Once again, part laziness, part superstition is my reason for letting this blog lapse. When I got back from Canyonlands a week ago on Saturday and saw that the Brewers had taken care of business, winning three of four, I figured I would catch up on other things rather than blogging. Now that they are back to the dismal state of making weak teams look like the '27 Yankees (see Colorado) I'll get this blog caugh up on how the Crew got to this state continueing the most recent game blog first.

Saturday, 6.7, Part 2 of the Test Fails, Loss at Colorado 7-2
There were two things the Brewers had to do to prove to me they were finally turning things around. Beat a legit team (Arizona swept-- √) and play .500 on the road. Well, the Rockies are one of the worst teams in the league, they have the worst record at home and they are without Holliday and Tulowitzki, so I figured the 3 games in Denver would be a great way to get that .500 record on the road going. 2 out of 3 right? WRONG! Rookie Greg Reynolds came into the game 0-3 with an ERA close to 6. But when your mound counterpart gives up 5 in the first inning like Bushie did, you can relaxe and earn the first win of your career. In 28⅓ previous innings, he gave up 18 walks, but the Crew's free swingers only got 2 free passes courtesy of Reynolds. They did jump on him for 2 in the 2nd thanks to RBI from Kendall and Branyan, but the rest of the lineup sputtered against a no name pitcher. Bushie did his best to maintain, giving up nothing after the 1st, but as usual, the big inning ruins him, and Mike DiFelice and Tim Dillard were responsible for giving up the other 2 runs.

Rickie Weeks sat out this game with a left knee injury, and Yost's replacement in the leadoff spot was Craig Counsell, a player I love, but maybe not your first choice for a leadoff hitter. I know Hart's great in the 5 spot, but given that Weeks is out and will miss Sunday's as well, why not TRY to get something going at the top of the lineup. Instead, Yost is just plugging the 2nd baseman in the leadoff spot regardless of their ability in that spot. For game 3 of the series, it looks like it will be "professional hitter" Joe Dillon leading off. (I love that "professional hitter" phrase I got from Philly.) At least Yost is finally getting Cameron some pine time in place of Kapler, who, unfortunately, is hitting well enough that I'll sacrafice a bit of leather in Center.

Friday, 6.6, BACK ON THE ROAD, BACK IN THE HOLE, Loss to Colorado 6-4
With the night off and Sheets on the mound, I settled down with the computer tuned in on Uecker to listen to what should have been the Crew's 7th win in a row. And it looked good most of the way through the game. I could tell Sheets was struggling with the thin air (he had 2 walks), but only gave up 1 run before being pulled for a pinch hitter in the 7th. With only a 3 run lead and Kendall on 3rd (after an RBI triple) with no outs, I understood why Yost lifted Sheets for Dillon. His pitch count was high and the Crew had a chance for a big inning. But alas, Dillon failed to get the run in, as did Weeks and Kapler. Now the Crew had to put their faith in Villy. Which worked very well-- he needed only 10 pitches to retire the side in the 7th with 2 Ks. So a lot of us Brewer fans were surprised when Mota came out for the 8th. Mota gave up 4 straigh hits and suddenly, the Brewers were out of this game. Shouse couldn't stop the bleeding either (although he should have been brouht in sooner) and a 5 run 8th led to the Brewers downfall.

This is one of those choices Yost made where I think he needs to just flat out accept he was wrong. Villy was dealing he should have stuck with him... PERIOD. Some bloggers argued that Kapler, a defensive downgrade to Cameron, would have pulled in two of those hits, but that seems stupid to argue when Cameron's bat has been taking the Crew out of the game just as much. Maybe Cam should have been a defensive replacement. Either way, my hopes that the Crew could pay the Rockies back for that 30 run beatdown I endured over two games last August quickly faded as I hoped they could just get off the mat and take game two. But in my gut I knew it wouldn't happen.

Thursday, 6.5, "Drafted Eh!"
With the 16th pick, the Brewers chose Canadian catcher Brett Lawrie as their first pick in the draft. Lawrie went to a high school with no baseball program, so since age 15, he has been playing on the Canadian Junior team and RAKING... WITH A WOODEN BAT! Apparently they've played some quality Dominican teams and intertational tourneys and this kid has held his own. He also think he can make the bigs in 1 to 2 seasons. If he can hit, I'm sure he'll get a chance,. Kendall is no spring chicken, I don't think Rivera is a long term option and Vinny Rottino, who was told in spring to "focus on catching" for a quick trip to the bigs, hasn't exactly lit up Nashville, so by all means Brett, do your best to get here. It's likely he'll want to play for Canada in the Olympics this summer, so the Crew could have another Olympic star on the roster.

At 32, the Crew picked up Jake Odorizzi, a Illinois high school righty that was 11-0 with a 0.00 ERA. In 69 innings, he gave up 18 hits, 5 walks with 116 Ks. "Would someone at least try to lay down a bunt against this guy!?" He apparently has a scholarship to Louisville as a WR, so we'll see what happens with that. At 35 they chose Evan Frederickson from the University of SF. Apparently the lefty is a little wild, but in a workout at Miller, he was consistently hitting the mid 90s. The 6'6" had 109 Ks in 75⅓ innings, but also had 61 walks. At 53 the Crew took prep righty Seth Lintz and at 54, Lenny Dykstra's son Cutter, who's recently switched to CF.

Wednesday, 6.4, Well I Wasn't Expecting This, a 10-1 Win A SWEEP.
Kapler still swinging that hot bat goes 4-5 and Parra pitches 7 strong. The starters have a 2.41 ERA in last 10 and the bullpen has a 1.03 in last 13. Now it's time to go out and get it done on the road.

Tuesday, 6.3, Big Unit Gives the Fans a Milestone, but Crew gives them a win, 7-1 Randy Johnson only needed like 3 Ks to pass Roid Clemens for 2nd or 3rd on the all time K list. Against the Crew, he should have felt pretty good about getting that out of the way early. Go figure, the victim was Mike Cameron. I think Milwaukee fans treated him well and he even acknowledged the standing O they gave him after the game. But I think Randy had to be a little miffed that McClung, a lefty with very few AB collected not only his first, but 2nd major league hits of him. I was a little worried about McClung early in this game, but he only gave up 3 in 6 innings and the Crew now has guaranteed 2 out of 3 against a legit team.

Monday, 6.2 Beat a Legit, 4-3 over Arizona 30-28
I wanted to see a good performance against a legitimate team and some .500 ball on the road. The Brewers took a step in the right direction by beating 1st place Arizona. Suppan pitched well for 7 innings, a 2nd consecutive strong start by him and Fielder makes the D-backs pay for the lefty-lefty matchup by knocking a go ahead HR in the 8th off reliever Doug Slaten.

Sunday, 6.1, WAY TO GO F-TROOP, Beat Houston 10-1, 29-28 7 GAMES BACK CHICAGO
Chicago just keeps on winning. Thanks NL West for making Chi feel so at home on their roadtrip. PATHETIC.

Yost gave some guys a rest today and had Dillon and Kapler in 1-2 slot, and they promptely make first two outs. "GREAAAAAAT!" I'm thinking, then Shawn Chacon gets rocked, gives up 4, and lasts only 1 inning. Rivera, Counsel, Kapler end up going 6-12 with 5 RBI. Counsel had a 2 run double in first and in the fourth, Dillon was hit by a pitch and then tripled home by Kapler. That's they type of work I LIKE to see out of the top of the order. I know why Yost is keeping Weeks in the 1 spot, but Cameron in the 2 hole is just making it too easy for the pitchers to get into the heart of the lineup with no one on. These are the big innings I was expecting to see more of from this lineup. In the 4th, 12 hitters to the plate, 6 runs, including jacks by Braun and Branyan. I have to hand it to Braun, he's making a difference in this lineup.

Bush did give up solo shot to Loretta in 1st (seems to be a trend) and I was really feeling sick to my stomach. Seriously, when Loretta takes you yard, you can't feel confident in your stuff. However hen then pitches 7 innings with no walks and Ks 5. In the last 7 games, starters have 6 quality starts and a 2.47 ERA. The Cre is over .500 for the first time since May 13th.

Saturday, 5.31, SO CLOSE! Beat Houston 4-1
Sheets wanted that CG bad and apparently, it was obvious. Kendall said he wasn't going to get between Yost and Sheets in the 9th when Yost yanked him for Torres after 2 outs. But Sheets was well over his pitch count and had just walked Lance Berkman (that guy is raking now, probably best to walk him), his first walk in 4 starts. Torres game in and earned a save on 2 pitches and the Brewers are now 28-28. Fielder hit another dinger, which was obscured by the Herculian shot that Branyan hit to the 3rd deck. Approximately 465 feet and the third longest in Miller history. Too bad the piss poor FSN cam op couldn't follow it. "Zoom OUT ASSHOLE if you can't follow it!" Glad I'm not directing Brewer games, I would probably flip out in the control room every inning.

Friday, 5.30, Back in the win column agains Houston, 5-1
Another gem from the rotation was needed to wash the bad taste of McClung out of our mouths. Manny Parra, who took a Miguel Tejada liner to the stomach in the 2nd went 6 innings and gave up 1 earned to beat Brandon Backe. He's able to keep Tejada, Berkman and Carlos Lee to 3-12 with no Rs or RBI. Cameron and Braun went back to back, however, it was the 2nd game in a row where Cam had 3 Ks. Someone wants to win the Jose Hernandez ahievement award. Fielder also chipped in with a HR, which he hit like a little leaguer playing Home Run Derby, seriously, he swung so far out of his shoes that he nearly toppled over in the box. Braunie, who was battling an inner ear infection was 4-4.

Thursday, 5.29, Streak is over, 8-1 loss to Atlanta
Maybe the McClung starter experiment was too good to be true. In 4⅔, he gave up 6 earned on 6 walks and 8 hits. His counterpart, who hadn't allowed a run in 10 innings over 2 previous starts, had a major hand in stifling the heart of the Crew lineup. Cam, Fielder and Braun were 2-12 and the linup totaled 12 Ks. The lone run was scored on a Branyan HR.

Wednesday, 5.28, my favorite score 1-0 over Atlanta
This is how baseball was meant to be played, little scoring, good pitching and a LIBERAL strike zone. Both Suppan and JoJo Reyes were benefiting from the big box, but the moment I most wished I had MLB Extra Innings to see was when (Brian?) McCann, the catcher for Atlanta, so upset with the strike zone that he stepped out of the box to complain, cost himself a strike when home plate umpire told Soup to go ahead and deliver. In all, there were 10 combined called third strikes.

None of that fine pitching would have meant anything unless the Brewers could find a way to make Reyes look mortal rather than Bob Freakin' Feller. It happened when Hardy drew a leadoff walk in the 9th and Cox quickly pulled him (that's quite a hook). After moving to third, Hardy scored on a Weeks triple and the Crew had their first 1-0 win since Sep. of 2006. It was also the first 3 game win streak since May 11th through 13th. Torres now has 4 saves and is looking like the new closer.

Tuesday, 5.27, come from behind to beat Atlanta 3-2
Bill Hall, who complained earlier in the day about being "soft" platooned with Branyan (read between the lines Hall, soft platoon is a nice way of saying, "You couldn't hit a righty if he was placing it on a tee, so I have to do something to show you that no one is guaranteed a spot in this lineup") came through with a pinch hit single on an 0-2 count (wow, hitting for contact on 2 strikes, what a concept), moved to second on a Weeks sacrafice (another missing concept for this team), then stole 3B. That set the stage for Cameron to win the game with a sac fly, good for two
guys who have barely been hitting their weight lately. I will say this in Hall's defense, if Yost is going to bench Hall for hitting near the Mendoza line, he has other candidates on the team as well, (COUGH!, Hall-- Cameron!).

All this went to benefit Bushy who managed to avoid the big inning and pitch 7 innings, give up 2 earned and only walk 1. Newly acquired Julian Tavarez and Salomon Torres were sharp out of the pen to help the Crew beat a game started by Tim Hudson.