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The 2008 Milwaukee Brewers made the playoffs for the first time in 26 years by finishing one game ahead of the New York Mets for the NL Wild Card. The 2009 Brewers finished ten games ahead of the New York Mets which was only good enough for a 3rd place finish in the NL Central and a sub-.500 record. Still, 2009 was the second straight year that the Brewers topped 3,000,000 in attendance proving that Miller Park was a successful place for the Brewers to be…until 2010.
The Brewers have had a woeful season so far in 2010. Not the least of their worries has been their dreadful record at Miller Park. They are just 6-15 at home this season. Two of those six wins came in this week’s series with the last place Astros…including Thursday’s win on a walk-off walk in the tenth. Gene Macha has started feeling the fire of the hot seat as the Milwaukee fans are obviously disappointed.
The Mets have played better, especially of late, and are coming off two series wins against the two World Series teams from last season including three straight shutouts of the division leading Phillies. But the Mets have a problem of their own: they are only 6-14 on the road this season. Something is going to have to give this weekend in Milwaukee.
Pitching Match-ups:
Friday 05/28/10 8:10pm EST: Johan Santana, LHP (4-2, 3.41 ERA) @ Yovani Gallardo, RHP (4-2, 3.20 ERA)
This is the marquee pitching matchup of the series as aces clash. It will be a rematch of an April duel from last year where the Mets won 1-0. Gallardo faced the Mets again in July at home, but again the Mets prevailed 1-0 thanks to a gem pitched by Mike Pelfrey.
Saturday 05/29/10 7:10pm EST: Fernando Nieve, RHP (1-2, 5.09) @ Manny Parra, LHP (1-3, 3.54 ERA)
This is the matchup of the long men. Manny Parra has started just one other game this season and Nieve will be making his first start of the year. Parra is 21-19 with a 5.19 ERA in 312 innings for his career as a starter. Nieve pitched well as a starter last season going 3-3 with a 3.12 ERA in 7 starts before being injured. Manny Parra is 0-1 with a 4.70 ERA in 15.1 innings pitched for his career against the Mets.
Sunday 05/30/10 2:10pm EST: R.A. Dickey, RHP (1-0, 1.50) @ Randy Wolf, LHP (4-4, 4.52)
Knuckleballer Dickey has looked good in his first two ML starts for the Mets this season. They will be looking for him to keep the momentum going on getaway day against Randy Wolf. Wolf looked sharp on Tuesday against the Astros, but was roughed up for 6 runs in each of his two previous starts. The Brewer offense is doing their part in Wolf’s starts giving him an average of 7.21 runs per game to work with.
Beer Batters:
Rickie Weeks - 2B, RH: .247/.351/.392/.743, 6 HR, 25 RBI, 3 SB
Weeks had an injury shortened 2009, but has continued to improve his power numbers early this season. It surprises me that he is still batting leadoff (over Carlos Gomez) as he leads the team in strikeouts, which is hard to do when Prince Fielder is your teammate. He did have the game winning RBI in Thursday’s walk-off win vs. the Astros by drawing a bases loaded walk.
Carlos Gomez – CF, RH: .269/.303/.433/.735, 3 HR, 13 RBI, 6 SB
Our old buddy Carlos is the starting centerfielder for the Brewers these days. If he starts Friday, it will be his first time facing Johan Santana since being traded for him in 2008. As we all know, he is one of the fastest guys in the majors and has a great glove. Milwaukee is hoping his bat continues to develop.
Ryan Braun – LF, RH: .322/.393/.541/.934, 8 HR, 32 RBI, 10 SB
Braun leads the team in batting average, OPS and stolen bases. He also leads all NL outfielders in All Star votes. No Brewer has ever started 3 straight All Star games. He also has the NL lead in BA w/ RISP, so he is a dangerous foe.
Prince Fielder – 1B, LH: .264/.393/.425/.819, 7 HR, 19 RBI, 1 SB
Fielder got off to a slow start this season, but has improved over the past 20 games. He had a franchise record 141 RBI last season and finished 4th in NL MVP voting. He is eligible for free agency next season, so it is possible that this is the last time we see him at Miller Park.
Casey McGehee – 3B, RH: .315/.377/.534/.911, 9 HR, 41 RBI, 1 SB
McGahee leads the team, and the NL, in RBI. He has come on strong since being called up by Milwaukee last season when he finished 5th in ROY voting. He has become another formidable cog in the Brewer’s young offensive wheel.
Corey Hart – RF, RH: .261/.331/.529/.860, 9 HR, 23 RBI, 3 SB
Hart is showing some offensive power this season as he is tied with McGehee for the team lead in home runs. He is only 2 seasons removed from being an All Star. He has come on strong of late with 6 HR in his last 12 games.
George Kottaras – C, LH: .232/.423/.518/.941, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 1 SB
Kottaras became the full time catcher after the Brewers lost Greg Zaun to the DL with a torn labrum. Kotttaras has made 18 starts for Milwaukee this season and has reached safely in 15 of those games. He was claimed off waivers from Boston this past offseason.
Alcides Escobar - SS, RH: .256/.304/.394/.698, 2 HR, 14 RBI, 1 SB
Escobar is the highly touted rookie who displaced JJ Hardy as the starting shortstop late last summer. So far he has been hitting like a SS and has already made 8 errors this season, second only to Ian Desmond for NL shortstops.
Brewer Bullpen:
John Axford, RHP (1-0, 2.57 ERA, 1 Sv, 6 G, .167 Opp BA, 4/6 1st batter retired)
Zach Braddock, LHP (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 2 G, .182 Opp BA, ½ 1st batter retired)
Todd Coffey, RHP (1-1, 4.30 ERA, 25 G, .286 Opp BA, 18/25 1st batter retired)
Marco Estrada, RHP (0-0, 5.40 ERA, 5 G (1 start), .242 Opp BA, 1/3 1st batter retired)
Trevor Hoffman, RHP (1-3, 11.40 ERA, 5 Sv (5 blown), 16 G, .333 Opp BA, 10/16 1st batter retired)
Jeff Suppan, RHP (0-1, 6.33 ERA, 12 G (2 starts), .352 Opp BA, 5/10 1st batter retired)
Cladio Vargas, RHP (1-0, 7.32 ERA, 17 G, .337 Opp BA, 9/17 1st batter retired)
Carlos Villenueva, RHP (0-0, 2.81 ERA, 1 Sv, 23 G, .214 Opp BA, 17/23 1st batter retired)
The Brewer bullpen has been the second-worst in the league this season compiling a 5.88 ERA in 160.2 IP. Even though Trevor Hoffman is the all-time ML saves leader, he has blown half of his opportunities this season. The one bright spot has been Villenueva who is holding lefties to a .146 BA.
Brewer Bench:
Craig Counsell, LH, INF: .274/.312/.397/.709, 1 HR, 11 RBI
Joe Inglett, LH, INF/OF: .341/.400/.537/.937, 0 HR, 1 RBI
Jonathan Lucroy, RH, C: .333/.333/.333/.667, (2/6, 0 HR, 0 RBI)
Adam Stern, LH, OF: .000/.000/.000/.000, (0/6, 0 HR, 0 RBI)
The Milwaukee bench has been hit with several injuries. Jim Edmonds and Jody Gerut (where do I know that name from?) have been sidelined forcing many youngsters to help off the bench. Adam Stern was just called up from AAA Nashville yesterday. Veteran Wisconsinite Craig Counsell is still battling at a major league level.
Who’s Hot? (last 7 days)
Todd Coffey: 4.1 IP, 1 ER, 4 K
Villenueva: 4 IP, 1 ER, 7 K
Escobar: 8/23, 4 R, 2 RBI
Who’s Not (last 7 days)
Marco Estrada: 4.1 IP, 4 ER, 3 K
Kottaras: 3/15, 2 K
Corey Hart: 6/27, 7 K
Ex-Brewer Mets
Henry Blanco
Elmer Dessens
Ex-Met Brewers
Bench Coach Willie Randolph
Pitching Coach Rick Peterson
Mets vs. Brewers
All-time: 52-30, .634
2009: 3-3, .500
All-time at Miller Park: 16-11, .593
Overall, the Brewers are a pretty awful team. Their lineup is capable of putting up multiple runs at any time and without warning, but their pitching and depth leave a heck of a lot to be desired. This is the perfect team for the Mets to be facing to keep their offense clicking as they take off on the road. The first game of the series should be a low scoring affair, but look for lots of runs on Saturday and Sunday (when I’ll be attending the games).
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