Saturday, May 12, 2007

Eat it, New York

Ok, so maybe I'm a little bitter about all the trash talking that's being done about my fair Brewers.

Everyone's been talking about this series as the measuring stick for the Brew Crew, since they say we haven't played anyone yet. Our stats are skewed, we're not as good as we seem, all that jazz.

Today, I'd like all those people to eat their words. Today's 12-3 win ought to shut up a lot of doubters out there.

The Brewers jumped out to a 4-0 win the old-fashioned way. After last night's long ball bonanza, it was nice to see the Crew string together hits and send men around the bases as it's meant to be done. Even pitcher Ben Sheets laid down two beautiful bunts to advance runners. A routine pop-fly into shallow center field by Prince Fielder scored Craig Counsell on the tag up and then led to a run-down of J.J. Hardy between first and second. J.J. was able to string it out long enough for Tony Gwynn, Jr. to score from 2nd.

Of course, the Mets weren't to be counted out and rallied to make the score 4-3 in the 5th courtesy of a pinch-hit 2 run homer.

The game stayed close after that and I admit to having a little nap in there somewhere. But thankfully, I woke up for the good stuff.

But before I get to that, I'd like to make a major salute to Tony Gwynn. Due to some late game heroics, his absolutely spectacular play for the length of the game is going to lose the spotlight it would have had. Gwynn had 3 hits, a walk and 3 runs. He also made an amazing play in right field, playing a ball perfectly off the wall and throwing the hitter out at second.

Sometimes the roster moves Ned Yost makes leave me a little confused to start the game. However, every time he's seems to be pulling something out of his rear end, he ends up smelling like roses. It seemed like a strange play to rest Rickie Weeks, our leadoff hitter and a fast base runner. However, it proved, once again, to be ingenious. I have no idea where we'll put him, but we need to find a more permanent home for Tony.

The Mets pitching staff had a rough 7th inning. Two hit batters and a hit loaded the bases and Gwynn had his third hit for an RBI single. That left the bases loaded for J.J. Hardy, who hit a grand slam! That made the game 9-3.

The slam was Hardy's third home run in four games and tied him with Prince, evening their competition for the first time. According to SI.com, the slam was also the first runs off pitcher Joe Smith in 18 major league games.

Corey Had a pinch hit 2 RBI triple in the 9th and Hardy had a sac fly, giving him 5 RBIs on the game.

Every starter except Geoff Jenkins had a hit in the game. The Brewers, who haven't lost consecutive games since dropping a season-worst three in a row from April 4-7, matched a season high for runs.

1 comment:

karl said...

hey
i agree with you. Gwynn is earning a regular spot in the outfield. I think they should put him in the regular rotation instead of Hart.
You should play who produces, not who has potential.
This is the Brewers year. I can feel it.
There is a lot of love for the Brewers in all the local NY/NJ media.