Milwaukee Brewers Postgame 9/19

Final Score
Milwaukee Brewers: 3
Pittsburgh Pirates: 1

Recap

Well, tonight's game wasn't quite as explosive as I thought it would be. It did start off with a bang, with Norichika Aoki launching a leadoff homer in the first inning, but things slowed down from there.

If you read my preview, I predicted that rookie Kyle McPherson would probably get shelled in his first outing as a starter in the majors, but he pitched respectably, and his change-up, which he barely used in relief, was probably his best pitch.

McPherson went 4.1 innings, struck out two, and gave up two earned runs—the solo blast by Nori, and an RBI single by opposing pitcher Marco Estrada.

Speaking of Estrada, he pitched another gem tonight. He didn't quite have the strikeout pitch working, as he went 7.0 innings and only struck out four, but he had excellent control the entire night. He threw 96 pitches, 68 of which were for strikes. He was locating his fastball perfectly, and was in complete control of the the Pirates lineup, only giving up three hits.

Axford came in during the ninth and gave up a solo jack to Andrew McCutchen, but otherwise looked pretty good. It was his 30th save of the season. Ax is performing extremely well now, and it looks like his early-to-mid season woes are all but gone.

Axford's recent success is a microcosm of the Brewers as a whole. Shitty to start, shiny to finish.

Also, for what it's worth, Brewers' shortstop Jean Segura had a great game tonight. He went two for four (raising his average to .262) and made some excellent plays in the field. He really is finally starting to look as good as advertised, and I have no trouble seeing him as Milwaukee's shortstop for quite a while.

The Bucs—on national speak like a pirate day, of all days—could not have looked more lethargic. Two errors, one of them costing them a run, and practically no offensive production except for Cutch. In two games the Brewers have solidified their name as a contender for that wild card slot while essentially eliminating the Pirates.

The Dodgers split a double-header with the Nationals... They are only a half game ahead of the Brewers. The Cardinals won against the Astros (huge surprise) and kept the Brewers back 2.5 games. I'll cover the wild card race more in depth in another post tomorrow.

In the meantime, enjoy the fun times, Brewers fans. This season has turned out to be one of the most exciting I've ever seen, and it feels good to be a Brew Crew fan right now.

Previewing Brewers vs. Pirates Game 2: 9/19/12

Milwaukee Brewers: 75-72
Pittsburgh Pirates: 74-73

Probable Starting Pitchers:
Milwaukee: Marco Estrada (3-6, 3.77 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 119.1 IP, 125 K)
Pittsburgh: Kyle McPherson (0-0, 1.54 ERA, 0.94 WHIP, 11.2 IP, 11 K)

The Game

I mentioned in my postgame analysis last night that the Pittsburgh Pirates are playing like a team that has already been defeated.

I don't see that changing over the timespan of 24 hours.

The Brewers went into PNC Park with a road record of 28-43. They just aren't that good away from Miller Park. Still, they left with a win, and they did it without hitting a single home run. Two rarities in one night.

Not to mention the seven total stolen bases, three by Ryan Braun alone.

The Pirates are showing just how desperate they are tonight by shoving rookie Kyle McPherson, who has pitched all of 11.2 innings in the majors for his first start.

McPherson is basically a two-pitch pitcher. He has a good fastball in the low-to-mid 90's, and a curveball in the mid-to-upper 70's. He occasionally throws a change-up in the low-to-mid 80's.

He has been average in the minors, and while he's pitched well in relief in the majors, 11.2 innings is hardly a large enough sample size to judge his abilities in the majors. He'll need to bring his best against the hard-hitting Brewers.

There's no word on if Corey Hart will be in tonight's lineup as of this write-up, but he was available to pinch-hit last night, so there is a possibility we see him again tonight, giving McPherson yet another problem to deal with.

It seems like every Brewer is on a hot-streak offensively, so it's officially the worst possible time for a rookie to make his first start. The Brewers are arguably the best offensive team in the National League, and there's a good chance his ERA is going to rise quite a bit.

Meanwhile, Marco Estrada, who has been pitching extremely well lately, is going to be facing a Pittsburgh offense that is all but dead. With the exception of Andrew McCutchen, the Pirates don't have a bat to swing against Estrada.

Other games to watch: Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Washington Nationals (going on right now), and St. Louis Cardinals vs. Houston Astros. The Brewers are looking to move one step closer to that wild card slot, and to do that they still need to leap the Dodgers and the Cardinals.

Prediction: Brewers win again, Dodgers lose to the Nats, Cards hold off the Astros.

Milwaukee Brewers Postgame 9/18

Final Score 
Milwaukee Brewers: 6
Pittsburgh Pirates: 0

Recap

Steal, steal, steal, steal, steal, steal, steal.

The Milwaukee Brewers took full advantage of Rob Barajas' poor throwing arm by stealing a collective seven bases—three by Ryan Braun, and one each by Carlos Gomez, Norichika Aoki, Rickie Weeks, and Jonathan Lucroy.

The seven stolen bases is the most for the Brewers in 20 years.

Both starters had solid outings, but Yovani Gallardo got the better of A.J. Burnett, going 6.2 innings. He only gave up two hits but walked four. He also struck out six batters. If you watched the game, you know that Yo had his good stuff tonight, just like he has the past two or so months it seems.

The name of the game was small-ball tonight for the Brewers, scoring five of their six runs on RBI singles, and one on a sacrifice fly. Norichika Aoki came up big or the Brewers tonight (as he has been quite frequently lately) by contributing an RBI single and the sac fly, going two for four.

Braun, on top of his three stolen bases and an RBI single, scored a run collected two hits and a walk. Jonathan Lucroy also had a good night, going three for five with an RBI single, a stolen base, and a run scored.

And finally, Jean Segura went two for four with two RBI and a run scored. Not a bad night for the rookie short stop, who also made some good plays in the field.

The Pirates look like they've given up. Sorry. They played poorly, put up absolutely no fight offensively, and played piss-poor defense, with two errors and a bunch of plays that should have been made but weren't.

This is one of the tightest wild card races in history, a pivotal series, and the Pirates are rolling over and dying while the Brewers continue to win in whatever way they can. Sounds about right.

Good news on the injury front, though he didn't make an appearance, Corey Hart was available to pinch-hit tonight, meaning it looks like we should see him back in the line-up soon. Travis Ishikawa has done a decent job at first defensively, but the Brewers have to be missing Corey's bat in that five hole.

Tonight's win makes 10 consecutive starts for Gallardo where the Brewers have won, and it was Gallardo's 16th win of the season, only one shy of his career high which he could surpass. He also lowered his ERA to 3.59.

I'll post a preview for tomorrow's (well, really today as it's 3:10 AM EST) game later, but it should be a good one. Marco Estrada is red-hot on the mound, stringing together some extremely impressive starts. He'll be taking on rookie Kyle McPherson, who will be making his first career start.

The Cardinals won against the Astros tonight (big surprise there), so the Brewers stayed two and a half games back of the wild card, but with the way the Brewers have been playing, it's not time to worry yet.

Previewing Milwaukee Brewers at Pittsburgh Pirates 9/18/12

Milwaukee Brewers: 74-72
Pittsburgh Pirates: 74-72

Probable Starting Pitchers:
Milwaukee: Yovani Gallardo (15-8, 3.72 ERA, 1.29 WHIP 186.1 IP, 188 K)
Pittsburgh: A.J. Burnett (15-7, 3.66 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 174.2 IP, 157 K)

The Game

The Brewers are about to start their final road trip of the season, and the first stop is in Pittsburgh for an incredibly important three game series against the Pirates. Both teams are in the thick of the second NL wild card slot and both teams are heading in very separate directions.

The Brewers have been the hottest team in baseball over the past month, while the Pirates have floundered into mediocrity, quite similarly to last year when they were in the mix for the playoffs but collapsed at the end of the season.

Because both of these teams are trying to get that last spot, this series could be make or break for each team. The Pirates have the advantage of being at home, and the Brewers have the advantage of finally figuring out how to a play complete game of baseball without the bullpen blowing five-run leads.

Still, the Brewers (like last year) are not that good outside of their home in Miller Park. They are only 28-43 away from Milwaukee, while Pittsburgh is a solid 42-30 at home in PNC Park.

Still, all bias aside, I think the Brewers are going to take this one. Over the past month, the Pirates are a horrible 8-19 overall, while the Brewers are sitting pretty at 21-8. To add insult to injury, the Pirates have only managed three wins in September, two coming against the lowly Houston Astros, and one coming against the equally lowly Chicago Cubs.

A.J. Burnett will be taking the mound for the Pirates in this one, and while he's pitched well over the course of the season, the Pirates are winless in his last five starts.

Meanwhile, Yovani Gallardo is pitching lights out. His ERA is deceptively high, and the Brewers come to play when he pitches. They've won nine consecutive starts with Yo on the mound. He also leads all of the majors with 24 quality starts.

Worth watching is whether or not Ron Roenicke decides to put Corey Hart, who has been having some foot problems, into the lineup for the game today. The Brewers have managed to play well without him, but there's no doubt that I'd rather have Hart and his 27 homers at first over Travis Ishikawa.

This is going to be one hell of a series. The Brewers have been on fire lately, and the Pirates are playing just about as poorly as possible, with very little offensive production.

Brewers pitchers are nailing it, offense has been stellar (especially Rickie Weeks who finally decided to show up this season), and the bullpen has stopped blowing every lead they've been given.

Prediction: Milwaukee wins, Yovani goes at least seven strong innings.

The Brewers are kicking ass right now.

As little as three weeks ago I was looking at the MLB standings and grimacing at the sight of my Milwaukee Brewers toiling in the basement of the NL Central, nowhere near making the playoffs.

Still, I faithfully watched, hoping by some miracle, the bullpen would get their shit together and start throwing some fucking strikes.

I guess my negative power floated their way and they got the hint.

Rickie Weeks is on fire. His stats are deceivingly low, and he just hit his 20th homer of the season, becoming the fourth Brewer this season to hit at least 20, joining Ryan Braun (40), Corey Hart (27), and Aramis Ramirez (24).

The Brewers also just broke their previous franchise record for most collective strikeouts in a season today with Wily Peralta's eight shutout innings and five strikeouts.

All of that's impressive. Extremely impressive.

Even more impressively, in his sixth year as a major leaguer, my favorite player Ryan Braun crushed his 200th homer of his career, and then in his next at-bat smacked his 40th of the season, the first time he's reached 40 homeruns in a season.

All of you assholes who think he juices can turn around and walk the other way. He's not. And he's proving it to you with what might be his best season to date, even better than his MVP season last year.

The Brewers are now 2.5 games back of the second wild card slot in the National League. They're the hottest team in baseball, and with the Cardinals and Dodgers flailing, it looks like there's a real possibility that the Brewers can nab that last spot as long as they keep playing like they are.

For the love of God, please keep playing like you are, Brewers. We need to avenge what was a devastating defeat in last year's NLCS.

And in case you didn't know, I fucking hate the Cardinals. Sorry.