In the News (5/4)

Sunday’s Game: Brewers 4, Diamondbacks 3
Record: 13-12, Fourth Place

Sunday’s Game

- That was a nice win in a tight game to split the series.

- Prince Fielder and Mike Cameron hit back to back home runs in the second to put the Brewers on top.

- Fielder took three walks after his home run. The Diamondbacks wanted nothing to do with him.

- Cameron’s batting average is up to .321 on the year.

- Dave Bush pitched a very good game, but gave up three solo home runs in the seventh to allow the Diamondbacks to tie it. 

In seven innings, he gave up three runs on five hits and struck out seven while walking none.

- Mitch Stetter pitched a nice scoreless eight inning.

- Chris Duffy’s RBI groundout in the eight paved the way for Trevor Hoffman.

- Hoffman closed out the Diamondbacks on eight pitches.

How refreshing is it to have a guy come in with lead in the ninth for the Brewers, throw strikes, get outs, and walk off the field with a win?

Hoffman has been great so far.

- J.J. Hardy, who is slumping badly, went 1-4 and scored a run. His hit came in the eighth, and he ended up scoring the winning run.

- Brad Nelson, who was replaced in left by Duffy, went 0-3 and is still without a hit on the year.

He hit a ball hard to left, but it was caught.

- Braun sat out a second straight game with intercostal tightness in his back, the same general injury that nagged him in the second half of last season and earlier this season. Not good…Hopefully he can get it right and get back to 100 percent quickly.

- RFB super commenter Kade in Dubuque made the trek from Iowa for Sunday’s game, stopped by the RFB flag beforehand, and then witnessed a nice win.

Unfortunately, RFB commenter Shane, who made the trip from Eau Claire for Saturday’s game, was not able to drive home with a win…but he did get to meet Joe and I and take some RFB threads home.

Thanks for stopping by guys.

Brewers News

- Dan Haren shut the Brewers down on Saturday. More HERE.

- The fair call on a foul ball on Friday was not popular. The ump somehow insists he made the right call. Two Fisted Slopper has some photos that prove him wrong.

Either way, the Brewers took a tough loss. More HERE.

- The Brewers are now tied with the Pirates for the most quality starts in MLB.

- Doug Melvin is considering bringing up top prospect Mat Gamel to DH in inter-league games, according to ESPN’s Peter Gammons.

Something to watch…

- J.J. Hardy is trying to break out of his slump. For some reason, Hardy did not know until recently that his stance is much more open than last season.

If he’d been reading this blog, he’d have known like two weeks ago!

And how has no one on the Brewers caught that and worked with him on it?

He’s obviously struggling and any change to his approach should be pointed out, especially one that obvious… More HERE.

- Mike Cameron is hitting well, taking more walks, playing outstanding defense, and is a clubhouse leader. Anyone that doesn’t respect the way Cam plays the game has no clue.

- The Brewers are taking more walks. The combination of young hitters maturing and Dale Sveum and Ken Macha drilling it into the guys’ heads that it’s OK to take a walk is helping the team considerably.

- Speaking of taking more walks, Corey Hart has half as many walks as he had all of last season already.

- Jeff Karstens, the Pittsburgh pitcher that hit Braun last week, was fined by MLB for the pitch. Karstens maintains that the beaning was not intentional.

Sure… 

- The Brewers head to Pittsburgh now and these two teams don’t like each other much right now.

- Mike Rivera plans on coming back from his DL stint on May 14, the first day he’s eligible to be activated again.

- Is Rickie Weeks ideal in the three spot?

- Yovani Gallardo chatted on Brewers.com. He says he’d be willing to pinch hit if it would help the team.

- Manny Parra has been getting the B-team quite a bit, playing with back ups often. Is this a trend?

In-Between Hops is keeping an eye on it.

- Cubs'-Zambrano-leaves-game-with-hamstring-injury" target="_blank">Carlos Zambrano left Sunday’s game after straining his left hamstring on a bunt single.

And he might miss his start against the Brewers on Friday.

- Sheets Va Jay Jay at Quevedo at the Buffet says Carlos Villanueva has nicknamed Seth McClung McDouche.

- Some nice video of Todd Coffey’s awesome entrance to games:

- This is a cool shot of Miller Park that a guy did by merging 10 images.

- Manny Parra, J.J. Hardy, and Brad Nelson crushed some Toppers pizza on Friday.

- Braun shares the spotlight on his own card, or is it the other guy’s card?

Minor Leagues

- The Timber Rattlers had 17 hits Sunday, but lost to the Lansing Lugnuts.

Brett Lawrie had four hits.

They lost 11-3 to the Lugnuts on Saturday. The Rattlers beat the Great Lakes Loons 6-4 on Friday behind three Jose Duran hits.

- The Nashville Sounds were rained out Sunday and split a double header with the Omaha Royals on Saturday.

- Sounds hitters know they have to be able to handle the bat to up their chances of contributing in Milwaukee some day.

- Sounds manager Don Money is a teacher.

- Josh Butler pitched six scoreless innings for the Brevard County Manatees in a win on Friday.

- Mark Rogers pitched one inning in his first game back after hurting himself running into a wall shagging fly balls.

- Rogers’ brother, Scott, accepted a scholarship with Southern New Hampshire University to play in the outfield.

- LHP Zach Braddock was activated.

- The Huntsville Stars were rained out for the weekend.

- Pitcher Chris Cody finds ways to be effective.

- Infielder Adam Heether is a Star again.

NL Central

- Is Cubs pitcher Rich Harden hurt or just tired?

Other News

- Former Brewer top prospect Matt LaPorta has been called up to the Indians.

He had been crushing the ball in AAA.

- Former Brewer Russell Branyan is getting every day playing time in Seattle and is rewarding Jack Z for it.

I hope The Muscle has a great year out there.

Here’s more on Branyan from Buster Olney.

- Former Brewer Derrick Turnbow was cut by the Rangers.

Is this the end for D-Bow?

Unlikely.

Someone will take a chance on a guy that can throw in the high 90s.

- Former Brewer Doug Davis could be a midseason trade candidate.

Would the Brewers be interested in him? More HERE.

- Former Brewer Tony Graffanino was cut.