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The Brewers swept the Colorado Rockies out of Miller Park in a three game set to open the week, and welcomed in a reeling Pirates team (rum, perhaps?) that had lost five of six and was struggling to stay in the Wild Card race. Given the Pirates’ history in Milwaukee over the past decade plus, it looked like the Brewers were primed for their best week since the trade deadline.
The Pirates swept all four from the Brewers, moving within a half game of the Cards for the final wild card spot. The Brewers sit eighth in the WC standings, trailing by just 12.5 games with 33 left on the schedule.
Perhaps more importantly, the Brewers now are seventh in the Tank for Hank race, with only the Braves seemingly out of reach.
TOP HITTING STORY: Orlando Arcia slumped badly after his call-up from the minors, but last week turned it around. His .328/.375/.545 slash and .920 OPS relieved the angst of many Brewer fans, and his defensive work continued to be impressive. Two doubles and his first Major League homer, a steal, and five RBI also were evidence of his adjustment to the Bigs. An change to his approach (he added a timing toe tap to his stance, and calmed some of the movement) seemingly contributed to his success.
Honorable Mention: Chris Carter was back to his old k’s/bb’s/dingers approach. He only had one homer, but with seven walks and eight strikeouts, he was back to achieving those outcomes over half the time. He scored five times, and had an OPS of .948.
TOP PITCHING STORY: Tyler Cravy had a most excellent week, one that could very well be the highlight of his career. I hope not; lots of success would be awesome, but he worked out of the pen in three games, pitching 4.1 innings without allowing a hit or a run. He walked two and fanned three - and had a WHIP of 0.46. Of course, his first career homer was way more than icing on the cake...it was a whole additional cake. Awesome stuff.
Honorable Mention: Another first was Corey Knebel’s first career save. In three relief appearances, Knebel worked three scoreless with a hit and two walks. Given health, Corey looks to be a big piece of the pen for the next couple of years.
IMHO: Interest seems to be waning in the team - at the park, around the water cooler, and even on BCB. I’m hoping that the September call-ups give us a glimpse into a few more of the prospects that the Brewers will be relying on in the rebuild, and provide us with an uptick in interest on here. I don’t much care about the water cooler - who actually talks around those things?
COMMENT OF THE WEEK:
Kyle's piece on Hernan Perez' success this season brought the usual "it isn't real, and if it is, it isn't sustainable" response. You can read all about Hernan here.
Kyle defended his analysis and position nicely when the validity of both were challenged:
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"At best, Perez can hope to be a poor man's Zobrist"
Which is literally the same thing I said above.
Every player goes through hot and cold steaks. Overall Perez has been a roughly league-average hitter who has played okay defense at several positions. Due to the improvements that I noted above, there’s hope that he can remain similarly productive going forward. If Perez can maintain around a .700 OPS with his base running skills and defensive versatility, that’s an eminently valuable player to have on your bench.
I’m not sure why you continually refuse to acknowledge that.