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KNOW THY ENEMY: Milwaukee Brewers
Brewers 2006:
The Brewers, the fashionable pick for a sleeper playoff contender in the NL this year have struggled to keep pace in the strong NL central. They are currently 17-18, in 4th place, 6 games back of the Reds.
The Brew Crew started the season hot but have been inconsistent of late. They've lost most of the time when facing good teams (1-3 vs. Cincinnati, 2-4 vs. Houston, 1-2 vs. St. Louis, 1-2 vs. Mets) They have an 11-6 record at home.
Previous Matchup:
The Mets took 2 of 3 from the Brewers in a mid-April series. Since the Brewers entered the National League in 1998, the Mets hold a 40-21 record against them.
Past Week:
Brewers return home after a tough West Coast roadtrip. They were swept by the Dodgers and dropped 2 of 3 to the Padres, their only win coming in extra innings (although they did beat Trevor Hoffman to get it).
Brewers Lineup:
These guys can hit. Brewers are 3rd in the league in batting average; 2nd in OPS and 1st in Home Runs. They're also 1st in strikeouts.
C - Damian Miller, having a pretty good season so far (2-16-.322). 15 of his 28 hits have been for extra bases.
1B - Prince Fielder, mashing, 5-18-.313, with an .863 OPS, although he does strike out a fair clip. Still an early favorite for ROY.
2B - Rickie Weeks has a lot of potential (2nd season in majors) but isn't putting it together quite yet. Batting .275 (OBP .365) with 8 steals, but has a K:BB ratio of more than 3:1. Not so hot with the glove -- leading the team with 10 errors.
3B - Corey Koskie platoons with Bill Hall at third, but with 3 right-handed Mets starters, we'll see a lot of Koskie this weekend. 3-9-.295 isn't too bad for platoon numbers.
SS - JJ Hardy has a good glove, but the hitting is still coming around in his second year in the majors. 5-14-.244
LF - Carlos Lee was great last year, playing 162 games and hitting 32-114-.265. Still, it must suck pretty badly to have your former team win the World Series the year after you were traded away for not being a part of the team's future. Carlos has responded by starting this year 15-30-.292. Defense is a little suspect.
CF - Brady Clark has had a rough start to the season (.226) and has been dropped in the order as a result.
RF - Geoff Jenkins, still a dangerous power hitter, still strikes out a ton. 5-16-.268 so far this year.
Bench:
The Brewers have a good (but small) bench.
Bill Hall starts at third against lefties, and has also gotten 7 starts at shortstop and 2 in the outfield. Brewers try to get him playing time whenever they can; he's hitting 7-15-.292 (.980 OPS).
Gabe Gross, backup outfielder, is the lefty bat of the bench. 4-11-.256.
Jeff Cirillo, hitting .355, is primarily a pinch-hitter at this point.
Chad Moeller, backup catcher who can't hit. Might start Sunday.
Bullpen:
Deep pen, with the Brewers carrying 13 pitchers. Sharp drop-off in quality after the primary relievers.
Closer Derrick Turnbow (R) has but his testing-positive-for-steroids incident behind him and developed into a very good closer last year. He's 11-for-11 Saving games this year, 1.38 ERA, 14Ks in 13 innings.
Jose Capellan (R) is one of the primary set-up men. 4.50 ERA is skewed by two bad outings at the beginning of the year. WHIP is 0.94. Much tougher against righties than lefties.
Dan Kolb (R) was the Brewers closer who went to Atlanta and couldn't cut it there as a closer. He's back in Milwaukee and has been very effective when healthy. Missed some action with elbow trouble earlier in the season.
Jorge De La Rosa is the only lefty in the pen. His ERA is 8.71 with a WHIP approaching 2.00.
With the exception of Chris Demaria (R), a recent call-up, the rest of the pen staff has ERAs over 7.00.
Pitching Matchups:
Friday: Jose Lima vs. Dave Bush (R) 2-4, 4.13 ERA
Bush is an innings-eater type that throws a lot of strikes. 4 pitches - 4 (93 mph) and 2 seam fastballs, curve and change. Lots of balls hit into play, not many walks. Is somewhat susceptible to the longball.
Huge difference in the home/road splits: 2-1, 1.13 at home; 0-3, 7.13 on the road. Bush has never faced the Mets before and no Met batter has ever faced him.
Saturday: Jeremi Gonzalez vs. Dana Eveland (L) (just called up).
Eveland is taking Ben Sheets' spot in the rotation. He is only 22, and a pretty big guy - 6'1" 250 lbs. He had good numbers in AA as a starter in 2005, but got knocked around pretty good when he was promoted mid-season direct to the majors, where he was used only in relief.
He began 2006 with his first try at AAA and was lights-out (3-1, 0.75 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 33 K in 36 innings). He starts on 3 days rest (70 pitches on Tuesday). Saturday is Turnbow bobblehead night and the Brewers are expecting a sellout.
Sunday: Pedro Martinez vs. Doug Davis (L) 2-2, 5.32 ERA
Davis throws a fastball (85-90 range), cutter, curve, and change. The change and curveball are good out pitches for him. He struck out a lot of batters last year but isn't repeating that this year. Walks have really hurt him and he's been walking a ton of batters this year. Key for the Mets will be some plate discipline.
Davis hasn't faced the Mets this year; he was pounded both times he saw the Mets last year (although it was Piazza and Cameron who did a lot of that damage, with 5 HRs.)
The special bat will be out on Sunday with Brewers Bill Hall (look for him to start) and Prince Fielder swinging the pink lumber. Also on Sundays, the Brewers have taken to wearing their "retro" 1980s-style uniforms with the "MB-as-baseball-in-glove" logo on their hats.
Who's Hot:
Damian Miller is on a 7 game hitting streak over which he's been hitting .375.
Carlos Lee is also on a 7 game hitting streak.
Derrick Turnbow is 11-for-11 in save opportunities and has allowed run(s) in only 2 of his 13 outings this year.
Who's Not:
Prince Fielder is batting .222 with one homer and 4 RBI over his last 10 games.
Who's Hurt:
Ben Sheets was disabled on Wendesday with right shoulder tendinitis. 15-day DL.
Tomo Ohka's out with a partial rotator cuff tear.
Prince Fielder sat out a game earlier in the week with a sore groin but appears to be fine.
Ex-Met Factor:
Brady Clark was acquired in the deal that sent Shawn Estes to Cincinnati in 2002. Given the chance to play everyday and lead off, Clark made the Mets possibly regret losing him on waivers to the Brewers after the '02 season, having a very good 2005 season (13 HR, 56 RBI, .306). Not so much this year. He's hitting .229 and has been dropped to the #8 spot in the order.
Ex-Brewer Factor:
Jose Valentin played his first 8 seasons with the Brewers (1992-1999).
Julio Franco played the '97 season in Milwaukee.
Weather:
Domed stadium, a good thing because there'll be lots of rain in Milwaukee this weekend.
Miscellaneous:
With the return of baseball games to Miller Park, the Polish and the Hot Dog will have an opportunity to make up ground in the standings. Inexpeicably, despite having the smallest hats (as opposed to the larger hats on the Italian and the Bratwurst) -- and therefore least wind drag on the costume -- the Polish and Hot Dog only have 3 wins combined.
Miller Park Sausage Race Standings:
| Sausage | Wins | GB | | Italian | 8 Wins | -- | | Bratwurst | 6 Wins | 2 | | Hot Dog | 2 Wins | 6 | | Polish | 1 Win | 7 |
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