Brewers 4, 1; Nationals 8, 5

Game 1

Win: Jason Marquis (1-0)
Loss: Yovani Gallardo (1-1)

HR: Espinosa (2), Rodriguez (1), Desmond (2)

MVP: Casey McGehee (.112)
LVP: Yovani Gallardo (-.404)

Fangraphs Win Expectancy Graph

Game 2

Win: Livan Hernandez (2-1)
Loss: Kameron Loe (1-1)

HR: Hairston (1), Laroche (2)

MVP: Marco Estrada (.218)
LVP: Kameron Loe (-.375)

Fangraphs Win Expectancy Graph

I originally had a first line of "I think it's safe to say this series didn't go anywhere near the way the Brewers wanted it to" but that is a stupidly obvious phrase.  Of course this series didn't result in the outcome the Brewers team and fans were hoping for--the Nationals aren't a very good team right now, especially without Ryan Zimmerman, and Milwaukee is, of course, a playoff hopeful.  Honestly, at this point I don't really feel much like recapping the games very much.  If seven hours of losing baseball is an awfully torturous experience, I don't know what to call seven hours of losing baseball to the Washington Nationals.  Watching a walk off extra innings loss, then a rainout followed by two losing games in a double header can be an emotionally draining thing.  It's frustrating.  Realistically, this isn't a big deal in the greater scheme of the season.  That the Brewers were swept in a series is unsurprising (they were already swept once this year).  It's just a three game losing streak.  It may put the Brewers back under .500 (by just a game), but it's still so early in the season.  Again, small losing streaks happen to every team throughout  the course of the year.  It's irrational to get overly upset about two losses today.  It does hurt that this happened just prior to a trip to Philadelphia, but it's not as if anyone is running away from the pack in the NL Central yet.  

• Outside of his complete game shutout, Yovani Gallardo just has not seemed like himself this year.  Today, he gave up seven runs and ten hits in 5.1 innings.  He set a personal season high with five strikeouts.  The good news for him today is that he also didn't allow any walks.  His control has often been his biggest enemy, but today the long ball is what killed him.  He gave up a three-run home each to the unlikely duo of Danny Espinosa and Pudge Rodriguez. 
  
• Jason Marquis continued his good start to 2011 by allowing just two runs in seven innings.  It helped that the Brewers couldn't manage a single extra base hit in the first game and that Mark Kotsay might have been the second best hitter for the team. 
  
• While it's easier with three catchers on the roster, it's still nice to see Ron Roenicke use one of them to pinch hit again.
  
• The second game might have been even more frustrating as Milwaukee got help from unlikely places only to completely blow the game in the seventh inning.  Yuniesky Betancourt drove in the only Brewer run in that game with two outs in the fourth, and Marco Estrada pitched an outstanding six innings, giving up just one run on five hits and striking out seven.  The only run Estrada gave up was a solo HR to Jerry Hairston 
  
• Estrada was the star of the day for the Brewers, but a 4-9 day out of Casey McGehee isn't a bad thing to see, either.  He was mired in a slump to start the year but might be starting to hit a bit of a hot streak after his pinch hit home run that gave the Brewers a win a few games back. 
  
• Kameron Loe hadn't allowed a run since opening day, but ended that streak with a bang today.  He gave up three runs on four hits and only managed one out, giving the Nationals a three run lead in the seventh inning of the second game that they would obviously hold on to throughout.
• That one out of Loe's came on an absolutely phenomenal defensive play from Rickie Weeks.  With the bases loaded after three straight singles, pinch hitter Matt Stairs hit a sharp grounder that Weeks had to range to his right and back to nab.  I wasn't even sure if he would be able to make a decent throw to first, much less anywhere else, so it surprised me to see him go home with the ball to try and get the lead runner and prevent the run from scoring.  However, he made an outstanding, strong throw that easily beat Laynce Nix to the base.  Unfortunately, Loe gave up a base clearing triple that a diving Ryan Braun couldn't catch immediately after.

Like I said, these days can be draining.  Still, tomorrow is another day, and with that day come Joe Blanton and the Phillies.  The game is scheduled for 6:05 and we'll have the lineups/pitchers for you at 4:00 and a gamethread a half an hour prior to the first pitch.