Milwaukee Brewers: In the News (May 7)

Wednesday’s Game: Brewers 15, Reds 3
Record: 16-12, Second Place

Wednesday’s Game

—Some days everything just goes right… This was a fun game.

—The Brewers jumped all over Bronson Arroyo for nine runs in 1+ inning. It could have been even better for the Brewers, but Brad Fischer sent Rickie Weeks from third with no outs in the first and Weeks was out by a mile. Bad decision by Fischer. Luckily, with two outs, Corey Hart hit two in and J.J. Hardy, who stayed hot, went yard for three more that inning.

—Hardy’s shot was to the opposite field on a 3-1 pitch. It looks like Hardy has found his stroke.

—Ryan Braun hit his second career grand slam in the second inning.

—Craig Counsell had four hits.

—Weeks continues to hit the ball hard and had two hits.

—Mike Cameron was 2-for-3.

—Prince Fielder had two hits, including a home run off shortstop Paul Janish, who came in to pitch the top of the ninth and gave up five runs.

—Catcher Carlos Corporan had his first major league hit off Janish. It was a Texas Leaguer into left. Good for Carlos.

—Chris Duffy made a ridiculous catch on the warning track.

—Manny Parra pitched six and gave up two. He wasn’t sharp, but he got the job done. He got his first win of the year.

—Julio Lugo and Todd Coffey closed the game out. Lugo gave up one run and Coffey had a scoreless frame.

—Nicole at Cute Sports says Parra’s good outing was due to him going back to the high socks.

—The Brewers onslaught came without Red killer Bill Hall. He was held out because the field conditions were bad and the Brewers didn’t want to risk him aggravating his hamstring injury. More HERE.

—The game was delayed 46 minutes by rain and it’s supposed to rain again Thursday.

—The Brewers have won four in a row and 12 of 15. Stay hot, Brewers.

Brewers News

—Rickie Weeks has a new approach at the plate. And he's driving balls everywhere.

—SI’s Jon Heyman says Braun should be the No. 1 pick if the 2005 draft were to be redone. With Justin Upton, Ryan Zimmerman, Alex Gordon, Troy Tulowitzki, Matt Garza, Jacoby Ellsbury, Jay Bruce and others in the same draft, that’s a nice compliment.

—UPDATE: I went off on Steve Hyden, who clearly isn't my favorite writer, for his column for Decider and he e-mailed to tell me I misrepresented what he was saying...so read it for yourself and make your own conclusions.

—The “Sky Is Falling!” crowd should start realizing soon that this pitching staff is pretty good, not dismal as they foolishly predicted before the season. There’s no dominant ace (unless Yovani Gallardo steps into that role), but there are few rotations in baseball as deep as the Brewers. All five guys will keep the team in the game most of the time and that’s all they have to do with the offense the Brewers have.

—Dennis Krause of Time Warner Cable Sports 32 chats with Braden Looper:

—Should the Brewers consider adding Jim Edmonds to the bench? No thanks…

—Should the Brewers sign Mike Cameron for 2010? Tough call. And one that will have a lot clearer answer after the season.

—The debate about the ball and glove logo continues. Look, it’s an awesome logo, my favorite sports logo of all time, and it’s perfectly fine for fans to embrace it. But it’s time for the team on the field to stop sporting it. This is a new era. These guys deserve their own identity. Let’s drop the ball and glove alternate uniforms.

—Idol contestant Danny Gokey, of Milwaukee, will throw out the first pitch Friday.

Minor Leagues

—Cody Scarpetta pitched five innings and only gave up one earned run, but the Rattlers lost to the Burlington Bees 6-2.

—Former Brewers Jim Gantner and Ken Sanders will make appearances at Fox Cities Stadium this season. Gantner will be there Sunday, May 17, and Sanders will be there Sunday, June 7.

—Tim Dillard, a former reliever, is looking pretty good as a starter for Nashville.

—Joe Koshansky hit his fifth home run of the season, a three-run shot, but the Nashville Sounds lost 7-4 to the Iowa Cubs. All of Koshansky’s home runs and RBI (13) have come on the road.

—The Huntsville Stars were rained out Wednesday. It seems like the Stars have been rained out a lot lately…

NL Central

—Will anyone catch the Redbirds in the NL Central? Yes, they’ll finish third (behind the Cubs and Brewers) at best.

—The Cubs sent the Tramp Stamp down and called up Chad Fox.

—Milton Bradley will finally get his appeal hearing for his suspension for running into an umpire while arguing.

—Cubs fans don’t care about the regular season.

—The sale of the Cubs is dragging on.

—MLB&id=2371" target="_blank">Cardinals starter Chris Carpenter is making progress in his rehab.

—Ex-Brewer Sean Berry, now the Astros hitting coach, might have cancer. He’s going to have surgery to remove a potentially cancerous tumor. (Hat tip Brew Crew Ball)

Other News

—Former Brewer outfield prospect Stephen Chapman signed with the Dayton Dragons of the Midwest League.

—The Camden Riversharks of the Atlantic League signed former Brewer pitcher Wayne Franklin. He won 10 games for Milwaukee in 2003, but his biggest contribution to the Brewers was being traded to the Giants for Carlos Villanueva.

—I might actually have a reason to vote for the All-Star Game: Voting in crappy players that don’t belong in it. Have I mentioned that I think all-star fan voting is a horrible idea? Sure, writers vote stupidly too (see Gold Glove Voting), but at least they wouldn’t be foolish enough to vote Fukudome in as a starter (I hope…).

—Super douchebag agent Scott Boras has some ideas to change the World Series. They’re really not that bad…but with a game founded in tradition, I can’t imagine MLB ever considering the changes.

—Some former Brewers make the list of terrible hitting pitchers.

—This has nothing to do with baseball, it’s just funny: Dr. Bummer, a gynecologist from Pittsburgh, makes a ridiculous $69 bid on The Price Is Right, cracks Drew Carey up and wins.