Parra performs; pounds Pirates, 7-2

The Brewers ballplayers came into Tuesday night’s game with the following events from the past 48 hours fresh in their minds:

1. Sunday afternoon–The Crew got swept by the defending World Champion Boston Red Sox, their 5th loss in a row
2. The loss put the Brewers alone in last place in the NL Central
3. After the game, outfielder Ryan Braun told reporters that he thought the team didn’t expect to win
4. Sunday night, a blog posted “unconfirmed” rumors that Yost would be fired
5. Monday morning, the JSOnline.com Brewers’ blog mentioned this rumor
6. Later Monday, Doug Melvin denied that Yost would be fired, ripped the Journal-Sentinel for publishing the rumor, and stated he was alright with Braun’s statement…and went to Nashville to see if anyone there was ready to be called up
7. On Tuesday, Yost ranted before the game about the rumor, saying, “It’s a joke to print [expletive?] off a blog.” Yost also said that Braun could pretty much say whatever he wants to
8. Then Yost told Carlos Villanueva that he was no longer in the starting rotation, opting for Seth McClung instead…McClung will start Saturday in D.C., while Villanueva heads back to the bullpen
9. Yost also told reporters that Dave Bush would move up ahead of Jeff Suppan in the rotation, pitching Thursday in Pittsburgh in Suppan’s spot, bumping Suppan back to Friday against the Nationals
10. Then Yost turned in a line-up card with shortstop J.J. Hardy up a spot in the batting order, to the #6 spot, moving struggling third-baseman Bill Hall back a spot to #7 in the batting order
11. Then Yost had a private, closed door, team meeting to clear the air about everything

So…how did the team react? Well, Manny Parra pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowed just 4 hits and fanned 6. Meanwhile, the offense pounded out 14 hits off of Pirates’ pitching, plating 7 runs and taking a 7-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth–in fact, every position player except for Prince Fielder had a multi-hit game, with Mike Cameron and Corey Hart each hitting a home run. Eric Gagne, in yet another no risk situation, served up a 2-run homer to Jason Bay, but Salomon Torres finished off his old team, thus ending the Crew’s losing streak at five games.
So…a wild 48 hours…something someone said may or may not have lit a fire under one, two, some, many, most, or all of the players. The important thing–the Brewers have started a one-game winning streak.