Does This Mean We'll Lose Game Three?

Despite the pessimistic tone of the headline, I mean it as a joke. But still, you gotta look at the facts, which are that the Brewers are winning just one game per series, and losing the other two. If history repeats itself, you would figure the Brewers are going to lose their matinee in Philly on Thursday. Or, if you believe in the law of averages, everything balances out and the Brewers will actually, finally, win a series. I'm going to go with the law of averages and hope we can pull out a win against the struggling Cole Hamels.

But before we look at that game - which will be here before we know it, gotta love day games on the East coast - let's take a few minutes to reflect on Wednesday night's game. The pitching staff wasn't perfect, but never beat themselves. The offense did just enough to win. And both came together at the same time to give the Brewers another much needed victory, as they knocked off the Phillies 3-1.

Braden Looper set out with the mindset of becoming the first Brewers pitcher this season to make it until the 7th inning (can you believe that hasn't happened yet?), but ultimately fell short. He did, however, go a solid six innings, allowing just five hits while keeping the Phillies scoreless. From there, DiFelice and Villanueva each pitched a scoreless inning, setting up Todd Coffey for the save in the 9th. It wasn't pretty - Coffey gave up his first run as a Brewer on a homer to Jayson Werth - but Coffey got it down, and reeled in his second save as Milwaukee's interim closer. I'll take performances like this from the pitching staff any day of the week. 

This was a game that was scoreless all the way up to the 5th inning, when J.J. Hardy went deep with his third home run of the season. Mike Cameron stayed hot in the 6th inning, driving in two runs when he doubled off Joe Blanton to give the Crew a three-run lead. It's fitting that Hardy and Cameron were the run producers tonight, as they had their spots switched in the lineup, with Mikey hitting 5th and Hardy hitting 6th. 

A good, much-needed win. Now hopefully the Brewers can win their first series of the year when they take on the Phillies for the rubber match - I used it in the right context this time - Thursday at noon. 

TBC POTG: Braden Looper.

How did I forget the Box Score yesterday?