Greinke latches on with Dodgers

> Not like no one saw this coming. The Dodgers, who have infinite pockets of cash, finally wooed Zack Greinke into joining them. Greinke’s deal is for six years and $147 million, which is the richest contract for a right-hander in history, surpassing Matt Cain’s five-year, $112.5 million deal signed back in March. Greinke also slightly passes lefty Cole Hamels, who received six years and $144 million from the Phillies around the Trade Deadline. CC Sabathia’s seven-year, $161 million contract remains the largest contract ever given to a pitcher. 

Greinke will slide into the rotation of what should be a powerhouse Dodgers team. That rotation already features the incumbents, Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley, followed by a few veterans that LA will have to choose from, including Josh Beckett, Ted Lilly, Chris Capuano, and Aaron Harang. The Dodgers could have one more starter competing for a spot- Hyun-Jin Ryu- if they sign him by tomorrow’s deadline.

Anyway, I see two possible scenarios for Greinke’s LA tenure. The first- and more likely- is that he’ll take advantage of pitching in the NL West, where the ballparks are significantly larger, and have a ton of success on a Dodgers team that should contend for years to come. The other, however, is that his anxiety issue comes back to haunt him in the huge market of LA, and he can’t handle the stress and publicity of pitching there.

The latter is very unlikely. He did fine in Anaheim, a suburb of LA (but basically the same market), posting a 6-2 record with a 3.53 ERA during his time there. Plus, Greinke doesn’t have the pressure of being the ace of the staff; Kershaw, arguably the best pitcher in the NL, has taken that role.

I wish the best of luck to Greinke in LA; he’s a guy who’s easy to root for. I don’t want the Dodgers to do well as a team because of how they’ve set up themselves up financially, but that doesn’t mean Greinke himself can’t have a good season.

> Now that Greinke is off the market, the Brewers’ chances of signing Ryan Dempster have increased. Had Greinke signed with the Rangers, the Dodgers would have probably overpaid a second-tier pitcher like Dempster. But, now that Greinke has gone to LA, it’s unlikely the Rangers are going to bring Dempster back after what he did for them last year.

> I keep forgetting to mention this, but I saw a headline the other day that read: “Yount shoots Sveum.” My immediate first thought was that Hall-of-Famer Robin Yount took some sort of shot- figuratively- at current Cubs manager Dale Sveum.

Nope. Yount literally shot Sveum with a gun while they were on a hunting trip. It wasn’t fatal or anything- one of the pellets from Yount’s rifle grazed Sveum’s ear while he was shooting at a quail.

But this made my day: Sveum started calling Yount “Dick Cheney” after the incident.

> Minor moves: 

Phillies: Acquired Michael Young from the Rangers.
Rangers: Acquired Josh Lindblom and Lisalverto Bonilla from the Phillies.
Mariners: Designated Mauricio Robles for assignment.

Brewers have arby decisions to make

> It came upon us rather quickly, but the arbitration deadline is already this Friday. Coming into the offseason, the Brewers had nine players to whom they would have to decide whether or not to tender them contracts, but that list has since been cut to five. Nyjer Morgan, Jose Veras, Travis Ishikawa, and Kameron Loe were all arbitration-eligible, but were cut loose earlier this month, so they’re no longer the Brewers’ problems to deal with. All of those names would have probably been non-tendered anyway.

But, there are still five arbitration-eligible players on the Brewers’ roster: John Axford, Chris Narveson, Marco Estrada, Manny Parra, and Carlos Gomez. Back in October, MLB Trade Rumors projected the possible salaries each will earn in 2013: they had Axford at $5.1 million, Narveson $800,000, Estrada $1.6 million, Parra $1.6 million, and Gomez $3.4 million. Most of them- save for Axford- should come relatively cheap.

The only immediate non-tender candidate that comes to mind is Parra, who I have to guess the Brewers are sick of at this point. He has great stuff, he’s a lefty, he once threw a perfect game in the minors- so why hasn’t he been able to find it during his first few years in the Majors? I thought shifting him to the bullpen permanently would benefit Parra mentally, and help the Brewers as a team, seeing as they went most of 2011 without a left-hander in the ‘pen. But, in 2012, Parra was unable to maintain consistency, and Ron Roenicke was hesitant to use him in tight situations (for good reason). $1.6 million isn’t much (though I get the feeling Parra will attempt to demand more), but he should follow Veras and Loe out the door.

I’m sorry, but Axford isn’t going to get $5.1 million. The case for him is that he saved 35 games in 2012, but then you have to remember he blew a Major League-leading nine saves. Axford is going to get the closer’s role back in 2013, but not at that price.

Gomez is going to be the Brewers’ starting center fielder in 2013 (unless they somehow pick up Josh Hamilton) following his breakout season at the plate, at least power-wise (he slugged a career-high 19 home runs). I’d take that and his dangerous abilities for $3.4 million, no doubt.

Lastly, there’s Narveson, who will certainly be back in 2013 (although it’s uncertain whether he’ll be in the bullpen or rotation). MLBTR is predicting that his season-ending rotator cuff surgery will keep him below a salary of $1 million once again, so the Brewers should be able to bring him back easily.

All of these guys will probably avoid arbitration. The Brewers’ last arby hearing came last spring with Veras, but the Brewers won it easily.

> According to Jim Bowden, Zack Greinke’s “camp” expects him to become the richest right-handed pitcher in history, while even possibly passing Cole Hamels’ six-year, $153 million deal with the Phillies.

OK, I love Greinke, but let’s step back and look at this from another perspective. Greinke’s career ERA is 3.77. That’s a good ERA, no doubt. But is it honestly worth giving him the richest contract in history for a pitcher? Matt Cain, who currently has the biggest contract out of any righty in history, has a career 3.27 ERA. Hamels’ career ERA is 3.34.

Another thing to keep in mind about Greinke: that career ERA is with his AL Cy Young year in 2009, during which he put up a 2.16 ERA. Take that away, and he his career ERA is borderline of 4.00. Not to mention Greinke’s lowest single-season ERA other than the CYA year is 3.47.

Again, not trying to hate on Greinke or anything; I’d love for the Brewers to bring him back (though now I know it’s not going to happen). But does he deserve to be the richest right-handed pitcher in the history of the game? No way.

> Minor moves: 

Indians: Outrighted Brent Lillibridge, who elected free agency.

Results of the major awards

> Now that the week of debating over awards is over, the boring part of the offseason starts: waiting for all of the big name players to sign. But first, let’s look at the complete placing for each award (via Baseball Reference).

NL MVP:

1. Buster Posey
2. Ryan Braun
3. Andrew McCutchen
4. Yadier Molina
5. Chase Headley
6. Adam LaRoche
6. David Wright
8. Craig Kimbrel
9. Aramis Ramirez
10. Jay Bruce
11. Matt Holliday
12. Aroldis Chapman
13. Brandon Phillips
14. R.A. Dickey
14. Joey Votto
16. Ian Desmond
16. Clayton Kershaw
18. Michael Bourn
19. Allen Craig
20. Gio Gonzalez
20. Kris Medlen
20. Martin Prado
20. Alfonso Soriano
24. Giancarlo Stanton
24. Ryan Zimmerman
26. Carlos Beltran
26. Aaron Hill
28. Jason Heyward
28. Carlos Ruiz
30. Johnny Cueto
30. Bryce Harper
32. Chipper Jones
32. Miguel Montero
32. Angel Pagan
32. Hunter Pence

AL MVP: 

1. Miguel Cabrera
2. Mike Trout
3. Adrian Beltre
4. Robinson Cano
5. Josh Hamilton
6. Adam Jones
7. Derek Jeter
8. Justin Verlander
9. Prince Fielder
10. Yoenis Cespedes
11. Edwin Encarnacion
12. David Price
13. Fernando Rodney
14. Jim Johnson
15. Alex Rios
16. Josh Reddick
17. Albert Pujols
18. Ben Zobrist
19. Joe Mauer
20. Rafael Soriano
21. Matt Wieters
22. Felix Hernandez
22. Jered Weaver
24. Raul Ibanez

NL Cy Young Award: 

1. R.A. Dickey
2. Clayton Kershaw
3. Gio Gonzalez
4. Johnny Cueto
5. Craig Kimbrel
6. Matt Cain
7. Kyle Lohse
8. Aroldis Chapman
8. Cole Hamels

AL Cy Young Award: 

1. David Price
2. Justin Verlander
3. Jered Weaver
4. Felix Hernandez
5. Fernando Rodney
6. Chris Sale
7. Jim Johnson
8. Matt Harrison
9. Yu Darvish

NL Rookie of the Year: 

1. Bryce Harper
2. Wade Miley
3. Todd Frazier
4. Wilin Rosario
5. Norichika Aoki
6. Yonder Alonso
6. Matt Carpenter
6. Jordan Pacheco

AL Rookie of the Year: 

1. Mike Trout
2. Yoenis Cespedes
3. Yu Darvish
4. Wei-Yin Chen
5. Jarrod Parker

NL Manager of the Year: 

1. Davey Johnson
2. Dusty Baker
3. Bruce Bochy
4. Fredi Gonzalez
5. Bud Black
5. Mike Matheny

AL Manager of the Year: 

1. Bob Melvin
2. Buck Showalter
3. Robin Ventura
4. Joe Maddon
5. Joe Girardi
6. Jim Leyland
6. Ron Washington

> I forgot to mention the other day that Ramirez placed ninth in the NL MVP voting. It seems like a lot of non-Brewers fans are overlooking that he actually turned in a great year.

> The Brewers signed Eulogio De La Cruz and Zach Kroenke- both pitchers- to minor league deals.

Kroenke is a lefty, so he gives the Brewers some much-needed depth in that department. And, if you don’t recognize the name “Eulogio” De La Cruz, trust me- you do.

Does “Frankie” De La Cruz ring a bell? Yep, he’s back, and n0w I can continue vomiting over how horrible his mechanics are.

> Jack Zduriencik- a former Brewers scout, and currently the general manager of the Mariners- said they aren’t actively pursuing Josh Hamilton. That could be good for the Brewers, though Doug Melvin has been saying basically the same thing as Zduriencik.

> The Blue Jays signed Melky Cabrera to a two-year deal worth $16 million. Interpret that how you want.

> Minor moves: 

Mets: Signed Brian Bixler to a minor league deal.
Padres: Acquired Tyson Ross and A.J. Kirby-Jones from the Athletics.
Athletics: Acquired Andrew Werner and Andy Parrino from the Padres.
Royals: Signed Brandon Wood, Atahualpa Severino, Brian Sanches, and Anthony Ortega to minor league deals.

Odd baserunning miscue looms large

POSTGAME

> Tonight was a strange game, and pretty much all the breaks went against the Brewers. They were narrowly defeated by the Phillies, 4-3, in a game that could have been won 5-4.

The Phils got on the board in the second inning on back-to-back home runs from John Mayberry Jr. and Erik Kratz. The Brewers answered one of those runs in the bottom of the inning on Aramis Ramirez’s solo shot, but the Phillies took it right back on Ryan Howard’s RBI double in the third.

Down 4-1 in the eighth inning, Ryan Braun hit a two-run blast to cut the lead and knock Cole Hamels out of the game, but Jonathan Papelbon came on and got the four-out save and seal the win for the Phillies.

ODDITIES ON THE BASEPATHS

> Before I get too far into this, I’m going to say that I watched the first few innings of the game on a TV with no sound, so I couldn’t hear any analysis or anything.

And hearing some analysis on a play like this would have been useful. In the third inning, with two outs, Jonathan Lucroy, who was hitting second today, hit a single. Braun came up and hit a line drive that bounced off the yellow line on top of the wall in left field, and that usually signifies a home run.

Apparently not, though. Lucroy was running from first base, and Braun, who thought he had extra bases if not a home run, was close behind him. But Braun had to stop about halfway between first and second base, because, for some reason, Lucroy was still sitting at second base. Braun appeared to be screaming at Lucroy and pointing to third base, but by that time Dominic Brown had already thrown the ball back into the infield, and Braun was eventually thrown out.

Turns out Lucroy had missed second base as he was running, and had to go back and step on it again. But, again, the ball was already back to the infield, so one of them would have been thrown out eventually.

I’m confused about a few things here. If there were two outs and Braun hits a fly ball, Lucroy should be running as hard as he can no matter what. Unless he really overran second base that far and had to go back a ways to touch it again, I don’t see why he couldn’t at least make it to third (even if it were a close play), and then there’s runners on second and third with two outs. Again, though, I was watching the game without sound, and the classic FSWisconsin camera work didn’t help me out too much either.

But, Lucroy’s baserunning aside, it appeared Braun should have had a home run. It looked like it hit the top of the wall, which would make hit a home run, regardless of whether or not it bounces back onto the field. FSWisconsin was showing replays of the ball hitting the yellow as well. I listened to some audio later and heard Bill Schroeder say that Braun “missed a home run by inches,” but FSWisconsin didn’t show an angle close enough to the wall for us to see, so I guess we’ll never know.

I guess this is just another frustrating way to lose in a frustrating season.

THE NEWS

> Rickie Weeks got the day off today. Cody Ransom took his place, and I’ll tell you what he did in the numbers section. (But you can probably already guess.)

> Yesterday, Doug Melvin expressed his confidence in John Axford rebounding from his struggles.

“It’s too early to say. We believe in John. I believe in John Axford, I believe in his stuff, I believe in his character, his poise. I think there’s 16 teams that they don’t have the same closer they had at the start of the year. That position, there’s so much pressure on that closer role. You look at other teams. People are yelling for a change after four of five [blown saves].”

> The Astros fired Brad Mills today. The last thing the Brewers will remember him for was him coming out to argue with umpires every five seconds in that last series.

THE NUMBERS

> What you’ve all been waiting for: Ransom struck out four times in four at-bats. He’s clearly going for a 90% strikeout rate by the end of the season.

> Mike Fiers got roughed up for the second straight outing, giving up four runs in five innings. His ERA has gone from 1.80 to 2.90 in his last two starts.

> The bullpen was uncharacteristically good tonight. Kameron Loe, Francisco Rodriguez, and Jim Henderson combined for four shutout innings.

> Braun hit his 33rd home run, which already ties his total from 2011.

> Tomorrow’s match-up:

Kyle Kendrick (5-9, 4.53 ERA) vs. Randy Wolf (3-9, 5.65 ERA)

 

Braun is officially back

POSTGAME

> The Brewers took the series from the Phillies today, defeating them 6-2. The stars of the show tonight were Yovani Gallardo, who is showing he’s become quite the second-half pitcher, and Ryan Braun, officially out of his slump.

Gallardo dominated a pretty depleted Philly lineup, going seven inning while giving up a run on four hits. He walked two and struck out nine. He won his fourth consecutive start, bring his season record to 12-8.

Down 1-0 in the fourth, the Brewers posted a two-out explosion against Vance Worley. After Corey Hart hit a single and Martin Maldonado walked, Nyjer Morgan hit a triple that bounced off of right fielder Dominic Brown’s glove. That gave the Brewers the lead. Worley then opted to walk Jean Segura so he could get to Gallardo’s spot in the lineup, but Yo made him pay with a two-run single.

In the sixth inning, Braun hit his third home run- a two-run shot- over the past two games. Looks like the off-day and early batting practice is still paying off.

The Phillies’ last run came on a Kevin Frandsen RBI single in the ninth.

THE NEWS

> Shaun Marcum will make one more start for the Class A Timber Rattlers. He’ll throw 75 pitches, then hopefully return to the Brewers’ rotation, assuming all goes well.

> The Nationals designated Cesar Izturis for assignment today. That’s the second former Brewer shortstop DFA’d this week.

> The Cubs are working on an extension with Starlin Castro.

> Prince Fielder belted two home runs to give the Tigers the win over the O’s today. Looks like he’s starting to figure out Comerica Park.

THE NUMBERS

> Gallardo is now 3-0 with a 1.74 ERA against the Phillies in his career. I have a strong hatred towards the Phillies, so I love that.

> Aramis Ramirez went a dismal 0-f0r-5 with three strikeouts in today’s game.

> It’s worth noting that tomorrow’s starter for the Phils, Cole Hamels, is coming off two consecutive shutouts. Hamels also threw a complete game against the Brewers last year.

> Tomorrow’s match-up:

Cole Hamels (13-6, 2.91 ERA) vs. Mike Fiers (2.63 ERA)

> Sorry about tonight’s short article. I started late and don’t have much time on my hands. Everything here at BWI is kind of scattered right now (you can probably tell by the current setup of the site), but I’m hoping to get everything organized within the next few weeks.

Braun gets two hits in NL’s third straight win

> Welcome to the new and improved Breaking Wisconsin (at least for now). More on the new setup later, but for now let’s get straight to the All-Star Game.

> The National League defeated the American League, 8-0, for the third consecutive year. Personally, I thought some of the NL’s starters shouldn’t have gotten the nod, as did many others. But, it was some of those starters in particular who may have won the game for the NL.

Justin Verlander was starting for the AL, and I’m sure everyone thought he would have a tidy six-up, six-down two innings. But he did exactly the opposite. After striking out Carlos Gonzalez to start the game, he gave up a single to Melky Cabrera. Then, Ryan Braun represented the Brewers with an opposite field RBI double off JV to give the NL an early 1-0 lead. Verlander struck out Joey Votto the next batter, but struggled with his control after that, giving up back-to-back walks to Carlos Beltran and Buster Posey to load the bases. Pablo Sandoval then made him pay with a bases-clearing triple (yes, Sandoval hit a triple). Dan Uggla followed that up with an RBI single, but got a little help from some sheepish defense by Prince Fielder. Corey Hart would have made the play.

The NL added three more runs in the fourth against Matt Harrison. Matt Holliday hit an RBI single off him, then Cabrera put the icing on the cake with a two-run home run to extend the lead to 8-0. The biggest deficit ever recovered from in ASG history was five runs, and that didn’t change tonight.

The NL pitching staff was stellar, as shown by the nine goose eggs in the AL box score. Matt Cain started, and he threw two solid innings to begin the game. From there, Gio Gonzalez, Stephen Strasburg, Clayton Kershaw, R.A. Dickey, and Cole Hamels each threw scoreless innings. Craig Kimbrel and Aroldis Chapman combined for an eighth inning that was filled with high-90’s and low-100’s fastballs, and Wade Miley, Joel Hanrahan, and Jonathan Papelbon each got an out in a scoreless ninth inning. The only NL pitchers who didn’t make an appearance were Huston Street, the Padres’ only representative, and Lance Lynn. But who knows- maybe Tony La Russa called to the bullpen for Lynn, but got someone else this time.

Other than Verlander and Harrison, the AL pitching staff didn’t give up a run, either. Joe Nathan, David Price, Jered Weaver, Chris Sale, Ryan Cook, Jim Johnson, and Fernando Rodney each threw scoreless innings. The only AL player not to enter the game was position player Adam Dunn, but he would have probably just struck out to end the game.

> As I sort of expected, Cabrera took home the ASG MVP award this year after going 2-for-3 with two RBIs. I was gunning for Braun to win it- he also had a triple to go along with his RBI double- but Cabrera was definitely worthy as well.

> Here was a cool moment in the game. Chipper Jones got into the ASG thanks to an injury to Giancarlo Stanton. Chipper announced at the beginning of the year that this will be his last year before he retires, so everyone wanted him to get into the game somehow, and that opportunity presented itself.

Not only that, though- Chipper got a hit in his only at-bat. He hit a weak tapper to the right side, and second baseman Ian Kinsler may or may not have let the ball sneak through for a hit. That was probably the case, because Chipper was laughing his head off by the time he got to first base. Still, though, that was a cool moment.

> That’s about all I’ve got about the game.I could go on forever about all of the different storylines that were going on, but I think I covered the main points.

> You’ve probably noticed by now that I’ve given BW a new theme. I’ve been pondering that idea for a while, actually going all the way back to near the time I started the blog. The old theme was supposed to be temporary, and this one is also probably going to end up not being around very long. But I haven’t found a theme I like for the long-term yet.

Anyway, you guys probably don’t care much about themes, but, to go along with quality writing, there needs to be a catchy theme to grab the eye of the reader.

> And that’s about it. Tomorrow I’ll try and put up an article with my ratings of all of the players on the Brewers’ roster up to this point in the season. But for now, thanks for reading, and feel free to leave your thoughts.

Recap of all major awards

> Yesterday, the NL MVP was handed out. This marked the last major award of the offseason. And I’m proud to say that, for the first time ever, I got all of my predictions right. Not that I agreed with all of them, but they were probably the most logical choice fore each award.

> Anyway, here are the top finishers for each award (courtesy of Baseball Reference):

AL MVP

1. Justin Verlander, Tigers

2. Jacoby Ellsbury, Red Sox

3. Jose Bautista, Blue Jays

4. Curtis Granderson, Yankees

5. Miguel Cabrera, Tigers

6. Robinson Cano, Yankees

7. Adrian Gonzalez, Red Sox

8. Michael Young, Rangers

9. Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox

10. Evan Longoria, Rays

NL MVP

1. Ryan Braun, Brewers

2. Matt Kemp, Dodgers

3. Prince Fielder, Brewers

4. Justin Upton, Diamondbacks

5. Albert Pujols, Cardinals

6. Joey Votto, Reds

7. Lance Berkman, Cardinals

8. Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies

9. Roy Halladay, Phillies

10. Ryan Howard Phillies

AL Cy Young Award

1. Justin Verlander, Tigers

2. Jered Weaver, Angels

3. James Shields, Rays

4. CC Sabathia, Yankees

5. Jose Valverde, Tigers

6. C.J. Wilson, Rangers

7. Dan Haren, Angels

8. Mariano Rivera, Yankees

9. Josh Beckett, Red Sox

10. Ricky Romero, Blue Jays

NL Cy Young Award

1. Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers

2. Roy Halladay, Phillies

3. Cliff Lee, Phillies

4. Ian Kennedy, Diamondbacks

5. Cole Hamels, Phillies

6. Tim Lincecum, Giants

7. Yovani Gallardo, Brewers

8. Matt Cain, Giants

9. John Axford, Brewers

9. Craig Kimbrel, Braves

AL Rookie of the Year

1. Jeremy Hellickson, Rays

2. Mark Trumbo, Angels

3. Eric Hosmer, Royals

4. Ivan Nova, Yankees

5. Michael Pineda, Mariners

6. Dustin Ackley, Mariners

7. Desmond Jennings, Rays

7. Jordan Walden, Angels

NL Rookie of the Year

1. Craig Kimbrel, Braves

2. Freddie Freeman, Braves

3. Vance Worley, Phillies

4. Wilson Ramos, Nationals

5. Josh Collmenter, Diamondbacks

6. Danny Espinosa, Nationals

7. Darwin Barney, Cubs

7. Kenley Jansen, Dodgers

AL Manager of the Year

1. Joe Maddon, Rays

2. Jim Leyland, Tigers

3. Ron Washington, Rangers

4. Manny Acta, Indians

5. Joe Girardi, Yankees

6. Mike Scioscia, Angels

NL Manager of the Year

1. Kirk Gibson, Diamondbacks

2. Ron Roenicke, Brewers

3. Tony La Russa, Cardinals

4. Charlie Manuel, Phillies

5. Fredi Gonzalez, Braves

6. Bruce Bochy, Giants

6. Clint Hurdle, Pirates

8. Terry Collins, Mets

8. Don Mattingly, Dodgers

> Most of them seemed deserving enough. Although I was surprised to see Longoria even on the AL MVP ballot.

> Anyway, onto some Brewers news. They’ve offered arbitration to free agents Prince Fielder and Francisco Rodriguez. Assuming both decline it (which they probably both will), the Brewers will get four premium picks in next year’s First-Year Player Draft.

> Which brings me to my next point. I didn’t pay much attention to the small print of the labor agreement reached between MLB and the players’ union because I was celebrating Braun’s MVP award, but apparently this new agreement is creating a salary cap on how much teams can pay players to sign with them after being drafted. This will probably effect how some teams draft for the next five years, especially teams that rely on the draft in order to contend, such as the Rays.

But hey, it’s what we’ve grown to expect from Bud Selig.

> The biggest news of today was the Indians bringing back the injury-prone Grady Sizemore on a one-year deal worth around $5 million. I guess they aren’t giving up on the center fielder yet, despite the fact he’s had five different surgeries over the past three years, and has averaged below 100 games played per season during that span.

> Bruce Chen has decided to go back to the Royals for the third straight year, but this time signed a two-year deal. Chen really came out of nowhere as a solid pitcher for the Royals in 2010, and had an even better 2011. But I’m surprised Chen’s “chencision” was to return to the Royals instead of play for a contending team. (In case you haven’t noticed, I occasionally use @TrippingOlney jokes on here.)

> Thanks for reading, and feel free to leave your thoughts. I’ll update again if any other big news comes out tonight.

Brewers can’t get anything going against Garza in finale

I didn’t get to see much of today’s game. Stupid day games during school… And what makes it worse is that the Brewers never win while I’m at school.

The Brewers fell to the Cubs today, 7-1. That means the magic number will remain at three for the time being, while we wait for the outcome of the Cardinals-Mets game (the Mets are currently winning, 4-3 in the third inning). Anyway, today was the Brewers’ final road game of the season, and it did not go well. Matt Garza threw a complete game, despite some shaky defense from his team in the ninth inning. Garza became the fifth pitcher to go the distance against the Brewers this year, the others being Tim Hudson, Jaime Garcia, Cole Hamels, and Chris Carpenter.

Randy Wolf did not have a good start, going six innings while giving up six runs on 10 hits. He walked one and struck out five. Now, I’m not one to make excuses, but it was obvious Wolf’s start took a turn for the worse after he was hit in the left forearm (his pitching arm) while trying to lay down a bunt in the third inning. He was cleared to stay in the game, but Wolf said afterwards that the injury affected his cutter.

The biggest blow of the game came in the sixth inning on Marlon Byrd’s three-run homer that broke the game open for the Cubs. Coincidentally enough, the pitch Byrd hit out was a cutter from Wolf.

According to Mike Bauman of MLB.com, the NL MVP race is now a two-horse race between Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder. I was hoping that someone wouldn’t say that, because now it’ll probably jinx both Braun and Fielder, and Matt Kemp or Justin Upton will end up winning. Out of those four, Braun is my choice (not because I’m biased, simply because he’s been the most consistent out of them). Kemp will for sure get votes taken away from him because he’s on a non-contending team in the Dodgers (that’s just how the MVP race works). And I don’t know about Upton. I know he’s having a great season, but for some reason there’s just something about him that makes me think he’s not going to win the MVP.

There’s also been talk recently of Albert Pujols winning the MVP, but I just can’t see that happening this year. He’s finally over .300 (he was hitting .304 to begin the day) and he leads the league in home runs, but his RBI total is down. Before last year, I would have also said that he was injured for two weeks, but Josh Hamilton was injured for nearly a month and still won the AL MVP in 2010, so I guess I can’t use that excuse anymore. But again, I don’t see Pujols winning it this year (I don’t even think the Cards making the playoffs could help at this point).

After ANOTHER September off-day tomorrow, the Brewers will start their final homestand of the year on Friday, and probably clinch the division in front of home fans, hopefully against the Marlins in the first series. Yovani Gallardo (17-10, 3.60 ERA) will go for the Brewers, and he’s coming off a 13-strikeout performance against the Reds his last time out. He’s struck out a total of 25 batters over his last 13 innings, and is now in fifth place for strikeouts in the NL. And I thought his strikeout numbers were down this year… Anyway, Gallardo has crushed the Marlins in his career, going 3-0 with a 1.69 ERA against them.

The Marlins will counter with Chris Volstad (5-12, 5.13 ERA), who, in my opinion, really hasn’t pitched as bad as his record and ERA show. He’s been victim of low run support, especially lately. Volstad is 1-1 with a 1.86 ERA in his career against the Brewers.

UPDATE: The Cardinals ended up winning against the Mets, 6-5. The Cards were actually losing, 4-3, but Pedro Beato gave up a go-ahead homer to David Freese in the seventh inning. Anyway, the Braves are choosing the worst time of year to fall apart. They lost again today, and now the Braves lead the WC by 1.5 games. And a few weeks ago I thought all the races were over…

Brewers continue to slide after Hawkins’ 10th inning error

A few weeks ago, I was excited to see the Brewers in the playoffs. Now, I’m afraid that they’re just going to make fools of themselves.

The Brewers pretty much gave the Phillies a win on a silver platter tonight, falling to them 3-2 in 10 innings. It was their fifth straight loss, and gave the Phillies a series win.

There isn’t much to say about this game, as has been the case over the past few days. With the score tied at 2-2 in the top of the 10th and a guy on first, LaTroy Hawkins fielded a bunt by Carlos Ruiz. It was a great bunt, and Ruiz would have had him beat either way, but Hawkins just had to airmail it to first base and send the ball into the crowd. That gave the Phillies a 3-2 to lead that they wouldn’t relinquish, and sealed the Brewers’ fate. But you can’t do that to good teams like the Phillies, and, unfortunately, the Brewers have done it a lot this series.

This all wasted a solid start by Randy Wolf, who went seven innings while giving up two runs on nine hits. He walked two and struck out one. But Wolf has been getting screwed over all year, and should definitely have more than 12 wins. Same goes for Shaun Marcum, who also has 12 wins, but the lowest ERA in the Brewers’ rotation.

Anyway, the Brewers are officially slumping. But, with the month of August they had, I kind of expected this. First off, the Brewers aren’t the greatest September team out there. In fact, in 2008, they had to ride on the back of CC Sabathia and a collapse by the Mets in order to get themselves into the postseason because of their awful September. Secondly, with the August they had, you just knew they couldn’t keep it going in September.

But another thing- just yesterday, Tom Verducci became the first person to notice that, during the Brewers’ great August, they beat practically all sub-.500 teams. He’s the first person I’ve seen publicly announce that. I knew it all along, but just didn’t say anything because I wanted to remain positive about the Brewers’ great August. But, with how they’re playing against the Phillies, it’s obvious that the great August was because of sub-.500 teams.

Now, you could make the excuse that the reason their offense has been shut down the past few games because they’ve faced four great pitchers in a row- Chris Carpenter, Cole Hamels, Roy Halladay, and Cliff Lee. But, that excuse is actually invalid, because, despite the fact those four pitchers are good, three of those four pitchers had ERAs over 5.00 against the Brewers going into their previous starts (and two had ERAs over 6.00). So, the offense actually should have acted up.

Rickie Weeks had his first at-bat since July today, and drew a walk from Lee. Yes, a walk from Lee. Not something you hear very often, especially from a strikeout-prone second baseman making his first at-bat since coming off the DL. Anyway, Ron Roenicke said that Weeks would be in the starting lineup tomorrow for the first time since July. Also, another roster move for the Brewers- they called up pitching prospect Mike Fiers from Triple-A. So much for making no more call-ups, I guess.

The Brewers will try and avoid a series sweep at the hands of the Phillies tomorrow, and will send Yovani Gallardo (15-10, 3.71 ERA) to the mound. He’s coming off two bad starts against the Cardinals, but, maybe facing someone other than the Cardinal will get him back on track. He has a 1.35 ERA in 6 2/3 innings in his career against the Phillies.

The Phillies will counter with ANOTHER ace- man, this rotation is unfair. Well, I guess you can’t call Vance Worley (11-1, 2.85 ERA) an ace quite yet, but he’s definitely pitched liked one. The Phillies have won his last 14 starts.

Oh, and by the way, the Brewers have fallen behind the Diamondbacks for the second-best record in the National League. That means if it stays this way for the rest of the year, instead of starting the postseason at home against the Braves, we’ll start it on the road against the Phillies. Hopefully the Brewers can re-take the lead over the D-backs so that we actually have a chance to make it to the NLCS.

Narveson implodes in sixth as Brewers scuffle against Phils

There are a lot of reasons that I hate the Phillies. And when the Brewers can’t bring down the hammer on them, it’s pretty frustrating for me. The Phillies are the one team in the MLB that I truly hate.

The Brewers lost to the Phillies today, 7-2, in a game that appeared to be a pitchers’ duel until the sixth inning, when things fell apart in a hurry for the Brewers. But, before I get to that, let me give out some stats that are pretty embarrassing for the Brewers. The Brewers have had complete games thrown against them in both of the past two games, both four-hitters by Chris Carpenter and Cole Hamels. This is the first time the Brewers have had complete games thrown against them consecutively since the Astros did it to them in 1999. Over 10 years ago. And, with this loss, the Brewers have been held to two runs on eight hits over their past 18 innings- an embarrassing stat for a team that’s supposed to be one of the best offensively. And I know Hamels and Carpenter are two of the better pitchers in the game, but still, that stat is unacceptable.

The game was scoreless until the fifth inning, when Yuniesky Betancourt hit a solo shot off Hamels. That gave Chris Narveson a much-needed lead, since he’d been lights out until the sixth, giving up just one hit in the first five. But, after recording the first two outs in the sixth, things just fell apart for Narvey. The next seven batters would reach against him, and score a total of six runs.

But, I can’t bring myself to blame Narveson for how that inning unfolded. And that’s because not all of the runs were completely his fault. Narveson allowed the game to get tied on a RBI double by Wilson Valdez, but, the next runs weren’t exactly his fault. He allowed a go-ahead two-RBI triple to Hunter Pence, which probably should have been caught by center fielder Carlos Gomez. But, Gomez misplayed it horribly, and let the ball get all the way to the wall. And, even if he didn’t catch it, he probably could have at least held Pence to a single, which might have changed the complexion of the inning. But, breaks just haven’t been going the Brewers’ way over the past few days.

Anyway, that’s really all I have to say about the game. I hate talking about the Phillies, and I know I’ll start ranting about them eventually if I keep going.

Here’s some good news for the Brewers- Rickie Weeks was activated off the DL earlier today, and he should be available to pinch-hit over the next few days. It’s still unknown when he’ll be able to get back on the field and into the starting lineup, but having him pinch-hit is better than nothing, I guess. By the way, the Minor League season is over, so Weeks can’t go down there to rehab.

The Brewers will try and even up the series tomorrow at 7:10 PM CT. They’ll send Shaun Marcum (12-5, 3.11 ERA) to the mound, who owns the lowest ERA in the Brewers’ rotation. Marcum is 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA in his career against the Phillies.

The Phillies will counter with Roy Halladay (16-5, 2.49 ERA), Marcum’s former teammate in Toronto. Normally, I’d be worried about facing Halladay, but his career stats against the Brewers- 1-2 with a 6.41 ERA- make me not so concerned. Halladay also had what was probably his worst start of the year against the Brewers earlier this year, when he went 6 1/3 innings while giving up six earned runs.