Brewers Roundup

Milwaukee ended their 9-game road trip on a sour note today, losing in the 10th inning to the Reds. The Brewers went 5-4 on the road trip, and are now 7-5 away from Miller Park. Milwaukee actually has the most amount of road victories in the NL. Last year's team went 32-49 on the road (Chicago, which finished in first place, went 41-40 on the road.

A few notes from today's game and the road trip:

-A great start from Yovani Gallardo. He went 7 innings, gave up only 4 hits and 1 ER, and struck out 4.

-Another blown save from Eric Gagne. Gagne has now given up 4 home runs - since he became a closer, the most home runs he ever gave up in a season, was 6 (in 2002 with LA). Last year, he only gave up 3 homers.

What really is upsetting though, is who he gave up one of today's home runs to: Paul Bako. Bako has been around for 11 years. He has had 1,835 at-bats, and before today, only 15 home runs! Last year, he had only 1! Argh.

-Bill Hall should have to register his bat when he enters Cincinnati, because he is a Reds-killer. Take a look at Hall's numbers in 6 games vs. Cincy this year, compared to his overall numbers on the year:

6 games vs. Reds, 3 HR, 7 RBI, 4 runs, 5 strikeouts
18 games (total season), 6 HR, 16 RBI, 8 runs, 22 strikeouts

-Milwaukee's offense is still slumping. Fielder, Braun, and Hall are all still hitting under .225, and Jason Kendall is the only everyday player hitting over .300. Corey Hart has been fairly consistent, and Bill Hall and J.J. Hardy showed signs of coming around this weekend - but the Brewers haven't scored more than 5 runs since last Sunday against the Mets.

The Week Ahead

The Brewers have 2 games against St. Louis tomorrow and Tuesday, 2 games against Philadelphia, and then a 3-game weekend series against Florida. The Cardinals come into Miller Park with a 12-6 record, good enough for first place in the NL Central. Here are the pitching matchups for the series with St. Louis:

Monday - Carlos Villanueva vs. Adam Wainwright
Tuesday - Manny Parra vs. Kyle Lohse

Villanueva and Parra both are coming off of poor outings against the Cardinals:

Villanueva - 4 2/3 innings, 5 ER, 2 HR
Parra - 4 innings, 3 ER, 5 walks

Wainwright and Lohse were both excellent in their last starts:

Wainwright - 7 2/3 innings, 5 hits, 1 ER, 6 strikeouts
Lohse - 7 innings, 5 hits, 2 ER, 3 strikeouts

Philadelphia is 8-10 going into tonight's game against the Mets, and now is a good time to face them. Ryan Howard has been in a slump all season, and Jimmy Rollins was just placed on the DL. Florida is 11-7, and led by shortstop Hanley Ramirez, who is batting .364.