The Brewers averted getting swept by the Giants on Sunday, winning the third game of the series, 7-5. The highlights:
* Barry Bonds didn’t play at all
* Barry Zito got tagged early, allowing 4 ER in the first–both on 2-run shots by Ryan Braun and Corey Hart
* Claudio Vargas kept the Giants off the board until giving up 1 in the 3rd, and 2 more in the 5th–Vargas went 6 IP
* Zito went into the bottom of the 6th trailing only 4-3…and wound up giving up 3 more runs while only getting 1 out
* Villanueva, Parra, and Cordero each pitched an inning–Villanueva and Parra each allowed a run
* Yost gambled by putting the struggling Rickie Weeks in the leadoff spot–and Weeks delivered, going 2-for-4, plus a walk
* Ryan Braun went 3-for-5 to up his BA to .338
* The Cubs lost…so the lead is back up to 3.5 (3.0 in the loss column)
Also, Gabe Gross was sent to AAA Nashville to make room for Chris Spurling’s return from bereavment; the FSN Wisconsin guys thought that Bill Hall would return on Wednesday–Tom Haudricourt notes that Grant Balfour appears to be safe, as he is out of options. Until then, the Crew has 13 pitchers, 2 catchers, 6 IF’s, and only 4 OF’s (Mench, Jenkins, Hart, and Gwynn)…well, 4.5, as Tony Graffanino started in LF for the 3rd time this week today.
Next up: 4 games at Cincinnati, followed by 4 games in St. Louis. The doubleheader on Saturday will force Ned Yost to choose between Carlos Villanueva and Manny Parra for the extra start…my guess is that it will be Villanueva…especially if they decide to send Parra down to log more innings…Haudricourt’s article above stated that Parra was now sloted as the long-inning reliever, which seems to be a bit of disinformation as both Parra and the prior long-inning reliever, Carlos Villanueva, both pitched an inning today.
Finally, the Crew’s chances of making the playoffs now stands at 74.2%. Even higher if the Braves can beat the Cards Sunday night.
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