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Counting today, the Brewers have just six games remaining at Maryvale Baseball Park.
They'll get another shot at a home win at 3:05 today with Chris Narveson (6.23 ERA this spring, 7.00/6.21 ERA/FIP in 2012) on the mound. Narveson is making his third appearance of the spring and his first since Sunday, when he allowed two runs on five hits over three innings against the Giants. He struck out one and did not allow a walk in that outing.
If the Brewers keep Narveson on a typical "every fifth day" schedule, then he'll have this start and three more before Opening Day. Pitching today, on March 20, March 25 and at Miller Park on March 30 would put him in position to pitch the fourth game of the season against the Diamondbacks on April 5.
Narveson hasn't faced the Indians during the regular season since a relief appearance in 2009.
He'll face longtime big leaguer and familiar foe Brett Myers (6.23 ERA this spring, 3.31/4.26 ERA/FIP in 2012), who is making the transition back to starting after spending last season in the bullpen. Myers has pitched three times this spring, including a start on Sunday where the Rangers knocked him around to the tune of five runs on seven hits and two walks over 3.2 innings.
249 of Myers' 377 career major league appearances have been starts and he's pitched 200 innings or more three times, but he worked just 65.1 innings over his 70 appearances between the Astros and White Sox a year ago. As a reliever last year his velocity went up to around 90-93 on his fastball, but as a starter in 2010-11 it was closer to 88-90. He also throws a lot of curves and sliders (combined they're more than 40% of all pitches).
Myers has faced the Brewers 20 times in his career, including four times in relief in 2012. He posted a 2.25 ERA over four innings against the Crew a year ago, recording two saves and allowing a solo home run.
Here's today's lineup:
Norichika Aoki RF
Carlos Gomez CF
Rickie Weeks 2B
Aramis Ramirez 3B
Alex Gonzalez 1B
Logan Schafer LF
Jean Segura SS
Blake Lalli C
Chris Narveson P
If you're heading out to today's game, drink lots of water and wear your sunscreen. A game time temperature of 89 should give way to the low 90's as the afternoon goes along.
Enjoy the game!