Today's Matchup: Brewers (Peralta) v Twins (Correia)

PROGRAMMING NOTE: The Mug is off today for the holiday, and will return tomorrow. - KL

Good morning folks, and welcome back to interleague play.

The Brewers open the Miller Park half of a home-and-home four game set with the Twins today with Wily Peralta (6.45 ERA, 4.53 FIP) on the mound. Peralta got beaten up and let down by his defense against the Dodgers on Wednesday, allowing seven runs on six "hits" over 1.2 innings. He's allowed more runs than innings pitched in three of his five starts in May.

Today he'll face one of baseball's worst offenses, as the Twins bring their AL-low .682 OPS to Miller Park. They're still averaging 4.21 runs per game, though, which puts them ahead of four AL teams with better attacks:

The Brewers are averaging 4.02 runs per game this season, but are largely doing it without the benefit of the DH. The NL average is 4.04.

Peralta has never faced the Twins during the regular season, and no current Twins have faced him before.

He'll face eleven-year big leaguer Kevin Correia (3.90 ERA, 4.40 FIP), a right-handed strike thrower. Correia is also coming off a rough start, having allowed five runs against the Braves on Monday on eight hits while pitching just four innings. He allowed a home run in that game and has given up five in 21.1 innings in May.

Correia won't strike many batters out, but he will consistently work around the strike zone. He's averaging just 3.4 K's per nine innings in 2013, easily the least in all of baseball among pitchers who qualify for the ERA title. He's also only averaging a career-low 1.4 walks per nine, though. He'll throw his 90 mph fastball but over a third of his pitches are cutters, and he'll also use a changeup and curve.

The Brewers faced Correia four times as a member of the Pirates in 2012, seeing him in two starts and a pair of relief appearances. He was very good against them, posting a 2.50 ERA over 18 innings with five walks and ten strikeouts. Six Brewers have faced him ten times or more:

The only current Brewer position players who HAVE NEVER faced Correia are Logan Schafer and Jeff Bianchi.

I'm walking in a parade this morning, so I didn't have time to hang around and wait for the lineups to be posted. If you've seen them, drop them in the comments.

And in the bullpen:

• Donovan Hand pitched a pair of innings (47 pitches) in his major league debut yesterday.
• Francisco Rodriguez pitched one inning (15 pitches) yesterday.
• Brandon Kintzler pitched one inning (15 pitches) yesterday.
• Michael Gonzalez pitched one inning (seven pitches) yesterday.
• Burke Badenhop pitched two innings (28 pitches) Saturday.
• John Axford pitched one inning (27 pitches) Saturday.
• Jim Henderson pitched one inning (17 pitches) Saturday.
• Alfredo Figaro pitched one inning (ten pitches) Saturday, and is expected to start on Tuesday.

The weather will likely dampen your barbecue today, but inside Miller Park things should be dry. Expect a game-time temperature in the low 50's and a closed roof.