Milwaukee Brewers News for March 16

Today’s Game: Brewers 6, Indians 3
Record: 7-7-2

Today’s Game

- Casey McGehee and Prince Fielder homered today. Seth McClung struggled.

Brewers News

- Ryan Braun left Saturday night’s WBC game with a “sore left side.” I really don’t like hearing this news... Hopefully it’s only a minor thing and won’t be a setback. He’s been swinging a hot bat for Team USA.

- Athlon Sports says the Brewers will probably take a step back this year.

- Rickie Weeks is better than he gets credit for, and there is a good chance he’ll improve. I like this part of the article:

Melvin is quick to pull out a piece of paper comparing Weeks’ career stats with the LA Dodgers’ Orlando Hudson and Baltimore’s Brian Roberts when they were Weeks’ age.

The 26-year-old Weeks has more homers, walks, runs, stolen bases, and a better on-base percentage than those two did at this point with just as many at-bats, but also leads in strikeouts with the lowest batting average.

- Corey Hart has emphasized conditioning this offseason so he doesn’t wear down at the end of the year like last year.

- Chris Capuano continues to make good progress on the recovery from his second Tommy John surgery. I hope we get a chance to see him pitch in Milwaukee this season. I’m definitely behind Cappy.

- Craig Counsell’s new batting stance is still producing good results.

- Bill Hall is back on the field and looks pretty good. Better, he’s got the chance to be an everyday starter again.

- J.J. Hardy is a very streaky hitter.

- Crawfish Boxes says J.J. is the best shortstop in the NL Central.

- Jason Kendall leading off with Weeks at the bottom of the order? I don’t like the looks of that...

- Mark DiFelice is good. I think he’s earned a bullpen spot.

- Between the Green Pillars says there are two spots in the bullpen for “some combination of Eduardo Morlan, Jorge Julio, Todd Coffey, R.J. Swindle, and Mark DiFelice.” They think it’ll be Coffey and Morlan.

- Ken Macha is still working on the decisions on the final bench spots. I think Brad Nelson and McGehee have proved they deserve a roster spot.

- Mat Gamel is finally getting down to business this spring.

- Two Fisted Slopper does not like one MLB Network analyst’s 2009 Brewers prediction.

- The Grand National Championships says the Brewers can succeed this year if the bullpen improves, the players perform up to their upside on offense, and Capuano comes back in good form.

- Check out this movie on the Milwaukee Braves. And check out this book.

- Brew Crew Ball’s photos of the week.

- Miller Park Drunk found a video of a catfight in the Miller Park parking lot.

Minor Leagues

- The new Timber Rattler video board is up and operating. And single-game tickets went on sale!

- Nick Green, Tim Dillard, Omar Aguilar, Mark Rogers, and Cody Scarpetta were optioned to the minors.

Other News

- Russell Branyan is the Mariners’ full-time first baseman. Great for Russ. It will be fun to watch what he can do with a whole season of at-bats.