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W: Mike Burns (1-1)
L: Johan Santana (9-6)
Home Runs:
MIL -- Fielder P (20)
NYM -- Wright D (5), Martinez F (1)
Key Players:
RHP Mike Burns: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, BB, 2 K
LF Ryan Braun: 3 for 4: 2B, 4 RBI, R
RF Corey Hart: 3 for 4: 2B, 2 R
Game Summary:
Talk about kicking a man while he’s down. On the day the Mets found out they might lose their All-Star center fielder Carlos Beltran for the rest of the season, the Milwaukee Brewers stayed patient at the plate and teed off on ace Johan Santana. Ryan Braun did the bulk of the work with four RBIs and Mike Burns picked up his first Major League victory as the Brewers defeated the Mets 6-3 at Miller Park.
Take two. That has to be what Burns was thinking. The rookie starter got his first taste of the rotation last week against Minnesota, and while he pitched well, he didn’t get the production he would have liked. In his second career start, Burns made sure he wouldn’t repeat that performance.
The first inning was kind of rough for the righty, as he couldn’t get ahead in the count and was leaving too many pitches up in the zone. The control problems led to a lead off walk and then a two run blast from David Wright to dig the Brewers an early 2-0 hole.
Mike was able to figure out things from there, allowing just three more hits and no free passes in his next five and two thirds innings. While you can’t expect the rookie (This kid needs a nickname.) to go out there and pitch this well all the time, his approach on the mound will be very important for him. Burns isn’t a power pitcher in any way shape or form, but he does have the ability to mix it up. Tonight he was able to work the inside (no matter how small it was) and the outside of the plate with all of this pitches, and kept the Mets off balance all night. Burns has four average pitches, very similar to Dave Bush, and when used properly like Tuesday night can be very effective.
On the offensive side of things the Brewers couldn’t have played it better. The Mets ace Johan Santana has struggled with his command over the last few weeks, and it was important for the Brewers to be patient and pick their pitches. This became especially important after Burns put them in two run hole. If anything, the Brewers could raise Santana’s pitch count with a couple of walks to get into that damaged bullpen.
Things didn’t go so well over the first couple of innings, but after the first time through, something clicked for the top of the line up. Corey Hart, JJ Hardy and Ryan Braun picked on some early fastballs to lead off the third with consecutive singles. Braun’s single plated Hart, but the bottom of the lineup couldn’t push any more across despite two on and nobody out. The same trio and their pitcher picked them up one inning later. Burns started it off with some patience or the ‘Don’t swing at anything’ approach and walked on four straight pitches. This was a clear indication that Santana wasn’t the Santana we’re used to. He couldn’t place his pitches and the fact that home plate umpire Jim Wolf was giving him nothing on the insider corner wasn’t helping his cause.
The team behind him wasn’t any help either.. Following Burns‘ walk Hart hit a long towering can of corn to near the warning track in center. Easing back to make the catch was Fernando Martinez, but a bad route to the ball caused him to get his feet tangled and then caught in the turf, so much so he took a fairway divot out of the grass before falling down. The ball fell too, and instead of one out and a runner on first, the Brewers had runners at second and third with no one down.
Hardy followed the debauchery with more patience and a four pitch walk of his own to load the bases. Then things got a little wild. The four pitch walk induced a mound visit from pitching coach Dan Warthen to try and give Santana a bit of a rest. Taking as much time as he could, Warthen waited for the crew chief to interrupt the meeting. However, instead of going back to the dugout, Warthen started walking with Wolf back to the plate, probably complaining about the strike zone for Santana. That, my friends, is a no-no, and Wolf sent him on his way.
The shenanigans seemed to rejuvenate Santana, who got ahead of Braun with a couple of excellent change ups off the outside corner. His third one wasn’t so good. While it was down, it was right over the plate and Braunie reached out and poked it over left fielder Gary Sheffield’s head. Burns and Hart came around to score easily, but third base coach Brad Fischer ill-advisedly sent Hardy as well. The throw from Alex Cora was on line, but the hop was too much for Omir Santos to handle and caromed off his chest, allowing Hardy to score. Braun went to third on the throw and rounded it a little too hard on the carom. Backing up Santos, Santana tried to get Braun, but instead sent one sailing down the left field line allowing Braun to score the fourth run on the play.
That was enough for Burns and the Brewers bullpen. Mark DiFelice finished up the seventh for Burns, and tossed two thirds of the eighth before yielding to Todd Coffey, who finished the game despite giving up a solo blast to Martinez with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Prince Fielder’s 20th blast chased Santana in the seventh to finish out the scoring and all of a sudden the Brewers are hitting on all cylinders once again.
Records: Brewers (42-35); Mets (37-39)
Player of the Game: Ryan Braun
Braun was stellar tonight. He carried an aggressive approach at the plate all night, and as a result was able to pick on Santana’s mistakes over the plate. Truth be told, though, I think the top three in the line up (Hart, Hardy and Braun) and Mike Burns were all players of the game. Each played exceptionally well and when you’re facing a guy like Santana, you need to have that kind of production from one part of your line up.
MVP: LF Ryan Braun -- +0.372 WPA
LVP: 2B-3B Casey McGehee -- -0.113 WPA
On Tap:
The Brewers look to sweep the New York Metropolitans tomorrow afternoon with their ace Yovani Gallardo on the mound. The Mets will counter with Mike Pelfrey who has really has had an excellent month despite one rough outing. First pitch will be under the sun at 1:00 CST. I just hope I don’t have to hear Ryan Braun whine about the shadows again.
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The Pittsburgh Pirates already shipped Eric Hinske to New York this morning for a couple of minor leaguers and cash, but that has not stopped them from making what appears to be an absolutely coup this afternoon. Pittsburgh and Washington have reportedly agreed in principle to a deal that would have the Pirates send Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett to the Nationals for Lastings Milledge and Joel Hanrahan. There is a reason the Nationals are the worst team in baseball. Check that...the worst organization in baseball. They are trading Milledge, who admittedly has had a rough season and has struggled through character issues, for Nyjer Morgan. Morgan has more speed and defense, but Milledge has more offensive ability. Morgan is nothing more than Juan Pierre without the baserunning ability (18 for 28 in stolen bases), while Milledge showed the potential last season to be a five-tool player. Then, we move to Sean Burnett, who has a sparkly 3.06 ERA. Once one moves past that, however, one can easily determine that Burnett will not be that successful throughout the 2009 season. His BABIP is an obnoxiously low .218, and his walk rate is 4.18 BB/9. FanGraphs places his FIP at 4.50, which is below-average out of the pen. The Nationals pick up Burnett and give up Joel Hanrahan. Sure, his 7.71 ERA is horrendous, but his FIP is 3.56. That is due to his 9.64 K/9 and 3.68 BB/9 rates. Not to mention the fact that his BABIP is an overwhelming .451. Talk about being unlucky for an extended period of time. The Nationals give up on a reliever with a higher strikeout rate, a lower walk rate, and better stuff for Sean Burnett -- who has a 4.54 lifetime ERA. The Pittsburgh Pirates continue to make moves that bolster their organization. Perhaps Neil Huntington is not as inept as most Brewers fans have thought over the last couple of seasons. I already retract my criticism of their drafting Tony Sanchez after seeing how aggressive they were in the later rounds. Pittsburgh may be a team to reckon with in four or five years.
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Remember Eric Fryer? The young man hit .335/.407/.506 for the West Virginia Power last season, including 26 doubles and 10 homers. He was one of the breakout players of the year in the Brewers organization. With all the catching depth in Milwaukee's farm system, however, the Brewers decided he was dispensable and flipped him to New York for Yankees' left-hander Chase Wright -- who has been disappointingly mediocre in Triple-A. After compiling 11 doubles, 2 homers, and a .250 average for the Yankees' Class-A+ squad, New York shipped him this morning to Pittsburgh in a package that acquired Wisconsin-native Eric Hinske. I would say that Pittsburgh has some nice catching depth with Tony Sanchez and the acquisition of Fryer, but Eric Fryer played the majority of games in left field for the Yankees. His bat has very little value in the outfield, so the Pirates must believe that he has a future behind the dish. Best of luck to Eric.
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I feel pretty good after last night's victory. Especially since Casey McGehee is on my BC Fantasy Baseball team. Almost half way through the season and I'm still leading. Oh for the love of auto-draft. Big League News: The Mets media isn't too concerned about how good the Brewers are. Their coverage basically says that their guys aren't very good. And the truth is, they're not especially when they field a AAA team. I don't think I've ever seen a starting line up so marred by injury in my life. Last night's game probably goes a little differently for them if they had Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran out there. But they don't and this Mets blogger is screaming, 'Sell, sell, sell!'. What do they have to sell? If I had to guess the only guys teams would be interested in and the Mets would be willing to part with are Luis Castillo, Gary Sheffield and John Maine. However, Maine is on the DL, Sheffield is getting cortisone shots behind his knee and Luis Castillo won't garner much in trade. This team is set up to fail right now. Apparently the Brewers are setting the standard for small market teams. I thought the the Minnesota Twins were doing it well before the Brewers, but I guess their current success merits the label. In this piece by Bob Wolfley of the JS, we hear some whining, praise and well thought out business plans from Pirates GM, Frank Coonelly. Pittsburgh has struggled to get out of a hole for the last 15 years or so while the Brewers have pulled themselves out of their own hole within the last five years. He claims that the Brewers have benefited from parking revenue and an increased attendance, while the Pirates don't get any parking revenue and have had a stagnant attendance for quite a long time despite the new stadium. A big television contract negates the parking revenue and perhaps a better team would nullify the latter. The Pirates are on their way to that point just like the Reds, but are still a few years out. Mike Burns is getting a second shot in the rotation tonight, though he'll have to beat Johan Santana for it to be successful. Macha is reluctant about making any more changes in the rotation, but I think Burns is the right choice. He'll have his best opportunity to be successful tonight considering the line up. Moreover, he'll probably get one more look before Macha decides who will stay when Dave Bush returns.
After the game on Sunday afternoon Ryan Braun indicated they didn't have much information on Giants rookie Ryan Sadowski, and really blamed this lack of info for the problem with the offense. Ken Macha to the rescue of the scouting department. What Ryan should have said was, "We have all the information on his pitches and his tendencies, but until you see it, you really don't know." I'm sure Braunie didn't mean much by it, but he needs to pay a little more attention to what he says about his organization. The Bucky Channel wants to know why 149,288 people voted Bill Hall an All-Star this week. He says take the extra seven seconds and vote for Casey McGehee. I completely agree. I know Hall went 2 for 2 and tacked on some insurance runs last night, but did he hit a grand slam? That's what I thought. Minor League News: Between the Green Pillars Prospect of the Week is Cameron Garfield, the high school catcher drafted in the second round of this year's First Year Player Draft. Garfield doesn't really have the size to have any power, but he has some nevertheless. I'm not sure how well he'll pan out in the end because he's so young, but the tools are there. Truthfully, it's more surprising that no one talked about Joshua Prince's six stolen base game. Seven Huntsville Stars players were selected for the Southern League North Division all-star team. The only one who won't be seeing the game is Drew Anderson who was recently promoted to Triple-A Nashville on Sunday. The other six, Shane Justis, Adam Stern, Jonathan Lucroy, Donovan Hand, Casey Baron and Robert Hinton, should all see playing time. Will any of these guys be promoted by the end of the season? I wouldn't be surprised to see Hand and Justis get promoted. For Justis to get moved, however, Hernan Iribarren will need to be traded.
Speaking of the Anderson roster move, the Brewers demoted Michael Garciaparra to make room for him. Taylor Green was also placed on the 7-day disabled list because of a rib problem. Other Big League News: The Mets received another blow last night. Carlos Beltran's season could be over if his surgeon feels that microfracture knee surgery is needed. But it's not just the season the Mets should be worried about, it could be his career as well. That just improved the Phillies division hopes that much better. Can the Mets stay afloat while they wait for Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado to return from the disabled list in mid July? Probably not. Good for Yorvit Torrealba. The Rockie catcher finished his rehab assignment yesterday and is set to return to the Rockies after dealing with the kidnapping of his son in Venezuela. I know this isn't big news, but how rarely do these situations end well? Tom Haudricourt said the Brewers may have been better off facing Tim Linceucum after Sadowski shut them out. Maybe not. Lincecum threw a two hit shut out against the Cardinals last night. Better them than us. Umm... welcome to Cleveland Chris Perez. This is just scary. Oakland A's rookie right hander Josh Outman was transferred to the 60-day disabled list and is undergoing elbow surgery this week. They won't say it, but it's Tommy John. I picked the guy up in fantasy for two days and he needs TJ. Talk about ruining a career. Big news for the Cubbies. Aramis Ramirez is headed to his rehab assignment on Thursday if he has no setbacks. A while ago I read an article at Disabled Informer which stated that Ramirez will be prone to reaggravate the injury because its type. Keep an eye on this situation because the Cubs' season will officially be over if he misses more time.
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Nashville Sounds (44-34), -- GB | Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | | R | H | E | Okla. City
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 1 | 5 | 1 | Nashville
| 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | X | | 11 | 13 | 0 |
RHP Tim Dillard: (W, 8-3) 8.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 3 K -- 3.86 ERA
1B Joe Koshansky: 2-4, HR (14), 2 RBI, 2 R -- .217 AVG
RF Brendan Katin: 3-4, 2 2B, HR (17), RBI, 2 R -- .275 AVG
3B Adam Heether: 2-3, HR (7), 3 RBI, BB, 2 R -- .333 AVG
Huntsville Stars (5-3), -- GB | Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | | R | H | E | Huntsville
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 2 | 7 | 0 | Tennessee
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | X | | 7 | 13 | 0 |
LHP David Welch: (L, 4-6) 6.0 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K -- 5.01 ERA
RF Adam Stern: 2-4, 2 1B -- .303 AVG
C Jonathan Lucroy: 1-3, 2B, BB, R, K -- .258 AVG
Brevard County Manatees (3-2), 2.0 GB RHP Michael Bowman: (W, 3-2) 5.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R (4 ER), 4 BB, 1 K, 2 HR -- 4.67 ERA
RHP Roque Mercedes: (S, 3) 2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K -- 1.01 ERA
RF Caleb Gindl: 4-4, 2 2B, HR (9), 2 RBI, 3 R -- .284 AVG
2B Eric Farris: 2-4, HR (5), 2 RBI, SB (35), 2 R -- .258 AVG
SS Zelous Wheeler: 2-4, 2 2B, R, K, 2 E (13, missed catch, fielding) -- .224 AVG
Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (3-1), -- GB Did not play. Helena Brewers (4-3), 2.0 GB | Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | | R | H | E | Billings
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 3 | 7 | 2 | Helena
| 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | X | | 11 | 12 | 2 |
RHP Eric Arnett: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R (0 ER), 0 BB, 2 K -- 6.00 ERA
RHP Jake Odorizzi: (W, 1-1) 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K -- 6.30 ERA
2B Cutter Dykstra: 2-4, HR (2), 4 RBI, BB, R -- .200 AVG
1B Hitaniel Arias: 2-3, HR (1), 2 RBI, 2 R -- .222 AVG
CF Michael Roberts: 2-5, HR (2), RBI, 2 R, K -- .333 AVG
AZL Brewers (4-3), 1.0 GB | Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | | R | H | E | AZL Cubs
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | | 1 | 5 | 1 | AZL Brewers
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | X | | 7 | 12 | 2 |
RHP R.J. Seidel: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 2 K -- 6.75 ERA
RHP Luis Guerrero: (W, 1-0) 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K -- 14.29 ERA
CF Lorenzo Cain: 1-2, 2B, BB -- .500 AVG
LF Erik Komatsu: 0-4, K -- .000 AVG
1B Sean Halton: 3-4, 2B, HR (1), RBI, SB (2), 2 R, K -- .393 AVG
2B Brandon Sizemore: 2-3, 2B, BB, 2 R -- .250 AVG
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