Brewers Close Out Disappointing Homestand

Oh, the highs and lows of a 162 game schedule. Last week the Brewers were building a nice 2.5 game lead in the NL Central, but this week they've come back down and could be out of first after tonight's Cardinals game. This is the result of a 1-5 homestand, where they were first swept by the Colorado Rockies and then lost two out of three to the Chicago White Sox. Chicago was able to knock off Milwaukee 5-4, to send the Brewers down to a 34-29 record as they continue to show signs of struggle.

The main story of this game in my opinion? It's that all things that end, end badly. Otherwise they wouldn't come to an end. This game's version of that was Trevor Hoffman's scoreless innings streak as a Brewer, which was snapped at 18 2/3 innings care of A.J. Pierzynski. Hoffman entered the game in the 9th inning with the score tied at four, struggled a bit and then let up the run. Unfortunately, I kind of had a feeling when he came in that today was going to be the day the streak ended, and that's exactly what happened.

Another negative from this game? The Brewers and their inexplicable love of letting the opposing pitcher get a home run. Last week it was Josh Johnson, this week it was Mark Buerhle. Mark Buerhle, a guy who pitches in the American League hit his first career home run courtesy of Braden Looper in the 3rd inning. Looper ended up going six inning while allowing four runs.

The Crew did their best to bring power back to the offense, but unfortunately all three of the homers they cranked were solo shots. Casey McGehee hit his first of the year as part of a 3-for-4 performance, while Corey Hart had two himself. It's a close one today, but Hart is going to get the Player of the Game. Prince Fielder also added an RBI.

So that's the recap, even though I said I wasn't going to do recaps anymore. I guess I lied. I'll probably still do them more often than not, but if I don't, we'll at least throw up a box score reference and a POTG. Speaking of Box Score references, tomorrow will be the debut of the Box Score Reference Contest. By now you've noticed I link to the box score through some random reference, and the person that gets the most correct will win the soon-to-be created (......) Bucky Channel t-shirt. Probably. All you have to do is say the reference in the comments, all are eligible. G'luck (that's a soccer reference in itself).

Next up for a Crew is a three game set in The Cleve, starting at 6:05pm. Also, another programming note. We'll be doing the SportsBubbler live blog for the game again on Tuesday night, so feel free to stop on by.

Here we go again-ain-ain-ain.