Brewers Stay Hot

Milwaukee walloped the St. Louis Cardinals 12-0 in the first of a two-game series.

Ben Sheets (12-7) pitched a great game and finally notched a win, an important win at that. Numerous times the righty had to work his way out of jams consisting of runners on the corners with zero or 1 out. I know of at least two times he was able to keep runners on third from scoring with the likes of Ankiel and Pujols batting.
Big Ben threw 6 complete shut-out innings while striking out only 4 batters. Thanks impart to well positioned pitches that had Cardinal batters flying-0ut left and right, he was able to get the support defensively and offensively from his teammates.
Shockingly enough, Ben has only tied his career best in wins for the season, at 12. That is what happens when you have season after season of low run support and a mediocre offense. An argument to that could be this season, when the team is good enough to supply that. Since the All Star break, the Brewer bats have not been too active, thus effecting Sheets' numbers of wins.

Depending on whether or not Yost decides to go to a 4-man rotation (which he wont), Sheets will have another 4 to 5 starts (depending on match-ups) left this season. If he wins at least 3 of those starts, his record could be 15-9 on the season. Best case scenario is 17-7.

The bullpen finally had to punch in their time cards last night. Sheets was pulled after only 100 pitches, which was a smart move on Yost's part. Why work him harder than what is needed? We have been lucky (knock on wood) that he has only had to miss one start this season. That's unheard of for Mr. Sheets. In three innings, the pen only gave up 2 hits (Gagne & Shouse) between 3 relievers. I still feel that the Brewers bull pen will surprise the National League down the stretch. Their limited use by Yost, thanks impart to inning-eaters like CC and Sheets, will only prove how good they are in September and in to October. Hell, they may not be great, but they will be effective come autumn.

Now for the fun part of this game....

The bats were alive last night at Busch! Both Ryan Braun (33) and Billy Hall (15) went yard for the Brewers. Braun's shot was a Badger Mutual Insurance run provider, by nailing a two-run blast which made it 5-0. I could breathe a little easier after that!
Three different Brewers hit doubles last night: Counsell, Kendall, and Hart.
Counsell/Braun/Fielder all had 3 hit games!

The Brewers erupted for 16 hits last night!

Concern: Ray Durham exited game early with a strained shoulder and is listed day-t0-day.
If this turns out to be worse than what is reported, you can expect Gamel and/or Escobar called up in a week or so, especially with the extended rosters.

-Brewers buy a human-being: St. Paul Saints outfielder Brent Krause has been purchased by the Milwaukee Brewers. The Saints are member of an independent league and provide late season acquisitions like this to teams who are making a post-season push. Krause was hitting .317 with 19 HR's and 56 RBI's in only 93 games. He will be shipped to Huntsville immediately. The 26 year old could be a feel-good story if he cracks the Bigs. Here is more on his trip through baseball. Welcome aboard!

-Mat Gamel rebounded from an 0 for 4 game on Sunday, to go 3 for 5 and 2 rbi's in last nights game. Lets hope he kicks some ass down there and can get the call up!

-Sports Illustrated, or at least Steve Ascheburner feels that CC should get the Cy Young. This is a tough one. Webb will probably win 25 games or so this season yet. You can't deny that Webb is deserving of the award too! In fact, if Webb doesn't get the award, we will all know the system is severely flawed...which most realize already.

-You ever notice Ted Simmons just kicking-back in the dug out with a baseball in hand, as if he's checking it for knicks or bruises? It is as if he's the calm, relax coach who simmers Yost down when things get rough? Like he smokes medical marijuana before the game and he is just relaxing in the dug out, barely noticing the game? Well, I notice it. I laugh every time I see it. Here's a story on his career.