May 5- MIL 8 PIT 5
Rec.: 15-12, 2.0 GB STL
J.J.'s Night Runs the Streak to 17
17 games, that's how many the Crew has won in a row from the Pirates. I hate to sound unapreciative of the win, but I feel for the Pirates. The organization has now gone 16 seasons without a winning record and has lost more consecutive games to one opponent than any team since 1970. When you are a fan of a team like the Brewers, you know how those 9,000 fans at PNC Park must have felt, suffering in the rain while their pitching staff walked 10 Brewers. Every year starts with a team full of young prospects with promise and every year ends with the club saying, "Next Year". It would kill me to see a team with talent, like the Crew of Dave Nilsson, Jose Valentin, Jeff D'Amico and Greg Vaughn fail to get over .500. Then it was Scott Podsednik, Richie Sexson, Geoff Jenkins and Scott Karl that would dash my hopes. It just made me realize, every team has talent, and every fan buys into that talent. I'm not saying the players I mentioned weren't good players, but let's face it, Freddy Sanchez, Andy LaRoche and Zach Duke aren't getting it done an Pittsburgh. I guess it takes talent like that, mixed with someone as amazingly valuable as Ryan Braun or Prince Fielder sitting in the middle of the lineup, to REALLY make a difference. Makes a fan savor what he has I guess and wonder how a fan of the Yankees or Red Sox must feel.

Being a night I worked at the station running "Sloperator" with a 5pm Mountain start, and a night when I wanted to get out for a jog, I didn't hear much of this game. Turned it on around the 6th, when the Brewers took a lead with the help of a J.J. 2 run single, his 3rd and 4th RBI of the night. He was 3-3 with runners in scoring position Tuesday night and reached base 5 times. Of course that helped raise his average from .167 to .195. Mendoza Line... LOOKOUT!

Jeff Suppan evened his record to 2-2 with 5⅔ innings and Carlos Villanueva worked a perfect 9th for his 3rd save. Good to see Macha is being cautious with Hoffman. Yost would always SAY he was not going to overwork his closer but seemed to always be in that situation, especially with Cordero, where he had no choice. Maybe the bullpen is deeper than I thought and this may be the best way for Villy to train as the closer of the future.