DuWayne Steurer

Emulating oglivie and cooper's stances in my backyard playing wiffleball was how I learned to switch hit. seemed like most of the guys on that 82 squad had a unique stance.

Emulating oglivie and cooper's stances in my backyard playing wiffleball was how I learned to switch hit. seemed like most of the guys on that 82 squad had a unique stance.

The Brewers continued their fight for first place with a weekend three-game set against the Blue Jays, sporting their new 414 City Connect uniforms at home for the first time. While the aesthetics of the new uniforms are open to interpretation, the importance of the three game set wasn't, as the Brewers came in tied for first with the Cardinals. Game 1 -- Blue Jays 9, Brewers 4 https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL202206240.shtml The Jays tagged Brewers starter Adrian Houser with five runs in the top of the second, leading off the inning with six straight base hits before Houser worked out of the jam. Houser recovered and worked six innings on the night, and while not a quality start, eating up six innings saved manager Craig Counsell from having to use up a bullpen in the first game of an important three-game set. Talk about trying to find a silver lining. Trevor Kelly surrendered two home runs and three earned in his inning of work, bringing his total to seven home runs allowed on the season in just sixteen innings of work. Peter Strzelecki worked two innings, allowing a run, with his ERA sitting at an even 4.00 after his outing, and was sent back to Nashville, with Kelly (somehow) maintaining a spot on the Milwaukee roster. Tyrone Taylor did sock his eighth home run of the season, a solo shot, in the seventh inning. Taylor's recent mini hot streak has seen him get his OPS back over .720 and push his RBI total to third on the team. Adrian Houser dropped his record to 4-8 on the season. Game 2 -- Brewers 5, Blue Jays 4 https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL202206250.shtml With Corbin Burnes on the mound, and the offense staking him to a five-run lead by the end of the third inning, this one looked like the Crew was going to cruise to an easy win. In the end however, the Brewers had to sweat out a close one as the Jays slowly climbed back in and made it a one-run game in the end. Tyrone Taylor started the Brewers off with an RBI single in the first. In the bottom of the second, Willy Adames had an RBI base knock, and Andrew McCutchen pushed it to 4-0 with his sixth big fly of the season. McCutchen has pretty quietly put up some decent numbers after an admittedly bad start to the season. Standing at a .684 OPS after sitting in the .550 range five to six weeks ago has to make the Brewers feel a bit better about the investment and hopefully he can continue to put up the kind of numbers he's put up for the last month for the rest of the season. In the bottom of the fourth, Mike Brosseau, freshly returned from the IL smashed his fourth home run of the season. Brosseau and his .843 OPS bench bat are a nice addition for a team that has struggled to score runs consistently. Burnes pitched scoreless into the fifth inning until the dangerous Blue Jays lineup caught up with him. Matt Chapman hit a solo home run and Cavan Biggio drove in a run with an RBI groundout. Burnes worked further into the eighth inning when he gave up another solo home run to Bo Bichette. At 7 2/3 innings of work, Burnes was relieved by Devin Williams, who has been unscored on in his last eighteen appearances. Williams struck out Alejandro Kirk to end the inning and send the Brewers to the ninth with a two-run lead. Josh Hader came in to close things out and struck out the first two batters, then gave up a double and an RBI single. With the tying run now at the plate, Hader induced a game ending ground out and made a winner of Burnes. The earned run was just the third allowed by Hader on the season as we near the halfway point. Burnes record moves to 6-4, and the save for Hader was his 22nd, against one blown save. The Brewers held serve with the Cardinals, and they remain tied for first, going into the series finale Game 3 -- Brewers 10, Blue Jays 3 https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401355330 Brewers emergency starter Chi Chi Gonzalez was slapped for three runs in the top of the first, and it looked like it was going to be a long day for the Brewers and fans. However, in the bottom of the first, the Crew and offense struck back. A two-run blast from Rowdy Tellez got the Brewers back within a run. Followed up by an Omar Narvaez RBI double, the game was knotted at three after the first inning. Heading into the second inning, the Brewers proceeded to pour it on. New centerfielder Jonathan Davis started it off with an RBI infield single. Christian Yelich followed up by knocking a run in with an RBI groundout. With the Brewers up a pair, Adames struck next with an RBI single to make it 6-3. To cap the scoring in the second, Tellez came up and added another pair of RBI. Gonzalez pitched four innings for the Brewers today, allowing the three runs in the first. Jandel Gustave pitched a pair of innings to pick up the win, giving up just a pair of hits. Trevor Gott returned from the IL as well, pitching a scoreless inning. Overall, the Brewers pen threw five scoreless today, and given the large lead the offense provided, Counsell never needed to turn to his lockdown trio of Boxberger, Williams or Hader. Gustave picks up the win, his first of the season against no losses. The Brewers took a one game lead in the division as the Cardinals fell to the Cubs this afternoon. With Hunter Renfroe going back on the IL, Davis will get at least a little bit of a longer look in Milwaukee as well. While he's never put up stellar numbers at the MLB level, he's also never had more than a handful of plate appearances in a single season. It will be interesting to see how Counsell continues to use Davis and what kind of move or moves the Brewers may make depending on the expected length of Renfroe's absence. Up next for the Crew is a day off on Monday, followed by a three-game series at the tough Tampa Rays, as the Brewers continue to fight the Cards for the top spot in the NL Central. View full article

Having won just three of their past fifteen games, the Brewers rode into Cincinnati needing a big boost in momentum. Dropping as much as 2 1/2 games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central, the Crew looks to make up some ground in the two-team race for the division crown. Game 1 -- Brewers 5, Reds 4 https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN202206170.shtml Game one of the three game set started out with three scoreless frames from each side. Eric Lauer worked through the Reds lineup the first time through allowing just one single, and looked sharp, striking out four in the first three innings. Hunter Renfroe got things going for the offense with two men on in the fourth for the Crew with his eleventh home run of the season. Willy Adames followed up with a solo shot in the fifth inning to give the Brewers a 4-0 lead. Lauer started getting into trouble in the bottom of the fifth, surrendering a two run home run to Albert Almora. In the sixth, Lauer gave up two more solo home runs that knotted the game at four. But in the seventh, Keston Hiura provided the decisive shot. With Hiura struggling against left handed pitching all season, his first home run against lefties came at an opportune time. With the Brewers holding a 5-4 lead, Lauer got through one more out to finish his night at 6 1/3 innings before turning the ball over to Miguel Sanchez, who finished the seventh, Devin Williams worked the eighth scoreless, and Brad Boxberger came on in the ninth to work his first save. Two of the first three men reached base before Boxberger induced a force groundout, to bring up pinch hitter Joey Votto . With the game on the line, Votto flew out to deep right center field, and the Brewers held on for the win. Lauer improves his record to 6-2 on the season, while Boxberger records his first save of the season. Game 2 - Brewers 7, Reds 3 https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN202206180.shtml Jason Alexander got his fifth start in place of injured Brandon Woodruff. While the peripheral stats look average at best and Alexander's strikeout rate is certainly pedestrian, the production and results have been a steady presence in the rotation while the Brewers wait for Woodruff's return. The Brewers gave Alexander an early lead on a first inning RBI double by Rowdy Tellez. The Crew struck again in the third on a two run home run by Willy Adames, and an RBI double by Luis Urias. The Reds squeezed across an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth inning, but the Brewers got two more back in the sixth on a two-run double by Jace Peterson. In the bottom of the sixth, Alexander got into trouble, allowing four base hits and a pair of runs before being relieved by Miguel Sanchez to preserve the lead. Renfroe tacked another run onto the board for the Brewers in the seventh with a solo home run, his second in as many days, and put the Brewers back up 7-3. Trevor Kelly came on in the bottom of the frame and work 1 2/3 innings before giving the ball to Hoby Milner who finished the game out for the Crew. Milner didn't get credit for a save, but struck out two, giving up just a single and dropped his ERA for the season down to 2.20. Jason Alexander picks up the win, the first of the season and career for the 29 year old rookie, who is now 1-0. Game 3 - Brewers 6, Reds 3 https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401355229 Trying to complete the sweep, Craig Counsell handed the ball to Adrian Houser. Houser tossed a quality start today, going six innings and allowing three runs. He ran into trouble in the fourth inning, allowing all three runs in that frame. Houser recovered after that and tossed a scoreless fifth and sixth inning and handed the ball over to the pen. Houser was helped in the first by a nice grab by Andrew McCutchen, who turned back the clock a little bit to his gold glove days and took a run or two off the board from the Reds with this beautiful sliding grab. The Brewers struck first, with an RBI double by Urias in the top of the fourth, followed by Victor Caratini's fifth big fly of the season. Of the twelve Brewers batsmen that have 100 or more plate appearances, Caratini is the only player with an OPS over .800 currently. One would wager that won't hold until the end of the season, but right now, he is providing a boost to the offense when he plays. The Reds tied the game in the bottom of the fourth, but as previously mentioned, Houser settled down and held the Reds bats in check for two more innings, completing six solid, if unspectacular innings of work. The Brewers took the lead back in the sixth on a sacrifice fly off the bat of utility call-up Mark Mathias, and put a few insurance runs on the board in the seventh when Renfroe knocked his third home run in three days with McCutchen on board to make the score 6-3 Brewers. In the bottom of the frame, the Reds loaded the bases with two outs off of Kelly. With aging, but still feared slugger Votto coming up, the Brewers turned to Milner, who struck Votto out to end the threat. After that pivotal moment, Boxberger and WIlliams handled the last two innings with relative ease to complete the game and the sweep. Houser got the win to go to 4-7, and Devin Williams picked up his 5th save. The shorthanded Brewers completed the sweep and with the Cardinals losing to the Red Sox, are now tied again for first in the NL Central. A pivotal series starts next in Milwaukee with the Brewers and Cards squaring off with first place on the line. View full article

thanks bscr! Happy to fill in.

thanks bscr! Happy to fill in.

Final season of Peaky Blinders released on Friday. The final season was a fantastic ending, and they left just enough loose storyline to make that movie they want to make (if they're so inclined), and wrapped up a lot of others, if indeed this is the end of the line for the series altogether.

The Brewers play a three game weekend set in Washington, looking to snap a season high six game skid. With the Cardinals hot on their heels entering the weekend set, the Brewers need a win to hang on to first place in the NL Central. Game 1 -- Nationals 11, Brewers 5 https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WAS/WAS202206100.shtml Aaron Ashby gave up thirteen hits and a walk in 4 2/3 innings in his start tonight, allowing six runs and only managing two strikeouts. The Brewers briefly gave Ashby a 2-1 lead on a mammoth two run home run from Jace Peterson in the second inning, as he launched one almost 430 feet to right center field with Andrew McCutchen aboard. Peterson notched another RBI in the fourth inning with a sacrifice fly, again knocking McCutchen in. However, the wheels started to fall off for Ashby in the bottom of the frame. A solo home run by Maikel Franco, followed by a series of soft contact singles to score another run put the Nationals up 5-3 going into the fifth. In the fifth, Ashby gave up three more hits, including a triple, and was relieved by the previously reliable Miguel Sanchez. Coming into the game tonight, Sanchez had been sporting a 1.17 ERA on the season in ten appearances. Tonight Sanchez gave up four earned runs in just an inning and a third, giving up home runs to Josh Bell and Keibert Ruiz. The Brewers scored twice in the eights on a sacrifice fly by Rowdy Tellez and an RBI base hit by McCutchen but didn't seriously threaten after getting down 10-3. Ashby's loss drops him to 1-5 on the season. Game 2 -- Nationals 8, Brewers 6 https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/WAS/WAS202206110.shtml The Brewers offense put runs on the board for the second night in a row, but again, just like the night before, the starting pitching was less than stellar. Tonight, Eric Lauer was knocked around for eight runs on seven hits, while also giving up three long balls to the Nationals. The Brewers got into a big hole early, and while they had a few rallies late, ultimately couldn't climb all the way back. Christian Yelich lead off the game for the Crew with a solo home run, and has been producing solid at bats since being inserted into the leadoff spot. plit ▲ G GS PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB ROE BAbip tOPS+ sOPS+ Batting 1st 4 4 19 18 3 8 0 0 1 1 2 0 1 4 .444 .474 .611 1.085 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 .539 204 206 https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=yelicch01&year=2022&t=b Obviously, we're looking at an extremely small sample, but the Brewers and Craig Counsell have to be happy with the production they're getting from Yelich if they continue to leave him in the leadoff spot in the order. After Lauer allowed eight unanswered runs, the Brewers started battling back. Lorenzo Cain socked an RBI double, followed by a two run home run by recent call up Mark Mathias brought the Brewers back to within four. With two outs, the Brewers then loaded the bases, bringing the tying run to the plate in Rowdy Tellez who lined out to first base on a rocket liner to end the threat. In the ninth inning, the Brewers again threatened, with Luis Urias knocking a two run home run, bringing the Crew to within a pair, but the rally ended there, as Tellez struck out to end the game. Lauer dropped to 5-2 on the season. The optimistic thought is that the Brewers had scored 11 runs over the previous two games and perhaps they were starting to break out of their offensive doldrums, but at the long end of an eight game losing streak, moral victories don't mean a whole lot. Heading into the series finale, the Brewers have now dropped into second place, a game and a half behind the rival Cardinals. Game 3 -- Brewers 4, Nationals 1 https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401355137 Jason Alexander gets the ball for the third time, and once again was working with men on base quite often. Alexander allowed seven hits and walked three in just 4 2/3 innings, but allowed just one run before skipper Craig Counsell pulled the plug on his afternoon. From there, Hoby Milner and the rest of the bullpen shut down the Nationals offense. Willy Adames has been struggling since coming off the DL. His batting average had dipped below .200 and his OPS had dipped close to the .700 mark. With the game in the third inning, Adames came up with two outs and a man on third, and Willy delivered a clutch knock. Sliding ahead to the fifth inning, Adames delivering the decisive blow in the game. And just like that, Willy Adames was good again. Andrew McCutchen added a home run in the ninth to finish the scoring for the Crew. Hoby Milner pitched 1 1/3 scoreless through the sixth inning, and Brad Boxberger, Devin Williams, and Josh Hader carved up the Nationals through the final three innings to finish things off. Hader bounced back from his blown save against Philadelphia earlier in the week to strike out the side in order today and record his 19th save. Hoby Milner gets the win, and improved his record to 3-1. Milner has been a nice piece in the middle of the pen through the first third-plus of the season. Milner leads the Brewers in relief appearances and has lowered his ERA on the season now to 2.45. Of course the biggest story of the day for the Brewers is the snapping of the eight game losing streak. With the win and the Cardinals loss the Brewers step back to just a half game behind the Cardinals. With a day off tomorrow, and a tough series starting Tuesday against the Mets in New York, the Brewers can hopefully build on the positive momentum here and get back to consistent ball and get back to the top of the standings in the NL Central. View full article

that was some hard baseball to stomach for sure.

that was some hard baseball to stomach for sure.

Welcome Brewer Fanatics to a guest addition of Forum Friday. I'm happy to fill in for Chris this week and recap the week for the Brewers faithful, and faithful we must be, after the week the Brewers have been through. But with Adames and Renfroe back from IL, and Narvaez coming back soon, maybe the Brewers luck will turn around soon. As the Brewers round the one-third stretch of the season, hanging on by a thread to their one-half game lead in the NL Central division, the busiest topic of discussion this week is undoubtedly the Brewers offense. With so many key pieces of the Brewers hitting corps sidelined for various reasons, the Brewers have struggled to put up runs. With Renfroe back and Adames finally returned, there's reason to be optimistic, and Narvaez should also return from the Covid-19 reserved list soon. As @nate82 pointed out in the offense thread, the Brewers key bats have outperformed most of the high-dollar free agents that were signed this off-season, aside from perhaps Trevor Story. However, there's not much debate in Brewer land that Andrew McCutchen shouldn't be playing every day and hitting cleanup, and a look in at any game thread the last week will show you that there's almost a clear consensus that the Brewer Fanatic faithful all roundly agree that McCutchen should be sitting versus righties and hitting deeper in the order. As contributor @monty57 points out, some trade targets that could be available, and have been discussed both in the "offense" thread and the trade forum, are Andrew Benintendi, Josh Bell, and Trey Mancini. (Shameless plug for Tim Muma's Trey Mancini article here). As the summer wears on and the trade deadline nears, trade talk will definitely heat up on the forum and potential targets will be tossed around. With a lot of the forty man roster banged up, a lot of the forum chatter has been devoted to keeping up to date on player movement and injury updates. @BruisedCrewdropped a tweet from Adam McCalvy today with an update on injured starter Brandon Woodruff, who has been surprisingly, ably replaced for a pair of starts by Jason Alexander. If Woodruff is to be out for any period of time, hopefully Alexander can continue his run of success. Over in the minor league forum, the Dominican Summer League and Arizona Rookie League started on Monday. @damuelle has a thread with all the news, roster moves, and more to keep us up to date with what's going on there. A couple of great posts from @Smichaelis9 and @CheeseheadInQC that provided some great scouting reports on some of the fresh new faces we'll see and hear about down on the farm. Thanks posters! And if you haven't heard yet, Jackson Chourio is putting up PlayStation numbers down in Carolina, giving us another week of talking about how he may be the next "Soto, Vlad Jr., Acuna", in the words of @Brewcrew82 (among others!) He's quickly made the leap up Baseball America's Top 100, and along with Joey Wiemer, Brice Turang, and Sal Frelick, the Brewers now sport four players in BA's top 100. Thanks to contributors like @Mass Haas and @Julio Muchacho who put a lot of time and effort into putting together a lot of quality minor league reading. It's appreciated. We're at the one-third point of the season, and despite the recent setbacks, the Brewers are still in first place, heading to Washington to take on the Nats for three games. As @RoCoBrewfan (that's me) said in a game thread just a few days ago, "any day with baseball is a happy day". We're all Brewer fans here. Except that one guy. He's a Cardinal fan, but we let him post here because he seems like an alright guy. Thanks for reading. Go Brew Crew. View full article

With several key players on the IL or unable to take the field, the Brewers play a four game set against the San Diego Padres. The Brewers are looking to hang on to first place as the St. Louis Cardinals stay hot, winners of seven of their past ten games. Game 1 -- Brewers 5, Padres 4 https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL202206020.shtml Adrian Houser started game one for the Brewers against Sean Manaea for the Padres. Houser was only able to work five innings, as he ran his pitch count to 100 pitches in those five innings. He gave up just one run on five hits and three walks, working around danger and keeping the club in the ballgame. WIth the game knotted at 1-1 after five innings, the Padres punched in two runs of struggling reliever Brent Suter in the sixth inning. Peter Strzelecki made his major league debut for the Crew in the eighth inning in relief, and pitched two innings, giving up a run on two hits, two walks and striking out three. The Brewers headed to the bottom of the ninth down three when the offense came alive, so to speak. Keston Hiura lead off with a single. Taylor Rodgers then hit Kolten Wong and Victor Caratini to load the bases. Jace Peterson came up and provided the big hit. With the score still knotted at four, and the winning run at third, Andrew McCutchen came up, mired in an 0-32 slump. With that, Strzelecki was made a winner in his big league debut. Game 2 -- Padres 7, Brewers 0 https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL202206030.shtml Corbin Burnes went up against Joe Musgrave, and Burnes just didn't have it, right from the start tonight. Burnes gave up a run in the first, a run in the second, and three in the third. His command wasn't there, and it took him 95 pitches to get through 3 2/3 innings tonight. Hopefully it's one of those games Burnes can put in the rear view and come out next time and dominate. As for the Brewers offense tonight, to say Joe Musgrove had it working would be putting it mildly. Musgrove no hit the Brewers through 7 2/3 innings until Kolten Wong socked a double off the wall. Corbin Burnes record falls to 3-3 on the season. Game 3 -- Padres 4, Brewers 0 https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL202206040.shtml Another day, another shutout. Aaron Ashby took the ball and the mound for the Brewers as the patchwork lineup continued to look for offense. The Brewers were able to get some men on base today, scattering six hits and drawing three walks, but just couldn't scratch any runs across for the second day in a row. With Renfroe, Adames, Brosseau, and Narvaez still on the IL, and Urias being held out, players like Pablo Reyes being pressed into every day action really puts a dent into the offensive capability of the lineup. It's tough when a team's best offensive starters are out, but Brosseau has been one of the Brewers best bench and utility bats. Aaron Ashby pitched well, striking out nine, and walking none. He gave up a short-porch homerun to Jake Cronenworth in the fifth inning that really sealed the deal for the game and the struggling offense. Ashby's record drops to 1-4. Game 4 -- Padres 6, Brewers 4 https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401355047 Eric Lauer took the mound for the Brewers in the series finale. Lauer pitched well today, but was saddled with two unearned runs in the fifth inning off of an error by Pablo Reyes. Lauer was given an early lead by the Crew today as Kolten Wong launched a solo home run in the bottom of the first, and that held up til the fifth inning, when the Padres pushed three across, due in part to a fielding gaffe by Reyes. It looked like the Brewers were headed for another miserable offensive day until the bottom of the eighth when Reyes got on board with an infield single and Kolten Wong provided all the offense again with a two run shot off the facade in right field. Brad Boxberger, Devin WIlliams, and Josh Hader pitched the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings in succession without allowing a baserunner, and striking out six batters. In the eighth, it looked like the Brewers might break through and take the lead and somehow secure a series split when Jace Peterson flew out softly to the shortstop with the bases loaded to end the inning. In the tenth, Jake Cronenworth struck again, hitting a three run home run off of Trevor Gott. The Brewers scored once in the bottom of the tenth, but failing to score again, falling for the third time in a row and dropping the season series to the Padres, four games to three. After playing eighteen games in seventeen days, the day off tomorrow comes at a much needed time, and gives an extra day for a few of the key offensive performers to get healthy. The Brewers will still be in first place on Tuesday, and have the roughest part of the schedule behind them. View full article

After taking two out of three in San Diego to start their eleven game road trip, the Brewers stop into St. Louis to battle the second place Cardinals in a four game set. The Brewers come into the series with a 3 1/2 game lead, so this could prove to be a crucial early-season test for the Crew. Game 1, Brewers 4 -- Cardinals 3 https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN202205260.shtml The Brewers sent Eric Lauer to the mound to square off against Adam Wainwright and the Cards in the first game of the series. Luis Urias got the scoring started right away for the Brewers, knocking a solo shot to left center with one out to put the Brewers up 1-0. Tyrone Taylor added a two out run scoring single up the middle to continue his hot hitting and give the Brewers a two run first. Eric Lauer struggled with command most of his start, and gave up two runs to the Cards in the first as well. Christian Yelich knocked in a run in the second inning with an RBI single, but Lauer continued to struggle in the bottom half, allowing two singles and a walk, loading the bases before getting out of the jam, getting Harrison Bader to popout. With the Brewers holding on to a 3-2 lead going into the third, and both starters pitch counts running up quickly, it looked like we were going to have a high scoring, back and forth game for the series opener, but things settled down after the second. Andrew McCutchen would knock in a run in the fourth with an RBI single, but that would close out the scoring. Lauer worked through the fifth after a rocky first two innings, walking just one more batter for his final three innings of work. While his final stat-line looked pedestrian by the high standards he's set in this early season, it was good to see him settle down after the ugly first two innings where he was really scuffling to throw strikes and work an almost completely clean three innings through the fifth. The bullpen held things down until the ninth when Josh Hader, freshly returned from family leave came on to nail down the save. Hader uncharacteristically walked a batter and allowed a single, but ultimately worked through the ninth for the save and the series opening win. Eric Lauer is now 5-1 on the season, and Hader is 16 of 16 in save opportunities. Game 2, Cardinals 4 -- Brewers 2 https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN202205270.shtml In game two of the series, Brandon Woodruff started, going after his sixth win of the season. The Brewers were getting on base early and often, getting five hits and drawing four walks off of Cardinals starter Dakota Hudson, but failed to cash in any of their early run scoring opportunities. The Crew loaded the bases with one out in the third inning, followed by an inning ending double play by Andrew McCutchen. In the fifth inning, the Brewers had the bases juiced with two outs, and McCutchen again grounded out to end the threat. On the other side of things, Brandon Woodruff was cruising along until a two run home run by Paul Goldschmidt in the third put the Cardinals on the board. Throwing warmups in the bottom of the fifth, Woodruff tweaked his ankle, and came out of the game. He gave up just two hits and a walk, one hit being the homerun to Goldschmidt. Woodruff pitched well, so the hope is that the ankle won't keep him out long. Luis Perdomo again pitched well in relief, going two scoreless and striking out a pair, and lowering his E.R.A to 1.74 on the season. Brent Suter pitched the seventh and eighth inning, giving up a pair of runs, putting the Brewers down 4-0. The Brewers mounted a rally in the ninth. Keston Hiura socked a two run homer to dead center field to pull the Brewers within a pair, before Mike Brosseau and Kolten Wong were retired to end the threat. Woodruff's record dropped to 5-3 with the loss. Game 3, Cardinals 8 -- Brewers 3 https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN202205280.shtml Adrian Houser just didn't pitch well today for the Brewers. In four innings, he surrendered nine hits and eight runs, five of them being earned. His defense didn't help him out, but Houser wasn't sharp today. The Cards jumped on Houser for a run in the first, four in the third, and three in the third, with Paul Goldschmidt homering for the third time in three days. After Houser fought to get through four innings, Hoby Milner, Trevor Kelly, and Migael Sanchez finished the back half of the game scoreless, providing a bright spot for the bullpen. The Brewers offense came alive late in the game, with a solo home run by Keston Hiura, his second home run in as many days, and a two run shot by Victor Caratini in the ninth. In the end, it mostly served to make the final look "not quite as bad", but it's good to see Hiura's bat heating up and providing some serious pop. Houser's record drops to 3-5 on the season after taking the loss today. Game 4, Brewers 8 - Cardinals 0 https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401354947 The Brewers and Corbin Burnes repaid the pounding from the day before with one of their own in the series finale. Burnes was absolutely filthy early, striking out six of the first nine batters, and not allowing a runner on base in the first three innings. Burnes finally allowed a basehit and a walk in the fourth, but snuffed the rally out, and allowed one more base hit in the sixth. On the day, Burnes struck out eleven in seven innings, allowing just two hits and a walk. The Brewers offense helped Burnes out in a big way today, putting eight runs on the board. Omar Narvaez started it out with an RBI double in the second inning, plating Tyrone Taylor. Narvaez had a day, going 3-3, with a double, a triple, a walk, and raising his OPS for the season to a healthy .801. With the Crew hanging on to a 1-0 lead in the fifth inning, the Brewers put a pair of men on base, when Jace Peterson blew the game open. At 4-0, with Burnes on the mound, the Brewers looked like they were in pretty good shape. But the scoring wasn't over. Rowdy Tellez golfed a low inside pitch for his team leading tenth home run of the year. Lorenzo Cain added an infield RBI single in the sixth to make it 6-0 Brewers. On the day, Lorenzo had 3 hits and raised his OPS to .523. Cain's batted ball metrics this season backs up that he hasn't been hitting well. Zero barreled balls, career lows in hard hit percentage and an OPS that had been hovering around the .440 mark for most of the first quarter of the season. With that being said, lets take a look at how the scoring was wrapped up in the four game set today. With the win, Corbin Burnes ups his record to 3-2. WIth the split, the Brewers maintain their 3 1/2 game cushion on the second place Cardinals. After three games in San Diego and four in St. Louis, the Brewers are standing at 4-3 on the road trip, with four games remaining in Chicago against the Cubs. View full article

Jose Altuve is like 5'7" As previously mentioned, Luis Urias is 5'9" Mookie Betts is 5'9" etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Secondly, we're seeing mentioned that great players get picked later in the draft. Yes. But if they're available later in the draft, it's because at this stage of their development (either high school or a few years of college), we don't have enough information to see that future greatness. Nobody knew Corbin Burnes was a future Cy Young winner or he wouldn't have been available in the fourth round. Nobody knew Mike Piazza was even going to make a dent in a 40 man roster some day, or he wouldn't have hung around until, I believe, the 35th round, let alone end up a HOFer. Yes, there are great players that come from the late first round, the 2nd round, the 4th round, and the 11th round, but we don't know those guys are going to be great, or they'd be picked 8th, instead of in the 8th round. The MLB draft is way more of a crapshoot than any other sport (by far!) because of the amount of development these guys still have to go through to reach a point where they're going to contribute to the major league clubs. One can just keep saying "they need to pick a great player with the 27th pick", but repeating it over and over doesn't mean that the guy that ends up being there is going to be a known quantity, or will even sniff a 40 man roster some day. This is a super inexact science.

So, possibly one of the best players in the history of baseball is who we should be looking for at the end of the first round.

the only reason I had a hard time with the "this only counts as one loss" mantra was because Peralta left with an injury. hopefully it's minor and it's all a moot point.

the only reason I had a hard time with the "this only counts as one loss" mantra was because Peralta left with an injury. hopefully it's minor and it's all a moot point.

The Brewers come into a weekend set at AmFam field with the Nationals before heading out onto the road for an eleven game trip. The Brewers will send Eric Lauer, Brandon Woodruff, and Freddy Peralta to the mound in the three game series as the Crew looks to extend the four game lead they currently hold over the second place St. Louis Cardinals. Game 1 -- Brewers 7, Nationals 0 https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL202205200.shtml Eric Lauer tossed yet another gem, going seven strong shutout innings, striking out five, scattering five hits, and walking none. Lauer worked efficiently, using just 83 pitches to get through seven. Nationals starter Erick Fedde worked through five scoreless as well, pitching into the sixth, until the Brewers finally struck for a pair of runs. Rowdy Tellez's eighth home run of the season put the Brewers up 2-0, which would be all the lead the Crew needed. Tyrone Taylor would add his second home run of the season in the eighth inning, a three-run shot, as the Brewers put a five-spot on the board. Devin Williams and Aaron Ashby pitched the eighth and ninth innings to finish the game for Lauer, who picked up the win and pushed his record to 4-1, lowering his E.R.A to 2.16 on the season. Lauer makes a strong case each start for "ace" status. He's cut his walk rate almost in half while seeing a significant jump in strikeout rate. The Lauer/Urias for Grisham/Davies trade can and will be dissected and debated further, but in 2022, the Brewers are seeing the better end of it so far. Game 2 - Brewers 5, Nationals 1 https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIL/MIL202205210.shtml The Brewers looked to break through against lefty starter Patrick Corbin, while Brandon Woodruff put together a pair of solid back-to-back starts for the Crew. Woodruff delivered, going six innings and allowing just one run on five hits and no walks. Unlike yesterday's game, the Brewers did not wait long to get the offense going. On the first pitch of the bottom of the first, Andrew McCutchen put the Brewers on the board. The Brewers tallied again in the first on a sacrifice fly by Hunter Renfroe. The Nationals struck back with a solo home run by Lane Thomas in the third, but that would be all Nat's offense would muster in this contest. The Brewers would put three on the board in the fifth, first with a solo home run by Luis Urias and with two outs, a two-run single by Keston Huira. Hiura has quietly pushed his line back up to a respectable .244/.333/.444 on the season for a .778 OPS. He's still striking out at a high rate, but if he's carrying an OPS around .775 - .800, the team must be willing to live with the lack of contact. He's handling first base adequately, and if he can fill in second base from time to time and spell McCutchen at DH, there's a role on the team for his power bat. After Woodruff worked through six innings, Trevor Gott and Brad Boxberger worked the seventh and eighth inning without incident. Hoby Milner came in to start the ninth. Josh Hader recorded the last out to rack up his fifteenth save after allowing two singles and getting the second out of the inning on a tapper back to the mound. Despite the uneven results experienced in the early season, today's victory moves Woodruff's record to 5-2. Game 3 - Nationals 8, Brewers 2 https://www.espn.com/mlb/boxscore/_/gameId/401354858 Freddy Peralta starts for the Brewers today. Mike Brosseau was given his first career MLB start at shortstop. He misplayed at least two balls and booted another, leading to multiple extra runners for Peralta early. Brosseau has done well with the bat off the bench and played a decent third base, but he looked completely out of place at short today. The Nationals tallied once in the second and third innings but seemed to be doing so on soft contact and fielding miscues. Going into the fourth, the first three batters reached base, and Peralta was pulled for what appeared to be a shoulder injury. This was later reported as "shoulder stiffness" and is concerning, so Brewer management (and fans) will wait to see what examination reveals Monday or later. The Nationals strung together seven straight base hits and scored six runs in the fourth, increasing the lead to 8-0 before Brent Suter could get out of the inning. The Brewers gave fans a brief glimmer of hope in the bottom of the fifth inning. Tyrone Taylor hit a solo home run to center. The Crew then loaded the bases with just one out. Andrew McCutchen grounded into a fielder's choice to drive in a second run, putting men on the corners with two outs, before Christian Yelich was retired to end the brief rally with a fly out to the warning track in deepest center field. The Brewers would threaten a few more times but grounded into three double plays on the day. The scoring would prove to be finished at 8-2, and the Brewers dropped the finale to the Nats and lost their starting pitcher. Peralta took the loss, dropping to 3-2 on the season. A minor bright spot on the day was Luis Perdomo pitching three quick scoreless innings in relief and soaking up some innings while hopefully proving he's capable of being a viable blowout time option for the bullpen. The Brewers take the series with the Nationals and head out on a three-city, eleven-game road trip, traveling first to San Diego. ETA: Per Lane Grindel on the post-game radio -- Freddy Peralta has been placed on 10-day IL as a precautionary measure. View full article