ReverendBrewmeister

About time for a run. A batter earlier would have been huge. Get the bats going!

Craptacular suckitude.

Guess the game got stranger with Wise's balk. This one belongs in Bizzaro World.

Losing close games seem harder to handle, especially when defensive incompetence leads to the loss. It's one thing to be totally outdueled by a pitcher or the offense executes better; it's much worse when you weren't "outplayed," but gave the winning run away. I'd rather be blown out and chalk it up to simply not having it that game than knowing a win was likely given away. Just my $0.02.

Prince with the Big Fly! Loved the McGriffesque follow through!

Dear Brewers' Defense, Could you please align yourself properly? You are giving me a bad reputation. Much obliged, Overused Shifting.

Cubs threaten in 9th; don't score. Phillies win 11-7!

Guess JJ really wanted to win Player of the Game. Unreal bat and glove today.

Break out the mustard............ Time for the Grand Salami!

Absolutely hideous there.

More Mets "defense." Gotta love it!

Pirates bats silenced; No scoring result tonight. Victory complete!

Waste of set-up man, Turnbow pitching in blowout? Wish CG next game.

Pop flies to center not worthy of your surname: Father Gwynn upset.

Pitcher becomes wild. Free bases given away. Jim Tracy is pensive.

Bucs display menace; Next batsmen unsuccessful; Threat goes unfulfilled!

Southpaw grooves his pitch Leather strikes moving ash wood Hardy hits home run.

Bat swings through strike zone Sound of solid contact heard OPS increases.

Hall runs like gazelle Squeezes leather over ball Line drive becomes out!

How high did Weeks' double get off the ground? Two feet?

Love the baserunning this inning!

A late report from Des Moines: Saw a number of Brewer fans in the crowd in the home stomping grounds in central Iowa, which was great! Didn't get any names of who was there. Some impressions of the game include the following (from the layman's point of view): 1) Gallardo's Performance. Yo appeared to have a pretty good command of the strike zone. A few times, he was completely unafraid to throw a breaking ball or changeup in a tight count situation (2-2; 3-2), pounding the zone and getting the strike out. He was also consistently in the 88-90mph range, even in the 6th and 7th innings. Hopefully, his velocity will increase over the next couple of years, so that it will be in the 90-92mph range later in games. 2) Braun's Performance Not much to report. Drew a walk. Also was drilled by a pitch. Seemed to have pop in the bat, including some pitches he was just under and fouled straight back. The grandstand crowd had to duck and cover when foul balls struck the facade and caromed down. Would have loved to see those put in play to see the power Braun has. Fielding was minimal in this game, so nothing to comment there. 3) Capellan's Performance Unmitigated disaster. Didn't get to see the radar gun reports, since they refused to put it on the scoreboard display, but it appeared faster than the starting pitchers from both sides. Control was erratic. Was "fortunate" not to have lost the game before the walk-off, as a line-out double play wiped out a leadoff runner. Noticed there were quite a few scouts (or 6 people who all happened to have radar guns and clipboards) were monitoring Capellan's outing. He did nothing to gain trade value whatsoever, IMO. 4) Gallardo's Hitting. Was great to see him at the plate. He just simply "looked" like a hitter: strong, aggressive stance; menacing curl of the bat; no hiding at the edge of the batter's box. His home run was simply crushed: a line drive shot to left that appeared to be rising when it hit the facade of the suites above the left field wall. Out in a blink of an eye, and the sound off the bat was sweet. 5) Miscellaneous Good group of Brad Nelson fans were on hand. Sat in the section next to where I was. Grant Balfour looked good in relief in the 8th inning. Can't recall velocity, since the scoreboard wasn't displaying the Nashville pitcher's speed in the 8th and 9th innings. Perhaps some of the other faithful will give their firsthand accounts. Won't likely get to any other games this week, due to ministerial duties.

Love those homers to left from Jenks. Almost majestic flight of the ball.

I don't see how you would call the umps bad in this last case. Seeing the bat strike the ball a second time is just about the last thing a home plate umpire would be able to do on that play.

Lou Piniella knew the rules. There was no infraction. Here is the MLB Rule on mound visits and pitcher replacements: 8.06 A professional league shall adopt the following rule pertaining to the visit of the manager or coach to the pitcher: (a) This rule limits the number of trips a manager or coach may make to any one pitcher in any one inning; (b) A second trip to the same pitcher in the same inning will cause this pitcher?s automatic removal; © The manager or coach is prohibited from making a second visit to the mound while the same batter is at bat, but (d) if a pinch-hitter is substituted for this batter, the manager or coach may make a second visit to the mound, but must remove the pitcher. A manager or coach is considered to have concluded his visit to the mound when he leaves the 18-foot circle surrounding the pitcher?s rubber.