22-31: Yovanni's weekly win

It seems as though Yovanni Gallardo delivers a Brewers win every week. It's been like that his past 5 outings. His record is now 6-2 after he pitched a hell of a game and even contributed a HR. Yo gave up 1 earned run (two runs) on only 4 hits while walking 4.

John Axford was summoned early and closed out the game with a 1.2 inning-long save (3). Carlos Villanueva got in a jam while in the 8th; knowing that Axford is a multi-inning hurler, Macha didn't hesitate to put him in early. Axford did give up an earned run on 2 hits; but he didn't walk a batter and he struck out 1. His era is now 2.79 on his young season.

The bats showed up to support Yovanni; Fielder is starting to heat up (finally) by going 2-4 at the plate with his 8th HR of the season. George Kottarus provided the other long ball on a broken-bat smash to DEEP right field for his 5th.

Carlos Gomez, proving that he's worthy of trading aways JJ Hardy this past off-season, went 2 for 4 with an RBI. His batting average is .266 now and he was batting 6th last night.

*I'm not gonna lie, I missed a good chunk of the Brewers game last night because I was watching the (near) perfect game going on in Detroit. I never witness one (on tv or in-person of course) so I thought I should tune in. There isn't enough kind words to say about Armando Gallaragga. Even when he saw the "safe" sign gestured by the infield umpire Jim Joyce, Armando simply smiled and accepted the call. He didn't argue or cry, or cuss. In fact, he just took the (mis)call like a man and went on to pitch a stellar 1-hit shut-out. Let me tell you, despite the call being a boneheaded move, I actually feel back for Joyce. He showed the fans through his body language immediately after the call that he made a mistake. FOXSports' morning show "Final Score" had post-game press conference (of sorts) where he publicly apologized for the miscall. He knew he screwed up and he took it like a man. Armando was even interviewed and he clearly stated that he accepted Joyces' apology. Look at it this way, Armando has a couple of free passes coming over the next couple of seasons....in my book. This guys strikezone is going to a gapping hole.

The only problem I have with Joyce is why would he even go down that road in the first place? The pitcher ALWAYS gets the call on this sort of play....even without the perfect game scenario. He was the home team pitcher. The call should always favor the home team in a close call. Always. Now you throw in the perfect game and it's a no-brainer. That being said, Joyce knows he made a colossal mistake and he'll probably now receive death threats from the Tiger faithful. Which is really too bad. He felt like he was just doing his job.

This leads me to say that this (early) season of MLB is one of the best in a long time. Hell, it's the best I have ever witnessed. Granted, it's only a couple months old....but we have already been treated to a "balk-off" win, 3 no-hitters, 2 perfect games, a walk-off HR celebration end in a leg break, and many other small tidbits. I just hope the remaining 4 months can keep it up the momentum. I love baseball.

* I think we all can agree on that Milwaukee will be a "seller" over the next 7 weeks. Much like the Cubs. I have a feeling that Corey Hart, Doug Davis, Dave Bush, Jeff Suppan, Trevor Hoffman, and probably even Prince Fielder will be on the trade block. Question is, who will want Hoffman & Suppan? My guess is that the Crew wouldn't get much in return. By packaging Corey Hart with one of them, now you have a potential big trade that could land the Brewers a couple of young arms. If Melvin deals Prince Fielder, you are looking at a bonified ace and possibly a #4 or #5 in return. Or you he could go all young, and aim at a number of young prospects that are a year or two away. The only place where Melvin will find that is in Boston or NY, both of which have pretty damn good 1B. They could, however, slot him in as a DH.

*Yea.......Doug Davis is back on schedule to return. Great.