Some things to read while skateboarding and fighting crime.
It's already starting to feel like I'm writing the same story each day: Monday the Brewers found a new and interesting way to lose their fourth consecutive game, as Takashi Saito allowed two home runs in an outing for the first time in his career and the Brewers lost 2-1 to the Braves. After the game the Brewers insisted they're not getting frustrated with this early dry spell.
While the Brewers on the active roster say they're not getting frustrated, one injured Brewer is: Corey Hart has still not recovered from his oblique strain, and will have to wait to begin a minor league rehab assignment. His return date is still uncertain.
If you're starting to get depressed by the Brewers' early season struggles, Jaymes Langrehr of The Brewers Bar would like to help you find the silver lining. Also, sjlee noted in the comments yesterday that every division winner in 2010 had at least one four game losing streak.
If not for the fact that the Brewers are still winless, Braves pitcher Brandon Beachy's performance probably would have been the biggest story coming out of yesterday's game. Dave Cameron of FanGraphs was very impressed. Ben Badler of Baseball America tweeted this about the rookie:
Brandon Beachy: So underrated. Three average or better pitches, fills up the strike zone, No. 3 starter material right now.
It may have taken four games, but the Brewers finally got a positive contribution out of Yuniesky Betancourt yesterday. He went 2-for-4 and his double was one of just two Brewer extra base hits in the game. Expectations were pretty low for Betancourt entering the season, but Jaymes Langrehr of The Brewers Bar says he's lived down to them.
Rickie Weeks is still hot, as he connected yesterday for his third home run in four games. He's also the recipient of Hangwith'em Rach's inaugural "El Super" Award.
Other notes from the field:
- The Brewers sold 46,017 tickets for yesterday's game, the second-highest total in Miller Park history.
- Adam McCalvy has pictures from the day.
- The loss dropped the Brewers to 7-4 in home openers at Miller Park, and 408-403 at home overall since 2001.
- Prince Fielder was one of just two players in all of baseball to be hit by a pitch yesterday. Plunk Everyone notes that both players were left-handed first basemen.
- Also, Rickie Weeks was not hit by a pitch for the fourth consecutive day, his longest streak ever to start a season.
- Despite the fact that he was in the starting lineup, Nyjer Morgan was inadvertently skipped over during pregame introductions.
- Jack Moore of Disciples of Uecker notes that the elimination number is down to 156.
- Bill Glauber of the JS has a profile of longtime Brewer usher Glenn Dickert.
- Don Walker of the JS has fan reaction to the new scoreboard. Adam McCalvy says the Brewers plan to use it to show more replays.
- Howie Magner of Milwaukee Magazine live-blogged the game.
- Bratwurst won the first sausage race.
I'm not sure if this qualifies as incredibly poor fashion sense or a victory for fans of the obscure everywhere, but Toby Harrmann of Brewerfan.net and I both spotted a Trot Nixon Brewer jersey in the crowd during the FS Wisconsin broadcast yesterday. If you're the owner of said jersey, bravo. Now put it away.
There's been a lot of gloom and doom around here the last couple of days, and it seems like the anti-bandwagon is starting to fill up with people who "knew all along" that this team wasn't going to play very well for roughly the first 2.5% of the season. With that said, Paul White of USA Today says the Brewers (and the 1-3 Cardinals) aren't ready to panic yet.
Moving forward, Yovani Gallardo takes the mound tonight against Derek Lowe. Cash Kruth of MLB.com has a preview.
Looking further ahead, the Brewers still haven't announced their plans for Wednesday. Adam McCalvy talked to Sergio Mitre about having to wait to find out if he's making the start.
In the minors:
- The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers have announced their 2011 starting rotation, and it will only feature one tandem: BCB #9 prospect Tyler Thornburg and Dan Britt. Jimmy Nelson, our #12 prospect, will also be in that rotation.
- For a while things looked a little shaky, but the snow has melted in time for Opening Day at Fox Cities Stadium on Thursday. Rattler Radio has a series of photos showing winter at the ballpark.
- Baseball America has a story about Mark Rogers, but it's subscriber-only.
Today in power rankings:
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ESPN has the Brewers at 20.
If you haven't yet, please take a moment today to vote in this week's BCB Tracking Poll. We're a little light on responses at this point. The poll will remain open until game time tonight and results will be posted tomorrow.
Around baseball:
Royals: Signed Jeff Suppan to a minor league deal.
I'll keep today's complaint about the weather relatively brief: While games are being played in temperatures below 40 this week in cities like Cleveland, Denver and Minneapolis, the Braves won't play their home opener until Friday.
Today in baseball economics:
- Aaron Gleeman of Hardball Talk crunched the numbers and found that the average AL team outspends the average NL team by over $10 million per season.
- While the Brewers nearly set an attendance record at Miller Park yesterday, the Cubs drew just 26,292, their smallest crowd in over eight years.
I had thought Joe West would run out of time for new adventures once the season started, but apparently I was wrong. Yesterday he ejected Barry Zito's mustache.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to put on my bow tie.
Drink up.