now or they’ll basically do it in the 10th.”

If you don’t know what happened, go check out the box score.

Good night Brewer Nation.

Well I’m on my Way…

By: Big Rygg

So have we finally seen enough? Wait…wrong question. We definitely have. Allow me to rephrase…

So…have they finally seen enough?

Of course the “they” in the revised question refers to Milwaukee Brewer Manager Ken Macha and General Manager Doug Melvin. And whatever might I be talking about when I ask if enough of it has been seen?

That’s a simple answer as well.

Jorge Julio.

Julio almost single-armedly threw the Milwaukee Brewers from a series-opening (and road trip-beginning) victory into a loss. Between walks, hitting a couple of batters and general ineffectiveness all the way around, Julio was ultimately charged with four earned runs without recording a single out.It skyrocketed his ERA from 5.71 (still poor by itself, don’t get me wrong) to 7.79.

Now, to be fair, over his last four outings, Julio had put together 5.2 innings of scoreless ball. This was is mostly low pressure situations. Monday night should have been another low pressure spot again, just bridging the gap between Jeff Suppan who Houdini’d his way around trouble for the most part but did so by racking up 100 pitches in just 5 innings. All Julio was charged with was pitching through the 6th so that Coffey, Villanueva and (if necessary) Trevor Hoffman could take the game over and close the door.

But what did Julio accomplish? He loaded the bases, pushed a run across whether the Marlins wanted it or not, and finally gave way to Coffey who couldn’t stop the bleeding and actually allowed a run of his own in the inning as well. But with a a four run lead, facing the bottom of the order…you just can’t do what Julio did tonight and expect to stick in the big leagues very long.

I’ll admit that after seeing the numbers Julio put up in Atlanta at the end of last season, I was optimistic when the Brewers signed him in the off-season.

After a rough spring, Julio surprised everyone by making the 25-man roster when the team headed north to San Francisco for the opening series of the 2009 regular season. That could be as much of a matter of timing that he’s stuck with the team as long as he has. Julio made the team in the first place primarily because Hoffman was injured so there was an opening. When Hoffman was ready to come back, David Riske needed time on the DL (from which he’s still rehabbing). Even now, when the rumors are that the Brewers will be calling up someone from the minors to help the bullpen out, there’s talk that Mark DiFelice might have to go on the DL due to some elbow inflammation.

But truly, I don’t see how the stars continue to align to allow Julio to ply his trade at the Major League level. Maybe it’s because he does have a live arm and can throw very hard. Maybe it’s because every now and then he comes out and has a few appearances in a row where he doesn’t allow any runs to score.

Therein lies the problem, however, is because you just don’t know who is coming to the mound from the bullpen on a given night despite Ken Macha having Bill Castro call Stan Kyles with the exact same name.

Julio’s earned runs allowed over his last 10 appearances? 0, 0, 1, 0, 4, 0, 0, 0, 0, 4. How can a manager be expected to trust that arm?

So, to quote some lyrics from the song that the Miller Park audio crew has been using for when Jorge Julio is summoned from the bullpen:

“Well, I’m on my way
I don’t know where I’m going
but I’m on my way
I’m takin my time but I don’t know where”

Allow me to respond to those lines the way Doug Melvin should have tonight after the game in Miami…

You’re going to the waiver wire because you’ve been designated for assignment. Oh, and as for taking your time? Don’t bother. Get to steppin’.

(I mean seriously…could you see Doug Melvin say “Get to steppin'”? That’d be hilarious.)

Put That in Your Flask and Let it Make You Pass Out at a Red Light, LaRussa!

By: Big Rygg

Tony LaRussa and the St. Louis Cardinals have made no bones about the fact that they don’t like the Milwaukee Brewers’ brashness nor their postgame celebration. Obviously, Milwaukee doesn’t think that they necessarily do anything disrespectful toward their opponent in their postgame antics.

Let’s sidebar here for a moment when I ask you to think back to your childhood (or if you are still a child while reading this, think back to some time last week). Has anyone ever told you that you were doing something that they didn’t like and you reacted, to intentionally poke the bear so to speak, did the extreme opposite of whatever it was that they said they didn’t like?

Sidebar over…

The Milwaukee Brewers decided against maturity today when they absolutely hauled their collective rear ends off of the baseball field and out of their dugout once they defeated the St. Louis Cardinals today. They know exactly what the Cardinals think about the untucking of the shirts and everything that goes along with it. When Bill Hall (who hit the game-winning single), Casey McGehee (who scored the game-winning run) and MIke Cameron (who had to touch second base for it all to count) sprinted to the dugout steps and joined the mass of Brewer personnel pouring into the clubhouse, it was a nice little “nah-nee-nah-nee-boo-boo” to LaRussa’s second-place ballclub.

For the record, the team is saying that they just wanted to celebrate a hard-fought victory with themselves as a team in the clubhouse. Also for the record? They couldn’t have pleased me more as a baseball fan. Instead of letting Tony LaRussa lead in this NL Central dance, Ken Macha and the boys have their right hand firmly fastened to the Cardinals’ back.

Milwaukee has now won 11 of the last 12 games against St. Louis, including all four they’ve played so far in 2009. You have to start to wonder at what point the Cardinals begin to feel like they might be the next Pittsburgh Pirates to this ballclub (though, to be fair, the Pittsburgh Pirates are still the currently Pittsburgh Pirates to this ballclub).

Everything else aside, however, there was one heckuva ballgame played on the field today that got us to that point in the 10th inning.

Cardinal starter Chris Carpenter, making his second start since coming off the DL, was outstanding. He pitched 8 scoreless innings and even took a perfect game into the 7th inning before Craig Counsell singled past Skip Schumaker into right field. Carpenter finished with 10 Ks in the game in a masterful, ace-type performance. In fact, Carpenter has not yet allowed a run in 2009 over 23 IP.

Brewer starter Yovani Gallardo was nearly as dominant as his counterpart in a game that Milwaukee simply needed to be just that. Gallardo pitched 8 innings as well (despite starting the 7th inning over 100 pitches) and struck out Albert Pujols with a man on base to end the 8th inning. Trevor Hoffman pitched a perfect 9th as he was already warming just in case the Brewers took the lead in the bottom of the 8th (sidenote: The sound guys at the ballpark, per Hoffman’s instructions this year, did NOT play Hell’s Bells as Hoffman trotted in for the 9th inning. It was not a save situation, and therefore Hoffman didn’t want it played.) Carlos Villanueva pitched a very good 10th inning and picked up the victory after Hall’s heroics.

In a game that felt early on like one run would win it, both starting pitchers have a lot to be proud of. Kyle McClellan, on the other hand, couldn’t do for Carpenter what Hoffman and Villanueva did for Gallardo as he suffered the loss for the redbirds.

This victory puts the Brewers back atop the NL Central all by themselves. It’s a lofty perch as with it comes the 2nd best record in all the National League (behind only the Los Angeles Dodgers), but it’s one that I certainly don’t mind resting my wings on.

This series isn’t over by a longshot, though, as these teams play two more games. If we win at least one more, the Cardinals leave town in 2nd place. If we are fortunate enough to sweep them again, we will once again hold a three-game lead in the division just like the last time we faced the Cardinals. We went into that series tied atop the division as well and left with a three-game lead (though we put the Cardinals into third place at that point, but the Chicago Cubs have helped us out by losing 7 in a row entering play tonight including getting swept by the red-hot San Diego Padres at Petco Park).

Tomorrow’s game is a rematch of another 1-0 game against these teams this year as Jeff Suppan squares off against Adam Wainwright. First pitch scheduled for 7:08pm and I will be there watching.

Let’s beat down the birds and regrab the momentum in the NL Central!

(By the way, was anybody else very comfortable when Hall strode to the plate in the 10th? After all, what does Bill Hall do best? Big hits on holidays!)

If You Want Something Done Right…

(…just change your name to Yovani.)

By: Big Rygg

This just in: Yovani Gallardo is good.

What a game! As I’ve made clear before, I love me a pitchers duel. Today was one of those days that garnered just that.

yo1st04292009.jpegGallardo won his second game for the Milwaukee Brewers today. You can say “single-handedly”, but his defense did still have to catch and throw (once in a while…Gallardo did strike out 11). Even still, nobody touched home plate to score a run in the entire 8.5 inning, 3-hour affair except for Gallardo after he laced a home run over the left-centerfield wall.

Gallardo’s final line was 8.0 IP, 2 H, 1 BB (1 hit batter), 11 K.

That 9th inning? It wasn’t Trevor Time today for the third day in a row at Miller Park. Carlos Villanueva entered the ballgame and pitched a perfect inning including a strikeout of his own against Pirate slugger Adam LaRoche.

(Before anybody worries or goes crazy, Trevor Hoffman basically had a scheduled day off. He just got back from an injury that had him on the DL for nearly a month and really needs to be handled with a modicum of care for a little bit here as he eases into the swing of the regular season.)

brewersJ4_043009.jpgThe Brewers tallied six hits total, including the one big fly from Gallardo which was all the difference that was needed.

Milwaukee and Pittsburgh now have equal records after 21 games played of 11-10. Milwaukee is over .500 for the first time this season. They have now won six out of their last seven games. The one loss was the 2-3 game in Houston where we just couldn’t break through very much in the run column despite racking up seven hits and seven walks in that game.

Also of note? Pittsburgh opened the day in 2nd place in the National League Central. The Brewers have a chance to catapult from 4th to 2nd in today if other games result in certain ways. Both the Cubs and Reds have to lose and we instantly find ourselves in 2nd. Not a bad couple of weeks.

For now, though, another fantastic day for a team that is really in a groove right now.

Let’s keep it going here on the homestand. We’ve got four against the Arizona Diamondbacks starting tomorrow with veteran Jeff Suppan (1-2, 7.32 ERA) taking on rookie Max Scherzer (0-2, 4.91 ERA).

Suppan has, admittedly, pitched a lot better in his past two starts. I haven’t looked into Scherzer yet, but I will do that soon and post anything pertinent that I find out.

Come on out to Miller Park tomorrow and see the Brewers chalk up another one!

One For Their Last One

By: Big Rygg

For all of the talk about the last several games played at Citizens Bank Ballpark by the Milwaukeee Brewers, things have changed..

No longer have the Brewers lost their last seven games in a row in Philadelphia (including playoffs). No longer is the last Brewer win in the city of brotherly love May 17, 2007. No longer have we only one won game in our last 11 at Philadelphia.

The script, as they say, has flipped.

Could this be related to the comments Ryan Braun made to the media after yesterday’s mess of a game? Perhaps. More likely, though, it was directly related to the change that Manager Ken Macha made by flip-flopping J.J. Hardy and Mike Cameron in the lineup. Cameron has been red hot and came through with a two-RBI hit that pushed our lead to 3-0 at the time. Hardy also had a pair of hits (including a solo home run) and was on base three times. Necessary move by Macha and very nice that he actually made that move. Does anyone reading this honestly believe that move gets made last year?

A few notes on the pitching from this one:

First, good start by Braden Looper. 107 pitches, 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 0 R. It would have been very nice to see him get into the 7th inning. But the guy did his work in this one. The biggest gripe is that with no strikeouts and no runs scoring, you’d think 107 pitches would get you a bit deeper.

Second, the bullpen picked up Looper for his second win of the season by twirling 3 innings of relief. Mark DiFelice still carries a 0.00 ERA, Carlos Villanueva actually held a team scoreless in an appearance (despite falling behind hitters again) and although Todd Coffey made it interesting in the 9th, he still recorded his second save in as many appearances by working the 9th inning (including a strike out of Ryan Howard).

The downstream affects of this game?

First, we have the chance to win a series. Albeit a small chance if Cole Hamels remembers how to pitch by tomorrow afternoon, but a chance. You can’t win three-game series with a win in game 3 if you lose games 1 & 2. That math doesn’t work.

Second, it appears that we’ve found our 8th inning guy once Hoffman returns from the disabled list. Coffey is getting it done by using a simple philosophy: Make them hit the ball to beat you.

Third, shutouts breed confidence. Granted, we did give up the one run in the 9th, but the shutouts I’m talking about are Looper’s, DiFelice’s and (most importantly) Villanueva’s. Great news for those guys, especially against the offensive lineup of this Philly team.

So, we move on to tomorrow. Dave Bush is on the bump against Hamels.

…with a chance at a series victory.

Yes, baby steps, but steps in the right direction for a change!