Wednesday night’s return of Brewers’ ace Ben Sheets (11-4, 3.30), and the subsequent 6-1 victory and return to 2nd place gave Brewers’ fans a bit of hope that things may start to turn around. That hope and momentum took a break Thursday night.
Rookie Manny Parra, taking Chris Capuano’s spot in the rotation, got the start against the Cubs’ Ted Lilly. Parra was spotted a 2-0 lead, even before taking the mound, as Lilly struggled early…but Parra’s unlucky number Thursday night was ‘3’–Parra gave up 3 ER in 3 IP, with 3 K’s, 3 hits, and 3 BB’s…and got yanked after only 59 pitches…of which 30 were balls. For some strange reason, Ned Yost went with another lefty–Chris Capuano. After pitching a scoreless 4th and 5th, and getting two outs in the 6th, Cappy proceeded to serve up gopher balls to pinch-hitter Matt Murton and Alfonso Soriano, to give the Cubs a 5-3 lead. The Brewers managed to load the bases in the 9th, and plate a run when Cubs’ closer Ryan Dempster walked Corey Hart with the bases loaded, but fell short as Kevin Mench grounded out to give the Cubs the 5-4 win on the night, a 2-1 mark for this series, and a 9-6 record for the season series. The loss pushed the Crew back under .500 to 66-67, and 2½ back of Chicago.
The Crew returns home for three against the last place Pirates… Yovani Gallardo (5-4, 4.86) goes Friday night on an extra days rest against Tony Armas (2-4, 6.93); the Crew then faces a pair of lefties on the weekend–Shane Youman (3-4, 5.59) and Tom Gorzelanny (13-7, 3.50). Both Youman and Gorzelanny have wins against the Brewers this year (Gorzelanny has two); Dave Bush (10-9, 4.96) is slated for Saturday, with Jeff Suppan (8-11, 4.78) going Sunday.
Saturday is September 1, and Doug Melvin has hinted that he’s going to call up 2-3 from Nashville right away…Tony Gwynn, Jr., Greg Aquino and one other pitcher–probably Carlos Villanueva–are the leading candidates. The Sounds lead the PCL American North by 8 games, and will open their playoffs on 9/05. More Sounds will be called up after their PCL playoffs end…and with the success of players that have moved from Nashville to Milwaukee this year (Braun, Gallardo, Weeks and Gross), the more bodies available the better, say I.
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