MVN - Most Valuable Network

Brewers improve to 2-0 on Opening Day 2008

How can a Tuesday night game in April serve as a second Opening Day for a team? When you get your staff ace back and a Gold Glove centerfielder, it’s quite easy to see why.

The Brewers took a 10-7 win in Chicago Tuesday night to pull within a game of first place Chicago and St. Louis. Ben Sheets improved to 4-0 with the win while making his first start since April 16th.

Sheets showed signs of rust as he walked a career high seven batters while only striking out two. He got through five innings while giving up four runs, three of which were earned. Only allowing three hits in those five innings is what kept Sheets around so long. It was a cold night in Chicago and the Brewers should feel fortunate that he went as long as he did and came out feeling pretty good afterwards.

David Riske gave up two hits in an inning but got out of it unharmed thanks to a double play turned by Hardy, Weeks and Fielder. Salomon Torres struggled as he gave up a bases clearing double to Mike Fontenot in the seventh. Guillermo Mota pitced a scoreless eighth and Eric Gagne came on to record his eighth save in the ninth inning.

The star of the night was the returning Mike Cameron. Everyone wondered how he would adjust coming off of his 25-game suspension, but he showed early on he would be just fine. He doubled in the first and scored the first run on a Prince Fielder sacrifice fly. For the night, Cameron went 3-5 with a double, two runs scored and two RBI. Corey Hart, Bill Hall and JJ Hardy joined Cameron with three hits. Ryan Braun had two hits while Prince Fielder had a hit with two RBI.

Rickie Weeks only went 1-6 but did have a couple hits robbed on balls hit right at the defense. Now that Rickie has seen what this offense his capable of, hopefully he can just relax and get in a groove that will allow him to raise his batting average and on-base percentage.

I know it’s only one game but Brewer fans have to be encouraged by what they saw Tuesday night. The team stayed competitive for a month without their starting centerfielder and he could prove to be the spark needed to wake up the big bats in the lineup. If the hitting catches up with the early hot pitching, the rest of the Central Division will be battling for second very soon.  

The Crew improved to 15-11 with the win and will go for the series win Wednesday night as Jeff Suppan takes the mound against Ryan Dempster.

Series Preview: Brewers (14-11) @ Cubs (16-9)

The True Blue Brew Crew starts a 9-game roadtrip with three games against the NL Central leading Cubs–both their second series against the Cubs, as well as their second visit to Wrigley Field. The Brewers currently sit 2 games back of the first place games and in third place. The Brewers took two of three from the Cubs in their first trip to Wrigley.

Pitching Probables:
Tuesday, 4/29, 7:05 p.m. CT: RHP Ben Sheets (3-0, 0.96) vs. RHP Jason Marquis (1-0, 3.47)
Wednesday, 4/20, 1:20 p.m. CT: RHP Jeff Suppan (1-0, 3.48) vs. RHP Ryan Dempster (3-0, 2.90)
Thursday, 5/01, 7:05 p.m. CT: RHP Yovani Gallardo (0-0, 0.64) vs. RHP Carlos Zambrano (4-1, 2.21)

Things to watch for:
1. On Tuesday, is Ben Sheets 100% healthy? Can he resume his terrific start to his 2008 season, or does this (or another) injury linger in the background?
2. Mike Cameron will make his Brewers debut…will his presence give the Brewers a boost, and is Cameron ready to contribute?
3. Can the Brewers capitalize on scheduling luck–having their three best pitchers aligned for the series against the Cubs–or will some of them get chinks in their armor?
4. Will both teams sending all right-handers out to start games mean early success for left-handed batters Prince Fielder or Kosuke Fukudome (.456 OBP vs. righties and .544 OBP at home)…and will both skippers opt for one of their two lefty relievers early in the game?

Finally…a “Did You Know?” The Brewers and Cubs have had the exact same outcome each day over their past six games…someone has to gain at least a game in the standings, now, right?

Bush vs. Parra: Why the Brewers messed up

Like most Brewers fans, I was stunned Sunday afternoon. First I have to sit at Miller Park and watch our offense not do much of anything and lose a tough game in 10 innings. Then, as my buddies and I were driving home, I heard Breaking News. The Brewers were optioning Dave Bush to Nashville. No, not sending Manny Parra to Triple A or cutting ties with Derrick Turnbow, but sending a quality arm to the Minors. I know many fans are fine with this move as many have given up on Bush’s ability as a starter. I, however, think this is a grave mistake by management.

Now I will admit that Parra has better upside that Bush and his ’stuff’ potentially could be upper-rotation type of stuff. Parra is three years younger but does have a history of arm problems while Bush has proven to be quite durable.

In four starts this season, Bush has averaged 5 2/3 innings while allowing 4.5 runs a game. He’s made one quality start this season. Not great numbers by any means, but nothing wrong with that from the man who is your number 5 starter. Bush has gone at least 5 1/3 innings in each start and has never pitched fewer than 92 pitches.

Parra has made five starts, including Sunday, and has averaged a little over 4 1/3 innings per outing while only giving up 2.6 runs a game. Parra has no qualities starts this season and has not pitched longer than 5 1/3 innings in any start. He’s only made 90 or more pitches three times.

Now on the surface you might say, Jesse, Parra gives up far fewer runs than Bush. I won’t disagree with you at all, but Bush is a stronger pitcher at this point in time and therefore, more important to your team. Parra will shut down a team for a short period of time but never for the long haul. He has not built up his arm strength to go deep into games. Bush will give up more runs but pitch you deeper into games and be less taxing on an already overworked bullpen.

I think Parra would be best served as the long man right now with Bush serving as the fifth starter. Derrick Turnbow should be sent packing as evident by his horrible outing on Sunday. Turnbow gave up a hit and walked to batters while recording no outs. Luckily, Mitch Stetter came on and pitched out of the bases loaded, no outs jam.

I commend Dave Bush for taking his demotion like a man and staying a good teammate in the process. I’m positive he will get another shot in Milwaukee to prove his value and he will get the job done.

Breaking News: Bush optioned to Nashville

Starting pitcher Dave Bush was the odd man out Sunday, getting demoted to AAA Nashville to make room for outfielder Mike Cameron, who is eligible to join the Brewers after having finished his suspension of 25 games for his second offense of testing positive for a banned substance.

The Brewers’ rotation now becomes Ben Sheets, Jeff Suppan, Yovani Gallardo, Carlos Villanueva, and Manny Parra, unless manager Ned Yost decides to switch one of his young guns (Villanueva, for example, would be scheduled to pitch this coming Friday, but–since he last pitched on Saturday–could be moved up to Thursday).

Bush’s demotion likely comes as a bit of a surprise to many Brewers’ fans, as Bush as pitched relatively well in his past three outings. Still, the club seems dedicated to giving their up-and-coming arms a shot. Skipper Ned Yost, however, emphasized that he hopes Bush does well enough in Nashville to warrant being re-added to the rotation…of course, only time will tell.