mls4

Also noticed a former Brewer and a former Brewer farmhand: SCOTTSDALE SCORPIONS: Pitching coach: Mike Caldwell (Giants). SURPRISE RAFTERS: Hitting coach: Jon Nunnally (Indians).

No, the Brewers have never before had four 9-HR months in the same year. They had three in both 1982 and 1979, with Gorman Thomas accounting for two in each year. Thomas has the most Brewer career 9-HR months with six. Here's the list: Braun 9 July 2007 (not finished) Hart 9 June 2007 Fielder 13 May 2007 Hardy 9 May 2007 Lee 10 April 2006 Lee 10 June 2005 Lee 9 May 2005 Sexson 9 Sept 2003 Jenkins 9 April 2001 Sexson 9 July 2001 Jenkins 9 April 2000 Jenkins 9 Sept 2000 Burnitz 12 June 1999 Nilsson 9 June 1999 Burnitz 9 Sept 1998 Nilsson 10 July 1997 Vaughn 12 June 1996 Jaha 10 June 1996 Jaha 9 Aug 1995 Vaughn 9 June 1994 Deer 9 June 1989 Deer 9 April 1987 Deer 11 August 1986 Schroeder 9 August 1984 Cooper 10 July 1983 Thomas 11 June 1982 Oglivie 10 June 1982 Thomas 9 August 1982 Oglivie 9 June 1980 Thomas 11 August 1980 Thomas 12 August 1979 Lezcano 10 August 1979 Thomas 9 Sept 1979 Thomas 9 June 1978 Money 9 July 1975 Scott 9 Sept 1975 Briggs 9 May 1974 Harper 10 July 1970 Edit: spelling

I've been on this boat for a while. To me, it seems like common sense to use your best pitchers first in extra innings. I can forgive using Wise and Shouse first, but to me it makes no sense to use Balfour unless you have to.

I thought it might be about time this thread had a serious answer, and the answer is this past Thursday when Estrada threw out Chris Young of the D-backs. (Meanwhile he has 6 walks on the season, the lastest was June 26.) Estrada's CS for 2007: 7/19 Chris Young (Gallardo) 6/23 David DeJesus (Bush) 6/15 Luis Castillo (Vargas) 5/26 Rob Bowen (Shouse, why was a catcher trying to steal 3rd?) 5/23 Russell Martin (Villanueva) 5/23 Jeff Kent (Villanueva, 2 in a game! this was also 3rd base) 5/4 Adam LaRoche (Vargas) 4/28 Carlos Lee (Bush) 4/23 Derrek Lee (Vargas, 3rd base) 2 more CS attributed to Estrada were actually pickoffs by the pitcher. Estrada's SB against: 7/22 Dave Roberts (Vargas) 7/21 Ryan Klesko, Ray Durham (Bush); Randy Winn (Shouse) 7/19 Stephen Drew (Wise) 7/17 Eric Byrnes twice (Vargas) 7/16 Eric Byrnes (Bush) 7/3 Jose Bautista (Capuano) 6/26 Hunter Pence (Vargas) 6/25 Hunter Pence (Sheets) 6/17 Luis Castillo (Capellan), Jason Tyner (Suppan) 6/14 Curtis Granderson (Sheets) 6/10 Gerald Laird (Bush), Jerry Hairston (Cordero) 6/6 Cesar Izturis (Shouse), Derrek Lee (Suppan), Felix Pie (Wise) 6/4 Michael Barrett (Bush) 5/31 Hanley Ramirez (Vargas) 5/29 Andruw Jones, Willie Harris (Sheets) 5/27 Mike Cameron (Spurling) 5/26 Marcus Giles (Vargas) 5/23 Luis Gonzalez (Capuano), Juan Pierre (Wise) 5/22 Rafael Furcal, Russell Martin (Sheets) 5/21 Juan Pierre (Wise) 5/19 Michael Cuddyer (Shouse) 5/18 Torii Hunter (Capuano) 5/17 Shane Victorino (Cordero) 5/15 Jimmy Rollins (Shouse) 5/13 David Wright 3 (Capuano, Villanueva, 3rd off Villanueva); Jose Reyes (Capuano); Carlos Gomez (Dessens) 5/12 David Wright (Sheets) 5/11 Jose Reyes (Suppan) 4/20 Chris Burke, Craig Biggio, Carlos Lee (Sheets) 4/17 Adam Dunn (Bush) 4/14 Chris Duncan (Suppan)

"Well truth be told, the Cubs have home field advantage in all 15 games." Is the definition of home-field advantage "the team with the loudest fans at the game"? The Brewers still get last ups, minimal travel time, familiar surroundings and routine. I've no idea why the Brewers enjoy a nice home-field record against most teams but haven't won the majority of their home games against the Cubs. But I'm just not convinced it is because of the fans.

I've seen Grayson some on KMSP, and thought he was good. I think he'll be a nice addition.

Just in case anyone was wondering, the last time a Brewers pitcher got a hit and earned a save in the same game, it was Mike Buddie on 8/21/01.

Nice work on the cribbage perfect hand... Here's the Singleton: http://tiger.towson.edu/~rhurd1/images/Singleton%20Ken%201981%20Donruss%20&%201982%20Fleer.jpg

This will be the 2nd time this year the Brewers have had a pitching matchup that featured both starters facing former teams. Last time it was Suppan v. DelaRosa on June 22. Previous to that, it was 8/7/02, D'Amico v. Rusch.

The following news tidbit was in the Boston RedSox notes: "Former reliever Curtis Leskanic, who played for Colorado, Milwaukee, Kansas City and Boston, was named a pro scouting consultant." Recent transactions include: Chad Moeller, up and down between the Reds and AAA Louisville this year, is back with the Reds. His BA/OBP/SLG line so far in only 49 PA: .167/.167/.250 Wes Obermueller couldn't get the job done as a long reliever (8.86 ERA in 11 relief appearances; 6.56 ERA in 18 games and 56 innings overall) so he's been DFA by the Marlins.

Is Cordero better when not fully rested? Just wondering.

I don't remember the Perkins deal, but if I remember correctly the Brewers messed up with Chris Mabeus last year. I think it was because they put him on the 40-man when they acquired him, then optioned him to Nashville, they tried to recall him but couldn't because they had to wait the required 10 days.

"Now, Daniel Negraneau and Tony G...that's a separated at birth." Don't forget we have two Tony G's... I thought you meant Gwynn, and for some reason didn't see the resemblance...

Seems as though according to this list, top equals important, but not necessarily exciting. Included are wins that stopped losing streaks, salvaged a game in a key series, or propelled the team in a winning direction, instead of just blowouts or walkoffs.

Rose predictably had the fewest seasons to 3000 hits; he hit 3000 in his 16th season. However the number of games in a season varies so I calculated the number of games it took for each member of the 3000-hit club. By the way, at Suzuki's current pace, he would be the fastest to 3000 in only his 14th season and 2109th game. He still would be only 40 years old so it looks quite feasible at this point. Here's the list with number of games it took, with seasons in parentheses (I had to approximate the older players, their game logs are not available): Cobb 2140 approx. (17) Anson 2180 approx. (24) Lajoie 2240 approx. (19) Waner 2280 approx. (17) Gwynn 2284 (18) Musial 2301 (17) Speaker 2340 approx. (19) Rose 2370 (16) Molitor 2411 (19) Carew 2416 (19) Boggs 2429 (18) Clemente 2432 (18) Wagner 2440 approx. (18) Aaron 2460 (17) Collins 2550 approx. (20) Brett 2559 (20) Brock 2586 (19) Mays 2639 (19) Yount 2708 (19) Murray 2764 (19) Biggio 2781 (20) Ripken 2800 (20) Palmeiro 2809 (20) Kaline 2827 (22) Winfield 2840 (20) Yastrzemski 2851 (19) Henderson 2979 (23) (edit: 'killed' the accidentally posted emoticons --1992casey)

During the pre-game tribute to Willie Mays, I was trying to remember if they did anything similar for Hank Aaron when the game was in Milwaukee. I sure can't remember anything; if no tribute, does anyone know why not?

Twins beating the White Sox 18-10 after 7 innings of Game 1. The Twins are the first team to score 18 runs in a game this year. Garland gives up 12 runs (11 earned) in 3+, the first to give up that many runs and ER this year. The last pitcher to give up 12 runs in a start was... Garland, last September. Scott Baker gave up 7 ER in 5 innings and is in line to become the first pitcher this year to give up that many ER and still get the win. I wonder if the 2nd game will end up 1-0 or something.

In searching baseball-reference.com's streak finder, I found over 300 hitting streaks of 20 or more games only going back to 1957. It's interesting the no-names that have had hitting streaks of 20 games or more: John Flaherty, Butch Huskey, Denny Doyle, Al Martin, Reggie Jefferson, Jerome Walton, Lenny Randle, Rey Sanchez, Tony Eusebio, Carlos Garcia, Mike Vail. Meanwhile these Hall-of-Famers or almost certain Hall-of-Famers have never had a 20-game hitting streak: Yount, Biggio, Ripken, Yastrzemski, Schmidt, Barry Bonds, Griffey Jr, Gary Carter, Rickey Henderson.

So much for my second-guessing why they didn't bring in Gross to play CF instead of moving everyone around.

To be honest, I think Gorzelanny should already be an All-Star. I like Hamels just fine, but Gorzelanny's ERA is that much better. (3.05 to 3.72) Maybe not after today.

"Sabathia apparently doesn't want to start the AS Game. 7-2 Tigers. Enter Dan Haren." I wonder if Verlander has a chance to start the All Star Game.

Only 2 1/2 hour rain delay in that case.

The last time the Brewers had two hitting streaks of 19 games in the same year, it was two future hall-of-famers... Longest Brewer hitting streaks: 39 Molitor 1987 24 D.May 1973 22 Cooper 1980 19 Molitor 1989 19 Yount 1989 19 Molitor 1990 19 Hamilton 1991 19 Hardy 2007 19 Hart 2007

Braun would need to average almost 4.5 PAs per game the rest of the way to be eligible.

It's 3.1 PAs for every game the team has played. Braun would need about 254 at this point and 503 by season's end.