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What we learned: April 17, 2014

Today's lessons include a dark secret, comparing contenders, and more.

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Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

Yesterday's Results

Brewers 5, Cardinals 1

The Brewers avoided the sweep yesterday by defeating the Cardinals 5-1 in the afternoon finale of the six-game homestand.  Wily Peralta allowed a run in 6⅓ innings, and the bullpen kept the Cardinals off the board the rest of the way.  On offense, Carlos Gomez hit an RBI double to start the scoring, then Jonathan Lucroy and Aramis Ramirez drove in three more in the fifth.  A Lyle Overbay RBI walk accounted for the final run (which is the last thing any of us expected).

There's a dark secret in the starting rotation.

Something has seemed wrong with Brewers starters Yovani Gallardo and Kyle Lohse this season.  They have pitched well, but not like they usually do.  The secret finally came out yesterday, when Derek revealed that Yovani Gallardo and Kyle Lohse have switched bodies.  His proof is in the stats, which look like the other pitched them.  It's an odd situation, but probably not one to be concerned about yet.  Both are pitching well so we can worry about getting them back to their original bodies once the success wears off.

The Brewers offense stacks up decently against the rest of the division.

On a more serious note, the season is about two and a half weeks old and the Brewers are still performing well.  They should contend for most (if not all) of the season, though the offense probably will regress a little.  Yesterday, Jordan compared the Brewers offense to the rest of the NL Central contenders and found some interesting figures.  Projections place the Brewers second among the four contenders, but only by a small margin.  The teams beneath them should have better pitching that can help them make up the difference, but it is a nice advantage on offense this season.

Cram Session

Hitting the Ball

Bullpen Notes

Rickie Weeks

Other Notes

Minor League Update

Team Level Record Yesterday Today
Nashville Sounds AAA 5-8 Memphis 7, Nashville 1 Memphis @ Nashville
Huntsville Stars AA 8-5 Mississippi 3, Huntsville 0 Huntsville @ Mississippi
Brevard County Manatees A+ 9-4 Brevard County 1, Lakeland 0 Dunedin @ Brevard County
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers A 8-4 Wisconsin 10, Lansing 7
Wisconsin 1, Lansing 0
Great Lakes @ Wisconsin

News & Notes

Division Update

Team W L GB
Brewers 11 4 -
Cardinals 9 6 2
Pirates 7 8 4
Reds 6 9 5
Cubs 4 10 6.5
  • Reds 4, Pirates 0: Johnny Cueto struck out twelve as he pitched a complete game shutout to lead the Reds to a 4-0 win.
  • Yankees 3, Cubs 0: Masahiro Tanaka led a complete game shutout for the Yankees pitchers. He pitched eight scorless innings with ten strikeouts, allowing a total of just two hits and one walk.
  • Yankees 2, Cubs 0: Michael Pinieda pitched six scoreless innings for the Yankees allowing a total of four hits and a walk, and the bullpen allowed only two more hits as the Yankees completed the double-header sweep of the Cubs.

Today's Games

  • Cardinals (Adam Wainwright) @ Nationals (Taylor Jordan) - 6:05 pm
  • Cubs and Reds have the day off.

Today's Action

The Brewers head back on the road to start a four-game series against the Pirates in Pittsburgh.  It will be a rematch of Saturday's starters as Yovani Gallardo starts for the Brewers and Edinson Volquez starts for the Pirates.  First pitch is at 6:05 pm, and Adam McCalvy has the preview on MLB.com.