Claudio Vargas avenged Dave Bush last evening, holding the Astros’s batters at bay…sort of. Spotted a 3-0 lead after 2½, Vargas got lots of breaks and his 5 BB’s with 5 K’s and 4 hits but 0 ER’s in 5 IP was held up by the bullpen, as the Crew beat the Astros Sunday, 3-1, for their first ever series win in Minute Maid/Enron. The Brewers are now 15-9, still in 1st, now 3½ ahead of both the Reds and the Pirates (3 up on the Bucs in the loss column). Vargas and Co. got plenty of help–the Astros stranded 3 runners on base in three consecutive innings–the 3rd through 5th–including fanning former Brewer Carlos Lee to end the 3rd. The Crew only collected 6 hits, but they made them count–first a Geoff Jenkins’ solo shot to get things started in the 2nd, then J.J. “Hotty” (as my sister-in-law calls him) also doubled in a run …not only was it J.J.’s 17th RBI of the year, but the hit also extended his hitting streak to 10 games. Also, the Brewers’ returned to wearing their gray uniforms. The other night, the FSN broadcast had noted that the Brewers’ were 7-1 when wearing their dark navy uniforms…the Brewers continued to wear the blue uniforms up until today…if I recall correctly, the starting pitcher gets to select the uniform for the day, and Claudio Vargas had the foresight to realize that the luck in the blue uniforms had run out. Also, the Brewers’ opted to start Damian Miller at catcher…while the official reason is that they wanted to give Johnny Estrada a day off after having caught the night game last night, but the FSN guys today also noted that the Brewers have not lost a game this season when Damian Miller was the starting catcher…hmmm. Next up: The Brewers are scheduled to return home to Miller Park to face the Cardinals, with Jeff Suppan slated to get the nod on Monday evening. As of Sunday evening, this game is still on, but may be postponed due to the death of Cardinals’ reliever Josh Hancock.
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