Manny Parra is pitching his brain out!

Manny Parra (6-8, 6.33) has risen from the depths of....well....Nashville, back to Milwaukee where he has once again, proven that he can flat-out pitch. Yes indeed, the man gave up 4 runs last night. Nonetheless, he kept the best team in baseball at bay. In fact, the man did exactly what the rotation was asked of them....throw past 5+ innings. Parra last 8 innings and gave up 4 runs on 8 hits. By far his best of the season and perhaps of his young career.

-Ryan Braun contributed with his 22nd of the year, a 3-run shot.
-Billy Hall went 0-3 with a walk and a k.....how's that confidence treating ya?
-Felipe Lopez went 0-5.
-McGehee went 2 for 4...he's now batting .323
-Prince went 1 for 5.

Trevor Hoffman (24) nearly blew the save opportunity by giving up 3 runs to the Dodgers in the 9th inning. This is reason #1 why the MLB save rules need to be change. I don't care who you are....if you give up 3 runs in an inning but still get the "save"...well, that shouldn't happen. Granted, the Hoff was rusty....but even still...

Milwaukee has re-started a streak of consecutive quality starts with 3.

-Yovanni Gallardo takes to the mound tonight as the Crew will go for their first series win in a long time. Apparently he has fine-tuned his mechanics.

-I happier than a pig in shit when I read THIS. Glad to see Manny Ramirez struggle. His batting average has dropped to .309 from .348. Hopefully we see the wheels fall of this bus soon, just like every other year (except last year of course).

With Parra's confidence at an all-time high (one would expect) you can best bet that Milwaukee is not completely out of this race quite yet. While the Cubs and Cards play flip-flop, the Brewers could indeed take this series in LA and travel over the Houston for a showdown in the Central. The Cubs on the other hand should drop at least one in Cincy...I mean the Reds have lost 7 straight now and have dropped (tied) to last place and are 11.5 games out of it. With that being said, Chicago then travels to Denver to take on the Rockies. I would surely hope that the Rockies could take that series, while Milwaukee takes the series with Houston. After all, the Crew has played 2 series in Houston already this season. They should have a pretty good grasp on the juicebox.

Just the opposite for the Cardinals, who are presently starting a 2-game series with the Mets (vs Santana) and then they enter their easiest stretch of the season: Pitt, Cincy, and San Diego. They could pull away with a 1-2 game lead over the Cubs, as they are tied right now.

So, if Milwaukee wants to make a run at the wild card (5.5 games out) or at the division (4 back), now is the time.