65-50: Crew breaks out the brooms in Houston

Never, in franchise history have the Milwaukee Brewers ever swept the Astros in Houston.  Prince Fielder erupted for 9 hits in the series, 2 of which were towering shots to RF.  Craig Counsell even broke his hitless streak.

Yuni Betancourt raised his batting average to .268 on the season; he did so by raising in 5 points along in yesterdays game.  Betancourt is THEE hottest SS in the National League right now. 

The weekend sweep did have some bad news that came along with it.  Corey Harts was beamed on his wrist (negative x-rays) and Casey McGehee who banged his knee on the final play of Saturday's game.  Both missed Sunday's game and Hart could miss Tuesday's game. 

All three games in Houston were led by some damn good starting pitching 2 of the 3 nights.  Yovanni Gallardo (13-7) led the way on Friday night by going 8 complete innings and giving up only 1 earned on a lowly 4 hits, 6 K's, and one walk.
Chris Narveson (8-6) only went 5.1 innings and he gave up 4 earned on 2 Homers that he gave up.  John Axfort notched his 32nd save of the season and Milwaukee had to use 5 relievers to get the job done.  KRod looked most impressive when he set-up Ax in the 8th.  He fanned 2 and the 3rd grounded out.
Zack Greinke (10-4) continued his 2nd half dominance, only this time, on the road.  He went 7 complete giving up an earned run, 3 walks (season high), and fanned 6 all on 4 hits.  Kam Loe looked on-point in the closing 1.1 innings by fanning 3 and giving up 1 hit. 

Milwaukee has yet to sign their first 2 draft picks from June's selection.  August 15th is the deadline; these 2 hold-outs will sign by the deadline.  It's just the new norm; agents holding out until the last mintute.  Kind of sucks because Taylor Jungman was actually being considered for a late season call-up.  I thought that was a long shot, but now that he's not even signed yet--it won't happen. 

Up next?  The Crew travels to St Louis to meet their divisional rivals.  The Cards have also won their last 4 games, just like the Brewers.  Both teams did so by playing horrible NL teams.
Tuesday: Marcum (10-3, 3.58 era) vs Edwin Jackson (8-8, 4.11 era)
Wednesday: Randy Wolf (8-8, 3.51 era) vs Kyle Lohse (9-7, 3.45 era)
Thursday:  Yo Gallardo (13-7, 3.56 era) vs Jake Westbrook (9-5, 4.83 era)
Milwaukee then travels back home to take on the imploding Pirates (lost 10 straight) at Miller Park.  Then LA travels to town to start off next week for a 4 game series; 7 game homestand is in store once Milwaukee returns from St Louis.