Extra-Base Hits The Difference In The Series

Besides the Brewers pitching staff only allowing two hits to the Blue Jays yesterday, pitching took a back seat to hitting in this series. The storylines all came from extra base hits as the Brewers and Jays split their last interleague series of the season. On Tuesday it was the Brewers who broke out the bats headlined by Jonathan Lucroy adding onto his league lead in doubles (42) by pounding two more off J.A. Happ. These were two of seven total doubles hit by the Crew in the game en route to a 6-1 beating of the blue birds. Wednesday started off similar with Gerardo Parra and Jean Segura both doubling in the second inning to give the Brewers an early lead but then the longball took over. The teams combined for twelve extra-base hits, three of which were bombs. These favored the Blue Jays as Bautista took Kinztler up and out for a three-run blast in the 6th and Colby Rasmus with a two-run dagger in the 9th off Will Smith. The lone blast for the Brewers was a moonshot by Carlos Gomez  in the 6th which ended up being too little too late. The Brewers continue their crazy

run against Cy Young winners tagging R.A. Dickey for 5 earned in 5.2 innings.

Wednesday's game stings for the Brewers and is definitely one that got away as the bullpen was unable to lock it down for Jimmy Nelson. In 3.1 innings the bullpen gave up 5 earned not counting the one that was accredited to Nelson when Reyes had an RBI single off Zack Duke. Games like this hurt for the Brewers because pitching has been the story of the season and you almost just expect them to slam the door on the back end. It was only the 5 non-quality start in the last 28 games for the Brewers. They look to start another winning streak when the scuffling Pirates come to town Friday after tomorrows off day. Arguably the three hottest starting pitchers (Gallardo, Peralta, Fiers) will be on the bump for the Brewers in the series. Peralta leads the MLB in wins, Fiers has been untouchable and Gallardo has all but owned the Pirates thus far in his career.

Down The Stretch: 37 Games To Go

Coming off handing the Dodgers their first sweep of the season, with a record fifteen games over .500 and perched atop the lead of the NL Central, the Brewers find themselves where nobody thought they'd be with 37 games to go in the season. Fangraphs has given the Brewers an 83% chance to make the playoffs and it seems to be getting greater with each passing game. The Pirates and Reds are each 2-8 in their last 10 games and are reeling just trying to keep up as the Brewers have hit somewhat of a hot streak of late. The Cardinals have had struggles of their own with their once sure-handed bullpen blowing games day in and day out. Much of the Cardinals and Pirates struggles can be attributed to key injuries as Molina and McCutchen have both missed significant time. McCutchen is expected to return tonight but Molina won't be back till the later part of September. The key to the Brewers late success has been the starting pitching, much like the rest of the season. In the last 26 games starters have 22 quality starts and a 2.46 ERA.  This includes Mike Fiers' success since stepping into the rotation. Along with ringing up 14 Cubs in his last start he has posted a 1.29 ERA only allowing 3 earned runs in his two starts. The Crew will continue to fight for the top playoff spot which has new meaning since the addition of the second wild card seed which forces a one-game playoff. As the top seed the Brewers would get to play the winner of this game who most likely will burn their ace in order to keep their season alive. The Brewers begin the last of their interleague play tonight against the Blue Jays in which Mike Fiers will toe the rubber.

Brewers Notes 9.10.14

The Brewers have watched their season high 6.5 game lead in the central diminished to just 1.5 over the last week or so after their self destruction and sweep at the hands of the Phillies. 1-9 in their last ten games, not much has been going right for the struggling crew, and behind most of the problems is the offense. They have scored two runs or fewer in seven of their last ten games, with the other three being scores of seven, four and four. The funny part is that they even lost those three games with their only win coming 1-0 behind a gem from Matt Garza. Garza may be the only thing that is working for the crew as he is has taken no-hitters at least through the 5th in his last two starts. The Brewers are failing to do big things that made them, or any team successful, through the first part of the season which is come up with timely hitting and have a shutdown back end of the bullpen. Will Smith is pitching like Pursuit of Happyness Will Smith (see here) as he has been giving up runs left and right. It's hard to have a lockdown bullpen when you never have a lead. K-Rod has probably turned to dust in the pen since he's only pitched one inning since June 28. The All-Star break cannot come soon enough for the Brewers.

Other Notes:
The Brewers signed Dominican prospect Gilbert Lara. The 16-year old star is a long ways from seeing MLB action but he is an offensive juggernaut who needs to work on his infielding (a little Ryan Braun-esque, we can put him in the OF). They shattered their former high signing bonus of an international player of $800,000 when they gave Lara $3.2 million today.

Marco Estradas time in the rotation seems to be over for now. The Brewers placed Wei-Chung Wang on the DL with elbow inflammation and called up top prospect Jimmy Nelson, who they have already said will start in Estrada's place Saturday against the redbirds. This is the best of both worlds as Nelson leads all major pitching categories in the PCL and the bullpen finally gets a long relief man it has been lacking.

Yadier Molina and Brandon Phillips have both been shelved for the near future (6-8 weeks) with surgeries on their thumbs. Both teams will try to stay afloat without major offensive and defensive contributors. It's not good for the Reds and Cardinals as Molina and Phillips are game-changers with the bat and the leather. With Molina done Jonathan Lucroy will get the start behind the dish for the NL in the All-Star game, even though he should have been in the first place.

Calling For The End Of Marc "Oh-No" Estrada

There is growing unrest in the Brew City about the struggles of Marco Estrada after tonight's 6-2 loss to the Mets. Tonight's start was a disaster in New York in which Estrada gave up two longballs (a 2-run shot and a grand slam) to add to his major league leading tally of 20 homers given up on the season, which is even worse when the second most is almost a third less at 14. Marco's season has been somewhat Braden Looper-esque when in 2009 it seemed as though every fly ball left the yard. After starting off the season well, Estrada has only managed one quality start in his last five games. Even though he has pitched well at times he has been unable to put it all together in any starts not having a single outing in which he hasn't allowed a run, largely in part to the fact he has allowed at least one homerun in all but one start. Marco hasn't been abysmal by any stretch but when you compare it to what the other starters have done, and what the potential to replace him is, it's easy to question whether or not he should retain his rotation spot. 

The Brewer's starters as a unit have put together the 8th best rotation ERA in the bigs even with a down year from Matt Garza (4.42) and Marco's 4.55 after tonight which is the highest in the rotation. Combine that with the success Brewers pitchers have had in AAA-Nashville you wonder why they would even accept an average start every fifth day from their starter. The clear cut fan favorite (and my personal choice) to replace Marco Estrada would be Jimmy Nelson. The Brewers had said they didn't want to bring Nelson up yet but when he pitched in place of Yovani Gallardo and wasn't scored on it's hard to agree. Nelson is almost to the point of diminishing returns in AAA as he is just blowing away the competition. He is 7-1 with a 1.51 ERA in 11 starts. Even more impressive is that opponents are only batting .167 against him and he has a sub-one WHIP (.88). I believe Estrada is out of options so the Brewers would have to either attempt to trade him or just move him to the bullpen, but either way the Brewers do not have to settle for bad pitching anymore with a combination of free agent pickups and their farm system. It's time to sit Marco and let him figure his stuff out and bring up a guy that can get the job done every fifth day for the second best team in the NL.

Jonathan Lucroy Deserves To Be An ASG Starter

When we (all-star voters) think of upper-echelon catchers in the National League we tend to think of the Molinas, Martins, Poseys, Ruiz(es) or what have you. Lost in the shuffle is one of, if not THE, most underrated players in all of baseball: Jonathan Lucroy. It's weird when you think Lucroy, a guy who not only does everything, but does it above average, might not be in the All-Star Game.

Lucroy has started off what looks to be a career-year. He is striking out less than he ever has and walking more. Lucroy hasn't hit the most homeruns but he has his the most doubles (9 more than Molina who is second). And is on pace to set the Brewers single season record for two-baggers. Not to mention leading all catchers not only in the NL but in all of baseball in average, on-base percentage, and OPS. Yet somehow in the first released ASG votes Lucroy is 4th in the NL behind Molina, Posey and Gattis. You know Molina and Posey will get their votes just for their names but Evan Gattis? Evan Gattis? This must be some kind of joke. Guy bats .248 and his only upside is that when he does hit it it's probably a homerun. Here's a look at all the stats:

Fansided

If those players were voted on by just numbers and not names I can say with confidence that Lucroy would not be 4th on that list. I hope that the voters don't squander the chance to see the best catcher in the National League start the All-Start Game. Hopefully it leads to Lucroy getting some of the attention he deserves, although he'll probably tell you he doesn't need it.

Brewers - Orioles Series Recap

Game 1: (Orioles 7-Brewers 6)The Orioles got to the usually sure-handed Milwaukee bullpen in the late innings to steal the game in the 10th. After forcing K-Rod's second blown save they strung together hits in the 10th off Rob Wooten to take a lead they wouldn't give back. The day was headlined by Khris Davis going 4-4 with a homerun, Lyle Overbay also added his own dinger. Kyle Lohse pitched decent (6.2 innings 4er) in one of his few non-quality starts this season. The headline of this day was the Brewers inability to capitalize in key spots, they were 3-15 with RISP and left 9 men on base: not the way a winning team plays.

Game 2: (Brewers 7-Orioles 6) This time the Brewers got their 7-6 victory after surrendering an early five run lead thanks to the longball. Gomez, Reynolds and Davis all went yard to jump out to a quick 5-0 lead. The Orioles then scored six unanswered before Lucroy tied it in the 9th on a chopper to third base. The highlight of the night of course was Yovani Gallardo's pinch hit walkoff double in the 10th inning as the Brewers were out of position players. Garza pitched well, (6.2 innings, 3er) of course the stats somewhat lie because of a big unearned (Segura error) 3-run homer in the 7th that gave the Orioles the lead. Garza had a good start for the second straight time out he just needed some defense behind him. The bullpen returned back to form with 3.1 solid innings of work.

Game 3: (Brewers 8-Orioles 3) The Brewers got a lead in the first on a Carlos Gomez single and never let it go. Fresh off his walkoff, Yovani Gallardo pitched his 8th quality start in 10 outings. After Gallardo went 6.2 innings and giving up 3 runs, Will 'slider of death' Smith slammed the door in the 7th punching out Chris Davis then struck out the side in the 8th. The wheels fell off for the Orioles after the Brewers opened the bottom half of the 8th with four hits to extend the lead to 8-3. (Gomez double, Reynolds single, Weeks PH single, Davis 3-run homer). They were led offensively by the greater Khris Davis who added two hits and 3rbis tonight.

Recap: The Brewers win their second straight series behind offensive outbursts. They have recorded 8 games in a row with ten or more hits. Khris Davis has been on an absolute terror: he has a 7 game hitting streak in which he has recorded 12 hits including 4hr and 7rbis. Another huge move has been Gomez batting in the 4th spot in the order. In that spot he has batted .500 (12-24) with a homer and 7rbis of his own. Gomez also stole second in the 8th and became only the second player in the majors with 10hr and 10 stolen bases this season. Will Smith also remained lights out stranding two more inherited runners tonight and has done so with 14 of the 17 he has been given this season. Opponents are batting .200 against him and his ERA has dropped to .36 a third of the way through the season. Smith is making a strong case at his first all-star appearance.

Strange but true: Khris Davis had 3 homers and 5rbis in the series while the O's Chris Davis didn't even record a hit in the series. I think the nickname Khrush Davis will stay in Milwaukee. The Brewers open up a weekend series vs the Cubs Friday. They carry the division lead a third of the way through the season.

Pitchers Who Rake: Yovani Gallardo

Morry Gash/AP

Yovani Gallardo walks-off the Brewers in the 10th inning with a 2-out gap shot to score Mark Reynolds from first. The next day's starter hitting a walkoff: I have literally seen it all now. In a game where the Brewers (Segura) managed to throw away (literally) a 5 run lead the Brewers stole it back in extras. Carlos Gomez got the offense started with a 3-run homerun (11) in the first inning followed by solo shots from Reynolds (12) and Davis (8) in the second and fourth innings. Matt Garza was strong through 6 innings before the wheels fell off in the 7th giving up a three-run pinch hit homer to Steve Pearce. He should have been out of the inning before the Segura error, but Roenicke left him in too long regardless. After Manny Machado robbed Mark Reynolds of a go-ahead double in the 8th, Lucroy's 9th inning infield chopper tied the game. The bullpen was able to shut down the Orioles for 3.1 innings after Smith relieved Garza in the 7th with the help of Tyler Thornburg and Francisco Rodriguez. How bold of Buck Showalter to walk Mark Reynolds to get to the former Silver Slugger Yovani Gallardo. Side Notes:

Khris Davis homered for the fourth time in his last ten games tonight. He is batting .308 with those four homeruns and eight rbis in those games. He has also shown better patience at the plate drawing three walks the last ten contests. He might be finally settling in at the major league level.

Carlos Gomez registered his eleventh homerun and 29th rbis of the season on that first inning homerun. He continues to hit well in the re-designed lineup that has him batting 4th. I'll be interested too see where he moves when Ramirez comes back as Segura has flourished in the leadoff role.

I'm not positive but Yovani Gallardo could be the first next-day starter to ever have a walkoff hit. He takes the mound in the rubber match tomorrow looking for his third victory of the season. Gallardo missed his last start because of his sprained ankle but it looked good as he rounded first and reached second in the 10th. Strange but true: According to Elias Sports the last major league pitcher with a walkoff hit in extra innings was also a Brewer: Glendon Rusch did it in 2003 vs the Astros in the 14th inning.