Brewers Seek 9th Straight, Sweep of Padres

You remember the Manny Parra & Prince Fielder dugout “scuffle” from last Monday in Cincinnati right? Well, some people may have thought that this type of thing may have torn a young team like the Brewers apart, but it brought them closer together.

Since the scuffle in the 1st game of the series last Monday in Cincy, the Brewers went on to take the next 2 games of the series, then sweep Washington in a 4-game series, and have now one the first 2 games of a 3 game series in San Diego. This 8 game stretch ties a season record of most consecutive wins, the first time occurred just last month, July 13th through the 24th.

Last night, the Brewers won their 8th straight, behind Trade Market Gem, C.C. Sabathia, who pitched an absolute gem. Although last night’s start was sub-par compared to his other starts with the Brewers (4 CG, 2 SHO), he did pitch 7 innings, allowing just 1 run, and struck out 9.

Tonight, the Brewers send former Ace, now #2 to C.C., Ben Sheets to the bump. Although he has pitched outstanding this year, 11-5, 2.95 ERA, his counterpart has pitched even better. Jake Peavy will be on the mound to try to stop this winning streak, he has 8 wins on the year, with a sparkling 2.68 ERA. Sheets pitched a fantastic game last time out, a complete game shutout, allowing just 5 hits and no walks to the lowly Nationals. Sheets, however, is 0-1 in 3 career starts against San Diego, with a 10.34 ERA. Peavy is coming off 2 straight losses, although he did not pitch bad, allowing just 4 runs in 13 innings, and he is 2-2 with a 2.90 ERA in 7 career starts vs. the Brew Crew.

Rays' Crawford out 6-8 weeks

After getting the news that Crawford will hit the 15 Day DL on Sunday, and that Evan Longoria will hit the DL with a fractured wrist on Monday, the Rays' have received the news that Carl Crawford's right hand injury will require surgery, restraining him from MLB action for 6-8 weeks.

Crawford's surgery will occur on Thursday, and will likely, though not absolutely, miss the rest of the regular season. The Regular season's final series for the Rays will begin on September 28th in Detroit, which is the 6 week mark since Crawford's surgery Thursday.

Crawford will most likely be available for any post-season action, if needed, as they currently Lead the AL East by 3 games over Boston, and 8.5 games ahead of New York. Boston does however lead the AL Wildcard chase by 2 games, so if the Sawx do catch the Rays, the Rays may be able to win the Wildcard.

Rumors:
In need of an outfielder evident throughout the season, and with Crawford hitting the shelf for likely the rest of the season, there have been rumors afloat of the Rays looking into acquiring different outfielders; The list includes, but is not limited to, Raul Ibanez, Shannon Stewart, Kenny Lofton, Gary Sheffield, oh yeah, and one more, you may have heard of him, Barry Bonds.

Diamondbacks Acquire Dunn: Seal NL West?

After trading away their best player, career wise, Ken Griffey Jr. on the morning of the trading deadline to the White Sox for RHP Nick Masset and INF Danny Richar, the Reds were in full-selling mode, showing that today with the departure of Adam Dunn.

Just like the Brewers acquired C.C. Sabathia in early July, and their divisional rival Cubs acquired Rich Harden a short time later, the Diamondbacks have acquired a power hitting Adam Dunn in response to divisional rival Dodgers acquiring Manny Ramirez on the trading deadline.

With the emergence of young stars Edinson Volquez, Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, and the established “Veterans” 27 year old Brandon Phillips and 25 year old Edwin Encarnacion, a “sell-now” style was implemented for the Reds Organization. With the departure of Dunn, the Reds acquired RHP Dallas Buck and two players to be named later from the Diamondbacks, if 2 of the 3 young prospects acquired in the trade turn out to be solid Major League Players, and maybe one of them being all-star caliber, this was a great trade for the Reds.

Dunn adds another power threat to the offense, bringing over his Major-League Leading (tied for) 32 homers, and a hefty 74 RBI. Dunn also brings a high strikeout rate, and low batting average to the club, 2 stats that the D’Backs are familiar with, Mark Reynolds, Arizona’s leading HR and RBI man with 24 and 79 respectively, also has 147 strikeouts, and a .246 batting average. Dunn has 32 HR with 74 RBI, 120 strikeouts, and a .233 batting average.

Conor Jackson benefits from this acquisition greatly. Pre-Trade, Jackson was asked to be a power source for the D-Backs, which isn't really his style. Jackson was asked to due this due to his raw power, but was not necessarily a Power Hitter. Post-Trade, Jackson will go back to his hitting style, allowing him to hit to all fields, improving his average and RBI contribution that way, rather than swinging for the fences.

This acquisition may have just sealed the D'Backs as 2008 NL West Champions. With a pitching staff Starred by NL Cy Young Candidate Brandon Webb, Dan Haren, and Playoff-Tested Randy Johnson, those 3 pitchers are arguably the best 1-2-3 in baseball. This acquisition gives the D'Backs just what they need in the middle of their lineup, and can easily lead them into the playoffs, and maybe deeper with the pitching that they have.

ESPN Sunday Night Baseball:

St. Louis Cardinals (65-54) at Chicago Cubs (70-47)

St. Louis:

Coming off a series victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Cards were poised for a NL Central showdown with the Chicago Cubs at the one, the only, Wrigley Field. This was the first time this season that the Cardinals would take a trip to Wrigley, to take on the NL leading Cubs. After a gut wrenching 3-2 loss in the 11th inning on Friday, the Cards were out for revenge on Saturday, facing the Cubs Ace, Carlos Zambrano. With 29 year old emerging starter Todd Wellemeyer on the mound for St. Louis. Suprisingly, the Cards managed to hit 4 home runs off of Zambrano, chasing him from the game after just 4 1/3 innings. In those innings, Carlos allowed 10 hits, 9 runs, 4 homers and 1 walk. This outing raised his ERA from 2.76 to 3.22.

The Cardinals enter tonight’s game with 2005 NL Cy Young Award Winner, Chris Carpenter, on the mound. Carpenter just pitched 1 game in the 2007 season, and then had season-ending Tommy John Surgery. Upon his return this year, Chris has started 2 games, with an 0-0 record, has pitched 9 innings, allowing 8 hits, 1 run, and 2 walks while striking out five. In 13 starts and 91 innings against the Cubs in his career, Chris has posted a 7-2 record, while compiling a 3.07 ERA.

The Cardinals come into tonight’s game 6 games behind the NL Central leading Cubs, looking for their first divisional series win since the all star break.

Chicago:

The Cubs enter tonight’s game looking for their 4th straight series win. Over that 10 game stretch, the Cubs were 8-2 (9-3 in 12 games including this series first 2). The Cubs began that stretch sweeping a 4 game series in Milwaukee, in a then very tight race for the top spot in the NL Central, and the whole National League for that matter. The Cubs then took 2 of 3 from both the Pirates and the Astros, and enter tonight’s rubber game as I said, looking for their fourth straight series win, all in their division.

After a walk-off winner Friday, the Cubs got pounded yesterday, losing 12-3, there were a few bright spots, for the Cubs: Soriano continued his hot hitting with a 2-4 day with a RBI. Mark Derosa also hit his 13th Big Fly of the year, picking up his 64th RBI.

After picking up 95 saves over the past 3 seasons combined, the Cubs decided to test tonight’s starter, Ryan Dempster back into his original role in his career, a Starting Pitcher. Dempster has had success as a starter in his career, going 14-10 with a 3.66 ERA with the Marlins in 2000. The Cubs made the right choice with Ryan, as he has already picked up a 12-5 record, compiling a 2.93 ERA and 1.15 WHIP. Dempster has also been fantastic at Wrigley this season, where in 14 starts, Dempster has pitched 91 innings, posted a 10-2 record while compiling a 2.77 ERA.

The Cubs entered today with a comfortable 4 game lead on Milwaukee, and a 6 game lead on the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cubs haven't lost a NL Series at Wrigley since April 29 - May 1st

Betting Edge:

St. Louis Cardinals..+1.5 (-170)..........+130
Chicago Cubs...........-1.5 (+150)..........-140

With the Cubs on a Roll like they are, and how fantastic they, and Dempster are at home, I see no reason why to not take the Cubs. Especially with the way the Cardinals 'pen has consistently given away leads, and has allowed teams to build on their leads, there is no reason to trust the Cardinals until they solidify the closers' role.

I recommend the Run Line, instead of laying -140, you are getting +150. After winning the 1st game in this series by just 1 run, which occurs less than 25% of the time when the Cubs win, it is highly unlikely that they win by just one here. With the trouble that the Cardinals have had in the Bullpen all year long, and the power up and down in the Cubs lineup, once Carpenter is out of the game, expect the Cubs to explode on a horrible St. Louis bullpen.

Myers' Madness

Brett Myers was in tip-top form, as he just allowed 1 run on 5 hits and 1 walk in 7 2/3 innings Saturday night, but his exit was more eventful than his start. Upon seeing Manager Charlie Manager emerge from the dugout to take Myers out, Myers started muttering expletives to himself, and his teammates. As Charlie approached the mound, Myers met him, handed him the ball, and walked off, muttering more expletives, before tipping his cap to the Standing Ovation of 45 thousand plus. Upon returning to the Dugout, Myers and Manuel Exchanged words, face to face, for a good 20 seconds, until Myers headed down the tunnel towards the clubhouse.

This is not the 1st time that Myers has had public “anger-management” issues. Back in June of 2006, Myers was arrested and charged with hitting his wife in the face on a street not far from Fenway Park in Boston. Also, in August of last year, Myers gave up two home runs to lose the game for his team. After making light of the homers, Philadelphia Inquirer beat writer Sam Carchidi asked him if he thought the HR that he gave up were “pop ups”. Myers responded with calling him a “retard”, among other things, which Carchidi Responded by asking Myers to spell “retard”. Myers than said “it’s in your fuc*ing vocabulary” which Carchidi responded sarcastically by telling Myers that he was “Classy”. Eventually teammates had to restrain Myers from physically harming Carchidi.

After starting out the year horribly for the Phillies, Myers was sent down to AAA, since his return, he has pitched brilliantly. Myers is 2-0 in his 4 starts since his call-up.

American League Recap: 8/8

Orioles 9, Rangers 1

Kevin Millar’s 2 Home runs highlighted an Orioles 9 run night behind Ace Jeremy Guthrie. Guthrie went 7 innings, allowing 5 hits, 1 walk and 1 run while striking out 4. Rangers starter Luis Mendoza didn’t do as well, going 3 innings allowing 6 hits, 1 walk and 5 runs while striking out 1.

Athletics 4, Tigers 2

Marcus Thames’ 2 run home run in the 2nd put the Tigers ahead, but was not enough as the Tigers fell to the A’s 4 to 2. Brad Ziegler picked up his first career save, pitching 2 scoreless innings, walking 2 and striking out to. This extends his career opening 35 IP scoreless streak to 37 IP.

Indians 5, Blue Jays 2

The Tribe’s 3 run outburst in the 4th put them ahead 3-0, which ultimately lead to their 5-2 win. Ex-Cardinal Anthony Reyes picked up the win, pitching 6 1/3 innings, allowing 7 hits, 1 walk, 1 run, and striking out 4. Jensen Lewis picked up his 1st career save with a perfect 9th inning.

Twins 4, Royals 1

Kansas City picked up 11 hits along the way, but only scored 1 on a David DeJesus RBI single in the 6th. However, this was not enough as the Twins had already scored 3 in the 3rd, and picked up an insurance run in the 9th. Joe Nathan closed it out for a shaky save, pitching 1 inning and allowing 2 hits.

White Sox 5, Red Sox 3

In the Battle of the Sox, the White Sox came out on top today with a 5-3 victory. Going into the 8th down 4-0, the Red Sox’ Dustin Pedroia hit a 3 run home run to put them within one. However, Carlos Quentin hit a home run in the bottom of the inning for an insurance run, it was his AL leading 31st home run.

Angels 10, Yankees 5

Torii Hunter lead the way for the Angels, going 4-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBI. Jered Weaver picked up his 10th win of the year, pitching 6 innings, allowing 7 hits, 5 runs, 2 walks and 2 HR while striking out 3. Yankees Starter Ian Kennedy fell to 0-4, pitching 2 innings, allowing 9 hits, 5 runs, and 1 walk while striking out 1.

Rays 5, Mariners 3

Sparked by a solo Home Run by Pena in the 2nd, and a 4 run 3rd inning, the AL East Leading Rays widened there lead with a 5-3 win over the lowly Mariners. Seattle Prospect Wladimir Balentien went 2-for-4 with 1 HR and 2 RBI. James Shields picked up his 10th win, and Troy Percival his 25th save in the Rays Victory.

National League Recap: 8/8

Cubs 3, Cardinals 2 (11 inn.)

Sparked by Jim Edmonds 2 home runs to go ahead in the 2nd, then tie the game in the 8th, the Cubs went on to win in the 11th. After loading the bases with a walk, single, and intentional walk, Henry Blanco hit a walk-off single.

Pirates 2, Phillies 0 (12 inn.)

After being held to just 1 hit in the first 9 2/3 innings, the Pirates broke through in the 12th with 4 hits, leadign to 2 runs. The Phillies put up a threat in the bottom half against the wild Hansen, but a diving catch by Brandon Moss turned double play ended the game.

Mets 3, Marlins 0

After David Wright hit a 2 run homer in the 1st, there was no looking back as Oliver Perez and Aaron Heilman combined for the 2 hit shutout. This win puts the Mets just 1 game out of 1st place in the NL East.

Astros 9, Reds 5 (10 inn.)

Kazuo Matsui lead the game off with a home run, followed by Carlos Lee’s 28th Homer 3 batters later. Carlos Lee headed the go-ahead rally in the 10th with a 2 RBI double, followed by a Hunter Pence 2 run homer.

Brewers 5, Nationals 0

C.C. Sabathia rode to 6-0 with the Brewers, lowering his ERA with the Brewers to 1.58. Sabathia got the 5-hit shutout, walking 1 and striking out 9. Scoring once in the 1st, once again in the 2nd, and twice in the 3rd, going up 5-0 after three, there was no looking back with C.C. on the mound.

Rockies 6, Padres 3

A 2 run homer by Ian Stewart off of Padres’ Ace Jake Peavy in the 2nd took the lead for the Rockies. Glendon Rusch picked up the quality start, and the win. Peavy also picked up a quality start, while being charged with the loss.

Braves 11, Diamondbacks 6

Chipper Jones’ return from the DL sparked the Braves offense, scoring all of their runs in bunches, scoring 2 in the 2nd and 3rd, 4 in the 5th, and a 3 run homer by Chipper in the 9th. Jorge Campillo didn’t pitch well, but picked up the win, pitching 6 1/3 innings, allowing 8 hits, walking none, while striking out 5.

Dodgers 6, Giants 2

Brad Penny’s return from the DL was solid, allowing just 1 run on 1 hit while walking 3 in 5 innings, picking up the win. Former “Ace” Barry Zito did not pitch as well in his five innings, allowing 6 hits, 5 runs, 3 walks, while striking out just 1.

Walk-Off Wonders

Ludwick makes Los Angeles look foolish with his walk- off winner in the 11th

Taking a 4-0 Lead into the ninth inning Tuesday Night, it looked like a win was in the cards for the Cards, but here is when the trouble started for the Cardinals backers. However good this looked, it looked just as bad after the 2 saviors of the Cards ‘Pen entered the game, Ron “5.26 ERA” Villone, came in gave up a HR to pinch hitter Andruw “I Stole $20 Mill.” Jones, which then brought Jason “6.28 ERA” Isringhausen into the game, to allow 4 hits, 1 walk, and 3 ER to tie the game while recording just 1 out. Ryan Franklin, charged with the blown save, came in, recorded the final 2 outs while allowing 1 to score on a sac fly. The game remained scoreless until the 11th, you could feel the tension in the air, all the way to your computer screen, where, admit it, you were watching the little ball on MLB Gameday, or Yahoo! Gamechannel, or some other stupid service, and jumped up, and spilled your beer (or Shirley Temple) as you saw “In Play run(s). flash across the screen, which meant that you have just won your DIME BET!! YIPPEE!!! Now you have 20 cents to blow on a game tomorrow!!, in Dodgers Backers cases, your beer also spilled, but not in excitement, it was slammed down, as you went to collect your shiny new Penny x10.

Ludwick's Walk-off HR



Swisher Sends ChiSox fans home happy

Losing 6-1 in the top of the 5th were the ChiSox, and you were seriously contemplating forfeiting your bet, to get a new dime, to place on some midnight ping pong game, or whatever crazy new sport centsports has added. For those of you that decided against forfeiting, this was a good move, for those of you who did, SHAME, SHAME, SHAME. The Sox stormed back scoring 1 in the 5th, 2 in the 6th, 1 in the 7th, and then 1 again in the 8th while holding the Tiggers scoreless over those frames (you must give credit to the bullpen here). The score remained tied, 6-6 until the top of the 14th, when Placido Polanco, hit his 2nd 2-R HR of the game, yes Placido Polanco, the same Polanco who hit just 2 HR in his 1st 334 career AB, and the same one that had hit just 4 so far in the season!!! Surely now, you were furious, deciding not to forfeit and the Sox come back just to break your heart??, you are lucky for those of you that did not forfeit, for if you did now, you wouldn’t have anything to bet on anyway, the ping pong match had started 10 minutes ago. But loyal Sox backers did not quit, they continued to watch the game and see the Sox threaten in the 14th, coming within one, when this happened….

Swisher's Walk-off HR

I could go on an on again about the beer and shit, but I think you got the point already.

Brewers' Brawl

Brewers' Brawl

Flashback:
Date: July 26th
Time: After Brewers Win
Location: Brewers Clubhouse

Mood: Excited, and why not? 60-44, tied for first place in the NL Central with the lovable losers (who am I kidding, they are hated), the Chicago Cubs. After winning 8 in a row and 9 of 10, the Brew Crew were tied for 1st place with the highly touted Cubbies of Chicago. Poised from their acquisition of C.C. Sabathia, the (insert favorite supermodel here) of the trading season, the Brewers were jump-started, right into a tie for 1st place, and plans of climbing. With a 4 game series coming up next for the Crew, Hopes were high, but so was one other thing that didn't make the Brewers' faithful happy, their pitchers' ERA during that series.

After dropping 2 of 3 to the Houston Astros, the Brewers had a huge series coming up, possibly the biggest NL series in franchise history, a 4 game set, at home, against the one, the only, the hated, Sheeekago Cubs. With the (insert supermodel here) of the trading period on the mound in game one, the Brewers had high hopes, but these hopes were shot down by Ted Lilly and the Sheekago Offense in the 9th inning off of loser (whooops, forgot a "c") Salmon Terrible, losing 6-4. This score was pleasant compared to the other three games in the series, losing a combined 25-7 after the first game in the series.

After being embarrassed at home by Sheeekago, the Brew Crew went to Richmond (Whoops, that was the major league team!), excuse me, Atlanta to play the Braves. After taking the first two games (if you could call them that) in the series against an Atlanta Club (sorry, had to make them sound somewhat like a team), they got shutout by the Braves, with their "Ace", Bed Sheets, on the rubber.

The Brew Crew, now frustrated losing 8 of 11, headed to Cincinnati, to face a potent lineup starred by Ken Griffey Jr. (whoops, Traded), Will Farrell (what? thats Adam Dunn?) and some guy named Bruce, the Brewers looked to Rookie Manny Parra to shut them down. Unfortunately for the Brewers, it was 2 teammates shoving each other down, rather than shoving the other team's hopes down.

5 ft. 11 inches, 270 pounds as listed by MLB.com, sounds more like an offensive lineman then a baseball player, Prince Fielder faced off against Manny. No, not Manny Ramirez, the famous Green Monstah Operator, 6 ft. 3 inches, 208 pounds as listed by MLB.com, Manny Parra was his "counter-part." Top of the 7th inning, Manny Parra told that his night was over, he was being Pinch-Hit for, took off his batting gloves, set them down, while holding a conversation with one Prince. Apparently, the conversation continued down the dugout aisle, including an apparent throwing of a jacket by Manny, followed by a shove by Prince, and again, until teammates came to Manny's Rescue (come on now, be serious, we all know Prince would easily beat Manny in a fight, any day of the week). What exactly was said in Manny & Prince's conversation, we may never know, speculation of Fielder's Fielding lapse, or Manny's pitching problems, or potentially where Prince buys all of his half-price chocolate donuts. Well here it is, see for yourself.