Brewers June 2004 Game Reviews

(6/30/04) Brewers 5, Rockies 4 (Record: 40-34)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Mike Adams and Chad Moeller
Just because Baseball Tonight doesn’t want to show Brewer highlights doesn’t mean people don’t want to hear about this team, right? Most of last year’s badly losing teams have made significant turnarounds this year, and almost all of them are getting a ton of national attention. For the Rangers, the attention is warranted because the team is in first place. However, I just can’t figure out why so much attention has been placed on the Tigers and Devil Rays. I know the Devil Rays have won a bunch in a row, and I know the Tigers lost A LOT of games last year, but come on. So did the Brewers! The D-Rays and Tigers aren’t 6 games over .500 right now and neither has any shot at the playoffs. Other teams that lost a lot last year, like the Mets, Reds, and Padres, have, at least record wise, a legitimate playoff shot. These teams are getting some attention nationally, so why not the Brewers? Maybe I keep missing the segments when ESPN discusses the Crew, but it sure seems to me like even the Mariners, Royals, D-Backs, and Orioles are getting enough coverage. I’m not saying the Brewers are going to win the division because there’s very little chance at that. And, despite the fact we’re only a half game out of the wild card, there really isn’t too much realistic hope for winning that either. However, I don’t think any organization in the majors deserves more credit than this one for this year’s turnaround. The Crew has been legitimately good (rather than simply lucky) and has managed such with a team salary about one-third of the league average. Am I alone in my frustration? I know the D-Rays would get 15 minutes on Baseball Tonight if they had won four in a row.
Anyway, tonight’s game was another good one. Sheets actually pitched quite well despite giving up four runs. There is only so much you can do at Coors. After the game, he discussed how his curveball wasn’t breaking at all. From watching the game, I believe him. I give him a ton of credit for being so effective using really only his fastball. I wish he had not been shown the eighth inning, but Yost did a good job pulling him before he messed up in the frame. Mike Adams deserves a ton of credit for coming in and getting an inning-ending double play off of Chipper Walker. Dan Kolb battled through a couple of crappy singles to get the save in the ninth. Giving up four runs at Coors is quite an accomplishment. Tomorrow, a day game, will be the real test for the Brewer pitching.
On the offensive side, no one had a particularly great game. In fact, the Crew only managed 12 baserunners this game. However, unlike previous weeks, the Crew got some hits with runners on base. The most important hit might have been from Ben Sheets, who blooped one over Todd Helton’s head to drive in a run for his first hit of the year. It’s amazing how much hits from the pitcher help you score runs. Hopefully, that day game tomorrow will get the hitters on a big role, not that they’re hitting too poorly now.
No matter what happens tomorrow, expect me to start complaining about having to play 7 games in 6 days, including three in Denver, before taking on the Cubs at home on Monday. I read that the team has made a conscious effort to have Sheets, Davis, and Santos work against the Cubs, and I applaud Melvin & Yost for such. However, the Cubs are getting a huge break playing a pitching staff that will be worn down. I hope to God Sheets can recover from the Mile High start tonight and be okay by Monday. I wish he had only thrown 80 pitches. You know how upset I’ll be if this schedule affects our play against the Cubs.

(6/29/04) Brewers 6, Rockies 3 (Record: 39-34)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Chris Capuano and Chad Moeller
Well now, this is more like it. As I said when I insulted the Rockies last week, I’ll be disappointed if we don’t win two out of three in this series. Even though the Rox are a lot better in Coors, the Crew is still a noticeably better team.
Tonight’s game started off quite well with the Brewer batters drawing four walks off of Sean Estes in the first inning. It was only some complete impatience at the plate by Bill Hall and swinging at good pitches to hit but not hitting them particularly well by Lyle Overbay and Brady Clark that saved Estes from serious damage. As Estes continued to walk people, it was just a matter of time before Coors Field bit him in the ass. And that’s exactly what happened when he loaded the bases in the third inning. Chad Moeller looped a Coors Field homer into the right-center gap for a grand slam and not very comfortable 4-run lead. By the end of the third inning, every Brewer had already reached base at least once, including Capuano, who walked on four straight pitches. Capuano is a pretty good hitter that helps himself out immensely with the bat. He was enjoyable to watch at the plate, especially considering our other pitchers.
Certainly the most enjoyable part of the game was watching the Crew draw 9 walks. If they keep that up, 6 or 7 runs per game will become automatic.
Of course, it was Capuano’s pitching that made the not so comfortable game into a relaxed one. His outing would have been impressive anywhere, but the fact that this was Coors made this into his best start of his career. He had some minor control issues at times, but was for the most part sharp. Capuano was not a perfect fit for Coors given that he had allowed more fly balls against than ground balls. However, he induced more grounders than fly balls tonight, and striking out six guys helps a lot. The key is to not allow balls to be put into play. If you do allow one to be hit, make sure it’s on the ground and that no one is on base when it’s hit. Coors Field is quite an interesting place for baseball, and Capuano did what he needed to do to be successful there. He did throw 105 pitches, and it will be very interesting to see how he responds in his next start. 105 pitches is certainly not serious pitcher abuse, but one of the most interesting facets of mile high pitching is the inability to recover from a start. Unfortunately, Capuano will not get an extra day off before his next start.
The difficulty of pitching in Coors was highlighted by the bullpen trying to close out the game. Burba and Vizcaino were struggling immensely to not give up a bunch of runs. They did a good job holding onto the game, but needed help from Dan Kolb in the end. Kolb came in to face Preston Wilson with one on and two out in the ninth. Kolb threw three straight fastballs and struck him out. I’ll say it once more, Dan Kolb is a deserving all-star this year. I think I’ll add a “consecutive innings without an extra-base hit allowed” counter to the top of the page to go along with the Overbay doubles one and the Counsell catcher’s interference one.

(6/27/04) Brewers 7, Twins 3 (Record: 38-34)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Lyle Overbay
Today’s game, which I guess wasn’t televised in Milwaukee, wasn’t as comfortable as Saturday’s game but was a relaxed win in the end. Lord Davis scratched his way through 6 innings before he, much like Santos before him, was let down by his team. An error, obviously not called one by the Twins official scorer, by Bill Hall probably cost Davis a run. Also, Jeff Bennett allowed his two inherited runners from Davis to score, though it wasn’t too poor of a job by Bennett in the given situation. Luckily, the offense had given Davis enough support by that point that the bottom of the seventh wasn’t really much of a bother. The Crew took advantage of the Minnesota turf and collected a number of infield hits/errors. Also, Overbay smoked a homer to center on which Torii Hunter almost made an unbelievable play. Ultimately, though, it was the Brewers’ patience at the plate that earned the team a victory. With Twins pitchers struggling to throw strikes, the Brewer batters took full advantage in the top of the seventh, the most exciting inning the Brewers have had all year. Judging by the amount of IM’s people left me about that inning, everyone realizes how exciting it was, so I won’t go into it too much. Let’s just say the Crew drew 3, count em’, 3 RBI walks in the same inning. No, the Brewers didn’t trade for Frank Menechino. Instead, Overbay, Ginter, and Hall drew the RBI BB’s, the second most exciting play in baseball I’ll remind you again. You can bet I went nuts and likely pissed off some Twinkie fans. Well, what else can I do? That was one hell of an inning and two great games!

(6/26/04) Brewers 7, Twins 2 (Record: 37-34)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Ben Grieve, Mike Adams, & Jeff Liefer
I’m back from the Twin cities with two wins under my belt. In this game, early hits and a big three-run homer by Jeff Liefer made this one of the most enjoyable Brewers game in the past month or two. How many comfortable wins has this team had lately? After this series, I still only count 3 in the past two months. Vic Santos pitched very well and was let down a bit by some shoddy defense behind him in the seventh. Spivey missed a ball that he should have had and Jenkins didn’t make a very good throw to the plate on a ball. I realized this weekend that the Twins official scorer would never rule anything against his team. It was impossible for the Brewers to make an error. With the poor defense, the seventh marked the only hiccup in an otherwise leisurely victory. Though Santos didn’t get much help from his defense, he did get a great pick-me-up from Mike Adams, who stranded a couple inherited runners and pitched 2.2 perfect innings.

(6/25/04) Brewers 3, Twins 6 (Record: 36-34)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Junior Spivey
No game review due to the Real Chili game tonight. Also, the next two games either won't be reviewed or won't be until Monday because I am going to Minnesota for them. I'll be back at ya then.

(6/24/04) Brewers 0, Rockies 3 (Record: 36-33)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Ben Sheets
Could this be the beginning of the end? In my mind, this already is the end. How do you lose 2 games to the Rockies at home?
Sheets pitched very well but don’t be fooled by the 0 earned runs. At the very least, he was responsible for one run. After all, he did give up a home run. Then again, 1 earned run in seven innings with 10 K and 1 BB is pretty fuckin’ good.
The problem as usual was the hitting. The good ole hitting with runners in scoring problem continued. As you can conclude from the score, we didn’t drive home runners too well today. One problem is guys swinging at bad pitches with runners on, but the bigger problem may be a strategic one. Let me set one thing straight: the Brewers have done a good job of getting guys on base basically all year. Once again, 13 runners reached base today. The fact that none of them scored is disgusting. The Crew also stole two bases without being caught and advanced on a wild pitch. Unfortunately, two GIDP really hurt, as did a complete lack of extra-base hits. The inability to hit for power is killing us right now, and, no, Bill Hall is not the answer to that problem. Perhaps the biggest problem, which I briefly alluded to, is Yost’s decisions in key situations. I will give Yost credit for playing the best starting lineup he could field today. However, his management in the seventh inning leaves me questioning if the Crew could have pulled this one out.
Down two runs, the Brewers got the first two men in the seventh to reach base. At this point, Sheets had thrown 110 pitches and was due to be pinch hit for. To my amazement, Yost performed the baseball equivalent of Shock n’ Awe. He let Sheets hit!!!! Sheets doesn’t have a hit on the year!!!! Moeller is running at second, Helton is left handed, and he plays the closest to home plate on obvious bunt situations than anyone I’ve ever seen. Even if Sheets got the ball down the third base line, Helton likely gets it and throws Moeller out by a wide margin at third. The chances of a double play were also astronomically high. As anticipated, Sheets hit one right to Helton who gets Moeller by 25 feet. Obviously, Yost wanted Sheets to pitch the eighth, right? Wrong. With Sheets now at first, Yost called out Jeff Liefer to pinch run. Jeff Liefer? Isn’t he slower than Sheets? Why not Brady Clark? In the end, it didn’t really matter. The Crew didn’t score that inning and badly wished it had that out back. The real kicker was in the ninth when Jeff Liefer would have been a perfect pinch hitter against Shawn Chacon but Brady Clark was used instead. He struck out on three pitches. Of course, hindsight is 20-20, but come on, bunting and pinch running with Liefer in the seventh was absolutely ridiculous. It was senseless, no questions asked. I wonder if Yost lost a bet or something or woke up on the wrong side of the bed. You know, the side of the bed that makes you a raving lunatic all day.
The Brewers likely lose, bunt or no bunt. However, it would have been nice to know we did everything tactically that we could have to win the game. We are running out of time to get the hitting situation straightened out, and you know what I mean.

(6/23/04) Brewers 2, Rockies 3 (Record: 36-32)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Keith Ginter
Go ahead and bunt the game away. A brilliant plan the bunt is. I wonder why is has just never worked for the Brewers yet this year. Maybe Yost thinks we’re due by bunting with no one out and a runner on first, but I can’t say for sure. Anyway, I’m almost positive the Crew wins this game if no bunt is placed in the ninth.
I really am disappointed and angry at this loss, so I’m going to make this review a short one. Capuano had one of those starts where you think he was awful, but as you’re leaving you say to yourself, “wait, he wasn’t too bad tonight.” There must be a reason I thought he didn’t pitch too well, so he must have been lucky to give up only 3 runs. The balls was hit mighty well off of him.
The offensive story is dual-sided. On one side, the Brewers hitters deserve a lot of credit for drawing walks (7 on the day). On the other side, though, this team should be ashamed at itself for not talking more walks. There were so many times that hitters swung at 2-0 pitches when the Rockies pitchers couldn’t throw a strike at all that I lost count. Unfortunately, our hitters always hit these 2-0 pitches and made quick outs. Had every hitter taken two pitches after 2-0 counts, I bet we could have drawn 15 walks and won easily. Of course, Overbay hit his homer on a 2-0 pitch, but he was the rare case today where sitting on the fastball was a good idea.
The Crew clawed back and put a ton of runners on base in the last few innings but just couldn’t get them home. Keith Ginter drew the exhilarating RBI BB in the eighth with undoubtedly the best AB of the night. The fun ended there as Keischnick popped out. Hall had also popped out with the bases loaded. The ninth inning was much the same. Counsell led off with a fantastic walk. The Pod bunted one back to the mound, and the Crew got a huge break when Chacon underestimated Counsell’s speed and failed to get an out when he threw to second base. The Crew had one HUGE break from a bunt, yet we decided to bunt once more with Spivey at the plate. Eventually, the bases would be loaded with only one down, a situation much less favorable than first and second with no one out. Overbay and Clark each failed to get the runners home, and the Crew lost. I know I’m not the only one who wishes we had that out back.
If the Crew loses tomorrow, expect some serious complaining out of me. I’m not happy with Yost for the outs he’s been giving up lately, nor am I happy with the fact that Grieve is suddenly never in the lineup. Back at you tomorrow afternoon.

(6/22/04) Brewers 6, Rockies 2 (Record: 36-31)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Doug Davis
On the field, this was one of the most exciting games of the year…at least it was to me and a few other numbskulls. However, the excitement of the game and enjoyment of winning were greatly diminished by the suddenly high expectations of the Crew winning. I must warn people, though, that the expectations are not high because I think the Brewers are a particularly fierce team. Rather, I see the Brewers as perhaps the most average team in baseball and anticipate an 81-81 record. In most series, I think the Crew should win at least one game, and I hope for the team to win two or three. However, when you play the Rockies at home, I fully expect at least two wins from the Crew in this series and would be disappointed even at that. The Rockies are the worst team in baseball, though their record has them pegged as second worst, and on the road there is absolutely no denying that they suck. As they seem to do every year, the Rockies have been around .500 at home and an abysmal 8-26 on the road. The Rockies are perhaps the only team in professional sports where a split like that means something. Playing at Coors is completely incomparable to playing anywhere else.
The Rockies did get Larry Walker and Preston Wilson back for this series, but that doesn’t change much in the way of expectations. I think people tend to think the Rockies’ pitching is average and its numbers are blown up because of Coors field, but such is certainly not the case. This pitching staff may be the worst in baseball even if you completely disregard the mile high aspect. Meanwhile, their hitting is overrated by numbers but still somewhat decent. This is why Doug Davis deserves the most credit tonight. As the lineup lagged to score off of Jason Jennings, Davis kept the team in the game. He was his usual self; not flashy but got the job done well. Please God, someone teach this guy how to hit! Davis would get a lot more run support if he weren’t the second worst hitter in major league history behind only Vic Santos. As soon as Davis was pinch-hit for, the lineup erupted and the aforementioned excitement began.
William Hall III led off the seventh with a single. The Pod worked (insert Hispanic name) Lopez before hitting a single right through the hole created by Hall on the right side of the infield. Javier? Isn’t he a catcher? Following the single, Spivey worked a walk on a close pitch. And here’s where all hell broke loose and the game became one for the ages. Jenkins came to the plate with the bases loaded and no one out. Jenkins entered the box with a brilliant plan and executed it perfectly. “What was his plan,” you ask? Simply to achieve the third most exciting play in sports/baseball: the RBI HBP (third only to the RBI BB and the RBI CI). What made this so unbelievable is that Overbay did the exact same thing when he came up next! Back-to-back RBI HBP!!!!! Awesome! That is fucking awesome! I had to take a seat at the game because I was on excitement overdrive and my engine was overheating. Yady yady yada, Ginter double, five run inning, Brewers win.
UR Capuano goes tomorrow against….wait, let me make sure I read this correctly….Sean Estes? I thought he went to that good ole baseball field in the sky. I guess not. Well, maybe he did. Either way, he’s pitching for the Rockies tomorrow.
One last thing…why in hell is the title to the ESPN game review, “Unearned Runs Spoil Walker’s Return to Rockies?” Are they implying that the HBP RBI’s were in some way not an accomplishment? I’m growing weary of the media not giving the Brewers credit. This team’s record has way, WAY more substance than the Reds, yet the Reds are still getting press as being in the NL Central “elite pack” as the Crew gets none.

(6/20/04) Brewers 2, Twins 4 (Record: 35-31)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Craig Counsell
Well, you can’t win them all. At least we don’t have to worry about the Crew letting a game slip away because the guys really didn’t deserve to win this. It appears that Victor Santos’ luck ran out on him today. If you look at his line, 3 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 0 HR, and 3 K’s, it’s eerily similar to the lines he’s been posting all year, with the exception clearly being less innings. Up to this point, Santos has found a way to get out of trouble despite walking guys and giving up a ton of hits. Today, he didn’t get the double-play balls he has relied on, and he certainly didn’t keep the hitters fooled enough to not smoke the ball into the gap repeatedly. The Brewers bullpen stepped up and kept the team in it with 6 innings of shutout ball. Once again, the bullpen didn’t look all too impressive, but it got the job done well. I can’t figure it out. There may have been some legitimate help from the infamous Miller Park shadows that appear during day games. This is certainly somewhat of a guess, but I believe that the hitters were having some trouble seeing the ball today after the shadows moved in during the third inning.
The Brewer batters ran into trouble with the shadows but also with Johan Santana, the German Venezuelan. There are too many guys on this team that struggle against left-handed pitching. Podsednik and Jenkins can’t hit lefties well at all, and the viable bench options today, Liefer and Grieve, have their own share of troubles. Even the almighty Overbay has some trouble with southpaws. Combine these matchups with Keith Ginter having no chance against the nasty Santana changeup, Gary Bennett not being a hitter at all, and Bill Hall being far too aggressive at the plate, and this game was a recipe for offensive disaster. The only ones left to produce to full capacity against Santana were Clark and Spivey. Clark struggled a bit, but Spivey had a good day at the plate. In addition to his home run and HBP, he drove two balls to deep center. Add to that two juicy errors, and you can understand why he isn’t the player of the game. He made the worst throw I’ve seen by a Brewer since Jose Valentine donned the ole MB. You had to see him throw the ball 30 feet over Overbay’s head to appreciate what I’m talking about. The two lefties with decent splits against opposing lefties, Counsell and Overbay, each did a good job at the plate. Overbay drew two walks and Counsell coming in as a pinch hitter put the Crew on the board with an inside the park triple-error-homer. I couldn’t see from my vantage point what Jacque Jones did in center to be called an error, but I bet it had something to do with grounding to second on the first pitch of an at-bat. Kieschnick almost brought us back in the ninth, but three strikeouts against Joe Nathan killed the rally we had started.
Now the Crew gets to take on the Rockies, who are easily the worst team in the National League. Let’s see if we can take two out of three again or maybe even get that ever-elusive sweep.

(6/19/04) Brewers 7, Twins 6 (Record: 35-30)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Geoff Jenkins, Lyle Overbay, & Scott Podsednik
Well, chalk up another awesome, come-from-behind win for the Crew. This was right up there with the games against the Reds and that one thriller against the Expos. With Wes Obermueller on the mound, the Brewers found themselves in a 5-0 hole with the game getting late. Solid Twins defense and poor hitting with runners on by the Brewers left the team scoreless through six disheartening innings. In the seventh inning, everything changed for the better. The Twins defense showed some imperfections as Corey Koskie missed a routine grounder. Brad Radke, who had dodged a few bullets earlier in the game, could not get out of the jam. As a longtime Twins fan, I know how prone Radke has been to the big inning throughout his career, but he had been solid for almost all of this year. Radke just simply doesn’t walk guys, which posed a big problem for the Brewer offense, which derives much of its run production from plate discipline. The Brewers were going to need to hit the ball hard to win, and they did so in the seventh inning.
Jenkins led off the inning with a sharp single. Overbay followed with a DOUBLE. With a chance to get the second out of the inning, Koskie made his error and the floodgates opened. Gary Bennett ripped a ball off the top of the wall in left, and Ginter followed with a single into right. Now a one-run game, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire finally decided to pull Radke. He brought in Aaron Fultz to face Podsednik, and the Pod smacked one into the field level bleachers in right. The homer gave the Crew the lead and led the 37,000 in attendance to almost bring the roof down. We just couldn’t believe this was happening again.
The excitement didn’t last long, as we all saw Luis Vizcaino strolling in to pitch the eighth. As expected, Vizcaino gave up the lead on what other than a home run to Luis Rivas. Truly, ‘twas Rivas whom victored in the Battle ‘o the Luisi. Vizcaino has now given up 7 home runs in 31.2 innings of work (an alarming rate for those unfamiliar with the finer points of statistics). The bounds of his effectiveness will be greatly challenged if he can’t correct his propensity to occasionally/too often throw “mistake” pitches. Vizcaino’s performance only opened the door for more Brewer excitement. With the game tied, Gardenhire brought in Terry Mulholland to face Jenkins and Overbay. One pitch into his outing, Jenkins had yanked a 400’ blast into the Loge bleachers. Once again, the crowd, filled with far more Brewers fans than in previous years’ games against the Twinks, went berserk. All intelligent fans knew that the Twins would now have to get through Dan Kolb to come back in this game.
Dan Kolb is without a doubt the most underrated closer in baseball. His performance so far this year has proven that last year was no fluke. His outings have raised my eyebrows all year, not necessarily because I’m surprised at how good he’s been, but rather because I’ve been surprised at how he’s been so good. Unlike the big name closers (Gagne, Smoltz, Wagner), who rely on striking out hitters, Kolb has used a weapon all his own, which I am now coining “the control ground ball.” Kolb’s style has been awesome to watch. He throws an incredible amount of high-velocity strikes that most hitters put into play early in counts. As a result, he doesn’t get too many strikeouts or walks. However, a ridiculous amount of the balls put into play are ground balls. Naturally, some will find holes, but it’s very difficult to drive in runs in an inning with no walks and no extra-base hits. Kolb’s statistics are staggering: 27.2 IP, 4 BB, 8 K, a 0.98 ERA, 2 inherited runners, and 0 inherited runners scored. Hang on, it gets WAY more impressive: 55 ground balls and only 13 fly balls, good for a 4.23 GB/FB ratio! I took the time to compare these numbers with the rest of the league, and here’s what I found: there are three players in a group all to themselves with a GB/FB rate like that; Jason Grimsley, Six-Finger Alfonseca, and Kolb. However, Kolb completely stands out from the other two. Like many other “ground ball pitchers,” the other two throw quite a few walks. Having seen these two players many times before, they can’t really be compared to Kolb. Both pick at the corners with sinkers and often miss leading to walks and trouble. Despite great ground ball rates, neither of these guys has been too effective (ERA’s in the high-3’s). On the other hand, Kolb has attacked hitters with sinking heat. He has broken a ton of bats and shown far more precision with his slider and fastball. His WHIP is .83, nearly half of that of the two aforementioned pitchers, due primarily to his lack of walks. You guys may think I’m done, but I’m not…I have saved the best for last. In 27.2 innings, remember, Dan Kolb has also posted these statistics: 0 HR, 0 2B, and 0 3B! That’s right, Kolb has not surrendered an extra base hit! I don’t think I have ever seen anything like this. Dan Kolb has been the most impressive reliever in baseball this year. With these factors in mind, another logical step can be taken….Dan Kolb doesn’t throw many pitches per inning. After a 7-pitch ninth tonight, Kolb has now lowered his pitches/inning to a fantastic 14. This leads me to my ultimate point: since Kolb is so efficient, there is no reason why he shouldn’t be getting into games earlier than the ninth inning. I love the way Yost protects his pitchers’ arms, but he should let Kolb throw more and throw in more high-leverage innings. I doubt that Kolb’s lack of many innings is much of a reason for his success, though obviously too many innings would hurt. He pitches every third day and then throws 14 pitches…come on! He has got more in his tank than that. I am sure that he could handle one more batter in the eighth when the setup man gets in trouble. I know there is no hope of Kolb being used as anything but a closer, but I’d be content if he would just be used in the eighth inning more.
Wow, long review…sorry folks. I’ll be back at you tomorrow with the conclusion of the series.

(6/18/04) Brewers 4, Twins 1 (Record: 34-30)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Ben Sheets
Sorry to say that this game will again not be reviewed do to the Real Chili game tonight. Basically, the Brewers completely dominated this game. Great defense and some gift calls made the score a lot closer than the game really was. Sheets was solid as usual. Somehow, the Twins got his pitch counts up a bit, so he only went 6 innings. Another good pull by Yost! Jeff Bennett threw one of his best games and Kolb was his usual ground ball machine. This was a great start to the series.

(6/17/04) Brewers 3, Mariners 6 (Record: 33-30)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Brady Clark
It’s gotten to the point where I expect the Brewers to win, and that leaves me wide open to letdowns. Today was quite a letdown. Unearned Run Capuano didn’t get the benefit of having unearned runs today. At the same time, he didn’t give up too many earned runs either. This guy continues to amaze me. He gets himself into and out of more jams and survives gofer balls better than anyone could ever imagine. He gave up a two-run blast in the fourth inning, but that was all he gave up. In almost every other inning, Capuano allowed the leadoff guy to reach. He walked four on the day, and got into serious trouble with the game tied in the sixth. With no one out and runners at second and third, Capuano reached back, found some extra velocity, and struck out two hitters to get him out of the inning unscathed. All in all, it was another rocky but successful outing for Capuano.
The same cannot be said about the bullpen. You all know how much I despise Matt Kinney, so you can bet I wasn’t too happy to see him crawl into the game in the high-leverage seventh and eighth innings. After giving up the lead in the seventh, Kinney was spared by Brady Clark’s game-tying homer. However, Kinney would not be so lucky after squandering the tie game in the eighth. Apparently, Kinney’s strategy was to fall behind early in the count and then throw a couple get-me-over fastballs down the middle of the plate. It didn’t work today. I wonder how it’ll work next time out. With the game still somewhat winnable, Mike Adams ended all doubts by giving up a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth. Last week sometime I mentioned how I wouldn’t expect the bullpen to continue to post impressive numbers. There are simply too many flaws out there. Mike Adams is not that great of a pitcher. His inherited runners scored before the game should have been an indication that his ERA should not have been zero. Kinney, as we all know, is terrible. Yost has a real problem on his hands of having too many pitchers down there, and none that are much better than the other. The high-leverage 7th and 8th innings are a real trouble spot. Yost is trying to get people to pitch every once in a while, but most innings are going to Vizcaino. When was the last time we saw Dave Burba, Matt Wise, Wes Obermueller, etc.? Maybe this team is in need of another bat and could go without someone like Kinney for a while.
The offensive star of the day was Geoff Jenkins who made seven outs in five at-bats with two K’s and two DP’s and took about 10 pitches to do it. Well done Jenks! You sandwiched a few good games between two of the worst I’ve ever seen. It’s tough to say you’re still streaking. No doubles by Overbay today, and Counsell let all the Brewer bingoers down by not notching another CI. This game was garbage.

(6/16/04) Brewers 4, Mariners 1 (Record: 33-29)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Doug Davis
The Mariners have scored the fewest runs in the A.L. and the second fewest in all of baseball. Meanwhile, the Brewers pitching staff has been nothing short of brilliant this year. With this in mind, I once again entered Miller Park with cockiness about the Brewers’ chance of winning.
It doesn’t take a genius to realize just how few runs that this team has given up over the past month. The Crew has not been blown out of a game in a very long time due primarily to the fact that the pitching has been consistent and good. The absolutely staggering thing about this is that the entire Brewer pitching staff has a price tag less than most teams’ ace pitcher. Most teams that get great marginal value from their starters do so primarily with young, homegrown talent. Pitchers in their first few years at the majors can be extremely good and still under rookie contract. The situation is not the same with the Brewers. Most of the Brewer pitchers are the product of waiver acquisitions, spring training invitees, flotsam and jetsam: a huge credit to the work of Doug Melvin. Even though I discussed many external factors that have helped boost the Brewer pitching numbers this week, I can’t deny the fact this team has pitched magnificently, especially considering pitchers’ salaries. The Mariners represent the other end of the success spectrum, if there is such a spectrum in existence. Mariners pitcher Kevin Jarvis would be, by far, the highest paid pitcher on the Brewers at $4.5 million this year. Yes folks, Kevin Jarvis. The same guy who’s never had an ERA under 4.37 for a year. The same guy whose career ERA is 5.88 in 10 seasons. The same guy who posted a nifty 8.31 ERA this year. I’m pointing this out simply to show how lucky we have it now in Milwaukee. I’m taking the series against the Mariners as the time to point out how far we’ve come by looking down at a team who has a salary over $80 million this year. How much is that in Yen? So, advanced apologies for any more Mariners ripping you read in this review and in tomorrow’s review.
Back to business….Perhaps the greatest value/$ pitcher in the majors this year has been Doug Davis. Making a cool $450,000, Davis hasn’t missed a start and posted a terrific 3.44 ERA this year. He continued his impressive start to the season with another superb outing tonight. The antiquated lineup the Mariners used tonight basically forgot which end of the bat to use. Poor Paul Molitor, who was honored before the game tonight, really has no chance coaching these guys. Tom Emanski couldn’t even help these guys out. At some point, not being able to get out of bed in the morning is going to hurt a player’s chance of performing well on the baseball field. The Mariners team consists of 6 bedpan users, 5 adult diaper wearers, and 14 Buick drivers. Basically, the team is one or two Francos away from the AARP. Sorry, the Mariners have annoyed the hell out of me the past four years.
All kidding aside, I’m not kidding. Anyway, Davis pitched quite well. From my vantage point, it appeared that the strike zone was ridiculously pitcher-friendly, but I could be wrong. The only blemish on Davis’ scorecard tonight was a solo home run by Old Man Borders, the youngest player on the Seattle team at age 41. You really can’t blame Davis for juicing a fastball down to the middle to Borders; who knew he had the power? Borders must have had some Wheaties with his Metamucil when he woke up at 5 AM this morning. For the remainder of the game, Davis got into some trouble, but never really was in over his head. He finished the seventh strong for his sixth win this season. He also had seven strikeouts!
On the offensive side, not too much was brewing after the second inning. The Crew could have done more damage in the early going if not for a couple of caught stealings by the Pod and Brady Clark. Guess who gunned them out? That’s right, Kid Borders. With Vizcaino looming in the top of the eighth, William Hall made everyone at the game, besides the Japanese media, far more happy and relaxed by belting an opposite field blast in the bottom of the seventh. From there, Vizcaino and Kolb shut the door with no problems, and the Crew went to four games over .500.
Unearned Run Capuano takes the mound tomorrow hoping for the sweep. Wouldn’t that be something? Of other note tonight, Overbay did not hit any doubles and Counsell did not gather another catcher’s interference. Tomorrow is another day for that. Once again, I will put up a record ticker on the website if you all want me to.

(6/15/04) Brewers 3, Mariners 0 (Record: 32-29)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Victor Santos
I’ll start by getting right to the exciting news. Brewers fans have been treated to a couple of historic record chases this year. With another double tonight, Lyle Overbay seems geared towards getting back on track to break the all time single-season doubles record of 67 established by Earl Webb in 1931. Overbay now has a league-leading 28 doubles. Even more impressive than Overbay’s doubles is Craig Counsell’s run at the single season “hit into catcher’s interference” record established by Pat Corrales in 1965. Corrales had 6 that year, and Counsell just hit into his third already this season (special thanks to Jeff to finding/knowing that record). Both records are well within reach, and I’m quite excited to be following them. If I get enough demand, I’ll put up a record ticker and graph somewhere on this site.
I was going to include a piece about Vic Santos and the single-season ERA record above, but I thought that would detract from my somewhat serious tone. All kidding aside, Vic Santos has been nothing short of a miracle worker. If Santos can keep this up the entire year, he will undoubtedly be Doug Melvin’s greatest finding from the bottom a major league trash heap since he took over the Brewers. Scott Podsednik was a great find, but he had some pretty good minor league numbers and obvious athletic ability. Doug Davis was always a pretty decent player. Dan Kolb was good, but always injured. Compared to Santos, who for all intents and purposes was never very good, the Pod, Kolb, and Davis were day-old crullers, while Santos was something in the range of a sweaty pair of underpants soiled in a traffic jam by a 350-pound Jersey cab driver that soon discarded his mess in a sewer outside a Newark nightclub. I think you get the point. As you know, I am not a big believer in sudden career shifts lasting, so I’m going to dissect Santos’ numbers much like I did Chris Capuano’s the other day.
Santos passes the first test, which is that all of his runs have been earned. This is where Capuano failed so miserably, but Santos has this going for him. His peripheral numbers really aren’t too bad either, meaning that it hasn’t been all luck earning him that 3.5 ERA. He has 22 BB, 42 K, a 1.26 GB/FB ratio, and has only surrendered 4 homers in 54 innings. Though these numbers aren’t bad, they really don’t point to sustaining an ERA like 3.5 for an entire season. What’s more, Santos has a couple other things that are not exactly in his favor. It turns out that Santos has faced the easiest hitting of any starting pitcher in baseball this year according to the statistics from Baseball Prospectus’ Quality of Batters Faced Report. Also, he is still one of the worst hitters I have ever seen, though he did lay down two mighty good bunts tonight. On a side note, it appears that almost all of the Brewers pitchers appear near the bottom of that quality list above. Maybe this is an indication of why the team ERA has been the lowest in the National League for the past few weeks. I don’t mean to detract too much from Santos’ continual solid pitching, but I must notify people not to get too excited.
Santos faced incredibly poor hitters tonight and dominated them completely. No matter who you are facing, a game like that is impressive. Santos got some help from bad baserunning and an assist from Jenkins, who had better win a gold glove, from two nice catches by Lyle Overbay, and by an overall good day in the field. The offense, led by good days from the 2-4 hitters, put up just enough runs against Freddy Garcia to keep the game comfortable. For fear of a jinx, I hate to say it, but Geoff Jenkins is streaking. This might spell trouble to opposing teams for the next week or so.
If this team keeps playing like this, maybe the media outside Milwaukee will start opening its eyes instead of obsessing about the Reds. The Brewers’ record is exactly where it should be based on quality of opponents, runs scored, and runs surrendered. Based on more predictive statistics such as these, the Reds are a 28-35 team. Even if the Brew Crew falls apart a bit, it’s only a matter of time before it’s in fourth place.

(6/13/04) Brewers 4, Astros 5 (Record: 31-29)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Geoff Jenkins and Lyle Overbay
After this loss, there are going to be two natural instincts I expect fans to express, and each will be fictitious. The first response I expect is that Sheets sucked today. Sheets certainly didn’t pitch his best game, but he pitched somewhat well. Ginter stung him with an error on a DP ball, which cost him some earned runs. Sheets simply has set the bar too high for himself now in fans’ eyes. He did give up a homer and four runs, but a 7/2 K/BB ratio is still very good. Let’s not get too upset with Sheets here folks. The second response I expect is that the offense failed again. To some degree this is true, but the Crew could have easily scored 14 runs this game. The Brewers had 18 baserunners in the game, hit four doubles, benefited from a balk, stole a base, didn’t make any outs on the basepaths, and hit a home run. How in the world does that only come out to four runs? The answer is somewhat crude but works: Keith Ginter blew the game. I love Ginter, but this is the second day in a row he made an awful defensive play that cost the team some runs. Even more importantly, Ginter left 10 guys on base today! I guess leaving runners in scoring position wasn’t all Ginter’s fault; it was a team effort. I don’t have the BA with RISP on me, but I think it was something like 1-18. The offense is still very much streaking, and fans shouldn’t be too discouraged by the four runs, which really isn’t that bad in the first place.
I’m still not ready to declare Geoff Jenkins to be on one of his streaks, but I am ready to say that Craig Counsell and Lyle Overbay are doing some fine streaking. Oh, I wish it were that kind of streaking.

(6/12/04) Brewers 7, Astros 4 (Record: 31-28)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Ben Grieve
Most of you out there heard me rant about how the Brewers always send home huge Miller Park crowds unhappy. My point was that every time a big crowd shows up, the Brewers put up a miserable performance. Tonight, the Brew Crew sent home over 40,000 happy people. I’m going to pretend that the huge crowd was there to see the team that’s been playing great ball this year instead of being there for a stupid bobble-head doll. No matter what the motive of the fans was, there was no denying that they were getting into the game. There is something weird going on with this team and city, and I’m not sure if I am fully comfortable with it yet.
Another thing I’m not comfortable with is the pitching of Chris Capuano. As many of you know, I have not been able to put my finger on how he was holding down such a low ERA (3.18 coming into today). Before tonight, he had given up 6 homers in 17 innings and had a WHIP of 1.47. Even though he has a good strikeout rate, I didn’t see that as being able to contain those peripheral numbers into an ERA that low. I recognized that anything can happen in only 17 innings of work, and I assumed his ERA would go up. Tonight was another sub par pitching performance from Capuano, and I received an eye-opening slap to the face when I saw that his ERA went down to 2.86. So, what is the truth behind the ERA?
The answer to the Capuano riddle lies largely in his Runs Allowed as opposed to his Earned Runs Allowed. I recognize that unearned runs are often difficult burdens on pitchers because fielders turn outs into baserunners. However, part of the skill of pitching is to prevent unearned runners from scoring. A quest into Capuano’s numbers revealed that he has been awful at this, having given up almost as many unearned runs as earned runs. Apparently, none of the runs from Albert Pujols’ three-run homer earlier in the year were earned just as none of the runs from Jason Lane’s three-run double tonight were earned. His RA is actually 5.32, a FAR better indication of how he’s pitched than his 2.84 ERA. Capuano has showed himself to be a pretty decent pitcher, but I’d expect him to have an ERA close to 4.5 by the end of the season.
The story of tonight’s game was once again the offense. Everyone contributed in some shape and form. The Brewer hitters did a great job of getting to Roy Oswalt, who earlier in the year f’ed ‘em up pretty f’in bad. Did anyone else realize that Ben Grieve has a .456 OBP at home this year? By the end of the year, assuming Grieve is uninjured and untraded, you all will be bowing down to me as Grieve’s #1 fan. Anyone still questioning why this guy is here? I’ll try not to let me bias for Grieve continue to seep through into my reviews, but it is hard. I love the way the guy walks. I love the way Counsell has drawn walks. I love the way this team has been hit by pitches lately. I love the way this team doesn’t throw outs away bunting and on the basepaths nearly as much as teams like the Astros. As long as the lineup can continue to hit for some power and average and take walks and HBP without making stupid outs, runs are going to keep flowing in. Had The Mighty Brooks not swung at a 3-0 pitch and grounded into a DP with the bases loaded tonight, who knows how many runs could have been scored. Little things like swinging at 3-0 pitches need to be corrected before we take on those 5th place Cubs.
One last thing: as if Jimy Williams hasn’t done enough for the Brewers this year, Sheets will take on Pete Munro instead of Roger Clemens tomorrow. I do, however, agree with Jimy’s logic and am doubly happy he has decided to hold Clemens back a day.

(6/11/04) Brewers 9, Astros 3 (Record: 30-28)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Geoff Jenkins & Scott Podsednik
Even though it rained much of yesterday, the Brewers were able to sneak this game in tonight. Lord Davis took to the mound and threw not one of his better games. Despite giving up 5 walks and a homer in six innings, Davis kept the damage to a minimum against a very good hitting team. Of course, he got a lot of help from Jimy Williams, but that’s really not the point here. Davis kept the team in the game and the offense finally exploded late. The lineup got a lot of good games from a number of people. For some, such as Brady Clark, Scott Podsednik, Junior Spivey, and Geoff Jenkins, this was the third game in a row that each looked much improved at the plate; perhaps an indication that the team’s hitting slump is over. For others, such as Lyle Overbay and Ben Grieve, this was another good day at the office; perhaps an indication that their solid hitting will continue. For others, such as Chad Moeller, I don’t have a clue were such good hitting came from, nor do I suspect it will continue. Moeller easily could have been 4-5 with a couple RBI if not for a nice catch by Dick Hidalgo in right.
Unfortunately, the hitting resurgence had to come at the expense of our beloved Astros tonight. I can’t remember the last time the Crew homered three times in the same game. Also, I can’t believe Scott Podsednik is tied for the team lead in home runs this late in the season. Anyway, I fear that the lineup could stumble against the fine Astros pitching the next couple of days. The team’s hitting has been streaky all year, and I suspect much of that has to do with mental approaches. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that Oswalt & Co. don’t put us into an offensive tizzy. We once again have a better winning percentage than the Cubs, so I’m happy with the team. Keep up the good work Brewers, but take it easy on the Astros!

(6/10/04) Brewers 4, Angels 5 (Record: 29-28)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Geoff Jenkins
Once again, the bats stayed awake enough to put some runs on the board. Jenkins hit a three-run blast and the rest of the lineup did enough hitting to win the game. Wes Obermueller pitched a very solid game. I hate the way he doesn’t even come close to striking anyone out, but he doesn’t walk guys and gets a lot of ground balls. The Angels were aggressive enough that they were hitting Obermueller’s low offerings and hitting soft ground balls. On any other day, the balls could have found the holes, but today Obermueller was effective. He did, however, lose much of his effectiveness in the seventh inning. Two hard hit fly balls and a walk put him in a bit of a bind, and Yost pulled him. Once again, I was a fan of Ned’s short leash.
The problem from that point on was the bullpen. Kieschnick came in and quickly allowed the two inherited runners to score before leaving without retiring anyone. Vizcaino followed, really struggled to retire Adam Kennedy, and then walked him on what I believe was the 18th pitch of his AB. To Vizcaino’s highly deserving credit, he struck out Eckstein on three pitches and got Figgins to fly out to center getting out of the bases loaded jam. Bennett came in to face the heart of the Angels’ lineup in the 8th and completely fucked up. He walked Vladmir Guerrero AND Garrett Anderson. Casual baseball fans out there don’t know how difficult that is to do, but trust me, it’s quite a shameful accomplishment. Bennett left, Adams came in, and he quickly gave up the lead and the game. Down one run in the ninth, the Brewers hitters almost scraped together a rally against the AL’s top reliever, Frank Rodriguez. Grieve singled, Counsell drew a great walk, and the Pod hit into a catcher’s interference with only one down to load the bases. If I counted correctly, that is now THREE catcher’s interferi the Brewers have benefited from this year. The rally was killed when Spivey hit into a double play on a mistake pitch from K-Rod to end the game. Fuck!
The one thing I want to get across to people is that the Brewers’ bullpen is going to be doing this more often than not for the rest of the year. Its numbers are staggeringly unimpressive in everything except ERA. No one, with the exception of Vizcaino has any sort of strikeout numbers, and even his numbers are tarnished by an awful home run rate. Of course the bullpen has some “ground ball” pitchers, but besides Kolb there is nothing too impressive about anyone’s GB/FB ratio. To put it boldly, the Brewers’ bullpen has been lucky to go this long being this effective. The pen just doesn’t have enough guys with dominating stuff. Furthermore, the pitchers keep pussyfooting around the outside corners and are terribly ineffective being behind in the counts. I hope Maddux can do something to keep this together, but I wouldn’t count on it. I’ll go into this more (with more numbers and details) in a later review. God, I hope I’m wrong about the pen because a bullpen blowing a game is by far the most annoying way to lose a game. Too bad Biddle wasn’t included with Bergeron…j/k.

(6/09/04) Brewers 12, Angels 2 (Record: 29-27)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Scott Podsednik
This game was nearly as enjoyable as last night’s epic for completely different reasons. In my last review, I mentioned how I hoped yesterday’s win would spark the bats and rid the team of the tension it seemed to be carrying to the plate. Tonight’s game was hopefully an indication that such was a correct hypothesis.
The Brewer bats exploded tonight making the hitters look like they did throughout April. The plate patience was back in full form again, perhaps due to more comfort at the plate. Whatever the reason, which I think was a mental one after last night’s game, it was clear that the strike zone judgment was immensely superior to that showed over the past three weeks. Podsednik and Clark both appear to have come out of slumps after the past two games. Also, Spivey, Hall, and Ginter all took a good first step tonight towards getting out of their own hitting funks. Now, if we could just get Jenkins and the catchers to start hitting, we’ll be getting over 5 runs per game once again.
From looking at the score, it would appear that the Brewers also pitched well in this game, but that certainly is not the case. Saying that Santos was lucky to only give up two runs is a gross understatement. Almost everything he threw was hit hard, and he only struck out one batter through six innings. He got some help by a great grab by the Pod in center but wasn’t helped by another error by Spivey. Without the error, Santos conceivably could have given up 13 hits, 2 walks, and a home run in six innings and only surrendered one run! So, obviously Santos did a good job of spreading out the hits. However, the biggest contributor to his effort was the double-play ball. To his credit, Santos got the Angels hitters to hit the ball on the ground when he needed to. His only strikeout also ended up being a double play. With 4 DP’s hit into and a runner caught stealing in the first 6 innings, the Angels have to be upset with themselves. Regardless of how he did it, Santos got the job done. He qualifies for the overused “quality start” stat. After last night’s game, the Brewers really needed a strong effort from Santos and he ate up enough innings to allow Burba to skillfully close the game out. Both guys deserve a good ole tip ‘o the cap. The Angels, who were also in desperate need of some innings, did not get the same effective pitching. Again, this bodes well for the Brewers tomorrow.
As much as I enjoy the close games the Brewers find a way to win, I’ll take a game like this any day. It’s been a long time since the lineup pulled together 12 runs and we won a game by a stress-free margin, too long. I’m lovin’ it and so are our Oakland Athletics. Guess who has a better winning percentage than the Cubs? The Reds will be the next team we pass!

(6/08/04) Brewers 1, Angels 0 (17 Innings) (Record: 28-27)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Ben Sheets
People haven’t been reading too many of my reviews lately, and I can’t blame them. It’s not my fault that the team has been playing so bad and been so boring to watch. I have a feeling that quite a few people want to read about this game, though.
Let me start by saying that this was probably the most memorable of all the highly memorable games the Crew has played this year. The game started with Ben Sheets dealing. I was on the edge of my seat after he pitched six quick, perfect innings. However, by this point in the game, my excitement about Sheets’ mastery was completely neutralized by the lineup’s masturbation. It was apparent after the second inning that even if Sheets was perfect, he wasn’t going to get a perfect game. In the second inning, Lyle Overbay led off with a single and Jeff Liefer laced a double down the first-base line. With two in scoring position and no outs, the Brewers foreshadowed an absolutely memorable offensive accomplishment. Ginter struck out. Grieve struck out. Moeller broke his bat and flared to second base. End of inning. Brewers bats shut down completely from there.
Anyway, back to the pitching. Sheets was perfect through six, and he quickly retired the first two batters he saw in the seventh. Then, Vladmir Guerrero came up, and my heart was in my throat. I knew he was definitely the toughest out and that Sheets would have to hope Guerrero hit a ball right at someone. Sheets threw an absolutely nasty curve, Guerrero picked it off the ground, and somehow got the ball into left field. He is probably the only hitter in the game that could have hit that, granted, he is one of few who would swing. Sheets’ perfect game and no-hitter were broken up, but that wasn’t nearly the end of the excitement for the night. (Side note: If anyone watching the game on TV at this point was listening to Sutton, let me know how many times he mentioned the perfect game. I’m assuming many times. Even though I don’t believe in jinxes, announcers not saying anything is one of those little, irreplaceable things about baseball I love so much. Of course, I mute the TV when I watch, so I can tell you the radio guys did a good job here.)
After the disappointing seventh inning, the theme of poor hitting continued for quite a long time. Sheets’ night ended after nine shutout innings, where he threw only 103 pitches. He could have gone to the tenth, but I like the move of pulling him a lot. He only allowed one hit and no walks. One other man would reach base courtesy of an error by Junior Spivey. Considering the error and lack of offense, look at how little support Sheets was given tonight. Sadly, Sheets wasn’t the only one who didn’t get much support. Vizcaino, Bennett, and Adams all pitched great after Sheets left the game, but they too got nothing with which to work. Spivey gave the bullpen two more errors to play around with, and I’m sure it appreciated them. Vizcaino was lights out, and while Adams and Bennett were a bit shaky, they definitely pitched well.
The fun didn’t stop there. Kinney came in in the bottom of the sixteenth inning with the game still scoreless. He allowed a two-out hit and stolen base, but got out of the inning. In the top of the seventeenth, it was again looking like a bad inning. The Brewer bats came alive a little bit in extra innings. In fact, I think we had a runner on in every extra frame. However, the massive number of strikeouts and lack of stringing anything together meant for little offensive production. With two down in the seventeenth, Craig Counsell, who was one of very few hitters to have a decent day at the plate, drew a walk off of Ramon Ortiz. Scott Podsednik, who hit the hardest ball of the night in his previous AB but had the ball caught in right, then laced a ball over the head of Vlady. Considering the circumstances, there was nothing that was going to keep Counsell from trying to score. Vlady, who you all know has an incredible arm, played the ball somewhat smoothly and shot his cannon towards the plate. The ball was cut off and relayed home. Counsell, running as hard as anyone could the entire way, dove headfirst into home and just beat a swipe tag by (insert first name) Molina. I literally jumped out of my seat. Considering that it was almost 2:00 in the morning for most of us, I bet most didn’t follow this one. If you didn’t watch the entire game, you have no idea how exciting a run seemed just then. There was just nothing done offensively this entire game. (Before I forget, I will again mention that trying to bunt a runner to second with no one out is moronic. The move was 0-4 in success again tonight by the two teams. In addition to the two bunts, the Angels also helped with a foolish steal attempt in the 15th I believe.) At no moment was there any great chance of runs scoring after the second inning. However, with Vlady, Guillen, and Quitty Mondesi due up in the next inning, there was little time to celebrate just yet.
Thank God for Dan Kolb! At no moment in the bottom of the 17th did he give us Brewers fans any reason to worry. He pounded fastballs in on everyone’s hands causing Vlady to ground back to him and the next two batters to also ground out weakly.
The win was needed not only for the fans but also for the team. The guys have been having some serious mental difficulties during this long hitting slump, and tonight was no exception. Who knows, but winning something like this could be a huge spark for the offense. Of course, after tonight, it’s going to take a huge rally to get the batting statistics back to respectability. The Brewers tied the major league mark for strikeouts with 26. We struck out 26 Goddamn times! The K’s, or should I say (can anyone figure out how to do a backwards K?), also broke the NL mark and shattered any sort of interleague mark. Four players had some of the worst games in franchise history. The aforementioned Spivey’s three errors were bad, but a 2-7 day being picked off once didn’t help either. Jenkins tied the ML record with 6 strikeouts and went 0-7. Also, Ginter and Grieve combined for a 0-13 with 9 strikeouts, and they were the ones who blew the chance in the second inning.
On the other side of this game, I’d venture to say the pitchers provided the best game of pitching in franchise history. The Angels were a top hitting team going into the game. Although it’s been playing out of their elements with the injuries, shutting down this lineup is still quite an accomplishment. Sheets only struck out 5 and didn’t actually have a good ground ball/fly ball ratio. The peripheral numbers didn’t hurt his results of a near perfect 9 innings. The same holds true for the other relievers. The Angels hitters were swinging early in counts, popping a lot of balls up, and grounding out a bit. Everyone who pitched deserves a ton of credit.
The thing that makes this win extra rewarding is the effect it might have on the rest of the series. The Brewers’ bullpen was not nearly as worn out as the Angels’. The Angels threw perhaps all three of their top relievers, and all of them racked up pretty high pitch counts. On the whole, the Brewers pitchers used up far less pitches. If I’m counting correctly, Brewer pitchers used 209 pitches as opposed to the Angels using 263. Additionally, the Angels are without their closer Troy Percival, who recently hit the DL. For the Brewers, Dan Kolb, Matt Kinney, Matt Wise, and Dave Burba will all certainly be available to pitch tomorrow. Kieschnick will most likely be back for Thursday’s game. In case you didn’t hear, Kieschnick and his wife had a baby. No, I’m not sure which one actually gave birth. On a completely unrelated note, McDonalds is giving out those tiny Transformers in their happy meals again this week. (Last side note: Am I the only one that thinks Spivey getting hit in the front of the batting helmet might have had something to do with Guillen getting hit earlier?)
Ok, I’ve said enough. This win was huge and should hopefully rejuvenate interest in this team once again. After all, it’s been at least 2 or 3 weeks since its last thrilling victory. What a memorable season it has been so far with this game at the top of the list of memorable games.

(6/06/04) Brewers 3, Padres 8 (Record: 27-27)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Keith Ginter
I'm growing quite frustrated with this team, and I'm sensing that game reviews will be stopping as soon as these guys have a bad game against the Cubs. Reviewing games like this is becoming quite simple because all I need to say is that we are playing like crap. I'm not giving the pitchers the credit they deserve for keeping the Crew at .500, but today no one deserved any credit. Davis didn't pitch too awful. However, he did cost himself 4 runs due to his own foolish defense. In the same inning, Davis botched two bunted balls, throwing one of them down the first base line. Needless to say, you're going to give up some runs doing that in the same inning. The sad part is that the lineup actually gave him a lead with which to work, albeit a small, 2-run lead. Expecting the lineup to provide another couple runs would have been foolish. The bottom of the order, anchored by the catchers, typically a middle-infielder, and the pitcher's spot, continued to produce it's typical 12 outs per game. When combined with a slumping Podsednik, this group is making over 2/3rds of the team's given outs. Ginter hit the Crew's first homer in over a month and Counsell did a good job getting on base three times, though he was caught oversliding second base on a steal attempt. The little offensive output was certainly not enough to make up for the poor start by Davis and a terrible inning by Keischnick.
It seems obvious to me that Davis struggled solely because he pitched on TOO much rest. Last time out he was a stud, but today he wasn't. The only difference was that he had an extra day's rest this week. I hope that no causal relationship is given to his last start on short rest and his poor start this week. If someone, like Sutton, wants to convince people that Davis only struggled because he was "pushed too much" in his last start, then all you smart baseball fans out there listen. When you hear what he and others like him have to say, realize he is just a lost soul trying with all his mite to reinforce myths that ultimately will be destroyed. This team and every other one with the possible exception of the Rockies would be better off on a four-man rotation. Unfortunately, progressive thinking will be systematically dismissed by members of this media, who will ultimately hold the say in the future of Doug Melvin and Ned Yost. If they try to use a four-man rotation, Sutton will constantly blabber on and on about it. And, if the pitchers struggle, you can bet it would be blamed on the roation instead of the sheer lack of talent. This has nothing to do with this game, but I'm trying to make a point about the future of this team. Although it's an unlikely hope, I would love to see the Crew go to a four-man rotation. Based on his previous decisions, I know Doug Melvin is doing his research and gaining an edge on the competition using progressive thinking and a futuristic attitude. I hope he continues his moves on the field, that's all I'm saying.
I suppose this little rant I'm on about the media and such has something to do with a few stories being published in the Journal Sentinal this past week. If you didn't already know, the MLB draft is tomorrow. The paper has been running stories promoting random high school players, specifically high school pitchers. If you know me well enough, you know how much I believe in the drafting of college players. Ah, whatever. I'll let you know on Tuesday how the Brewers did in the draft.
Congrats to the Milwaukee Admirals for an absolutely dominating season and Calder Cup championship!

(6/05/04) Brewers 0, Padres 4 (Record: 27-26)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Matt Kinney
I think this is the first game all year where no one deserved the Player of the Game. I gave it to Matt Kinney because he struck some guys out and didn't give up any runs or walks. As for Wes Obermueller, he just isn't a good pitcher at all. I'm sorry, but you just can't be giving the opposing pitcher the RBI walk, the most exciting play in baseball. Obermueller does make up for about .6 points in his ERA with his batting, but with an ERA approaching 7, that's just not good enough. It shouldn't be too long before a couple of career minor leaguers get the call up from AA after Melvin works the waiver wire and clears some room off the 40-man roster. Let's hope he does that soon.
The reason that Obermueller can't stay is that the offense can in no way support him. It can support Davis or Sheets because they only give up a run or two per start. The batting has been awful. Valdez is not a good pitcher no matter what Sutton says. He didn't pitch a great game. He only struck out 4 batters and the strike zone was huge. There is too much "putting the ball in play" going on. Counsell needs to swing harder, strike out a bit more, but gather himself some extra-base hits. Of course, this is easier said than done for a guy who has always hit the way he does. Regardless, the offensive problems are simple. We aren't getting enough guys on base, due largely to a decreased walk rate for everyone except Overbay. Also, no one is hitting when runners are on base, due somewhat because of overall low batting averages and somewhat because of bad luck. Lastly, there is little to no power hitting. It's tough to score runs when no one gets more than singles. Overbay isn't getting much to hit any more. To his extreme credit, he is taking walks and doing what he can with the few good pitches he sees. The solution to the problem is not an easy one. There is nothing you can do as a fan besides wait it out. Yost could do minor things like changing the batting order, but it's going to take a couple batters getting hot to get the batting in order again. The Crew has faced some tough pitching in some unfriendly pitchers' parks, but that's no excuse. As a fan growing more and more frustrated, I'm hoping to God that the Crew can start batting like it did earlier in the season even if the pitching starts playing like it did then.

(6/04/04) Brewers 3, Padres 1 (Record: 27-25)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Lyle Overbay
I'm sorry to say, but this game will not be reviewed due to the Real Chili game tonight. I did watch the game and was once again very pleased with the pitching but not with the Crews' hitting with runners on base. With 14 baserunners and 4 extra-base hits, I just don't know how we only mustered 3 runs tonight. There are still numerous players in big declines at the plate, but the team has been carried by a different guy every day. Tonight, Victor Santos was good enough to earn the victory. He got a nice piece of relief work from Mike Adams, who still has not been scored upon this year, and Dan Kolb. At the plate, Counsell and Jenkins had some big hits, but Overbay's reaching base all 5 plate appearances makes him the POTG.

(6/02/04) Brewers 2, Dodgers 5 (Record: 26-25)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Scott Podsednik
Look guys, I never said Grieve could play defense. I know you all want to get in my face about his terrible play in right, but I am sticking to my statements that his offensive output more than defeats his defensive impotence. With two more tonight, he now has 23 walks in 101 AB’s this year. I rest my case.
Of course, the story of this game was Ben Hendrickson. The prospect showed signs of promise but was for the most part lackluster. He was everything I pictured him to be. His fastball had very little behind it as anticipated. Unfortunately, he didn’t have as much sink or precision to it as I’d have liked to see. His curveball was definitely his preeminent pitch, but he didn’t have much of a third pitch with which to compliment. His curve reminded me very much of Mike Mussina’s knuckle-curve, a huge 12-6 breaking, mid-seventies velocity pitch. Unfortunately, he didn’t show great control of the pitch, as he consistently missed high and out of the zone early on with it. When he did locate the curve and his fastball, he had very good results. Having only 2 strikeouts facing hitters that were unaccustomed to his stuff is certainly not a good sign. However, Hendrickson really isn’t a strikeout pitcher, which explains why he really isn’t considered a huge prospect. On a positive note, he did manage to throw a good number of ground balls, and guys weren’t crushing the ball off of him. Also, he limited the walk total to 2 despite early wildness. I really don’t know how much of an effect jitters had on him, but hopefully it was a significant one. At least Hendrickson didn’t get shelled. Being a guy who pitches to contact, Hendrickson will always be at the mercy of the defense behind him, and today that defense let him down a bit. Grieve’s woes in right are absolutely comical to me because I love Grieve so much. He has to not try to make great plays; doing so tonight turned a single into a triple. Also, Grieve has to not close his glove before the ball gets to it. Come on guys…Grieve never could play the field. It’s not like he’s doing this just to us. He plays a position that won’t hurt the team much, and we just have to put up with the occasional folly. Not so publicized was Counsell’s inability to make a play on a grounder in the first inning. I think Counsell could have and should have gotten to the ball. Had he done so, the Dodgers might not have scored in that inning. All in all, the defense didn’t help Hendrickson, who didn’t help the team out too much either.
At the plate, the struggles continued for the Crew, who had only two hits worth mentioning. One was another leadoff homer by the Pod, and the other was an RBI single by Brooksimus Kieschnick off of Eric Gagne in the 9th. If you missed it, the battle between the Transformer and Gagne was awesome. I think it was the first time I’ve seen Gagne vastly intimidated.
The lack of offense again came down to poor hitting with runners on base. The guys got to Edwin Jackson quite well early in the game. Numerous players went to high pitch counts in at-bats, and several reached base. The two leadoff hitters in both of the first two innings reached base, but the Crew only scored 1 run total in those innings. The real killer was a double-play ball with no one out in the second by Gary Bennett. I must mention that Keith Ginter had a good game. Once the ball went to Martin, Mota, and Gagne, there was little chance that the Crew was coming back tonight.
A disappointing start to the roadtrip, and the Crew really needs to pick it up with series against the Padres and Angels looming.

(6/01/04) Brewers 4, Dodgers 1 (Record: 26-24)
Box Score
Player(s) of the game: Doug Davis & Scott Podsednik
This is an exciting time to be a Brewers fan, and most of the reason lies on the shoulders of Doug Melvin. I’m going to try to review this game alone without going into too much other stuff, but the probable debut of Ben Hendrickson tomorrow and the fact that this team is playing so well make me want to discuss many other things. I’ll try my best to stay focused to the task at hand.
The reason I am so pleased with Doug Melvin is because this game today got me thinking of how much better Doug Davis has made this team in the past year. Davis took the ball in an emergency start today after Sheets was having some dizziness. Although the team says Sheets’ ailment is nothing serious, I’m pretty sure it’s a torn labrum. Anyway, Davis was awesome tonight, as he has been the past month. Last time we had a good spot start given to someone, I gave Yost credit only to later find out that Melvin was responsible. This time I’m just going to give credit to Melvin. As I have mentioned before, pitchers can start on 3 days rest. There is nothing that says there is any negative effect on health or performance when a pitcher has one less day of rest. The key is to not throw pitchers too many pitches in the games they start. Tonight, Davis threw 92 pitches. Look guys, I can’t explain to you how well this was done. I could not have scripted something any better than what was done. Davis was brilliant and didn’t pitch long enough to give us any reason to worry about future starts. I am hoping that the Crew goes to a four-man rotation, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Doug Melvin led the way this year. Of course, it’s still not likely given the nature of baseball these days, but it would be smart. I may have done this before, but I’ll share with you Part 1 , Part 2 , and Part 3 of Rany Jazayerli’s work on starting pitcher usage from Baseball Prospectus . Read it if you can.
Anyway, Davis was great, and he got some help from the rest of his team. People have been REALLY down with the Brewers’ offense of late. To a certain degree, this displeasure is justified, but people need to realize that the hitting slump has been largely caused by poor hitting with runners on base. Some of this has been the result of poor lineup construction, some has been caused by certain players slumping at the plate, and some has been caused by sheer unluckiness. Besides Wes Obermuller’s 2 AB’s, our pitchers haven’t hit at all. Combined with a couple slumping catchers and Brady Clark, it’s easy to see that the bottom of the order is pulling it’s best 2003 Brewers impression. Also, much of the problems come from simply playing good pitching staffs. So, the important question is how long will this hitting slump last? If I had to bet, I’d foresee a breakout game within the next few days followed by better overall hitting. Tonight, we got to see a couple of hits with runners on that led to 3 runs. With a little more luck and a little better hitting by Jenkins, we should be getting runs up on the board again soon.
Tonight’s offensive hero was the Pod. He led off the game with a homer, reached base 4/5 times, and stole 2 bases successfully. Getting the Pod back on track, as he was tonight, is the first step to the offensive rejuvenation. The next step is of course Geoff Jenkins. Jenkins has now strung some good AB’s together and could finally be on the verge of one of his hitting tears. His recent success against left-handed pitching is a good sign.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see tomorrow. I don’t know about everyone else, but I’m really excited for the game tomorrow. Ben Hendrickson, who unfortunately has become perhaps our best pitching prospect, will likely debut tomorrow against another stud pitching prospect Edwin Jackson. It should be a good one. Jackson has struggled a bit this year, and the Crew might need to attack fastballs earlier in the count. Tomorrow is going to be a good time to start hitting with runners in scoring position.
Before I stop, did you see Milton Bradley tonight?! What a spaz!