Brewers lose early to Nationals, 8-5

W: Drew Storen (3-2)
L: Tom Gorzelanny (1-1)
S: Rafael Soriano (22)

HR: Yuniesky Betancourt (9), Carlos Gomez (13), Wilson Ramos (3)

MVP: Carlos Gomez (+.307 WPA)
LVP: Brandon Kintzler (-.393 WPA)

win expectancy graph / box score

I'm sorry, but games have no business starting at 10 AM Central. The Brewers didn't even get to the park until a few hours before gametime. With the way Ron Roenicke was managing today, he acted like he hadn't had any morning coffee. He made two inexplicable double switches that changed the outcome of the game, especially the switch in the 7th inning that removed Carlos Gomez and Tom Gorzelanny from the game.

Donovan Hand was rather off today. He put in 5 innings, but didn't have much luck with throwing strikes. He threw 86 pitches today, only 51 for strikes, and allowed more walks today in 5 innings than he did in his previous 24. That's not good.

Can I say once again that the one reason to keep watching this team is Jean Segura? Segura seems to get no credit outside Milwaukee for his absolutely amazing season. Today he went 2 for 3 with a walk and was hit by a pitch; he stole two bases. Norichika Aoki, another player I enjoy watching but don't want to enjoy too much, upped his trade value with two hits.

I'm glad that Sean Halton is getting starts, but now a moved-to-correct-position Juan Francisco is making errors all over the place at 3rd. Both of Francisco's errors eventually led to runs scoring.

Why pitcher wins and losses (and saves) are meaningless: Storen picked up the win despite giving up what would have been the winning runs in the 7th if not for Ramos's home run off Kintzler. Gorzelanny picked up the loss due to allowing a single baserunner that Kintzler allowed to score. Soriano picked up the save despite allowing a hit to Aoki and walking Segura. It's a save, sure, but the nailbiter saves really take away from the stat.