Highlights-Lowlights: Reds v. Brewers (9/13-9/15)

While the Brewers are struggling this year, there are still good and bad things about each series, this is why we created Highlights & Lowlights to praise and criticize at the same damn time.

Highlights
Carlos Gomez - Remember how I complained about Gomez's last two months?  He obviously was also tried of hearing about it too. On Friday night, Gomez drove in five runs providing all of the Milwaukee Brewers offense for the night. He also drove in runs on Saturday and Sunday as well, but Gomez's biggest play came in the ninth inning of Sunday's game. He robbed Jay Bruce of a three-run homer or possibly an extra-base hit. Just give this man the Gold Glove.



Kyle Lohse - Like Gomez, he scuffled a bit in the last couple of weeks and Lohse found a way to shutdown the Reds Friday night with a complete game. Lohse retired 23 straight batters before giving up a hit in the ninth inning. He looked stellar against the Reds mixing in all of his pitches and Cincinnati had no answer for him. It cannot be stated enough how good of a year Lohse is having this season.

Sean Halton - Second straight time appearing in the Highlights section but it is deserving as Halton capped off a four run comeback by the Brewers on Sunday afternoon. Halton hit a home run off Zach Duke (Yes that Zach Duke) in walk-off fashion. I said it last week and I will repeat myself here, there is absolutely no reason why Yuni B or Juan Francisco at this point.

Jean Segura - Good weekend for Mean Jean. He had not been struggling, but let's just say, he was sort of stagnant not making the plays he had during the year. Segura had a massive two-run triple during the Brewers comeback on Sunday.   He had two stolen bases and two runs on Friday making sure Gomez had ducks on the pond.

Lowlights
Michael Blazek - Not a great appearance for the young Brewer on Saturday afternoon.  The Brewers had cut the lead down to 4-3 in the fourth inning and Blazek came into the game in the 6th. As many have done before him, Blazek surrendered a two-run home run to Joey Votto to push the lead back out to three. That is a killer.

Aramis Ramirez's injury - It has been a rough year for Rami. He has battled through all sorts of injuries and banged up his wrist again on Friday.  It is fair to say this is a concern at this point with Ramirez's age and still having another year left on his contract.

Johnny Hellweg -  He did not handle the Reds very well on Saturday afternoon. Hellweg struggled in the first two innings of the game with giving up two runs in both innings. After that, he settled in nicely. There are still kinks to work out with Hellweg. I do not know if he is ready to be a big league starter yet, only time will tell with that one.

Michael Gonzalez - Yup, still here.

Charlie.

Read More

Reds v. Brewers Preview (9/13-9/15)

(Ed. Note: Since the next two series are against teams the Brewers have played against multiple times recently, we are just going to have new Brewer articles on Monday and Friday but Highlights/Lowlights will stay)

Pitching Probables & TV Times
Friday: Mat Latos (14-5 3.02) v. Kyle Lohse (9-9 3.59)                      7:10 pm FSNWI
Saturday: Homer Bailey (10-10 3.39) v. Johnny Hellweg (1-3 8.64)     12:05 pm FOX
Sunday: Bronson Arroyo (13-11 3.58) v. Yovani Gallardo (11-9 4.19) 1:10 pm FSNWI

Five Things to Watch
1. Do they really have to face Bronson? - I think my least favorite National League Central pitcher is Bronson Arroyo because he pitches well against the Brewers by just throwing junk.  Brewers Twitter likes to make jokes about him being a Brewer next year and if that happens, I will need some whiskey and a long conversation with myself. That would be worse than the thought of Aramis Ramirez being a Brewer (Now I love it).  Good news, he pitches Sunday so the odds are 96 percent of Wisconsin will not be watching it.

2. Why are the Brewers on FOX? - I know the actual reason because they are playing the Reds who are vying for a playoff spot maybe even the National League Central crown. But does part of America really want to watch the Brewers play baseball?  This is not as bad as the Brewers playing in primetime next Sunday night. Milwaukee is like the disappointing child I would never want to show in public, but I still love them unconditionally.  

3. Johnny Hellweg versus the Reds - At first, I thought he would have to pitch at Great American Ballpark, but being at Miller Park against Cincinnati's offense will still not be easy for the young Brewers pitcher.  For any young pitcher, the biggest part of the start is the second time through the order. Hellweg needs to get the groundballs that he got last Saturday pitching against the Cubs.  

4. Yo's bounce back looks to continue - Maybe the one person to stop Arroyo's reign of terror will be Yovani Gallardo whose been excellent since coming off the Disabled List. He goes Sunday against Arroyo and even with his season being sort of topsy-turvy, Yo has done well against the Reds so far this season.

5. Can the Brewers win a home series? - The Brewers have not won a series at Miller Park since mid-July when they swept the Miami Marlins. They had a split against these very Reds in mid-August, but that's been their best result at home. While I want them to tank, it would be nice to take a couple games from the Reds and make the National League race more interesting.

Charlie.  

Read More

Highlights & Lowlights: Brewers at Cubs

While the Brewers are struggling this year, there are still good and bad things about each series, this is why we created Highlights & Lowlights to praise and criticize at the same damn time.

Highlights
Scooter Gennett - Good weekend to be Scooter. He had a big three-run homer on Friday's game to pull the Brewers back within striking distance of the Cubs, and hit the ball pretty well throughout the weekend.  I really do wonder if he expects an apology fruit basket from me. It is becoming harder and harder for me to say next year it should be an open competition.

Yovani Gallardo - How about this guy?  Yo has looked like an ace since coming off the Disabled List. Now does this upset you off as a fan?  I guess, I mean if Yo's pitching well all year, the Brewers probably finish .500 which would drive me insane.  The biggest hope is this string of great starts translates to the following year.  People kept pointing to him pitching for Mexico at the World Baseball Classic as a reason why he struggled early on and I am starting to buy into that notion.

Logan Schafer - He had the big hit on Saturday afternoon as the Brewers trailed 3-1, Schafer cleared the bases with two outs after Juan Francisco failed to get a runner in with less than two outs.  I have no idea what Schafer's future is with this organization seeing as the outfield will be crowded next season, but I have enjoyed watching him play this season for the most part.



Johnny Hellweg - A little bit better outing than what we have seen from Hellweg in the past. He drew a lot of groundballs and really only made two mistakes to Luis Vallbuena and Brian Bogusevic. I would rather have Hellweg giving up home runs than putting a bunch of people on-base having it look like Gas House Gorillas on the base pads.

Junior Lake - Yeah this seems like a guy I do not want to play against for the next couple of years. Lake had a big grand slam on Friday to vault the Cubs over the Brewers and then provided the only offense Sunday with a huge home run. He is also one of those players you want to say his full name because Junior is always Ken Griffey Jr. until the end of time and Lake feels like you should be adding Michigan, Erie or Ontario after it.

Lowlights
Juan Francisco = Doghouse - An Internet favorite is currently hanging around in Ron Roenicke's doghouse. First, who knew RRR had one, second, he is in there pretty bad. Francisco has not started a game since September 3rd so if he does start Tuesday against St. Louis, it will be his first start in a week. Additionally, he pinch-hit in every game this weekend and struck out every time. Not a great look for Fat Juan.

Kyle Lohse - He had his first bad start in over two months. I mean the one against Pittsburgh was not stellar two weeks ago, but this is what I would qualify as a bad start. This is how good Lohse has been in the second half, his ERA, still sitting at 3.59, is the highest its been since July 13th.  My assumption is he will bounce back this week playing his former foes, St. Louis.  

Jean Segura's defense - When is it okay to start worry about Segura's defense? Like are we there yet with him or should we wait until middle of next year?  I am starting to see why people pegged him as a second baseman for the future. Segura has the overall tools to be a shortstop, no doubt about it, but he tends to be lackadaisical out there from time to time. My assumption is it is a youth thing and he will clean it up yet it keeps happening so I worry like my mother does when I describe my weekends.

Michael Gonzalez - Yup, he's still here.

Charlie.

Read More

Brewers-Cubs Preview: 9/6-9/8

Yes, it is September and the Brewers are still playing baseball even when there is football going on. Yes I know this is crazy, but it's true.  We preview the rest of the series moving forward.  

Pitching Matchups and TV Times
Friday: Kyle Lohse (9-8 3.32) v. Chris Rusin (2-3 2.74)                    1:20 pm WGN
Saturday: Johnny Hellweg (0-3 10.97) v. Jake Arrieta (2-1 3.77)       3:05 pm FSWI
Sunday: Yovani Gallardo (10-9 4.31) v. Scott Baker (Season Debut) 1:20 pm FSWI

Five things to watch
1.) Call Me Maybe? - It came out Ryan Braun made random phone calls to season ticket holders apologizing for me what he did with the Biogenesis scandal. We already know where I stand on Braun and I feel like he owes these fans nothing yet this is still a stand-up move. A man had to swallow his pride and tell the everyone he messed up.  I do not think people understand how hard it is to tell random people who probably do not like you, say 'I am sorry.'

2.) Who can tank more this weekend? - I doubt either of these teams will actually tank, but it would be funny to see how two low-level baseball teams try to lose the game. In all seriousness, both teams probably do not want to win these games as they are trying to maintain where they stand in the MLB Draft.  As today, the Cubs would have the fourth pick in the MLB Draft while the Brewers would have the fifth pick.  There are five teams separated by three games. Exciting stuff I know.  

3) A football palate cleanser - Maybe I am alone here, but I will definitely spend some time with the Brewers this weekend if I get a chance up in Green Bay. I just like to have another option other than football. Usually, the go-to option is golf but they are a break until the following weekend. I definitely want to check out Johnny Hellweg on Saturday and see if he has the Brewer Bounce Back as Khris Davis, Scooter Gennett and Caleb Gindl all did when they came back to Milwaukee.

4.)  Why do people shit on Kyle Lohse? - I have no idea why people think Kyle Lohse is a bad value. Yes I was not a fan of the deal in March. But the Brewers really have a legitimate number two starter and this year, Lohse has been the number one. He is having another great year as he has a 3.32 ERA, over 100 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.20. I look forward to watching Lohse pitch for another year as a Brewer pitcher.

5.) Anyone notice how the Brewers-Cubs do not play weekend series very much? - This is a bizarre thing to talk about but I feel like these two teams always play during the week? Why is that? It seems logical for these two teams to play over the weekend because fans of both teams can spend a whole weekend either in Chicago or Milwaukee. I realize this is pretty trivial, but there is not much to talk about with two teams being a combined 40 games under .500.  

Charlie.

Read More