The Brewers Get Pounded in Game Two of the NLCS
The Brewers got pounded by the Cardinals 12-3 in Game 2 of the NLCS to even up the series to one game apiece. The best of 7 series will now shift now to St. Louis for the next three games as the Brewers take their game on the road.
So what went wrong? Suffice it to say that Shaun Marcum was a little off, and it begs the question as to why another pitcher wasn’t rotated in before the damage was done…
The Brewers’ starters have a 7.61 ERA through 7 playoff starts and Marcum himself has gone 7 innings or better only once in his last 6 starts. He was miserable, and had absolutely NO command on anything he threw. In this mode it was no surprise that Albert Pujols took advantage of Marcum, belting a 2-run homer in the 1st, and finishing with 4 hits and 5 RBIs.
Unfortunately the Brewers’ only attempt at a comeback came in the fourth inning when Rickie Weeks belted a 2-run homer to left field. A impactful play with Weeks came in the fifth inning when a terrible call at first base prevented a run from scoring, cutting short an inning in which the Brewers could have done more with 2 players on base. Nyjer Morgan missed a few plays in center field, but he wasn’t the only player who was down on his luck. It was an incredibly lackluster effort for a team overly-hyped after last night’s victory.
The Brewers’ opportunity to take the series lead has been snuffed, so now they take the show on the road, with Yovani Gallardo starting on Wednesday’s game in St. Louis.
Brewers Advance to the National League Championship Series
It was a perfect recipe to end game five of the National League Playoff Series in the bottom of the tenth inning at Miller Park.
With Carlos Gomez on second after a single and a stolen base. Nyjer Morgan at bat. Ryan Braun on deck, followed by Prince Fielder. And, of course, 44,028 towel-waving Brewers fans routing for the Brew Crew to finish them off!
And so it happened, and so it is that the Brewers won their first postseason series in 29 years and will advance to the NL Championship Series.
What only makes it better is the fact that the Brewers also gained home field advantage in the Championship Series because the Cardinals beat the Phillies.
Brewers Miss the Sweep, Losing to the Diamondbacks in Game Three
It was a cold night in Phoenix Tuesday night as Brewers fans watched their team take a beating from the Diamondbacks in game three of the five-game NL Division playoff series. Heading in to game three, the Milwaukee Brewers lead the series with two wins at Miller Park, but the Diamondbacks came back strong to prevent the sweep.
Just 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position while losing the first two games, it seems the Diamondbacks didn’t waste any time sending runners around once they got home to the desert. Rookie Josh Collmenter dominated Milwaukee, helping the Diamondbacks beat the Brewers 8-1. The hatchet-throwing right-hander had two impressive outings against Milwaukee during the regular season and kept it going in the playoffs, holding the Brewers to Corey Hart’s leadoff homer in the third inning and one other hit over seven. Collmenter retired 15 of the last 16 hitters he faced and set an Arizona rookie postseason record with six strikeouts.
Milwaukee’s power pair of Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun didn’t produce and Fielder had the only hit between them with an infield single in the ninth.
The Brewers’ clubhouse was quiet, but Nyjer Morgan was among those still smiling. “We’re a confident unit here,” he said. “It’s just one of those things where we took a nice little butt-whooping there, but we’ll come back and we’ll be ready to go.”
With only one win needed to seal the deal, the Brewers are in a sweet spot with two games remaining in the series.
Game four is tonight at Chase Field at 8:30 p.m. CST.
Brewers Take First in the NL Central
In a four-run sixth inning that was highlighted by a home run to right field by Prince Fielder, the Milwaukee Brewers bumped the St. Louis Cardinals out of the National League Central roost with a 4-3 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 42,692 fans. Although the win moved the Brewers one-half game ahead of St. Louis in the NL Central standings, at only 66 games into the 2011 MLB season its safe to say that there’s a long way to go.
Prince Fielder’s two-run homer capped a four-run sixth inning, earning the Brewers their victory and putting Milwaukee atop the National League Central. With a single already in his pocket, Fielder wasted little time making the Cardinals and Westbrook pay when he sent the first offering he saw from the right-hander rocketing into the second deck in right field 440 feet away!
Fielder was 2 for 3 with a walk and leads the National League with 58 RBI. Fielder continued an amazing power surge with his eighth home run in his last 10 games and his 19th of the season, just one run behind Los Angeles Dodgers’ Matt Kemp, who hit his 20th homer Sunday.
The Brewers are 25-9 at home, the best mark in baseball. While the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals play each other eight more times in August and four more times in September, it is critical for the Brewers to stay close in the standings to fulfill any hopes of carrying their ranking through the season.
Milwaukee Brewers’ Mascot Hawk?
It appears that the Milwaukee Brewers may have a mascot?
In what can be best described as an eloquent warrior of nature, a young red tail hawk chaperoned the Milwaukee Brewers to their 4-1 victory over the Houston Astros today at Miller Park.
Proudly stationing itself in right field for what one fan estimated to be about 20 minutes, the hawk skillfully supervised the majority of the 3rd inning as the Brewers scored 3 runs against the Astros, not so much as twitching a feather.
Phot courtesy of AP/JSOnline.com
“Even when the Brewers hit a home run, and 30,000 + fans were on their feet cheering as the fireworks were exploding, the hawk maintained its ground near Astros outfielder, Hunter Pence,” the fan exclaimed.
At one point the Brewers new mascot hawk must have got a little hungry and decided to feast on a not-so-lucky pigeon, a very rare site that I am certain captivated the fans’ attention!
Phot courtesy of AP/JSOnline.com
Uncertain as to whether the hawk has a nest somewhere in the retractable roof of Miller Park, or if the young bird was merely trapped inside when the roof closed, I certainly look forward to seeing more of the Brewers mascot hawk in future games.
Go Brewers !
Milwaukee Brewers On a Losing Streak?
Brewers Lose back-to-back to the Cubs
Ryan Dempster has the Brewers number. He beat Milwaukee for the fourth stright time, throwing seven and two-thirds strong innings in an 8-1 Cubs victory. Dempster gave up only the single run while improving his record to 2-0. It was true that the Cubs had lost five of their last six games, and in three losses to the New York Mets had scored a total of just three runs. “We’ve got to score more runs,” manager Lou Piniella said. “Three runs, three games, that’s not going to cut it. All I know is, we need to score more runs to win.”
Chicago came into the game having lost five of their last six while the Brewers had swept the Pirates and won four in a row. The Brewers only run came on a Craig Counsell double. Losing pitcher Jeff Suppan was booed off the field as he left the game, and it appears that his season is not doing so well.
Will the Brewers Dump Suppan From Starting Rotation?
Brewers manager Ken Macha acknowledged Saturday that there has been “some discussion” about dumping Jeff Suppan from the starting rotation.
Suppan has surrendered 16 hits over his first 9 1/3 innings of the season, putting his ERA at an ugly 8.68.
Chris Narverson is a likely fill-in, as is Manny Parra. But there’s no point in speculating any further until the Brewers pull the trigger. Suppan should not be owned in any fantasy format.