Milwaukee Brewers: In the News (April 26)

Sunday’s Game: Astros 3, Brewers 2
Record: 8-10, Fifth Place

Sunday’s Game

—The Brewers lost Sunday, but finished a tough nine-game road trip with a 5-4 record.

—Mike Cameron went 5-for-11 in the Astros series.

—Manny Parra only gave up one earned run in five innings, but he was not sharp.

Brewers News

—Trevor Hoffman is back. More HERE.

—Yovani Gallardo threw a gem Friday, but the Pitch F/x data shows that his location will likely have to improve for him to repeat the success. Bernie’s Crew looks at the Pitch F/x data and finds some encouraging trends. More HERE and HERE.

—The Junkball Blues compares Gallardo’s first career complete game to other first-time complete-game efforts by Brewers pitchers.

—Cameron’s collision with Humberto Quintero on Friday was pretty brutal:

Luckily Cam is OK, but Quintero was sent to the disabled list after the hit. Here’s a photo gallery of the play.

—Dave Bush has taken a no-hitter into the eighth inning three times and former Brewers broke up the no-hit bids each time.

—That was a wild game on Saturday. Thankfully, the Brewers came out on top. More HERE.

—Ken Macha is trying to help his starters out by having them give advice to each other.

—TwinsBrewersWorldSeries at BrewerFan.net points out the Ryan Braun’s more patient approach at the plate has put him on pace to get more than 100 walks this season. mls4 posted an interesting fact: No Brewer has ever had 100 walks. Jeromy Burnitz holds the Brewers record for walks in a season with 99. Prince Fielder and Braun could do it this year if they can keep taking walks.

—Todd Coffey was caught searching for an illegal substance to bring with him to the mound:

—The Brewers interested in Pedro Martinez? I’d say it’s pretty unlikely, but it’s worth mentioning at least.

—The Boston Globe says the Red Sox have been watching Mitch Stetter closely as they might be interested in trading for the left-handed relief specialist. I’m not sure why the Brewers would look to move Stetter right now, but it’s something else to watch.

—The Brewers like each other.

—Al at Al’s Ramblings says Parra’s problems are mental.

—The Brewers-Cubs rivalry receives an honorary mention in this list of MLB’s top eight rivalries.

—While Braun is unquestionably confident with a bit of a swagger (some would say cockiness), he does not seem to be letting his success go to his head off the field. He seems very down-to-earth when it comes to things like charities and going out of his way to sign a few autographs. Here he is signing a few autographs before a recent game:

Minor Leagues

—Nashville’s Mat Gamel and Cody Scarpetta of the Timber Rattlers made Baseball America’s Hot Sheet.

—Lorenzo Cain could miss the rest of the season with a knee injury. He’s having an MRI done today. More HERE. This is very disappointing news. We wish Lorenzo well in his recovery and hopefully we’ll get some good news today.

—The Timber Rattlers won the “Border Battle” against the Peoria Chiefs at Miller Park on Friday. More HERE and HERE and HERE.

—Speaking of the Border Battle game, Cute Sports has some thoughts on the game. And here are some photos: The Post-Cresccent, Steve Schar, Cute Sports 1 and 2 and Saberilliterate at Brew Crew Ball.

—Pitcher Cody Adams of the Timber Rattlers was hoping to pitch against Quad Cities this week since he grew up near the team’s home field, but his turn in the rotation won’t come up while the Rattlers are there. Fortunately for Cody, however, he was able to pitch in the Border Battle game Friday.

—The T-Rats lost 9-8 on Saturday against Quad Cities. More HERE.

—The Rattler offense was anemic early on this season, but Rattler Radio points out that “over the last five games, the Rattlers have scored 31 runs and have tallied 46 hits” and “the Rattler team batting average has gone from .189 to .228 over the last five games.” That’s encouraging.

—The Timber Rattlers were rained out Sunday. There will be a doubleheader today. More HERE.

—Brewers Director of Player Development Reid Nichols talked to the Post-Crescent.

—The Nashville Sounds lost to the Iowa Cubs 3-0 Sunday. The Sounds only had three hits with two coming from Gamel.

—The Sounds won 6-3 on Saturday behind a Gamel home run.

—Here are some photos of the Sounds playing against the Iowa Cubs.

—Chris Cody of the Huntsville Stars threw six innings of two-hit baseball to push the Stars to a 3-1 win over the Chattanooga Lookouts Sunday. Cody also hit a triple in the game. More HERE.

—The Stars won 5-4 on Saturday.

NL Central

—Cubs first baseman Derek Lee was taken out of Sunday’s game with neck spasms.

Other News

—Tyler checks in on Kevin Mench’s Japan experience.

—Hank Aaron’s “Chasing the Dream” exhibit opened in baseball’s Hall of Fame. Not that I needed it, but I have a new excuse to get back to Cooperstown.

—The Mets signed former Brewer third baseman Mike Lamb to a minor-league deal.

—The NCAA Division III Baseball Championship might move out of Appleton after this year’s event. That’d be a shame.