Brewers Have Possible Interest in Orioles 2B Brian Roberts?

According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports the Brewers have been scouting the Orioles with specific interest in 2B and very good lead-off hitter Brian Roberts. Here is the link. But according to Brewers GM Doug Melvin the scouts were watching the Orioles as part of their "normal" assignments. I hope Melvin is bluffing because Roberts a "true" lead-off hitter could be a HUGE asset to this team. I would be fine with trading Weeks for Roberts (although with Weeks trip to the DL this seems unlikely now) or trading Hall and spare parts for Roberts. Here are Roberts career stats.

Weeks To 15-Day DL, Iribarren Recalled From AAA Nashville

After taking a dirty, hard take out slide on Friday night from Rockies 2B Jeff Baker Rickie Weeks did not play Saturday or Sunday and today was placed on the DL with a sprained left knee. To take his spot on the roster the Brewers recalled infielder/outfielder Hernan Iribarren from AAA Nashville. Iribarren was called up for a "cup of coffee" back in April and went 2-6 with a double. For the Nashville Sounds he was batting .273 with 15 RBI and 14 Stolen Bases. Hernan will be in uniform Tuesday night for the Brewers in Houston. Not sure how long Weeks will be out for.

That Crazy Joe D!

I like Joe Dillon. He is everything you could really ask for in a bench player. He does a good job coming off the bench in a pinch hit role. When he gets the opportunity to start he makes the most of it. He can play multiple positions: 1B, 2B, 3B, LF and RF. For the second consecutive Sunday Joe got a start at 2B and batted lead off. He did what a lead off hitter is supposed to do. He got on base and scored runs. A line of 1-2 with 3 walks and scored 2 of the Brewers 3. His batting average for the season now at a very respectable .282, I mean I just love the fact that this guy is on our bench he just seems to get it done when he gets a chance. And as a guy that spent a lot of time in the minor leagues he fights and scratches for everything and never gives away an at bat. And for that I love Joe Dillon. I also have to give some major props today for this 3-2 Brewers win and salvaging of a game in Colorado to Salomon Torres. He got a 5 out save (his 7th of the season) and pitched out of a tough situation when he came into the ballgame in the 8th. Off tomorrow and then it's to Houston for 3 games. Last time we were there, we got swept. Hopefully we can get 2 of 3. Good chance with McClung, Parra and Sheets going in that order. I like our chances.

Colorado Is The New Pittsburgh

Remember when the Brewers would go into PNC Park and play the Pirates and always lose? Well Coors Field in Colorado is fastly becoming the new Pittsburgh. Going back to 2006 the Brewers have lost 6 straight in that park as they lost tonight 7-2. This game was over in the bottom of the 1st when after getting 2 outs very quickly Dave Bush blew up giving up in order: double, walk, walk, HR (grand slam). That made it 4-0 and then he gave up a solo HR and it was 5-0 after the 1st finally ended. The Brewers "battled" back to score 2 in the 2nd which gave a small ray of hope. They had other chances to chip away at that lead but did nothing with those chances which is pretty much par for the course on the road for the Brewers. I just don't know anymore, this team just can't win on the road. And I have no clue why? I mean it's gone on for years now. Is sleeping in your own bed that important? I mean who doesn't love the comfort and feel of their own bed? I sure as hell do, but I don't think it would cause me to pitch worse or hit worse then I would at my home park. In all seriousness this team can play with anybody at Miller Park but, if they don't start winning more games on the road they will never make it to October baseball. The Cubs lost again today which means two days in a row they had chance to gain ground and they flat out didn't get it done. I'm so frustrated right now as a fan(atic) of this team that I could scream. Worst of all is that Jeff Francis, the Rockies best pitcher goes for them tomorrow. If we couldn't beat the two bums they threw the first two games how are we gonna beat their ace?

I Think Smoke Came Out Of My Ears Last Night

Talk about letting one get away? What an awful way to lose a game you should have won. I don't want to get to much into it because it will only make me mad. But I just want to say: Ned Yost, your an idiot sir. Pulling Villanueva after a 10 pitch inning for Mota, just plain stupid. Thanks for costing us a 7th straight win, win #7 for Sheets and moving a game closer to the Cubs and Cardinals who both loss. Mota your not off the hook either, even though you should have never been out there, you still didn't even record a freaking out! Pathetic! I just hope to God we can bounce back tonight with Dave Bush going.

Brewers Draft A Catcher In 1st Round Of 2008 MLB Draft

With the 16th overall Pick in the 1st Round of the 2008 MLB Draft the Brewers took Brett Lawrie a catcher out of Brookswood SS high school in Langley, B.C. Canada. Lawrie is a right handed hard hitting 18 year old who has also played some 3B and 2B. He has plenty of wood bat experience playing for Team Canada's National Junior Team which is a huge reason the Brewers took him. Some compare him to a young Craig Biggio, that sounds pretty good if you ask me. Seems like a good pick, we are not real deep in the system as far as catcher's go. Besides Vinny Rottino in AAA and Angel Salome in AA we are pretty thin so this pick makes sense. Click here for more information on Lawrie. No game today for the Brewers, it's a team off day before they start their 3 game series in Colorado Friday night.

The Age Of McClung Rolls On

I'm slowly developing a man crush on Seth McClung. The 6'6" 250 lbs red head is slowly showing that if he doesn't walk guys, he can be a very effective starting pitcher. After that very good start in Washington McClung had a bad outing against Atlanta in Miller Park where in 4.2 innings he gave up 6 earned runs and walked 6. But Seth came back on Tuesday night and was even better then he was in his start in Washington. In 6 innings McClung gave up only 1 earned run struck out 4 and walked none, the second time in a start he didn't walk a batter. So the key for McClung to be effective is to throw strikes and avoid giving up free passes. He has the stuff a mid to high 90's fastball with a good curve and a decent change. The key is being able to throw the curve or change over for a first pitch strike, as long as he can keep doing that McClung will indeed be the answer to our #5 starting pitching woes. Seth took the place of Carlos Villanueva in the rotation and Villanueva has been great going back to the bullpen a position he seems to thrive in because he can be a long guy, middle guy or setup guy. So thus far it is working for both pitchers essentially switching spots. The thing I like about McClung besides the fact that he has been good as a starter so far is he seems to me like he has a real presence on the mound and even a little intimidating to opposing batters. Also how can you not like the fact that dude got 2 hits against a future HOF in Randy Johnson. Right now the rotation seems set as Sheets is dominating, Bush and McClung are looking respectable, Suppan is well Suppan eating up innings and Parra is really starting to show all that promise of being a stud lefty.

Lots Of Tidbits Including Hall Wanting Out

It has been awhile since my last post. Right after we took 2 of 3 from Atlanta I made a post and was pretty happy with that series. Well since then the Brewers swept the Houston Astros and won the first game of their series against the Arizona Diamondbacks and have a 4 game win streak going. Not to mention 8 out of their last 10 and now have a record above .500 at 30-28. But we can't gain any ground on the freaking Cubs because they just keep winning game after game. It might be time to start focusing on the Wild Card instead of the NL Central pennant.

In that three game series with Houston the Brewers held a very good hitting Astros lineup to 3 runs in the entire series! That is insane, considering the players Houston has on offense: Berkman, Tejada, Lee, Pence, etc.

I was at the beat down game Sunday proudly wearing my Braun t-shirt when he crushed the Astros 10-1. It was Ryan Braun bobblehead day and Braun basically pissed on the "bobblehead day curse" and hit a nice opposite field 2-run HR.

So far the call-up of Russell Branyan from AAA Nashville to platoon with Bill Hall at 3B has worked great! Not only has Branyan been very good defensively at 3B but in true Russell "The Muscle" fashion he is crushing ball while walking a lot and striking out a lot. In 7 games this season Branyan is batting .292, 3 HR, 4 RBI an OBP of .433 SLG .750 which is a OPS of 1.183. It's only 7 games, but those are very nice numbers.

And speaking of the other half of that 3B platoon. It appears Bill Hall is not happy about the situation and his agent has asked for a trade for Bill. Terry Bross who represents Hall said it would be best for his client and the team that he be traded instead of put into this platoon role. You know, I like Bill Hall but if he wants to go I think I'm fine with it. He probably isn't an everyday player like the Brewers thought when he had a good 2005 and a great 2006 season. He was maybe just playing out of his head and that got him the nice contract. He just can't hit RHP and that is not good. So if Hall packaged with prospect(s) that are not named Matt Gamel or Matt LaPorta could bring us a nice #2 or #3 type starting pitcher like for instance: Zack Greinkie, Javier Vasquez, Greg Maddux or Randy Wolf. That by all means trade him. Because I think a platoon of Branyan/Dillon would be fine and any one of those pitchers I mentioned could be huge for our staff.