The Brewers are facing the best pitcher possible if you're attending the game and want to get out of the heat quickly. Mark Buehrle (3.48 ERA, 4.08 FIP) is known as one of the fastest workers in baseball. Only 6 of the 16 games he's started this season have lasted more than 3 hours, and 3 of those were games in which he was pulled after the 5th inning. This is Buehrle's first season in the National League after spending the rest of his career in the AL with the White Sox. The Brewers thus last faced him in 2009. You'll be seeing a bit, but not an overwhelming bit, of ground balls today. He relies on a not-very-fast fastball and changeup mix.
Opposing Buehrle on this hot, hot day will be Mike Fiers (2.29 ERA, 2.26 FIP) making his 7th MLB start of 2012. Fiers has given up 1 run in his last 4 appearances (counting a spot relief inning on June 20.) We know what to expect from Fiers: lots of strikeouts and few walks. Looking at the graph of his last start, he's got some incredible velocity differential between his four-seam fastball and his curveball; one of his last pitch sequences was an 87mph fastball followed by a 72mph curve. If you haven't watched any of his starts this season, please do today. It will be interesting, regardless of outcome. (I've seen him pitch twice in person in 2012, both excellent shutout performances, one on a very cold day in Iowa.)
Today's lineup:
Carlos Gomez CF
Norichika Aoki RF
Ryan Braun LF
Aramis Ramirez 3B
Corey Hart 1B
Rickie Weeks 2B
Cody Ransom SS
Martin Maldonado C
Mike Fiers P
Bullpen (uggggh) usage:
John Axford pitched 1 inning (16 pitches) yesterday, 1 inning (13 pitches) Tuesday, 1 inning (20 pitches) Monday and 1 inning (17 pitches) Sunday.
Francisco Rodriguez pitched 1 inning (17 pitches) yesterday, 0.2 inning (18 pitches) Tuesday, 1 inning (16 pitches) Monday and 1 inning (18 pitches) Sunday.
Kameron Loe pitched 0.1 inning (6 pitches) yesterday, 0.1 inning (17 pitches) Tuesday and 1 inning (13 pitches) Monday.
Manny Parra pitched 0.2 inning (9 pitches) yesterday and 0.2 inning (8 pitches) Tuesday.
Jose Veras pitched 0.1 inning (25 pitches) Tuesday.
Livan Hernandez pitched 1 inning (24 pitches) Tuesday.
Tim Dillard pitched 2 innings (35 pitches) Saturday.