Mota Blows It
6-5 loss at Arizona, now 46-39, 4½ GB
I can't say it any more plainly than that. Yes only 3 runs were charged to him with a 5 run lead, but when he came in for the 9th and loaded the bases without retiring a hitter, it gave him a total of 10 earned over the last 8⅓. Shouse and Torres came into stop the bleeding, but they couldn't get anyone out either, and just like that, the 5-0 lead they had going into the 9th evaporated. Lefthander Chad Tracy had a 3 run double off Shouse, Orlando Hudson RBI double off Torres and Connor Jackson a 2 run single were the critical hits in a ninth that saw the Brewers bullpen give up 6 hits, 1 walk while recording NO OUTS. Gagne was able to pitch a 1-2-3 8th for crying out loud.

In a game the Crew should have lost (Brandon Webb pitching) I walked into the control room around the 6th or 7th really feeling good that my hope for a 6-4 road trip would be a reality. Parra had pitched himself out of two 2 on, no out jams and kept the Diamondbacks scoreless on 4 hits through 6 innings and Hardy was 4-5 with a run and a RBI (a triple short of the cycle). Cameron got a 2 run dinger off the foul pole that Haudricourt says should have been foul and everyone did their part... except the bullpen.

Braunie sat for Kapler on a second straight day. Apparently his hand is bothering him a little and he's hitting .186 over the last 10.

On Wednesday, the Crew came back late (that's right, scoring in the latter half of the game for once) and put a run on the board in each inning from the 6th on and win 4-3. Weeks, whose battle with food poisoning seems to have the same effect of Braun's ear infection a month ago, comes off the bench for a PH home run in the 8th. Through the early part of the game, the Crew was making Yusmeiro Petit look like most no-name pitchers they've faced this season-- unhittable. But in the 6th, after Kendall's hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, the Crew plays small ball and gets him in to score on a Hardy single. At that point, they are still trailing 2-1. The Diamondbacks chase McClung in the 6th, when Villy has to come in and finish the inning, which he does well, but then in the 7th, Shouse has to come in and clean up a 2nd &3rd, 1 out jam that Villy got into, which he does. It goes back and forth in this tight one with the Crew nipping a win 4-3 in the end. Riske, who gave up a Justin Upton HR, gets the win.