Some things to read while making the same mistake over and over.
If you went to bed at a reasonable hour last night, you missed a pretty good Brewer game. The offense remained stagnant on the road but Shaun Marcum, Kameron Loe and John Axford were able to hold the Dodgers to one run in a 2-1 victory. You know it's an important win when Cory Provus gets up early on the west coast to write about it.
Marcum was great last night, allowing just one run on five hits over seven innings, walking one and striking out four. Tom Haudricourt noted that Marcum has posted a 0.53 ERA over his last five road starts.
Carlos Gomez batted second once again last night and went 0-for-4, stranding eight baserunners and ending a couple of potential big innings with strikeouts. He's reached base safely in eight straight games but his OBP is still only .295 on the season. After the game, Tom Haudricourt peppered Ron Roenicke with questions about his willingness to keep a poor hitter in a relatively high pressure spot.
Other notes from the field:
- Carlos Gomez was hit by a pitch last night, ending the Brewers' 15 game streak without one. Plunk Everyone notes that it was Jon Garland's 60th career HBP.
- Yuniesky Betancourt went 1-for-5 last night and, like most of the rest of the Brewers, wasn't very good with runners in scoring position. Tom Haudricourt noted that Betancourt is batting .206 in those situations this season.
- Here's a transcript of Ron Roenicke's postgame press conference.
- Shaun Marcum, Rickie Weeks and John Axford are leading FanGraphs' Star of the Game voting.
The quick series in LA concludes with another late game tonight: Avi Zaleon of MLB.com has the preview.
The West Coast trip is already 25% over, but this advice is better late than never: Miller Park Drunk has four things for the Brewers to avoid on this trip.
Ryan Braun is back home this week while the Brewers are in California, and Tom Haudricourt talked to him about his efforts to get stronger this offseason.
Here's something I would not have expected: When Casey McGehee, Ryan Braun and Jonathan Lucroy homered on Sunday it was the Brewer catcher who recorded the fastest trot.
Speaking of Lucroy, he picked up a hit last night to extend his streak to seven games and was the recipient of this week's El Super at Hang with 'em Brewers. It sounds like he's not, however, going to be moving out of the #8 spot anytime soon.
Marco Estrada has also been a great surprise for the Brewers this season. In his debut post at Disciples of Uecker, Jordan has a look at his hot start. Ron Roenicke talked to reporters yesterday about Estrada's transition from the rotation to the bullpen.
The Brewers didn't have any major baserunning blunders last night, and the fact that that's news says a fair amount about the way things have gone over the last month. Larry Granillo of Baseball Prospectus has a deeper look at where the Brewers have succeeded and failed on the basepaths this season.
If you're already ready to start looking ahead, MLB Trade Rumors has a look at the Brewers' contract situation for 2012. With the exception of Prince Fielder this team doesn't project to lose much, but they also won't have a lot of money to spend.
If you'd like to look ahead but not quite that far, here's a note on this weekend's Rockies series: Entering play last night they had the NL's worst record (9-16) since April 16. They beat the Giants last night, so it's 10-16 now.
In the minors:
- It's been an awful spring for BCB Community #1 prospect Mark Rogers, who was demoted from Nashville to Brevard County after posting a 13.50 ERA over his first five starts in 2011. Control has been his major issue: He's walking 13.2 batters per nine through his first 15 innings.
- The affiliates went 1-2 last night with the lone win coming from Brevard County, where Scooter Gennett, Hunter Morris and Khris Davis all had mutli-hit games in an 8-2 win over St. Lucie. You can read about that and more in today's Minor League Notes.
- Wisconsin was off last night, but Zach Braddock will start tonight as they open a homestand.
- All four affiliates are back in action today, with Brevard County (9:30) and Nashville (11:05) in action this morning. Brewerfan.net's link report has directions to audio coverage.
- John Sickels of Minor League Ball notes that pitcher Nick Bucci would have been eligible for the 2011 draft if he'd gone to college instead of signing for the Brewers. Bucci signed as an 18th round pick in 2008 and has a 2.54 ERA in eight games for Brevard County this season.
The Brewers unveiled a pretty cool promotion yesterday: On May 24 the "Where's Bernie?" scavenger hunt will be on with Bernie Brewer lawn ornaments and prizes hidden in parks in Milwaukee and other cities around the state.
If you'd like more Brewer content this morning but you're sick of reading, this week's View From Bernie's Chalet podcast is up. This week's featured topics are Shaun Marcum and Jonathan Lucroy, and I stopped by for an interview as well.
If you like pictures better than sound, maybe you'd prefer this post starting an Andrew McCutchen photoshop meme.
In power rankings:
- FanGraphs has the Brewers eighth, up three spots.
- Beyond the Box Score has the Brewers 14th.
- Craig Calcaterra of Hardball Talk has the Brewers 19th, up six spots.
- USA Today also has the Brewers 19th, up six spots.
- Not to be left out, ESPN also moved the Brewers up from 25th to 19th.
- The New York Daily News has the Brewers 19th, up seven spots.
Around baseball:
Blue Jays: Designated reliever Robert Ray for assignment.
Cardinals: Claimed reliever Jess Todd off waivers from the Yankees.
Indians: Placed outfielder Grady Sizemore on the DL with a bruised knee.
Mariners: Released outfielder Milton Bradley.
Red Sox: Placed pitcher John Lackey on the DL with a strained elbow.
Reds: Placed pitcher Aroldis Chapman on the DL with shoulder inflammation.
It's possible baseball's biggest story came from St. Louis, where Albert Pujols started at third base for the first time since 2002. You know that and much more if you've read today's edition of Around the NL Central.
Hopefully they'll resolve this problem before the Brewers visit Denver in July: The visting bullpen was invaded by a squirrel over the weekend.
If you've been around the internet this morning, you've probably heard about the day Royals pitcher Vin Mazzaro had yesterday. He entered last night's game against the Indians in relief and allowed 14 runs in 2.1 innings, becoming just the third pitcher to allow that many runs in a game since 1947. One of the others is Bill Travers, who did it for the Brewers in 1977.
Elsewhere in former Brewers: Jack Moore has a post up at FanGraphs discussing Michael Brantley's breakout season.
This morning's edition of Today In Brewer History is up, celebrating the birthday of 1997 Brewer Jack Voigt. Chris Jaffe of The Hardball Times notes that today is also the 45th anniversary of Hank Aaron's 3000th hit.
Now, if you'll excuse me, the Racers are calling.
Drink up.