Hallelujiah!

Julio released; Burns summoned

By Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel Jun. 2, 2009 10:30 a.m.

Miami - Jorge Julio pitched his way off the Brewers' roster by failing to retire a batter Monday night.

The Brewers have released Julio and called up journeyman reliever Mike Burns from Class AAA Nashville. Burns, 30, was pitching well for the Sounds, going 6-2 with a 2.98 ERA in 10 starts, including a shutout.

Julio failed to retire any of the six batters he faced Monday night against Florida, paving the way for a five-run rally in the sixth inning that gave the Marlins a 7-4 victory. Julio walked a batter, hit two batters, allowed two hits and the other reached on an error.

Julio, who was signed to a one-year, $950,000 deal, had trouble throwing strikes throughout the season. In 15 appearances, he had a 7.79 ERA, with 15 hits, 15 walks and four hit batters in 17 1/3 innings.

Burns has pitched in the majors for Houston, Cincinnati and Boston. In 45 relief appearances, he has a 5.88 ERA with 69 hits and 12 walks allowed in 52 innings, with 36 strikeouts.

I'm guessing the Brewers like the fact that Burns throws strikes, something Julio had trouble doing. Burns was starting for Nashville but he'll move into a middle-relief role with the Brewers.

The Brewers found themselves in a relief crisis of sorts Monday night because of an overworked bullpen that had to cover five innings Saturday, 3 2/3 innings Sunday and four innings Monday. Mark DiFelice is unavailable with an ailing elbow and manager Ken Macha needed Julio to get through the sixth inning with a 4-2 lead but couldn't retire a batter.

The Brewers must not have thought DiFelice's elbow injury was serious or they would have placed him on the DL. Macha gave some foreshadowing of Julio's release after the game when he said a team is made up of 25 players and each one has to contribute.

Julio had four scoreless outings entering Monday but other than that had contributed little this season. Still, based on his comments after the game, I doubt he saw his release coming. The Brewers were his eighth team, however, so this isn't the first time he was told to pack his bags.

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Ok, this is great, but it also said that Burns gave up 69 hits in 45 relief appearences.