Brewers Steal One From Cubs

There were many times during this game when I thought we were for sure going to come out of Wrigley with another loss. The first moment was in the 3rd inning, when Carlos Zambrano took Yovani Gallardo yard. Is it just me, or do the Brewers have a knack for allowing home runs to the opposing pitchers? I thought it might turn into another one of those games where the Cubs catch all the breaks and the Brewers are left wondering what went wrong.

The second time was during the fifth inning, when it looked like Yovani Gallardo may have been done for the season. By avoiding a collision with Prince on a play at first, he instead tripped over Reed Johnson of the Cubs, and landed awkwardly on his right leg. At that point, I really though Dave Bush would be packing his bags for a return trip to Milwaukee. Somehow though, Yovani Gallardo is Superman, because he was able to get up from the injury unscathed. He ended up going 6 six innings, giving up 3 and striking out 4.

Then with the Brewers down 3-1 in the 9th, Kerry Wood came in for what was sure to be a save. But the Brewers were able to hit the ball in just the right places. Jason Kendall brought the Brewers to within one with an RBI single, and Ryan Braun gave the Brewers the lead 4-3 witha 2 RBI double. From there, Eric Gagne delivered in his fifth straight scoreless appearance, and the Brewers won the game 4-3.

As the Brewers fly to Houston today, they better thank their lucky stars that Yovani Gallardo is still with them. I thought for sure he'd miss another 4-6 weeks at the very least. That injury just did not look good. I hope you get a chance to see it. (If I find it, I'll post it) Also from this game, we learned the Brewers might be getting a little too aggressive on the basepaths. Prince Fielder didn't stand a chance when he tried to score from 3rd early in the game, although he did give a pretty nice elbow to the face of Geovany Soto. Rickie Weeks also tried to score on Braun's double in the 9th, and couldn't have been more out.

With this win, the Brewers improve to 16-12, and 4-2 against the Cubs this season, with all those games coming at Wrigley. I believe they don't meet again until July, which is fine with me.

Box Score.

TBC's Player of the Game: Ryan Braun for the second consecutive day. I hadn't realized that yesterday was the first time he took TBC honors. I bet he's so proud.