Russell Branyan. Mike Rivera. Craig Counsell. Gabe Kapler. The Brewers "B Team", if you will. As Hall, Braun, Kendall, and Hardy watched from the dugout, the efforts from our favorite benchwarmers and a recent call-up were almost enough to take the matinee game in Washington on Sunday. While they did what they were asked to do, and more, it ultimately came down to this season's theme. Say it with me in unison, won't you?
When the offense does well, the pitching game struggles. When the pitching game does well, the offense struggles.
The problems started once again with Parra, who couldn't even make it 5 innings today. He gave up six run in another tough outing for the young kid. On the broadcast, Rock says that we all know Parra will be a great big league pitcher, we just have to let him figure out these ups and downs. Do we know he'll be a great big league pitcher though? Yeah, he's got some good stuff, and I can't forget about the perfect game he threw last year in Triple-A. But all he's proved to be at the big league level is inconsistent. I don't think we can assume Parra is going to be in our lineup for years to come at this point. Wasn't Ben Hendrickson supposed to be an all-star by now?
After Parra's struggles, more of the new look Brewers took to the mound, as DeFelice and Dillard both pitched well. Guillermo Mota then came in for the 9th inning, but struggled quickly and then threw a wild pitch with a runner on 3rd, and the Brewers lost the game 7-6.
It looked like it would never be that close, however, as the Nats had a 6-0 lead in the 6th inning. That's when the Brewers did something I haven't seen them do much this year, and that was they put a rally together. Hart hit another 2 run blast, then Dillon, Cameron, and Kapler all knocked in runs to tie the game at 6. It was a short lived tease that the turnaround we've been hoping may have been happening right in front of our eyes. But it was not to be.
As for the platoon that could be Branyan and Hall, maybe Slacks is right. Branyan went 2 for 3 today, also drawing a walk. That means he's hitting .667 on the season!
The Brewers will try to even the series tomorrow in a Memorial Day afternoon game, first pitch 12:35pm.
TBC's Player of the Game: Mike Cameron.
0 comments:
Post a Comment